toon_don

Colback has spent his entire career playing in terrible teams at the wrong end of the table. In that context, you can get by being able to run around, snap into tackles and keep play simple when you do have the ball. If he had come through at a top half Premier League team, he'd have been sold after about a dozen appearances and would have been in the Championship or League 1 years ago. Yedlin an Atsu should have been in the team for Anita and Gouffran as soon as Shelvey got banned. Our only threat without Shelvey is down the flanks, so it would be good to have players on the wing the can actually do something with the ball.

I think Shelvey purely as a footballer is exactly what we need in midfield, but the fact that he's clearly a raging penis puts me off a bit.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25995228 :thumbup: :thumbup:

Johnson was a prick for the whole game. I'd ban him just for being him.

Not much. We've got over £20 million to spend now. Other clubs know this and will ask for more, which we won't pay. We'll then make some public statement about refusing to be held to ransom.

Spurs have ambition.

I think someone else said it already, but I would honestly take relegation to see us win the FA Cup.

I'm stunned to be honest. I always thought that even if they put out a team of children we'd end up rolling over at Old Trafford. Amazing.

Was at the game last night (I'm half Nigerian), and Shola was surprisingly good against a pretty strong Italian side. It was just one of those nights where all the little flicks and turns he tried actually came off, rather than him just falling over and looking like a lemon. The Nigerian fans also had two of my favourite chants I've heard at a game: Nigeria with an attacking free-kick/corner- "Into the net! Into the net! Into the net!" Nigeria defending a free-kick/corner- "Over the bar! Over the bar! Over the bar!"

Similar to Monday, I think that not having Ben Arfa in the side (even if he's our most gifted player) makes the midfielders take more responsibility themselves. They don't have the "fuck it I'll just give it to Hatem" safety blanket.

Taking Ben Arfa off has made the other midfielders take some responsibility.

Have we even used him in central midfield yet? Every game I can think of he's been behind Cisse, or right midfield.

We showed fight for a few games when Kinnear first turned up, but after that it was a slow downward spiral. It's always pretty galling when Kinnear keeps saying what a good job he did.

He can throw the ball further than a lot of keepers can kick it. Sometimes he looks really good, others he looks like a rabbit in the headlights. Happy enough with him as a backup though, it's not like we're going to attract good players to sit on our bench.

I can't imagine leaving a Newcastle game early, because I only get to 7 or 8 a season so it's always a bit deal. I like to be in the ground early, and I'm never in a real hurry to leave, I like to savour it. The only time I've ever left a game early was an Aberdeen game, where with 2 minutes to go, them being 3-1 down, and having just witnessed a player miscontrol it into touch with no-one around him, I decided I couln't deal with the incomptence any more and went home. It finished 3-3