

ohmelads
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Everything posted by ohmelads
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Is emre really one of our better players? More gifted yes, but hugely inconsistent. Can you name many better players at Newcastle? Last season he was injured and pretty inconsistent but I'd say he's been one of our most consistent players this season. Bear in mind he's spent two of his last three games on the left wing and the other on the bench. He walks into our first team when fit IMO and we shouldn't be selling players like that unless we're a selling club. We have major problems in defence and a real lack of presence up front. To take out Emre mid-season and gamble on Barton would be a totally unnecessary gamble. Barton looks a good talent and I'd like him on our books but definitely not at the expense of Emre.
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We're unlikely to move forward by selling our better first-team players. We're just going round in circles if we do this, selling our top players and hoping someone comes in and does better. Souness did that with Bellamy and it's taken us a lot of time and money to sort it out. We should be building a team around players like Emre, Taylor, Given, Solano, Dyer, Martins. I'd be livid if we sold Emre, it wouldn't show forward thinking at all. If the money is there to go for Barton then fair enough but we shouldn't be selling one of our best players to fund a move for someone who is still a bit of an unknown quantity. We don't need midfielders, we need defenders and strikers. This story has probably emerged because Emre was benched against Bolton and some journalist has put two and two together. As far as I'm aware those Bayern rumours were from ages ago and have no bearing on this.
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I think the two could form an excellent partnership if they were given a run together in a 4-4-2 with two lively wingers (say Robben and Joe Cole) on the flanks. This would require two of Makelele/Essien/Lampard/Ballack to be dropped though and that's not gonna happen.
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Shevchenko will come good IMO. I remember last season and the one before, when everyone said that Drogba was shite and a waste of money, that Chelsea needed a top class striker to replace him. He put in some dodgy performances in big games (like the CL semi-final against Liverpool) and suddenly it was all Drogba's fault and he was a heap of shit. They're probably the same people who now say he's the best in the world. Shevchenko is an amazing striker but for whatever reason it's just not happening for him at the moment. I think he'll finish the season strongly though and perhaps next season he will show his true colours. He's probably already seen his best days but he can still be a top class player.
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Yet if he retired two years earlier his goals to games ratio would probably be one in two.
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Well, a striker who takes penalties stands a higher chance of scoring than one who doesn't. I'd be pretty impressed if a striker matched his record without taking penalties, wouldn't you? Let's face it, penalties are not hard to score. If you put me in front of Given there's a good chance I'd hit the back of the net. So if you're measuring the greatness of a player, there's a good argument for removing his penalties. Perhaps a fairer way would be to measure the pens which he won for himself, but it'd be very hard to find this out. Nevertheless, Shearer played on until he was well past his best, making his goals-to-games record look poorer. If you measure his best years he was very prolific, but if you include the last couple of seasons when he faded badly it lowers his average. At his best he was one of the most prolific in the game. To win the league and score 30-odd league goals for Blackburn, with only Ripley and Wilcox his suppliers, is bloody impressive.
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Even during this mini purple patch that Ramage has had I have still felt extremely nervous whenever the ball has come anywhere near him. The lad deserves credit for his recent performances but I think we can all see he struggles at this level. I think he'd make a good championship defender but his future here will always be backup, preferably emergency backup if we get some decent defenders in once and for all. He doesn't have a lot going for him as a footballer. He gives 110% and his tackling is canny and sometimes that will be enough to cover for his inadequacies but more often than not it won't. I feel his reading of the game has improved a little since he had a run at centre-back, but he has incredibly poor technique for a Premiership player, even allowing for the fact he's a centre half. Added to that he's very slow, hits the panic button whenever he's closed down by strikers and hoofs the ball into row Z (or straight to the opposition) ... I could go on but it would be unfair on the lad. As long as he's in the team I'll support him but at the back of my mind I'm just waiting for the time when we get the defence sorted and players like him are emergency cover. The fact he's a permanent fixture in our squad is an achievement considering we were on the brink of letting him go to Hibernian from our reserve team a couple of season back. But sadly I feel the reason he's in our team says more about the management of this club than it does about Peter Ramage.
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Not at all. I said in our current injury situation (ie with Solano unavailable) I would try Parker at right back and leave Butt-Emre in central midfield. I think we can all agree that, when fit, Solano is a must at right back because he has been in fantastic form lately. But the situation being as it is, putting Parker there seems more sensible than Edgar IMO. I think Parker actually has all the qualities to do a good job at right back, certainly a much better job than an inexperienced academy centre-back.
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It wouldn't surprise me if we paid double figures for Crouch then realised we didn't have enough for any defenders. After what happened in August nothing would surprise me. If we pay £12m for Crouch we are throwing away our money and will slide further as a result. There's a reason why we spend more money than clubs like Arsenal yet can't get close to them.
