ChrisMcQuillan

Harper - 6 - Possibly should have saved the goal, but it wasn't really his fault, and he was otherwise solid.

Beye - 7 - Made some great tackles.

Edgar - 7 - Most solid performance I've seen him give against some physical opposition.  He said he'd bulk up, and he seems no pushover anymore.

Bassong - 7 - Defensively very good.

R. Taylor - 6 - Put in a good shift.  Ran until the end.  Offers limited passing when going forward though.

Duff - 6 - Average shift from the man, but did an okay job at wing back.

Butt - 4 - One good tackle.  That was it.

Guthrie - 6 - Rather anonymous, but looked solid when on the ball.  Hope to see more.

Nolan - 5 - Not very good.  A lot of poor passes and no creativity.

Ameobi - 2 - Absolutely horrific.

Owen - 6 - Ran a lot, looked interested and lively.  Good to see.  

Carroll - 9 - What a hero.  Wonderful goal, showed Ameobi how to really defend.  Game really changed with his introduction.  Fought for everything.

Jonas - 7 - Limited time to see anything, but he looked his usual self - tough to defend against.

So much for Foy being one of the best referees

 

He's been poor, but he's not the reason we're losing.

 

Actually, he technically is.

 

No, he's not.

 

In the EPL you should be able to defend corners. No-one to blame but ourselves.

The corner shouldn't have happened.  That goal therefore wouldn't have happened.

Q.E.D.

Admittedly, we'd probably be losing through another goal.  But referreeing mistake led to corner, which led to goal.

So much for Foy being one of the best referees

 

He's been poor, but he's not the reason we're losing.

Actually, he technically is.

This has been so poor.

You could write the script.  Incorrect decision leads to a goal, and then it threw in an Ameobi mistake for good measure.

Perhaps he thinks Shola will have insight having played with Stoke last season.

Unfortunately, Shola normally can't remember where he is at any moment in time.

We're fucked.

Where the fuck is Oba?!

NUFC: Steve Harper, David Edgar, Ryan Taylor, Sebastien Bassong, Habib Beye, Nicky Butt, Kevin Nolan, Danny Guthrie, Damien Duff, Shola Ameobi, Michael Owen

Subs: Fabricio Coloccini, Alan Smith, Jonas Gutierrez, Geremi, Andy Carroll, Tim Krul, Nile Ranger

What the fuck?

Any teams yet?

Should be up in less than 5.

3 - 1 Stoke victory.

Sorry, just see it coming.

Oba to bring it back to 2 - 1, then a defensive mix-up to hand them the final.

come on manyoo you twats, get all your big guns on and finish em off!

They started with Rooney, Berba and Tevez on at the start.

How much bigger do you want them to go?

Edit:  Oh right, Ronaldo.  Yes.  I'll stay quiet.

Has the squad been announced yet?

 

 

Probably not until 4.45 ish.

f***ing dreading tomorrow like.

Don't worry.

Ranger's in the squad.

I think we'd do well in a solid 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 formation.

nee width

Plenty of width if you put them on the goal line.

Zaki could do well with the right partner and midfield behind him

 

would absolutely love it if we went back in for M'Bia in the summer

Imagine having someone who can actually run in midfield, the mind boggles.  we have the makings of a decent team, with 2 new cms a striker a winger and a centrehalf we'd be able to challenge for the top half witha  good manager in charge we'd need to spend about 25m though.

 

I think with decent coaching colo will come good but that remains to be seen

 

                               Harper

Beye      Bassong             New   Jose

New       Barton                New   Jonas

              Oba                   New

 

It highly annoys me that Keegan managed to pull the plug on Wise's Skjelbred travel, but not on Nacho's. Imagine if it'd been the other way around, f*** me we'd have someone never stopping to run, going forward, able to string passes together and not have a phobia from shooting from long range.

 

At the very least, we'd have a lad who'd actually be playing as opposed to curled up on the physio room.

 

Speaking of, wasn't Nacho supposed to be back like... A month ago?

Has anyone even seen him around the club, or back in Valencia, or doing anything remotely connected to football since his injury? The man literally left the face of the footballing earth.

 

He was watching the Man United reserve game with Colocinni.

 

What has been wrong with him again? I can't even remember what he was like when he did play the half an hour or whatever it was, it was so long ago.

