SNSUN

Definitely Bamboozle. Quite quickly you could work out the page code, so that if you entered the wrong answer, you could correct it before Teletext had found the "bad luck" page. Cheating, but then I cheat at most things. God love the Saturday edition for kids. I was good at that! I hadn't used either for years, since my first freeview box in the mid noughties, but it was useful for Football updates. I did use it once fairly recently, at my parents' house while Swansea were beating Reading in the play-off final. I couldn't quite believe the number of goals that were flying in. It'll be missed, but of course technology moves on. I'm surprised it lasted this long.

He's no central midfielder, he plays better as an attacking player. Against Man U in that advanced role, I thought he was excellent. IMO of course.

I love the nPC, I hated League One. Being in the nPC there's always that chance of a slide into League One. Being in the Premier League there's a chance of a slide into the nPC. but I'd rather be in the Prem fighting against relegation (but not being too disheartened if we go down) than have that chance of slipping from the Championship. Financially it also makes sense to be in this league, even if we do get spanked most weeks, playing against some of the best players in the world is a fantastic learning curve for the players, even if relegation does ultimately follow. A few more Villa results would nice, a few fewer Arsenal or West Ham results would also be nice. We'll get a few more wins for sure, and then strengthen the obvious areas in January. Whether that's with Adkins in charge or someone else, so be it. We'll still at the dawn of this new season and we've only played perhaps two other teams that will be with us battling relegation at the end of the season, and we beat one of them.

Keep him. For now. For the immediate future. No wins in the next three and I'll be altering my view. I really like Adkins, but he's proving so far that he's a fish out of water, specifically for not strengthening the defence sufficiently in the summer. It's a moot thread though, as only one man truly makes the decision to keep him or sack him.

Adkins Out? Not yet. I'm glad I didn't get to see today's game, but seeing Lambert on the bench did make me wonder what was going on. Guly will never be a fan favourite. Boruc for Gazza, who until now had done little wrong? Questions can and should be asked. Any more results like this and Adkins will need fresh undies. It's all about the defence. We got relegated in '05 because our defence was shocking, and it looks like that may be the case again. Still is Adkins getting the sack the answer? We could replace him with God himself, but unless he can make very average defenders better, we'll still be terrible. It does make me wonder how many managers we'll get through this season. Whoever gets the job, should Adkins go, is in for a really sh!tty time.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20005157 I thought I was unique with "Police Surveillance Van #2" but clearly not. In light of this no longer being funny, not that it really ever was I suppose, can anyone think of some good'uns? I seem to remember shortly after Madeleine McCann's disappearance, someone changed their bluetooth name to "I have Maddy" (which was inspired, if a tad tasteless). Do any of you lot have a twisted sense of humour by naming your WiFi differently? "The Horton WhoreHouse" would have a few neighbours worried I guess....

A shame they couldn't hang on for the win, but nevertheless a draw is a cracking result for them against the third best (supposedly) team in the world.

Perhaps the most perfectly timed injury ever on Nathaniel Clyne's part...

With Senegal now being booted out the African Nations Cup, Newcastle will be boosted by having Demba Ba and Pa**** Cisse in their squad in January - when they play Reading, Norwich and Villa! A thin attempt at positivity but it shows the season is far from over. Newcastle are undoubtedly better when both those two play. Let's hope the Senegal national team doesn't get let back in on appeal.

Contrary to some I actually thought he played quite well on Sunday. The way he takes or controls a ball (Sunday also) is exquisite. True skill. He's class and to drop him would be folly. Don't forget he's playing in a position he's not yet used to 100%, from playing on the left of a 4-4-2, to being utilised either on the left of attack or the left of central midfield. I prefer Lallana on the left of Lambert up top, in central midfield he doesn't have the freedom to roam as much, but he's far from poor. As for dropping him, we're currently without Ramirez or Cork, so I fail to see who we'd drop him for, but I wouldn't do it anyway. He's one of our best players. Rest him eventually, sure. But not drop him. I understand why he was given the captaincy, but if ANY questions should be asked of him, it's his competancy about being captain. There are a few I'd prefer to see as captain. I always thought Rickie would make a good captain, hard working, talented and can speak up, although I know some people prefer not to have an attacker as captain lest it detach from their goalscoring duties.

