PSV have a decent stadium (35,000). Newcastle were given about the same number of tickets for the NAC Breda game, who have a capacity of just 17,000.

The PSV fans didn't look that bad generally, except for hoying stuff at Jenas while he lay injured on the floor. Almost 90 Newcastle fans were arrested because of a small scuffle in Breda city centre earlier this season, that's probably the reason for PSV giving us so few tickets. If it is then it's a massive over-reaction.

These were taken by a Newcastle fan who went to the PSV game on Thursday night. Looks very reminiscent of the 70s/80s football scene in England:

The view travelling fans get of the game

Ah bollox, only one of the pics works

It's like that in most Dutch stadiums. If they did it like in the UK we would have pitch invasions and big riots every week in the stadium probably. I'm always wondering how they banned hooliganism from the stadiums in the UK, especially since it's still there outside if I'm correct. And there are some exceptions ofcourse, like Millwall - Leeds some time ago. What are the consequences when you invade a pitch in the UK?

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England has done a very good job at eliminating hooliganism and has made a lot of sacrifices to achieve this, which is why it is very unprofessional of UEFA to single us out as Europe's biggest troublemakers. In fact I'd say this is one of the safest places to watch football in Europe now.

Basically traditional working class supporters have been priced out of the stadium and known hooligans are banned from matches. Not only that, but they have tried to make stadiums obsessively 'clean'. It's all about establishing control over the fans, in some British stadiums you are not even allowed to smoke, and for a few years the FA has even banned "persistent standing" in stadiums! If you want to constantly stand and watch the match a steward will come over and warn you that you could be turfed out. The paranoia is getting ridiculous. For years this has worked in the Premier league but away supporters have long ignored this and stand for the entire game. They know that if they all do it then there is nothing the stewards can do. However now the FA are trying to stop even away fans standing, sending letters to fans saying that their club will not be allocated tickets to away games if the fans keep standing.

I'm not sure of the consequences for invading the pitch. Obviously if thousands do it then it's hard to punish any single person. However if you ran onto the pitch yourself trying to incite others you would probably get a ban from the stadium.

Basically the heart and soul of English football is dying and it is a massive insult that UEFA should threaten to expel us from Europe when we have bent over backwards to accommodate them. The atmosphere in all major British stadiums is rubbish now.

I know our image in Europe as hooligans, but if Europeans realised how ridiculous our football scene has become they would count themselves lucky that we are the scapegoat taking all of the blame.

Toon Army in Iraq

rofl!

they just spotted ruud gullit I think, thats why they got the guns etc

What can you guys see the score being today? I predict 2-1 Arsenal unfortunately

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I'll go with 1-1, but I think we should definitely play for the win!

Newcastle 0 - 0 Arsenal

Another good performance and a point I was confident we'd get, but this was a match that was certainly winnable, so I'm satisfied but not overjoyed. In the end I think neither side deserved to snatch a win so a point each was pretty fair.

Woodgate was the best man on the pitch IMO. Both sides lacked width throughout the game, Bellamy, Shearer, Reyes and Henry were all forced to play as wingers a lot of the time, picking up hopeful long balls and struggling to provide for anyone in the centre. I thought both sides defended very well which explains the scoreline. Bobby made the right decision to bring off Ambrose and Robert as they weren't giving us any width anyway. Arsenal had the best chances and we relied on luck on a couple of occasions, but Newcastle lofted far more balls into the Arsenal box than they did into ours. Unfortunately many of these went straight to Lehmann who had a good game in goal. Jenas had another good game, is his season turning a corner? Perhaps he's finally pulling his socks up with one eye on Euro 2004? Whilst I wasn't a fan of Dyer constantly playing on the right wing, I think he could have given us enough of an edge to clinch this game today. I remember the cracker he had at Highbury earlier in the season, tormenting Cole all game down that flank. Hopefully he'll be back for the PSV match. Anybody notice Ashley Cole winding down the clock in injury time? It would have been faster to stretcher him off

Overall I'm satisfied with the result, pleased with the performance. If we play with the same professionalism against PSV we have every chance of going through to the semi-finals. Apparently Robben will also miss the second leg because of injury.

Howay the lads!

Last edited by evil_bastard on Apr-13-2004 at 13:58

Liverpool lost to Charlton today.

The team's challenging for 4th all play each other this weekend...

Aston Villa v Newcastle
Liverpool v Fulham
Charlton v Birmingham

Villa have just beaten Chelsea so this is a massive game for us. Liverpool play on Saturday, hopefully we can go into our game on Sunday on level points with them with 2 games in hand.

Middlesbrough are now only 4 points behind us, but we have a game in hand. They are starting to find form and play away to Wolves this weekend. We need to move away from this pack now.

PSV won 5-0 this weekend, Kezman scored a hat-trick. Their opponents were shite mind.

Hey mate,

I couldnt agree more, fabulous performance by Woodgate and Jenas against Arsenal, I thought Bellamy was a real nuisance, he was so close to getting through on 4/5 occasions of 1 on 1's with the keeper.

I was very impressed, thank god Titus "Hoof It" Bramble wasnt playing!

I however was appalled by the lack of effort by Laurent Robert, he was shoddy, a lot of people have given the guy stick lately and I have stuck up for him but he just didnt show any effort at all, bring in Hugo Viana please Bobby! :|

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How can sound exist if there's no one there to hear it?