rogerbarton

I'd be happy to say Joselu wouldn't have scored either of the two goals Gayle has got against Man United and Chelsea, partly due to movement, partly due to speed, partly due to finishing.

A late winner which helped us - still 5 points clear of the relegation zone. West 'Am's next two games are against Chelsea and Arsenal, before they take on Stoke and then play us. Their confidence could be shot by that time

The PL is too unpredictable for us to be certain of anything. Otherwise someone would be winning that Super Six every weekend. I think we're a bit unfortunate to be facing Leicester when they're hitting a good run and Everton now they have Allardyce, but neither of those sides are unplayable in the way that Chelsea or Man United proved to be. If Lascelles comes back and the defensive organisation looks more like it did before his injury, I can see us putting in pragmatic but effective performances. Against Leicester the key is to be cagey and not let them hit us on the break. Against Everton, it's a totally different story cos they're slow as f*ck. I've got faith in Rafa to get that right. The other encouraging thing is that Gayle looks like he's got an eye for goal again, so if we can get some good service into him we might actually be able to score some goals!

Or that Russia got just about the easiest draw possible.

Jonathan Pearce doing his best Wogan impression for this draw.

I might stick up for Perez. And not just the off-the-ball stuff. Yes, he gets bullied a bit and can lose the ball frustratingly at times. But some of the stuff he did yesterday was very positive. He’s got a better touch & control than most (any?) of our other forward options. And our record with him in the team is a f*ck ton better than without this season.

I don’t think you can argue that Mitro doesn’t work hard and cause the defence a fair amount of hassle himself anyway. Some of the football we played when Shelvey came on was sumptuous. In particular the move that led to Yedlin scuffing it out of play. Also thought Mbemba by and large had a good game at left back. Athletic and good on the ball. Oi oi.

For the last few minutes. We were on top from when Clark scored with 31 minutes to go...

Thought we looked pretty good at the end, with Shelvey, Merino, Aarons and Mitro getting involved. Ritchie looked back to his old self too, and created both goals. Can't complain with a point, especially when it came from nowhere. When Lacelles gets back I'm a lot more comfortable. Oh, and Mitro was SO much better than Joselu when he came on.

Was absolutely dreadful defending by Yedlin in particular. And what a time to concede. He can't keep Joselu on now. Did anyone see his touch after Perez's backheel? He's hopeless.

Was wondering if Elliot might get the chop. Happy with the changes myself, though again would’ve dropped Joselu. Makes you wonder what he does off the ball that we don’t see.

Needs to be 4-2-3-1, needs to be unadventurous, needs to drop Manquillo (I dream), needs to drop Joselu.

I was one of the people calling for two up top, and I was wrong. Agree that we’ve looked much worse without Perez doing a lot of the ‘unseen’ work tracking back. I think we’ve got to go back to basic now. Solid, go to WBA and aim for a draw. Can’t afford another defeat to a rival. When Lascelles, Merino and Hayden are all back It’ll make a difference. Mitro surely has to get a chance now.

£260-£280m is about right, according to this wordy piece: http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/how-much-newcastle-united-really-13812059

And Atsu, Perez, Lascelles cost more than the Brighton squad? Didn't they spend more than us this summer? We could certainly have done with someone like that Gross.

You've got to remember that journos get their information from 'sources', some of whom only know half of what is going on themselves. It's inevitable that a lot of shite ends up getting published. To me, it makes absolutely zero sense to go through this whole process of looking to buy Newcastle - and they have actually gone quite far through the process - just to, what, show Liverpool they're serious about buying a football club? Why not just make a bid? I'm also extremely doubtful that, if they are as serious as all signs point towards them being, they're just going to leave it if Ashley rejects this bid. It's all about negotiations. This is how they work.

Hope, who’s been pretty reliable, saying Ashley will reject first bid that he believes is below £300m. Sources apparently confident they’ll up their offer and a deal could be done, though...

Personally have always rated Coleman, though you're right, David Kelly, to point out his record at Coventry. And, though I think he did an amazing job at Euro 2016, to lose out to Ireland was pretty poor. Don't forget there were some really poor results before Bale got injured. I'm pretty shocked he's actually taken this job, and managing to get someone of his ilk at this stage in their descent is a major, major coup that could save Sun'lun. That said, they look almost terminally bad, so it would take a huge effort to turn them into a competitive Championship side in the next year or so.

The difference between Merino/Shelvey and Diame/Shelvey is winning and losing. Especially with Gayle looking like a striker who could actually score a goal.

First half warranted us going in at least level. To be undone by two crosses was a real shame. Second half they ripped us apart, and as much as I loathe Man U, they were class at times tonight. Ive got total faith in Rafa to turn things around, and there were some really encouraging performances, notably Murphy and Gayle.

Even by England's pretty low standards, I'd like to think we're better than a team who scraped past Syria. You're no Iceland

I thought Southgate was an absolutely dreadful appointment, but he's at least called it out how he sees it and given youth a chance (albeit he didn't have a lot of choice). Playing three at the back means we aren't quite as dreadful at centre-half, and Jones, Stones and one other should do a decent job. Was impressed with Gomez the other night. Outside of Alli, Sterling's had a great season so far, I still rate Lallana as a class touch, Loftus-Cheeke looks a great prospect and we could play Rashford as an inside forward too, so I don't think our team is quite as bad as it might seem. That said, we'll probably go out at the group stage after a disappointing draw with Saudi Arabia, so at least there's not much pressure on them.

Did I miss HF's departure? Was it done in a blaze of glory or a cloud of controversy?

Not quite so worried about Yedlin - he's got the legs to recover from mistakes usually anyway, but Manuqillo is going to get torn a new one if he plays on Saturday. Would love to be optimistic but can't see us getting anything from this one.

How anyone can claim someone who's scored 23 PL goals in the last two seasons is worse than Gayle or Mitro is beyond me.