Papa Lazaru

This season you really struggle to pick a handful of genuinely impressive performances. All i can come up with is Manu away, Portsmouth away, a battling point away at Chelsea i suppose, home to Villa and i think the first half at home to West Hame we played well but didnt take our chances and were shite second half.

He's wrong about Keegan and it was uncalled for, the "out of touch" Keegan had the fans starting to look forward again and had they backed him we'd have been fine. He's partly right about Ashley, he did pick the wrong people and put his faith in them, however thats his job, to get the right men and if not to fire the wrong ones, so he is too blame, just not solely to blame.

You deserve to finish exactly where you do in a league table, so if we go down its deserved if we stay up that's deserved, simple as that. As to whether the fans deserve it or not, thats an entirely different matter!

Its definitely turning into a battle to get relegated rather than avoid it, teams seem determined to be as shit as possible! Its going to make our draw with Pompey so annoying because those 2 points now would make such a difference.

Don't see that he did anything wrong at all. They played the joke on him and the media blew it up out of all proportion and all he did was answer questions and interviews they all suddenly wanted of him. Then he took up offers of work that suddenly flooded into his agent thanks to all the media coverage, and why shouldn't he! And all he's saying is that whilst it caused his family some upset he's also got something good out of it.

Well that was sadly predictable, start off quite well, competing in the game and then some ludicrous defending, concede a goal and collapse! It was offisde mind, so that is infuriating, but we gave the ball away and had 2 chances to clear it before the offside so its still shite defending as usual. As for Barton, the guy is a fucking moron, he comes back and looks the part actually passing the ball around well with both feet, and gives you some hope that as he gets more fitness back he'll be a major player in the last 3 games and then he does that and not only risks the last 15 mins of this game seeing us concede a few but takes himself out of 2 or 3 games after that. I thought Viduka was pretty much playing them on his own today after that early spell, he won his share of headers, he was holding it up well and causing them some problems, shame the linesmen kept penalising his for offside all the time whether he was or not. I'm pinning my hopes on him against the smogs, he's one of the few gifted players we have and he always looks to me like he'll score past his old club given half a chance.

I may be wrong with this as i don't know the details to be honest, but did Gazza's real drinking problems not come after his serious injury and all his time spent not playing football and having nothing else to do whilst being mislead by people around him? I thought he would have been ok when young and spending his every waking hour devoted to football which he loves and had he went to play under Fergie i genuinely think much as i hate the bloke, he would have kept Gazza under control enough, whilst still letting him play freely to become what he should have which is the best player in the world for a time. Or to look at it a slightly different way had he played for manu he wouldnt have been in that cup final and picked up that injury which ultimately is where most of his problems started. That's obviously luck, not anything to with either clubs management but he would have went on to greater things without that injury.

I think Shearer was right to go 4-3-3, he's seen the utter, utter shite we offer from midfield and decided the only chance was to get all 3 of those strikers in the team and hope they pull out a matchwinner. Sadly for him and us all 3 of them missed an easy chance or else we'd all be sitting here praising Shearer for playing that formation. I don't think he could have done much more really, he started with the formation i would have, when Enrique went off he kept it attacking by playing Duff LB and i might add Guthrie one or 2 wild passes apart was far better than any other midfielder, and he hit 3 good corners in about 10 mins which is more that the rest of them all season. And when Viduka was shot he brought Carroll on and finally he threw Jonas on, so he tried everything really and was let down by poor finishing and that woeful last 20 mins where we disappeared completely from the game. One thing i've noticed is, (ignoring the Chlsea game where Shearer and Dowie had barely had time to do any work with the players) that we've only conceded 2 goals in 3 matches including 2 away games, so it seems they've got some level of organisation into the team, unfortunately not being miracle workers they can't get creativity into it!

That's a big task for Nolan, Butt & Ryan Taylor... If they could even do one of the 3 it'd be something!

If Geremi didn't have the legs of 70 year old then i would pick him as well, he may take some shocking set pieces but unlike the rest of them he can actually pass a football forward to a team mate! Sadly the fact he can't move after 10 mins of football means he can't be allowed near the first team again.

He can't score without service and we have one of the least creative teams in premiership history at the moment, start creating and he'll be fine. Also if Big Al intends to return to Keegans tactic with Owen, Martins and Viduka i assume he'll do the same as KK and have Owen playing in that deeper role linking at times with midfield where he turned in some excellent performances not just scoring but being involved in all the decent football we played, something most people like to forget when saying he can't do anything. Playing with those 3 means Vidkua will hold it up and bring Owen into the game and Martins threat because of his pace will drag defenders out a bit meaning Owen has space and we'll see him score goals just as he did for Keegan. If Shearer uses 4-4-2 then either the wingers or the central mids are going to have to learn to cross, pass and take take set pieces accurately or Owen is likely to struggle, its not rocket science.

