David Kelly

I said yesterday that it might be the game for both Anita and Marveaux last night given the opposition's lack of a big midfield enforcer and their playing style. I do think if you tried playing them both in the middle against someone like Diame, he'd just steamroller them though! Was nice to see that there is a player in there who might be able to properly contribute to our season when he gets his confidence back!

I have to admit that while I in no way endorse CT's mad ramblings, I do feel there's something missing with Jonas this season. Last season he did a fantastic job in supporting Raylor and in the second half of the season he seemed to reinvent himself in a more central role linking up brilliantly with Tiote and Cabaye. This season though he's been generally deployed back on the left (not sure where CT got that he was playing on the right from as he clearly wasn't to anyone with eyes) but he no longer seems to want drive forward and link up with Santon like he did with ricky. His crossing has always been a weakness so there's no real change there but he's not carrying the ball like he was. It's hard to criticise him too much though given the poor displays or injuries to those around him. Is he having to play to much? Is he carrying an injury (I suspect he's the type of bloke who will try his best to play with knocks while there are others who won't play unless 100%)? Is he just a symptom of the general under performing this season? Or are his legs starting to go? All of these things are possible (at 29 though you'd be a little surprised if it was the latter) and I do have a feeling that this may be his last season as a purple but I don't think we have anyone who can come in and do a better job than him at the minute. Shane has struggled when he's had more than a short spell, Sameobi is a headless chicken, it doesn't surprise me at all that Marveaux played his best game for us more centrally as he doesn't seem to really be a wide player, and Obertan? I can't believe even CT would make such a ridiculous suggestion. I think he will need replacing from outside the squad and who knows what the likelihood of that is. We certainly haven't been linked with anyone lately who would be a replacement!

Anita was comfortably our best player for me, ahead of Ba and Marveaux (who did tire towards the end). I thought again Jonas offered too little going forward but as always puts in a good shift. Having not seen a replay I thought the sending off looked a bit harsh but Caldwell should have certainly seen red. Overall a very good result given what we've been through recently and hopefully it will raise confidence and not be at the cost of three more injuries to key players!

We need Ba and Cisse to take more responsibility to make stuff happen and that's exactly what he did with the goal against Stoke. After that both him and Cisse did it again and went close. When you're struggling as a team you tend to find players will hide and not want to try anything so it's got to be a positive that they didn't do that. Hopefully we'll see more of that tonight and maybe they'll both score when on the pitch together!

He was playing in a seven a side tournament yesterday at gosforth park thinking he was gods gift. Didnt play against him myself but apparently he was utter shite!

Aye, I would imagine he feels the need to do too much because he's not seeing it from anyone else. It's counter productive in the main but I can understand why he would feel that way. I was playing five a side the other week and one of the lads who was clearly the best player on our team was holding onto the ball and trying far too much. But as he said, I'm not trusting those other morons with the ball!

Perhaps not, although I doubt opposition managers take that much notice of it. When you do things like that though it does come across as setting out your excuse before you start though which is never something I like.

I think you're going overboard about either how bad Raylor is or how good Simpson is. But either way I agree I would hope we would always be able not to start him but this season we certainly would have been and think he may well have improved us. And no we've not been playing well but the my point is that the injuries and tiredness from playing in Europe has taken it's toll. If things are going well it's likely that tiredness wouldn't have been coming into play but when you go through a bad patch it kicks in. That's a fact of life and certainly not something that's unique to us. I would say that this is something that Pardew has to work on and get past though.

Well I'd be very tempted to play him ahead of Simpson on occasion at least. I agree there's no way he'd get in ahead of Santon. Midfield is also a possibility given the amount of time Obertan/Ferguson/Sameobi have had. We have been very short of decent delivery and he can certainly do that. Of course, as always, some players get better the longer they are out. Raylor is not someone who'd I'd ideally have in the team but given the injuries and form of players this season he would definitely have been very useful. Did Ben Arfa not miss the Southampton game because of an injury he suffered in Europe. So it did effect the match that this thread is about then!

Raylor arguably would have played a hell of a lot this season had he been fit and what difference does it make if Ben Arfa got injured in the first European game or the last? He's still injured because he was playing there. Under Robson we simply had a better team and didn't pick up the injuries. That's not rocket science.

They were both much better players than either Taylor or Williamson too! I think it's how much Taylors game picks up when he's with Colo that shows him to be a far better player than Williamson. Williamson just becomes about average whereas Taylors put in some very good performances with him. But with each other they just keep getting worse and worse. Like I said though, it shouldn't take another player to make you look good and unfortunately with Taylor it does.

