[CrewToon]

Kickoff at 10 a.m. EST (3 p.m. Geordie time) at Brad Freidel Park.

[greenie]

He any releation to Brad Friedel, the Rovers' goalkeeper?

(hey, I'm a stickler for spelling)

[ONE]

big al gets goals #300 and 301...blackburn answer with 5 of their own. a couple of weak goals on blackburns part.
and dabi sent off in the 3rd! minute.

oh joy....

[rokstedy]

How's it go again? Oh yes: "Yeah, well, crap."

[greenie]

Originally posted by rokstedy
How's it go again? Oh yes: "Yeah, well, crap."

You got it.

Another game like this and I'm upgrading that phrase to "Yeah, well, s***."

It's not dropping 3 points to Rovers on the road that stinks... it's that clearly we're not playing on even a remotely solid level this season. And this after dropping some serious cash on a few new players -- and none of them solid, experienced defenders.

To top it off, they managed to fight back and pull the match even at 2-2 before completely falling apart. Granted they played nearly the whole game a man down, but in this situation a professional side of this calibre should not have so much trouble keeping the ball out of their own net.

It's time for Bobby to make some very significant decisions about his players. Top 3 in the league is likely out of reach, but we can certainly scrap our way back to a top 5 finish, make a solid FA Cup run, or even put together a string of respectable performances in Europe, perhaps enough to drop is into the UEFA cup and advance a bit from there.

One positive that can be seen through all this muck is that Big Al continues to be an incredible asset for this team, and a real source of pride for all Geordies and supporters out there. Even in our weakest performances, The Man still finds a way to get things done, and from all the matches I've caught over the years he never, every yields. It's time his teammates latch on to what drives him, it's time for Sir Bobby to help them down this path.

I can't imagine a better time for this team to engineer its turnaround than this coming Wednesday when they host Juve; it's an opportunity to earn the kind of victory that can carry through the team through the spring.

We need to find a way out of this funk NOW. Including the Juve fixture, the Toon plays its next five matches at St. James -- there can be no more excuses.

[greenie]

I should add that were this most any other season, it would be nothing more than the same joy we've all experienced of being a supoprter of this club over the years.

Just as I've done in the past, I've allowed my expectations to soar following the brilliant finish of the team last season.

Yet our spirits usually aren't crushed until at least January.

[CrewToon]

Ya know, I don't care what others said about being a professional club getting behind a bunch of cast-offs, etc.

The idiot Dabizas has resorted to his old ways of stupidity and gets sent off in the fourth minute...

...and because the Toon doesn't believe in borin' Arsenal ball and play 9 men behind it, they eventually will get burned.

Of course, it wouldn't be our lads if they didn't have a truly crap match like this.