Altamullan

Yep, but I would prioritise in this order: CB,CF,CM,LB. Can't help thinking I'm in LA-LA land for continuing with this trian of thought as if it were a serious option, but I suspect with the contractual status of CBs, and visibility of our frailities (though not so much in last couple of matches) this would be the strongest probability. Who though? Fuck knows. Gutted at time, and not changed my mind, re Van Dijk; agree re common take on Shawcross, but don't know enough to spot more available play-alike-ees. At CF, Austin seems a safe bet, enough self-belief to be confident he can continue on the big stage, enough of a track record to make this seem plausible/rather than delusional. I would be delighted to tempt Shelvey from Swans; not arsed what some of their fans say, he has all the attributes to be sensational. He needs to have a team built around him, his ego stroked, and he can give us the drive, steel, and range of passing to make the most of our other decent midfielders. The Russian guy (who looks like Shane MacGowan...Dzagev?) seems like a Cabaye-mould player; which, as for most, is a major compliment. Would, on this Dennis (not at all) Wise, basis settle for him instead. Suspect we have enough cover at LB (Haidara, Mbabu, Colback & Dummet) to let this be for now. However, personally I would love to see Enrique play there (apparently available) with Janmaat on other side.

Like many, I was dead keen on getting Austin, plus another CB, preseason, but (rather embarrassingly) I don't feel I have seen enough of him to know how/if he would complement Mitro, or Perez, or either. Anybody in the know...in 'the think' I guess is more accurate.

{inserts earplugs...] call me deluded, but I reckon we'll get another 25 points.

Hi Minhosa, You already submitted the prdcitions below on 24th December. Suggest you confirm with Magpie which are valid. Gameweek 20 West Ham 1 v 3 Liverpool Arsenal 3 v 1 Newcastle Leicester 1 v 2 Bournemouth Man Utd 3 v 1 Swansea Norwich 1 v 3 Southampton Sunderland 2 v 1 Aston Villa West Brom 1 v 1 Stoke Watford 2 v 3 Man City Crystal Palace 2 v 1 Chelsea Everton 2 v 1 Tottenham

That's not an unattractive prospect. Big teams, competitive, decent grounds, travel's not bad.

Draw, four losses. Win, four losses. I could talk myself into us being due a draw!

Could do with a rock in the middle of the park...

Happy New Year Kai/All. No trouble at all: our median scores would have produced 297 points (Week 19 inc) which places Malcolm-in-the-Middle in 21st place. Lawro, who had his best week to date (30 pts, beating Guy Mowbray 18, and SAM/Super Computer 18) would now be first with 355 points (even though I've always just allocated Liverpool as his nom). Lawro's Guests would be 25th (out of 27 active players) with 277 points: an average of 14.6 pts per week, which is actually lower than anyone else. Our lowest average is 15.3--of the active players, though somebody did bow out early with a demoralising average of 12. Also, someone dropped-out with an unbeatable average of 26 (...was only one week mind, but WINNER!!).

Forgot to include ray of hope for us also rans; the Top Ten total points from the last five results captures some great performances from folk in the bottom half. If the 5 turns into 10 or 15, things can still look very different at the end of teh season. And of course, if ultimately, you're playing against yourself, then there's always something to play for... PLAYER Last five Last Five position Actual position South-Cheshire-Toon 98 1 23 sbnufc 93 2 26 Nev 92 3 3 NUFC54 92 4 19 jdckelly 91 5 9 GavMcEl 89 6 14 Kaizero 88 7 24 joeyt 87 8 10 Magpie 85 9 1 ben-nufc 85 10 17

