colinh9

Well then, I hope you won't be claiming we were "unlucky" not to win today then

I'm honestly surprised that I'm seeing such positive thoughts about this match. Home losses to Swansea and West Ham are not acceptable if you want to challenge even in the top 8 in this league. We had two decent players on the pitch, HBA and Ba. The rest were absolutely dire. Now I know we have injury problems and are missing our best CB and CM, but that's the point people are making- we KNEW that we wouldn't stay so healthy/lucky as we did last season (even without Europe folks) and that we couldn't rely on the likes of Williamson to push towards another top 6 finish. Let's face it- there were a lot of times we didn't deserve to win last year but did. Now maybe that luck has turned.... So we shouldn't be relying on that. We needed another young striker to challenge Cisse/Ba. We needed a full-back to challenge Simmo and even Santon if he's having a bad run. Frankly, I even thought we needed a winger. We got none of those- and spent a whole negative 3 million on transfers. For a squad taking on a bunch of extra matches, that's really poor. It's not doom and gloom- I don't expect this team to be relegated or even have to fight that challenge at all. However, it's bitterly disappointing that after years of struggling to get back to the top 6 in English football we broke through and seem to let it slip out of our grasp. Had we made 10-15 million in investments- who knows where we'd be sitting right now. Call me a pessimist- but I don't see the likes of Caybe, Ba, Ben Arfa etc willing to sit around for a club that's 12th in the Premier League.

At least Gomez had a little bit of creativity. Fucking hate mumford & sons.

I get not being held hostage by other clubs- but we needed to push forward and if we had to swallow 4-6 million extra to get the players we needed in it would have been worth it. Not asking for 10 million pound signings, just if someone is asking 7 and you are offering 5.5 there has to be a resolution in the middle. Fact is we MADE money off this transfer window, and for a club looking to push on that's some bullshit Anyway- he's right about getting into Europe too soon. I've been saying it all along- we are going to get screwed because of it like so many clubs before (this comes down to the investment)

Ben Arfa's performance was disgraceful. Lack of investment shows- that back four was fucking miserable. Lucky to escape with a draw against one of the worst teams in the league at the moment. Still not a good performance this season. Full credit to Demba. First goal was really special. Harper and Williamson were the only other two that played well. Tiote was decent. Rest were pretty dire.

AYE AYE Perchino

Fair enough- I'd probably go with The name of this band is.... simply because of the quantity. And the song Drugs (Electricity) and it's counterpart. Sooo good live

Great band. Lots of fun live too.

So, we are comparing Newcastle United to one of the biggest clubs in the world? Of course there is a bit of self-preservation in terms of every manager. What I was saying with Ferguson is that his club is being run into the ground by owners who are putting it into massive amounts of debt and profiting off it. So either Fergie is on the take, or even he isn't big enough to question his owners. I'm let-down by the lack of investment in this team. Very much so. However, I just think you are spouting utter nonsense

Oh, you mean the same Fergie that watches the Glazers fuck over Manchester United? Then commends them?

Can we close this thread down? Nothing but utter stupidity now. All the people that said yes, said "start him against Manchester United" Nobody wants to move him to the reserve team FFS. Just not in the starting XI for Reading. Fuck. ing. hell.

Lolwut

Lol, carry on then

Clearly, you did not read past the thread title

Anyone got a link to a stream? I'm getting blocked from atdhe here

Well I believe you are conflating my idea of spending money with reckless spending. Asking for more money spent does not mean that I want the days of insane wages and Michael Owen signings to return. Quite the contrary; I've been delighted with the business we've been doing and the personalities we have signed. I wouldn't want us dropping 15 million (see all my Andy Carroll posts) on one player. I just wanted SOME investment. We needed a young striker, we needed a CB and full back and we needed a winger that wasn't named Gabby Obertan (Marveux hasn't proven anything either). That's in addition to what we brought in. That said, I'd be a whole lot happier if we had at least made 2 of those 5 needed signings. Now we have players a heartbeat away from critical matches that have no business being there.

Just saw David Byrne with St Vincent last night. Absolutely top-notch show. Had 4th row tickets at the Beacon Theater in NY. Remain in Light for me. One of my favorite records that I own.

