OTF

Barton is a long way off the best player in any position. He has been an unmitigated disaster for us, of the Luque magnitude. Has been crap just about every single time that has played for us. I know he hasn't had a decent run in the side due to injury but that hardly works in his favour. He was once a very good midfielder, but hasn't been that for a long time. Otherwise I think Taylor is one of the better defenders in the League as is Coloccini. Enrique is the best player at the club, as he is a relatively complete package for a fullback in terms of physical attributes and ability. Nolan would be one of the best in the league in a behind the strikers role, with his impressive goal tally proving that. I agree 100% with LeazesMag about Gutierrez. He cops an unfair amount of criticism on here, as people fail to see where his true values lie. He certainly could improve his application and many other aspects of his game, but the key is that he offers a dimension that we're otherwise lacking. Noone else in the side can beat opposing players on the dribble, where-as Jonas does it over and over again. Next year in the premiership Harper, S Taylor, Coloccini, Enrique, Simpson*, Smith, Nolan, Jonas, Guthrie, Ameobi and R Taylor are all players that will do ok and have a fair bit of experience playing at the top level. Barton should be on that list, but that will remain to be seen after he returns from yet another injury. On top of that lot Carroll is developing nicely as is Ranger, and it appears as though Kadar will provide handy cover in defense. Lovenkrands has been disappointing this time around, although he has not had a great deal of chances. Krul looks to be an excellent option as backup for Harper and should not be far off eclipsing him. Vuckic has showed a great deal of promise, and although very young he could prove to be handy in the close of this season into next season. Whatever way you look at it that's a solid core of players that any team coming up from the Championship would be more than happy to start with. It's then all about the extra players that are bought on top of that group in order to raise the level of play to one where we're competing and can realistically finish mid-table. A first rate striker and a first rate winger should be the first players to be bought. In addition further defensive cover would be needed. It shouldn't be that hard a task - however with Ashley in charge what should be a simple task becomes a shitfight. * - Not our player And lets not forget lads, we still have Xisco out on loan! Incidently he's injured yet again!

Not many people know this, but he's an Argentine international.

And how the hell is Harewood starting? He's been rubbish (I hope I have egg on my face after the match, but can't see that being the case).

And no doubt he will be 'paying' himself for the rights to advertise his company till the end of the season in the manner that works out best for him (tax write-off etc).

TBH I thought he threw himself at a ball that was just out of reach. He didn't miss it, but couldn;t get to it. I'd rather he at least attempt to get to it, rather than stand there and watch it go past. Seeing him flying through the air must be at least a little off-putting for the other team. I was impressed that he didn't shy away from the physical encounters in the match. Previously he's always seemed like a light weight (but I guess that's not the csae, as he also got involved in some pushy shovies in pre-season if I recall correctly - probably sick of people staring in awe and wondering how he played for Argentina).

Also the fact our defence and midfield was standing flat on our 18 yard box instead pushing up did't help. When we press, especially from the front, there isn't an opposition in this league that can cope but it's like we do it for 15 minutes at the start of the second half and then ease off. They're professional footballers for fuck sake, they should be ale to do it for a full game. Yep, I think part of this was the fact that Hughton had taken off Simpson and Jonas. So we had three strikers (whose idea of defending is probably clattering their bodies around in the box) Smith, Butt and Nolan patrolling the central areas and nobody covering the men out wide. That's precisely where they were sending ball after ball into our box from, and although it wasn't pretty they nearly scored as a result of one of them. Put that down to poor substitution decisions. Jonas is an easy sub for Hughton but IMO he should not have come off as he was still defending outwide till the very end and was putting in effort despite. I'm also not sure why Simpson came off (knock?). Getting Ranger on was a good idea, though it should not have been for Simpson.

3 points, 2 to Harper. Enrique MOTM in the outfield, though I wish he'd occassionally have a crack at goal. Carroll was also a stand-out depsite being constantly molested by the eventual match winner Morgan. Harper - 9 when called on to make a save he was there. Not perfect, but close enough. Simpson - 6.5 decent, didn't have a great deal to do. Often got the ball in poor positions a lot of the time it wasn't his fault. Coloccini - 7 Did well in what was a physical match. Made some key tackles, and even broke forward impressively to earn a corner. Kadar - 6.5 overall was decent, a few times didn't clear when he should have. Likes to be on the ball a little too much for a defender (even though he looked half decent on the ball a few times he should be looking to pass the ball out rather than run it) Enrique - 9.5 never beaten in defense, rarely stopped breaking forward. Earned a swag of corners for us. Raylor - 6.5 decent and versatile, copped an unfair yellow, but thankfully missed out on one when it was due later. Butt - 6 wasn't heavily involved, but still made some key tackles and interceptions. Smith - 6 see Butt. Jonas - 6 copped some overly critical appraisals on here. Have a decent game, and looked more committed than he has in the past (eg. screaming back to make a sliding tackle) Nolan - 6.5 a little lost moving between midfield and up front. A few times he had the ball in space, but clearly didn't have the pace or support to do much with it. Carroll - 8 Physical presence thoughout the match. Looked sharp in attack, kept good control of the ball but needed someone to work with. Subs: Ranger - 7 again looked very good at hold up play, not on for long but did well to pickup the pace of the game straight away. Should have been on earlier from mine. Harewood - 1 don't understand why he is being played. A great ball down the middle for him to run on to, and he wasted it hopelessly. .... What was dangerous was the amount of balls that we let get sent into the box. Very nearly cost us the match. Need to close down players out wide to at least apply pressure to their crosses. This was particarly evident when Ryan Taylor was called back into defense when Simpson went off, and when Jonas departed for Harewood. We lost two wide midfield option for central players. Ranger coming on made sense, but it should not have been Simpson coming off unless he had taken a knock. The Harewood substitution made absolutely no sense.

