acrossthepond

Our midfield this year is COMFORTABLY better than the one back then. Not even debatable. We've got the top goalscoring midfielder in the league ffs. I write fuckin' how it's pronounced over here, I couldn't give a fuck about giving you any abuse, I don't care about your opinions on soccer enough to warrant it, because your comments re: the midfield prove that they aren't very clever ones. Run along, sport! I'm not even counting Ben Arfa because he's played 4 games for us. He may as well not be in the squad at the moment. The likes of Solano (better creatively than anyone we have at the moment), N'Zogbia (better than Jonas), Milner (also better than Jonas; can play in CM), Dyer (attitude issues but still better than our CMs) and yes, even Duff are simply better than Nolan, Barton, Jonas, Routledge, Guthrie and unknown qualities in Gosling, Ireland and HBA (good in his first 4 games - not sure what he'll be like after recovering from injury.) The difference is Tiote, who is far and above anyone similar we had in the '07 team. So I will actually revise my position to state that '07's midfield was actually not comfortably better than today's, but I maintain that technically it was superior. And if we're talking plainly in terms of ability, I don't think there's any way that today's side could be considered technically better than '07's squad. If we could have the '07 squad with the team ethic and spirit instilled in them by Hughton, that would be optimal.

I'm a big fan of how ASM writes fuckin' instead of fucking, like it makes him some kind of hard man. "'Ere lad, come on and have a go. Fuckin' pussy!" I can just see him hunched over the computer, drooling on the keyboard, muttering "Aye, that's it, that's them fuckin' telt" over and over again. Cue him showing up to hurl invective that he thinks is supremely clever (viz. Gemmil and "alpha male", Leazes and "deluded old fuckwit") at me, probably something involving the word "yank." Like that hasn't been done a few hundred times before on this board, bit like his and Leazes' endless quote pyramids. I voted for the 2006-2007 squad, but it's a close one. '07 has this season's squad beat comfortably in midfield and in goal, this season's has '07 beat in defence and even discounting Carroll, I don't think they're far off in attack.

We did it in 93-94.

It's from the Daily Fail, chuck it in with all the other toilet paper. Not quite as fail as your formatting, though, Berb

Beating Stoke's asking a bit much, I'd say, but I see absolutely no reason why we can't manage all of the other results listed and even beating Villa isn't outside the realm of possibility. We also have HBA coming back into the team soon. I'm still conflicted about whether or not I want us to finish in a European place. On the one hand, it might help in keeping some of our best players. On the other, it might destabilise our next season and we'd run the risk of suffering 'second season syndrome' a la Reading. I think it's a moot point though as I think we're going to fall short, but not by much.

He did not say those exact words - that phrase is from Marca's summary of the interview - but he absolutely did say (or absolutely was quoted in Marca as saying), "I'm happy here at Newcastle but I'm not ruling anything out." Also, the translated interview you have on your website is a poor mechanical translation. The Sun certainly did take his statements out of context and even mistranslated one of them completely, but just going on what he told Marca, I think he wants to be away.

I don't know where Ryder is getting the idea that Enrique is 'moping' or 'whining.' I translated everything he said. When the interviewer asked him about Liverpool, he said it's a top club and it's an honour to be linked with them (I think he might've actually said he was flattered.) He didn't court their fans or start trotting out cliches about how good their fans are, etc etc. Looks like pre-emptive PR from Ashley's Ronnie mouthpiece.

