OTF

Clearly a fucking mong. Case closed, move along, nothing to see here.

Anyone else think that Hughton may choose to rest a few with the Blackburn encounter at home 3 days later in mind?

Agree. With him Barton, Tiote, Jonas and Nolan our midfield is top half material. Decent subs with Guthrie, Gosling, Vuckic, Routledge, though a little lacking in depth out wide.

I take it the bird died then?

Highly doubtful that the suffering of a probably season ending injury will actually increase his price. Chris will no doubt still be keen to sign him assuming his recovery goes according to plan, but at the same time I could see the club trying to renegotiate the transfer for less.

We played ok against Blackpool IMO. Their keeper had a blinder, and they took the game to us away from home credit to them, but we still had enough chances to win the game. Honestly speaking I think performance wise we have been relatively consistent. The results may not have been, but the effort seems to always be there. It's a long season though so I'm not getting carried away, but if we can maintain the current level of team spirit I don't think we'll be drawn into a relagation battle.

He's a picture of concentration as he climbs on board...

That's immense. Plus it looks like he's riding an invisible bull!

Given where we were two years ago we're not in a bad position now in my opinion. Ashley somehow got lucky by appointing a dirt cheap manager who has done a good job, including the purchase of some handy players (and some not really worth talking about). The problem is that it doesn't seem at all likely that Ashley will be willing or able to build on the good year that we've had and so it will all be for nothing. All indications are that under his ownership our forward momentum will come to at best a grinding halt. We're reduced to hoping otherwise. The manager and the players will hopefully be somewhat of a motiviating factor to Ashley in wanting to push to the next echelon, however in the current climate where you have half a dozen teams (Chelsea, Manu, ManC, Liv, Arse & Tott) spending big money and some other clubs not too far behind (Villa) it's unlikely that we'll see the level of investment in players that will have us competing with them on an ongoing basis. What I hope is that the bottom falls out of the big spending clubs because their practices aren't sustainable. If at that point we're in a decent position, with some smart investment we can slide back into the top 6.

Xisco's a forward and hasn't played enough to warrant being there. Needs to be in our worst signings team, that's for sure, along with Luque, Nacho Gonzales, Michael Owen, Claudio Cacapa, Olivier Bernard MkII, Hugo Viana, Carl Cort, Jean Alain Boumsong, Andersson , Mercelino..

His heart is definitely in it now, which is wasn't when we were relegated. Loved his equaliser against Wigan.

Complete and utter.

Deserves a raise, that's for sure. A win against Blackburn in a little over a week and I'd say he'd be in a great position to negotiate one. The club would be mad to mistreat him and risk him walking away when his contract is up and there's a better offer on the table elsewhere. Has obviously endeared himself to the players and has them playing as one team which is far more important than big money trophy signings and the like. All said and done though he still has a lot of learning to do, but definitely seems like the kind of guy that will take everything on board.

'twill be on the telly over 'ere. Y're welcome to come round my place to watch.

Habib's out the window. He was here for two seasons.

He got about quite nicely in that match. He's obviously not quick, just lazy, and can seemingly put the running in if required I reckon.

May be time for you to give it up if you can't appreciate a stunning victory over Sunderland you gloomy cunt.

Atmosphere looked fan-fucking-tastic from the get go.

I don't recall ever having actually met a Mackem ... but let's just say they don't sound like level-headed people. I've experienced their charm. ie. one of them headbutting a Newcastle supporter point blank in the nose because he was celebrating a Newcastle goal.

Then Blackburn on the bounce at home 3 days later... I'm picking that Chris may ring in some changes for the Arsenal match then return to our top 11 for the FSA Route 1 Display.

Someone said it somewhere else, but the fact that he's playing out of position on the right and yet is still turning in excellent performances is testament not only to him having turned the corner but shows that for once we have a proper team who respect the vision of the manager. He worked very well with Simpson I thought, with Tiote also offering a passing option inside. If Simpson can play like he did in this game every week then we won't have a problem at right back.

Yeah Nolan showed today that he can get around the pitch when he wants to. Pulled off a quality tackle or two as well. Tiote alongside him definitely does give him more freedom to roam into his poaching positions because of the ground that Tiote covers. It's not always going to work, but today it was a beautiful thing.

Was concerned that Cattermole might be found in the morning stuffed into a wheelie bin in Pallion with snooker balls for eyes after that exchange. Jose got up like the terminator after that tackle. Legend. Was quality. Cattermole backed away like the Cat he was. Blind commentators tried to say Jose was reacting to nothing, when there was an obvious stamp there. Must be a mackem thing cause Mensah tried the stamp on Nolan later, but ol' Kev was far too wise and came out of that whole affair grinning and winning.

If he'd got that header we wouldn't have got to see the epic finish from Shola. Hope Simpson can continue with that sort of form.

Forgot there was another team out there TBH. Oh well.. still a glorious glorious result. Ameobi's second goal was a fucking beauty, almost a Daniel san Crane Kick...