OTF

Shouldn't count because it was against us: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zklt914QNYE

Malouda is not a bad player, but he's not exactly been in form of late. 12 million for him is way too much in my books... especially besides left winger is the last position that we need to fill. Gutierrez, N'Zogbia, Duff and Milner can play there also (I actually think you could argue that he plays better on the left, he always seems to overhit right footed crosses).

I think Viduka will also have a significant role to play once he is fit again. Owen, Oba and Saviola are all small and quick, Viduka is the opposite - big and slow - but he does a great job of sucking in defenders and opening up space for the others. Given Beye Coloccini Taylor N'Zogbia Saviola Guthrie Gutierrez Owen Viduka Martins Expecting us to have so many guys fit at once is begging for trouble mind you.

No point in bringing in another young fullback especially if they're here only to get experience and then sod back off to somewhere else. I hope we see Enrique back in there. IRT the scums work on the transfer market, they have surprised me. Only Younes Kaboul stood up and said what I thought some of their other targets might but then his new team (Pompey) were smacked by the now Championship favourites . They've definately improved their squad, but by the same token the players that they have brought in are for the most part erratic in form. In could end up backfiring for them if their team is more attack minded this season it could open up space for the opposing attack. This has been an issue for us in the past, and we've dropped plenty of points because of it.

A lot of the revenue that Clubs make is from out of the country supporters (largely through TV deals). If you've traveled all the way from Japan/Australia/Where-ever just to see a game after supporting a team religiously watching them on Television, then I think there should be some realistic avenue to get tickets. Sure, it would be great for the team and for the atmosphere if the biggest die-hard fans were the ones to get the tickets for every game, but to be completely honest you're going to have to wait for some lean times before you get that chance at Manchester United. Just because you're OOT it doesn't mean you're a casual supporter. Like I said earlier I watch every single league match of the season, keep up to speed on all of the latest news about the club and participate frequently in conversations with like-minded fans all around the world yet I'm more than 20,000KM from SJP.

As an Aussie I suppose I had the luxury of choosing any team to support. I made the conscious decision to start following Newcastle United in the mid 90s. I made this decision for a few reasons. I flat out didn't want to support Manchester United. As an Australian there seems to be a bit of a support the underdog mentality; so there was no way I was going to jump on supporting the most popular and the most successful team at that time. Besides that, I knew a few people who 'supported' Manchester United (one of whom I have since learnt supported them as a result of her father being a big supporter, which is fair cop) and so didn't want to just become a part of that. Newcastle is a nearby city to Sydney (where I live) and that also played into my considerations. I also liked the black and white strip. My support through the mid 90s and into the early 00s was pretty casual (comapred to now). I followed the results, but being in Australia didn't really get to watch a lot of football. When I played a Football video game, I always chose Newcastle, or if asked I always identified myself as a Newcastle United supporter. Starting from the early 00s through to now my interest in the clubs and my fanatasicm has constantly been rising. I've never been to St James' though it's one of my ambitions that I hope to fill in the next few years (being from Australia I don't think that makes me any less of a supporter). I'm not trying to give credibility to myself here (or perhaps I am ) but I now have about 10 Newcastle shirts, a couple of scarfs, a beanie, a flag, a couple of keyrings, some stickers on my car, a calendar on my desk and other random paraphanalia. I went out of my way to see Alan Shearer when he was in Australia a few years back, and consequently have a signed shirt and signed figurine. I'm involved in the Australian Newcastle United supporters group (Aussiemags.net) and have met up with quite a few members to watch matches (they're usually on at midnight or later over here). Last season I watched every single Newcastle United league match, and all of their FA Cup matches (excluding the replay win which wasn't shown over here) regardless of the time that they were shown. This season I signed up to Setanta just to see the Mallorca Cup pre-season matches (what a dud decision that turned out to be! - they also have exclusive FA Cup rights here, so that did figure into my reckoning). I'm spreading the Newcastle United word down under. Being not only an out-of-towner, but also an out-of-countryman I guess gives some credibility to my supporter status. When it comes to local competitions (Rugby League, Australia Soccer/Football basketball etc) I'm a firm believer in supporting your local team. When people don't (and don't have legitimate reasons) I give them a bit of casual stick. I'm working on a geordie accent*. * - Not really.

