Hmmmm......I did. I thought he did all right but predictably he was promptly dropped for the next game. If he was a 27 year old and had played like that in the opening game of the season there wouldn't have been the slightest suggestion he should be dropped. Everyone would have been saying he'd be fine when he'd bedded in and got used to the rest of the team etc. His age is irrelevant for me. If we're spending £7m on a player he needs to be going straight into the side as first choice in his chosen position. As others have said we aren't a Man City who can afford to spend £7m on a player and stockpile them, the rest of the side isn't good enough and it's even more relevant when we've got FFP waiting to bite us in the arse after a 3 year period.

Klopp has put himself under unnecessary pressure now imo. Should have gone to Citeh with his most attacking side in the knowledge that a win and it was all over and if they lost it wasn't a disaster. Instead he changed what has worked for them against Citeh in the past and lost and now he's tried to be clever with resting players and it's backfired. Needs to win the League or Champions League now or this will be quite rightly held against him.

Not bad, home draw against Premier League opposition again.

Is there not a bit of a difference between taking a £7m gamble on an exciting young prospect, giving him a proper chance and coming to the conclusion he isn't good enough as opposed to barely handing him a start or playing him in his correct position?

Dack Palmer Rothwell Reed Travis Rodwell?

I wouldn't waste your breath Paul. Gumboots even inserted a get out clause for if the game is actually moved for TV thereby nullifying her excuse for not attending saying she will attend "if at all possible." A few years ago she was quite active in trying to encourage people not to attend Ewood and I also remember her boasting about how she was going to Chorley or somewhere similar to watch a match as opposed to attending Ewood and pointing out how much more enjoyable it was because you could get a drink and consume it from your seat or touchline. In more recent times as results have improved she's treated us to all manner of different excuses why she can't attend individual matches, not that I understand why she thinks anyone is remotely interested one way or the other whether she can or can't attend a particular match or not, that's entirely her prerogative and good luck to her if she does attend. The point is everyone could make excuses as to why they can't go, if you want to go badly enough, you will do and generally work the rest of your work and social engagements in around it. As regards this particular game I would say that it's a fairly exciting tie against biggish Premier League opposition and I'd have thought for the floating fan looking for their once or twice a year fix at discounted prices this match offers potentially far more entertainment value than the remainder of the battle to finish 16th in the League. I'm not sure if it will be perceived that way though, especially if it's on TV.

That occurred to me when I read the original post. Are we playing an outmoded long ball style of play because we simply can't play any other way or are we doing it merely to accomodate the presence of Graham in the side.? I wouldn't say our current style of play suits Dack particularly well. I'd have thought he'd be happier with balls played to feet and exchanging short and snappy passes and give and goes with someone like Palmer.

Yep. My problem with this season is not the fact that we look likely to survive but that unless there's some very good business done in January the squad won't really have improved at all, we'll be no better off in the summer than we were 12 months previously on being promoted and in fact be considerably worse off if Dack leaves. None of our successful managers in the past at lower levels needed years to build, the likes of Furphy (after a rocky start) Lee and Kendall (after another poor start) made a more or less immediate impact.

Good find. Someone better show that to the manager.

Oh, hang on, we'll contact the Club and see if we can rearrange the date for you. ? I fear the crowd will be slightly embarrassing. As many Toon fans willing to make the 2hr 45 min journey down to support their team at bargain prices as home fans, many of whom probably won't be able to be arsed to cross the road because they won't want to spend a tenner if the game is on tv etc.

I think it's a fair point about the lack of use of the foreign market. For the 24k p.w. wages he is allegedly on and the likely fee involved you're not telling me there is no-one better available across Europe than Gallagher.

I think the words you are searching for are "Stop confusing the issue with facts." ?

The AA deal is valued at £3m in total though isn't it? If he doesn't trigger any add on clauses that would tend to suggest the move wouldn't have been a success.

I cheated and took the lift!. I counted the stairs on a previous visit. It's something like 31 or 32 flights I think. Needed oxygen by the time I got there.

