Dr Gloom

you need a boozy night out with your pals, hopefully a one night stand or failing that a strip bar. that'll take the edge off for starters.

Harper for me too. And i agree this game is massive. The league is getting too tight for comfort.

Surprising how many people turning noses up at keane given he'd walk into our starting 11

Strange hotel that. When I stopped there everyone was dressed in black. It was a tad surreal. Had a trendy nigh club underneath where Ridley Scott and a few celebs were celebrating something? The breakfast was crap so maybe an early morning trip to McDonalds might be a good idea. it was a last minute mystery hotel, not first choice but close to everything. It's a nightmare getting south on nye cos they shut all the bridges. We can see the fireworks from our room though which is nice as the mrs is too big to be tackling the crowds

Just checked into the park lane hotel for the night then dinner at tamarind later. Just me and the mrs. She's pregnant and off the booze so having a chilled pampering night just the two of us

Typical toon winger, talented and frustrating.

a loan deal with spurs paying some of his wages would probably be the only option.

Fuck me. Johnson is rubbish

Better bowling attack tbh

Fucking shite man. I'm Jesus of Nazareth if we deserved that like. Cunts

I watched that last night. Agreed. Canny

On the second day of christmas my true love gave to me ... An Aussie collapse and Strauss and Cook half centuries

Massive wicket!

4 bowlers again. Should have dropped colly instead of Finn. Good start though

Leazes coming second so far

got to be leazesmag but i say that in an affectionate sort of way. kind of

great lad hughton. biggest travesty since sbr was sacked

never really seen what he's got against him but all the same

gemmil for me. it's rare one of his posts doesn't make me lol. shame he doesn't post as much in the newcastle forum these days.

who's "that american bloke"?

stevie gets my vote too. he's consistently spikey, contoversial, provocative, entertaining, funny and he's bang on the money with his football nostalgia. the forum would be far duller without him.

leg breaks shouldn't damage his pace. players can often come back stronger these days from fractures. it's the knee and ankle ligaments you really need to worry about i reckon.

get him signed. it'd be like a new signing

to be honest mate, if the mcg is another featherbed like the first two tests i fancy us to retain the urn as our bowling attack is better than yours. if it's a lively pitch (unlikely but they're bound to try to prepare one with a lot of grass on it after perth) then you guys are in with a shout as the occasion could still get to the frail minds of our side. at the end of the day they're english and they're playing under pressure to do something that hasn't been achieved for a generation. with that in mind, it's very likely it could still go tits up for us. looking it on paper though, i still fancy our chances, especially if we go for bresnan over colly and promote bell to number 5. prior is a more than capable number 6 and bresnan can sling his willow at number 7 while sharing the workload with the other seamers and taking the pressure off swann to tie up an end. Well, a lot will obviously depend on what happens on day one. Expecting a crowd of 100,000 and with momentum towards the Aussies, the English will have done well to overcome that. The pitch will be nothing like Perth's but it'll be green as there has been a lot of rain and moisture on the eastern seaboard of this continent the last few weeks, plus of course the groundsmen will make sure it is moist come boxing day. Not too sure I agree with you about England having a superior bowling attack. Ryan Harris will prosper on that wicket, as will Siddle and if Johnson can come near to replicating his accuracy he showed in Perth, and that's even before you take into consideration Finn will be rested and Anderson has a few aches and pains, well, I don't see any kind of superiority, if anything England are inferior. We'll have to wait and see there. As you mention also, England traditionally have a propensity to choke under pressure. Fascinating stuff, it being all up in the air, I'll be sat on my sofa with prawns and blue-swimmer crabs to devour and Coopers and a few glasses of cab-sav's to wash it all down with. i disagree about the bowling. i think johnson got lucky with some assistance from the fremantle doctor. i've never seen him swing it like that before although i know he did somethign similar when he tore through south africa a few years back. if he gets it right, he's dangerous no doubt - clearly you don't get to world number 1 without being dangerous. but he reminds me a bit of steve harmison - when he does get it right, it's less to do with his action and more to do with a bit of help from the conditions or everything just clicking into place on a given day. i'd be suprised if he repeats that perth performance - he threw down a load of rubbish in brisbane and the whole of last summer in the UK (though obviously i hope he doesn't prove me wrong ) siddle, i don't think is much to write home about. hilfenhaus for me is the better bowler but he's not really a wicket taker is he? and your lack of a front line spinner will come into play now the series has moved on from perth. the one thing that could swing it your way is your batters are better suited to the conditions. our batters could well wilt under the pressure and our bowlers start to feel the pace of the series. all to play for like you say, i'm well looking forward to boxing day - man city at home during the day then the ashes cricket all night. happy days

i can see barton going out to do de jong for revenge over ben arfa. i wouldn't mind if he did either