ohmelads

It's not that hard, if you just take out your only full backs, throw in a winger and a centre half or whatever, put Barton on the right wing for a laugh, and watch them all struggle to put any moves together. It's a piece of cake actually.

It's rare to see a manager given a blank cheque to buy his own squad straight away, so it's generally accepted you've got to work with what you've got until you can build your own. I don't think Benitez had long term plans for Traore or Baros, but he tried to get the best out of them while they were around. That was his job. Same with Bobby Robson, as the orignal post points out. Any manager starting out at a new club needs to be flexible, he has to build a system to suit the players until he can put his own stamp on things. You can't just wander into a club like Newcastle and expect them to play to Bolton's tactics, launching high balls to Michael Owen and Obafemi Martins, you have to be flexible until you can make your mark. Allardyce is the one being too impatient, if you ask me. Michael Owen is being totally misused, while other players are struggling in unfamiliar positions. Against sunderland, (not the sort of game where you mess about), he dropped our only fit full backs (who have done a decent job up to now) for a winger and a centre back, moved our only fit right winger to the left wing, moved our only fit left winger to defence and put Barton on the right wing. He didn't have to do any of this. The fact he is "his own man" is turning out to be as much a weakness as a strength, as it proved to be for Souness. At what point does strong-willed become stubborn? Allardyce needs to start playing these players to their strengths and get the team performing. Results come before the system, he'll have plenty of time to build the squad up next summer.

Aye I agree with that. If this is a transition season then Beye and Enrique should be playing every week. They're our only fit full backs. Putting a CB (Taylor) and a winger (N'Zogbia) in their positions is ridiculous, we'll never have a settled defence if he doesn't show faith in the full backs. Sam can't be excused there. Central defence is a bit trickier, as I don't think Sam knows what his best partnership is. Cacapa's injured once again which complicates things.

On current form, probably: 1) N'Zogbia 2) Enrique 3) Martins It's actually hard to name three, because apart from N'Zogbia it seems just about everybody in the squad is 'droppable' at the moment. Even Faye, who has made a good start. It shows we have some depth at long last, but it also shows how poor most of them have been. I'd say Enrique because if he plays, it prevents Allardyce from trying any funny stuff. When Enrique starts you know that Zog will be in his preferred position and probably so too will Milner, meaning the central midfielders will be where they're supposed to be. Martins has been nothing special, in fairness he hasn't had much chance to, but the way we're playing at the moment he is better equipped to create something out of nothing than Owen, Viduka, or anyone else for that matter. When we're playing well I'll back Owen to put the chances away more than anyone we have, but when we're playing poorly it's like having 10 men and at least Oba can get goals from hopeless punts upfield. He carved goals out of nothing against Tottenham and Man City, something people took for granted at the time, and it was his introduction that finally broke the deadlock against Wigan, putting it on a plate for Owen. He was the difference away to Bolton with two goals and that's still our only away win of the season. For the record, there is no doubting that Owen is a more talented striker than Martins, but when we're creating nothing, can't string together any passes and we're forced to punt it long all game, I'd rather have Martins in the team. When you're stringing good passes together and looking to create chances, you want Owen on the end of them. Recently, and for most of this season, we've been going down the longer ball route and as things stand right now I fancy us to pick up more points with Martins in the team, espescially away from home. Owen just seems wasted under Allardyce football, we're getting nothing like the best out of him, even accounting for his loss of pace etc. Viduka's not a bad shout, but he's probably going to be in and out the team all season. It's difficult to plan your team around a player like that, I just see it as a bonus when he plays. I suppose when fit I would rarely leave him out, but I'm not convinced he's the player many on here believe he is. He's slower than ever and when our team is lacking any pace or movement it only makes us easier to defend against.

Italian football doesn't seem to be getting any better in terms of safety. There doesn't seem to be an awful lot done about it. A few years ago we were discussing this very subject when we played Inter in the San Siro, and their fans in the upper tier launched all sorts from piss to a flare into our section, who were powerless to resist stuck in the lower tier. It was typically cowardly stuff from the Italians, and the police did nothing about it. Ironically, if our lot had been able to react, you know who would have been blamed. That time Inter only got a slap on the wrist from UEFA, a tiny fine. 4 years on and if anything Italian football has moved backwards.

Saw it in The Clock in Hebburn. Nobody in the pub seemed to realise it had gone in, everybody thought it had sneaked beyond the far post until the camera switched to Milner celebrating and the whole bar went mental. Cue calls from the bar for people to stop hoying their glasses in the air

Quite a few people seemed content when we sold him. He wanted to go, but I for one wasn't happy to see him leave. You can't rely on him to play 90 mins every week at his age, but as a player well respected on and off the pitch and someone to bridge the gap between old order and new, he'd have been good to have around. Not to mention more technically gifted than anyone in our squad. With Barton on the right wing today and the total lack of creativity we've witnessed this season I think it's fair to say we're missing Solano.

