Stuy_O

I'd have Benitez me if Pardew goes. Might sound foolish but I do think he would come.

I was amazed by the pre match confidence in honesty. We produced exactly what I suspected they would.

Was embarrassing that yesterday. Starting to sink in now and i'm absolutely fed up.

My main worry really.

Still reckon a draw personally. I'm never ever confident ahead of these. All depends on how we approach the game, not them. They will start like players possessed so we need to 100% match that - then hopefully the quality we have will make the difference. We're due a home performance.

I doubt i'll be able to eat tbh, nerves will just obliterate any hunger.

I just don't want to be to over confident, then again I never am ahead of derbies. Gotta remember aswell that this is new for a lot of our players - they'll have to settle into it quickly. The likes of Taylor, Gutierrez, Krul are vital ahead of these clashes. Experienced players who get what it means. I just think it'l be a tad more of a scrap with their new manager, if it had been that bag of nerves O'niell i'd have really fancied our chances.

It's gonna be a tougher game purely for Di Canio in charge - they'll be up for it regardless of their injuries. Anything can happen in a derby so we have to hope they'll match what they get given. Something wrong if we don't. Think it could be a draw personally.

This. It's Sunderland man, we're at home. They simply can't be beating us.

They'd be 2 points behind us man and we go to west brom after that, keep in mind how crap our away record is. We'd be nowhere near out of it.

Agreed. Still a long way to go and that's whats affecting my answer to the question.

If we lose on Thursday it could be a helluva while before we get this close to a trophy. If we lose on Sunday we're still going to be in a fairly strong position to stay up. Each to their own. I personally would feel 10x worse if we lose sunday than I would if we got knocked out Thursday. Can't be having fucking Sunderland getting anything man.

We are not man, still a shit load of points to play for and some tricky games. Don't tempt fate. Todays result was excellent but it's not job done.

Until we are mathematically safe the league is priority. Europa league progress is a bonus, as much as we all lust for silverware.

Mackems game is more important. A shame but its true.

Should start games like we finished that one. The difference would be huge without doubt.

Reactions and passion like that is why I sorta stick with him, despite his faults. Love to see it.

That table is just horrible.

Was at a critical time aswell, I felt they needed a goal around that time or they would start to run out of steam. Mistakes happen and hopefully he'l respond, but his defending in the main has been poor this season. His age notwithstanding.

As harsh as it sounds he's becoming a weak link and teams are picking up on it. Not just the goal. He makes no effort to track back whatsoever - a moment shortly after his mistake when he was lost possession in their half, and he was out of the picture when they attacked, he wasn't even trying to defend. I still love him and hopefully he'll learn, but if we can use him solely as an attacker in the future then so be it.

Pretty much where I stand on this. I quite like him as a character and he's shown far more passion than previous managers, but tactically I don't think he's got it in him.

Fulham game is absolutely crucial. I reckon QPR will beat Wigan and Chelsea will more than likely beat the mackems. If we do beat Fulham then that would have us 4v ahead of them and 6 in front of Wigan, also creating massive pressure for Sunderland ahead of the derby. If we don't beat Fulham then we are in major bother, no doubt about it. I'm worried the team is going into another horrible run like earlier. Anyone can look at Blackburn last season to note that this is the worst possible time to start losing, although that's fairly obvious I suppose.

Quite upsetting this in honesty.

I find it unreal that quite a few are claiming he won the ball. I'v watched it countless time and he simply doesn't. Is it really worth comprehending that some people are defending the tackle as it's on a Newcastle player?