Novocastrian

Don't see what being "big" has to do with being "successful". The truth is most "big" clubs invariably have success, at least sometimes. We, sadly, are the exception.

I'd play him in a "nominal" 4-3-3. I say nominal because I think numbered formations are dead. Good teams move seamlessly between 4-4-2, 4-3-3 etc mulitiple times in a game depending on the tactical situation. So, Owen/Fat Duke Martins Jonas Barton Guthrie Butt The fullbacks can provide additional width, the three man midfield can drop in as required.

Fair weathers, it wasn't too long ago they were only getting 6,000 for home games.

It's very tight at the bottom and a couple of wins can make all the difference. Equally a couple of bad results may see us mired in the bottom three. Ashley has made a serious error. If Kinnear had managed to push us on and put some clear water between us and the bottom three teams I could sort of understand Ashley "rewarding" him with the job until the end of the season, if, as expected, the club isn't going to be sold any time soon. Fact is we are still in the relegation places and the appointment of Kinnear could be a huge mistake. If the wheels come off over Christmas/New Year and we are struggling for points/confidence where do we go from there?

Relegation is now a step closer. A team built around Ameobi, Butt and Duff is now the reality.

What happened to the Milner money? What happened to the three years of ST money I put in? The additional TV income? f*** all. It's been trousered by Mike Ashley. Mind you, he has paid off the debts you know..........

Owen staying until next Summer and then walking for nowt is worth more to us than £1 million in January.

Don't need to be an amazing scout to "find" two international players playing in one of the worlds top two leagues.

I was unaware games only lasted 65 minutes these days!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! !!!!! Our games usually only last 45.

Capello must sit up and take notice of Shola now!

Dyer could pass and move at pace. He never scored or created many but as part of our team he pissed on Duff's contribution from a great height. Can't believe this is even in question tbh. He really didnt. He couldnt pass, he could run.. like a headless chicken. It says alot that his entire time here he was played right back, right midfield, center midfield and secondary striker. He was useless Are you drunk? I can't believe everyone has forgotten how bad he was! Just because we got into Champs League and he doesnt play for us now, its easy to look back on him and view him as a pivotal and he contributed. He was terrible. He couldnt pass at all! He didnt have a brain. He ran like a headless chicken with no positional sense. He didnt have a good shot on him. no good in the air. Duff has a brain, can cross, can score goals. Just his legs have gone. Disagree strongly, Duff has never been anything more than a pacy forward who could get beyond the full backs. The reason he is so gash now is because he can't do that anymore. He has no guile or invention.

Colo and Cacapa want to get together and swap attackers. Zamora is too big for cacapa in the air, just won another header.

Duff's not even a tenth of the player he was at Chelsea. It's so depressing.....

Fulham may be short on class, but their midfielder are all workers. We won't win the game unless we can compete in the middle. Pity we have Nicky "the legend" Butt strolling around in the engineroom.

There is always a second chance, if Ashley dismantles the DOF system, re-appoints Keegan, gives him £30 million in Jan with the promise of £30 million every following transer window he'll be welcomed back with open arms. Not going to happen though.

I think this is very true, no-one is expecting Redknapp to break into the top 4 not even Levy. The Spurs' "Ramos Project" has put the club back 5 years and all Redknapp is expected to do is get them out of the bottom three and into the top half of the table. The media are jumping out of their foreskins because their blue-eyed boy has finally been given a chance at a big club but Redknapp was not even on the agenda when Spurs were sniffing around Ramos. I think there is a perception that foreign managers think a bit more about the game and are better educated in footballing terms. The real acid test for British/Irish managers will be the next time Man Utd/Chelsea/Liverpool/Arsenal need a new manager. Will one of them take the plunge on a Mark Hughes, Roy Kean or Sam Allardyce (ok that one was a joke) or will they bring in a continental big name a la Mourinho etc.

Pretty accurate but I'd swap Ameobi and Martins round. Martins scored, burst through a few times and gave us an attacking impetus. Some of his passing and shooting was awry (as usual) but he looked like he had a goal or two in him. Ameobi is much maligned but he mostly deserves it, he didn't really do anything well. Law of averages dictates he will score occasionally but it's mostly by accident. I'd also drop Colo to a six, he was pretty solid, building on a couple of impressive performances, but he was at fault for the goal.

Why is he always in that position? He was playing Cisse onside, whilst not marking him, in fact, the only thing he could possibly have been doing in that position was blocking Given's view. It's not the first time he's done it either, it's a bad habit that he's got that he needs to get out of. It's like a game of footballing "pass the parcel" when the music stops everyone has to mark an attacker. Taylor is always the one left in the middle by himself looking around as the ball is in the net.

You know you want that drill, go on go for it, treat yourself!

Its been a good game so far. If watching two of the top teams in the league clash is boring you go to B & Q or watch Countryfile FFS.

When we leak goals individual defenders are singled out for bad positional play etc. I've done it, blamed Taylor, Colo etc for goals but the more I think about the more I think there is a collective responsibilty. The defence seem like total strangers, fair enough there has been personnel changes but we could basically fit all of our first team defenders in a taxi so they must all fucking know each other by now. There is a distinct lack of communication on the pitch, often when Taylor or Colo get caught out they are trying to cover another player that one of the fullbacks should be picking up. The amount of times opposition players have drifted into the box, undetected, between 3 or 4 black and white shirts to have a free shot/header beggars belief. I know Keegan's attempt to bring a "defensive coach" in didn't seem to bear fruit but we need to be looking at something. Four players playing their own game without any reference to what their defensive team-mates are doing is a recipe for disaster and we look a shambles at times. A well drilled defence can overcome individual frailties and a lack of ability, at least until we bring more quality into our defensive ranks.

Spot on, too many unintelligent, wasted, passes, pointless long balls. The "footballing IQ" of this team is very low indeed. Doesn't help when we are missing "clever" players like Owen. Can't really fault the effort but you can't polish a turd and we have a few turds.

Too many non-performances to be in with any real chance. Beye very poor (Just back from injury), Bassong all over the place (Out of position) Duff very average (Shit player). No real impetus from midfield until Jonas and Barton came on. Shola once again showed why he'll never be a premiership player, never mind he has potential eh?

I used to wear Stone Island 10 - 15 years ago. Decked out head to toe in the stuff. I grew out of it........

I left 5 mins before the end and missed the last two goals. Lots of morons sat around me dragged the average IQ of the stadium down quite a bit. No alchohol being served at the ground!!!! Lacklustre performance but an inevitable result. I think England are missing a "playmaker" in the middle, a give and go man with an eye for the intricate pass. What Bobby Robson referred to as a "door opener". Gerrard, Lampard etc are not "playmakers" in the classic sense. I would maybe put Joe Cole in the middle, or the tip of a diamond behind the front two and let hims get on with it, he could pull the strings.