That would be too straight forward for a master tactician.

I'd say injuries have already robbed him of a yard of pace. He has never looked as quick for us as he did for Chelsea.

He was played out of position to be fair to him, he isn't a right winger. Should have been Milner right N'Zogbia left, but we all knew that. He wasn't the only player who struggled out of position.

The problem playing Milner on the left wing is we don't have another right winger. So not only do you rob the midfield of its quickest and most creative player, but you also force a central midfielder to have to shift to the right wing, who will inevitably drift inside which in turn puts pressure on the right back, who happens to be a centre back playing out of position. All this is done to accommodate a left winger at left back, while the real left back (and most expensive defender at the club) sits on the bench, alongside the only fit right back. Work that one out. Just to rob the team of a bit more pace, the quickest player in the squad is left on the bench to sit alongside the club captain for the biggest derby of the season. Shambles? Regarding Zoggy, he's not up to it defensively to play left back IMO. Against Villa, Boro etc earlier in the season he was getting us into all sorts of trouble. There was a time I thought he might do it but I've been forced to reevaluate, he just can't defend. People expect him to create something from left wing every week but that's because him and Milner are the only fit wingers in the squad and Milner has been off the boil for a while. With no creativity elsewhere in midfield people pin all their hopes on N'Zogbia.

I agree Rozehnal is that type of defender but the problem with Rozehnal trying to provide cover is he is a bit of a ballwatcher and can be prone to wandering. If one goes and one stays then the priority for the latter must always be to track the runner. Roz's pace can get himself out of trouble sometimes, but what I've seen when Taylor, Faye and to a lesser extent Cacapa have played alongside him is they find themselves running around "putting out fires" everywhere. I've noticed that some people look for faults in Taylor, yet turn a blind eye to faults in others like Rozehnal. It's the way football fans are I guess, we've all got more time for some players than others, and shiny new players tend to get the benefit of the doubt and escape any criticism. Taylor seems to be taking a hammering today yet I think he did more for the team than Roz. Rozehnal's a decent defender and he'll do a good job for us but I'm not sure he was right for this game. It was always clear they would be launching high balls to our penalty area to Jones, they've been doing it in previous games and it's been identified as a weakness of ours (as Reading found out). It wasn't the sort of game for a 'cultured' defender who won't put himself about.

Negative tactics and team selections are a naive way to go about picking up clean sheets IMO, it's more of a last resort for teams fighting relegation. Teams with good away records usually try to keep the ball and frustrate the home crowd, while having players who can hit them on the break, because most home teams are under pressure to come out of their shell and leave gaps of 30+ yards in their own half. Leaving your quickest player on the bench when you lack any pace and lashing the ball 60 yards to the forwards is not the way to go about it, because they will just keep coming back at you again and again. Without possession or players who can exploit the higher line that home teams play, you will not relieve the pressure on your own defence. And without a real target man most of your long balls just hand possession straight back to the opposition. That's what happened today, it's what happened at Reading and to some extent it also happened at Derby and Man City. When you play negative tactics you are playing with matches because your asking your defence to cope with massive amounts of pressure. We were bloody lucky to get anything out of this game and very lucky we only conceded once. We cleared one off the line, another hit the bar. I doubt anyone knew what our gameplan was today. Allardyce may lay the blame with his players for that, but he put them out of position for a massive game.

yes, he was. He was man of the match until he went off. I agree. Mind you, he really was left it all to do by Rozenhal. This is a worry I've had about Rozehnal from the start. When he was alongside Taylor I pointed out that Roz left Taylor to do most of the work, yet most people were only too happy to hammer Taylor and praise Roz. I guess new players get the benefit of the doubt, and Taylor wasn't flavour of the month at the time. Now Roz is alongside Faye and it's happened again. Faye has ended up making a blunder, but in fairness to Faye he had it all to do today.

We got out of jail there. F*cking hell, how bad are we at the moment?! Allardyce is really pushing his luck with his team selections and tactics. He might have the credentials to do it here, but I'm not sure he'll ever pull his head out of his own arse. The derby is not the time for pissing about putting players out of their natural positions. He said himself it was a case of 'back to basics', a call most fans would have sympathy with, yet he's tried to be clever again. It seems the praise went to his head a while ago, now he's gone down the road of eccentric team selections and awkward tactics. If it comes off he looks a genius but right now he's looking like a tit. He's trying to play the smart arse and it's cost him every time he's done it. N'Zogbia pushed to left back to accommodate Milner on the left wing. Why? Taylor pushed to right back so the machinist can go up against Chopra and Jones. Why? I don't know what our gameplan was, I don't think anyone does. We seemed to play pretty deep for much of the game and sacrificed most of the possession, so a counter-attacking game was the plan maybe. In that case why was Martins on the bench until the 82nd minute? I'd like to see Sam try and explain it, surely he knows we got out of jail there. He'll say it's a good point but he's got to say something, hasn't he. One or two fans will buy it I suppose. Most fans don't have any time for smart arses and won't suffer fools kindly, he needs to take note quickly. He's not as clever as he thinks he is.

