Papa Lazaru

Were always going to lose sooner or later, just as the Smogs have and West Brom will, we just need to bounce back against Plymouth and follow that up with doing what we have been doing up until tonight. Smith was a big loss clearly, i think he's vital to the pressing, destructive game we've been playing away from home to stop other teams finding any rhythm. I expect us to comfortably win on saturday and we'll see what the other 2 at the top have done and it could all be looking good again. But hopefully this defeat will shake any hint of complacency if it had crept in there after our flying start.

I thought Smith would be a massive loss, he gives us so much drive and energy in the middle and he gets everywhere throughout the match, whether Butt plays well or badly that's not his game and we will be lacking what Smith has brought to the team.

Mackembeth? Thats more like it! Julius Seaburn? King Wear?

I agree, ashley is to blame for giving Wise the job and telling him to/allowing him to overrule Keegan and sign players over his head etc. That said, the guy is and always has been a complete arsehole!

Its a tough one to call. On the one hand is your intelligent, reasoned argument sticking to whats actually happened and using common sense as well as simply backing a toon legend who's done more for this club than anyone in my time supporting the club, but there's also the counter argument from this thread of: OMG!!!LOL!11Keegan is a bottler!!11LOL They're both compelling arguments, but i think i'm going to have to go with Trophyshy on this one! No middle-ground then? Keegan's achievements in propelling us from near oblivion to the level we reached were nothing short of immense. Doesn't stop him acting like a spoilt child though when he is told he can't have something though. Whether it be Signori, or the Milner money. To be serious, there can be some middle ground i imagine! But really its down to whether you think he was being a spoilt child/bottler etc. or that he (like alot of us i'd guess) wouldn't take the kind of crap he was getting from ashley, wise et al and so don't hold it against him at all for walking out. Though as i've said in the past i wish he could have done it just 1 or 2 games later and we'd probably have stayed up and even though i think he should easilly win the case i'd rather he didn't just because we can't afford to lose anymore money from the club! As has been said before though you don't really believe that the club will lose any money that would have been spent on it anyway do you? I hope Kev nails Ashley's nuts to the mast. Oh I don't for a minute think if we lost £10m it would have been all going on players and then would all be gone on Keegan. However whatever Ashley plans to do or whatever the club plan to do should he leave, its far better for us to have that £10m than not have it on the balance sheet, theres no way we as fans will be better served by the club losing £10m.

Its a tough one to call. On the one hand is your intelligent, reasoned argument sticking to whats actually happened and using common sense as well as simply backing a toon legend who's done more for this club than anyone in my time supporting the club, but there's also the counter argument from this thread of: OMG!!!LOL!11Keegan is a bottler!!11LOL They're both compelling arguments, but i think i'm going to have to go with Trophyshy on this one! No middle-ground then? Keegan's achievements in propelling us from near oblivion to the level we reached were nothing short of immense. Doesn't stop him acting like a spoilt child though when he is told he can't have something though. Whether it be Signori, or the Milner money. To be serious, there can be some middle ground i imagine! But really its down to whether you think he was being a spoilt child/bottler etc. or that he (like alot of us i'd guess) wouldn't take the kind of crap he was getting from ashley, wise et al and so don't hold it against him at all for walking out. Though as i've said in the past i wish he could have done it just 1 or 2 games later and we'd probably have stayed up and even though i think he should easilly win the case i'd rather he didn't just because we can't afford to lose anymore money from the club!

If Hughton thinks Lovenkrands is fit enough he may start with 2 up front, but i'm not sure he won't go with the 5 man midfield again with Nolan pushing up, and to be fair its working so far. Also i think its nailed on Butt will be in for Smith whether its 4-4-2 or 4-5-1, not that i'd play him, but i bet he's back in the team.

Its a tough one to call. On the one hand is your intelligent, reasoned argument sticking to whats actually happened and using common sense as well as simply backing a toon legend who's done more for this club than anyone in my time supporting the club, but there's also the counter argument from this thread of: OMG!!!LOL!11Keegan is a bottler!!11LOL They're both compelling arguments, but i think i'm going to have to go with Trophyshy on this one!

UEFA in being useless shocker! I knew all along they'd have to overturn it as they realised from now on they'd have to go abnd start banning players from big Spanish and Itallian clubs and whoever else gets caught diving on TV and they really didn't want to go and do that, so far better to bottle it and fail to sort out one of footballs problems.

Yeah, i think Harper missed his chance a few years back when he was at his best to be playing regularly for a prem team as their number one and he may have got a look in for England. But last season when he got the uninterrupted run as no. 1 for us he struggled, and struggled quite badly at times. His command of the area and coming for crosses was never the best, nor was his kicking, but his shot stopping which has been good had dropped off a fair bit i felt, and his kicking/releasing of the ball quickly was piss poor. This season he's made some good saves when required and much as i'd have chucked Krul in there, i think he's earned his place in the team at the moment, but he still worries you when the crosses/set pieces are being fired in and i don't think he'd have made all the saves Krul did against West Brom.

