BrettNUFC

He wasn't wrong, Ramsey was awful last season. Don't think anyone expected him to suddenly look like one of the best midfielders in the league. Yes he was wrong, he wanted Ramsey sold. He didn't question just Ramsey's form, he questioned his whole ability as a footballer, to say he wasn't wrong is wrong in itself.

And everything else he practically sprouts about Arsenal. Clueless. Can't stand him.

All managers say this before the league cup man, it's nothing new!!

Alan Smith (The commentator one) - (although the other one is a kernt too)

Which players in our side aren't good enough to wear the shirt and should look to move on then for better?

I don't disagree with much of that, our only difference of opinion seems to be on Pardew's ability to make a set of players into a team. Well he created a good dressing room atmosphere and made the players a team in the season we finished 5th so he has shown he's capable of it. He's proved when his side have got confidence and are on a good run he's capable of maintaining it. It's just when things become tough and he has a lot of questions to answer he gets found out for the s*** manager he is. I just think these players are good enough to paper over his cracks with their individual ability. Given the players haven't acheived anything near for the past 13 months i'd question your ability to make such a judgement. Being topped out on Bennies doesn't pass as a qualification to do so i might add. Fire away, question their ability, entirely your opinion to do so. I just think we have a very talented group of players that are finally all now fit and i'm hoping they knuckle down together and start getting some more points on the board. If they start to blunder their way into the relegation zone i still won't be doubting their talent, i'll be on the pardew out bandwagon. For now though, i'm all for the manager and side getting us back up the table. Seriously, wtf does that mean? 'i'm all for the side getting back up the table...' Because that's the last thing the rest of us want. You just plow your lonely furrow with that wish.... I mean i actually believe he will do that rather than just want that. A lot on here don't believe in us to do so and that we will have another poor league finish and even for some another relegation battle. So when i said i'm all for us getting back up the league, i meant i actually think we will finish high up the table. So i apologise the way i came across in that last sentence, didn't mean nobody else wants that.

Why do these always seem to announce their deals early? I would hate it if it came out Ben Arfa is signing for Liverpool in Jan or some shit like that.

I don't think he's that highly rated, we overrate him on here because he's not Pardew.

I don't disagree with much of that, our only difference of opinion seems to be on Pardew's ability to make a set of players into a team. Well he created a good dressing room atmosphere and made the players a team in the season we finished 5th so he has shown he's capable of it. He's proved when his side have got confidence and are on a good run he's capable of maintaining it. It's just when things become tough and he has a lot of questions to answer he gets found out for the s*** manager he is. I just think these players are good enough to paper over his cracks with their individual ability. Given the players haven't acheived anything near for the past 13 months i'd question your ability to make such a judgement. Being topped out on Bennies doesn't pass as a qualification to do so i might add. Fire away, question their ability, entirely your opinion to do so. I just think we have a very talented group of players that are finally all now fit and i'm hoping they knuckle down together and start getting some more points on the board. If they start to blunder their way into the relegation zone i still won't be doubting their talent, i'll be on the pardew out bandwagon. For now though, i'm all for the manager and side getting us back up the table.

I don't disagree with much of that, our only difference of opinion seems to be on Pardew's ability to make a set of players into a team. Well he created a good dressing room atmosphere and made the players a team in the season we finished 5th so he has shown he's capable of it. He's proved when his side have got confidence and are on a good run he's capable of maintaining it. It's just when things become tough and he has a lot of questions to answer he gets found out for the shit manager he is. I just think these players are good enough to paper over his cracks with their individual ability.

Wouldn't say so myself, depends on who the injuries occur to and for how long. If it's a Ben Arfa/Remy long term injury then yes, anyone else, not necessarily so.

Yeah, and some of our fans think Pardew is a tactical genius. Name and shame these fans please....

It was clear over the summer Venky that you're not happy with our current state of affairs and that we are doomed for failure again this year. I didn't expect that to change your opinion after 5 games. I've said all along that these players excite me. Krul is one of the best in the league, MYM has the potential to be a class act, Colo is prone to errors but oozes class, Santon will get better and better, Anita is starting to come in to his own and developing, Sissoko is still adapting but has the skill set to be a top player, Cabaye is a lovely player, Ben Arfa is a genius, Remy is looking a class act and i still have faith in Cisse, really think we still have a top striker in him. Then the bench isn't bad either with likes of Gouffran, Marv, Tiote, Taylor as cover for main positions. I've got no doubt in my mind we are far far better than what we showed last season and i really believe we will show that this season.