After 21 sets of predictions for Week 20, our group guesses (median home and away goals, turned into results) are shown below. I’ve also shown the range of results predicted. Arsenal versus our ‘5-goals-for, 20-against’ unhappy wanderers, has the most nominations (11). West Ham 1-2 Liverpool (Home Win 2: Draw 6: Away Win 13) Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle (Home Win 21: Draw 0: Away Win 0) Leicester 2-1 Bournemouth (Home Win 19: Draw 0: Away Win 2) Man Utd 2-0 Swansea (Home Win 17: Draw 2: Away Win 2) Norwich 1-2 Southampton (Home Win 2: Draw 10: Away Win 9) Sunderland 1-1 Aston Villa (Home Win 8: Draw 9: Away Win 4) West Brom 1-1 Stoke (Home Win 2: Draw 12: Away Win 7) Watford 1-2 Man City (Home Win 1: Draw 7: Away Win 13) Crystal Palace 1-2 Chelsea (Home Win 5: Draw 6: Away Win 10) Everton 2-2 Spurs (Home Win 5: Draw 11: Away Win 4) In lieu of an end of year review, thought I would take a ‘halfway there’ look at which games have returned the highest and lowest scores by Magpie’s rules. Two games have produced zero points for us: Liverpool 0 West Ham 3, in Week 4, and Stoke City 2 Man City 0, in Week 15 (Stoke 4 Manchesters 0...can only conclude that the M6 is an unlucky road). The highest scoring game was Arsenal 2 Stoke 0 with 173 points, in Week 5 (on my reasoning, ‘The Arse’...evidently take the M1... unless they fly to Stoke as well?!?); this game had 16 correct scores, with 8 doubled-up and a 6- and a 4-pointer thrown in for good measure. Thus far, 15 games have returned over 100 points, and 14 games less than 10 points. The most predicable teams have been Arsenal, Man City, and Man Utd. With games involving them returning an average of 72, 62, and 61 points respectively. The least predicable teams have been West Ham, Liverpool, and Newcastle (never...). Games involving them have returned an average of 38, 39, and 40 points. If there was a league for points returned-to-us, Arsenal look like they’ll p*ss it, and we’re third bottom...hmmm. The most correct results happened in Week 12 with 38 (13.2%), 8 of them doubled up. The least correct results occurred in Weeks 11 and 13 (7 each, 0 doubled-up); though at least Week 13 had 12 6-pointers to soften the blow (Week 11 had 2). The most ten points scored was in Week 5 (10). The least, occurred in Weeks 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, and16; all 0. The average weekly score for the first half was 16.5. There are 27 regular players now, out of the 44 who have played at some point (from 1 to 16 games; average of 5). So if for nothing else, we can give ourselves a pat on the back for resilience/persistence. A happy and healthy 2016 to all.

If you're after a bit of more enjoyable procrastination, I've a fence that needs cresoted...

I've seen a lot of rumours and speculation about a new badge design on this forum and on Twitter. I work for a design studio in Newcastle and we were contacted by a club spokesman earlier in the month who wanted us to design a few quick sketches of a possible new badge for the club. The spokesman said there was an interest in changing the badge but not a definite decision that had been made yet. Whiff of BS about this...

Via the strange powers of NUFC... when I have that kind of feeling it usually (ahem... excuse my selective memory...call it poetic licence) signals a shock win!

I think you have forgotten the power of penfold

Kindle version available: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pavel-Geordie-Srnicek-ebook/dp/B018832VNO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451413735&sr=1-1&keywords=pavel+srnicek

Top post Doug... made me smile amidst my Pav-related sadness.

So sorry to hear this news. Pav always seemed such genuine guy. Humble, kind, but feircely competitive. Hearing about his upbringing (in Touching Distance) made sense of his values: " My parents worked hard. My mam looked after cows and my dad looked after pigs on a farm... Because we were poor I went to the farm with my mam and had a shower and then I'd go to school and then wait for my dad to come back from work, take his bike, because I had no money, and then go on his bike to the training session. This was my childhood." However difficult it may have been, it set the foundations for a wonderful person. A short life, but one that touched a lot of people; that brought positivity, admiration and (occasional) joy. Gan canny bonny lad.

