Happy Face

Happy Birthday Gemmil, hope it's a corker. Michael Owens birthday today too. Hope he chokes on his sponge cake, the bell.

Conceded 11 in 4, not had a clean sheet in 7 (Conceding 17). The defence has been brilliant this season...but don't allow the one game with the missing CB's let Ashley off the hook if he brings no-one in over the new year. On the back of only conceding 4 in the first 7 we've got a lot of praise, but since then the record is not great, even with our BEST players. http://www.statto.co...12/defence/full Worse than the Mackems, Villa and Fulham over the course of the season so far.

I'll be in the Black Garter before the Swansea game if anyone fancies a £1.70 pint.

Glad they won like. Would be great to get to March/April with 4 teams in with a shout.

I am a repetitive twat

Should have read Matt's post before I even started

Played his 90th minute against Norwich away...prompty sent off in his 138th minute. hes right there though not wrong he DIDNT play more than 90 before halloween Right you are

Ba scored his 10th away to Norwich

Played his 90th minute against Norwich away...prompty sent off in his 138th minute.

Who here rates Williamson? He's never looked any good for more than an odd game. Arms all over opposing players, and for someone as tall as he is he lacks a physical presence. Miles better than Perch or Simpson at CB, but still not good enough to be first option after an injury prone Steven Taylor. It's criminal to only have 3 actual centre backs in a premier league squad. We've got four out and out strikers in our squad - Ba, Best, Shola and Lovenkrands, plus option with Ben Arfa and Sameobi. That's a position where it's widely accepted that we need to strengthen, even though it's acceptable, at a pinch (or tacticallY), to play with only one striker. In defense you can't get away with having less than two central defenders. But the "still not good enough" is the conundrum, if he's at the standard that is deemed (by the fans) "good enough" is he happy to "sit" whilst the first choice pair are playing (were playing) so well. Williamson may well benefit as much as Taylor has from the "system". Premature to judge. Their respective abilities aside, how often does anyone lose their top 3 players at a single position, let alone such a significant position. Our main problem is the fact our kids in that area would appear to be shite/ not ready. You can only have 25 Senior pro's then it must be kids. Its about balancing the squad as much as anything. Absolutely would like an upgrade on Perch (and several others) but he is only 4th choice, that's a depth in your squad you'd hope to rarely get exposed to playing for any length of time. Do we now need another CB, yes we do, but as I've said I reckon it'll be a young up and comer, we won't buy 2 (if we do, the other'll be a kid I reckon). Bottom line is we need more defenders...and policy should always be where possible to buy players better than the ones you have. I don't think that's possible in the case of Coloccini...but it shouldn't be at all beyond our wildest dreams in the case of Taylor. The extent of ambition shouldn't be an up and comer to challenge Perch/Williamson for a place on the bench? We know they aren't good enough. And Stevie is confident he could shift them off the bench himself. Never rated Williamson. Good in the air but everything else is sub-standard for the pl. A centre back who can challenge Taylor for his spot, when fit, should be the aim for the level of quality of any centre back coming in in January. Aye, while he's injured it's easy for people to forget he's no good either. The notion that had he been fit we'd be alright for cover is daft...but basically what TP seems to be saying.

Trolls are from Norway. I really want to see Troll Hunter mind....made in Norway....

The Field - Looping State of Mind Has this not had a mention on here? Might have been an embedded Youtube video so can't find it. Quality stuff anyway. Again.

Who's the most famous Norway person then? The chef off The Muppets?

did a splendid job for the heed covering their team captain, but he was only meant as cover until their cap returned. Since when does a Norwegian refer to Gateshead as the heed? When it a sad case impersonating one. Because I looked it up on wiki just before I wrote it. I AM a norwegian for fucks sake, lol, how is that hard to believe? Jeg snakker norsk, er norsk, er født i norge for faen, og syns du er jævla føkkings ufin idiot som til stadighet driter på draget her inne. Skjerp deg jævla tard, tror det er få som liker deg. If you're really Norweigen KSA, then name all of ABBA. Your grasp of Fergie is even better than your grasp of Geordie by the way. Did you look that up?

They're top quality youngsters with international recognition for their age level. Henderson was second choice at Gateshead. Don't even know why I'm bothering

I think we should play Steve Stone and Pardoo at CB, 2 ex-pro's going to waste, nothing can be worse than Perch/Simpson. No, I thinjk we seriously should consider playing Monty Magpie and a Sports Direct sign, nothing can be worse than Perch/Simpson.

did a splendid job for the heed covering their team captain, but he was only meant as cover until their cap returned. I'm sure he did. I agree with you, we SHOULD have players that warm the bench in the conference thrust straight into our first team.

He wasn't even involved for Gateshead this week. EDIT: While he was there I mean...sat it out "for family reasons"

Sarcasm? What's so awfully wrong with trying that option, if the only available alternative was a dwarf fullback?... Is he back from Loan?

Joyeux Noel

And he knocked back the offer of £50k a week from West Ham...with a £1/2m bonus. Respec!

What sort of wage is he on? Excellent deal for a freebie if he's inside the clubs wage structure. £40k a week would mean he's only cost us £6m all in, over the length of his 3 year deal. Owen got that in less than a year, without his fee.

indeed, quite a lot in fact. The average NUFC FIFA player rating under Shepherd was 81...under Ashley it's 72. Some people will never accept these FACTS.

Who here rates Williamson? He's never looked any good for more than an odd game. Arms all over opposing players, and for someone as tall as he is he lacks a physical presence. Miles better than Perch or Simpson at CB, but still not good enough to be first option after an injury prone Steven Taylor. It's criminal to only have 3 actual centre backs in a premier league squad. We've got four out and out strikers in our squad - Ba, Best, Shola and Lovenkrands, plus option with Ben Arfa and Sameobi. That's a position where it's widely accepted that we need to strengthen, even though it's acceptable, at a pinch (or tacticallY), to play with only one striker. In defense you can't get away with having less than two central defenders. But the "still not good enough" is the conundrum, if he's at the standard that is deemed (by the fans) "good enough" is he happy to "sit" whilst the first choice pair are playing (were playing) so well. Williamson may well benefit as much as Taylor has from the "system". Premature to judge. Their respective abilities aside, how often does anyone lose their top 3 players at a single position, let alone such a significant position. Our main problem is the fact our kids in that area would appear to be shite/ not ready. You can only have 25 Senior pro's then it must be kids. Its about balancing the squad as much as anything. Absolutely would like an upgrade on Perch (and several others) but he is only 4th choice, that's a depth in your squad you'd hope to rarely get exposed to playing for any length of time. Do we now need another CB, yes we do, but as I've said I reckon it'll be a young up and comer, we won't buy 2 (if we do, the other'll be a kid I reckon). Bottom line is we need more defenders...and policy should always be where possible to buy players better than the ones you have. I don't think that's possible in the case of Coloccini...but it shouldn't be at all beyond our wildest dreams in the case of Taylor. The extent of ambition shouldn't be an up and comer to challenge Perch/Williamson for a place on the bench? We know they aren't good enough. And Stevie is confident he could shift them off the bench himself.

Register with Zinio and they send you a free $25 code to use, so I'm reading Film Comment thanks to a subscription for nowt. Recommended for anyone with a tablet. http://gb.zinio.com/