If you're saying that this is the time managers should worry about their jobs, then I agree that the International break gives a chance to bring someone else new in and two good weeks of training sessions. But it's already Thursday and one week has passed, and Mark Hughes still has a job. I guess they'll be sticking with him then.

The poll results say it all. Perhaps the result of the same poll in December will be different, but right now we stick by Adkins, give him time and see what happens. I like what I've seen of our attacking play this season. Tighten up at the back and we'll be fine.

I'm astounded anyone wants him gone after all he's done for us. Yes we only have four points, but this is the Premier League and we've had the hardest start of any club. Of course questions will be raised of Nigel's capability to manage at this level, after all Paul Sturrock wasn't given much time to prove he could manage at this level, but that judgement is up to Cortese and the Liebherrs. For the rest of us we should really get behind Adkins, very few people could have done for this club what he has done in the last couple of years. We have the manager who is settled, something we've been crying out for for years, and the makings of a very good, young, Premier League team. Yes, perhaps we should have signed a couple more defenders in the transfer window, but overall I was very pleased with our signings, and of course we were very close to signing Buttner to improve the left back spot. Contrary to opinions I think we will sign the necessary defenders in the window, and will be more than safe come the end of the season. It's the players we already had on board that are underperforming, Jos was a mountain last season but has started very slowly this season, and Fox started slowly too, but had a better performance on Sunday. Would I want Mark Hughes for example, blowing money on largely past it, underachieving players? Hell no. It would cost a small fortune for Fernandes to sack and replace him too. (Perhaps why he said he's got faith in him for the whole season.) Would I rather have Hughton? No. He's a nice guy that got an already good Newcastle team promoted, and has done little else since. For those who think Adkins is limited as a manager, we also look at McDermott. The Reading fans I know worship him and even if they go down this season, I would expect them to stick by their man and give them the opportunity to get them promoted again. Would we with Adkins? Who knows, but that is Cortese's decision. I would certainly hope so. Some will pick fault with him, this is a forum and that is their choice, but it baffles me that they're so quick to want Adkins out. As for me, I'll support him as long as it takes. I'm confident from what I've seen this season that we'll pick up a few good results yet, yes there'll be losses too but that's no immediate reason for wanting the manager out. Will my opinion change? Well I'm not that stubborn, losing every game until December would certainly see me wobble in my support of him, but that won't happen. Get behind him. We could do much worse.

Looked good yesterday, he's been given his chance and has taken it with both hands. Literally. I even feel more comfortable with him in goal than with Bart, so to that end we've improved the back-up keeper position. Boruc will eventually worm his way in and if he's as good as people say, will make the number one spot his own, but Gazza provides excellent competition. Poor old Kelv must be wondering what hit him, but his career is far from over. 3 keepers is the requirement in this league IMO. As for yesterday, Gazza made some decent punches, his kicking was good (bar one I think), he made a great instinctive save, and thanks to Calamity Jos he could do nothing for the goals. He'd have got to Richardsons, had it not been deflected.

After scoring the first in 4 minutes, I thought we'd go on and get a few more, but Fulham didn't make it too easy for us. It's easy to see why our defence struggles, they're just so nervous when the ball comes near them. Granted we were unfortunate to lose Frazer early on, and not have a right back on the bench, but Jos was shocking when he came on. Just shocking, and I hate to say that as he was one of my fave players in the nPC. Fonte has grown in stature as the season has gone on, and ignoring his two well taken goals, he was our best defender today. Perhaps he's improved since being partnered with Yoshi. So far, it's hard to see Jos as a Premier League defender. Maybe he'll improve, but maybe the Celtic fans were on to something. Danny Fox had a better game than others I've seen this season, but it's easy to see why he's limited. We had a good spell of passing in the first half, we strung quite a few together, then the ball eventually went to Fox and he punted it long. It's a shame Clyne picked up a knock pre-game, thank God he's got a couple of weeks to recover. Gazzaniga, I thought, looked fairly good. He made a good save shortly after they hit the post, and his long kicking was good, but it's obvious he's still learning the game. He'll make a mistake eventually, a la Bialkowski against Blackpool last season, it's a case of whether it'll dent his confidence. I'm looking forward to the introduction of Boruc. As for the midfield, Davis and Morgan did both have good games. We were the better team in the first half. Lallana has had better games - I still prefer him higher up the pitch. Up top, I am surprised both Rickie and Punch was subbed. Fonte gets my MOTM (and probably most other people's) but Puncheon was having a good game. Always hustling, good touch on the ball, always looking for an outlet and has that pace to scare the opposition. Perhaps he faded a bit, but he seemed like our best attacking outlet. I'd havce brought Mayuka on in lieu of Guly, but that's up to Nigel I guess. Rickie could've scored a couple today, and probably would on a better day, but Rodriguez looked a bit lost. All in all we should've won, as for the bulk of the game I thought we were the better, more decisive team, but as soon as Jos banged that ball past Gazzaniga, I just knew they'd go on to get a second. I'm mightily relieved we didn't give up, and one point is better than none, but this is two points dropped for me. Still, blue line and all that, bring on the Hammers, and a fully fit Saints...

