I was there yesterday and believe me that's what it was.

We are in trouble. Not that we are in any danger of being relegated but there are so many things that are wrong at our club that it's difficult to know where to begin.

I dont care that we were down to the bare bones yesterday. Not only was there a chronic lack of ability, but an even worse lack of bottle, passion and pride in the shirt.

We must stop this ridiculous policy of buying cheap 'n nasty South American shite right now. None of them are any good at all and Bobby has to take responsibility for this.

However the real issue is that the board have to get the money out and get us bidding for the top players in the WORLD again.

We are a massively overhyped club living on past 'glories'. At this rate not only will we be left behind by the Man U's and Arsenal's but even the SMB will start to pull away from us.

After 90 mins of sitting right next to gloating, piss-taking, ridiculing Cockney bastards I NEVER want to go through that again.

I repeat, we have to get rid of a lot of players at this club, and all of them include the South American panzies we are over-paying and over-playing. To that list you can add Speed, Barton, Lee and Hughes.

Over the top? I dont think so. Of course I'm not suggesting that all this must happen overnight but we must start now. I just hope Bobby maintains the health and desire to do this job for at least another 3 years because that is how long, at the very least, it will take to make us a top 4 side again.

Only Barton came over to applaud the toon army - who were absurdly supportive when they should have been castigating the lot of them - which is disgusting but speaks volumes about the problems at NUFC. However Barton was absolute shit yesterday so he was probably doing it out of guilt.

Lua-Lua was ineffective, I did'nt even notice Speed was playing until about the 75th minute and Dyer? If we get a bid of £15m offered for him we should snatch their hands off. He is an over-rated luxury who has 5 minutes of brilliance - and then 500 minutes of ineffective anonymity.

There are problems at our club for sure and the quickest way to come to terms with them is to recognize that we are over-rated on the pitch and over-hyped off it.

Then we can begin our journey back to where we belong.

Rant over...for now.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2000

Answers

So I take it you didn't enjoy the match then? Seriously, did anybody other than Given look worthwhile or were they all crap?

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2000

It was terrible mate...but in an effort to be objective...

Given had no chance with any of the goals so we can absolve him from blame.

Like I said barton was absolute pants....he's got committment but was found out by top class players, end of story.

Griffin did OK, easily our best defender...but thats not saying much. However I like Andy Griffin. He is the future for NUFC.

Hughes was skinned alive by Henry, especially in the first half. While I would keep him I honestly dont think he will ever make a top class defender.

Caldwell was also given a footballing lesson but we cant really give him any stick. Besides, I've got a good feeling about him.

Lee did what he does best and was reasonable but no more. However it is a sad indictment that RL is classed as our most important player after Shearer. This is a testimony to how we are living on past glories.

Speed was shite..a frigging disgrace. Totally anonymous. No wonder he wants to stay at the toon - 30 grand a week for an over-rated carthorse.

Dyer was knocked off the ball at every opportunity. Either he starts getting stuck in or he can fuck off as far as I'm concerned. When his "silky skills" are not evident he is a liability.

Lua-lua tried to get into it but never got a kick. I felt sorry for him. He will come good though I'm sure.

Solano was his usuall ineffective, bottling bastard self. Another one who is over-rated and needs selling to the highest bidder.

So basically it was very depressing. I know that we are still sufferin from the Dalglish/Gullit effect but it there is no point wasting wages on cheap foreign imports who have not the ability or the understanding to play for NUFC.

The board have to act now before the season disintegrates....

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2000

Sorry Andy but have to disagree with some of your points. We went to Highbury against easily one of the best teams in Europe (no matter what their Champ league table shows). We were beat as a result of immense creative players in the form of Kanu, Henry and Pires and our attacks were snuffed out by 2 world class defenders(IMHO)Adams and Keown. If we accept the fact were an upper middle table team with our defence and attack destroyed by injury then 5-0 isnt surprising at Highbury. Cordone cant hack it in the PL i agree. Solano is ideal for 60 mins or so in a home game against a similar/inferior team. Acuna showed immense potential at Highbury(considering the number of games hes played in the PL) and i reckon hell be a bargain buy. No comment can be made about Bassedas- we havent seen him play regularly in central midfield and he only recently returned after a broken foot. A bit too harsh on the South Americans I reckon.

LuaX2 created a fair amount of space for himself with sublime skill 1st half a few times but he DID look up and found nobody supporting him.

Dyers plight is understandable. He has no position to settle into and get to grips with his game and the cracks have being showing for some time. Bobby shud either decide to make him work hard as a central midfielder or use him as a supersub for 30 mins each game, replacing Solano on the right(who cant last 90 mins). Some may say with a player of his value that he shudnt need to be a sub but A/with our team the way it is, its a good option B/he has all the attributes to win us games with a 30 min cameo performance.

