Village Idiot

Well, you were pretty dreadful most of the night if I dare say, I think you can take that result. I think you can take solace in the fact you never quite looked like having a clue in the final third yet you nicked a couple.

Hughton time

Ameobi doesn't have his head in the right place tonight.

And screw you lot, I'm starting to care about this.

Awful defending, surrounded by 3 players and no challenge from none.

Both teams are leaving acres of space which makes it fun to watch, but I reckon you'd both get mauled in the EPL playing like that. Oh, are you playing Lou Reed at HT? Quality.

This ESPN360 stream has such a huge delay that every time West Brom get the ball on your third I just reload this thread to see if I they end up scoring.

What the hell, WBA scored that goal two minutes later here

Grand, it's on ESPN360! I'll be watching. Good luck magpies.

Barcelona sports rag "Sport" reporting that we are "very close" to sign Moses. They aren't usually reliable, though. Is he really that good?

I love Roberto Martínez since he's a Catalan managing in the Premiership But god, sometimes he talks too much! (Remember the Allardyce comments? Although those were hilarious)

Giovani Dos Santos was the new Ronaldinho Every short Argentinian is the "new Maradona" Maxi López was "the white Drogba"

Rooney and Lampard are easily techinically brilliant. The only thing holding Rooney back is his unintelligent movement off the ball. Rooney has *no* off the ball movement, he is just always attacking it. It's a pretty big part of his player personality though, so it's going to be hard to correct it.

Just curious, who are the best according to you, then? I gather Essien is one of them (an agreeable proposition)

To be honest Cesc would have never went on to be so good had he remained at Barça. Spanish midfielders are typically not great goalscorers nor are they expected to be (Xavi and Iniesta chip in around 5 a season), and his stay in England has moulded him more in your tradition of box-to-box midfielders. He's a hybrid mutant mongrel that will take over the world and eat our children.

When I say Gerrard's game is limited is that he is a player that can only finish plays, not create them. He is "just" a goalscoring midfielder, but he doesn't dictate the play of his team unless for that you mean grabbing the ball and lunging forward in mazy runs (at which he is excellent). He always struck me as the kind of player that has incredible ball handling skills and shooting but doesn't see much further than his nose. Lampard and Fàbregas have a larger set of skills and are better examples of a really complete box to box midfielder.

Sunderland are disappointing so far this season, but they aren't bad enough to get relegated in my opinion. They are more likely to get better than to get worse if you ask me.

We were close to get a Betfair sponsorship before settling with the UNICEF scheme, it was fan opposition what blocked it Absolutely gutted had we got a betting site sponsor.

So your deal averages out to 2,5m per season. Although I guess it's a lower figure for the CCC that then rises if you get promoted. The bad thing of your deals expiring while being in the CCC is the lower figures the companies will offer you at this point, it's important that you still get good deals, since they will last you for a few years.

How does that compare to your current deal?

The owner of Udinese also owns Granada in Spanish Segunda B, half the players there are in Udinese's books even though they have never put a foot in Italy.

What he said about ESPNsports. They even have lots of brick and mortar branches that usually carry English soccer football shirts (might not find a Newcastle United one now that you aren't top flight, but I distinctly remember Michael Owen shirts on display at their Times Square branch years ago). http://soccer-gear.soccernetstore.com/search?w=newcastle

No, that's me.

Bah, just bring him in when you earn a freekick near the box, you can't sub him off again after he scores. Didn't he win some "best freekick taker of the world" FIFA award?

Amazing that Benítez brought Gerrard with him even though he was crooked because of "team spirit" and left Babel out.