OTF

Nice ball by Cabaye, but most of that goal was in the finish.

When the Colo injury was mentioned this is what I was unfortunately expecting. We really rely on his ability to play the ball out from the back. Him out and Williamson in is like replacing a Ferrari with a 1980s Hyundai. Demba!!!! Sneaky finish. Game on.

Cabaye: 4 completed passes, 5 incomplete passes and no successful dribbles. Marveaux for Ba makes sense.

Shakier than Michael J Fox with the ball he is. Hoof is unfortunately the safest option for him most of the time.

To make matters worse Ba is much better than Cisse at holding the ball up, so if we are going to play like that we'd be much better served with him up front.

Yep, no mention of the amount, just that Anichebe was out for 11 months. It was a horrid challenge that would have clean snapped just about any other players leg.

Tyler just going on about how he was paid an out of court settlement by Nolan for that horror 'tackle'.

To be fair he caned himself on the post 2 minutes in. Surprised he lasted so long, really likes to score obviously.

Luckily pienaar's having a shitter or else they'd be three up.

Ben Arfa clearly frustrated to be dropping back that far... But feck me that was cheap and almost costly giving it away there.

Where's Osman's yellow for simulation and/or handball?

Poor Harper. Not the game you want to be making a return in.

We're missing Tiote's energy and his square passes - amongst other things...

Thanks Foxtel (Sky equivalent) box decides to reset itself, I assume for an update. Came back to see Cisse miss a great chance.

Nah, 'twas Jonas. Was 'marking' Baines when he made the pass and then just went through the motions of following his run without getting goalside. It is just past 5AM here but almost certain it was Jonas. Seems to be defending out on the right a fair bit.

Can only hope that the goal slows them down. Playing like they're halfway through their season and we've just returned for the start of the pre-season.

Shit defending from Jonas there. Was lazy earlier on as well against Baines.

We're really struggling to get any traction here. Need to try to slow it down and keep some possession or else it seems only a matter of time before they score. An there it is

Absolutely horrible scheduling for us, made worse by already stretching to cover defense. At least after this run of games we'll know what some of our younger players are capable of. It should be further highlighting the areas in which strengethening is required so that we can look to do that in January. Unfortunately getting a 'deal' across the line is more the motivation for our owner than actually improving the team. A lot of onus on Cabaye for this match. He's had a very poor start to the season.

Stop feeding the troll people.

Perch is supposedly back as well so I'd say we'll likely see him start at fullback with Anita in midfield and Bigi on the bench. Bigi will then be fresh to feature in the midweek European match. Can't see Coloccini being rushed back. Our best form of defence might have to be attack in this game.

The whole Debuchy affair can't have sat well with Cabaye. At the end of the day though he's a professional footballer, so if he can't put the differences aside to concentrate on performing for the thousands of loyal supporters then he's a bit of a jerk. We'll know soon enough what the lay of the land is on that front. Should they have used last season as a springboard to further improvements? Yes. Did they? No. That shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone given the history of Ashley.

Look forward to next season's.. "Shola Ameobi - All 74 goals for Newcastle" There's an alternate video as well "Shola Ameobi - All 37 injuries for Newcastle, plus bonus Stoke injury"

Seriously... Horrible news. Get ready for us to be playing shite football for the next month and a bit

Indeed, he's not going to have the chance to complain at all about it. Even when Perch is fit I'd rather Anita is given a run at full back. If Tiote is back it's a certainty, but otherwise I'd still do it - we need to see whether he's up to it over a stretch. That would leave Perch on the bench to cover in case of an injury across the back four, or to come on a mid-field closer.