F*ck sake. Emre has looked uncomfortable every single time he's been played out on the left wing, he always drifts in. To leave N'Zogbia, who isn't a left back, exposed behind him would be asking for trouble, they'll just double up on him. It looks an unbalanced team whatever way you arrange them. I'm off down the pub. Let's hope we rip into the bastards anyway. HOWAY LADS!!

I wasn't at the last one but the one before that (Solano's late penalty). There are police swarming about everywhere, you would struggle to get near the mackems if you tried. Basically everyone gets herded onto something like 70-odd coaches and buses forming a massive long convoy and given a police escort into sunderland. I remember there was a late kick off because a few dozen brave/mad Geordies decided to travel on their own and take the metro to the ground. Trouble obviously kicked off at the other end so the police had to escort them through. You'll be fine wearing your toon shirt, just make sure you get on the coach/bus back.

If the NUFC bench was a pool, metaphorically speaking, depth would not be a strong point. In fact, it'd probably be more akin one of those pools they use in rehabilitation facilities: rather shallow, and full of injured people. Point is we're not as desperate as we were back then for defenders and should therefore be more selective. I'm not convinced Tal Ben Haim is significantly better than what we've got and I'm not a fan of signing an abundance of mediocre players because it results in a lot of dead wood. We've padded out the squad, now it's time to sign players who will walk into the first team and displace others. In other words, we should only sign players better than the ones we have. I'm not sure about Tal Ben Haim, I still don't know a great deal about him but what I've seen this season he looks very average.

He turned Newcastle United (in turmoil, post-takeover, after a pretty ordinary season) down for Chelsea (big money, have won the Prem recently, the chance to work with Mourinho). What would you do? If it hasn't worked out for him at Chelsea, then hand him a box of tissues, give him a big cuddle and get him to sign a freshly minted NUFC contract. He's proven in the past that he can be a solid defender in BSA's teams, so why not? Chances are that it'll be a minimal transfer fee and he's not prone to handing in a sick note a la Babayaro. Plenty of players have made the transfer to a big club, hasn't worked out, moved onto another (smaller) club with a different feel and they've managed to get back to their best - Woodgate (at Boro) being a prime example of this. I think Woodgate's a bit of an anomaly, he's had a strange career really. Your point stands but there are still a few question marks in my mind about going back in for him. Firstly, Ben Haim chose money over first-team football. I guess you could argue a lot of players would have done the same, but there's an awful lot who wouldn't. Secondly and more importantly, when we failed to sign Ben Haim we switched to other targets. The positions are filled now, so anyone coming in should be significantly better than them to make their signature worth our while. Back then we were desperate for any half-decent defenders, now we have a bit of depth we can and should be a lot more selective over who we bring in.

I agree. It's not really a game which lends itself to set positions, because it's all about movement and quick one- and two-touch passing. The best teams I've played against are always teams who are very fluid and pass and move at pace. Because none of them have positions it makes it that much harder to mark them. You could play positions I suppose, a lot of people adopt their own style to playing 5-a-side, but a good team will run you ragged and interchange all the time.

Don't you think there's a strong possibility Sam will go back to 4-3-3 as his default formation if he's still here next season? That's what we were playing until Owen came into the team and it's always been Allardyce's preferred system.

Aye you're right, my mistake.

There's no way of knowing how the Arsenal and Liverpool games will go but like you I'm not full of confidence given the way the team is playing. That's why it's so important we bag 3 points this weekend (or at the very least don't lose), otherwise you're potentially looking at 6 defeats on the bounce and the season could implode. We've seen what happens when teams go on those kinds of runs, the players doubt themselves and/or doubt the manager, and it's difficult to pull things back on track.

Worth a punt IMO if we can get him here, we badly need to bring some flair into this squad and stop obsessing over having battlers all over the park. Teams fighting relegation play like that but teams just pass it round them. About the 4-4-2 thing, Scholes used to play off RVN at Man Utd and now plays in a midfield three, so I don't know how many games he has played as just one of two centre-mids. The way I see it though Allardyce will eventually turn to 4-3-3 anyway, when Owen is out of the picture (which I reckon he will be in the summer). Riquelme would be a gamble, but so would some random foreigner for £10m. I don't see any proven Premiership players we can go for who fit the bill, they're all either out of reach or not good enough. Unless we can make an inspired Ashley Young type signing, but I think Riquelme is as worthy a gamble as any at the moment.

Think you're underestimating this game a bit. This is immediately followed by the visits of Liverpool and Arsenal with a trip to in-form Blackburn in the middle. Thee games where we will go in as underdogs. If we don't take three points from this game there's a strong chance we will look back on it as a massive opportunity missed. Mess up this, and Liverpool and Arsenal could really put a dent in our season. It's a massive game for us.