It's daft to not consider that playing in Europe is hampering our league performances. You yourself have already questioned what we are doing in training to work on our attack. Well the answer is simple, we are not getting the time to do what's necessary! And we have clearly played a number of senior players in the games. Raylor and Ben Arfa have both picked up their injuries in Europe and even when the senior players are only on the bench it effects their preparation. We are also chopping and changing the team every few days so unless you have two completely different teams (League and Europe) then that's going to disrupt things. It's not the only issue and I do think Pardew needs to sort things out rather than whinging about the additional games and injuries, but you can't just ignore these things or you just look like a mong!

Taylor really isn't good enough anyway. We've been expecting him to kick on for years but the reality is, the only time he plays well is alongside Colo. The same true years ago with Bramble and Woodgate dragging him through games. A top player should be able to play with anyone. Taylor should be backup to two quality centrebacks and that's even without worrying about him being a fucking balsa boy!. Williamson shouldn't even be that (Perch is at least versatile so that makes him worth keeping in the squad) and we should be looking to move him back down to the championship. We need to buy, it's obvious to anyone with even half a brain. But no doubt the fat cunt won't authorise it come January!

Clearly you need a bigger squad for the Europa league now than was needed in the past when it was a straightforward knockout competition. The problem is that the additional revenue that it brings doesn't seem to be enough to actually pay for the signings . I think the whole format needs to be changed as it's more of a hindrance than benefit playing in the competition these days. And by in large the fans are showing this by not bothering to turn out in any great numbers any more. Aside from a brilliant trip to Brugge, the competition has been a washout so far!

I would like to think we'll be wearing black armbands or something tomorrow to mark this. Cant believe its been a year already!

Not many going by recent performances.

Yes I was entertained by the goals and results but I was also entertained by gritty determined performances from a team who were all in it together and playing for each other. We don't have to play like Barca for it to be entertaining. For whatever reason (dissatisfaction with the owners lack of investment, having their heads turned by their agents, lack of any consistency in the team) we don't seem to have the same togetherness this season and the performance and results have been effected by this.

I think we do have some sort of tie in with Gateshead even if it is informal. A lot of our youngsters have gone on loan there in the last couple of seasons. And I would assume that the Scottish premier league will be of a higher standard to non league (although I'm not convinced by how much) so it's of more value to us to send players there. Mind you, I would hope a twenty one year old would be able to play to a better standard than that if we expect to ever see them in our first team.

Where did I say we played well as a team? I said our Key players played well and they did. That's why we got all those top class individual moments of brilliance you keep bleating on about! Mind you, I would say we did play well as a team in the sense that we stuck together and battled and ground out wins. The fluency of our football can certainly be questioned and you can say we didn't entertain (although I think that's bollocks. I was certainly entertained even if it wasn't by pretty football) but we played to a plan and battled hard to get what we got out of the season. And in that sense, 5th place was certainly deserved!

Yeah I'd agree with all that. What does worry me, is the last time we took the same gamble that Ashley took this summer was when we last qualified for the Champions League and then only added Bowyer. Obviously we had a better team then and the immediate impact wasn't as bad as it's been this season. But it really did put on on a slippery slope that led to Souness, Roder and Allardyce and ultimately relegation. That should never have happened then and this shouldn't be happening now. Hopefully Ashley will make the moves to try and sort it in January but I doubt it!

So which of out key players weren't playing well last season you mong? Cabaye, Tiote, Colo, Krul, Ben Arfa, Cisse, Ba?

I can't understand why anyone has any interest in Scottish football. It's of such a laughably poor standard I can't summon up any desire to watch it at all.

Whatever Pardew said about the window is irrelevant tbh. It was a massive mistake not to capitalize on what happened last season and everyone knows in this game, if you're not moving forward, you're going backwards. Pardew knew this in the summer and he knows it now but he also knows the restrictions he has to work within and that's why he tried to spin it positively. Last season we had nearly all of our key players available and playing well for nearly every game. That hasn't happened this time around and we can see how it's effecting us. We are having to play young players in a team that's struggling and in turn they're struggling too. We need to have as many of our established players back in the team and playing week in week out so that they can find some form and consistency. If we can get this then we will start picking up results again and we will start playing much better football. Until then it's going to be a struggle and Pardew is going to have to show his abilities to get us through this. So far I admit this hasn't happened but it's ridiculous to put all blame at Pardews door. The blame lies with the fat cunt who owns us and Pardew is the one having to try and deal with it. You'd struggle to get anyone better in and anyone with any sense knows that.

This place is becoming more disturbing by the day!

Two of me mates fell down those very stairs and given the size of one of them, they were lucky to still be up