Our future in the Europa League is in the balance as we come up against a Benfica side who are in fine form and have no issues scoring goals.
Granted tonight is only one leg of this two-legged Quarter Final, but a decent result tonight is a must if we are to have anything to take back to St James’ Park next week. We simply mustn’t let the tie be out of sight by the end of 90 minutes this evening. We’ve got this far so let’s not get all “gung-ho” and blow it by being too cavalier. We need to be cleverer than that.
Possession is going to form an important part of our game plan tonight, or at least it should do. Frustrate them and play with purpose and patience and we might just surprise a few people who have this down as a defeat before a ball has even been kicked.
Having said that you can see why we are underdogs in this tie. Benfica have some cracking players and don’t have the pressure of a relegation battle looming over them. Instead they have the pressure of a league title to consider albeit in a significantly weaker league than the one we compete in.
The match preview has been up since yesterday and can be viewed here if you haven’t already had a peek at it. It features some updates on the injury front, confirmation of our 19-man-squad that we’ll form a team from tonight along with some interesting stats and facts.
The game is live on ITV4 this evening so watching it won’t be a problem for most. The best place to be is obviously in the ground along with the other 3,800 Mags, but the reality is that most of us aren’t there so if you’re not there and can’t watch it on ITV4 then please feel free to leave a link to any streams you may have stumbled upon in the ‘comments’ section below.
I’ll be doing the team news tonight which will be featured at the bottom of this article in full as and when I can get my grubby little hands on it.
And that’s that. Now it’s over to the real Stadium of Light to see just what happens. Being honest I’m not expecting much but we shall see I guess.
Howay the lads!
Benfica: Artur; Andre Almeida, Luisao, Ezequiel Garay, Lorenzo Melgarejo; Ola John, Nemanja Matic, Andre Gomes; Rodrigo, Oscar Cardozo, Nico Gaitan
Subs: Paulo Lopes, Roderick Miranda, Pablo Aimar, Lima, Maxi Pereira, Urreta, Enzo Perez
Newcastle: Tim Krul; Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Davide Santon; James Perch, Yohan Cabaye; Sylvain Marveaux, Moussa Sissoko, Jonas Gutierrez; Papiss Cisse
Subs: Rob Elliot, Mike Williamson, Dan Gosling, Vurnon Anita, Gabriel Obertan, Shola Ameobi, Adam Campbell
Officially for the record…I’m not convinced yet of Mbiwa. However, I’m willing to give him time…
Munich Mag(Quote)
Yes I like Santon going forward in that he is a good ball carrier. 442 perhaps. As for Shola, I have a soft spot for him as his is homegrown. He also seems to have a good personality which isn’t that common in the rarified world of 5 figures a week. That is important for foreigners and young’uns coming on. Shame it doesn’t translate to the pitch.
griff(Quote)
For people not convinced about Mbiwa… I dread to think what you think of are other defenders. He is head and shoulders better that any defender we have got.
Santii(Quote)
When people say Marv goes missing, he’s usually getting on quietly closing down the opposition and staying on his feet. The reason you notice other players like Perch is that he goes to ground too readily. That early booking showed why I was “relatively concerned” about his selection. In the end he did okay.
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
Santi@303, agreed there. However, that only leaves Williamson 😆
If Collo was fit Mbiwa wouldn’t have started today.
Munich Mag(Quote)
Munich @ 301 😯
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
MM 😀 im only pulling your leg mate 😆
santi thats your opinion but as of yet I don’t think he’s head and shoulders above anyone
Big Dave(Quote)
@MM
I’m including Coloccini in that Mbiwa is better that him and Taylor. If he didn’t start is would either be due to communication problems or Pardew’s incompetency.
Santii(Quote)
I can’t remember the last time we got beat, and I was quite so buzzin. This deserves two razz men. 😛 😛
Anyhows Dave. Let’s have some gentle craic for you. You still haven’t told me whether you’re pleased to see your hero clean shaven!? 😛
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
Lad’s I’m sorry, I’m just not convinced of him yet. But as I said above, I’m willing to give him a chance. He doesn’t come across as an aggressive ball winning centre half who dominates our box. He is a footballing centre half, but strikers play a different game in the EPL.
