Rich 75

after so many false hopes over the last 12 months, I'll believe this when it actually happens

although I knew Krul had talent from watching watching the Uefa Cup match against Palermo some years ago, definately impressed again by him today. loved the way Steven Taylor was psyching up Krul everytime a save was made

I felt Mark Lawrenson was a bit harsh when Krul came on when he said most Newcastle fans wouldn't have heard of him... usual crap comment. no wonder he doesn't appear on MOFD Highlights as often any more. I had a feeling we would loose 2-1 before the game, so am happy that we got a draw. Nice to see a game involving us where we had a lot of the ball. But the same old problem as last year, mainly in the first half where José Enrique and Jonas Gutierrez showed they haven't learnt anything and are still crap at crossing the ball. what the hell where they doing over the summer? you would have thought they might have improved. We were alot better than I thought we would be, but I stand by my opinion that Ameobi is a donkey. everytime he had a chance to head towards goal or shoot, he hit the opposing player! Also bit dissappointed that Gutierrez seemed to go down at times way to easily and that Coloccini actuallys calls himself a central defender as most of the time his positioning is terrible. Slightly worrying that the teams heads seem to go down when we went 1-0 down. hopefully that will wear off quickly as surely we will not find outselves losing as often as we did last year But on the plus side, was impressed by Smith as I wasn't sure he could do the holding midfielder role effectively and be a good captain, but had a good game. Feel sorry for Steve Harper, spends so long trying to get first choice. Finally does it. First game with the number 1 shirt and only lasts half the match. Although fantastic replacement in Tim Krul. Any of us that remember the match against Palermo in the UEFA cup know he has a lot of talent, and it was good to see him get his chance. I couldn't believe that Hughton went, what I saw as negative when he replaced Carroll with Barton as we don't seem to have the same threat with only 1 up front... more so when that 1 person is Mr Donkey. Personally would have liked to see Xisco given a chance as we paid all that money for him so might as well see what he can do at this level as we didn't give him much of a chance in the premier league. Overall, I have slightly more optimism for the rest of the season from that showing, but the delivery of the ball into the box has to improve alot and the defending needs to be alot quicker as players seem to mess about with the ball instead of just clearing it

I'd still go with Shearer, stick with him for the long term, write off this season... i.e. make the target to stay up, and look to 2010/11 for promotion

yeah but the money that has been received from the player sales recently probably went in his pockets anyway

what idiot offered him that much *shakes head* and worth every penny! well, if he can't find the netted region of the pitch again this season, then we're completely screwed

if this place is a madhouse, I should fit right in

surprised Beye went to Aston Villa, but good signing for them and good move for him, much better than Hull shame to see him go but can't blame him really. with the situation the club is in at the moment, the only thing he could do was move. sadly gaps are starting to appear all over the squad. If Ashley is going to stay on abit longer, he is going to have to dip his hands in his pockets and help us fill these gaps in the squad with replacements otherwise the clubs value will continue to drop and he will loose even more... almost like a snowball effect really

Hello all, after a few weeks of browsing on and off the board, thought I would finally join. I have supported Newcastle for about 13-14 years, although I actually live down South. Part of the reason why I choose Newcastle was I knew some people whocame from Newcastle at the time, was just getting into football and so they pushed me in that direction. Also I admired the passion of the fans and the stature of the club. I'll definately stick around and enjoy moaning about Mr Fat Boy Ashley with the rest of you

going through last season, I didn't think things could get much worse... then preseason came along. I get the feeling ashley knows he will have to accept less than what he wants for the club, so is making it up by selling players... which was going to happen anyway. the sooner this joke of a situation ends the better... although you get the feeling we could be stuck with fat boy for the whole season

I'd like to see the line up be something like... Harper R Taylor - Colo - S Taylor - Enrique Jonas - Nolan - Butt - Duff -----Xisco------Carroll----------- Ameobi - somewhere far far away trouble is I can see Ameobi being one of our "better" (used very loosely) players this year. still annoying we didn't get rid of him when we had the chance last summer