Dickie
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Posts posted by Dickie
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Only 52, what a shame. He was one of the best rock and roll singers ever in my opinion, a totally unique voice. Superunknown was a genuine masterpiece, still sounds incredible today. He was good with Audioslave as well, even if they didn't quite have the magic of Soundgarden. RIP.
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I'd say I have fonder memories watching Pedro, partly cos I was a bit younger and partly because of his style of playing - all that invention and enthusiasm, some of the things he did genuinely took your breath away. I remember that goal he scored against Norwich at home from near the touchline (95?) - there really was a split second between the ball hitting the net and the start of the celebrations - in my memory it seems like it took 36,000 people a moment to think "did he really just score from THERE?" before realising that he did.
However, thinking objectively I think I'd say Shearer was the better footballer. You could say he was in the top 3 centre forwards in the world in his position when he signed for us (probably along with Batistuta and Ronaldo) and I'm not sure you could ever have said that Beardsley was quite in that class for support strikers. Also, what Shearer achieved while still being a shadow of his former self after the first and subsequent injuries is basically incredible. The stats speak for themselves, but as DK says he never gets the credit for his all round play - his hold-up play was better than anyone I've ever seen, thanks to a brilliant first touch (be it on his chest, thighs or feet) under pressure, he was a beast in the air and was one of the best crossers I've ever seen. Add to that lot, he was proper hard and I never, ever saw him shirk a challenge or take a backward step.
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7 points from those 3 games is absolutely raker. I wasn't there and only listened to parts on the radio but sounds like another game where we played long periods without the ball. I think it might be stretching it to suggest Rafa would send us out to have only 30 odd % possession - it's always going to be preferable to have more of the ball than that. However I do have hope that Rafa and coaches will be using games like this to drill into the players how to stay in games when you're not playing well, how to stay disciplined when you don't have the ball, how make it difficult for opposition who are comfortable in possession to play through you. These are all skills that are transferable to the Premier League and skills that the team will need to show collectively against better opposition next year. Under Pardew for example we would probably come out of a game like that one, or even Huddersfield, thinking "we've scrambled a result there somehow", with nothing learned. Couldn't be further from the case with the present set-up - you really get the feeling that even a boring 0-0 where we only have 30% of the ball might well be an important part of our progression. It will be devastating if he goes in the summer.
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What a great 3 points. Tactics, selection and performance were excellent, and pretty much everyone did a good job bar the ref. First goal was lucky but we've had very little luck this season in my opinion. One think that I haven't heard mentioned much was that the pitch was very, very poor, which as far as I could see suited Brighton a lot more than us. I've been critical of Perez and I think he's shown that he can't be trusted to start games but got to give him great credit for coming on and putting that one away - what a goal. Shelvey wasn't able to dictate the play as much as he often has done this season - possibly due to Brighton being really well organised and conditions being difficult, but we still found a way to win. That's been a defining characteristic of Rafa's career almost everywhere he's been - his teams find a way to win more often than not and it's absolutely class that we're seeing it at Newcastle now. 2 points per game between now and the end of the season get's us almost to 100 points, can't imagine us getting less than 90, we'll be up with games to spare. This squad is doing a cracking job
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I think we'll win this one but that may rely on Mitro and Perez, if selected, not playing like total fannies. Even if we lose this I think we'll still be going up quite comfortably in the end
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Aye that's it Howay, I think we'll be fine. We could do with picking up 4 points from the next 3 games but even if we don't I still think we'll be going up. Even 1 point from the next 3 wouldn't be too bad, as long as that point comes against Huddersfield. However I think we'll pick up at least 6 and we'll be looking fine. Would be better if we didn't have Perez and mitro playing together - one of the softest strike partnerships I can remember us having, total powderpuff
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I'm sorry to say but these will all be in Rafa's squad next season, trust me. These are his go-to men, regardless of how poor they are he still plays them, he'll also look at them and say they've all got Premier League experience. I fully agree they aren't good enough but anyone who thinks Rafa will get rid is wrong. He LOVES them.
