Hold that open top bus

Ian Teasdale wrote...

Why does GR. hate Luque so much?
The lad has talent in abundance and if he gets a regular game even a blind man will see that.
With our striker crisis at breaking point (after Saturdays game) why keep struggling with Shola?
He should have had his operation during the world cup as planned, Luque would have had his chance to play along side Martins and maybe we would have scored more than 7 goals in the league.
There all maybes but you cant stop people dreaming can you?

Posted by: Ian Teasdale  | November 12, 2006 4:19 PM

JOHN COLE wrote...

. we have recently played three bottom six clubs and taken a couple of points - relegation form whichever way you cut it. I watched the game in Dublin and it was a grim spectacle, very grim. Roeders assertion that it was a game we could have won was laughable, given that our first and only shot on target came in the 88th minute. Worst player on the park was Duff...for an individual with his ability and skills his performance was disgraceful. I discussed the Toons flight with a Tipperary guy who was in town for the rugby....he said that he had long held the view that Duff lacked heart. I sincerely hope he is wrong....as we are going to need stout hearts in the coming weeks.

Posted by: JOHN COLE  | November 12, 2006 9:35 PM

david foster wrote...

its just typical of newcastle united isnt it,for 88mins i could of fell asleep only to be woken by 3mins of pure entertainment value.the one plus point in all this sorry mess at the moment is seeing dyer back in a black and white shirt.we saw glimpes just what he can do and long may it continue

Posted by: david foster  | November 13, 2006 11:16 AM

Trevor wrote...

Ian asks: Why does GR hate Luque?" Well, I think Luque lacks commitment and decided last season he wanted to leave. Maybe GR feels the same. Souness played him at every opportunity (when he was fit) but the guy doesn't seem to have any bottle. We keep hearing "give the guy a chance," "give him a run in the team." This is quite a risk because whenever he has played, he has looked completely lost and like he didn't want to be there. Use any excuse you like, the most common one being, "It takes time to settle into the premiership" but the least we ask is some passion and commitment, none of which we have seen from him. Presumably, he must be the same in training otherwise he would at least get a seat on the bench.

I'm not sure whether to agree with the Irish guy, mentioned in one of the blogs, who questioned Duff's commitment. What I would say is that I have always felt that Duff reminds me of Steve McManaman, who, more often than not, would dribble, dribble, dribble, then the final outcome would come to nothing.

I think Lee Ryder is rather optimistic about the value of the point at Man City. Hate to be negative but this is our worst team with the poorest commitment for many a year and on present form it doesn't look like we will win many games. We are going to have to rely on other teams to do worse than us.

Roeder is clutching at straws when talking of "limping along to the January transfer window." Who has he got in mind? Obviously, there are good strikers (and defenders) just waiting for us to pick them up!! I hope he does better than he did when he had from May to August to bring in some decent players. Any bets on who we end up with?

Posted by: Trevor  | November 13, 2006 1:39 PM

Ian Teasdale wrote...

I also agree with John Cole, Duff was a waste of a shirt. He lacked any kind of touch lost most of his passes, ambled round the field like it was a day off, and never broke a sweat. Now we as a team might not have lived up to his expectations and promises he was made, before he joined, but the money he gets paid every week deserves more consistent performances, From everyone in the team.

Posted by: Ian Teasdale  | November 13, 2006 3:45 PM

Dave Russell wrote...

Couldn't agree more with the last 2 messages.
Duff has been just that for the Toon, no heart or bottle. A friend of mine who used to coach and play professionally was discussing the recent gutless displays and he reckons that when this happens it is usually down to 1 or 2 people in the dressing room bringing down the rest. He singled out Duff as one of these.
Regarding Luque - Is he really such a bad player that we will prefer a player who is no better than 30% fit to start on Saturday? Surely this decision alone gives Mr Roeder away? I am sorry but he is just not up to it.

Posted by: Dave Russell  | November 13, 2006 9:23 PM

KT wrote...

Someone please tell me where the passion was on Saturday. I watched the Reading / Tottenham match the day after and actually felt ashamed that the team I support put up a performance like they did against Man City - ive been thinking for a long time now that things have got to improve, that they couldnt get any worse but after saturday and with Arsenal this weekend, my belief is slowly dwindling.

Posted by: KT  | November 14, 2006 12:49 PM

philip atkings wrote...

Hi Lee,
its quite a struggle watching the team just now, was flabbergast to see ameobi in the starting 11, total joke, the guy needs an op on a season ending injury, PLAY LUQUE!! and i wont start on sibierski and his "deft" touches (too other players) and with these expensive strikers we buying we need to be taking out hamstring insurance! bah!
ramage at left back while better than babayaro isnt left footed and also has no major pace to burn he in turn must be having nightmares about 2 great chances he's had to score on half volleys!!
truly scared at our next league games involving arsenal, portsmouth (lualua), man united, chelsea,
SOS!!!!!!!!!!!
cheers,

Posted by: philip atkings  | November 14, 2006 2:00 PM

Terry wrote...

I really wish he'd play Luque, he's given Bramble a million and one chances, so why not Luque? He started him against Palermo and he scored, give him another run out instead of trying to rely on half fit strikers who don't score much when they're fully fit anyway.

Posted by: Terry  | November 14, 2006 5:55 PM