ohmelads

As good a talent as this lad may be, it could be a gamble which we simply can't afford. If Man Utd or Chelsea get him then I'd rather spend big on Heinze or Bridge anyway, both of whom would give us a few years of brilliant service. Particularly Heinze who is world class, although I think chances of getting him would be slim. Nevertheless neither club could keep 3 left-backs happy so if we miss out on Bale there may be opportunities elsewhere.

No offence but that's a crazy suggestion. You should always aim to keep your best players and strengthen the weak areas of the team. We should be building a team around players like Given, not selling them. Tim Krul has only played one game for Newcastle, you're suggesting we gamble a lot on the success of an untried kid when we already have one of the best goalkeepers in the league if not the world. If money is tight then we have to be more creative in the transfer market and sell the expendable players. We will not move forward selling top class first team players, espescially not Given when you consider that goalkeepers generally don't go for as much money as, say, strikers. If we did get really desperate for cash and simply had to sell than I'd rather sell Owen than Given because he'd bring us a lot more money.

Neither Carr nor Babayaro are as bad as many on here say. They're Premiership quality, but decidedly bottom half quality. When you consider their injuries and the fact they're getting even slower with age, they're not worth the bother and should be replaced ASAP. In Carr's case he is far less needed than Babayaro because, in the short term at least, we already have a capable replacement in Solano. I wouldn't be bothered if we got some small change for him in January and packed him off somewhere else.

Has anybody actually seen much of this Bale kid? I can't say I've seen him play myself.

It's a combination of several factors. They're more successful than us and have much, much more media coverage as a result. They don't have a nickname like we do (toon army, magpies etc) and there are two Premiership clubs in Manchester. It's a bit annoying as Manchester United was never actually 'united', it has always been one club and was once called Newton Heath, they stole the name because they liked it. Still, I'd rather be referred to as Newcastle, Magpies, Geordies or Toon Army than simply 'United' (that name just reminds me of glory hunters tbh).

Do we have the luxury to be thinking long-term? Are these clubs successful because they think long-term, or do they have the luxury of thinking long-term because they have the successful foundations in place? It's a bit of both I think. As the saying goes, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I believe that Newcastle's position being as it is, we need to act to stop ourselves from sliding. Thinking long term is a nice soundbite and sounds like the voice of reason but when you look at our squad right now I'm not sure we have that luxury. I think we need to sort ourselves out and steady the ship before we start plotting our long-term course.

I'd like to think that those who were trying to sound sensible and preaching patience in the summer have learned their lesson. We're going to get ripped off and we have to accept that, it's January and we made a mess of the summer transfer window. It's the reason we paid so much for Boumsong and one year on, lessons have not been learned. We can't afford to wait until summer and if we do I believe we'll be flirting with relegation come May. Look what three and a half months have done to our squad. There are five months of the season left. The most important thing this time is that we don't get another Boumsong but that we get the right man. Price doesn't matter, the cost of not investing now will be far greater come summer. We're in a precarious position, this season is not a write off but equally we are not sitting safe. A few wins puts us challenging for Europe, a few defeats puts us back in the mire. This window could be the turning point of our season, I just don't know which way we'll turn.

Solano yet again. Our best player this season in my book and another top performance yesterday.

What can you say the boy's a legend.

That's all true but one thing pisses me off; he won't take free kicks. Why I don't know because he is our best set piece taker, maybe he's worried about defending but if we get a free kick in a good position I'd still want him to take it over Emre "I'm shit at free kicks" Belezoglu. He should be more assertive but if he was he'd put Parker to shame as he just isn't captain material, IMO. This bugs me as well. Solano's corner delivery was never the best but I'd definitely have him taking our free kicks, espescially those inviting for a right-footer. Just tell one of the other midfielders to stay back and let Nobby have a crack at it. Perhaps he has been told to stay back though?