Happy to have them all in the squad next season but I don't think there's any basis for thinking Rafa loves them so much that he wouldn't rather replace them in the first team if he has the chance. Rafa's selections can only be judged on this season really and I'd say Dumett, Colback, Gouffran and Diame have all generally done their jobs well enough when they've played this season, and have all contributed to getting us to the top of the league. I'm not sure there's any case for saying any of them were worse choices than any fit and available alternatives. Perez has been disappointing for best part of 2 seasons now but he's still young and definitely has ability. I have found him frustrating most of the time this season but I'd give him more time and keep him involved as a second fiddle, to see if he can live up to his potential.
I'm with DK - I'd be very worried about a major overhaul, especially when we seem to have such an tremendous collective attitude in this squad, something which can take a team a long way and which we've lacked for years. Not to mention the fact that by the time we start next season this lot will have had the benefit of 18 months of proper coaching and getting to understand Rafa's systems. I'd like to see 3 high quality additions - probably centre mid, centre forward and winger. I'd hope to see a similar margin of improvement to what we saw when Robert and Bellamy made to what was previously a fairly average but solid team (I'm not saying our current team is as good as that one was btw).
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Well my lass is French so this is understandably causing us some concern. However I also work with two Spanish lads who are horrible pricks of the highest order and I'll be glad to see the back of them. Swings and roundabouts.
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Sorry, but Mitrovic looked a bit lost from my view of the game. Actually thought he'd do OK today and prove a point as much as he could in a rafa side but it's not going to happen and he's going backwards compared to last season and last season he was hit and miss. Felt a bit for him at times tbh. Zero pace and won fuck all in challenges.
He's far too soft. Normally they get better at using their size as they get older, not sure if he'll ever stop being soft as shite however
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Great to see Shelvey back pulling the strings. We've got to kick on now and put a good run of wins together in the league, which I fully expect us to do
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My problem with Perez over the last year and a half is that he doesn't make any great effort to get on the ball and try things. With young players you expect some inconsistency and you expect them to be trying things at the wrong times and in the wrong areas of the pitch, and you can forgive that cos you know they'll learn by experience. But the one thing they should have is bags of enthusiasm to get on the ball and make their name - it's just really odd that Perez doesn't show any of that. Loves a good rallying cry on twitter on match days mind.
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I thought he offered next to nothing whenever he's played in centre mid but he's done a very good job for us at full back this season. Rafa obviously rates him as he's generally been first choice. It's bit of a blow that he's going to be out for a couple of months
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He hasn't helped himself with his attitude like. The press in this country can be disgusting but he must have had a canny bit of criticism and pressure at Barca and Bayern, two of the biggest clubs in the world? He needs to be a bit bigger than he's coming across at the minute. I was really looking forward to watching Man City this season, I thought it was going to be class having a Guardiola-coached team to watch on telly, but it's all been a bit disappointing so far. He needs more time of course - it looks like he just doesn't have the players to play the way he wants to and he's only had one window and half a season, which is nothing, but the way that he talks in interviews gives the impression he really doesn't want to be here.
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The knee jerks on this message board are cringeworthy. We'll be going up comfortably
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Clarke will be moving into midfield with Hanley at the back
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A non-Newcastle piece this time but a good read about Knockaert. Seems like Hughton has again succeeded in creating a fantastic squad spirit down there.
Yes he's got a good thing going there. I think team spirit is the one area they've got the edge over us - they seem to be able to come back from going a goal down and manage to eek out draws and narrow wins, which is normally the mark of a good spirit.
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Close, I live on Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands. I'm coming back as the grass is always greener, and weather isn't everything
My first choice cities in the world to live in are Vancouver and Newcastle, and my wife can't get work in Vancouver so its Newcastle!Sure its nice to have Caribbean beaches, but the island is 20 miles by 4, 60,000 people - and I miss the footie, banter, friday night piss ups on the town, the food - believe it or not! There's 3 beers I can drink here, all lagers, no real real ale.
In my opinion, Newcastle really is one of the best cities in the world, the only ones I like as much, or better are Sydney, Vancouver and perhaps Toronto. Like I say, the grass is always greener somewhere else, until you live there a few years.
Ah right nice one, I hope it goes well for you
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not really arsed as long as I can afford it and there's not going to be chavs with glubags stuck to their noses on the metro home when Im wankered on a friday night.
