OTF

Yeah, I shuddered when I saw that as well.

Arsenal only just bought a left sided midfield player in the summer - Samir Nasri. Nasri is better than N'Zogbia and is developing constantly. N'Zogbia's development has stagnated over the last couple of seasons, Newcastle can probably shoulder some of the blame with him constantly being played out of position but nonetheless there is several areas where Arsenal need to strengthen more than on the left (where van Persie and Walcott can also play, plus where Adebayor constantly drifts). They're not a big spending club, so I don't think they would pony up the amount of money that Newcastle would want for N'Zogbia. Paper talk exasperated by N'Zogbia's foolish comments.

For the third match in a row Butt was horrendously bad. His dillying on the ball was painful to watch and almost gifted Hull a goal. Damien Duff is playing well of late, and Jonas was exceptional in the second half. Michael Owen should have scored in the first half, and should have been given a penalty in the second. Given again MOTM.

Yeah, it would certainly boost his popularity amongst Newcastle supporters if he was to sign on for the rest of his career.

Still feel for the poor bugger though. Honestly think he is a good player, who more or less gives his all whenever he plays. If he didn't have his horrible injury record, I think he could have been an excellent player for England. As it is I'm glad we're rid of him.

That covered 10 years, so take out £155M (transfers, Finance and Shareholders), it takes about £50M a year to run the club. Don't we get about £40M a year TV money? No way is he not in hefty profit with his transfer record. That's what's been bemusing me with the transfers, I can't see how we've not got a cash build up somewhere unless something major has changed that I'm missing. Don't think it's that likley that any of the better players from the higher teams in the Championship will be keen to let their players leave cheaply. Rather than potentially upset the balance for a small payout now, they'll be pushing to crack it into the Premier League for a much bigger pay off. Even still, there's some good players there - so I don't begrudge them for looking there. Plus there should be less of a change for these players as compared to those from foreign leagues.

He's bonkers if he thinks he will oust Ashley Young from left midfield/winger - and he's a rubbish defender. I'd really like him to stay as he is dangerous running at opposing defenders - just needs to improve his final options, which I think he will if given more of a consistent run in the team (so he feels like he doesn't have to score every time he gets the ball).

Allardyce isn't that bad. Don't get me wrong, I'm super glad that he's no longer our manager, but I think he should be able to keep Blackburn up as they have a decent squad of players. That said they are a little detached at the bottom at the moment, so it will be a telling few weeks to see whether his arrival lifts the spirit of their players.

I voted for Viduka, because he's the best player in the list. He scored a great tight in goal against Woodgate the last time he played him - though given Woodgate's latest injury troubles he's unlikely to figure against us. I think that JFK may start with Ameobi, but will bring Viduka on towards the end. I'd prefer if he did it the other way. Viduka will offer a nice target to Jonas and N'Zobgia.

Despite his recent injury troubles, I would take Parker back. We'd surely be able to buy him for less than we sold him to them. As a player though I'd probably prefer Barton, though he seems to be just as injury prone, and Parker is certainly the more likeable of the two.

Who did we sell that Keegan didn't want to go? (remembering that Keegan said the Milner offer was too good to turn down) The Milner offer was too good to turn down - ON THE PROVISION that the money from his sale was reinvested into the team. When Keegan made that statement it was on that basis. He was lead to believe that Milner would be replaced (and not by an injured loan 'signing').

Would hate to be Xisco. Poor bugger. Comes into a team all wide eyed and eager, then finds out that the iconic manager has quit and a large part of his going was your arrival. Then to make matters worse most Newcastle supporters are suddenly experts on scouting and footballing ability allowing them to deem you a complete dud after you play a game or two. And the cherry on top -> you pick up an injury that will keep you out of training for several weeks. Welcome to Newcastle! If anything it just makes us even less likely as a destination for foreign players in the future.

Don't think he did anything worse than Beye in that match and had a lot more work to do defensively. Don't know if you watched the match, but I'll reiterate he seldom had anyone to pass to when he cleared it. I'm not suggesting he's a world beater or anything, but in my opinion he's a credible left back and I think we're only going to see him improve. Buying a player of his age with his experience and bringing him to a new club you know 100% that you're going to have to give him time in the team to firstly adjust and then to develop - noone here seems to understand that. More important areas of the pitch to strengthen IMO, though we should realistically have cover at both fullback positions when we really don't.

Ireland is a good player. Ugly as sin though. Very composed in front of goals.

Good to see someone giving credit where credit is due to a player who seems to cop an unfair amount of criticism. If you honestly look at most of the times where Enrique sends a ball upfield there is noone in close proximity for him to pass to. You can understand him not wanting to hold onto the ball and try to beat a player on the dribble, so clearing is the best option he has. He makes a good amount of tackles, and is pretty quick. Leagues ahead of N'Zogbia in terms of his defense. In the first half in particuylar he had NO protection from Damien Duff, and with Bosingwa so keen to get forward he was often in a position where he had to try to mark two players - this is the reason why he was sometimes pulled in towards the middle - following runs from Joe Cole - the onus was on our midfield to pickup Bosingwa breaking forward.