I look forward to him developing next season, hopefully at the toon 🙂
Munich Mag(Quote)
B&B@309, why are you buzzing ? We just got battered 🙁
Munich Mag(Quote)
IMO despite the errors I think Mbwia looks like a class player. Had a decent game tonight despite playing with Taylor and Santon 😯
Geordie Deb(Quote)
I think we have done extremely well to get to the last 8 of the Europa , two rounds further than Liverfool.
Disappointing result tonight but still in with a chance in the home leg next week although Benfica must be favourite to progress.
I’d rather have the defensive errors tonight than in the game against Fulham on Sunday..
Spuds will probably go out in this round , needing to win in Basle or score a minimum of 3 goals in a draw. I can’t see them doing either without Bale. Indeed tonight may be costly to them as without Bale ,and Defoe out for the season,they may not finish in the top 4 .
We certainly can not afford to pick up any injuries next Thursday ahead of the 5under1and game.
sidekick(Quote)
Kim I can’t see what you saw regarding the Saylor handball. Maybe I need a visit to Spec Savers 😆 On the replay it looked like a very definite and deliberate handball caused by the usual Saylor brain fart that he has suffered from for years. His reaction was then just embarrasing.
Geordie Deb(Quote)
Munich – Its only half time, fella. Only half time. 😛
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
GDeb @ 314 I agree totally
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
MM as I said he looks steady enough (Mbiwa) but I wouldn’t say he is any more than steady, well not yet anyway
Big Dave(Quote)
Taylor doe’s love the over dramatic fake reaction like doesn’t he lol What happened to Sissoko though he fell as if he had been hit on the head or something.
Santii(Quote)
Well they need to put all this behind them quickly, raise their game and get into the right mindset for Fulham on Sunday. Found myself shouting at the telly more than a few times at Santon who was guilty of ball watching on numerous occassions. Hope Haidara is back soon as he was looking much more assured before his injury.
Geordie Deb(Quote)
That was a fighting spirit and the players can be proud, totally different team turned up from the one that turned up at Wigan and Man City. We stunned then a bit and the Cisse chance that the keeper just got fingertips to was when lady luck ran out for us in Europe, that and the one that came of the post in the second half. If they had gone in (especially the 2-0) it could have given us something to hold onto. In the end it was disappointing errors from Santon and Taylor that allowed them to score but they could have just as easily scored had it not been for a couple of good saves from Tim Krul. Now we look to the Fulham and Sunderland games IMO Alan, we need to show this fight and spirt in the league now, we will fight another day in Europe but it has now become no.2 priority in my opinion.
DJG(Quote)
Am I the only one who when seeing Zenit wants Santon said “good”? If we can get 6/7m then we should snap their hands off, a liability and a replacement won’t be hard to find.
Andymag(Quote)
BIG DAVE @317
The Kid told us that he was the real deal in Jan and he couldn’t believe we had signed him… I think he is a decent player, gives us some pace (which got him out of his own trouble a few times tonight) he’s a good signing and will learn a lot still. Different playing for a team that are cruising in Ligue 1 to playing for a struggling team in the EPL. 😈
DJG(Quote)
ANDYMAG
Apparently Mike has said we won’t sell Cabaye at any price. I hope he doesn’t include Santon or Tiote in that although I doubt good offers will come for either, it’s just agent talk. I would prefer we start next season with a new LB and get money for Santon. He is a talented player in the wrong league, in the wrong position; I’m sure he and his geordie lass can go and live happily ever after in Italy but I’m not sure we can afford to keep him as LB next season and concede sloppy goals every few games.
DJG(Quote)
S’alreet, we’ll have our no.1 left back in Ryan taylor back soon enough boys 😀
Newkie(Quote)
No excuses for Staylor, he knew exactly what he was doing. He always does, and that’s why he will always will continue to be a liability. He got away with a few cheeky fouls as any CB does, but that Hball was plain stupid. Shame, just as he was starting to put a few performances together…says something when our most solid defender is Danny Simpson on a night eh 😉
Good to see people moving out of the fawn stage for santon and realising his defending isn’t that good, which I said last year when every goal that went in was Williamson’s fault…. 🙄
Newkie(Quote)
I can’t help but wonder where we’d be now if Benny had been fit from January… highly likely we’d be sitting on 36 points or more and safety-he could have killed that match off. When you consider the service Marv provided and the fact that even Jonas got good service in and generally had the beating of his fullback, an on form Benny would have destroyed them..If Spurs have Bale out for the season and Chelsea have a long travel and a heavy fixture list, this really could have been our year 😕
Newkie(Quote)
We now need that player for the second leg we don’t have. The striker to compliment Cisse that we didn’t sign in January.
