Pilko

They're class, particularly the Halloween one.

Jonas being described as a 'luxury player' :lol:

Score draw.

There wasn't any sound in the pub I was at because the pub quiz was on over the speaker system, but the Stoke fans at the other side of the bar from me kept making the "OOOOOF" noise whenever Delap threw the ball in, absolute mongs.

He did very well tonight. This is what he's capable of, he now needs to do it more consistently.

Who else but Pardew?

Managers like Souness and Allardyce fail to realise that "psyching players up into battle mode" and "having a system that plays to your own strengths as opposed to your opponents" aren't mutually exclusive. We basically played like Stoke today when we didn't have the ball (closing down fast, plenty of tackles, high pressure, tight marking), but when we did have the ball we played like Newcastle, and we fucking caned the horrible bastards. The mistake managers often make is that they then think they have to play like Stoke with the ball too, and that's where they often slip up. Pardew thankfully didn't do that tonight, unlike last year's game here.

Seriously, don't start drinking if you're going to drive. Stick to Toblerones, they're much safer.

Pards needs a new hair gel/wax, the side of his hair was blowing around quite a lot. This was his biggest mistake on a night where nearly everything went to plan for him.

Think it was Wullie who said it first and he's right - he seems to view us winning in a game as an excuse to give the shit players a runout.

http://www.myfootballfacts.com/1026.jpg "I think Stoke will turn over Newcastle, 2-0."

He was excellent. If there was any fixture I'd expect him to be ineffectual and shit in, it'd be this one - so fair play to him.

That header reminded me of a similar goal he scored for West Ham last season, when he threw himself through the air in a near identical fashion to bullet the cross in. He directs the ball absolutely expertly into the opposite corner, it's an overall class goal that totally takes the piss out of Stoke seeing as it's their type of thing.

Spot on cross for the first goal. His pace was dead useful tonight; his ball retention whilst still not perfect noticeably improved imo.

Slotted in fine apart from that naff tackle, I thought we'd crumble when he replaced Cabaye but we didn't.

Excellent performance, even a comedy cameo and faster than Smudger booking from Perch. Two daft penalty awards that cancelled each other out, and we were pretty mint. Even Simpson, Obertan and Guthrie were surprisingly effective tonight, fair play to them all. And also, wp Pards.

Sammy ahead of Lovenkrands on the bench is very encouraging.

On the plus side: Lovenkrands and Smith banished from the 18

Simpson, Obertan and Guthrie.

The Kevin Nolan duck sauce song was the icing on the cake that night. Superb.

Have a little patience.... ok

Should fine him. I know Digital is popular on Halloween but we've got a match for christs sake.

Where is the lineup it's nearly 1hr til kickoff

Let's have a game of "What's Tony got under his cap?" I'll go first - a fifty pound note, a copy of razzle and a Lion bar.

Soderberg was recalled from Darlo cos Elliot apparently tweaked something during the open training session.