David Kelly

The bit about Cisse is right but I never heard one person shouting for Marveaux. Quite the opposite in fact.

I'm hitting the vodkas now! My self confidence is shattered.

As I said above, I've been far from a critic of Pardew this season but I do believe in luck (whether it's luck that Shola just happened to pull of a moment of magic or whether it's Cisse being in the right place at the right time for the ball to hit his arse and deflect in) and imo we got lucky. Were we the better team? Yes of course we were but were we creating chances? I wouldn't say so. Cisse's header from Jonas's first decent cross this season would the only one I could really look too and was that better than the one Cisse had for them at the beginning of the half? I have to say I'm not sure what point you're trying to make re the formation working and not needing a complete reshaping? You're praising the substitution but saying we didn't need a complete reshape which was clearly what happened with the substitution. And I personally don't think Shola's unfairly maligned but there's not much point going over such an old argument there!

Of course, especially QPR's tactics. I was saying in the first half that it was a game where the team and (perhaps even more importantly) the crowd needed to be patient. However, that doesn't excuse our awful passing and crossing especially given the number games this season where you could level the same accusation.

I've not been one of the people on here calling for Pardews head, far from it. But the way I see it is everyone knows how bad Shola is most of the time. How can you base a considered decision on the hope that you get one of his one or two good moments a season? In my opinion it's luck that he just happened to turn it on at that moment. On the back of it he'll probably start on Boxing Day and have his usual mare.

They were right to praise the performance of Nelson but fuck me the quality of ball we put into the box was nothing short of embarrassing. We all know crossing isn't Jonas's strong point which is why he needs to start beating his man and getting into the box so that he can pass it in rather than floating aimless balls in that even if they are won, no striker is going to be able to do anything with. I'm actually almost surprised they bothered showing the game on MOTD. If we hadn't scored I really think they would have struggled to show anything because it was one of the most turgid excuses for a football match I've ever seen.

I really can't believe anyone would praise Pardews bringing on as Shola as some sort of inspired substitution. We all know that Shola is fucking hopeless except for an odd moment of magic (usually against the makems). You can't bring him on expecting him to change a game because 90% of the time he looks like football is something entirely new to him. How many decent (not good just decent) games has he ever had for us in the last 12 years? Bringing him on was a sign of desperation because things were anything but working. Yes we weren't being threatened in the slightest but despite being camped in their half, Green was having one of the easiest games of his career. The reason there were the boos, I believe, is exactly what J69 says. People were pissed off that we had last seasons top scorer playing out of position (he really can't play there especially with only that clown Simpson to assist him on that side of the pitch). Pardew said the other day that Cisse and Ba could definitely play together yet he continued to try and force something that we just don't have the players to make work. If he wanted to change things (which of course he did and certainly should have) he could have just put our far more reliable striker up top rather than bringing on a man who's stole our money for over a decade. On this occasion he got very lucky end of story. Given how things have been going for us this season that was probably a lot more important than being good at the moment but we do need to kick on from lucky and start getting good or else we will be firmly in the shit!

I think Alt J would be pretty high on my list had I listened to it more than a couple of times. I'm enjoying it very much.

I've not found a great deal that I've been massively impressed with this year. Usually I would find it difficult to narrow it down to a top twenty but this year it's a struggle to pick ten I've really enjoyed. It's not been helped that I've been in a shitty mood since I split with my lass a few months ago and I can't motivate myself to listen to anything new. Anyway my top ten would probably be; 10. XX - Coexist 9. Japandroids - Celebration Rock 8. Anais Mitchell - Young Man In America 7. Divine Fits - A Thing Called The Devine Fits 6. Tindersticks - The Something Rain 5. Chromatics - Kill For Love 4. Cat Power - Sun 3. Grizzly Bear - Shields 2. Liars - WIXIW 1. Godspeed You Black Emporer - Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

That's a big if given the way we're playing this season! Thinking about it, I think this could see the end of my European adventure this season. Which may in turn see me getting away to New Orleans latter in the year!

