S-Clarke

the weird and wonderful world of football....Newcastle now level after being torn to threads for 45mins.

Weird poster.

Fair point, but I believe he's also injured.

I'm sure if there are ''extraordinary circumstances'' (i.e Jos's injury keeping him out for months, Seaborne still not match fit) then they may allow us to squeeze him in.

Unless Stoke offer him mutual termination of his current contract, then he can't join until the new year.

So did Swansea and Norwich, in fact none of Swansea's team had PL experience when they started out against Man City. We actually started against Man City with more PL experience under our belts. They grew into it as the season went on. I hope, and believe, we will do the same. I genuinely believe we have so much more quality than Reading. We took them apart last year, imagine what we'll do to them this year?? Their squad is pretty much the same.

Flyer, what on earth has Granero done in the world of football to be described as ''world class'' ???? Not denying he's a good player, but calling him world class stinks of serious bias.

Throwing it the other way round, I'd like to know how you've come to that conclusion on 1 game as well. He's actually quite tall.

Harsh game to judge him on defensvley, but I thought he added a bit of pace back there. Looks to have decent ability on the ball as well. Is he left footed do we know?

He seems entirely clueless about Yoshida. ''Well they strengthened their defensive with Yoshida, who has no experience, and had to have translation in order for Adkins to give him instructions when he came on'' Err, quite clearly not seeing as he speaks fluent English. It's just quite irritating when people come out with such ''sure'' statements to enhance their point about communication, when they couldn't be further from the truth

Swansea had to wait, 5 games I believe, before scoring their first goal in the PL. I'm not sure what people realistically expected from our opening 4 games which included Arsenal, Man Utd and Man City. We were always going to end that run near the bottom, or at the bottom. Most realistic fans accepted that. It's the unrealistic fans that are now jumping up and down. On the whole though, we have given it a good go. Yesterday was the worst we've been, but we'll get games like that at this level - it's unforgiving.

Let's be honest, football is a totally different game now. The reality is that if Ferguson got of the start he had, these days, he'd be long gone. Due to the money and prestige involved in the game at the top level these days, there isn't time to just stick with something if it isn't working.

I think our lads have always met up at Staplewood the day after the game, just to go through points and highlight the obvious problems from the previous game (draw a blue line under it etc). Don't think any actual training goes on though until Monday.

He had a hell of a lot of the ball at times in the 2nd half, so they did cut a fair bit out.

I get what people saying in that it was only ''45mins - you cannot judge a player on that'' - but sometimes you can. What I noticed was his strength, more than I expected - not your typical South American flair player - but some of his passes were inceicve and positive - and we haven't had a player to be able to provide that sort of ammunition from central midfield for what feels like, forever. He's forward thinking, always loitering on the edge of the box and he will score a fair few goals this year. Something positive seemed to happen every time he was on the ball. Even though it was 45mins, you couldn't fail to ignore the pure class he showed when he was on the ball. Better than anyone we've had in this team for as long as I can remember. It will be interesting to see how he progresses, but the way he seamlessly slotted in yesterday suggests that we're going to have a bit of fun with him in the side. Let's enjoy it, it's going to be a privilege to watch him in a Saints shirt.

Clyne sums up our team if I'm honest. Full of quality, but occasionally very naive. He'll learn though and he'll prove to be a very good player for us, but he's on a steep learning curve - In many ways it would have helped to have a couple of experienced PL faces alongside him in hindsight.

Unfortunately he looks frighteningly out of his depth. I thought he'd give it a good crack this year, but he is seriously struggling to get near any strike at goal. This is the difference in the PL. I've watched the replay's of him trying to make saves, and it just looks like he's struggling to even get off the ground. I will always remember Davis fondly, he's been a bit of a legend for us over the years, and the last thing I want to happen is for him to become a laughing stock and a hate figure amongst the fans. Time for Gazzaniga to get a shot before it's gone too far.

He really wouldn't have. It's time to move on from the past, and he is in the past and is in the Championship for a reason.

When the fixtures were released, I think it was assumed by most of the footballing world that we'd been given a bloody tough start. That has transpired to be true based on the amount of points we have. So, we've kind of got through the start, still in touch with everyone. I think that's the least we could have hoped for. What worries me most now, If I'm honest, is the pressure that will be on the Villa game. When we play with pressure and tension (I.E Wigan) we play like static statues with no zip, or creativity. We have a young team, who have been heavily beaten today. In many ways, I'd be telling them to forget what's happened before and start the season a fresh. Put all the good work from the Man City and Utd games into it, and we will win. Villa aren't a bad side, they will be a bog-standard mid-table team this year, so it's a game that IMO we should be targeting a win from. I genuinely don't think we've got a bad team. We're young and naive, but full of quality - much more than teams like Reading for e.g (IMO). It's a big learning curve, and we are playing like a side with no experience at this level. I know there were cries in the close season for PL experience, and in hindsight it may have been a good idea for the defensive areas. If we lose this, then I will become increasingly concerned. We're getting into embarrassing territory after that stage and a stage where a certain finger will be planted directly on the trigger.

Anyone who thinks Adkins is out of his depth, at this moment in time, after 4 games, is a bit of a moron. HTH.

That's what I saw in 45mins, that's all I was putting out there. And there wasn't any other positive.

Who knows what happened in that one, a very odd setup that transfer. Confident that it wasn't us who cocked that up.

Fair enough, 3 names - but I don't get that attitude completley. I only want us to sign players that are real quality and much better than we have. (And the club seem to follow the same mantra), Signing average players is when you start heading down the route of a highly paid squad full of Jackbosons and Delaps.

This is where people assume it's all so easy. Name me 3 defenders who you would have signed at £4m each that would have given value for money? If it's that easy, you should be able to name them. We needed a player of Mayuka's pace, fact. He didn't play today because we had no real need to use him, but that was an area of the team I'd listed as a priority to strengthen. I'm not sure where this myth comes from that we're not any good at transfer negotiations. If we weren't any good, then we wouldn't have snared Rameriz. I think that's simple enough to say. Generally, the players we wanted weren't available for the princes we were willing to pay. Would you have paid over £6m for Dann? I know I wouldn't have, but that's that B'burn wanted. Sod that. People seem to have the opinion that the real world of transfers is just like football manager, and you just send a bid of CB1, CB2, CB3 and it's accepted. done. If only, eh?

I think it will become PL standard, in time. The nature is that we're very young, and quite naive. But the quality and ability is there. Unfortunately we've been thrown straight into the deep end, so any failings or early season naivety will be taken full advantage of. In the 4 games I've seen the quality, and we will cause most teams problems at this level. The naivety comes from the ****ty goals we're conceding, but then let's just realise the players who have scored against us. The Wigan result is the one that stands out. If we'd have played as we did against Man Utd, or Man City, we'd have won that and we'd be sitting on 3 points in a much more positive situation. Next week will be huge though, there is no denying that. The pressure on the management, and the players to get a result (Heck,e ven 1 point on the board would be something) will be immense and I'm not sure how some of the younger lads will respond to that sort of pressure - it's the first time many have experienced this sort of game.