By the way, check out the limp wrist on Huntington! In fact his general posture is totally camp You can just imagine him shrieking when Scholes scored. What happened to having big mean centre halves?! http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/72911033.jpg?v=1&c=MS_GINS&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF19364A19ADEE617E8A813FE64E9BD9144162F2C5C4253AD716A

Solano has been our player of the season so far in my view. For me he is captain material, he's loved by the fans and seemingly the players too, he has a very good footballing brain and has improved those playing around him. People may talk about Butt (who deserves credit) but I honestly believe Solano has been the reason our defence has improved. Milner needed this goal, he's been coming on a lot this season. Hopefully he can kick on now. Absolutely delighted for Edgar, it sends a message to our young players what can be achieved. A month ago he wouldn't have dreamt of getting in the starting lineup. In the circumstances this is a massive point for us. Perhaps we could have defended better for the goals but Man Utd are the best team in the league right now, scoring left right and centre and are deservedly four points clear of Chelsea. We have two weeks until our next Premiership game so hopefully we can get Duff and Butt back for Tottenham.

Would you rather put Parker at left back or Butt in central defence? It's one or the other. Personally I'd put Parker there and have a proper centre half in the centre, Huntington. Then I'd put Butt in his proper position protecting them. This idea of sticking Hunty out left and Butt in the centre is mental. If we play that we are asking for a beating, it's totally unbalanced. I've got a feeling Roeder will do it though. I also think he'll totally bottle it and play 4-5-1, inviting Man Utd at us. I would go 4-4-2 with everyone in their correct position except for Parker at left back, and have a real go at them. I think attacking them and unsettling them is the only way we will get anything out of this game, we simply don't have the defenders to play catenaccio.

Beattie isn't the type of striker we should be looking at. I think people are excited by the fact he's English, scored 20+ goals a few years back and he's cheap. We shouldn't be buying players based on this criteria, we should be looking at what our teams needs and finding someone who will get the best out of players around him as well as slotting right in. For me, Beattie isn't that man. We need (IMO) someone with a good footballing brain and intelligent link up play, preferably someone strong who can hold the ball up. Sibierski has done his best and has shown what a bit of height and hold up play can bring to our team, but we need better. Crouch does possess some of these qualities but represents poor value for money. There are plenty of lanky bastards who will score a few goals and hold the ball up, Sibierski is proof of that. We need someone in that mould but better basically, a more natural target man.

Why not put Huntington in the centre? And get someone else such as Parker to play left back? That team you've drawn looks incredibly unbalanced. I would put Huntington centre, Parker LB and bring Luque in to the left-wing. Or if Luque isn't an option (Roeder) then put Milner left, Dyer right and Sibs up front. At least that way only one of our players is out of position.

Good article. It is incredible that we achieve the attendances we do, given that most of the people in the stands have never seen the club lift a trophy. As for all this curse talk, please. That's the easy answer and the easy way to look at things, it's just feeling sorry for ourselves. If you genuinely believe we're cursed then why bother following the club? Every year we top the injury table and I can't remember the last time I saw our best 11 on the field, it was probably a few years back under Robson. I'm sure we have all thought at times that there must be an explanation for this. If I thought we were cursed I wouldn't follow the club, that would be madness. It's all about keeping faith in the toon. Our day will come.

Couldn't see Roeder going for someone like Montella.

For me Heinze is one of the best left backs in the world right now, so that seems a pipe dream. But if we have any chance at all we should go all out to get him.

I'm afraid I have to agree with king harry on this one. I'm a Geordie living in Liverpool and haven't noticed any real difference between the two cities. I always think it's quite hypocritical of Newcastle fans to sing about Liverpool slums and scousers getting jobs when the north-east is the poorest region of England with the highest unemployment. Coming from Jarrow it would be ridiculous for me to sing any songs about unemployment. I always feel we're copying the Mancs when we sing those songs. Anfield is one of the poorest areas of Liverpool so a lot of the visiting fans get a bad image of the city. Can you imagine if St James Park was right in the middle of Scotswood or Benwell? I remember a few years back when they were selling houses for 50p in Benwell. Imagine that was all visitors saw of our city? We are lucky enough to have our stadium right in the city centre so the tens of thousands of fans up and down the country don't pass through our slums. Newcastle has seen a revival in recent years but so too has Liverpool and with the Capital of Culture 2008 money coming in that will continue. I disagree with you that it is "much cheaper" to live in Liverpool, again I'd say the two places are quite similar.