Apart from the sting in the tail in the form of Parlours 2 goals at the end, the game went as i expected. Lets get on with things and try and get into a top 6 place which is achievable. When we have a proper attacking partnership this will be very possible- we need another beefy skillful centre forward to do this. We didnt lose 5-0 at Villa Park/WH Lane, it was at Highbury against an Arsenal team who played to their potential on the day.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2000

I hear what you are saying Spud about how good a side Arsenal are and how depleted we were but can you honestly say that we made them work for it, because I cant.

Maybe I'm being a little harsh on the South Americans, and I agree slightly with what you say about Acuna, but I think we are buying too many foreigners...again.

It kills me to say it but we need to take a leaf out of the SMB's book and get more English players in, or if you are going to buy foreign then make sure it is proven quality.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2000

Woah there! I agree about the humiliation thing but I do have a few points to make...

1) Barton gives his all - but it isn't enough by a long margin (sorry Softie!) 2) There were only 3 players on the pitch who could keep the ball without much hassle - Speed, Lee and Dyer. All the others were barged off the ball at every point (lack of heart maybe.) 3) Acuna was pants - he gave the ball away and I didn't see him play a forward pass all afternoon. 4) The ref was inclined to give everything to the home side - I've not seen a worse display of refereeing in Highbury since Ginola was trampled into the ground. 5) Barton didn't pass to Solano for the first 70 minutes. He was too busy lumping it up to our beefy centre-forward (sarcasm here).

The main problems were easy to see:- We got the ball easily enough... But we lost it too easily... Without doing anything with it.... Because there was no off-the-ball movement... and the players didn't seem to know what they were supposed to be doing.

Partly due to the lack of a decent CF and an experienced CB but more a lack of composure amongst the team.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2000

Don't blame the 'injury crisis'. At the back , who was missing? - Dabizas and Goma? May have made a difference, but neither exactly has the pace of Henry and I haven't seen too many people argue that either is much better than Hughes anyway. Up front, the sad truth is that Shearer would have made little difference. Maybe he'd have held up the ball, given us more possession, but since no-one makes a run into space anyway, we wouldn't have been any more threatening. Cort? I reckon most fans are seriously worried that he's a terrible waste of money, but no-one wants to say it. So with a fully fit, first-choice side, we might have lost 3-1 instead of 5-0. Don't blame the injuries - I'll say it again, we're just not very good.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2000

Christ.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

"...who was missing?"

Only 2 of our three senior CB's (including Hughes), and all 3 of our senior strikers (excluding Cordone, who certainly isn't a PL striker) - that's all!

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

Clarky - the point I'm making is that those players would've made little difference. Before the game I said to my brother that I thought we'd get beaten 4-0. Obviously I'm getting optimistic in my old age.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

IMHO, we didn't lose this game in defence or attack. Our midfield was totally inept and the defence was under constant pressure. With the likes of Pires and Parlour feeding Henry and Kanu (Dodgy Ticker, Dodgy Ticker) and their like (but no Vierra) we just couldn't cope. We were completely outplayed in midfield. We were 1/2 a yard short (at least) for every ball and we had no idea who to pass to when we got it. They hustled us off the ball and we couldn't cope. I don't think I've seen such a bad m/f performance for ages. I wish I'd stayed in the US of A. I tell you, their election officials in Florida have more blissy clue than our mifdield. Nurse, get something to calm me down, quickly!

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

I think the comments from those who were there say it all . Toon Army 5 Newcastle United 0 ... Arsenal 5 Newcastle United 0 . A bloody disgrace , they should all have a weeks wages docked and the fans given a refund , not impressed .

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

The Ronnie reports:-

"The Pink reported on Saturday night that since Euro2000 NUFC have spent more money than any other Premiership club - just under £93 million - and Robson continues to pay the price for the transfer dealings of his predecessors".

I presume they meant "since Euro96".

When we're debating this squad just bear in mind that we've spent £93 million on players in four years - more than any other PL Club - that is the staggering magnitude of our failure, and the reason for our current financial state!!!!

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

Clarky, I offer the small solice that a large whack of that has been recouped one way or another. I'm sure there are many sadder greater than I who can give blow by blow accounts :-)

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

You're quite right Bobby - it is small solice.

The reality is that having given it careful consideration each and every time, we have gone out and spent £93 million on players in the last four years, culminating with the present squad. NINETY THREE MILLION POUNDS!

People have gone to jail for less!

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000

Fine, the Champions league will have to wait. I just want to thank God for being in the USA for this one- Sorry Screach and the rest, I consider myself lucky this time for having no access to 5-0. Is there anything happening with Seedorf?

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000