On Santon he needs to learn very quickly. He ain’t the first player to **** up but has to learn from goldenballs and come out of it a stronger and better player.
A very big and exciting week coming up starting on Sunday and i am looking forward to it. Three wins anybody?
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
Instead of playing a side with 3 or 4 reserve players, Benfica will probably send there strongest line up for the return leg. We can only go at them full tilt, and we probably will.
The league points are much more important for the toon. Europe was fun while it lasted, though things could have been so different last night without the mistakes and with perhaps HBA or more power in the final third.
The disappointment hasn’t died down yet unfortunately. 👿
Munich Mag(Quote)
Thought we played fairly well, we have to remember Benfica are one of the better teams in Europe, sadly two huge mistakes gifted them a two goal advantage. Santon is great going forward but needs work to improve defensively – terrible decision to pass back, as for Taylor there’s not much to say, he does this time and time again, I’m getting a bit pissed off with him and his it hit me in the bollocks act – he knew exactly what he was doing and this is his Achilles heel which he just can’t seem to eradicate from his game
Oh well, it’s not over but it’s going to be a massive ask in the home leg
stevep(Quote)
Steve
Do you really think Benfica are one of the best sides in Europe. Wouldn’t be in my top sixteen. Better English, Spanish and German clubs for starters
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
I thought we played ok last night. We made two big mistakes and at this level you will get punished. I don’t think the tie is over just yet. The away goal was crucial last night. I think we can score 2 against them. If we don’t let them settle early on i think we can go through. Its a very big ask don’t get me wrong but it could be done. Bring on fulham on Sunday
Johno Toon(Quote)
Was really pleased to see Jonas have a great game yesterday. Long may it continue.
Geordie Deb(Quote)
Enjoyed the game but not the result. Would like to see more players get up around the box. Benfica often had five and six players around our box. Why can’t we do that? Santon’s back pass was obviously silly but before that Taylor was playing pass back with Krul instead of moving the ball forward. He passes back a lot whereas Mbwia rarely does it. Mbwia is more constructive. I would agree Santon has his faults but he is still miles ahead of Ryan Taylor as a defender. Benfica the better team on the night but we were were not totally outclassed and we put in the effort which was missing at Man City.
Groucho(Quote)
@STEVEP: Post: 329: That’s what annoys me of late. We always attach mitigating excuses in every game. Last weekend it was oh well it was man city we played, the week before it was oh well it was Wigan we played and they play well at this stage of a relegation fight. this weekend it could be oh well we must remember it was Fulham we played and they have Berbatov next it will be oh well it was QPR and they have Harry Houdini.
We won’t beat anyone at this rate if every game has mitigating circumstances. the question we should ask is what the hell we are doing, what the hell id Pardew doing to address these mitigating factors which always only seem to apply to and affect Newcastle.
While everyone thought we looked good first half, I thought we looked lively but not particularly congruent. Anyone who had the ball was going forward a bit disorganised but good on the eyes.
My concern is we don’t plan our games out. It seems we either win or lose under Pardew we lose more often than not. I would have thought that once we had the lead we should have played a possession game.
Goals are very hard for us to come by with misfiring Cisse only capable of one goal. After him there is no other goal threat and if he does not score we don’t score. A terrible recipe.
I’m not blaming Cisse he looked good yesterday. We need a new goal threat, a further option other than Cisse.
Also Jonas was prob our best player on the night. Mbiwa pleasantly surprised me, Cisse also looked good. Contributed more than the goal and I think we can defend him because he did his job and the defence failed to do theirs.
In conclusion the over arching theme is that we were man for man good enough to give Benfica a challenge and certainly something to think about. Under PArdew too many loses and this cannot be blamed on anything other than his incompetence.
michael12(Quote)
Deb @314 Sorry was off last night . Re- Taylors handball ,agree it was deliberate and Embarrassing what followed . All I was saying was that Sissoko went down in front of him I think Saylor clipped him on the heel and then he handled the ball .Havn’t had chance to watch replay yet though 😕
With errors like last night ,it happens to even the best ,Santon won’t do that again in a hurry you can bet ,sadly Saylor probably will 😉 .