We paid fees for Rothwell and Davenport thought to be in the region of 800k combined at the time. I cant remember the exact figures but I always assumed Rothwell cost us around 400k. Can't see his value has increased by sitting on the bench. Likewise I can't see Clubs queueing up to pay more than 3m for AA. I'd say his value has dipped rather than increased on the basis of his (rather disappointing) performances this season.

Maybe it's a bit of a minor complaint I didn't understand the substitution of Dack for Williams at all. You've just been rather unjustly pegged back to 1-1 and you have one guy on the pitch who's likely to do something and maybe get you back in front. So what do you do? Simples. You take him off!!! Plus, the removal of Dack had the effect of throwing Brereton to the wolves and leaving him with no support whatsoever. I'd go as far to say that if you were trying to make BB look as bad as possible and maybe even try and throw the game having lost the lead that's the sort of change you'd make. Not that I'm suggesting that was TM's intention but I thought it was a terrible substitution which we just about got away with.

Incredibly disappointing yet again. We played reasonably well but Newcastle looked as though they didnt want to be there and a more ruthless team than us would have well and truly put them to the sword. We seem to manage to contrive not to win matches no matter how promising our situation looks and I sort of expect us to now find a way not to go through against a team whose priorities and minds are clearly elsewhere. For the penalty I was thinking, don't dive in, dont dive in dont dive in, bugger! Dack for me showed that when his mind is on the job not only is he a Premiership quality player he is a cut above your run of the will Premiership player. Any thoughts we'll be better off selling him and investing in several inferior players is nonsense for me. We are still an extremely frustrating side to watch at times, there was one instance when Armstrong had the chance to beat his man near tbe bye line and home in on goal. Instead he checked back and a few backward passes later which put us under increasing pressure we were almost in a spot where the ball had to go back to Raya from near the halfway line. On the plus side as OssyDave said what a night out it is in Newcastle. The ground must be fairly unique these days in being in the centre of town right on hand for the Pubs and Clubs etc. The only other one I can think of is the Millennium Stadium.

I thought it sounded as far fetched as you and I wouldn't have bothered repeating it other than for the fact it came from an ostensibly excellent source and yes he was sober as a judge! I thought the same about BB. I can't believe he was a TM signing given the lack of game time he's had.

Was told the other night by someone who appeared a credible source that the owners have handed TM a 20m budget this window, the only potential fly in the ointment being that TM doesn't like spending unless he is completely confident about tbe target in question. We shall see. If they have, I hope we don't waste too much of it on Gallagher. Average at best for me, tries hard but lacking in quality and a pretty terrible scoring record.

Going up to this more for the night out with my daughters who live in Newcastle than the game but nevertheless hope we take it seriously and field a near full strength side as opposed to say Charlton away at the end of last season.

Quite a lot. How did we fare in those games, how many did he score?. I knew people would leap to Graham's defence when I posted but we need to be looking forward and trying to improve the side not rewarding ageing players for past performance.

Chapman should imo have been our player by now, assuming a reasonable level of fitness, he's exactly what we lack. The problem is TM doesn't really rate him and would rather play a past it Conway or a "wide striker" out of position there because he perceives rightly or wrongly that out and out wide men don't give us enough defensive solidity.

So we've given new deals to a guy who if he lasts that long at all is at best ion his last legs and another who we refuse to hand a start to and who as a result may never make it. We really arent progressing as a Club at all are we? Re: Graham it said in the LT that one more appearance in the last game would activate a clause in his contract entitling him to a new deal. I thought Venky's had stopped that sort of nonsense when John Williams left.

For me I think its more the case that TM still sees it as bringing in one or two players to help the ones already here rather than trying to bring in players who will go straight into the team and improve the starting eleven. A major overhaul is needed if we're going to challenge for promotion in tbe forseeable future not a bit of window dressing and tinkering with the depth of the squad. Hanley on loan, Wharton recall, a main striker and Chapman would get us through unscathed to the end of the season. Then hopefully the major reconstruction which should have started in the summer can commence.

Ok thanks. Hope the daft predictions don't come back to bite us!