JonTheMag

Probably. Was hoping for something a bit less labor intensive though! Somewhere on the internet or a specific type of shop would be best.

A bit off topic but felt this belonged here as starting a new topic would be stupid. I'm looking to buy our third kit from two seasons ago - that lovely black one from the 2011/12 season. I've looked online but can't seem to find it anywhere -- most sites only carry last season's or retro kits that are much older than what I'm looking for. Anyone have any ideas?

How can it be 2013 and we're STILL hoofing it to Shola?

From that formation, is it Ben Arfa playing in the hole behind Shola? Or Sissoko?

I thought it started 45 minutes too but it seems it's starting in 15.

In addition to commenting here I'm gonna live-tweet the shit out of this game over here: @jonhudsonian. Should be a heart-warming mix of biting analysis and light humor. It'll be fun. Let's hang out.

That's why it would be so good!!! Imagine Campbell's confidence if he scored a hattrick today. We wouldn't even need a new striker.

Surely being stuck in at PSG right before they went money crazy can't have helped. It's not exactly easy to oust Zlatan from the team. Just think for £6.5 he might have been worth a look.

Sevilla have signed Kevin Gameiro for 7.5 million euros - have to think that's somebody we should've been after for that price, as we were quite heavily linked with him before he went to PSG. Wages too high or just the usual complete lack of foresight? Or both?

Would be great for our confidence to go out and put several past this lot, especially if we have our full team out.

I'd say these three aren't as good as two years ago, but I'd go as far as saying they're a definite improvement over last year. Home kit looks better and I like the look of the yellow third kit better than that atrocious fluorescent green one we had last term.

It's a small sample. Our defense was also extremely unsettled for a large run of those games, and it's hard to play when you have the threat of relegation looming over you so heavily. I'm not saying we're going to be amazing next term. Just that we're not quite as bad as last season made us out to be, nor are we as good as the season before made us out to be. Next season will likely be a regression to the mean, taking us to somewhere around 7th - 12th place. Our squad is good enough for that.

That doesn't look bad actually. Could be a lot worse.

Right, because it's that simple.

Not quite, but they're improving. I think with the squad Sunderland have now they would do better than we did last year, although on paper I think we still have the superior team. That said, I do agree with you CT -- the external conditions are a lot better now for our squad to succeed this term than they were last season. On paper we have the potential to do very well, and if our team can remain settled for a run of games things could go very well. Our first team is easily in the top 8 in the League, it's just a question of adding depth and alternate options for when Plan A doesn't work. I'd love it if we brought in 2-3 players, but if we bring in just Bent I won't be worrying about relegation just yet.

I feel like him and Cisse up front would be another Cisse/Ba situation. Neither are comfortable playing the role of provider, and will often wind up in the same areas trying to finish the same chances. Look at the stats. Since 2001 Bent has only 19 assists in 362 League appearances. Cisse has 5 assists in his 50 appearances since he joined. All signs point to these two not playing together well, and I don't think Bent is keen on leaving the bench at Villa for the bench here.

And Sissoko makes it 3. First time #NUFC have scored 3 goals in the first half since March 25th, 2012 when #NUFC beat #WBA 3-1.

2-0 Gouffran. We're fucking world beaters!!!

I changed it! Erase this record of my failure

Nope. But I'll be live-tweeting the game over at www.twitter.com/JonHudsonian which is almost as good.

Glad it looks like Sissoko is playing in centre-mid, behind a front three. I like the pairing of Anita and Sissoko as a double-pivot, I think they'd compliment each other well.

You must be right, he's probably not playing then. Who do we have at right back behind Debuchy then now that Perch and Simpson have gone? Anita? (EDIT: Tavernier?) EDIT: Bigi won't play as well - he'd been given extra time off after the U20s.

Kick off at 19:00 at Fir Park. Pardew has announced that he's picking his teams based on who is the most condition at the moment, which means that most of the internationals who have just returned to training won't be featuring. That means no Cabaye, Coloccini, Tiote, Krul, or Debuchy. Cisse as well, but seeing as he's been placed in solitary confinement he wouldn't have played any way. So Anita and Mbiwa are playing, and you have to imagine a lot of the younger players will feature as well. No new signing obviously, but hopefully we'll see run outs for the likes of Campbell, Bigirimana, and Streete. I'd like to see this line-up start the game: Krul Ryan Taylor, Mbiwa, Streete, Ferguson Bigirimana, Anita Vuckic Gouffran, Sammy Ameobi Campbell

I wasn't comparing Bony to Suarez - I was just saying that on the scale of imports from the Dutch League, with Alves being an example of a major flop with Suarez being an example of a major success, I think Bony is closer to Alves than Suarez.

Watch a compilation of all his goals. I could be wrong but he doesn't exactly look like someone who would be successful over here. A few quality finishes but much of it seemed to be quite scrappy. That said, if he was signing for us I'd probably be saying something different. I just think £13 mil is a bit much for a fairly unproven striker who has had one good season at a mediocre team in the Dutch League. Bony seems more of an Alfonso Alves than a Luis Suarez to me.