Got chatting to my lads bus driver this morning who watched the game (not a Toon fan by the way) .He felt we were desprately unlucky with the 2 off the post and said he felt we could beat them at SJP no problem as we matched them ok for spells of the game. Always interesting to get an outside viewpoint I think.
KIMTOON(Quote)
PArdew commented before the game that Benfica were not as good as the top sides in the league and that they would be a top 8 to 10 side if in the EPL. I agree with him completely. But after yesterday’s result what does that say about him?
michael12(Quote)
toonsy 203 – ULTIMATE BLAME ALWAYS LIES WITH THE MANAGER
ALWAYS HAS
ALWAYS WILL
DOITFORSIRBOBBY(Quote)
That’s not to knock Saylor who I do rate but he has that in his game which needs addressing.
KIMTOON(Quote)
👿 This is what really pee’s me off.. here we go with the excuses for Sunday already.
“We’re going to need the fans because our energy levels aren’t going to be as high as they can be with this game tonight, we’ve certainly got enough to win and with their help we can.”
well you picked the side, and chose the priority, it was your call not anybody else.
queue Sunday night after a 1-1 or 0-1, think the thursday game took it out of us, the lads were down after the way we lost it on thursday, we cant expect players to perform 2 games in 4 days. **** !!!!!
all down to one call, he picked the strongest possible side in a competition where we are up against lazio/chelsea/spurs/benfica, where we cant beat norwrich/swansea/wigan and is deluded into thinking we are european super kings…
I’m livid after last night, the only positive was, apart from the 2 stupid errors, we played well but that’s not going to get us away from the bottom three.
kev(Quote)
for the first time yesterday I wanted Pardew sacked. I have been willing to always give him the benefit because of the below;
english manager
great season last year
nice person
makes an effort to get geordie nation on his side,
very complimentary to us as fans
seems to command respect of players
however yesterday i saw a team play well and then just stop: twice. first half and second half. tactically we looked lost at times.
I want Rafa. I feel this team has so much more potential than its showing and for the first time i think pardew needs to go for us to realise this 🙁
DOITFORSIRBOBBY(Quote)
THE KID @ 258
ULTIMATE BLAME ALWAYS LIES WITH THE MANAGER
DOITFORSIRBOBBY(Quote)
Kev I know how you feel but I think if we play that well for the rest of the season we won’t have any worries, as for me it was 2 bad mistakes that cost us and I really don’t think we’ll see them mistakes again for a longtime.
Big Dave(Quote)
I just think the way Pardew has ‘bigged’ up the euro games in the last month or so which has meant the players focus has been on these games and not the league games. we have been poor against Swansea/wigan/man city. I put this down to the “we are done now” comment when discussing relegation fears after the southampton game. the players thought europe was the main thing.
Well, now all of a sudden we have 2 huge home games coming up. win both and we are safe, win one and we should be ok, only get 1 or 2 points and we are in deep doo doo.
we have away games in London, home games against liverpool and arsenal, we tend not to get results in these games, not many games to go and we need those 7pts from somewhere.
kev(Quote)
Sunday is huge now ,for me it will define our season ,forget the Scum we MUST beat Fulham ,we can almost write off the Scum game as with the Facist at the helm it’s got a shock away win written all over it imo ,hate to say it but can see it happening.
Thought we looked very good first 30 mins last night more than matched them but again our energy levels dropped by 40 mins ,I don’t know wether it’s the confidence being fragile after conceeding a goal that drags down our pace and impetus or wether we really are low on energy and fitness?.
Who knows if Cisse’s attempt after his first had of gone in to make it 0.2 if we would of continued to assert ourselves on the game ,part of me thinks we would of collapsed 2nd half anyway the way we’ve been playing.
It’s also important to keep in mind that this team were in the CL and have qualified again this season and top their league and are unbeaten so confidence is sky high . Fact is we had them rocking there for 30mins and we can do it again at SJP .But first we really need some points on the board v Fulham to instill some confidence and belief .
KIMTOON(Quote)
Well that was a bit of a pisser!
Think we seen enough though to know we can hurt them and I think we’ll beat them next week, but I also think they’ll score…
Couldn’t believe Cisse hit the post in the second half – it seemed like it was slow motion but from where I was it looked like it was in all the way!!
We’ve a chance and I said before the game – I’d be happy as long as we’re still in the tie – and we are!!
