No one connected to Newcastle United should be surprised in any way about this afternoon.

Never mind its Arsenal. Never mind'we never win in London anyway'. This has been going to happen for some time.

A wake up call to all concerned - though I suspect the board and those that control the finances will again pretend Saturdays do not happen.

I suspect that provided we do not get relegated then they will regard it as a measure of success, provided that 50,000 keep turning up every other week

Farce, Farce, Farce

I get angry when humiliated and taken for a fool

-- Anonymous, December 09, 2000

Answers

and just to make matters worse in our household - Bradford drew level with Spurs.

-- Anonymous, December 09, 2000

Throwing young lads in to do a job will not work - largely because our more expereinced players do not influence the game.

IMO we need help and fast

-- Anonymous, December 09, 2000

totally agree Pete. Can't blame the kids, they were thrown to the lions today. Our "Experienced" players seem to have trouble "showing up". Maybe it's just me, and granted I don't get to see too many games, but the old guard are just that - old, and need to be replaced with motivated skillfull innovative TEAM players. Of course, we can't do that until we unload a lot of the old guard, whom nobedy else wants.

-- Anonymous, December 09, 2000

Pete says `largely because our experienced players do not influence the play`, add dominate and I totally agree. If as most say Bobby walks on water, lets play the likes of Acuna/Bassedas and his other buys every week, Lee and Speed cannot do the biz in midfield , Wait till I hear the reports from our attendees, and a word, Barton leading players over to salute the fans does nothing for me Im afraid, if he was rubbish, drop him. This was always going to happen, thank God it was not the Hackems. It will be interesting to hear what the likes Screach, Gav , and others think of it, did Arsenal just play exceptionally well or were we that poor, better wait for their contribution before I dig myself a hole ,

-- Anonymous, December 09, 2000

Average middle of the table clubs get beat by Arsenal 5-0 and that's what we are. Without the likes of Goma, Shearer and Cort we were bound to have problems. We should have stand ins but people like MArcellino signify what is wrong with buying Johhny Foreigners. More so than ever this is a transitional season (again) where we have to build up a team around the likes of Given, Griffin, Hughes, Caldwell, Dyer, Cort and Acuna IMHO. That leaves another four players for the starting Eleven. A left back - Who, Domi has the ability but not the commitment.

A left winger - Owen Morrison from Sheff Wed

A centre forward - Bridges

A central midfielder - Give Bassedas a chance. Just play Dyer right winger and tell him to stick there. A slightly lesser profile and expectations will help him. We expect him to do everything every game. We aren't too far away and I reckon Bobby knows that. That's what'll spur him on to complete this job.

-- Anonymous, December 09, 2000

Five live commentary sounded like we were out of our depth

Lawrie Mac was very kind

Depending on your degree of optimism buff, its a case of to what extent the Arse did not allow us to play or because we were inneffective they were allowed to dominate.

Given our shape and lack of power and strength - the latter me thinks

pete

-- Anonymous, December 09, 2000

I wonder how Bobby thinks he is going to take the team forward form here? How bad must he be feeling tonight?

How we can tackle any sort of match without a left winger or a proper left back, bemuses me. I'm starting to get really pissed off with Domi, bad attitude.

-- Anonymous, December 09, 2000

If Domi was either not good enough or his lack of effort meant a non selection today then he should be sold.

Bobby, despite comments in the press about his ability, has never consisitently picked him.

Take the money

-- Anonymous, December 09, 2000

I think we have got to the stage where we will be welcoming offers for Domi. Don't sell him to an English club!

If he doesn't want to play he might as well be told to go home to France and organise himself a move. Get him out of the club because his attitude won't be helping anyone. He must have been fit to play today because he came on as a sub, so Bobby doesn't rate him = sell!

Must be decent left backs in the Nationwide we could get who would give their left leg to play for us.

-- Anonymous, December 09, 2000

1) Can't get any momentum going because we can't play the same team every week. 2) The players who are remotely heavyweight are injured so we are thoroughly lightweight. 3) We are a good ten years off challenging for anything on that showing.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2000

Arsenal are a f^&%ing good team and have been extremely unlucky in front of goal over the last 6 weeks. Yes.. this result was going to happen but more to do with Arsenal's skill than our ineptitude (though that was a factor).

Any team, even with first choice defence, could have conceded 5 yesterday. What pisses me off is that we had 1 shot in the game. 8-1 would have flattered us.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2000

At least we didn't get beaten 5-0 by Man City....

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

Unlucky in front of goal?! Our first shot was about 70 minutes wasn't it!

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

During the course of a season we usually sustain one such monumental defeat. Sometimes when we are at `full strength` too! However, this wasn`t a hiccup, I think it was a stark illustration of just exactly how weak we are this season. With the first team fully fit, we are a middle of the table team, but as soon as we have a couple of injuries, the lack of strength in the whole `squad` becomes painfully apparent.

I actually felt very sorry for the youngsters. Talk about being thrown to the lions! Had they managed to come away with even a 2 - 0 defeat, they might have gained something from the experience. As it is, a 5 - 0 twonking will have done nothing for their self belief. I felt particularly sorry for Lua Lua floundering up there on his own, with a pretty tough Arsenal back four for company. I hope someone pointed out to him that Shearer himself probably wouldn`t have done any better without any support.

With apparently no money to spend, a dickey balance sheet (though somehow shareholders still get `profits`), I hope Wor Bobby has some good loan deals up his sleeve, otherwise the second half of the season is going to be a real battle. (:o|

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

Oh, and BTW, despite the result, Yelli was full of it when she got home! Great day out, met some wonderful people, and was very well looked after! What a lovely lot you are!

Not quite so full of it on Sunday - when the hangover kicked in! (;o)

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

No room for complacency, but we also shouldn't overreact. Arsenal were by all accounts on fire (and I'm particularly galled, having seen them scrape an unconvincing win the weekend before), and they tactically outmanoeuvred our packed midfield. But, we have beaten sides 5:0 before, some of them actually quite good sides. ;-) These things happen. More often than not when we visit London.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

Where did you end up, Geordie? My hangover disappeared and we stayed out after :-) I take it the stomach churning episode actually churned your stomach ;-))

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

Geordie bottled it. Hasn't got the stomach for it. I mean, he only ever goes to watch us at The Dell and Wembley. I'm sorry I let him have the ticket. If he hadn't been there, we'd have won. That's the only conclusion I can draw from his disappearing act. Last seen going into the little boys room to hide. He just wasn't up to facing the music in the pub afterwards.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

That's me off the hook then :-)

Gal

Pleased Yelli made it back ok - we even managed to get her on the train alright! Not bad for a drunken lot eh ;-)

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

No - pretty good going I`d say! I didn`t really think that you would let her make her own way across London - and, of course, you didn`t let me down. It was a bit touch and go whether or not she woke up in time to get off at little ol` Fumblebuck though! Pleased that the train was full too - it can make you feel a bit vulnerable otherwise.

Anyway - full marks to the lot of you! (:o)

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

How ye daft buggers. I only ran off 'cos it was my round!

I got home to Southampton by 7:15 having shared a 1st class carriage on the way back from Waterloo with the director of the firm who made my wife redundant on Friday! He's a genuine Arsenal nut, goes to all the games... Moscow, Ukraine etc.. To cap it all he was with his missus who also follows the Gooners but.... comes from Sunderland. What a happy 90 minute journey that was :-((

Great to meet up with you all.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

You got off lucky...I had Gav and Sting to contend with all night! ;-)

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

ha ha! That's a good point Bobby ;-))

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000