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Crouch has been scoring regularly for England in crappy friendlies where we batter some out of sorts team. In the World Cup he was rubbish. He's done better at Liverpool than I thought he would, but I still don't think he's that good. For Crouch to score takes quite a lot of work from the rest of the side IMO, you sacrifice a lot as you have to play a different kind of game. He'd improve us simply because he's better than Sibierski and Ameobi. But there are plenty other tall fuckers out there who can hold the ball up and score the odd goal, Sibierski is proof of that. For £7m - £10m I think we could do much better.
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In the big games Lehmann was excellent last year. But consistently Given was better and I'm sure he had a lot more to deal with as Newcastle 'keeper than Lehmann did. My mate's a gooner and he's been wanting them to sign Given for years. Not surprising given the blinders he's played against them, this season being yet another example. I wouldn't swap Given for any goalkeeper, simply because I believe he's world class and is well established here.
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Parker is a better footballer than Butt. However, Butt and Emre have been getting us results, and that's the most important thing. With our current injuries I would consider Parker in one of the full back positions as he has the engine and tackling to cope defensively and would give much more offensively than someone like Edgar. Against Bolton would it not have been more sensible to pair Emre and Butt and play Parker at right back instead of Edgar?
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The problem with Parker is that his manager can't seem to make his mind up what to do with him. I supported picking Parker as captain but with hindsight it has been a mistake. It hasn't brought the best out of him, on the contrary. He's been running around like a headless chicken at times, the all-action hero trying to cover every blade of grass. This has left gaps in our midfield. Creatively Emre is the better player but when they play together Emre is sitting deeper trying to play a disciplined game while Parker gets forward and tries to create. It's ridiculous. I remember Roeder saying something a while back about Parker getting forward with Emre sitting back and I couldn't believe it. It's a total misuse of both players' skills and they both look worse for it. Butt has come in and Emre has been playing a lot better. This isn't because Butt is good or because Parker is poor, it's simply that Emre has been given the creative freedom he should always have had, while Butt has enjoyed playing his own defensive game. Butt as we all know is a DM and this has forced Roeder to play Emre a bit further upfield. Someone mentioned in another thread that Roeder has been successful when decisions have been forced on him and this is another example of that. Emre shouldn't be anchoring the midfield while Parker goes wandering - that's mad. As soon as Butt came in we had a DM doing the defensive work and an AM doing the attacking work, and guess what - we look much more balanced.
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Emre and Dyer (when he plays there) are our only midfielders willing to pick the ball up in crowded positions, run at defenders and make things happen. Without either player in midfield I sometimes feel that we build up our attacks way too slowly, we fail to create any kind of confusion in the opposition defence. Sure he loses the ball sometimes, but the value of players like this can't be underestimated. Gerrard (I'm not saying Emre is as good as Gerrard) sometimes loses the ball at Liverpool but his ability to burst forward from midfield creates confusion in defence, central defenders have to deal with him which creates space for the strikers. You have a 3 on 2 situation sometimes where the midfielder breaks free to support his strikers and the two central defenders are frantically trying to close the gaps. The last midfielder we had who did this was Bowyer - just a shame he had so many other flaws in his game. This season I get the impression Emre is improving with every game. He had a tough time on the left wing but then that clearly isn't his position. We always knew he was an attacking midfielder, what Roeder was trying to do with him defending and Parker attacking, I don't know. Since he's played alongside Butt he has been much a much better player because he's been allowed to do what he does best, which is to take the ball forwards and to take the game to the opposition. For me, when fit, he has to start. He could do with chipping in with more goals and assists but, like Dyer, I believe his contribution to the team goes beyond stats such as goals and assists. As a team we are much more dangerous when those two play. People used to criticise Dyer heavily for his lack of goals yet ignored the fact we were winning games with him and struggling without him. Surely that is the most important stat of all.
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We need two strikers but I reckon we'll only get one. We'll probably get a left back and maybe a central defender. I can see Roeder going for "Prem-experienced players with a point to prove" as he trotted out last time. Someone like Wes Brown would strike me as the sort of player we would target.
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Roeder has done a good (not great) job with the squad at his disposal, but I can't agree that that's all I ask of him. It is absolutely vital in today's football that the transfer window is handled well and to begin the season without enough playing staff is just embarrassing for a club of our size. At the time of signing Duff I thought we had a bargain, and I still think he'll come good for us this season and justify his fee. But knowing now that we only had £15m to spend he must be seen as a trophy signing and a bit of an impulse buy. All fur coat and no knickers. We had N'Zogbia, Milner and dare I say it, Luque to fill in for that position anyway, yet we were crying out for defenders. Roeder sells our most valuable defender and doesn't bring in anyone. Totally disgraceful. You talk about learning lessons but he only had to look back to when Woodgate was sold and not replaced, and the club had to bring in Ronny Johnsen as emergency cover. The writing was on the wall. I agree it is all about expectations. Bobby built them right up and Souness smashed them. As a club I get the feeling that we are collectively feeling sorry for ourselves. Last season Spurs were denied a place in the top 4 on the last day of the season. The year before Everton, who had just survived relegation, finished 4th. Now Portsmouth and Bolton are rubbing shoulders with Liverpool and Arsenal. Fair play to them (even though I hate Bolton), they have a positive attitude and deserve it. This league is wide open and we have some top quality players on our books. Outside the top four we shouldn't expect to beat everyone but we have every right to feel disappointed when we don't because, whatever anyone says, none are significantly better than us.