Stuart79(Quote)
Kim… I wouldn’t worry too much about Di Canio…
Di Canio told the Gazette: “We have had our injuries, and that is a disappointment. On our first day, we were only 13 players – 11 players plus two goalkeepers.
But it is not an issue – it is enough to have a starting 11, and be able to make three substitutions” 😆
richietoon(Quote)
Agree Stuart, hope ya enjoyed it(result apart) Euro away days are great
richietoon(Quote)
Newcastle v Fulham ??? pts
Newcastle v Sunderland ??? pts
West Brom v Newcastle 0 pts
Newcastle v Liverpool 0 pts
West Ham v Newcastle 0 pts
QPR v Newcastle 0 pts
Newcastle v Arsenal 0 pts
people still confident ? given our away form ?
kev(Quote)
here’s a thought……. we lose at QPR and they go above us in the table
kev(Quote)
Pardew had to go for it last night even with the importance of the next two league matches, If the players cant get themselves up for a huge match on sunday and then for a derby match three days after the 2nd leg of a european competition they are in the wrong business.
I remember in the not too distant past playing in the latter stages in europe under Kenny, Bobby and Souness and the strongest available team played rain or shine home or away no questions asked…
CC(Quote)
Write off the scum game? Nee chance, no excuse for not battering the inbreds and their new Great Leader
Newkie(Quote)
Pardew picked the side, the right side and got the tactics spot on. Two moments of stupidity from our players and some serious bad luck for Cisse mean we go home in a weaker position that we deserved IMO.
Newkie(Quote)
NEWKIE
April 5, 2013 at 12:20
Pardew picked the side, the right side and got the tactics spot on. Two moments of stupidity from our players and some serious bad luck for Cisse mean we go home in a weaker position that we deserved IMO.
could say that for pretty much the whole of this season
it does get to a point though…
DOITFORSIRBOBBY(Quote)
Think Pardew picked his strongest available team but try as hard as they did, the lack of quality eventually caught us up.
Apart from the hand ball, I thought Taylor had a good game alongside Mbwia, Krull, Cabaye, Cisse and Sissoko, the rest sucked big style.
My 2 big whinges were why leave Perch on when he was stupidly booked as that was him out of the game and also, what is the point of Ameobi coming on, he makes us worse.
Robert(Quote)
Stuart@345 Feel for you mate ,talk about highs and lows 🙄 .By the way what was the riot police running into the stands for late on in the game?.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Probably someone lit a *** Kim.
georgio(Quote)
As you can see from most posts it was a pretty dramatic game. I thought not only were we unlucky, but they were very lucky.
Worried about Fulham though. Wished Haidara or Debuchy were fit. That horrible fcker Duff will probably haunt us again.
georgio(Quote)
Kim, My son was caught up in the trouble last night and was hit with batons by the Police who he says just lost it after they prevented some older men going to the toilet at the end of the game, no one was spared a wellying according to my son but what the truth of it is, who knows.
Robert(Quote)
Michael 12,
Agree with your last post. I liked the way you worded your analysis too. And you didn’t mention Ba once. 😆 😉
Actually I’d say everything you said was spot on on my own opinion.
People are making far too many excuses for our loses.
JJ(Quote)
Robert @358 😯 Bloody hell that was a bit ott for a few oldies wanting a wee 🙄 .Hope your lad is ok by the way.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Georgio @357, Agree about Duff ,he does have a knack of getting up our noses 👿
KIMTOON(Quote)
Richie @346 Can’t help but worry mate we are rapidly running out of games to get safe and next two are our best chance plus it takes a bit of pressure off us but we can’t seem to play well for 90+ minutes for some reason. 🙁
KIMTOON(Quote)
@Kev 349
Do you think we will lose our last five games? 😯
I don’t think QPR will be able to catch us with Harry Barry Merry’s Houdini Loic Adel Special or what so ever.
But Arsenal may visit us fired up to settle the Champions League spot. Well, our final day record in PL (home and away) is not good either.
Anyway if we want to survive in PL next season, beat Fulham and mackems. Please Pards, that was just my only demands for now. Then see what we can do next. Reckon we will finish at 12-14th place this season.
Benfica regularly qualified for UCL and one of the big 3 in Portugal. If we went out at this stage, i will be happy enough that we managed to make into the last 8 considering teams like Atletico, Zenit & Liverpool are all knocked out earlier than us.
