Had to laugh - BBC Radio Newcastle comments were "well, Atsu is coming on, not sure what he's going to do at this late stage...."
Well......Sh!t in my hat and punch it. Just shows what Rafa can do when he's told that Allardyce is waiting in the wings..
Poor Norwich, nowt worse than blowing a two goal lead and then losing at the death....just ask the mackems
Lets hope the floodgates open now for Gayle. Lost all faith in Mitro. And obv Rafa doesnt really rate Ayoze either if he doesnt bring him on in this game. I understand Rafas insistence on 4-2-3-1. 442 is dead at a higher level, you can't play it in the prem, not unless you have two very hard working strikers, Watford try it and fail most of the time. And I guess Rafas thinking why play a system that will not give us any longevity. Regardless against the weaker teams in the championship you just gotta play another striker instead of Diamé. What we need is a class attacking midfielder with an engine and footballing brain to play behind Gayle. Diamé clearly isnt the answer. He's strong but he doesnt have the brain.
Had the second half radio streaming on my mobile here in Iceland while I ate my dinner. Up until the last 15 minutes that is when the local mobile network ground to a halt and the stream went to playing 3 seconds of audio and 10 seconds of silence. Absolute ****ing murder . 3-2: [silence]..... "and it's that man again" (to the sound of the crowd going wild). Silence..... "he's like a man reborn" (who the **** scored!!!!!!). Silence...... "4-3, a quite unbelievable turn around by Newcastle" (to the crowd going wild again). Every time I go away there is an epic game. Missed the Arsenal 4-4 comeback when I was on holiday as well. Anyway, extatic here in Vik. Topped off a fantastic day that has.
****ing hell. Was streaming 5 Live on my phone over 3G. 3% battery left with 10 mins to play. Phone died 4 seconds after the final whistle. I'm not sure which is the bigger miracle - that or the result!
This highlights for me that the whole squads mentality has changed. Last season we would have folded................. this season we fought.
So 4 points from villa away and Norwich at home. I think we would all have been happy with that. That result tonight means it's game on for the title now. Had Norwich won I wouldn't have thought we'd be in it tbh.
What a change around when you play 2 up front and a proper winger. Surely we can give bottom club Rotherham a beating unless Rafa reverts to type.