Whose reason? Enrique's? You believe that quote was real? http://www.marca.com/2011/02/17/futbol/fut...1297928544.html I'll give it a go: Jose Enrique: "Liverpool? I'm happy here but I'm not ruling anything out." The Newcastle defender talks to MARCA about his future. He displays ambition and wants to continue growing as a footballer. He says, "I want to tell my children, when I have them, that their father played in the Champions League and had played for the national team." Jose Enrique is ambitious. The Spanish left-back has been one of the most ever-present (in terms of minutes on the pitch) defenders in the Premier League and his excellent performances have ignited interest from clubs such as Manchester United, Liverpool and Aston Villa. He tells us that he's very settled at Newcastle but aspires to more. Q: How would you describe Newcastle's season? JE: The Premier League is very open this season and it's difficult to establish yourself in the top tier (of the league. He means in the top half.) We've won several important games and at the moment we're ninth. That's a good position, and the next two games are at St James's Park. With three more games [wins] we will be safe from relegation, which is our primary objective. Q: Do you think your squad is good enough to qualify for the Europa League? JE: Who knows, but it's very difficult. That used to be the main objective, but the reality has changed. Today, as things are now, it's very difficult to qualify for the Europa League. The squad is very thin, considering the players who have left. Q: Do you think the transfer of Andy Carroll to Liverpool will have a major effect? JE: Yes, but not only for Carroll. He was a great forward for us, he won all the aerial balls and was an important player for Newcastle. But other players have left too and our squad is thin. We have players who are making their debuts in the Premier League this year, and we also have positions for which there is no cover. We all know how thin our squad is, and we want to be up with the 'top' teams...but if there's some injury to a key player, we're going to have problems. They've promised me that all the money from the sale of Carroll will go to signing new players. I hope that's the case. Q: Speaking of Liverpool, the 'Reds' are looking at you for next season... JE: I've read in English publications that Liverpool, Manchester United, and Aston Villa want to sign me and that's an honour. Those are great English teams. I'm happy here at Newcastle but I'm not ruling anything out. I love the Newcastle fans and the city [of Newcastle]. I've suffered with this team, we were relegated two years ago and we have to be realistic. Newcastle [the club] also haven't acted rightly, they've made promises that they haven't kept and I have ambitions. I want to play in the Champions League, important competitions and I want to play for the national team. Q: You've got 16 months left on your contract. Is your intention to stay at Newcastle? JE: I've always said that I'm comfortable here with this club. It's true that they've promised me things and not followed through. Like any player, I want to win titles [trophies] and I don't want the objective to be safety from relegation. I want to tell my future children that I've played in the Champions League or for the Spanish national team. I'm ambitious and I'm not ruling anything out. Q: Bit by bit you've been knocking at the door of the national team. Do you think you're capable of making the jump to playing for Spain? JE: I believe [this could be "I hope"] that I can play for the full national side. I work hard so that I can have that opportunity one day. I want to be ready to succeed with 'the Reds.' [spanish national team, not Liverpool] At the moment it's complicated because we're waiting on the World Cup group [i think he means qualification group here.] That's how it is. But I'm always preparing to make the jump and my performances have been good. I'm one of those people who thinks that with hard work, anything is possible.

Didn't fancy Pardew's man-management then?