Achilles injury. Doesn't look like he'll play anytime soon.

It's the same thing Viduka has.  Pretty difficult to judge, or at least our Physio team can't seem to understand it.

It's a degeneration of the Achilles tendon, and AFAIK you have to manage it back to good health very well.

Zaki could do well with the right partner and midfield behind him

 

would absolutely love it if we went back in for M'Bia in the summer

Imagine having someone who can actually run in midfield, the mind boggles.  we have the makings of a decent team, with 2 new cms a striker a winger and a centrehalf we'd be able to challenge for the top half witha  good manager in charge we'd need to spend about 25m though.

 

I think with decent coaching colo will come good but that remains to be seen

 

                               Harper

Beye      Bassong             New   Jose

New       Barton                New   Jonas

              Oba                   New

 

It highly annoys me that Keegan managed to pull the plug on Wise's Skjelbred travel, but not on Nacho's. Imagine if it'd been the other way around, f*** me we'd have someone never stopping to run, going forward, able to string passes together and not have a phobia from shooting from long range.

 

At the very least, we'd have a lad who'd actually be playing as opposed to curled up on the physio room.

 

Speaking of, wasn't Nacho supposed to be back like... A month ago?

Has anyone even seen him around the club, or back in Valencia, or doing anything remotely connected to football since his injury? The man literally left the face of the footballing earth.

He was watching the Man United reserve game with Colocinni.

I was going to say Guthrie'll probably be out injured now.

However, that'll probably guarantee him a place in the squad now, as we seem to enjoy playing people who are of questionable fitness.

It would have been a shame if he wasn't resigned and that was how he ended his short career with Newcastle. I hope he comes back straight away. He's been a good signing for us, having actually scored goals and all. I'm actually quite perplexed about why he was dropped from the striking role, since he had shown himself as capable of scoring.

He's got a knack for being the right place, bit like Owen.

Kind of scary on saturday, anyone read that he was in a coma for like 3 hours after the game?

 

Yup looked in real distress. Wish him well. Decent signing he's been.

Anyone got a source on that coma rumour?

Shocking people are putting him in the same league as Bramble

 

Facts:

First season in the premiership - takes time to settle it

Started very well and has slowly declined

Rest of the team cannot protect the back 4

Rest of the team generally do not defend well

 

Give the lad a chance FFS, we players like Butt covering him, it is hardly a suprise he is getting the wobbles.  You do not become an Argrie regular when you are s**** - FACT.

 

He will come good, very good in fact.  Just give him time..

This.

How many times have Spurs been on the TV this season, does anyone know?  And compared to us?

 

Outside the UK (Scandinavia Canal +), I think Newcastle have only been off the screen for 4 or 5 matches this season. Spurs are rarely on unless they play the "top four" or us.

Weren't Spurs on for 6 consecutive games at one point?

How many times have Spurs been on the TV this season, does anyone know?  And compared to us?

looks s*** with everyone but Bassong tbh

 

He has looked s**** from the off bar the odd game & he has played the majority of games with Bassong as his partner.

 

 

That's just bollocks.  He looked epic at the start of the season.  And don't tell me otherwise, cause I have a Season Ticket and I've watched him week in, week out.  He was quality back then.

His confidence is shot.  He is still quality.

Can we please move on and stop using him as a scapegoat for all our problems.  We won against Chelsea and Man United with a backline of Solano, Taylor, Ramage and Huntington.  Whoever tells me Huntington or Ramage > Colocinni can just go shoot themselves now, because you've clearly got no idea what you're talking about.

Anyone who expected a tactical revolution with Shearer in charge for 2 days was really letting themselves get carried away with it all.

Stoke will be when we see the first signs of improvement, I hope.

If not, we deserve to go down.

                     Harper

Beye      S. Taylor     Bassong    Enrique

Duff        Guthrie     Nolan        Jonas

                 Owen      Carroll

Subs:  Krul, R. Taylor, Geremi, Martins, Butt, Colocinni, Xisco

Bring Martins on later to replace Owen, run at tired legs.  We need Carroll up front to have any chance, because he need his physicality against the Stoke defence, and his ability to flick on to Owen.  At the end of the day, Owen can score goals.  And we need that now.