It's true. It allows me form ridiculously long disjointed sentences that are grammatically correct (at least I can convince myself that they are). Pretend it's like my inner monologue (or my way of making footnotes without the hassle). At any length you've gone and ruined it all by uncovering me as a bracket fancier!

As I see it (and there's every chance I could be wrong - I put my hand up and say that I've never been to Newcastle upon Tyne) the only way to effectively coordinate and execute a mass shunning of a game (or series of games) would be to have the local media involved in advance - To have them spread the word amongst the general public (including the match going supporters) about an upcoming boycott of the chosen match (or matches). This would involve the Newspapers as well as television and radio media (and of course the internet). This will ensure that the message gets out there to everyone that matters. Secondly, there needs to be a clearly succinct message regarding the boycott and what it aims to achieve - in more words than "get rid of Ashley". To this end there needs to be a passionate yet logical face/voice spearheading the campaign (this is where the NUST, NUFC.com, TrueFaith etc come into play). Current season ticket holders should be encouraged to attend the match and support the players, but to not purchase anything at the ground (and perhaps even not to wear replica shirts). It all needs to be intricately planned many weeks in advance. The media outlets should be contacted well in advance to ensure they understand the importance of the whole situation and also their integral roles in it. Perhaps some of the local media personalities who have spoken accurately about the situation (eg. George Caulkin) should be enlisted to add credence to the whole event. Maybe some sort of Carnival/Fair could be organised to coincide with the match, as an alternative. The whole idea/event should be promoted as being good natured and family friendly. It should not be billed as a protest or anything of that nature. The key is that people do not send any money Ashley's way, and not that there is a protest to let him know that he's not wanted. He surely must already know that he's not wanted. That obviously does not bother him. All he cares about is the financial side of things, so that is precisely where he must be hit.

Also it's priobably to be expected that Kadar would be a bit nervous. 19 year old making his full home debut in front of 44,000 playing with a bloke he has trained with for a couple of months at best, and playing at what would have been very short notice (given we were expecting Coloccini to return and didn't know that Simpson would also miss out). I expect we'll be seeig him again next match possibly teamed up with Coloccini.

This was a critical result. In shit form still, but hopefully the win will bring some confidence back.

Nolan you bloody beauty!!!!

Get in Carroll!

And Carroll as well.

Get off Harewood.

Subs needed for sure. Show some balls Hughton.

Kitchen Sink

Looking at the line-up I can safely say that I'm confidently quiet.

Great signing (in that he isn't signing for us). I'd be spewing if there was any interest whatsoever from us. Wildly in love with himself, will think he's too good to be playing at this level and consequently won't give a toss.

There was 20 million worth of sales from outgoing players after the 100 million price was 'announced'. If they was a real drop of 20 million pounds the price would be 60 million and not 80.

Come on.... Go on and win...

Butt off for Gutierrez... Good move IMO. Will give us width.

Local team for me is Sydney FC. They're not exactly a likeable bunch though, but I support them simply because they're my local team. Standard of football is quite frankly pretty shoddy. Probably around League One standard. Don't give two hoots about any of the teams in La Liga - not the biggest fan of the way they play football there (even though it has a leaning towards more emphatic goals) and don't like the whole two horse juggernaut they have going on there. For that reason I could never support Barca or Real (and because most of the people who claim to be fans of those teams have no idea). Also don't really care about Italian football. Of course the foreign team I support is Newcastle United. I'm flat out supporting and watching them, so don't have the time to really care about any other teams....other than my beloved Parramatta Eels (Rugby League).

He really has been an unmitigated disaster for us.

I think we're three or four players away from having a mid-low range premier league quality side, albeit not with much depth. Smith didn't get much of a chance to play torus in the premiership largely owing injury and fitness, for me he's streets ahead of Nicky Butt who in my opinion has run his race and should be put out to pasture. Guthrie is developing into a decent premier league midfielder, bit isn't there yet. Barton has been woeful for us, hopefully that changes but I'm not expecting anything. Harewood, Simpson and Khishi are only on loan with no indication that they will be signed on a permanent basis. Nolan was out of form in the premier league, but a few years back he was performing well for Bolton, so he's certainly capable of contributing at that level. The biggest problem I forsee is that the a players that are doing it easy in the championship won't be dominant against better opponents, and when that happens the confidence will drop. We saw last season that when morale is low everything seems to go against you.