louistoon

Next matches are Rotherham, QPR then Derby all at home, as Brighton seems to have been postponed due to the FA Cup. Hopefully with Shelvey back we should have enough to win those games without him at least.

Its annoying that our league form has dipped so much because its quite a good year for a championship team to go on a cup run. 6PL teams already out with a few going to replays. Not bad for the third round.

All credit to the other Champ sides that won...they are showing the necessary character to come from behind in a pressurised situation and that is a quality this Newcastle team clearly lack. They managed it against Norwich by humping the ball long in injury time and getting lucky bounces(something they attempted in the last few minutes of this match and never looked like succeeding). I have said for a while that this team is FAR from certain to be promoted because they lack character, have become predictable and have been sussed out by other teams ; do not rule out a consistent challenge from Leeds either and Derby cannot be ruled out. Colback should never play again but will because we have Africans heading away for weeks. Rafa will have a tough task getting new players because other clubs can see our situation and hold him to ransom...we also do not look the certainties for promotion that we did a month ago. You cannot pull other teams apart if you lack pace...and we do, in a big way especially with Colback in m/f. If Rafa cannot get the players he wants - and the team clearly needs - we will struggle to avoid the Play-offs and heaven help us if THAT happens.. I think that's where our lack of creativity comes in, Shelvey aside. Its difficult to come from behind if you don't have players in a team who can create chances, and we only have Shelvey. I've seen nothing from any of our other midfielders that suggests they should be playing in the premiership.

Perez scored 20 goals in the spanish second division. Spanish 2nd division is completely different to the championship though. Even so if he scored 20 in a season I wouldn't say that he isn't a natural striker. Maybe not suited to this country but he can clearly score goals.

Perez scored 20 goals in the spanish second division.

f*** off man. Such a negative t*** these days. In my mind, Rafa is taking us up and getting us into Europe within two seasons. Minimum. Which of Man City, Man City, Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea or Arsenal are you expecting us to be finishing ahead of in two years? Who knows. It's doable though. We were ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea 2 years after getting promoted last time. I think we need to lower our minimum expectations a little bit or we'll only end up getting dissapointed. The best case scenario for the next 3-4 seasons is competing with Everton, West Ham and Southampton etc..., and then push on from there if any of the big teams slip up. If he can get us a consistent top half team in the next 3 years then I'll be happy. Anything else would be exceptional.

Making mugs of the people who stupidly wrote him off already They were mugs at the time as well tbf. At the time people were saying he was better than sissoko after he'd put in about 5 dogshit performances in a row and deserved to be dropped. Seems to have found his stride now though which is excellent.

Just been having a quick look at the table at this stage last year from here http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/league-championship/2015-2016/table/2015-12-12 Some random facts from this stage last season... Brighton had 42 points, exactly the same as they have this season 5 of the top 6 remained in the top 6 (Shef Weds were 8th at the time and finished 6th). 3rd and 4th place both had 38 points Burnley the eventual winners were 7 points adrift, with 35 points Fulham in 17th were the only team to have scored more than 30 goals.

he's gone at a rate of 80 minutes per goal this season

I'd rather we had him for Hull at least. There are 9 matches plus cup ties between that and our next big game against Brighton on the 28th of Jan

No but this thread has become a bit pointless. Barely can be bothered to click it most days. yes... but ... the graphs

well now we know. How long before that lass become's an alt-right twitter meme

I think all things considered its probably good that that video has disappeared

They're 18 points behind us I don't think for a minute they'll challenge us but they're only 5 points from Norwich now compared to 16 points 5 games ago.

That and Norwich's recent form shows we can't get too complacent like. There's still a long way to go, but it helps that there doesn't appear to be a strong team pushing us and Brighton. Be interesting to see if either Villa or Derby come back into it as they've both been getting results recently.

Amen! 13 wins from 15. Norwich have lost the last 4 on the bounce and Huddlesfield have started to slip off. Norwich have been shite since we stole the win off them.

Hopefully, I think its essential we try and get a couple in for next season in January so that they can get used to the system before next year.

Still to play 4 of the bottom 5 as well. Actually just had a look at our fixtures and in our first 5 games we played against the 4 of the teams currently sitting 2nd-6th bizzarre

Got drunk last night and went a bit mad John Akinde, Zlatan, Mitro and Suarez (2) to score £5 for 91 Arsenal, Spurs, Toon, Plymouth £10 for 80 Arsenal, Spurs, Toon, Plymouth, Athletico to nil and Messi to score £5 for 83 Arsenal, Spurs, Toon, Plymouth, Athletico to nil and Messi to score 2 £5 for 136 Newcastle 2-0 Mitro to score £5 for 60

If we have a decent lead by then then we may be able to convince a some players who may be useful next season to take the drop down to the championship for 6 months. It would be good to get some players in January if we can so they have time to bed in before the PL return.

I have heard from a reliable source that he is really enjoying life in general up here and, perhaps equally importantly, his wife is growing fond of the area too. They live in Merseyside? Yeah. But he does have a house up here (rented) and must be allowing her to visit occasionally by all accounts 'allowing her' aye what the fuck?

love that man

No exagguration to say it was easier to score that than miss it.

What i've done. tenner up so far. Kicking myself I didn't enter my champions league team from last wednesday into a high scoring game. Finished with 322 points. Keeper had a clean sheet and all 4 of my midfielders scored, including Ozil with 3 goals and an assist.

Terrible thing to say. The lad's in hospital for fucks sake