OTF

Low, mid or high ranger?

I don't think Nolan could have been more anonymous than Cabaye in that match. For that reason I don't think he could have contributed less. Despite how poorly we played there was a number of times where the ball fell into open space at the top of their box and there was no-one from our team close enough to capitalise. They're the kind off spaces that Nolan hangs about in. I'm thinking Cabaye was suffering a bit of a hangover from playing with the French side midweek. Granted he could have been more involved if Tiote got the ball to him more often. Tiote was largely to blame with his inability to move the ball on without first turning in a circle or taking a man on when he blatantly shouldn't, but Cabaye wasn't faultless on that front either failing to get in the right position for Tiote to make the percentage pass. Forgettable game from them both. Tiote's is worryingly part of a larger pattern where as Cabaye seemed to be on the improve prior to this.

Even the way he clapped for the fans when he came off was embarrassing.

Anyone else think it's ridiculous that they stuck a white sponsorship patch on a blue stripe on their blue and white striped tops when it could have easily been stuck on a white stripe making the shirt look a great deal better? Yes, it has come to this.

Not for nothing but Sameobi did absolutely nothing except turn the ball over when he came on against players who had been running around for almost 90 minutes. Scored a wonderful goal against a League One side, but let's not rush things.

I'd amend that to: Good in the air, strong in the tackle, quick to cover back, good going forward into space, bad when he has to make a decision. Has a touch of the claustrophobic about him - in open space he looks dynamic and composed but once he's in the box he panics. Call me what you want but I think he had a pretty strong first half in what was a weak team performance. Got in a couple of crosses and didn't turn possession over, made a good tackle and a good interception, used his body and height to win some headers that you normally wouldn't expect from a wide player. Basically was quite involved and was using his pace well. In the second half he faded into obscurity. I still think he's struggling on two fronts - the first being confidence and the second being not really knowing what position he plays. That's kind of to be expected of a player who was rarely played at his previous club. If would be foolish to not give him a proper chance to settle and rediscover how to play in his preferred position. He obviously has the fundamental ability, plus the pace, plus the perfect physical attributes. The decision making and confidence isn't there at the moment, but show some confidence in him and it all could come back. I just hope that people aren't so quick to write off Hatem Ben Arfa when he returns rusty as all get out.

It's more or less been a dream run of games to start the season in terms of the draw. Means we'll have a similarly tough run before too long when the point won't come with these sort of performances. Imagine we played against manure like that in their current form... Yea-ouch.

Lucky point there obviously. At what point does Tiote get dropped? No sense in playing him at the moment when he's playing like absolute crap and is still picking up yellows which will probably see him miss out on games when he (hopefully) comes back into form. Disappointing not to see Santon on the pitch. In terms of tactics and execution I don't think we could have been much worse. A combination of decent last gasp defending and wasteful finishing kept us in it somehow. We won't be so lucky against better opponents.

Raylor zone.

Raylor and Shameobi still out there.

I'd get Santon on for Raylor and Marveaux on for Shola, moving Jonas to the right and Obertan to a free roaming position behind Best. Jonas has to play in front of Raylor at the moment which explains why he's not been getting much ball. When he has it and he looks up he generally has two options, both with the same outcome - pass it to Shola or save some time and just kick it straight to them.

Isn't he just. Lucky for us they're light on options up front.

Shameobi is a black hole. Cabaye not in the game. On a positive note. Ok, Best has been pretty good and so has Obertan.

Amazing we're not behind. Legitimately forgot that Cabaye is out there.

Who's number 24? The sooner he goes the sooner we can get Tiote (c. 2010) back in the side.

Ugg boots are great in the winter, but should only be worn in your own house (or in the house of someone you know very well). They are not a fashion statement or anything of the sort, pure and simply a logical and comfortable way of keeping your feet warm.

Dekka says our wages will be up by 7% on last season. That's with: Carroll out, Nolan out, Enrique out, Barton out, Routledge out. Ba in, Cabaye in, Santon in, Marveaux in, Obertan in. I've only read the first answer and already I'm wading through the brown stuff.

Pardew 'earmarking' the Not Forest game on Sept 20 for his return probably means we won't see him on the pitch until October.

It's not a bad set of questions. Of course the answers are going to be extremely carefully crafted to be ambiguous, non-committal and ultimately useless.

Arsenal 1 Swansea 0 Everton 1 Aston Villa 1 Man City 3 Wigan 0 Stoke 0 Liverpool 2 Sunderland 0 Chelsea 3 Wolverhampton 0 Tottenham 1 Bolton 0 Man United 1 Norwich 0 West Brom 0 Fulham 1 Blackburn 0 QPR 1 Newcastle 2

BTW that goal against Nigeria showcased absolute pants defending. Woeful stuff. Not that Messi did anything wrong, but he didn't have to do anything particularly good to breeze by them. It's interesting to consider the differences in football in Spain and England. To say that Barcelona and real Madrid would sweep the floor with the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City is overstating it a lot. Surely they are a much better technical team, who play much more attractive football. Over a period of time there's little doubt that they would have a better record when playing those sides, but I don't think it would be that clear-cut. On top opf that I honestly believe that an upper mid-table English side would be on par or ahead of a similarly placed Spanish side, and then a lower-mid table English side would be ahead of the same in Spain. If that's not the case then English football has a lot to answer for as I'm sure the wages would be significantly higher in the English sides. I guess the only semi-answers we will get will come from champions league meetings. Spurs got spanked away and were a little unlucky to lose at home to real Madrid last year (Gomez.Howler). Messi took a crap Arsenal to school at home, but they only managed a draw at Arsenal.

Would be interesting to see him in the Premier League. I'd say for sure he'd spend more time out injured than he does now. There's plenty of cack defenders in England but I'd say there's definitely a more gradual decline in the quality of teams unlike Spain where there is a huge gulf.

With the two-speed economy of football currently where certain teams can 'afford' to spend vastly in excess of others either because of their massive international profile or their mega-rich ownership we should at worst be able to operate at the lowest risk end of the second tier teams. Lowest risk because our turnover affords us the ability to effectively minimise the risk of relegation by having a higher budget assigned to the actual team than many of the other teams in the division. Even when running this low risk model it would take a minor catastrophe - like the Keegan affair - to see Newcastle relegated. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the turnover and facilities should enable the club to achieve more than all but the 5 or 6 teams who have higher turnovers themselves (Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham). That should be possible with minimal risk, with some of the rewards being higher finish on the table (more prize money), greater attendances at home matches (more matchday revenue) and increased sale of merchandise. All of the former should result in increased corporate revenue and will aid in the maintenance and advancement of the Newcastle United profile on a wider scale.

You don't fill those long pockets by having enough reach to give

BTW it's over 200 quid now from Toontastic.