I was doing that as well today. If it wasnt for the serious fraud squad, I would say it would be nailed on he would want to hang on. Now I bet he is under quite a lot of pressure, internal and external to sell us and concentrate on his empire. (Stop pissing around with a rich mans toy). Our start will not have gone un noticed and who knows who's sniffing around be it americans or Geordies, but my instinct is that the sale will go through soon. My main area of uncertainty is around Shearer. Dont really want him coming in and fucking it up. I don't think Shearer would fuck it up myself, the only question would be if it caused much disruption and if there was an issue with him and more than just Barton. As it is i doubt there would be with any other players, they all seemed behind the decision for him to be appointed which ashley ignored and even where Barton is concerned i think Shearer would look at the fact he can't sell him now and probably give him one more chance. But if Shearer did come in you'd want Hughton and Calderwood retained and having a big hand in helping Shearer as boss, after all he's still a novice and they have steadied the ship admirably now, so we'd want some continuity. Think its already in the public domain that Shearer wanted rid of Smith , Nolan and Barton as part of his plan. What does that tell you. Probably that he wants some pace, movement and creativity in his midfield which we had none of in the prem, and with Barton the reason he wanted rid was obvious and correct. As it happens in the championship Smith and Nolan have been impressive, Barton as yet hasn't done much but probably isn't fit, but nobody would have argued if Shearer had wanted to shift all 3, and thats if, i haven't heard the man himself categorically name all 3 of them.

I was doing that as well today. If it wasnt for the serious fraud squad, I would say it would be nailed on he would want to hang on. Now I bet he is under quite a lot of pressure, internal and external to sell us and concentrate on his empire. (Stop pissing around with a rich mans toy). Our start will not have gone un noticed and who knows who's sniffing around be it americans or Geordies, but my instinct is that the sale will go through soon. My main area of uncertainty is around Shearer. Dont really want him coming in and fucking it up. I don't think Shearer would fuck it up myself, the only question would be if it caused much disruption and if there was an issue with him and more than just Barton. As it is i doubt there would be with any other players, they all seemed behind the decision for him to be appointed which ashley ignored and even where Barton is concerned i think Shearer would look at the fact he can't sell him now and probably give him one more chance. But if Shearer did come in you'd want Hughton and Calderwood retained and having a big hand in helping Shearer as boss, after all he's still a novice and they have steadied the ship admirably now, so we'd want some continuity.

You can never guess what is going on in that fat fuckers head, so i find it hard to judge exactly what anything will mean! For example say we're stuck with him and he's here come January and we're flying, will he think time to strip more assets for cash and risk blowing promotion, leaving him with a championship club, or will he think, small investement here in players (or at least no sales) push for promotion and once back in the prem he can sell us for a shitload more...or even stay (god i hope not) and get back to raking in the tv/sponsorship cash etc.

I was thinking during the Leicester game how true the cliche about your mistakes being punished in the top flight is - I'm hoping the confidence brought by getting away with it and keeping clean sheets will actually reduce the mistakes - for example I think Collocini only made that one mistake at the end which is low for him. It could have cost us the points but didn't and that's what gives me hope. As well as we've played, and we certainly have and the clean sheets are impressive, nearly every game we have dropped one clanger that in the prem would probably be punished, and thats the difference, to be a top defence in this league you can get away with a bit. That's not to take away from the lads at the back though who've been excellent by and large.

I've always kind of agreed with Acca, not that we'll piss the league and i certainly wait to see what happens when the injury crisis hits home, but he's not too far off. And the reason i come down more on his side is once i saw that our team are united as a unit, working their arses off and willing to fight and get stuck in i knew we had enough quality once we earned the right to play. And this division is not as good as people claim if you have some quality, its not even fast like people thought, some of these team we're playign are pretty slow if you ask me. If you read various threads on the mackem board (and even now they still always have plenty about us!) they continually mention how shite this division is and that they should know as they've pissed it with soem pretty average squads themselves. I mean when you look at it can you see many teams getting anything at St James this season, and so far we've managed 2 wins and a draw away from home. Its still early days, but its there for the taking...if we keep up this attitude and committment.

It still feels weird watching toon games where we not only don't concee, but i'm not really expecting to either! In that 2nd half Cardiff had spells on top and we were conceding a fair few freekicks etc. yet i wasn't on edge the way i usually am holding onto a 1 goal lead as i just didnt think we'd let one in, though we did come close!

