OTF

What are the motives and benefits of those conducting the experimentation with contrails? ...and does your tin foil hat heat up on a hot day, or is this not an issue because you don't leave your bunker?

If he's not going to play him it makes sense. It's only a month and Jose is over his virus. I guess what puzzles me is why Lee Clark could see him in a left-back position but Pardew prefers to play Perch there when Jose is out. Tis annoying. I was hoping that we'd have seen more of Kadar thus far. Enrique out was a good chance for him to play, so was the FA Cup match. Those couple of looks at Perch should have showed Pardew his value.

About 5 times the player Smith is then....

More likely to be Guthrie I'd say, but Gosling might get on the pitch.

Would have improved our squad that's for sure. Not being held to ransom on wages is one thing, but if they keep scrimping we'll end up with noone.

Should have locked him in a room with Smith when he was at his worst with the flu. Having Enrique back makes a huge difference as he is confident in possession and is of course our best defender.

He's over the injury, had been back in full training for a few weeks, playing his first behind closed doors game shortly... unless you mean it will take an additional 3 months to get match fitness/sharpness like it did Michael Owen constantly.

From watching the first half of that game if Jerome is on 25k then Larsson deserves double that.

The other thing is that it's all just media speculation. I can't see them wanting Larsson to be too distracted ahead of this Carling Cup semi, considering that they were intending him to play. David Bentley will be there for the second semi so he won't be required for that. Therefore I can see his destination being sorted quickly now that this match is out of the way. If true rejecting him at 20k is like a second kick in the balls when you consider we're paying Smith 3 times that.

Guthrie was down right embarrassing the last time he played, but Smith is that just about every time he plays. Either that or he's non-existent. Guthrie has it in him to play ok, Smith clearly does not. Tiote's a different sort and a different class of player.

Shame he wasn't back a few weeks earlier, woudl definitely prefer to see him in stead of Alan Smith against Sunderland. As it is I can't see Pardew playing anyone else in central midfield. Here's a list of players I'd prefer to play there than Alan Smith: Joey Barton, Danny Guthrie, Dan Gosling, Haris Vuckic, Kevin Nolan, Brad Inman, Fabricio Coloccini.

Birmingham's attack was horrible, if they're not lumping it forward to Jerome innacurately Hleb and Dann are dicking about with it in the midfield doing nothing. If it gets to Ridgewell bombing forward on the left his last touch is often an embarrassing turn over. Carr loves to get up the pitch as well, seemingly for no reason as their central midfielders distribution is pathetic.

I hate Alan Smith.

No surprise here, further proof that the FA will sit on their hands in defense of their referees.

Definitely doesn't shirk his defensive responsibilities (judging from this carling cup semi). Hasn't been involved a lot in attack.

yup. getting bentley would have showed more ambition if you ask me. this is typical ashley. Personally I would rather have Larsson than Bentley, Larsson's always looked commited whenever I've seen him, unlike Bentley who seems to only play when it suits him. Of the two I'd think Larsson will fit in better with the players already at the club in terms of attitude too. I'm not defending Ashley's buying policies but I much prefer us actually making the effort to look for these sorts of bargains than paying over the odds for a trophy signing that can't be arsed to play without a massive paycheck. Well said. I think with Larsson we're more likely to get more consistent performances, and in general a player who's willing to do more grafting and hard work. Bentley on his day is good, there's no doubt about it, but as to how many of those days he has it's anyone's guess. it would take a lot more cash to get him here permanently, and he'd also be on a much higher wage. Without knowing the motivation of the players it's hard to say for sure, but I reckon Larsson would be much more keen to come to Newcastle from Birmingham than Bentley would be to leave London for Newcastle.

Thoughts from Birmingham forums: Just our luck he goes up there and becomes top notch. A bit of bitterness from the first poster, the second obviously knowing that he has the ability. Interesting. Sounds like he does put the effort in... This put's the 1m pound figure into perspective

Noone would deny that, but a good deal is a good deal. 1m apparently. Several of us mentioned that he would be a good pickup when someone posted a list of players on the final year of their contracts some time ago, so it's good that the club were of the same thinking. Birmingham resigned to him leaving so are glad to be getting something for him.

Horrible on the trumpet apparently.

Larsson at 1.5m is a good deal in my books. He doesn't have to be first choice, but we're certainly lacking with wide players, particularly down the right. From what I've seen he's technically good but doesn't have a great work rate. At 25 years of age he should be keen to prove himself. Nobby Solano was never express pace for us but was a quality player because of his fantastic right foot and his link up with other players. Larsson at his best could provide the same.

Did it fuck. Both his feet were off the deck man. Doesn't matter that he didn't make contact with the man. A two footed lunge is a straight red nowadays whether we like it or not. A two footed lunge into a tackle, maybe. But not lunging at a ball not in anyone's possession with only one foot extended and getting to the ball before anyone else. Quit with the mantra about two footed lunges.

And from NUFC.com Kev 'daddy' Nolan "That was not a sending-off in a million years. Even the centre half said afterwards Tiote didn’t touch him. You do anything to win the game, but he stayed down a long time for a centre half."

Took about 15 minutes to make (and it shows). Point is Tiote goes in to get a ball that their player does not have, gets the ball, then the contact occurs and their player goes over the top. If Tiote came into their player the the players trajectory would have been altered.

Yeah, this is what I quoted earlier. Lunges at an opponent. Allow me to illustrate how Tiote is not lunging at an opponent.

Can you please show me where you are getting these rules from? It's not legal to 'jump in' to a player, with two feet, or one foot or even no feet, it's not a case of jumping in to another player, it's a case of coming in to get the ball which their player didn't even have at the time. Noone is disputing anything like that. Like I said it's illegal to jump into a player at all, regardless of feet. You need to clarify the circumstances you're talking about.