durhamunigeordie

In a word: Gutted. Will leave the full post mortem for later on when I am less emotional. Off out for dinner with the lass now, nearly cancelled but then realised there is no point ruining her day as well as mine. Mobile's going off (its amazing how many 'friends' come crawling out of the woodwork with what can only be described as fishing texts at a time like this. I have thus far managed to rise above it and simply ignore rather than sending replies) and am going to try and forget about football. Can only hope to turn on the PC later to read that we have signed a couple to at least attempt to soften the blow. I know that no-one wants to hear or will react well to this right now but we will move on. We will go to Craven Cottage on wednesday with at worst the same side that is so far unbeaten in the league this calendar year and are more than capable of getting a result. I feel the hurt, anger and disappointment as much as anybody but am clinging on to the cliched light at the end of the tunnel.

Not that anyone is particularly bothered but SSN has Ireland down as one of the 'INS' under the Newcastle heading on the right hand side.

If we're going for the bibs in training side then it's smith and nolan in the centre with best and lovenkrands up front!

Exactly, which is why I have made the assumption, rightly or wrongly, that Carroll was never going to be fit; in which case we shouldn't have been told that he was in contention. I know he never said that he was going to play but the way it was spun made it sound as if he would probably end up playing, although I accept that the media had a role to play in it.

http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20110114/carroll-ruled-out-of-sunderland-clash_2281670_2266822

Tiresome tosh. The club sent Carroll to Dubai hoping that some R&R would aid a quick recovery. He's come back, been assessed and been ruled out. Until he came back on Tues/ Weds there was always a chance he would be fit. There's a lot of talk about Pardew being too talkative. I think nearly all of our managers have been keen to give the press a regular comment, certainly Keegan and Robson did. The only real exception was Hughton who kept his counsel and generally came out with very bland comments that many people on here criticised or complained about- especially his blatant dodging of transfer talk. I'm all for Pardew getting criticised for last weekend's shambles and if he loses on Sunday, but this hand wringing over his quips to the press is silly. NUFC are a club where the fans are constantly wanting news and as such the press buzz round the manager on a regular basis. Personally I can't see how the medical staff would not have known that he wouldn't be fit, given that there is seemingly only an outside chance of him being fit for the spurs and it a very distinct possiblilty that he will be given a further 10 days to recover and thus make his comeback at Fulham. It has been made out (granted a lot of this may be down to the media) that he was touch and go or 50/50 for the derby, however, from Pardew it's gone from "fingers crossed" he will be fit to the facthe isn't "even close", therefore to me we have been mislead. I can't say this is fact, it is just my opinion but at the same time you can't say for a fact that there was always a chance he could play therefore to dismiss it as tiresome tosh is just disrepsectful.

Was almost prepared to give the bloke a chance but two things he has done this week have left me fuming: 1) bringing on tiote needlessly 2) essentially lying about Carroll having a chance of playing. Today he has admitted that Andy is "not even close" and that it is only fair to the people of Newcastle to let them know that now. No Alan what would have been fair was just to have told everyone straight that he wasn't going to be fit. It sounds very much to be we will see him at Fulham at the earliest. Part of my anger is probably a kneejerk reaction at the news Andy will miss the derby but I need someone to blame and Pardew it is. The bloke chats a load of s%*£, needs to learn to say less. Not for the first time this week my blood is boiling and I can't wait to see the back of the bloke

Maybe Pardew really did hope that Carroll would be fit, however, given that he is very doubtful for next week's game against Spurs then it seem's likely that his chance of participating in the derby were always virtually non-existent. Two of our top 4/5 players out and arguably the two players who we will feel the effect of missing the most if that makes sense...going to be tough.

We are better with him than we are without him.. thats all that matters. This probably would have sufficed rather than my long winded post!

Where do I suggest that you expect him to be perfect? 'There are very few footballers in the world who have even close to every component of their game perfected and of those that have none (at this moment in time at least!) are going to join Newcastle United. As much we would all like Jonas to be the perfect winger the fact of the matter is that he is not and I believe once you accept him for what he is you are able to see much more of the positive things which he does; this is certainly the case for me anyway.' Thats as much of your post as i bothered to read. I offered a reply as daft as what you said. Fair enough. Was simply a statement of fact and, taken in context with the rest of the post, was just a round about way of me saying that "hes not perfect but...", however, as you said you didn't read the rest of the post.

Where do I suggest that you expect him to be perfect?

