S-Clarke

Back to his best tonight, thought he was class.

Also, credit to Morgan - who I felt played like a man possessed, especially in the first half. He drove us on, back to his imperious best I thought. No doubting his focus or commitment what so ever.

Yes, I liked Djuricic, looks a slick little customer. Gets stuck in as well, but lacks a bit of physical power. His little run with 2 or 3 pirouettes was class.

Clyne hasn't played well for a while, you get the impression that his head is somewhat elsewhere - and may explain why Koeman is keen to resolve his future this week, one way or another.

Our next win was always going to be a game like that. The first 30 mins I thought were excellent, we were straight out of the blocks and we pinned them in. There was pace, purpose, movement, zip....we were very good and a goal was coming, but we slowed it down after that and Palace crept into the game. 2nd half was the same, and we never rediscovered that zip we had in the first 30 mins - but we stuck in there, rode our luck, because Palace are pretty smart on the break and we got a lucky goal. It was a messy goal, but to end that sort of run it was always going to be a scrappy little goal. Good run by JWP, good shot (at bloody last) and the finish by Mane, although a poor save initially, was slick. Overall, not a vintage game, bit of a horrible 2nd half - but we dug in and got in the end, and that's all that matters. Now we can have a nice break, work out how we can become more clinical....and take on chelsea!

Huge attacking intent with that lineup.......I think we know the plan tonight!

I've got into this game recently and I think it's pretty much spot on i most aspects. Player abilities seem spot on to me. I've had injuries, but they reduced after I slowed training down a bit - and upgraded my physio team, I always do that in my games (I get some world class rated physios, and it does make a huge change). Good game though, enjoying it.

Jeez. Can't get much worse for Sunderland either can it? That club needs to be knocked down and started again, it's cursed!

Not cringe-worthy what so ever.

Alan Pardew:

HCDAJFU

This club will never work like that, ever. It's all about being sustainable, and splashing £20m on a forward in January in the hope of finishing in the Top 4 is a gamble, for a club of our size - an unsustainable gamble. As has been alluded to, we have a long-term plan. We don't react on a whim and knee-jerk.

No, we're not. And again, this isn't anything like the Spurs situation with Kane.

I'd say they're £24m more ahead than us. We can't spend that on a player. And he's not a striker is he? More of an attacking front 3 player, so really again not an alternative to Pelle suggestion.

He's priceless, isn't he?

They are so much better without Gerrard.

lol Niles Peterson, seriously? That's the best you can come up with? He was rated highly once upon a time, but is now pretty horrific and has been for the last few years. That's why we have a scouting setup, otherwise we'd fill our squad up with utter, utter, utter dross ''just because''. He is dross, by the way.

It's well documented that Koeman was a target for them, when they were considering letting Pardew go in the summer, he was on their list. However, they didn't let Pardew go, and then we stepped in. This is just a re-hash from that period. As other's have said, although Newcastle are traditionally a bigger club than us, right now I'd say we're in a better position to really push on. As we all know, Mike Ashley won't spend money there. And let's not forget Koeman's comments regarding his contract. I think he's a decent individual and I think he will honor those comments. He is a very honorable person, which is why he's had such a glittering career. You'd never see this if we'd been winning in recent weeks.

He was just saying thanks for last weekend.

I would agree with this, we're clearly not as fluid as we were early in the season, and I don't think Pelle has ever been a 1 shot 1 goal sort of striker, he seems to need a few cracks, as we saw in the game against Millwall in the cup, Newcastle at home IIRC. Back in those days we'd often created 2 or 3 more chances for him, and he'd most of the time take one of them. Now, he's really only getting 1 go a game...and that will be highlighted. Obviously he's not playing well, but I just don't agree with the simplistic view many are saying ''Oh, we needed a striker''. It simply isn't just down to that. We're not as fluid, slick or quick in the attack. We don't open teams up, force the GK into saves and I can't remember too many ''clear cut'' chances we have these days. Maybe 1 a game if we're lucky. I don't think anyone is saying Pelle is a wonder striker, he's pretty bog standard and what you expect for £8m, but he's still done pretty well for us I think. He will score goals, but he's not the sort who can do it all by himself. The drop in form of Tadic and the service he provided has coincided with the dip in Pelle's goals.

Yes, because lots of teams rip us apart.

Little bit bitty over the next few weeks. After the Chelsea game, we play Burnley at home on the next Saturday....but then we have another 2 week break because of internationals. After that it's relentless though, no more breaks, so if we're going to regain any sort of composure and have a little bit of a breather, it'll need to be done in the next 3 weeks.

We don't have a game for about 2 weeks after Tuesday, so i'm sure he'll have time off between that and the Chelsea game on the 15th.

Completely different. Kane had been playing in the Europa league and scoring, been on succesful loan spells down in the NPC and was at Norwich in the PL last season.

The last thing you do is throw in a young, untried and inexperienced striker, into a team that doesn't score goals. I'm glad the people running our club have a bit more sense.