If that's your main criteria S Gosforth will probably do the job - I don't know it very well but I always had the impression it had a low charva population density - seems to be all professional types but fewer students than Jesmond, which is unbearable during term time but really nice July to September. I would have thought there'd be a fair jump in prices between Longbenton and S Gosforth mind. Weren't you living in Barbados or something like that? Why the fuck are you coming back, if you don't mind me asking?
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Shite match, not helped by the half empty ground. We were a long way below our best but not horrendous by any stretch, especially given the number of changes we made. We just couldn't really get going again after we scored, which was a pity cos we started really well. I though Murphy looked decent but we just couldn't get the ball up to him enough. Gouffran struggled when he came on, as he always does when he has to play through the middle. Tiote and Colback not a good partnership, not helped by Tiote's rustiness. It'll be interesting to see if Rafa intends on giving him any more games. Sels still looks low on confidence when he's coming for crosses.
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Would probably agree on the whole with DK's assessment although I think it's a fairly easy role to play when he's alongside Shelvey in CM and the other players he has alongside him. Dyer's a funny one to bring up though as Colback will never do 10% of what he did for NUFC.
I agree on that as well - they were just the first two names that sprang to mind as examples of players who went missing when it suited them. Dyer a totally different kettle of fish as a player
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Nicky Butt never hid.
True, and he was in a completely different league to Colback, even when he was past his best when he was here. It's just that these last few games have reminded of Butt's predicament when he was struggling to do a job that wasn't really capable of. Coincidentally Butt was also heavily criticised at the time. For the record seeing one of our players hiding is one of the things that is guaranteed to wind me up (Dyer and Jenas spring to mind) but when I've seen him this season Colback hasn't really been guilty of that imo.
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The problem with Colback is more that him and Hayden are a shocking partnership (especially when we have a left winger who isn't exactly flying down the flank). Colback has been adequate when paired with Shelvey because they clearly compliment each other more. Hayden is a lot better than Colback but in this division, used in his right way, Colback is fine.
Unfortunately we've found out to our cost in the last few games, that we don't have adequate cover for Shelvey. Actually I think this has been evident throughout the season because generally in the games we've lost, Shelvey hasn't been able to dictate and we've needed another option that we haven't had. Which is another reason why people have wanted to see us play another striker.
Spot on imo. It's a bit like when Nicky Butt was struggling - iirc especially in his first season he was playing alongside other defensively minded (or just shite) players and he often ended up feeling the onus to pass forward and create things, which was never his game, and often giving the ball away. Not saying for a second that Colback is anywhere near the same class as Butt, but at this level I think he can do (and mostly has been doing) a decent enough job for us, provided Shelvey is playing alongside him and Hayden is not available. That's not to say I wouldn't be extremely disappointed to see him still at Newcastle next August if we go up.
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The crowd's as bad as it's ever been especially considering the circumstances. I suppose it's even worse for me seeing I've been away from it for a few years. There's so many there that blatantly don't give a fuck or are just expecting something unrealistic. Almost feels like I'm supporting a new club. Even the kids that try and make an effort are fucking clueless when it comes down to it. Maybe I'm just too stuck in my ways.
I totally agree. The people who treat it as a day out in town seem to be the majority now.
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Colback's been fucking awful imo. Not sure he tries his best either. Runs around a lot but hides plenty when we've got possession.
I thought he was terrible for hiding last year but I've though he's been better in that respect this season. It helps that he just needs to find Shelvey and that's his job done, not to mention it's a poorer league, but I think he's done that job OK to be fair to him. I don't rate him as a player at all but I really don't think he's let us down for the most part this season.
2017 GE 1
in General Chat
Posted
Despite the uncertainty and the hassle of having to go through it all again soon, this has to be seen as a huge success for corbyn. The country has taken a step towards arresting the slide into complete and utter selfishness and cynicism that it's been on for yonks - it's what we've needed and it is largely down to Corbyn as far as I can see. Against unbelievable odds and a total onslaught from the papers, backstabbing from his own party and massive inertia stubbornness and ignorance in the electorate he's managed to get an important message across and help a good few people to wake up. It is just a start but it will be interesting to see where things go from here.