Wallsendmag

Cheer up for f***s sakes. We've got Rafa Benitez and at the end of the day we're playing one of the worst teams in the league. One of the worst teams but they're still above us. Not only that but they've beat us 6 times in a row, albeit heavily paedo assisted so they don't really count for much. I think Rafa is a great manager but he can't physically go on the pitch and score the goals Mitrovic should be scoring or head away the crosses Taylor should be clearing. I suppose we'll find out in just over 72 hours. Didn't we beat them 5 in a row before they started getting the better of us? That counted for nothing in the 6th game so what is stopping us from turning it around again? All good things come to an end, maybe it's time for us to get on top again. Us having a team full of cowards who fold at the first sign of having to roll their sleeves up and battle is the main thing stopping us. We still have a core of players here who have failed to turn up time and time again against these. I hope they prove me wrong but I doubt it.

I thought they were nervous as hell at their place, we could have easily gone ahead if not for our crap finishing. I don't think they will be confident either, especially under Fat Sam who will be all about keeping a clean sheet. Its' going to be poor game more than likely, if we can keep it calm and compact, we can get the win. Their defence is as error prone as ours so there will be chances. Unfortunately we'll still have those same crap finishers playing on Sunday.

He's still only 39. Should sign him up till the end of the season and start him up front with Doumbia to give us an instantly more mobile strike force than we currently have

Cheer up for f***s sakes. We've got Rafa Benitez and at the end of the day we're playing one of the worst teams in the league. One of the worst teams but they're still above us. Not only that but they've beat us 6 times in a row, albeit heavily paedo assisted so they don't really count for much. I think Rafa is a great manager but he can't physically go on the pitch and score the goals Mitrovic should be scoring or head away the crosses Taylor should be clearing. I suppose we'll find out in just over 72 hours.

Not trying to stick up for them but if I were in their shoes I'd be very confident as well. They know how to get the better of us in this fixture and they have a team of grafters who will play out of their skin for this one off game whereas we have a team full of cowards (6 defeats out of 6 for Sissoko who will do another one if his disappearing acts when the tackles fly in). Added to that they have Defoe who only needs a sniff of the goal to hit the back of the net whilst we have Mitrovic who is more likely to get sent off than score. Add that to the luck they seem to carry against us and it all points to an away win.

There's a better reason why he should be playing. Mitrovic.

I like Ranieri but I've had a hatred of Leicester ever since the final game of the 91/92 season so for that reason I hope Spurs win it. Can't see past Leicester now though.

Hopefully we can get Cisse fit for the run in and stick this cart horse on Paternity leave for a couple of months

They have a one point lead. Their better goal difference is worth an extra point etc etc.

Got this awful feeling we're going to get done by another dodgy refereeing decision against these again. Notice the ref for the last derby hasn't reffed a Newcastle match since. Looks like it's Martin Atkinson on Sunday.

Daft to write the lad of yet. Time will tell if he can step up and be a capable centre half at this level. Clearly he does have some decent attributes there to build on though. If Benitez stays on after the summer with his coaches he'll be in the best possible hands though.

Aye he was poor for their goal mind having watched it back a few times and the less said about his "efforts" to stop Bournemouths 2nd goal last week the better. Refusing to invest in a decent centre half and a centre forward in the transfer window will prove costly I think.

Tbf I said that. They gave us no time on the ball and constantly pressed us which could well have gave him the jitters.

A couple of the lads i watched the match with commented on that last night. Seemed to absolutely sh1t himself every time he had the ball at his feet.

I don't even think we'll score against them (yet again).

As bad as he was last night he's played a lot worse than that.

Mitrovic an 8. It's clear you have an agenda against him.

Maybe we should request that opposition players don't tackle him or get in his face and then he might play better? It's clear you have an agenda against him. My only agenda is that he's been here 4 years and played about 4/5 good games in that time. Shelvey's been here 2 months and has done more in that time than Anita has in those 4 years.

Well he was one of the best passers in the team last night. Hahahahaha

Maybe we should request that opposition players don't tackle him or get in his face and then he might play better?

I gave up on getting a fair cracking from referees a long time ago. There's only 2 decent refs in the entire league (Clattenburg and Oliver) and with them both being Toon fans neither of them can ref us anyway. Not a pen last night but Man Utd got a pen when the ball hit Mbembas arm from a foot away. Aye OK.

Last night was a perfect summing up of his time here. A totally anonymous performance where you wondered if he was actually on the pitch and on the odd time he did get on the ball he just played a simple 5 yard pass sideways or backwards. Looks like Benitez took less than an hour to see through this complete waste of a shirt so hopefully that's the last we'll see of him.

NUFC 0-1 Beasts (Defoe)

A much improved performance. Already after just a couple of days training the team looks far more organised and we actually looked as if we had some sort of game plan. However we have 1 serious problem and that is we have no centre forward worthy of the name. That was our 7th 1-0 defeat of the season and I fear there'll be quite a few 1-0 defeats in our final 9 games because Rafa will organise the defence but we just can't score goals. For that reason we're still dead certs for the drop but if we can somehow persuade Rafa to stop on in the championship then at least there'll be reason to be optimistic for the future. Another bonus was that it only took him 55 minutes to see through the totally pointless Vernon Anita so hopefully that's the last we'll see of him.

Some decent enough play but watching this it's painfully obvious why we've only scored 7 goals away from home all season and won't score here either.