ChrisJbarnes

What a man. Willing to cut him a bit slack for missing the odd sitter when hes grafting for the team and basically our only major hope of finding the net. Especially if hes playing through injury.

Hard to say whether our lot will come out with their tails between their legs and roll over, as we have done previously here on too many occasions for my liking, or whether they'll get their heads down, attack and fight. If its the latter, I dont see why we cant win it.

That bloke at West Ham has turned them into a solid looking premier league outfit...

out of all the candidates that we could realistically attract- I think Martinez is the only one that would take us forward and even hes relatively unproven.

Pardew and the players owe us a fucking great performance here after today

Its been a poor season but I cannot contemplate Wigan, Villa, Stoke, Sunderland AND Norwich all gaining more points than us in the final 5 games.

pls stop. I'm saying we won't be sacking him before the last 5 games regardless of what people want. The next 5 fixtures will be telling- will we have a bit of fight and look like taking points from them? Or will the players lose faith, not fight and we stumble over the line on 39 points or so. If its the latter, then that will make Pardews position untenable. Personally- I'm in last chance saloon for Pardew. I've always been looking at it on the basis of "1 good season, 1 bad season" with a few difficulties this season, but I need to see something in these last games to stay onside.

5 games left this season, key attacking players returning. No fixtures we should be fearing, no Europa league, no excuses. The final 5 games this season will be crucial to Pardews future iyam. If we come out fighting and put in good attacking performances and get results, we could end up 10th. If we do a half arsed job of it and limp over the line, then Ashley will seriously have to consider Pardews position urgently.

When your playing against a side like Benfica with the attacking talent they have with Simpson and Williamson in your back 4, going gung-ho from the start would more or less certainly have resulting in conceding one goal in the 90. Especially considering the number of goals they've scored, home and away. Conceding that one goal would've meant we needed 3 just to get to ET, and 4 to go through in normal time- highly unlikely against a side of their quality. With that in mind, I think what we saw today wasn't a million miles off. Ben Arfa and Shola, the subs, set up to create Cisses goal, and going at them from then could well have yielded a second. We were one on target Ben Arfa shot from beating the Portugeuse champions 2-0, going into the semis and completing a feat that only Barcelona have managed this season. Their technical quality and danger on the break meant it was highly unlikely to keep a clean sheet, and what with injuries, fatigue and ineligibilities all I can say is great effort Pardew and the players for nearly pulling it off. The wally with the brolly reckoned Pardew had the game plan spot on. Not that thats a massive glowing endorsement though!

Wouldn't we go out with a 4-2 win?

Would take a loss against Sunderland if it meant we could get a 4-2 win against Benfica.

What a relief we won today. Means the pressure is off so to speak. I think playing against Benfica in a knock out game, we can just go for it without there being any expectation on us that we have to win. Winning 2-0 would be fantastic, but if it doesnt happen its not the end of the world. Had we drawn or lost today, it would be lingering over us going into this game and not going through would put enormous pressure on the Sunderland game which would most likely damage our performances in both.

I went from a 1 to a 7 when Villa scored, then down to a 2 when Stoke equalised. Up to a 9 when they went ahead. Then up to a 10 when they scored the 3rd.

It would seem that Santon has similar views on Europe to Nigel Farage.

Looks to me like under O'Neill they'd lost the spirit and with 2 away games to Chelsea and us, they'd possibly have lost them with a whimper, lowering confidence further and staring relegation in the face. They have a limited squad, that cant score goals. With Flectcher out, it gets harder. Di Canio is a "blood and thunder" type appointment. I reckon it could keep them up in the short term- with their next 2 fixtures surely they have more of a chance of breaking the downward spiral with a fascist nutjob laying into them then a stale O'Neill? For the next 7 games or so, it could be a good decision. If the fact that although he may not have the managerial experience, hes a total mentalist can spur the players on to blag enough points to stay up, it will have been a good decision. If they stay up and he fails miserably next season, hes only on a 2.5 year contract and wont cost much to sack, compared with the premier league money. Tough to call this one- but thinking about it, the madness might make sense in the short term.

64 points from 24 games.

Stoke as well, if they continue their form against the locals could be an outside bet to go down as well. All the other teams have much harder fixtures than us in the run-in.

Our fixtures in the PL are very much easier than the others in the fight I think. Fulham, Sunderland (H), with our home form of late, the atmosphere and the team knowing the importance of the win, you'd hope to pick up 4 points. Arsenal and Liverpool (H), you'd think we'd compete at home and not lose them both. Let say 1 point. West Ham and West Brom (A), more or less safe, nothing to play for. Lets say 2 points. QPR (A)- tough to call. Lets say we lose. 40 points total, safety and 14-16th. Villa and Wigan have worse goal difference than us (-20 and -25) and will surely be facing tougher fixtures. They play each other on the last day, so barring some freak set of results where we lose to Arsenal on the last day and they both settle for the draw I just can't see relegation happening. Villa still go to OT, which looks likely to be the fixture where they'll clinch the title. They also play Chelsea and 6 pointers against Sunderland and Wigan. Wigan play QPR (A) and Man City (A) as their next 2. Sunderland are in freefall with injuries, have an away derby (which they'll be fearing more than us), and Chelsea and Spurs away. Still think Sunderland, Wigan and Villa to ALL overtake us with the fixtures they have, playing each other, looks very unlikely. Not to say that this season hasnt been massively underwhelming in the PL and domestic cups, but we can address that in the summer.

I want to get a student ticket, but the official site only gives an option of senior, adult and child. Student is the same price as senior. Should I order 2 senior tickets?

send him to the glue factory

"enzo" and "matic" in the centre. Sounds like a brand of washing machine.

One of these for the away kit: http://www.owleyesmagazine.com/sites/default/files/217727_176163912433453_129200697129775_394230_777119_n.jpeg

interest free credit available on crocodile garage doors? Fantastic.

:jones: :dowie: :dowie: :facepalm: Sums up my reaction to this affair

Whens this guy supposed to be back?