You're the kind of dullard who would post a load of unrelated crap and then declare the subject of your spam 'burried.' I also wonder where all your asterisks disappeared to all of a sudden. Did mother give you permission to use bad words like 'fuck' on t'internets? Back on topic, I am well aware of sexual harassment issues in Egypt. I've lived there and more relevantly wor lass, who is American, has lived there. I also want to make clear to you that while I don't doubt the accuracy of those numbers, they might be misleading if they make you think that 60% of Egyptians and 98% of foreign women are subject to sexual assault on a regular basis. The overwhelmingly most common form of 'harassment' is sleazy men following you around and trying to pull you. This kind of thing can and does happen anywhere - women are subject to that sort of sexual harassment on a daily basis in Harlem, NY, where I live, for example. Does that mean all blacks are 'savages' or 'animals'? Moving on to the more worrying issues, the problem is twofold. Firstly, there are simply too many young, educated, unemployed and unmarried men in Egypt. That's one of the chief reasons why the revolution started - because these people can't find jobs or wives or anything to settle them, they could see how rotten their society was, and their anger built up until it reached breaking point. So we've got a lot of young, horny and angry guys. That should never be an excuse, or even a reason, for sexual assault or harassment to take place. However, there's another factor to this issue, and that's the complete laxity of the government with regard to women's rights. When your country is a police state and the police are the most notably corrupt apparatus of that state, there's going to be a serious problem. The police don't protect who they are meant to be protecting and often brutalise them instead. When you have MPs (also corrupt) making excuses for how this happens, women of any race, religion, or what have you will never be protected. If the police were doing what they were supposed to do, it would be very clear that violence or harassment of women is illegal and would be punished by the law. However, they were not doing their jobs and had not been doing them for more than 30 years. But all of the above is completely separate from what happened to the reporter anyway, and is just intended to reply to your Googled quotes about sexual harassment in Egypt. *** A mob attacked Lara Logan. That can happen anywhere where there exists a mob, especially anywhere there exists a mob that is agitated by government agents. Why didn't men help out? That's what a mob is. Mob mentality takes over. In this situation, there were no police or other authority figures who were able to protect her from the mob, so she was not protected until some women were able to fetch people who were able to protect her, namely the army. This situation could have taken place in any country in the world. When riots and lawlessness happen, people - men and women - get hurt. Where the guardians of the law fail to uphold it, people who are meant to be protected are not. What I fail to understand is what any of this has to do with Egyptians besides that it happened in Egypt (when it could have happened anywhere) and why many people in this thread (and in other threads, and in our daily lives, etc etc) are so willing to make generalizations based on this attack which was symptomatic of a breakdown in the rule of law rather than any cultural or religious influences. I'm done posting in this thread since 1) I don't think I'm making my point very clear anyway and 2) I can't bear to read any more tiresome crap from racist wankers, so I'll conclude by saying that I'm very sorry for and sympathetic toward Ms Logan and glad to hear that she wasn't raped although that doesn't mean that what she went through wasn't still horrifying and completely unjust. I'll also ask a question - how do you think she was separated from her security team, and why do you think her news affiliates chose to keep the story in-house for however long it was - 4 days? I think her station may be more culpable in this then they're prepared to admit.

Missed your one-line post at first. His being a Jew and being a cunt aren't related, but both are true. @Danny: Nothing you said in any way addressed what I posted. I didn't say anything about isolated incidents or whatever else you said. Try to keep up. The article also notes that soldiers rescued her along with women, and that sexual assaults had become prevalent after Mubarak 'supporters' (also known paid minions of the interior ministry) began to attack. Like I said, this is the work of Mubarak's cronies, and I don't expect any better from people who get paid to beat and torture their countrymen and, yes, sexually assault their countrymen. Their crimes have no bearing on the rest of Egyptians or on anyone else. @Wacky: Nice try. You said, "why is she putting herself in amongst them fucking savages anyway", obviously meaning Egyptians (since she clearly didn't put herself amongst rapists intentionally), then tried to pass it off to mean you were only calling the ones who assaulted her savages. I don't care if you meant it with malice or not, my point is that it has become so (wrongly) acceptable to aim abuse at Arabs/Muslims.

Load of crap, I'm mad that once again people think they have carte blanche to slander an entire society based on the actions of a few. By what right can people call us savages and imply that the 'entire country' or 'that whole area' are rapists? The Swede in your sig is accused of rape (sexual assault or whatever it technically may be). Are all Swedes rapists now? How about everyone from 'that whole area'? Are they savages too? Doesn't it sound ludicrous? But somehow whenever the discussion refers to Muslims or Arabs, it becomes OK to talk and generalize that way. Baroness whatever-her-face-is was right: racism against Muslims is commonplace and acceptable, and that's fucking bullshit. Fuck off with the race card. Mob mentality would have taken over, would have and could have happened anywhere not just amongst a bunch of muslims going apeshit. Exactly my point. So why would you refer to them as "those fucking savages"?

Load of crap, I'm mad that once again people think they have carte blanche to slander an entire society based on the actions of a few. By what right can people call us savages and imply that the 'entire country' or 'that whole area' are rapists? The Swede in your sig is accused of rape (sexual assault or whatever it technically may be). Are all Swedes rapists now? How about everyone from 'that whole area'? Are they savages too? Doesn't it sound ludicrous? But somehow whenever the discussion refers to Muslims or Arabs, it becomes OK to talk and generalize that way. Baroness whatever-her-face-is was right: racism against Muslims is commonplace and acceptable, and that's fucking bullshit.