I think we'll have to look at one or two loan deals just to pad the squad out. I'm not a big Beattie fan but on loan I'd take him in order to spend more money elsewhere. I don't see Everton loaning to us though, they're still only 6 points ahead of us. If we can't get any from England then we should be looking to the continent. Spurs got Mido on loan from Roma before buying him, I'm sure there are other similar players out there.

It's pointless arguing over what's more important. We need a striker and we need two defenders and if either area goes ignored we are totally buggered. The squad is at breaking point with 5 months of the season left and we're still in three competitions. Where it comes to allocating the most money, I would put it into defence. Good strikers usually cost more than good defenders and it's going to be tough to bring in a quality striker when everyone knows there is a place waiting for Owen when he returns. Not only that but we have potentially two central defenders leaving in the summer as Moore and Bramble are in the last year of their contracts. I don't see Freddy spending much on a left back. He has never paid much attention to the full back positions, we have one right back and one left back in our squad and they cost a combined total of £3m. Before them, our full backs were freebies (Hughes and Bernard) and Griffin cost a mighty £1.5m. I do hope we invest in a proven top quality centre half to play alongside Taylor. Who we could attract I don't know. We could do with a powerful yet composed centre back like Jorge Andrade, someone capable of bringing the ball out of defence. I'm not a fan of this last-gasp Ramage defending where the ball gets punted straight back to the opposition, it's a habit we badly need to get out of (espescially given the lack of height in the team).

Hilarious. They don't know if he spat at one player or racially abused another. Get your rumours right!

I think we were asking for it by changing a winning team and playing people out of position. If it aint broke don't fix it. There is indeed a fine line between winning and losing but we were second best for most of the Bolton game and we lost by three goals today. Watching the Spurs game I thought any half-decent side would have torn our left flank apart that day, as Huntington was left defending two men on numerous occasions. I don't blame the players for this slump. I believe Parker would play anywhere you asked him to, and I'm not sure he'd have wanted the whole team shuffled about to fit him in. But it's the managers decision and on this occasion it is he who must carry the can. He changed the formation at Bolton and benched Emre and today he repeated his mistake of putting Huntington and Emre on the left. The players are giving their all but it doesn't help when half the team are moved into unfamiliar positions and asked to play flowing football. Roeder's only fit left-winger wasn't even in the squad today, there are no excuses. He's happy to play Edgar at right back, Huntington at left back and Emre on the left wing but he can't find space in his squad for Albert Luque. I think there is far more to that than meets the eye and anybody who thinks he's been left out for purely footballing reasons is pretty naive IMO.

I'm not blaming Parker at all. In fact unlike many on here I rate him very highly. He hasn't let us down since he came back, but Roeder has changed the whole team around and made a host of players play out of position. Most importantly he has broken up the most promising central midfield partnership we've had for quite some time. After the Spurs game many of us pointed out that, a good win though it was, there were glaring weaknesses on that left side, with two players (Emre and Huntington) playing out of position. I was annoyed to see Emre and Huntington on the left again today but not surprised to see that they struggled. Unfortunately for Parker, the good player that he is, he came back to find Emre and Butt had formed a winning combination and IMO should have been used elsewhere in the team, perhaps at full back. But it seems his status in the team is too high, as I demonstrated in the first post that he is the only player not to have been shuffled around in recent games.

I don't think Duff or Baba are gonna make this one. Assuming not, I'd go with: ---------------------Given------------------- Solano------Huntington---Taylor------Parker Milner----------Butt-----Emre--------Luque ---------------Dyer----Martins---------- I agree with what John Beresford says. The only way we can win this is to go at them. I have a feeling Roeder will crap himself and go 4-5-1, inviting Man Utd onto us. It would be a very negative thing to do at home, even if it is Man Utd. Reading scored twice at Old Trafford today.