Spot on. You reap what you sow. We're shit because Ashley didn't invest properly in the first team last summer and then again in January. No cover at left-back fucked us up again today. And we don't create chances because we've got wank like Ryan Taylor, Nolan, Smith and the past-it Nicky Butt playing in midfield, which completely wastes the decent options we've got up front. I don't know what Danny Guthrie's done wrong not to get a game ahead of the likes of Smith and Nolan by the way. He's not top class but he's miles better than those two useless cunts. I actually though Smith used the ball reasonably well when he came on surprisingly, but toally agree, Guthrie should be walking into the team ahead of Nolan and even though Guthrie isn't a wide player i'd play him wide right ahead of R Taylor who is a nothing player. Difficult to say who's worse - Ryan Taylor or Nolan. They're both abysmal. Its touch and go isn't it! Neither has offered anything whatsoever positive and so its down to what's worse between Taylor looking likely to give goals away ie vs manu and tried it again vs Stoke, or Nolan costing us the Everton game with his red card and i think against Stoke he did another dodgy tackle that could have got him in bother.

Spot on. You reap what you sow. We're shit because Ashley didn't invest properly in the first team last summer and then again in January. No cover at left-back fucked us up again today. And we don't create chances because we've got wank like Ryan Taylor, Nolan, Smith and the past-it Nicky Butt playing in midfield, which completely wastes the decent options we've got up front. I don't know what Danny Guthrie's done wrong not to get a game ahead of the likes of Smith and Nolan by the way. He's not top class but he's miles better than those two useless cunts. I actually though Smith used the ball reasonably well when he came on surprisingly, but toally agree, Guthrie should be walking into the team ahead of Nolan and even though Guthrie isn't a wide player i'd play him wide right ahead of R Taylor who is a nothing player.

reverting back to the Owen, Viduka, Martins combination was the right thing to do aside of Carrols performance last week, this is the best combination we have, in fact its the only combination. If we don't win next monday night, we are going down. This. Defeat today is never going to be the thing that drops us, we showed in the second half that we have something to fight for and I would say three wins will be enough. I'm not convinced we will get those three wins but today hasn't changed anything. I don't think we need 3 wins, and I don't think we will get them either, but I can't see Hull getting many more points. My head says we are going down now, but my heart says we can get 2 wins and a draw or two. Since the smogs have arse and manu next two matches you have to hope that after that if we beat them that's them down meaning its a fight to avoid one last place between probably us, Hull and mybe Blackburn. Would be nice for the mackesm to be in it as well, but i don't think with their run in that they should be. Despite our shite home form i do think we can get 2 wins and a draw and even 3 wins if the crowd, Shearer and the team all play their part. And last game of the season i think Villa will be safely in a UEFA place but no chance of CL place so don't have to kill themselves to win, so i'm not writing that game off either.

Wrong tactics first half i'm afraid, Shearer or not. Against Stoke there was a clear reason for 3 CB's and that is Stoke are the single most one dimensional team in the prem and won't trouble you with any football so you can sacrifice a bit in the middle. Against Spurs who are strong in midfield we were left short and midfield is our weak spot anyway so to reduce it by playing 3-5-2 which rapidly becomes 5-3-2 only, as the midfield isn't good enough and the wing backs beome pushed back as fullbacks, was wrong. We weren't in the first half at all because we had nothing in the middle and surrendered possesion continually and could have been out of it by halftime. We didn't manage a single shot off target, never mind on! Once he made the bold change to throw on Martins and Viduka and play a better formation we were in it and could have snatched a draw if Martins hadn't blown his chance. As usual R Taylor and Nolan were a waste of space and those corners from Taylor and Duff fitst half were appalling, and one of them lead to their goal! Also Harper should have saved that shot comfortably, or at the very least pushed it outwards whe he saved it, not all his fault though as the defender put it back across goal in the first place.

Yeah, not the worse set of results for me. Blackburn back in the shit, Hull in freefall and Smogs only got 1 point with arse, manu and us to come. I'd have preffered mackesm to lose of even a draw myself but Hull look very catchable now. Also whilst i wanted Pompey to lose, thinking about it, at least by the time we play them theres a good chance they're safe and have fuck all to play for, sometimes that makes for opposition who aren't exactly fired up.

Early goal for them and probably be a comfortable win, but if not their crowd (sadly as do ours at times) becomes a big negative instead of advantage, in that you have alot of them all either on edge or giving the team stick and the pressure builds up and the away teams can pounce on that.

Excellent article which almost uniquely for a journalist writing about NUFC just stuck to actual facts and observations he'd genuinely made from amongst the fans and the city, instead of the usual approach of make up a load of criticisms of all toon fans as if they're one giant single entity and then deride them for these criticisms you yourself made up! From my time at uni and also at work i've known alot of people from round this country and abroad who've made their home here and they end up coming to the same conclusions as this guy. They realise we don't all think we're the biggest club in the universe and deserve to win every trophy going, we're just proud of our club and city and lets be honest don't think we'll win anything for years to come! They also pick up on the fact the city is singularly obsessed with the football club in a way which most others aren't, doesn't mean there aren't other football clubs with massive and ferverent support, just that in this city it seemes to dominate everything and everyone. Also outside observers just don't get why Shearer makes a difference, why we wanted Keegan back and why Keegan worked so miraculously in the first place. And they never will get it so they resort to petty, sneering, smugness about the club and its fans, writing more column inches about us than anyone yet claiming we don't matter, can't have it both ways i'm afraid.

