Heron

What does de rigueur mean?

The shear responce you get for remotely sticking by Shola actually sums up exactly what I just said. The quality of posession Newcastle had as a whole was far better when Gutierrez came on because he was linking up the play between the front two and the Midfield. Then the rest were influenced by this and combining that with Stoke sitting back we pushed them back into their half. As a result we created more chances and Caroll took a very hard one, which Shola probably wouldn't have. I didn't say that Shola was better than Caroll or anything people just jump to whinge at Shola - people are looking through rose-tinted glasses though if Shola was completely useless the other day - because alot of it wasn't his fault. Also, a good flick on isn't necessarily made by the player heading the ball - sometimes the player moving off the ball can be at fault. I'm not saying that this was Owens fault but a lack of playing together and understanding one another probably is. Caroll is now in a similar position to what Shola was 6 or 7 years ago, he has potential and needs to be consistent to prove himself. Sholas time has been and gone now and he hasn't quite made it. The amount of abuse he gets is obscene though, the words scape and goat seem fairly evident here...

Easy answer - Matty Pattison. In all seriousness out of the above I would probably say Stevie Gerrard. You have to ask how you would define "best player" is it the person with the most footballing ability? The person who is most significant in their respective teams? The player who scores and makes the most goals? I cannot help but realise that all of the above are attacking players - why can't a defender be one of the best players in the world? Just a few questions I thought I would pose. Now, that I have joked and chose from the above players I will choose the worlds actual "best" player... http://d.yimg.com/eur.yimg.com/ng/sp/empics/20080818/10/1364701898-soccer-barclays-premier-league-manchester-united-v-newcastle-united-old.jpg

Undoubtedly Shola was completely at fault for their goal. In addition to this he wouldn't have scored the header Caroll did. That aside he did no different to Caroll. The largest difference on Saturday was that Jonas came on and his influence alone got us playing the ball on the deck and taking it to them. The forward play was woeful prior to this and Shola believe it or not won 90% of his aerial battles whilst on the pitch. I see Shola as a slightly worse attacking version of Bramble. Where Bramble could be brilliant for 95% of a game and cock up once or twice Shola can be brilliant for about 60% and then cocks up where it matters. I kind of feel sorry for the lad the amount of stick he gets, and I think alot of the time it is over the top and undeserved, but like above he has done well for himself only being good at his job 60% of the time.... Time for Caroll to have his chance and time for Shola to go (once we have adequate cover).

You know what to expect before you go there really - we fought hard and showed plenty passion. It's a shame we didn't have more quality on the day because we would have beaten them.

Get the Mortmesiter back in, get rid of Kinnear at the end of the season and fuck Llambias off. Back Shearer in the transfer window let him bring in the staff he wants and see us lift up the table! SHEAAAAAAARRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR

Shearer. Shearer. Shearer. Shearer. SHEARER! Night x`

LMFAO me too, I flicked over because I decided I would watch QI a bit later on Dave Ja Vu. For some reason I flicked it onto Sky Sports News and there it was - staring me in the face. It's like it was supposed to happen. I need to sleep I have work, a driving lesson, a mock test and the England game to watch tomorrow, but somehow I cannot see me sleeping for a while. SHEARER IS GOD!

Fucking yikes.

No they were booing Shola coming on, the initial booing started when he stepped out the dugout before the board even went up to say who was coming off. Disgraceful act from so called supporters, i don't care if he's the worst player ever to step foot on St James Park, which he isn't by a long way, YOU DON'T BOO your own players, especially before ther've even stepped onto the bloody pitch, if your not supporting the players then your not supporting the team and if your not supporting the team then what the f*** you doing in the ground????? I'm not a great Shola but that incident sickened me much more than the defeat. I agree 100% and just for the record he did just as much as Michael Owen yesterday. Why the fuck boo him when next year if we go down he will be here fighting for our cause not Owen, Martins, Viduka, or Lovenkrandz? Now is definately NOT the time to be booing any of our players or team, or at least not before they've even stepped onto the pitch.

After Stoke I will know whethr to be really worried or not...

11 good individuals don't make a good team.... Unfortunately.

1-0 Bassong

How can we judge Ignacio what so ever, as a Newcastle player I mean...

Not to be a killjoy but it is likely that we'll get 1-0 points form our next four games. Throw in Spurs and Stoke and we are probably looking at 3 at most. The difference between the drop and tenth by this time will be 8-12 points and we'll be probably 10-11 points shortof that. Plus 3-4 points deep in the relegation zone. Stoke is one of our next 4 games - let's not wish the season away! There is no reason why we cannot take results from any of our next four games imo. Fair enough you can pretty much write off the Chelsea and Arsenal games...but on the other hand we took a point at Stamford Bridge, and Old Trafford, then held our own against Man United at home despite being beat, so there is no reason why we cannot get a point or two from those games. I would like to think we will get 3 or 4 points from the next 4 games. I think it's extremely possible also.

Comments like that have been made for the last 2/3 months and we have never gotten anywhere near to those mid table places so there is nothing to sugest its miraculously going to happen now. We were like 11th and 12th about 4 or 5 games ago....

When 10th place is only 6 points above the drop then we don't have to worry too much just yet. After the Stoke game has been played that's when we'll know if we really need to panic...

Well that article turned out to be shit.

Despite him being extremely infruriating (sp?) he is still one of my favourite players at the club...

Thanks for that mate. I'll try a few contacts I have spoke to in the past first...then I will move onto this option. Cheers again...

Well to be honest, whatever Kinnear was playing, Hughton is more than likely going to continue to play that way. Whether Kinnear and/or Hughton can motivate a team remains to be seen, and the only thing that can change is personel within the team/squad, attitudes and performances. Harper will have a positive attitude and will be determined to do all in his power to keep us up, showing a bit more passion than most others. I don't mean he is the most important piece of our survival by any means, I just think he will provide the much needed leadership which could benefit alot of his team-mates.

IMO who our leader is on the pitch is more important at the moment...and in Steve Harper I think we have selected the right man for the remainder of this campaign...

Fight! Fight! Fight! :knuppel2:

I would define it as; "Having the knowledge and ability to understand both the individual and team aspects of the game including tactics, positioning and players' roles."

One Stevie Harper!...