N.A.G.A.S

"an initial 28-day loan period" smart move this.

Am I right in thinking the injured are: Saylor, Raylor, Sol, Smith, Gosling (recovering), HBA, Tiote, Guti, Shola, Carroll, Best Pardew said 9 after the match, but I count that as 11...

Krul Tavernier - Williamson- Kadar - Enrique Routledge - Guthrie - Nolan - Ferguson Lovenkrands - Ranger Subs: Harper, Xisco, Barton, Gosling, Collocini, Vuckic, Perch I would've put Perch on instead of Enrique but I didn't like the idea of a Ferguson-Perch left side. I didn't realise how shockingly thin on the ground we are until I picked the bench. I think it'll comes down to the severity of the injuries though. I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few others are available to be picked. But I've tried to avoid including any here.

After the performance from Loven and Best today he's got to be worried about his place in the starting 11

Repeating myself here, but, I still don't think you should be writing Nolan out of the team so quickly, his qualities may not be as obvious as an exciting winger, but we don't have any other players that pull the team together like he does. IMO you need experience in the middle and not the kind that Jailbird Barton has. But I'd love to be proven wrong.

Left wing NUFC: Harper; Perch, Williamson, Coloccini, Enrique; Routledge, Tiote, Barton, Ben Arfa; Nolan, Carroll. Subs: Krul, Campbell, R.Taylor, Smith, Gutierrez, Lovenkrands, Ameobi.

That would work! im playin that on fifa. isn´t Nolan described as a "hard working midfielder with long distance shooter ability" he is actually quite good in fifa 11 ps. it annoys me that caroll doesn´t possess the aerial threat....WTF Ha, I noticed this while playing yesterday. Carroll is awful on FIFA. Hardly ever wins the headers and spooned a ridiculous number of shots wide. That could just be me though haha I seem to have forgotten where the goal is recently. I play HBA as a forward. So far he's scored all my goals. Not that FIFA is a good indicator. On last years game Smith was undeniably our best striker.

We always look most comfortable when we play a conventional 4-4-2. So as amazing as 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-4-1 could be, I think it would be a mistake. I wouldn't want to take Nolan off the team sheet. He plays the part of captain well and his 8 goals speak for themself. Tiote is a must and he doesn't favour the right side, so you have to be looking at slotting HBA in on the left wing or up front next to carroll. I'd rather take off Shola/Loven/Ranger/Best than Jonas so I'd have him up with Carroll; at least initially to see if they can form a partnership. (obviously keane coming in would change this) But I don't think it matters where he starts. The best thing he gives us is the ability to play these different roles, which means we can move him around when we're finding it hard to break down defenses.

If we're primarily looking at a bunch of spurs players, surely it gives them the advantage when it comes to haggling... Without actually knowing what's going on I'm starting to think it'd be better if we just told them to Fuck off for trying to steal Carroll and took our business elsewhere.

You made me proud to support United, gave me faith when times were grim and put some of the biggest grins on my face in years. I'd buy you a pint any day of the week. Thanks Chris for you're undeserved loyalty and Truly Gentlemanly approach to management.

Beardsley

He's doing his impression of the angel of the north

This. He's better than Perch any-day.

This is a match I'd like to see club captain Nolan heading up. Would be great to see him take control of the game and lead out a team of youngsters with a few other strong characters. I think the best thing to try and do here would be to give a decent account of ourselves but I'd be happy to be out, the Carling Cup can't be a major priority for us this season. Morale doesn't seem to be much of a big deal with this Newcastle side after we picked ourselves up so well from the Blackpool game. So I don't thing anyone can argue against diving out of the cup. (just so long as its not a belly-flop) Also with Arfa on the scene we could rest Nolan at the weekend; play 4-2-3-1 with Arfa in the central attacking midfield role and go all out against Stoke. Any thoughts?

I totally agree. It's a shame we wont keep the home record and couldn't build on the 6-0 but at least we have some points to fall back on. Tough games coming up, we need to see some of this team spirit everyone's been falling over themselves to tell us about. For me Lovenkrands was the wrong choice, Ben Arfa looked promising when he came on but didn't get long enough to do anything truly decisive. Lets see Tiote for Smith next game otherwise I wouldn't change it bar bringing Arfa on earlier. Can't wait for Guthrie to be back, I have a lot of time for him. And Simpson would be so much better than "penalty-per-match" Perch

I don't know who you are, but by "Angel of the North" I assume you mean Shola Yes?