BigWalrus

Depends on the formation and the other players at disposal. Take Arsenal for example, with Fabregas and Nasri. Tiote could have sat quite nicely behind them and mopped up.

Fair dos marra

Aye, his success rate won't have gone unnoticed. Hopefully his north east roots will convince him that his future lies here.

Doesn't sound simple to me...

Fergie doesn't sign Africans.

And here's me thinking Shakespeare died in the 1600s...

Douglas is a class act. Tall and good in the air, but also comfortable with the ball at his feet. He'd be brilliant alongside Coloccini.

Just read the article. The council are in the wrong here. They're within their rights to keep signs as they wish, but not to write to the media telling them not to use the new name. Whether we like it or not, it has f*ck all to do with the council.

Can't agree. We can have a stab at the Europa with a fringe squad, developing our players and giving our fringe players some games. We don't need to go all out and make it our number one priority. Qualifying for the Europa League will allow us to more easily attract one or two new additions, and move the squad forwards. Realistically, we can't compete with Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea, and in the immediate future I think Spurs and Arsenal are a good few years ahead of us. We have no guarantees whatsoever that we can even qualify for the Europa League again next season, so we should happily accept qualification this time around. Whoever we bring in as backups, a long term injury to Krul, Coloccini or Ba / Cisse could easily scupper our chances (just as Arsenal would be buggered without RVP and Man City without Yaya Toure).

How silly. Is he also going to sue Nexus (to change the name of the metro station) and whichever authority has the decision to rename St James' Boulevard? Presumably St James Gate office block near the Redhueugh Bridge will also be sued to change the name of their office block too.

If you did it to the referee, in a similar off the ball context, you'd be sent off.

Fair point. But nice to have the option! If we're going all out for a CL spot, I would imagine we'd push more for that too.

Like a game of Ring-a-ring-a-roses ? Exactly like that. Only you have to jump in the air, tuck in your legs and fall painfully on your side as if you've just been shot by a sniper while bouncing on a trampoline.

Williamson has generally been canny, but has suffered from making a couple of fairly big mistakes in each game, which is unfortunately the bit that is remembered. Cisse missed two good chances against West Brom, yet was in the running for man of the match. Williamson did most things right all game long, but made one poor mistake and was given dog's abuse. Unless you're making spectacular tackles and blocks, nobody remembers a solid defensive display - only the mistakes. Ben Arfa has a lot of baggage. He has a history of throwing tantrums and generally not being a team player. There was never any doubt that he has talent, but managing his ego and finding a way for him to function in a team is a huge, huge task. Pardew has found a way. Despite initially earmarking him for a number 10 role, he's now playing him wide right. Accidental or otherwise, this is working a treat. His mere presence means that the opposition full back is pegged in his own half, relieving a bit of pressure on Simpson. In the number 10 role, his lack of defensive contribution left Cabaye and Tiote working overtime, leaving massive gaps in midfield. The fluid front three of Cisse, Ba and Ben Arfa looks like the best forward line we've had all season.

It was a red card offence. Perch went down without due cause though. The only (tentative) argument I can make in Perch's favour is that by going down he probably made sure the situation came to a close. If he'd stayed on his feet the situation could have got messier, possibly resulting in Perch going too. Reina may even have gone down if Perch had stayed on his feet. Who knows.

Players are paid handsomely in appearance bonuses. Having an extra batch of games for the season means we can retain and play our fringe / backup players more often. It takes clever management of the squad to pull it off, but there is absolutely no reason why we should approach it with anything other than positivity. Two examples for you. Stoke City - Tony Pulis has done nothing but whinge about being in the Europa League. He has used it as an excuse from day one, so he could justify the dip in league forum. There is no doubt that this attitude rubs off on the players. Birmingham City - Chris Hughton has been nothing but positive about being in the Europa League. He has managed his squad of players to cope with the extra games (on top of playing 4 more games in the Championship anyway!). His players have responded well and Birmingham are looking likely to reach the playoffs, after starting the season as relegation candidates. I have no doubt that Pardew would be extremely positive about qualifying for Europe. We would approach it sensibly. We could give vital first team appearances to the likes of Vuckic, Abeid, Sammy Ameobi, Remi Streete etc, whilst rotating some of our regulars to give the fringe players their appearances. Plus, above all else, we get some mint trips abroad to watch our team play in European competition. I honestly don't see how that could be a bad thing! What's the alternative? We don't qualify for Europe, so we can concentrate more on next season's push for qualifying for Europe? Madness.