I thought Puncheon was having a good game before he got subbed, so honorouble mention, and also one for Morgan and Adam who worked tirelessly, but it has to be Fonte. Not just for his match saving two goals but also for his much better defensive performance.

In general? People be all moaning a lot about Mags Thatcher. Twas before my time though. Personally? Gok Wan. He is everything that is bad in the world. (And because my missus loves him for everything he does. If he crapped in our toilet, she'd love that too.)

After banging his head against the wall repeatedly since Skatesmouth decided to head south through the leagues, TCWTB goes one too far and bashes his brains out. (Sooooo many captions for this particular caption comp...)

This is just it. 6 points after the run of games we've had would actually be a good start to the season. Apathy though is the tool of the devil, but from what I've seen so far, we have a sublime attack now that Ramirez has come in and started well and, as well as being at home, I can see a scoreline similar to the Villa game. Fulham aren't a bad team, but while they adjust to life without Dembele and Dempsey, they're there for the taking. A few goals better on the goal difference would be nice too. We've been working on the defence apparently, so we wait with bated breath to see if it's worked. I don't see a draw in this game. Either we'll play sublime football and smash them, or we'll end up with a Wiganesque result. I hope it's the former.

Wasn't it Elliot Ward we could've signed instead of Danny Seaborne? One suspects in hindsight that could've been a better deal for us, but I'm sure that for every player we should've signed that we had the chance to but didn't, there's another player that we were lucky to have passed over. Fate, I guess.

Otherwise known as the "Hooiveld Hoof"?!? :-) Some teams can make long ball work. How many times a long ball is in hit and how many times it works for a goal scoring chance isn't listed in the table above, that I'd like to see, but I'm surprised to see Stoke so low in the table, especially as they have Crouch up front. Reading however doesn't surprise me - they are looking for a way to stay in this division and long ball is one of those options they can use... but it's obviously not working for them at the moment. Perhaps QPR should try a few more long balls too!

Le Tissier's chip against United in the 6-3. The highlights (which I'm sad to say are all I saw of it but had recorded on VHS until the system died out) of the whole game were goosebumpy, but Le Tissier's chip in particular over one of the best (if not the best) Keeper of his day, and against the best team of its day, was extra special. The best player we've had in my generation, with one of his best goals against the best team.

Besides Wigan, which perhaps we should have got all 3 points from, it's gone pretty much as I expected. I did think we'd get a point at Everton, but that was at the start of the season before I knew they'd be flying. The Wigan game really cam at the wrong time - I'd have rather had Chelsea in that second game and got the toughies out of the way early on.

To be frank, I thought our goal difference would be far worse than it is right now. Yes our defence is a problem, but we came away from both Manchester games with only a -1 goal difference and that's better than I could have dreamed. Indeed we could've won both games with a better defence (which we all agree we need). This shows the strength of our attacking outlets, and the reason I think we're better than most of the lower league sides in the division. (All of whom will have their own defensive problems eventually, and some of whom haven't even played the Manchesters. 6 of our fifteen goals came against the most creative team in the division too, which warps the statistic. It's far from panic stations, the phrase "keeping our heads above water in January" is very true, and I definitely think we'll do that based on a strong attacking side to our game. The defence will be sorted out in January, of that I have no doubt, so until then let's just watch Lallana, Ramirez and Lambert (and Mayuka, JRod and Punch) rip teams a new one, while hoping we solidify a tad at the back. After all, there's not a thing any of us can do to help the defence, short of pulling on a pair of boots and offering our services. (THey wouldn't want me though...)

Not disheartened with the loss, Everton are on fire at the moment I think we'll beat Fulham. Sounds like Gazza had a good game today, a better test of his talents.