Unfair, quite a few of us on here where championing him on here last year instead of the hopeless Butt. How exactly is it unfair, I am basing it on 39 games in the premiership in a black and white shirt as opposed to 6 in the fizzy pop league. Don't get me wrong I think he is playing very well and taking the captaincy role on very well and think he will be a key player for us this season. However I am not going to be naive and think all of a sudden the last few years did not happen and all of sudden half of the current team are actually that good, remember most of these guys are the same players who took us down. Not really. Most of this team didnt. Given, Beye, Bassong, Duff, Jonas, Martins, Owen, Viduka, off the top of my head. As someones already mentioned, Smith has never really had this role as duffer Butt had it sewn up. The only way this season can go tits up for me is if Butt regains his place and Jonas. Keep them too out of the way (Jonas as a super sub to confuse tired opposition) and we will be ok. I think your being harsh on Jonas there like, his link up play with Enrique is superb and at this level he will piss the league. Definitely, we'd all like better distribution from him, but he offers us genuine pace and width, and is always an option to give the ball to and he'll run with it. He wins freekicks and in this division he is going to set up goals and who knows maybe even score a couple. And he does link well with Enrique as Jose has commented on himself.

Smith's doing a cracking job for us and will be a key player this season, he seemed to be everywhere anything happened today, covering a hell of alot of ground, blocking and tackling everything. And this season i think his use of the ball has been good, usually playing it simple and keeping us ticking along, plus as some have said he's taking the role of captain well. He is going to pick up some suspensions this season but its the risk he'll run for playign the way he is, and playing like that is working well for us so he will continue to push the limits all the time. What he would do in the prem is a different matter as the games he played there he tended to struggle, but that doesn't matter at the moment, he can only be judged on the division he's playing in right now and if we go up it will become an issue.

an awful performance eh ? a 1-0 win at a supposed main rival without 3 main players - I'll take this every week no problem. Thats whats impressive, we've lost our 2 strikers, plus Jonas' pace and width, so we're grinding out the results with moments of quality then solidity and hard work. Throw Shola, Jonas and Carroll back into the mix and i'd expect more goals to go with these clean sheets.

The scary thing is you just know fat fuck ashley would have got Kinnear back if it was at all possible! If nobody is buying ashley out then sticking with Hughton is the right thing to do, as the choices ashley would make other than hughton would be shite and would just disrupt whats happening now.

I disagree there. Our only problem was that we didn't have anything up front as Ranger could really do with some support. We held possession well and bossed most of the game up until the end and most importantly when it came down to it we ground out the result and it this league that's what counts, three points on the board and now we have to focus on Wednesday. At the end of the day we have one of our harder games out the way and I'm over the moon we got something from it, 6 games, 5 wins, 1 draw and only 1 goal conceded. I have nothing to complain about! Also I have to call Brock up from saying Cardiff were a ''physical'' team. Were they fuck! Yeah, theres no way that was an awful performance at all, not even close. Cardiff have been tearing people apart at home, and first half we practically rendered them toothless, shutting them down and controlling the game solidly if unspectaurlarly. They came into it later in the half and certainly had the better of the second half, but we scored, kept a clean sheet and have beaten one of the better teams in this division, job done.

Great shift put in by the players in terms of effort and committment, they weren't given a second to rest on the ball and people were getting stuck in all over the pitch. As we've done before we had a moment of quality to score, (and well done Colo on winning the ball to give out wide then getting back in to score) followed by digging in, stifling the other team and trying to pick them off on the break. Smith had to make that challenge and it was well worth a red as it looked a certain goal, plus he'll only miss 1 game, he was everywhere today, and probably MOTM. Was perhaps lucky to get away with the stray arm in a players face and the two footed lunge second half! Ranger again battled well upfront on his own which is a big ask of a kid and it'll be nice to see him get a game alongside Carroll soon hopefully to see what he can do with a big man upfront helping him. And finally, we were lucky to get away with the blatant pen when Taylor saved with his arm, but who cares we've had countless shite decisions go against us in the past, its nice to get some our way!

I'm sure they won't play Lovenkrands, certainly not starting anyway as he had no pre-season matches and no competitive matches at all, so even if he's kept himself fit, he's nowhere near match fit. I think he said that himself in an interview and also think Hughton said much the same, so bench at best i think.

Can you explain : * If he walked on the club how come he is seeking compensation? * Whatever way he left the club this time around, how that is bottling it? Sorry like, every time I hear someone call KK a bottler, I just think "sheep". Get your own opinion man, based on actual facts. People rarely let the facts get in the way of a good whinge about Keegan! And calling him a bottler for leaving a job where he was being fucked about and rightly walked as any decent manager with any pride would have (the likes of Fergie and Wenger made it clear they would ahve and Curbishley did at West Ham) like you say is a sheep mentality. As for the case itself, Keegan is right, he's entitled to the pay off and he should win it legally and morally, but i hope he loses as this club can ill afford to pay out millions to anyone, even a legend like Keegan who made this club what it is...well, what is was until the last few years anyway!

Should be a 3 match ban for the stamp/raking studs across the face and a further ban for running the length of the pitch to go to the arsenal fans and incite trouble there. I've always been of the opinion by and large that fans should be able to take it and that they whinge like little kids anytime a player upsets them, but this, in the current situation after West Ham/Millwall was just embrassing, to go from one end of the pitch to the other with the sole intention of taunting his old fans, deserves a further ban, and shows the guy to be a complete dick basically.