Papa Lazaru

Exactly, when the season ended last year with Keegan in charge and people positive about where we'd be going (wrongly as it turned out!) that was the time to act, but this is NUFC so of course that didnt happen!

I think Owen is being fair to be honest, he's goign to see out the contract he signed with us and help keep us up, then he's going to see where we are and also what other offers come in. And i don't blame him as this club is a complete mess at the moment and you never know what will happen next so why should he commit yet. But had they just backed Keegan and kept the club stable, he'd have been happy and i think he'd have signed a decent contract offer back then if one was put forward.

Good to see Zog getting a run in the team in his actual position, because really when was the last time you could say that. He's either in and out the team, not in at all or at LB, so hopefully we'll see a few more goals and some assists from him. Also really impressed with Bassong yet again, the thought that Taylor was ever keeping him out the team is bad enough, the fact that but for Taylor getting injured he still would be is scary! Viduka did nothing when he came on really, though not helped by nobody getting the ball to his feet in and around the box where he's dangerous, but then his moment of class helped win the match and that's why he should walk into the team ahead of Shola, who's only contribution was to set up their equaliser!

2 posts in, i'm disappointed, thought it'd be the first one!

Don't know if its been mentioned but there was a good point or two made in the local paper today. Basically pointing out that no other muslim players of any club, including Tuncay of the smogs playing at the same game, have had this stick from toon fans and that it is actually based around him looking like Richard Reid (the shoe bomber). Not defending the chants or saying they're right but pointing out too fans haven't got any history of doing it to other people and that it isn't a race issue. Also the Mido is a paedo chant is lets be honest because it rhymes and because the smogs have historically had stick from us on that issue!

Depressing stuff at home as ususal! In complete control at 2-0 and half time with Stoke clearly clueless when the throw in isn't happening, second half we were as shite as against Wigan and barely hung on to a draw! In fact if it weren't for Stoke's strange decision over the throw ins we might have lost but for some reason they weren't packing the box and blocking the keeper out as much as normal and Delap was looping them in slowly rather than that fast, flat delivery that nobody can defend. In all the recent years ive always said we wouldn't go down as there are always some truly abysmal teams there to save you and it just needs the players we have to get into gear and we pull away in time. This year my worry is that the club is in a mess and so come the end of January who knows what will have happened to us, and with such a strange league this season we're in the most trouble we've been. We should still comfortably move away from the bottom, but if January goes badly and we can't beat shite teams at home, then we'll have problems.

Man Utd away next week as well. The mackems should really start shitting themselves tbh. They built their survival last season on a decent home record and they are rapidly getting a complex about playing there, they're always shit away, Blackburn match excepted. Also some of the players they have now won't be quite so much use in a relegaton dogfight as they had last season i suspect. Funny really since at the start of the seaosn tjeir fans seemed to think they had "the best midfield outside the top 4" and a striking lineup that'd be banging in shitloads of goals!

Yeah, i think JK does deserve soem credit here as if you'd told me we'd go to Chelsea and Smogs and get 2 clean sheets i'd have laughed! I don't think Keegan would have managed it...however i do think keegan would have went and comfortably beat the smogs like he usually did! Also i hope the management will realise that Colo and Bassong is the partnership and not Taylor at CB, i think the 2 away game sare eveidence enough even without some of Taylors moronic defending when he was in the team.

I don't wish injuries on toon players, but Duff out giving Zog a chance could work out well and i wouldn't have picked Shola ahead of the other strikers. Also i'd definitely have Viduka on the bench and if its not going so well bring him on, players have a tendency to score past old clubs where the fans give them stick and as it'd be his first game this season i'd back him to sneak one against them.

That's what ive always said. It was the fact a ref and linesman couldn't spot that a 5 foot 4 guy had miraculously outjumped a 6 foot keeper eithout any form of cheating whatsoever! I've never had any problem witn Maradonna, he did what it took to score in that split second and got away with it, if Lineker or whoever had done the same and we'd won i'd have taken it! It was up to officials to spot something so blatant. Its also a pretty crap argument though when people say it doesn't matter because he scored the great second goal, because they completely miss the point that the scoreline and game would have been totally different if the first one hadn't been awarded. Was one of the alltime great goals mind!

Initially it looked like Kinnear actually understood subs, but rapidly he's turned into the archetypical toon manager, ie. a complete fuckwitt where subs are concerned! I don't know if theres a been a single manager in the time ive supported the club who has had a fucking clue about subs. That first half was as shite as ive seen in ages, it took 32 mins to get our first shot off target never mind on! To not make changes at halftime was brainless. Especially when sitting on the bench were one of the best goalscorers in the business and a winger with pace, i mean what chance would they have of changing a game! You'd think managers would want to learn from the best, and the top managers like Fergie, Mourinho, Wenger etc always make changes when needed. If their team is playing shite, they see it, admit its not going right and rip it up. Whether it be halftime or even before then they'll do it, to change the performance and also probably send a message to the players that wasn't good enough. But toon managers prefer to sit on their arse, watch a shocking performance and think by changing nothing it'll somehow sort itself out!