At what age should they stop referring to him as a former England Under 21? We had a guy in our team that word had it was a representative forward. When he turned up for training it looked as though he may have eaten a representative player. Turns out he was a rep in an under 12s team. It's an all age comp and he's 25+.

Where's my welcome Should we really be buying another young left back? I would have though that we'd be looking for someone a little older with experience. Don't like the idea of having two young guys and a french winger competing for our left back position.

Total rubbish. He'd be worth that if he was fit for every match and scored at least a goal in every other match. If he was available for free though, I think we'd see all sorts come in for him, so best that we sort something out quick smart.

He has the habit of flinging himself in recklessly when going forward for set pieces - too many fouls given away and knocks incurred without a goal return. Don't forget he was the one that put in the on-target volley that won us the corner that Martins scored off. He can carry on like a bit of a tart at times (ie. being snipered) but I'd like to think that's not what happened when he went off after our goal. If it is, then someone (I nominate Papa Bouba Diop) should give him a massive slap. You're right though, quite often he gives away needless fouls on our corners just by flinging himself aimlessly towards the ball and careening any players out of the way that happen to be in the area.

I presume you are talking about when Duff plays wide left rather than up front where he did today, if so, where do you put Gutierrez ? I was referring to both positions really if Duff is playing (I'm not a fan of his), obviously Duff won't be getting any games up front when Owen/Viduka are back though... basically I'd love to have N'Zogbia on one wing and Gutierrez on the other. There's a few differences between Gutierrez and N'Zogbia in the way that they play. N'Zogbia could learn a LOT from the Argentine (and yes I'm basing this off having seen Gutierrez play a grand total of three matches). Gutierrez will only take on an opposing player if the situation presents itself. N'Zogbia will take on an opposing player almost everytime he gets it. Gutierrez is working for the final product. He gets past a defender to make a quality pass. N'Zogbia is working for the the play. He gets past a defender to try to get past another defender to get a shot off. Gutierrez can make a long pass. N'Zogbia's on field vision isn't even looking for long pass options. Gutierrez really values possession. If he takes on a defender he does it in a way that is unlikely to allow them to disposses him. N'Zogbia will force the issue. He'll try to just get past a defender, meaning that they'll have a good chance to nick the ball. The skills are all there for N'Zogbia to be an excellent attacking exponent, however currently I think he's too one dimensional. Bringing in a player like Gutierrez will only help him develop. I don't think he'll gain much from Duff, who seems to be stuck in a rut and playing in a similar manner to N'Zogbia. This post was largely off topic. I really don't want to see N'Zogbia played out of position at left back again. He's good there in attack, but is a liability in defense. Lets work on Enrique's ability to get forward (which I don't think is that poor to be honest, he just doesn't have the ability to move with the ball at a pace like N'Zogbia does). I'm a big fan of Enrique's.

Have to give plaudits to Taylor as well. I think he had a very good game - just a shame he picked up a knock in the Martins goal.

He did look like he lost a lot of weight - but I had read that he was told to do so (funny though, I don't think he was ever what I would consider overweight). He's a much better defender than N'Zogbia, but I get the feeling that they just want to fit N'Zogbia into the team. He is very good going forward, but he made a few mistakes that could have been extremely costly in the match (and you could say his marking for the goal was poor). I'd play Enrique there against Bolton, and move N'Zogbia up into left wing forward or to the bench (depending on the availability of a second forward for that match).

To be fair I don't think the second one was easier. Damn hard to head a ball in the right direction when it's moving at pace from a standing start on the ground.

Yep, Zog was our worst player, but even he did some things well (going forward of course - he's not a defender). Duff was ok at times, but poor when he tried to hold the ball up. Someone of his size and strength is going to be easy pickings for any defender worth their salt when he tried to use his body to shield the ball. if that was Viduka in the same position we do even better today. Jonas Gutierrez had a wonderful first game - from start to end. I think we can all agree with Mike Riley's assessment:

Geordie Lad = Half Full sandman02uk = completely fookin empty Man U (A)....Loss Bolton (H)....Win Arsenal (A)....Loss Hull (H)....Win West Ham (A)....Draw Blackburn (H)....Draw Everton (A)....Loss Man City (H)....Draw Sunderland (A)...Win WBA (H)....Win 15 points.