I'm putting my hopes on us and Hanover getting through. I've never been to Jormany!

Who did they play in their group?

Could have been a worse draw in terms of quality of opposition but it's a bit of a wank trip. If I had plenty of cash I'd probably still do it but I think I'll save up for the possibility of a better trip if we win.

Like I said I can't argue with any of that but I do think the fact we can no longer dream of signing the Maldini's of the world (I remember being in Tenerife in the summer of 96 (I think) and reading stories of us being in for him and genuinely believing it could happen) or winning the champions league the way we did back in the 90's Keegan/Hall era (and even before then to a lesser extent) is down to the economic realities of football today. Ashley possibly has enough cash (although I doubt he has the sort of liquid assets we'd need) to finance this but it's his choice not to spend it and if someone else bought the club, they would most likely not have the cash to do it either. That said, Ashley is the one who has damaged the special feeling of club, which is what Stevie was getting at, rather than the generally apathy towards modern day football.

I think this is a fair point like. Football just isn't as exciting as it was years ago. It's tempting to believe that this is just the effect of what's going on at Newcastle making you feel bad about everything else but there's so many other reasons. The ridiculous pay that even the most average players get, the lack of local or even English players in top flight teams, players acting like complete cunts off the pitch, diving, refusing to play or even travel with their teams etc. It all adds up to football not being the magic thing it used to be. The biggest turn off though now is the fact that money is everything. So much so that you need to have a billionaire come in and spend hundreds of millions to have any chance of competing. The age where an underdog can come through and win anything other than the league cup has been lost (possibly for ever). Yes you will still get cup giant killings and a team will do well in the league and get a European place and even attack the top four for a season. But that's as good as it can get. We will not be able to really compete without major investment. Neither will Everton or even Spurs. The competitiveness that our league used to have made us special but now it's gone and that leads to you having to get excited about finishing in the top six! I'm not arguing against Stevie's point about what Ashley has done here because I completely agree but there certainly is plenty of general football factors that augment it. Btw I found the bit about McKeag very interesting. My own opinion of the man was completely formed back at that time (when I was just a bairn). I thought he was holding us back by not investing but really had no idea about what kind of money he actually had available. I think it was clear that with a bit of spending we could take off as a club big style and that's what Hall recognised. But of course it's easier said than done if you didn't actually have the money to do it in the first place. My only question would be did he not work against Hall and Magpie group taking over? Surely that was more about his own ego/the money he was making from the club than doing anything that was in our best interests?

I couldn't agree more with this. The fact we've been saying this for three years and still haven't addressed it is quite frightening.

Well known local hard man from the Howdon area. Surprised he was drinking in there.

Yeah he has a trick but he hasn't got a fucking clue how to use it. If Shola wasn't so immobile I might agree with the comparison but these days he reminds me more of Riley or Cunningham!

He'll play his best as part of a three iyam so once Cabaye and HBA are back and Ba leaves we'll be all set up to play this way!

I wouldn't say that either of the Ameobi's are like Ba or Cisse. Shola is just a big plank who if the referee goes against him, just gives freekicks away from the moment he walks onto the pitch. Sammy is a winger who's got about as much brains as his big bro but at least has a bit of mobility. The reason teams don't have to change to respond to them coming on is that at least 90% of the time, they're shite!

Thought he was poor again generally. He did try to actually move forward in the second half though so that was an improvement.

Can't mark, cant cross and can't beat a man. He's reasonable in the tackle and he's better than Santon at clearing the ball of the line but that's about all you can say about him. He shouldn't be a starter for us but we decided not to replace him in the summer. We're now paying for that decision along with the one not to sign a centerback!

It's great for us having a day on the piss though Which I'm looking forward to far more than the drubbing I'm expecting from the game itself!

Completely different player though. Personally I think he needs a Tiote type player (but obviously one who's not having the abortion of a season Tiote's having) next to him for him to really shine in this league.

Well that would be my biggest worry like. I fully expect Jonas to play but the way he's playing this season I have no expectations of anything positive from him!