John P

Yeah, there's absolutely no way Lascelles needs to beef up, he's currently at a size where he is mobile but still able to physically dominate the majority of strikers in the league. I always think Lejeune has a strange shape, he has quite big hips but fairly small chest and shoulders.

From the admittedly little I've seen of him, he isn't really the sort to bully defenders, but he is physically good and obviously decent in the air. He's no Duncan Ferguson (ie clattering into defenders, elbowing them in the face and dishing out the occasional throttling.)

This is probably the only big criticism I have of Rafa so far. The decision to never play Mitrovic and start Joselu instead is bizarre. Mitrovic misses his fair share of chances too, but I'm convinced he would have stuck away a couple of the sitters Joselu has wasted this season.

Yep, he has to be starting games at the minute with Kenedy on the opposite wing. Can't remember the last good game Atsu or Ritchie had.

Can't bring myself to hate the guy, he looks genuinely hurt when he misses chances and his attitude can't be questioned. He's just not very good. .com also said that none of his career goals have been penalties, so pretty strange that he was on penalty duties. The camera didn't show who was taking it for ages and when it suddenly cut to Joselu standing over it, my heart just sank.

Looks 10x more agile than Blob based on his Youtube compilations. Having said that, I'm probably 5x more agile.

Strange side that

Joe Allen is an absolute cunt so I have no problem with that whatsoever.

Fuck's sake, saw the thread title change and genuinely got excited.

Absolutely blatant pen and the decision not to go back and book Allen in the first half was outrageous. Just complete incompetence.

Looked like the was contact around his knee to me. Not enough to go down and he was looking for it, but they've been given before.

Got him as first sub in fantasy football and Gabriel Jesus didn't play. Made my christmas

When was the last time we had a pelanty?

Baggies fans will love that front foot football.

Matt Le Tissier was asked this by Josh Widdicombe on his football podcast. Josh basically said that he thought, over the course of a season, he thought he would at least get a scruffy tap in from a corner or something. Le Tissier basically said no chance. In a different episode they had a Welsh comedian (Elis James I think) who had played at youth level against Simon Davies and he said he was on a completely different planet to everyone else. Scored from kick off etc. I used to think similar to a few people on here that I would fancy myself to score one from open play during a season. But, I know someone who has played his entire career in promotion chasing League Two / midtable League One teams. Played 5 a side football against him on a stag do thinking that I wasn't a bad player and it would be interesting to see how good he was. He was ridiculous. Couldn't get near him and he was barely trying. He isn't a particularly quick or physically imposing League One player but he was physically (and technically) miles and miles away from everyone else, despite there being some very fit guys playing. The ball would just be there and then be gone before you even knew it. And this is a League One / Two player playing at half speed. At the top level you just wouldn't touch the ball all game, it would be nicked off you straight away or before it even got to you.

Is Daniel Storey a Newcastle fan / from the North East? Seen him write a few good things about us in the past and just noticed that the proceeds of his latest book go towards the Bobby Robson Foundation.

Yeah I was surprised when I heard that. He gets stuck in but doesn't seem the type who picks up loads of cards at all.

Apologies if this has already been discussed, but was Defoe not offside for the shot which led to the corner they scored from? Looked about 2 yards off watching live but the tv / Motd coverage didn't show a single replay of it.

Surely we're at the stage where Mitrovic has to be given a chance now? Rafa clearly doesn't like him for probably a number of valid reasons, but he is simply a better player than Joselu.

Are people seriously expecting something on the stock exchange? secretly will be checking at precisely 1pm and again at 1.30

Not even very good now is he?

It's Gordon Sumner

I thought he was excellent other than the obvious error. Felt for him a bit afterwards as he looked pretty distraught. That bit of play right at the end, when he played the ball out to the left and then made a run into the box for the cross but couldn't quite get on the end of it, was great. You could see he was determined to make up for his error, so I think his attitude looks good and I don't think it will affect him for the next game.

Those lads and lasses at football365 seem to have a bit of an affinity towards us, from what I remember they've written quite a few good pieces about us in recent months.

Cracking player, whenever he's on the ball you just have complete faith in him to do the right thing and to not lose it. Add to the fact that he's combative, good at winning the ball back and good in the air, he's a fantastically well-rounded player for someone who is just 21 years old. If he was English he'd be worth £50m.