OTF

Butt off for Gutierrez... Good move IMO. Will give us width.

Local team for me is Sydney FC. They're not exactly a likeable bunch though, but I support them simply because they're my local team. Standard of football is quite frankly pretty shoddy. Probably around League One standard. Don't give two hoots about any of the teams in La Liga - not the biggest fan of the way they play football there (even though it has a leaning towards more emphatic goals) and don't like the whole two horse juggernaut they have going on there. For that reason I could never support Barca or Real (and because most of the people who claim to be fans of those teams have no idea). Also don't really care about Italian football. Of course the foreign team I support is Newcastle United. I'm flat out supporting and watching them, so don't have the time to really care about any other teams....other than my beloved Parramatta Eels (Rugby League).

He really has been an unmitigated disaster for us.

I think we're three or four players away from having a mid-low range premier league quality side, albeit not with much depth. Smith didn't get much of a chance to play torus in the premiership largely owing injury and fitness, for me he's streets ahead of Nicky Butt who in my opinion has run his race and should be put out to pasture. Guthrie is developing into a decent premier league midfielder, bit isn't there yet. Barton has been woeful for us, hopefully that changes but I'm not expecting anything. Harewood, Simpson and Khishi are only on loan with no indication that they will be signed on a permanent basis. Nolan was out of form in the premier league, but a few years back he was performing well for Bolton, so he's certainly capable of contributing at that level. The biggest problem I forsee is that the a players that are doing it easy in the championship won't be dominant against better opponents, and when that happens the confidence will drop. We saw last season that when morale is low everything seems to go against you.

Amazing.. can't remember the last time we've scored three goals in such quick succession.

Nolan you beauty!!!!!! Great goals!!! Turned the defender expertly for the second.. and good near post finish!!!

See, Ranger can shoot!

Agree that they shouldn't have to. But there's plenty wrong with the World. If they weren't getting paid so much then they wouldn't be living such extravagant lives and wouldn't be such a lucrative target for thieves. For the sake of one less Bentley in the garage they could hire security guards or at the very least vastly improve the secuirty of their properties.

Bellamy is in crazy good form at the moment.

I believe we've already played our away game in Wales.

Ultimately lost to a team who were more up for it by the sounds. Sounds like they dominated from the start. Somehow we managed to get ahead, but on the balance they deserved the win. I think it was probably a mistake to put Butt in a starting position given he's just returned from injury and would not be match fit. The temptation was obvious as he plays in the same area as Smith, though Smith has been able to succefully mark opposing players out of games on several occassions. I don't think that is something that Butt is capable of. Difference is that Smith is proactive and Butt is reactive (though Smith is also reative when it comes to making tackles). Thankfully Smith is back for the weekends match, straight back into the side with Butt and Barton dropped and bring Ranger on from the start alongside Carroll. If we play with one striker at home I won't be happy.

Good to hear a first-hand account of the match. Can't tell anything from text updates.

Nicky Butt he missing link to our ability to lose? Seriously he was one of the stalwarts in our side last year, first game bakc this year and we fall over. Obviously it's not all him, but he seems to offer so little.

We've not had possession of the ball according to the BBC text commentary.

INvalid embed code for me on that one.

Three saves by Harper and a block by Taylor... geez, looks as though we're under the pump.

Foreign radio stream FTW if anyone knows of one...

Extra motivation for us to get a win at Blackpool TBH.

I fully expect this to be sorted by the end of the week. Apparently talks are progressing positively.

No Nolan? I think Nolan's a smart player around the top of the box, can make a nice lay-off pass. Geordie Lad is closest to the money IMO. I'd probably have Harper over Krul because Krul is still largely unproven, and we know bugger all about his distribution. Granted he hasn't really had a chance to prove himself. Hopefully we don't give up many chances so it won't matter as much as it has in the past who is between our sticks. I'd love to have Guthrie in the first 11, but as others have rightly noted he's not naturally a wide player (though he can cross a ball) and he doesn't have much pace. Better suited to the middle of the park. Barton for mine hasn't been impressive so far, but he still seems to be a little short on match fitness and cohesion with the rest of the team. He should be our best central midfielder, but we havent; seen that materialise on the pitch as yet. Truth be told though these sort of things are a waste of time though, because it's so seldom at any club that there is no injuries meaning that it's likely never that we have no injuried at Newcastle United (particularly this season with the increased amount of games and smaller squad). At this stage Shola needs to be in there. Looks gangly and uninterested lots of the time, but is scoring goals. Would be interesting to see him play alongside Ranger. Need to see more of Lovenkrands to determine where he will fit in best. I know he likes playing up front, but anyone would as there's usually less running and defending to be done up there and an increased likeliness to score to boot.

Watching with no volume FTW. Favourite goal is Shola's second from his hat-trick. The effort from Nolan to chase down the seemingly lost ball, then a few passes and a lovely cross before a great header. Guthries is a great crack as well.

Anyone know what game he was watching. Some classic sour grapes IMO. Right out of the Pete Sampras book of giving no credit to your opponent. When you lose it's because you weren't up to your normal standard, not because they were better than you. Also love how he uses the word 'handled' to make it sound like Taylor reached out and grabbed the ball. FFS the ball cannoned into his arm from 3 feet (granted he was assuming a keeper like make yourself large position at the time).

Are you sure it wasnt Folan they mentioned, not Fagan? Yep, my bad! Folan is slightly better than Fagan. In the way that a mild-heart attack is better than a full blown one.

They mentioned Fagan in the commentary today. Would rather Cousin than Fagan TBF. Would prefer Harewood over both of them. We definitely need cover up front.

Who really cares how we played?* 3 points and a clean sheet at a very tricky location. * - Ranger agains showed maturity and control beyond his years. Unfortunately his isolated role meant that he ran out of puff in the second period, should have been bursting into the box when Simpson got behind their defense. Well taken goal from Coloccini. Smith really helped out the defense playing Bothroyd out of the game. Thankfully Butt is back to cover his suspension. Simpson had a quality game. Barton clearly out of position, and still lacking sharpness IMO. Nolan wasn't as bad as people make out - he needs people moving off him when he has his back to goal - doesn't help when we only have one up front.