LeazesMag - you are like a stuck record, going over the same bizarre points over and over again. I don't think I've heard anyone liken our strategy and mindset to bliddy Bolton Wanderers. You're either a visionary genius who sees things that others are incapable of, or a deluded, opinionated, attention-seeking fool. I know which option I'd put my money on. There is plenty of sensible discussion on here and in real life that serves as a better use of my time, so, with regret, I will not be responding to or reading any more of your posts.

There's some ugly fuckers in that crowd!

I haven't mentioned Bolton at all. Bolton had a completely different strategy to us, and that was to build a team for a season, made up mainly of players loaned from abroad. We, on the other hand, are buying players who are young or approaching their prime. This has the effect of ensuring that we can either take advantage of the best years of their careers and / or receive decent compensation if the player chooses to leave for a big pay day. I am capable of forming my own opinions through reasoned logic. Whilst I'll read what other people have to say, I am my own man, and will form my own views. There are sound, reasoned views coming from match-goers as well as those who don't go the games, just as there are bizarre views from both camps. In all honesty it generally doesn't make that much difference whether they go to games or not. In order to break into the top 4 quickly, we would need to spend at least £200m and consistently pay out ridiculous wages. In other words, we'd need to mortgage the stadium and Mike Ashley would need to write a quarter of his fortune over the next couple of years. Not going to happen. I want a club which is self-sufficient and able to pass the UEFA Financial Fair Play rules with flying colours. If Ashley pumps in quarter of a billion, we will fail the tests, we won't be allowed to qualify for Europe and the best players will want to go elsewhere. So our options are: a) Ashley pumps in silly money so we can rise up the league, but we can't play in Europe as we're a substantially loss making business Ashley oversees a strategy of going after the future stars, building a team which appreciates in value. We may receive huge offers for players, but use this cash to fund the purchase of more players who fit the buying policy. c) Ashley refuses to sanction the sale of a player who wants to leave, as "we're not a selling club", resulting in unhappy player disrupting the team and negatively affecting team morale. To me, option B is the only option. It's sensible and will ensure long term growth and long term stability. In the medium term, the best up and coming players will want to come to NUFC as we have a reputation for giving players a superb grounding and introduction to the Premiership. Over time, we'll improve our reputation to the point that we're seen as a better option than many of the clubs that we once sold to. We need to continually improve, but sometimes it's about taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture. Throwing money at buying players doesn't mean we're going to suddenly become world beaters. We need to be signing players who WANT to play for us. We shouldn't be signing players who are only coming because we're offering more money than Spurs / Liverpool etc. We should be signing players who buy into our approach and strategy. This makes building the squad a more time consuming activity, but it gives us far less chance of buying duds like Guivarch, Luque, Bassedas, Maric, Owen, Boumsong etc. I'm not totally sure what you want from the club. You bang on about wanting us to be progressive, but by the very defnition of the word we have progressed: - more points - more goals - more clean sheets - more full internationals - bigger attendances - higher league placing - top players secured on long term deals, so they either stay or we received suitable compensation for them - club is no longer loss making - healthy cash balance to fund future developments - no reliance on bank funding whatsoever This makes us progressive.

Backpage are doing it for £25. The match tickets are £25 a pop

Do you read these posts back to yourself before you click "post"? Our squad and in particular our first XI is stronger than it was at the start / end of last season, other than at left back. So that means we've improved and built. But we've also got £40m for our two top scorers last season. We've demonstrated that we are a selling club. We've demonstrated that we've improved and built. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Cabaye has looked much better recently, after his form dipped following his suspension. Guthrie has been canny, but I don't think we can build a midfield around him as he seems to be so injury prone. He's always picking up knocks and missing a game or two. I'd probably go for Cabaye over Guthrie, simply because he is better at quick short passing, a skill which corresponds with Jonas and Tiote.

And in complete contrast to Dalglish, who timed his substitution of Carroll perfectly...for us.

Ben Arfa must start, surely! And Williamson is fine against the big lads. Stick him up against Carroll and he'll give him a decent battle. Perch will be left with Suarez to cover, aided by our holding midfield. We have a stronger forward line, we have a stronger midfield. We have to play to our strengths, and that is attacking.

Big Andy was never afraid to 'tell it as it is'. Haha brilliant. Maybe the world of football forgot that he used to play for us.