...and how many in the second half? It's a tough question as to whether you would throw Colo out there for this one. Next up we have Bolton at St James' which would be the perfect match to ease him into the new league. With Cacapa under an injury cloud (and seemingly past it anyway) I say we stick him out there and see what he's made of. If it backfires give him a haircut, stick Fabricio on the back of a shirt, change his number and send him out with a clean slate against Bolton.

Yes please. Loan with the option to buy would be optimum.

Good to see him back in training. We all have the right to be sceptical about his injury record, and I think we're going to continue to see him pick up this and that throughout the season. Him coming back into the side gives us a dimension that we don't have with any of our other players. They try to use Smith to hold the ball up (to both our detriment and Smith's) but everytime a long ball comes through Smith either fouls the opposing defender, doesn't get it, or has a shocking touch. Viduka is one of the best players in the league at holding the ball up, and has great touch to boot. i think when he's available we'll see more goals than when he isn't - both Owen and Martins have both explicitly stated that they love to play alongside him.

Officially Not Available due to work permit: Jonas Gutierrez Not Available due to not being signed/no work permit: Fabricio Coloccini Not Available due to training with Stoke: Abdoulaye Faye Not Available due to on-going transfer negotiations: Shola Ameobi Not Available due to Injury: Michael Owen Mark Viduka Andy Carroll Kazenga Lua Lua Obafemi Martins Not Available due to incarceration problems: Joey Barton Not-Available due to not being Newcastle players: Joao Moutinho Tiago Mendes Not available due to laundering problem with #46 Shirt: Sebastain Bassong Not available due to pending swap deal with Arsenal for Senderos: Shay Given Charles N'Zogbia £40M Not available due to pending deal with Aston Villa: James Milner Not available due to pending swap deal with Blackburn for Warnock: Damien Duff Not availble due to shirt name being too big to fit in the designated black section on our home strip: Jose Enrique Unfortunately Available: Alan Smith Actually Available: Claudio Cacapa Danny Guthrie Steve Harper 'Ron' Geremi Habib Beye Nicky Butt Steven Taylor David Edgar Fraser Forster Tim Krul Mark Doninger Ryan Donaldson Jonny Godsmark

As long as we hijack their Moutinho plans, it's all good. Of course it's all just paper talk anyway!

I'm happy for us to be getting offers for Milner. Won't be happy if he leaves though Unless we get a tidy sum, and use it wisely reinvesting in some creative talent.

Should definately keep him. No way we could get in anyone half as good for that price given the current climate. Also gives us cover for Butt. He's a very valuable member of the team - I guess the media is playing up on the fact that he hasn't been involved in the pre-season. I'd like to know why that is. With love, OzToonFan

He's not exactly a flyer though, is he? Seems reluctant to get forward on the evidence so far as well. Agree about the options. Enrique is far and away our fastest defender. Gerrard who is no slouch when he flat foots it was easily outpaced by Enrique last season when we played Liverpool (Gerrard consequently grabbed a hold of Enrique's shirt, then dived to the ground claiming a foul - Enrique was still standing with the ball safely in his posession and the ref called the foul against Gerrard :icon_lol: ... that was the one saving grace from that match). Warnock is a good player though. He was never spectacular for Liverpool, but he always did his job. It must have been tough for him there seeing as he was only used very sporadically and in a few different positions. I'd honestly have Enrique in the side over Warnock, because Enrique has shown that given a solid run of games he is continually improving. He's biger than Warnock, stronger than Warnock, and faster than Warnock. Warnock has the edge in other areas, particularly experience and is probably a better defender at the moment. The experience side is only natural given that he is 4 and a bit years older than Enrique. It can't hurt to get him in though, because if Enrique has any injury problems we don't have a lot of depth there - Bassong can play there but I get the feeling that he is more of a future project. They could always use N'Zogbia there (as they have in the past), but he's a pretty horrible defender IMO. For the reported 5 million it's not the best value in the world, but he shouldn't be on massive wages and seeing as we got rid of Babayaro and Carr it's only logical that we bring in some cover in the fullback region.

The sad part is last season that game was close... that is until Ronaldo belted in that free-kick and our players heads dropped. All thing are possible. But I certainly won't be making any bets!