Dyer off limping after 20 mins in reserve match- id like to see Dabs in midfield, could be interesting!! Surely a better bet than e.g. Kerr ?

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

Answers

This is a huge blow. How long will he be out this time? I have a feeling we won't see little Kevin playing against Arsenal......Play Lua Lua in midfield on Saturday, he has done that several times for D.R Congo.

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

I don't think we have any other alternative Roxy.

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

shit

Dyer/Speed/Mclen/Jenas all out

Topping up his fitness my arse

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

Well that's just made me whole feckin'week. How depressing.

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

Why the happy smiley?

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

Well with Dyer out, and la coruna getting beat (which means arsenal will be out) our chances of coming away with anything on saturday have be at least four standard deviations from the mean, or in other words I doubt we will get out of our half

please prove me wrong lads.

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

sorry about the smiley- its a case of, if i dont laugh, ill cry. Booby solution may be interesting though.

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

Kerr is pretty good mind you, and Boyd isn't too bad.

Still not ideal though.

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

......Mark Boyd has gone to Carlisle on loan. However, Stuart Green is back from his loan period at Carlisle.

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

Kerr and Boyd - Hmmmmmmmmm. No disrespect to them but they would be up against viera, parlour et al. That really is boys v men.

Sooooooo typical of the Toon to pick up serious injuries all at once. Dyer should just be rested until end of season now, unless the injury is very minor. He's not going to make the World Cup.

Lets hope OB and Given are excused Ireland duty cos we can't afford any more injuries.

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

Shola also went off with a leg injury tonight!

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

Bearing in mind coming off could just have been a precaution after feeling a twinge - we don't know do we - if it does turn out to be more serious can we just spare a thought for Dyer himself who would be totally gutted at his World Cup hopes disappearing up his jaxie ?

Not that I give a flying feck about Ingerland FC myself compared with the toon's fortunes, but he obviously does

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

This is a blow for sure but it's not the end of the world man! We can still beat Arsenal, tonight they were nowt special. I would play Robert in the middle with Acuna and Bernard on the left.

This makes a mockery of Dyer getting a £100K a week contract, if true of course. On what basis exactly? Six games a season? No thanks. The truth is Bellamy is far more important than KD.

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

True about Bellamy. We coped reasonably well without LKD for most of the season, when Bellers has been missing we haven't won a game! Get fit soon you mad Druid!

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

According to SportingLife.com he came off because he was suffering from a virus - outside chance he may be fit for Saturday? Or am I strawclutching?

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

Helluva virus if it made him limp. Oh, hang on, limp can have more than one meaning. Doh!

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

I know that you are well aware of both meanings Minni

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

hey, hey....

we can't have min and Minn....

get yer own handle Screacher! ;-)

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

Oh dear. Hope Dyer's problem really is just a virus. Though we do seem to perform well in the most adverse conditions, so it wouldn't surprise me if we play well on Saturday no matter who is out there.

However, I could swear Arse were saving themselves for us with the way they played tonight. :-( Of course I'd just love it if they played the same on Saturday as tonight!

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002

Good news and bad news. Good news - it IS just a virus. Bad news - its the ebola virus.

Kerr and Boyd - Hmmmmmmmmm. No disrespect to them but they would be up against viera, parlour et al. That really is boys v men.

I recognise that we are superior in this area Lynda although I think you might be overstating our advantage here.

-- Anonymous, March 21, 2002

According to the Journal, Dyer went off feeling unwell with a stomach bug that had confined him to bed all day.

Avoiding the obvious connotations associated with being in bed and being limp, you have to wonder whay a player who has been ill in bed all day is expected to be able to play a game of pro football in the evening!

-- Anonymous, March 21, 2002

Lynda, we beat Arsenal after Bellamy went off...so we have won without him :-) And we took them to the cleaners without him at SJP (ok, it was everything but the goals).

This is where I tell you all we're not beaten yet, the game hasn't even kicked off!

-- Anonymous, March 21, 2002

Isn't it such a crying shame, just as you were all starting to get all smug as well....;o)

Judging by recent results, it's a good bet Bellamy will get marked out of games next season like Phillips was last year!

ML³

-- Anonymous, March 21, 2002

The way teams so successfully mark Michael Owen's pace out of games?

-- Anonymous, March 21, 2002

Lynda, we won against Blackburn without him (and Robert), too, although Dyer and Bernard came on as subs and both of them are fast, too.

I think this Bellamy thing has become a bit psychological. We had more than enough chances to beat Ipswich on Saturday without him.

-- Anonymous, March 21, 2002

Nah difference between Phillips and Bellamy is very much in what you surround them with. Bellamy would be hopeless at someone like, say, Coventry where he was the only threat. At a team like Newcastle where there is a mix of threats in Dyer, Shearer, Robert, Solano and Jenas (and Dabizas) he will always succeed.

If Phillips was in a side whose threat was more than a 35 year old with a bad back he would still be scoring. Maybe next year !

-- Anonymous, March 21, 2002

MacBeth, if you can call a 19 year old England U21 holding midfielder a "threat" I think we're entitled to class our Argentina U21 attacking midfielder as one (I mean Arca not Medina here, just to nip that smart-Haas comment in the bud). OK, Quinn is past his best, but you should know better than to write off 30-something year old forwards with injury problems. There's also Mboma and Reyna, two tidy players on their day.

Players will always look good in a confident team with a good game plan. I would be cautious of falling over yourself to praise players who two years ago couldn't be bothered, rather look at the way Robson has put them together as a team.

As for Dyer, no denying his class but the man would be injured if a gnat farted in his general direction from twenty paces. If I was Robson and got a good offer for him, say 15-20 million, I would honestly snap their hands off.

-- Anonymous, March 21, 2002

Actually, ML, I was going to ask you that: what has happened to Arca?

-- Anonymous, March 21, 2002

Yes, I'm curious also - Arca looked one player, other than DiscoP, who was on the same wavelength as soops.

Whaddya reckon his best position is ML? He doesn't look comfortable wide left to me, as he doesn't have natural pace. Seems more of a creative central m/f player - but as with YKD, possibly a bit lightweight to play there.

I'm also curious about the mysterious Medina blerk - is he a busted flush, or could he still make it given more time to develop?

-- Anonymous, March 21, 2002