There are very few footballers in the world who have even close to every component of their game perfected and of those that have none (at this moment in time at least!) are going to join Newcastle United. As much we would all like Jonas to be the perfect winger the fact of the matter is that he is not and I believe once you accept him for what he is you are able to see much more of the positive things which he does; this is certainly the case for me anyway. Yes his crossing is average, he sometimes goes missing and he cannot really shoot (although he is improving), however, in midfield we have Barton and Nolan who have an eye for goal and Barton's crossing has also been excellent from deep. Enrique and Simpson also know how to put a ball in a decent area. Again, a lot of the time he is frustrating and I personally get annoyed at the fact he seems to think that he has to run the long way around the back of Jose every time he finds himself in a position behind him! However there are also positives: - he provides an outlet from defence (he is quicker than you think) - his close control of the ball is good - he links up well with enrique and the pair of them draw the opposition over to the left side of the pitch, leaving space on the opposite flank - he draws a lot of freekicks in wide areas allowing us a chance of a scoring opportunity for set pieces - he is seemingly one of the fitter players on the pitch and does a lot of running during a game I've said it before that our midfield on paper shouldn't work and it as anomaly that it does. That it does is as much down to the positive contributions of Jonas as anyone else. Take one cog out of that midfield and it is not as effective in my opinion.

They're unhappy on RTG about Nolan's comments regarding Tiote's red. He has seemingly brough the game into 'disribute'. Tickled me anyway!

Gosling could be rusty, way off the pace, limp off after 10 minutes but its more about taking my seat on sunday not feeling completely dejected. Having watched Guthrie and Smith's performances this year a piece of me would die if I turned up and heard that one or, god forbid, both of them are playing, whereas at least my optimism would return, for a short time at least, if it was Gosling.

Maybe its the old 'player getting better the longer they are out' bug biting me but at this moment in time i'd honestly rather see Gosling-Nolan in the centre than Smith-Nolan. Granted that is based on reading that he did gave a good box-to-box performance in a behind the closed door game, however, it could be our best option.

Very true, i'm sure there are endless scenarios it's just that the one i mentioned makes most sense to me. As I say i'd lov nothing more than to be wrong. If it does turn out to be the case that Carroll is out for a while and Pardew has just decided to tell us there is a chance he could play for tactical reasons and/or for the fans sake I will not be happy.

Can't remember who it was but it was something along the lines of that if Carroll was touch and go to play he would have been here receiving intensive treatment but the fact that he is basically on holiday means that either he has no chance (probable IMO) or will definetly be fit (unlikely IMO). To me this seems pretty logical and makes me believe he is not playing. I pray i'm proved wrong but I can't see anything other than a defeat for us here.

Dreading this now that tiote is out, I was praying for the appeal to be successful but now i'm just angry again. Not sure if I can bring myself to go again whilst Pardew is in charge. Everyone has a point to which they can take things but I think that I may well have just been pushed too far.

As i've said before this could have a significant impact on our season; get nothing from our next three games and we will be back down near the relegation zone and the chances of that happening are much greater without Tiote in our side. It is like losing our entire central midfield as Nolan needs Tiote there a long side him for his frailties not to be shown up. Our midfield is extremely effective but, as has been proven on a number of occassions (Bolton and West Brom away), it needs all four of them to be there in order for it to work as they each add something different. The way I see it it's one of those miracles of science which shouldn't work but does! We have 17 league games left and it is almost certain we will be without Tiote for a minimum of 5 of those. I'm angry again at Pardew for even having him there on saturday and to make things worse we don't even have a fourth round fa cup tie to use up one of those suspended games.

Anyone watching Crawley v Derby (unlikely as I know I am very sad!)? The Crawley number 9 has just got a yellow for a tackle on Savage that was infinetly worse than Tiote and Gerrards. It's the inconsistency that pisses me off.

Are you trying to imply that Alan Smith is not six times the player that Larsson is??! But yes on a serious note that is indeed madness. Would love to see Larsson here, he probably wouldn't get into what seems to be the first choice midfield of Barton-Nolan-Tiote-Jonas but he would be the best option we have as cover and would be likely to see plenty of pitch time. I'd like to think that him and Gosling would be a step up from Smith and Guthrie.

Are you trying to imply that Alan Smith is not six times the player that Larsson is??!

Yep. He does it at least once a game. If we are thinking of the same incident it was the single most pathetic thing i've ever seen from a professionaly footballer.