Maybe you can explain why protesters anxious to get their message out would assault international news media figures? THEY WOULDN'T. The multitude of attacks on reporters, including this one, were instigated and carried out by Mubarak's cronies in the interior ministry. That's pretty much common knowledge by now. But thanks for the implication about 'that whole area', you fucking yahudi cunt, that was really classy. One rape in Egypt = all Egyptians are rapists, is that it? I thought we left that kind of thinking behind in the 19th century. Of course, 'thinking' seems a little beyond you.

That's what we all said when we went down, but all three stayed. I don't think any of Jose, Colo or Jonas actively want to leave the club. I think they're more interested in seeing how we'll progress, so they'll stick around until they see how the Carroll money will be (or more likely won't be) spent, then look to move on.

Our anniversary is later this week, so luckily we can dispense with all this valentine's shit and get all of it done later in the week when prices aren't universally jacked - flowers, dinner out, chocolate, the lot. You'd go from prince to pauper at any decent restaurant in this city tonight.

If Kuqi were our former player getting ready to make his debut against us, there'd be no doubt he'd score. As it is, he'll probably miss an open goal or two and we'll be beat 1-0 in another turgid display of something purporting to be football, such as in the Fulham game.

Even PM'd me. Something's funny about you all right, but it isn't your craic...

To think that two weeks ago I was predicting to KSA that this could never succeed in Cairo. Mubarak was thought to be a monolith, like the other 'untouchable' rulers of the ME - I think they will be quaking in their palaces this afternoon! With any luck the fucking Saudis will be next. But this isn't over by any means. Don't be surprised at all if this is just a shrewd move by the army to sacrifice someone whose position had become untenable, only to replace him with Omar Suleiman, who's just another Mubarak clone, to continue an effective military dictatorship. Mubarak may have gone but the problems of Egypt have not. I'll leave the pessimism aside for a little while and celebrate this though. Egypt is free! Masr harra!

Source? doesn't sound like Hughton at all I just read it was because he wanted Calderwood and Barron in as his coaching team and WBA had their own structure in place that they didn't want to change.

According to caughtoffside.com? You'd be better off reading tea leaves. Not sure why Man U would want Enrique when they already have Evra like. I don't doubt for a moment that bigger clubs will be in for our class players though.

His Mrs: Anyone know what Aliadiere's or Ewerthon's lasses look like, so we can gain some insight into Pards' scouting strategy?

8m is more than he's worth and would be a great deal. Just like the 'great deals' for Milner and Carroll, though, he'd need to be replaced which is ever the problem with our fat cunt owner. Bradley Wright-Phillips or an equivalently shite Championship winger would not do the trick. Of course, as I mentioned yesterday, I think HBA was meant to have been his replacement but we'll have to see where he fits into the team when he returns. For all that his crossing is poor, I think it has improved this season. His lifted crosses are still as likely to go out of play as they are to get close to a man, but his low crosses are a lot better and have resulted in some goals - Shola v. Wigan comes to mind. EDIT: By the way, this comes from Talkshite, so it's probably completely made up.

Tomorrow's Mirror: "Toon chase Anderlecht's Xherdan Shaqiri! Managing director Derek Llambias's extensive scouting network identified this player as a '125-pointer'."

Well according to you, after the weekend he'll be the 'bin-dipping scum' who's gonna rip Blackburn's defence apart with his delivery. Good luck, your gonna need it. And hope your not forgeting the scum you's have cheered for each week, Mssrs Savage and El Hadji-everyone hates me-Diouf. Jog On son! No need for that. He's entitled to his opinion, and it's nothing that many of our fans, myself included, weren't saying about him ourselves prior to this season. I don't think Barton will ever play again for England simply because of his image. He could score 15 and still wouldn't be selected - never mind that Stevie 'Mike Tyson's Punch-Out' Geeeeeeeeeeee has arguably been just as bad but continues to be one of England's golden boys.