I'm happy with that progress. We finished 8 points from 8th last year and were absolutely s****. Anything over 50 points and you're pretty much odds on as you're really only the best of a bad bunch. It's only progress if we maintain it and/or improve upon it though. And Pardew showed last year that he's hardly reliably in that respect, especially without investment. We just need to steady the ship after the relegation battle last season, get some confidence instilled back around the city, our team is slowly building into something special we just need to keep trying to add little bits of quality here and there as we are never going to splash at big style like some teams do. We've came a long way already from the days of Barton/Nolan, we just need to keep pushing on. New owners and a new fancy manager would be nice but that’s not likely to happen anytime soon. Hello Alan. Sly dig at the fans in the end there and jobs a good`un. Do you go on my profile, check my posts and pick up on any you fancy? You've done it all afternoon. Just pointing this out because it's a bit cuntish tbf. Thing is you're contradicting yourself somewhat there Brett . You can certainly say we have come a long way player wise since Barton and Nolan, I would even agree. But why isn't our team any better than the one Pardew took over? Indeed some might say that the team is actually worse despite the personnel being of a higher quality of player. Why is that? It's a rhetorical question by the way. I've contradicted nothing in terms of my own opinion, i think this is the best side i've seen in years, i hope Pardew sticks with the majority of this team and blends it together, it has signs of the team that finished 5th but with more quality added to it. It should be but it really isn't. We'll see, just different opinions. I believe in this side. Do you believe in the team? Or the individual qualities of the players? Hello again Venky, been a while since we discussed. At this moment in time i'd say i believe more in the individual quality of the players. They've only really been together a couple of games so i'm hoping they can build a good team chemistry and progress as a side together and i don't see any reason why they can't. I'm not saying it has to be the exact side as it has been last couple of games, just as long as it's thereabouts, for instance Tiote in, Anita out, it's not a major change. I just hope with stick with the way things have been going and let them develop, Hull was a big set back but it’s by no means a forlorn conclusion that we are destined for a poor season, the future is still bright for this side. Right. We are starting something new, it's not a quick fix after last season, we've went back to our old formation that was successful, introduced new players into that formation and it's a different playing style. Last 15 minutes of Fulham give us a glimpse of it, then we prepared it properly for Villa and it worked a treat, but then came unstuck with it against Hull, it's still developing. We would have learned a lot from that game on Saturday, the players and the manager. Just stick with it and tweak the changes here and there, no need to panic just yet.

I'm happy with that progress. We finished 8 points from 8th last year and were absolutely s****. Anything over 50 points and you're pretty much odds on as you're really only the best of a bad bunch. It's only progress if we maintain it and/or improve upon it though. And Pardew showed last year that he's hardly reliably in that respect, especially without investment. We just need to steady the ship after the relegation battle last season, get some confidence instilled back around the city, our team is slowly building into something special we just need to keep trying to add little bits of quality here and there as we are never going to splash at big style like some teams do. We've came a long way already from the days of Barton/Nolan, we just need to keep pushing on. New owners and a new fancy manager would be nice but that’s not likely to happen anytime soon. Hello Alan. Sly dig at the fans in the end there and jobs a good`un. Do you go on my profile, check my posts and pick up on any you fancy? You've done it all afternoon. Just pointing this out because it's a bit cuntish tbf. Thing is you're contradicting yourself somewhat there Brett . You can certainly say we have come a long way player wise since Barton and Nolan, I would even agree. But why isn't our team any better than the one Pardew took over? Indeed some might say that the team is actually worse despite the personnel being of a higher quality of player. Why is that? It's a rhetorical question by the way. I've contradicted nothing in terms of my own opinion, i think this is the best side i've seen in years, i hope Pardew sticks with the majority of this team and blends it together, it has signs of the team that finished 5th but with more quality added to it. It should be but it really isn't. We'll see, just different opinions. I believe in this side. Do you believe in the team? Or the individual qualities of the players? Hello again Venky, been a while since we discussed. At this moment in time i'd say i believe more in the individual quality of the players. They've only really been together a couple of games so i'm hoping they can build a good team chemistry and progress as a side together and i don't see any reason why they can't. I'm not saying it has to be the exact side as it has been last couple of games, just as long as it's thereabouts, for instance Tiote in, Anita out, it's not a major change. I just hope with stick with the way things have been going and let them develop, Hull was a big set back but it’s by no means a forlorn conclusion that we are destined for a poor season, the future is still bright for this side.

That's the spirit Brett, we shouldn't build our hopes up too high. After all, Leeds will want to win the game too, and if they do we should clap them off and cheer their fans back onto their coach for a safe trip home. The above is basically how i feel about this cup. It's just an opinion, others feel strongly about this cup and will be devastated if we went out, i just have never been able to get that feeling for the league cup hence saying i'd rather win on Monday night than tonight if i had a choice.

Our trophy cabinet was too full on there arrival so they got told to back off with the cups...

Had to agree price with Leeds and with them knowing they would sell out regardless, i doubt they accepted a lower price, at least this is what i thought happened.

It's another big gamble after what happened with Di Canio, i was sure they would play safe with their next appointment. Fair play to them like, i think this one is actually a gamble worth taking unlike the last one.

So why not just drop out of all cup competitions and play matches against select XI teams behind closed doors? Sure people are overreacting at these comments like. They aren't saying they don't want to win one or they don't want to be in the cup. Just saying simply if they bomb out early it's not going to have an impact on them because they are more concerned for the PL. I'm sure most clubs feel exactly the same. As per we dive overboard.

Aye. "Sadly because of the way that Sky money controls football, cup competitions are not the priority of Premier League clubs" would be a lot more accurate. "Newcastle director gives honest answer to question" could be another. 'Premier League is priority'

Yes but if it's something you still want to achieve you will still try and achieve it regardless if you don't get any praise off your boss for it, just means you know it won't affect your overall job security if you fail to achieve your overall target, in this case, winning the cup.

'winning cup competitions is not a priority' Says everything. Yeah that would be slightly better title than your interpretation of it.

Thread title is a bit misleading.

It's not just Newcastle, majority of teams are like this till they bumble their way to a decent stage. Looking at last night's teams probably Mackems and Norwich are the only two sides that went pretty much full strength from what i can see. The others have done a lot of resting. The league cup doesn't generate the same interest as the FA cup, managers generally field weaker teams until they find themselves at a decent stage. If they go out i bet they don't lose any sleep about it. I'm devastated year in year out when we go out of the FA cup, i absolutely love it, i just don’t have that same feeling for the league cup, nowhere near. It would be brilliant to end up at Wembley but it's not the end of the world if we suffer an early exit.