maggiespaws

Top post Stevie. Not a wrong word in it. I totally agree too.

I'd have to agree with a lot of the stuff said so far. One of my biggest frustrations was Oba. It seemed every time we made a move and broke, when the ball reached him he'd turn around back to goal or try and run past 4 players across the pitch rather than play the ball forward. Especially as the likes of Duff had run forward expecting the flick on. No awareness from him at all. Losing Enrique was a big blow for us too. For all some of his passing was astray - he and Duff were causing problems down the left. He'd just come back and was obviously rusty, but there was plenty of effort there and I thought at some point one of them would come off. Pushing Duff to LB back meant we lost a lot of our impetus. We had a number of chances and taking a positive note - we created more chances in that game than we have in the last 6+ games imo. That in itself is an achievement. I honestly thought whilst watching the game, "at least we are creating, one of them will go in eventually". Might be a case of too little, too late now though I still refuse to believe we are down, but jesus it's not looking good.....

Agreed. They are their own men and I can't see Shearer working under KK. As much was said when KK offered to get Shearer in when he was manager. Shearer turned him down didn't he?

Bet that rocked! Were QOTSA supporting or was that just the opening show? Na, it was a band called "The Answer" which we missed because we were stood outside (admittedly drinking beer) waiting for some others in the group to arrive. ACDC rocked though. We all proper went for it. I might have gone a bit mental for You shook me all night long and highway to hell Fookin blinding gig and for a bunch of blokes just either side of 60 they can definitely still cut it. Edit: You just reminded me, the last time I saw ACDC they were supported by QOTSA - Milton Keynes in 00/01 ish Ahh I thought I'd read they were supporting this tour too Where do AC/DC get their energy from? Awesome! I'm sure Angus mixes his whiskey with water from the fountain of youth.

That's just the old number innit? Just goes to an answer machine? It is the same, sorry. I thought it was different to the number I had in my mobile but on checking; its not. Tbh, I saw the 0844 no and thought I'd tell people about the 0870 i came across. It's helped me out a few times

Bet that rocked! Were QOTSA supporting or was that just the opening show? Na, it was a band called "The Answer" which we missed because we were stood outside (admittedly drinking beer) waiting for some others in the group to arrive. ACDC rocked though. We all proper went for it. I might have gone a bit mental for You shook me all night long and highway to hell Fookin blinding gig and for a bunch of blokes just either side of 60 they can definitely still cut it. Edit: You just reminded me, the last time I saw ACDC they were supported by QOTSA - Milton Keynes in 00/01 ish

www.saynoto0870.com Newcastle United Box Office 08443721892 01912611571

loon

You got my hopes up. It's the original with a male vocal instead of a female vocal. Why would I want that? Am I the only one who expected this to be a cover of the Rainbow song Christ, I'm not that old am I?

Fair play for coming back with the source, but given who it's from; I'm even more sure it's bollocks now. Besides, putting Shearer's character aside for the moment, he doesn't need the money. What's the point in potentially damaging your reputation by getting yourself in for a job you know you can't do, just for the sake of money you don't desperately need? Don't get me wrong, you'd not catch me instantly dismissing a job for that kind of money (and timescale) if I were in his shoes. But then, I'm not currently a multimillionaire either

I've said this in other threads, but just to be clear - I dont rate Duff either - he's been a massive disappointment. However, he is at least a natural left winger, who (far less than he should) does occasionally get his head right and make proper runs down the wing, beating a man - particularly when he links up with Enrique. We need wingers to get crosses in and make decent passes to our forwards (of which we'd have 3 of on the pitch) and Duff is a winger. I know Jonas can play left or right, but Duff is even less effective on the right. That leaves Jonas for the right - who, admittedly; seems to suffer from the same lack of belief in beating a man and the same ability (or lack of) to put decent crosses in as Duff. They are both still our best winger options though ( ). Barton or Smith are far worse options on the right than Jonas. So, if we are to play 3 at the front, we either play 3 in the middle with Owen linking the two (moreso near the forward line though); or we pack the midfield and play 3 at the back. I'd say going with the former is a better idea as I'd not drop Saylor or Bassong and Beye/Enrique are essential at right/leftback. The team picks itself really. I wonder though, if Big Al will pick Butt over Guthrie/Barton - partly because he's at least match fit and also because at least he's shown some fighting spirit and does he deserve to be dropped for a 1/2 fit player?

So in the starting XI that Jimbo, Maggiespaws and myself suggest, who would you replace Owen with? (baring in mind we've already got Martins and Viduka on the pitch)? Either Carroll or a 442 with Barton in the middle Aye, Barton needs to be at least on the bench. He could play instead of Guthrie and give us some bite, but whether he starts the match or ends it (swapping with Guthrie) I can't see him lasting the full 90. Personally, I think we should start with Guthrie and bring Barton on as an impact sub later in the game. Same goes for Viduka (not lasting the 90), hence my earlier suggestion of starting him and replacing him with Carroll once he tires later into the match. I'd rather have the experience of Owen on the pitch with an option to take him off than the other way round and like I've said, Viduka won't last the 90 so Carroll is the obvious replacement when that happens.

Agree totally: --------------------Harper----------------- --Beye---Bassong---Saylor---Enrique-- --------Jonas---Guthrie---Duff----------- --------Owen---Viduka---Martins-------- For me --------------------Harper----------------- --Beye---Bassong---Saylor---Enrique-- --------Jonas---Guthrie---Duff----------- --------------------Owen------------------ --------------Viduka---Martins----------- This for me. That's exactly what I was going to post. I'd swap Carroll for Viduka part way through the match if the fat man is tiring (which he will be having been out so long). Really, Jonas and Duff have to push forwards and make runs and crosses. They need to learn fast too

I was about to post "thats not a dog it's a hand muff" but you beat me to it

I thought it would work out at 500k/game if we stayed up and he got his bonus. What's your source on this? Shirley it's just paper talk. £4mil for 8 games in charge? Sounds like bollocks to me.

ACDC - Rock n Roll train. Just before I leave the office and head into Manchester for tonights gig. I'll be deaf tomorrow

For the record, I'm in the I wont believe we're going down until we are actually down. I'm also still insanely optimistic that we'll do something we've not done all season - win 3 off the belt at home! tbh, that's probably more a measure of my Insanity than anything else

To be fair we are down, we need to win 3 games to give us a 5 point lead of the mackems and hope they don't pickup 5 points from their remaining 5 games its simply not gonna happen, if the Mackems win 2 games and hull nick a result we are down even if we do win those 3 games Oi! The thread title is Insane Optimism, not Glaring Reality Keep up eh?

yeah, sure we will.

Absolutely spot on article. Nice for a change too

Fucking hell, just made my night with that post Trigger.

You're being kind to say "even" rather than "slightly". That's the kind of guy I am.... ..... outdoor apparel donned and transport is forthcoming!

That looks familiar, is it based on something else? Not the subject obviously EDIT: Googled for my own answer - it is a song by Right Said Fred. God knows why it looked familiar to me though! Top effort though HF New Edit: *shakes head and hangs it low* The song was by Bernard Cribbens and was called Right Said Fred. I need to look at things more carefully instead of trying to quickly edit my posts HF's post is even funnier if you read it with the above tune in your head

Indeed. Duff just hasn't recaptured the form we bought him on the premise of. Really, our attacking midfield demise began when SBR went. Souness was instrumental in that and Big Sam made sure we had plenty of cloggers. In one respect, a couple of cloggers is not such a bad thing as long as they can pass it to someone who can do something good with it (Copyright Brian Clough). We can't do the former and are struggling for the latter