Toon TRW(Quote)
DFSB@353-There’s not been a match this season where we have been so unfortunate not to get a second or third imo, or where individual errors cost so much. Could point to Tiote sending off or Colo at liverpool, but those two goals were comical.
Newkie(Quote)
we’ve only won 1 out of 15 away games this season, so I’m not banking on anything there.
I thought with our signings we would get points from Norwich/Swansea/Wigan away but we managed 1 pt, hung on at villa and I didn’t expect anything from Spurs / man city away. so 4 pts from those 6 away games was poor.
Then 2 homes against liverpool and arsenal, not banking on anything there either.
that leaves 2 home games against fulham and sunderland, we need 6 pts from these, anything else over that is a bonus from the others, I think we will only end up with 39ish points, so hoping wigan/sunderland or villa have a mare. assuming qpr and reading wont get up to that figure. less than that figure and we are going to struggle
wigan v qpr this weekend is a biggy, probably hoping for a draw there. if wigan have a big win and we lose to fulham we go below wigan and they have a game in hand.
i’m not usually this negative, but putting out the first team last night wound me up, those same players will no doubt play again sun/thur/sun. then if we do manage a 2-0 against benfica, another 2-legged semi, where the same players will again be used. Just think we are risking prem survival for a bit of glory in a competition we wont win.
kev(Quote)
If we win two more we would technically have reached the 40 point mark with superior goal difference being like another point on the teams below us (bar sunderland but that will change imo)
Cant see us not getting 6 points from the remaining matches: The next two being our best chance of getting points but Liverpool at SJP shouldnt be wrote off they have lost to Saints, Villa and Stoke. Theres no reason why we cant get something against them. West ham could be safe and practically on their holidays when we play them, QPR will probably be down by the time we play them. Arsenal might have already qualified for the champions league before the last day and may send the kids up (Like Wenger did against us a few years back on the last day)
CC(Quote)
Fair enough Kev, but i think if Pards played his fringe players last night, more people will be wounded up as we are not taking this competition seriously after working very hard to get this far.
It is very hard to please everyone. 🙄
Toon TRW(Quote)
Didn’t get back on yesterday. The second half was a hard one. Hope Santon learns from that giveaway. Saylor’s handball was a bad one as well. Cisse has an uncanny ability to hit the post. I thought Pardew did a good job yesterday, no blame on him but hard on the team to lose that way. I thought we would lose that game but the way it was lost was disheartening. Bring on Fulham and let’s hope the lads don’t let their heads drop.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Comments on BBC that Ben Arfa may go to Liverpool in a swap deal for Carroll. Surely they’re joking. The difference in quality is vast there. I wish Carroll well but not at the expense of losing Ben Arfa, especially to Liverpool. Shola came on and charged around like a hitman yesterday. Carded in the first 5 minutes he was on. With no attacking bench strength we looked desperate bringing him on. Get busy in the summer Llambias.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
We should be able to get 6 points from the remaining games but not much more. It is much tighter than I thought it would be even a month ago. I still see Fulham as a draw but then a narrow win against Sunderland so that would be 4 points out of those 2 games. Then we only need another 2 or 3 points.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Finishing around 15th or 16th will be a big blow to Pardew’s pride I would think after last season and the manager awards. Will it make him a better manager though ie. what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Not sure it will work that way but here’s hoping. The man can be honest at times but it took him too long to realize we had some mediocre youngsters that he had been depending on too much and that we were far less sound as a squad before the January buys. Now he seems much more aware of our deficiencies. Willo surely has played his last game for us, as with Obertan unless we get an exceptional number of injuries. The club still needs a huge amount of work and input (money) from Ashley.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Enoyed reading as many comments as I could. Overall I would say we’re a realistic group of Toon fanatics. We like to dream about glory now and then but mostly it has been hard slogging this season. Here’s hoping it is our worst for a long time to come.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
G2-That swap has been doing the round for months, I can’t see how there is owt in it, from our end anyway. If Pardew even thought about it he should be sacked immediately 😯
Newkie(Quote)
Kim…Aye was more talking about Di Canio’s mathematical skills or lack off in the quote 😉 …however, unless he changes it, his style of management, which includes physically and verbally threatening players and stadium staff and ruling by fear ain’t gonna work with pampered prem players.
richietoon(Quote)
I hope you’re right Newkie @373. It sounds like bollocks to me as well. I see there is a new post up. See you all there.
GeordieTwo(Quote)