Don't agree. Certainly he's been poor the last two games but he was excellent against Villa and all season has looked our only real source of creativity. I agree he's the only one at times with any energy or drive who actually takes us forward, and he constantly wins us freekicks and gets opposition defenders on a booking. He was class vs Manu, excellent against Coventry, and even if they're weaker opposition the fact that after 120 mins of football he was still running back and forth the length of the pitch to help def and attack tells you alot. And the games at home we had while he was out injured you could see the team was suffering without him. Against Wigan he was trying, and running at them but with nobody at all to pass to eventually he ran out of options, but he still manged to win freekicks which as ever we wasted. I agree with people saying we need more direct assists from him, but when you look at the off the ball movment and runs of Martins and Shola then who is he supposed to be picking out at times! Give Jonas a run without injury with a fully fit Owen in the team and you'll see more from him. His weakness is he looks to be pretty bad at shooting, having no real power when he does actually have a crack

Exactly. You'd think he personally decided his transfer fee and deliberately got himself seriously injured a couple of times the way he gets criticisim, none of that was his choice. He' a model pro, comfortably the best player we have at the club, and we won't get a player of his level again the way the club is going at the moment. Martin's can be spectacular but isnt close to Owen as a footballer who is one of the most intelligent off the ball runers in football and a clinical finisher. He also uses the ball well himself when passing and has worked his arse off in plenty of games for us.

Wouldn't argue with that. I like the way it's ok for the black man to survive in Hollywood nowadays, shame the muslim is the token good guy death these days. Ben-Hur - Shit Hur Reminds me of the Spinal Tap album review they mentioned: Shark Sandwich...Shit sandwich!

100% correct! Nobody is claiming Cacapa is particularly strong, even those who might rate him in any way, but surely most people here have played football, it doesnt matter if you're strong or not, a 2 handed push in your back unbalances you, thats the point in doing it! And if Johnson had got even half that contact from Cacapa he'd have been flat on the ground waving his arms for a foul as he does so well.

Taylor is average. But if he was there Coloccini would not have had to react to Cacapa going to ground. Apart from that being speculative to say the least, Cacapa was fouled and he didn't 'go to ground'. That's the annoying thing, he was fouled and had he went to ground would perhaps of got a freekick, whereas as ever Johnson couldn't wait to hit the deck and got his 'reward'. And much as i thought Cacapa was bad who's to say Taylor wouldn't have been standing behind Given waving his arms about during the incident! Definitely would have played Bassong with Colo as i just think it would have been a better combo.

I think it's harsh to blame him for the penalty. And I think he's shite btw. Yeah, he didn't have a good game and was at fault for the first goal, but the fact is for the pen he was fouled, simple as that, so i'm not blaming him for that one. It was classic Johnson as well, already on his way down before the tackle and leg trailing back to catch Colo's leg rather than actually try and go on to shoot, but still was a pen.

I wonder just when its going to dawn on Robinho that he made a moronic decision to choose city over some of europes top clubs!

Shite first half, then we came out flying, scored and were completely on top and shot ourselves in the foot yet again with another pen! Though Johnson did push Cacapa before the pen so it shouldn't have happened. I like Martins and he did occasionally cause them problems but that was 90 mins of the worst first touch i've seen, he couldn't control a single ball and most of our attacks broke up as it bounced off him yet again. In fact their attack for the pen started with him losing control of a flick on Shola had won i think. Problem though was the difference in the midfieled 4 from the Villa efforts to this game, that wasn't even 50% of what they managed against Villa.

The way the prem is going, even by January you mightn't have a clue about where anybody is heading as there will still be so many teams around the same points as they're all so average and capable of beating each other. I mean Bolton went from relegation favourites to looking at the top 7 or 8 with a couple of wins, and Everton went flying up the table with some late goals 3 matches in a row. If we could get ourselves in a decent position by January and a takeover happens you could still save this season, which lets be honest didn't look likely a short while ago. That is alot of 'ifs' mind you!

I'd have played Bassong as well, seems to me like he'd be a good foil for Colo, pretty big and strong and could be the aggressive CB with Colo calmly sweeping up at the back and playing the ball out of defence.

I bet all those who gave up their lives for future generations are so proud at how fuckwitts like this are using that feeedom, complete bunch of arseholes. They manage to combine such ignorance, bigotry and just plain stupidity in pretty much everything they say and do, they're a waste of oxygen to be honest.

I'm quietly confident today of seeing both a good performance and a win, but of course this is NUFC and its best never to be that confident or expect anything! I think i read somewhere Fulham have only lost 1 at home in the prem this season and have beaten Arsenal there, so they're not a pushover, but if we play well we should be picking up 3 points. I'll go with 3-1

Outside of the top 4 (and Arse are looking pretty shaky there at the moment) plenty of teams who hits a good run of results can get themselves into the 5th-7th area. There's nobody especially impressive as usual this season, so its always up for grabs if you get a few wins, have a bit of luck and don't get hammered with injuries all the time! If we could beat Fulham and Wigan, which isn't beyond the realms of possibility then i think people will start looking higher up the table for where we can finish. If we lose both games it'll be relegation talk again though, its that tight!

In his time here Owen has picked up 2 serious freak injuries he could do fuck all about and cost him many months of playing time. But do people actually look at his record once he was finally over all of that, the run he had in the team in the latter part of last season and all of this season till he picked up the minor injury he's now over, he's barely missed a game at all. Add the fact he scores pretty much 1 in 2 for us no matter how shite we've been at times and that he's far and away the best striker we are ever likely to see here as there won't be any more Shearer's willing to sing for us these days and i'd do anything to get him to stay here. But ever since he's been here ive never worried about him leaving, and to be honest if the club gets sorted off the field in one way or another and makes him a good contract offer i think he'll still stay on. If we're still in complete chaos maybe he will leave but he'd be right to! As for Shola i've been impressed by and large with his efforts since Kinnear took over and he's definitely offered something, even if ultimately he's not good enough. But depending on who does stay and go and what the clubs situation becomes we may well have to look at giving him some sort of contract extension as we don't have a big squad and mightn't be able to afford to replace him!