Fair question. I'm in one of those weird in between moods. Had a fantastic last few days, saw three tremendous concerts in 4 nights....but work is a pain in the ass. Sitting here killing some time until my boss comes

I suppose this is the problem with polls- make it too black and white. Most of us seem to agree on the way forward- but it's a one sided poll

On the face of it, it's obviously a trophy. I've yet to see one in my life-time and most of the time I just assume I never will. So winning something would be really nice. However, with the way we are set up currently, we need to have progress in the league. If we won the Europa or FA Cup, it would be something special- but don't forget that no player is going to be all that excited by a team who finished 13th but won the FA Cup. If we want to keep progressing as a team and adding to the squad- we will have to progress in the league and eventually get into a Champions League spot. I don't want to win a cup and then take a giant step back as a club. I want to keep pushing forward. That's why the lack of investment this year really, really pisses me off. We finally have a shot to take that next step, to challenge in the top 6 and make another push at that 4th position and our net transfer spend is -3 million. Fucking horseshit. It's not so much that our first team isn't capable, but your first team doesn't stay healthy. When you have to bring Gabriel Obertan off the bench- yeah, I don't think you are a Champions League calibre team. It also forces us to have this debate about which team to play in the cups. Our first XI is so obvious it's painful. You want to have people competing for first team places...we have that in about 2 spots. Anyway, I'm ranting...

Agree with this.... Also, let's not forget that these guys need to get minutes no matter what. Our second team is going to need to win some games. Like I said before, a lack of investment is what will hurt us everywhere.

This looks perfect to me. Mix in a few first team starters. If we start playing the first XI in every match we won't make it to March without being decimated by injury. There should have been more investment in this team because we knew we'd have all these games, but there wasn't and there isn't much we can do about it now. For those who want a full squad- would you rest the team against Reading? Fair enough if your priorities lie elsewhere, but I'd basically play this type of team until the semi-finals. Some of you are acting like it's guaranteed we win this competition if we start our best team. What happens if we make it to semis, lose, and have sacrificed points along the way in the league? Are our players going to stay because we finished 12th and made the League Cup Semi-finals? This problem is really going to pop up more and more as the season goes on. If we reach the knock-out stages of the Europa League and are in-reach of the top 6 in the league- we are going to have to set priorities. The squad simply isn't big enough to do both. Real shame

Agreed. To be fair, everyone was saying before he got here that the partnership had never work for Senegal. They both seem to be poachers that are incredible in and around the box but make similar runs and don't play off each other well. Even further, as you mentioned...he has not been getting in the right positions or creating chances. Hasn't even been holding the ball up well. I think we should try the 4-5-1 against Reading. 1) I think we would get the full amount out of Ben Arfa if we played him as a "Trequarista" Where we have been using him lately has been ineffective 2) Jonas isn't a CM, let him get back to the wing where he is effective and has proven to create chances- albeit we all know his final delivery isn't the best 3) Pair Cabaye with Tiote/Anita in the middle. This will allow Anita to slot to RB when Tiote is ready to start- and also allow the freedom for Cabaye to go forward a bit more. 4) The 4-4-2 hasn't worked for us at all. And this 4-3-3 with Ba playing out wide is fitting square pegs in round holes. If we are going to play the 4-3-3, I'd rather us start Jonas out wide and have a Cabaye-Anita-Tiote midfield with Cabaye at the top, which would really allow him creative freedom. Enough of this Jonas in CM nonsense just to get the players into the squad that deserve it based on past performances in other positions. Makes no sense. Anyway- people keep saying "Play him Wednesday and he will regain his form"....that's what I'm suggesting. Nobody in their right mind is saying don't play the lad at all- shit even if we wanted to do that we don't have the depth. Point is, play him in Carling Cup Wednesday and unless he is lights out or demonstrates he should be in the starting line-up, then play a 4-5-1 with Ba up top against Reading away from home.

I highly recommend checking out Grizzly Bear if you folks haven't heard. New album is fantastic. They will be playing at the Sage in October.

Simple question. For me, yes. Start him in CC and Europa alongside Shola until he regains his confidence/form.