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Well said. I understand the need for patience and realism but if we aim low we will not get anywhere. People overrating the likes of Moore and Ramage, people chuffed to bits scraping last-minute home wins against Watford and Reading, they are the ones who need a reality check in my view. If we want to climb the table we have to raise the bar. Other teams aren't going to sit around and wait for us. Bolton and Portsmouth are right up there challenging for the Champions League with very average squads, they're aiming high and deserve to be up there. Bolton and Portsmouth for christ sake. We should be taking a look at ourselves and saying that's where we ought to be. Not in two years or five years but this season. And here we are talking about the top half of the table like it's a dream. I have never seen the kind of knee-jerk reactions that we have witnessed this season. We win a couple of games with three academy lads and suddenly there are people out there who would rather see Edgar in the team than Babayaro. Totally over the top. Right now I think we're a club with an identity crisis. We have the finances to challenge top 6 comfortably but much of it was blown on a few players who haven't contributed (Boumsong, Luque, Owen). We've gone from 5th to 14th to 7th and now nobody knows where we stand in the Premiership's short-term future. My view is that outside the top four it is all there for the taking and all this talk of patience is just preparing for failure IMO. Roeder has made the best of a bad situation in my eyes. But he must take some responsibility for the bad situation in the first place. To steal a quote from nufc.com, it is an absolute joke that we have to watch 4 academy centre-backs protecting a keeper old enough to be their dad. You couldn't make it up. It's a testament to our catastrophic failure in the transfer market. However much involvement Freddy had, I find it incredible that some people try to completely absolve the manager from any blame for what happened in August. I have never seen a club so ill prepared for a transfer window, even by Newcastle United's standards it was shocking.
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4-5-1 against Bolton. We need two strikers against Everton. That way we can peg the opposition back, maintain possession in their half and give our defence a bit of a breather. We don't have anyone capable of playing that lone striker role so why play a formation which involves a lone striker? I didn't watch it but the commentators have said we were second best for much of the game.
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Corner. Milner's shot tipped over. Milner shot....just wide.
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David Edgar is also a central defender by trade isn't he? Presumably the academy full-backs have absolutely no future at the club.
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Who could ever have predicted an academy back four protecting a 38-year old Pavel Srnicek in the Premiership? It's a brave decision from Roeder. Emre at left-back or Parker at right-back may have been the less risky option.
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Babayaro, Solano and Duff don't even make the bench. I hope he is being cautious with the Everton game in mind. An entire ex-academy back line. Good luck lads.
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I agree. I think all 11 players should have some degree of technique. Ramage has none. His hoofs upfield more often than not concede possession and invite pressure back onto us. Against teams like Spurs on an off-day you will get away with this but against better teams it is vital that you don't keep giving the ball away cheaply because they will punish you. Hats off to him for his performances lately, he has a decent reading of the game and his tackling is good. But for me he lacks too much to ever be a viable long-term option in the first team. I'd like him to stick with us in the long-term as backup though. I still think we're lacking a quality, experienced central defender to play alongside Taylor. In the summer I'd like us to try our luck for someone like Andrade (Depor are 15th, need money and have very little left to cash in on). It's possible both Moore and Bramble will be leaving which will leave us with virtually no defenders, so it is an area worth investing in properly over the summer.
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I fancy us to nick this one. It all depends on our own performance. I haven't been following Bolton too closely lately but I watched them get battered by Aston Villa last weekend, only to win with a very dubious late penalty. It's always a tough game at the Reebok but in Dyer and Martins we could rape them for pace. I honestly believe if we give them the right service we will win this. In front of their own fans the onus will be on them to attack us from the off and that will give us opportunities to find Dyer and Martins in space on the counter. Diouf looks like he'll be out for them which would be a big loss as it would rob their side of much-needed pace. He's an expert wind-up and a canny player. I'd like to see Duff back in the team at left-wing as he would give Huntington more protection. If Duff does come back then Roeder has a tough decision about central midfield. One of Emre/Butt/Parker would likely be dropped. I have a feeling Roeder will go into this game 4-5-1 but I think this would be a big mistake. If we're that scared of Bolton bloody Wanderers we totally deserve to be in the bottom half of the table. We should go 4-4-2 and look to get balls in behind their slow defenders, that's where we can win this game.