If I had to pick who I'd have alongside me in the trenches the name Damien Duff would not come up That said, he was the one that was there when the best chance of the second half fell to Ballack, so credit to him. He (Duff) actually made a tackle in the second half too - almost couldn't believe it!

Stone the crows, guv. Why the hell not Bassong or Given MOTM.

Agree, it was a powerful performance from Bassong - to drop him to bring Taylor back in would be foolish. You could not honestly criticise any of the back four for their efforts in this match. JFK has an obvious favouritism towards Damien Duff. In my opinion it should have been Duff not Jonas making way for N'Zogbia. Stoked with a point! Keeping a clean sheet against Chelsea at the Bridge is great. Thank Shay for some good goal keeping, though Chelsea didn't create as many clear chances as they should have given their possession. Put that down to some good defending. Coloccini improved vastly in the second half with some very good clearing headers.

Would be nice if Damien Duff had a little more defensive resistance than a plastic bag. Good decisive defending from Bassong. He's the right sort of player to play alongside Coloccini, who it must be said is less than convincing in the air.

If you get to the point where your reputation precedes you, your defenders will usually get more time on the ball, and are likely to really only have to defend on the counter attack and against set pieces. You see this with teams like Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea where oppossing teams so often sit back trying to weather the storm and consequently the Manchester United (etc) defenders are given acres of space (and consequently time). This in turn gives them confidence and makes them look better than they possibly are. Take Ferdinand out of Manchester United and he'll still be a very good defender, but he'll inevitably make mistakes if he is put under the same amount and volume of attacks that the likes of Coloccini are. That said, it is important to have a defender who you can knock the ball back to and be confident that he'll be able to keep possession by passing the ball around. The onus though doesn't lie entirely with that defender as you need the rest of your team to move around to give him options. I think that Shay Given should also be looking to send more short balls through to our defenders. It's too often in my opinion that he hoofs the ball upfield even when there is no opposing player putting pressure on him.

Enrique cops an unfair amount of criticism IMO. You can only pass it to team mates if they give you the option and make them selves available. If they don't then as a defender you have to basically send a long ball down field (if you try to force a pass out, you'll often turn it over and set the opposiing team up with a scoring change - as we have seen with N'Zogbia playing there). Enrique can send a long ball with his left foot with good accuracy. Bassong on the other hand is a more physical player (Enrique lost weight over the off-season - I didn't think that he needed to), but is far less refined. If you think Enrique looks panicked and flustered on the ball, then with bassong you'd have to say he looks hopeless with the ball. IMO I'd stick with Enrique over Bassong on the left as Enrique gives you more of an option going forward. We don't get much attack out of our centre mids, so additional attacking options down the wing are necessities. Coloccini looks like being our best signing of recent times. He could have done better with the penalty he gave away, but he's a consistent player who doesn't often get beaten by an opposing player (always seesm to manage to get a touch on the ball at the least). Importantly he's not at all injury prone (touch wood) having played the entire season for Depor last season, and thus far every minute for us. Beye hasn't been up to his standard set last year, but is imporving with each game, and is positionally very good. Unfortunately at his age he's not going to last forever so we have to start blooding a younger fullback to succeed him in a few years time.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if SBR was well enough to assist Shearer in an advisory role. I think there is quite a few benefits to Shearer coming in as manager. Not the least of which will be his ability to attract players. Shearer is the highest profile former Newcastle player that still has a connection to the modern game. Players the world over will know who Alan Shearer is, and in the same way that Roy Keane has been able to bring players to Sunderland, Shearer will be capable of the same for us. Add to that a bankroll that will likely be significantly higher than the likes of Sunderland and we should be in reasonable stead for attracting players (that is if we don't go and do something silly like get relegated). Shearer will have his coaches around him to assist with making decisions, and given some of the managers that he has played under he should know a fair bit about the different approaches. He would be a pretty hard-nosed manager, that could potentially fall-out with players of the same personality, but it should also encourage most of our players to perform to their best. I'm not particularly for it or against it, just trying to look at the positives as there now appears to be a slim chance that this could happen.

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'. Without speculation this would be one empty forum. My point was that Taylor would not have been so easily dismissed. I didn't say Cacapa wasn't fouled. I'm disappointed with his performance in that situation and his overall performance in the game, particularly as most of the rest of the team had pretty decent games. We obviously have better players than Fulham, so not getting anything in this match hurts given our position on the table. Kinnear is going to cop a fine for his comments. Penalty 'last week' against Man City?

Taylor is average. But if he was there Coloccini would not have had to react to Cacapa going to ground.

I think it's harsh to blame him for the penalty. And I think he's shite btw. That's probably technically right. But it's hard to blame Coloccini as well, considering he was coming across to basically pick up the player who Cacapa was marking. Johnson has just about made a career out of going to ground easily. Coloccini did cut across his body though, so isolating that moment it was a penalty, even though Johnson made the most of the (impending) contact and Gerrard style was diving to the ground in anticipation of it, rather than as a result of it. I'm going to have to watch it again to determine whether Cacapa was actually fouled by Johnson. Chances are he was, though as a defender you become a liability if you go to ground as softly as I have seen Cacapa do on several occassions.