For a while preseason it seemed like it was Thauvin vs Shaqiri as our much needed winger/creative signing. Shaqiri has a couple of goals, three assists and has created multiple chances. Hmmmm, that said he has actually been on the pitch.

The concerns about SMc for me are: not as responsive re substitutions and tactical changes as I would expect (slow to act, and reluctant to stick his neck out?); he seems risk-averse and sticks when he should twist; he looks scared, exasperated. God knows the game can be cruel, but I want to see confident and passionate leadership on the sidelines/in the cauldron--not least to model this to the players and also as this suggests that will be what the players are consistently receiving behind the scenes.

I would be delighted to sign Shelvey; shocked, but delighted. I think he can function as a linchpin at the centre of our disconnected midfield. Tie things together, create forward movement as well as more defensive confidence, and a calming influence. Laying foundations like this would enable others to do the lion's share of creating and scoring. I see him and Wijnaldum as two of the rising premiership MFD stars.

There is Pardew's excuse He'll be gutted he can't publicly flog him in January, though. Pardle is many things but not KKK.

All scores to be confirmed by Magpie. Week 18: We notched an above average weekly score (17.3), despite the normally reliable Arsenal’s capitulation meaning we only took a measly 2 points for their game (the ‘we’ means you GavMcEl). We have averaged a healthy 74 points from the other games involving Arsenal this season, i.e. they have been good to us/quite predicable in a year which seems to have had more than its fair share of unusual results. The Toon’s tough-to-take last minute loss (doubly) hurt ten of us who had draws (fifth flipping time I have lost points through an added time goal), but helped the 13 who predicted an away win: no correct scores, but three 4 point and two six point returns; hope they were some consolation. Looks to me as if eight players have got 20+ points, pick of the bunch (to be confirmed) is Kaizero with an impressive 29. I think Magpie will have swooped back to the top of the table (...you were there Sho’ but it all looks really close and you now may have dropped to third). Most impressive correct result, for me, goes to JoeyT, the only one of us to go for Stoke to beat Man Utd 2-0. However, have to mention four players who picked our 4-1 Man City result (Astroblack, ben-nufc, Magpie and POOT) two of which doubled-up! Well played. Lawro would have scored 16 points, beating our ‘Group Guess’ (12 points) but losing to his guest SAM (Sports Analytic Machine a ”state of the art super computer”) which would have scored 18 (gave it our game as double-up, as it was most nominated).

Week 19 (UPDATED: please use these) Crystal Palace 0-1 Swansea Everton 2-1 Stoke Norwich 3-0 Aston Villa Watford 2-2 Spurs West Brom 1-2 Newcastle Arsenal 3-1 Bournemouth Man Utd 2-1 Chelsea West Ham 0-2 Southampton Leicester 1-3 Man City Sunderland 0-2 Liverpool

Where was Mitro...sub him. No legs, no ideas.

Gameweek 18 Stoke 0-2 Man Utd Aston Villa 1-0 West Ham Bournemouth 2-2 Crystal Palace Chelsea 2-1 Watford Liverpool 1-0 Leicester Man City 3-0 Sunderland Spurs 4-0 Norwich Swansea 0-2 West Brom Newcastle 2-2 Everton Southampton 1-2 Arsenal Gameweek 19 Crystal Palace 0-0 Swansea Everton 2-1 Stoke Norwich 0-1 Aston Villa Watford 1-2 Spurs West Brom 2-0 Newcastle Arsenal 3-1 Bournemouth Man Utd 2-1 Chelsea West Ham 2-2 Southampton Leicester 1-3 Man City Sunderland 0-2 Liverpool Gameweek 20 West Ham 1-1 Liverpool Arsenal 2-1 Newcastle Leicester 1-2 Bournemouth Man Utd 2-1 Swansea Norwich 2-2 Southampton Sunderland 1-0 Aston Villa West Brom 1-1 Stoke Watford 1-2 Man City Crystal Palace 0-2 Chelsea Everton 2-2 Spurs