ChrisMcQuillan

You could cripple their left winger, stick him on a mobility scooter, and he'd still outpace Butt on the flank.

Jeez. I'd say Tavernier, tbh. Best play someone who at least has some kind of experience... I think.

If you'd asked nicely he might have let you. ;D

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/8205360.stm

For what reason? Because you're further away? Because there's less pressure on you? If these officials are gonna bow into all the pressure of the crowd and the players then they're not good enough.

Krul wonder save apparently.

This.

Not particularly. I know the ref was supposed to be awful today, but I haven't seen the highlights so I can't judge. However, watching games on the tele from PL and Championship, and also from what I'm seeing at SJP just suggests a nonsense quality of ref. I watched Jonas get rugby tackled to the ground right in front of me at St James and the ref gave nothing.

If we're gonna lose, let's get trounced. 8-1 or something. Might wake the board up that we need some new fucking players, and a new manager at that.

It seems to be falling drastically, across the board. The other week at SJP I brought along a friend of mine, a uni student who's a qualified ref and has refereeed Man United reserve matches for one thing. He got every call right, even though they looked wrong to me. He saw everything the actual referee couldn't. So the question is, how are these incompetent morons getting to ref these matches? They're ruining the game for everyone. Decisions lately have been utterly woeful, and not just for us. The Bellamy penalty the other night is a prime example. It's a fucking disgrace, like.

WTf did he do?

Olsson would have to destroy Ameobi with an anti-tank missile before we'd be awarded a penalty these days.

Hasn't our bad run coincided with Harewood leaving? He got goals, scrappy ones quite often. We need that. We need to try and get him back here tbh.

Oh, we're saved.

Radio Newcastle still think he's playing, I reckon it must be a late injury for him to be not even on the bench. Late tackle from Smith more than likely.

Butt does NOT play. NUFC: Tim Krul, Ryan Taylor, Tamas Kadar, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Fabrice Pancrate, Danny Guthrie, Alan Smith ©, Jonas Gutierrez, Kevin Nolan, Andy Carroll Subs: Steve Harper, Shola Ameobi, Kazenga LuaLua, Nile Ranger, Ben Tozer, Shane Ferguson, Ryan Donaldson

Unless Taylor's torn a cruciate, or torn a medial ligament, I can't see him being out for the season He took a knock, yes, and could have strained ligaments. So that'd be what, normally about 8 weeks?

It's better than yours.

That's actually stunning.

So say Coloccini is injured and Taylor suspended for a vital match. I'd rather Kadar and Williamson than have Tozer or Simpson anywhere near the CB position. We'd have sufficient depth at CB. 4 we could play with reasonable quality. I say all this assuming Williamson's an average CB.

Not the SPL mate. He did alright at Leeds in the Championship. Just look at his hat-trick against Spain if you want examples of his finishing. He would be able to do a job for us, no doubt. I actually think he was Premier League quality a few years ago. Maybe not anymore.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/sunderland/8470445.stm Quality finisher who will thrive with regular football. Please, PLEASE bring him in!

No wonder he wants to sign him if he thinks he played well against West Brom. Seems he can do no wrong. Hopefully the report isn't true anyway. Hughton's not a moron. He knows he was awful. But Simpson knew he was awful as well, you could see it in his face. Hughton's doing the right thing, managerially, imo, and backing the player publically.

Harper - 6 Simpson - 2 (one of the worst defensive performances I've seen from a Newcastle player in recent years) S Taylor - 7 Coloccini - 6 Enrique - 6.5 (assist redeems him for some very dodgy give-aways) Guthrie - 7 (sublime freekick, solid shift) Nolan - 4 (Was he even on the pitch?) Smith - 6 (Very quiet game, especially when we needed him to break down their attacks. However, the kamikaze shot block... ) Gutierrez - 7.5 (Man of the Match, just, simply because he stretched their defence, he caused them problems and he looked like he wasn't scared to run at them) Ameobi - 3 (woeful) Lovenkrands - 7 (good header, love the guy for playing) Carroll - 5.5 (better than Ameobi) R Taylor - 6 (at least he tackled their right wing, unlike Simpson)

Simpson was absolutely atrocious last night. Going by Newcastle's track record, any doubts we had over his good performances will be erradicated, and we'll sign him up immediately.