Fulham beating the smogs is the result above any other today we need, really don't want Boro getting a possible 3 points on us at this stage. Hopefully Bolton beat Portsmouth and Stoke beat Blackburn in what will be a game that probably breaks all records for the amount of dead balls and throw in humped into the penalty box with the least time possible spent in open play! As for the mackem game there's something to be said for any result i suppose, best if they lose for me personally but if Hull lose they're really in the shit and a draw means neither team gets 3 points so in a way we can do ok from any score.

Third series i think. The way they do it is providing quite a detailed cover by making up a whole documetary/reality tv series that its supposed to be for and lets be honest this is the age of reality TV, people don't find it that weird to be asked to take part in one these days! Also shitloads of people will never have seen the programme even if its been quite a success and so will have no suspicions.

That is my worry, even though i'd risk it just to get Nolan out the team, its true that Barton in the past has taken a while to get back to match fitness. Althouh was it Villa this season when he returned from injury or suspension i can't remember and he looked pretty good straight away? all true, but Big Al himself says he has upped the tempo and duration of training, that to me signifies that training before hand was abit of a joke and and explains the shocking lack of fitness displayed by some of our players, hopefully they can get some of the injured players back onto the training pitch and get them fit i'd take a barton able to run around than the current midfield options we have I think Shearer is trying (and hopefully will succede) in doing exactly what Sir Bobby did when he came in and inherited a complete mess. He got the team by the scruff of the neck and turned them from a bunch of individuals into a genuine team, with good spirit, morale and togetherness by doing things like making them eat together etc. And also getting the training and organisation up to a level that is required for premiership football which clearly we haven't had this season. Also like SBR he's understands this club, its fans and the city as a whole and we know he'll be giving it everything to keep us up and hopefully beyond!

That is my worry, even though i'd risk it just to get Nolan out the team, its true that Barton in the past has taken a while to get back to match fitness. Althouh was it Villa this season when he returned from injury or suspension i can't remember and he looked pretty good straight away?

Yeah at home i'd probably go flat back four and then see who was fit and available, look at the opposition and mix and match. But its hard to say isn't it exactly what line up to go for as very few players have exactly made themselves an obvious choice! Against Spurs of course we won't have Barton so i'd go Butt and Guthrie if its 4 man midfield, but we'll see what Big Al has in store for us soon!

Yeah, it may sound a bit strange, but as much as Butt has got worse as he reaches the end of his prem career, my estimation for him has gone up. Because he knows what his limitations are and what jobs he should be sticking to, but he sees nobody else around him taking any responsibility or trying to create anything and so he steps up and doesn't hide. Twice against Stoke he made late attacking runs into their box, sadly he miscontrolled and couldn't keep it in play, but where the fuck were the likes of Nolan, Butt shouldn't have had to be the one doing that. Also until R Taylor arrived i'd noticed Butt was even takign responsibility for freekicks kicks as well alot of the time, and i'd seen far worse from the likes of Geremi etc than Butt was producing.

My take on the "classic" Wimbledon side was that their aim was to get the 90 mins over with as quickly as possible with the least possible time for the other team to try and play football - that attitude lives on with Stoke imo (as well as Bolton under Allardyce). Its true, against good footballing sides the longer they can have the ball out of play the better for them and reducing the game to dead balls kicks and throw ins is a good way of time wasting. Not that we are in any way a good footballing side, but i think with even half those 10 mins back we might have created a chance, you never know! we had 1 shot on target before carrolls header, I wasn't holding my breath for a 2nd until the goal went in Well, shite as we were (and by god we were bad!) we did have the odd chance, Owen had maybe a halfchance with a header, there was Owen's pullback into the box which i think a defender cleared for a corner and if Shola was anything but shite he would have chested the ball and had a great chance in the box first half and a volley/half volley in the box second half. I just wish one of Shola's had fell to Owen instead! I'm sure the stats at the end of the game had us as 8 shots on goal, 2 shots on target, 1 goal which for 95mins against a team like stoke is shocking to be fair Its totally shocking i agree, just if Shola wasn't shite there would be two more on target there and one at least a goal! But terrible as he is, if we go down this season its mainly about midfield creativity and home games against shite teams where we've lost points. Agreed, the thing thats infuriating is most people on here have been savvy enough to recognise the fact we need a creative midfielder and seemed to be contented with Bartons arrival and wanted the defence looking at we need (were not going to get it like) a major overhaul in the summer Yeah, we've all said it for years that we haven't had enough creativity in the middle, and unless the widemen and strikers are on fire all the time you will be found out if the CM's aren't up to it. People used to slag off Dyer and Jenas for various reasons (much of it deserved) but christ they'd walk into our midfield with ease these days, providing Dyer was fit obviously!