ohmelads

Excellent news this. I'm really liking the balance and mix of qualities we have up front, it's the one area of the team (OK Goalkeepers as well) that I'm really happy with. (Until one of them pisses off that is!). If only we had these kinds of options and competition in other areas of the team...

Seeing the likes of Edgar, Ramage, Huntington and N'Zogbia defending against players like Nedved, Camoranesi, Del Piero and Trezeguet should be interesting. Looking on the bright side if we do take a pasting it might encourage Mort to get a move on.

:lol: I thought it was funny. It's not supposed to be deep and insightful, just a light-hearted piss take.

Excellent point. I find it funny when people say he scored his goal against Palermo because it was put on his head, or that he scored two against Celtic because they were excellent crosses. I've seen Van Nistelrooy (no I'm not comparing the two, calm down people) score loads like that and people spunk everywhere over his movement and anticipation to create an easy chance for himself. Those two goals against Celtic, if we were talking about someone like Ruud everyone would be going on about his movement, yet cos it's Luque they make out like Solano and Milner made him score. I've just seen both goals and they show very good movement, anticipation and composure, real poachers goals. I'd be surprised to see Ameobi or even Martins scoring those types of goals and it shows Luque does have something in his locker. He might have done nowt else for the 45 minutes, but he scored two goals in the first half against a decent team and people are trying to knock him for it. At the end of the day it's difficult to judge a player objectively when you really don't like him (eg Luque), just as it is when you love a player (eg Shearer when his legs were going). Luque deserves a fair bit of criticism but he also deserves credit where it's due. I also tend to think that somebody with his pedigree deserves a chance to show it with a run in the team. I think he's lost serious pace because of that injury and it's sad to see, but I remember him raping Cafu as they put Milan out of the Champions League and I think a player who had that ability is worth a bit of patience, espescially when noone is bashing down the door to sign him up. I'm glad Sam sees this because he's paid handsomely to get as much as he can out of every player in the squad and isn't looking to wash his hands of players who will require hard work.

This is a very valid point like, the same one I used when we were linked with Woodgate last summer. It's all well and good having a top-class defender for half the games a season - but it does you absolutely no favours in the other half. Campbell only missed 6 league games for Portsmouth last season, though, which isn't too bad and bodes quite well for the fact that he can still "do it" at the top level if looked after properly. Going by this logic as well, we still need another first-choice pair of fullbacks as well as a centre-half! Wasn't aware Campbell played so many games, perhaps it'd be worth the risk then. On the full backs issue, it looks likely that Geremi will spend a lot, perhaps most of his time elsewhere, and we all know we need a left back anyway, so yes I'd say we need a RB, LB and two CBs, or keep Geremi at RB and buy a CM instead. Basically we need 4 more players, 3 absolute minimum, and they need to be decent at the very least.

The thing that's frustrated me in recent seasons though has been the lack of continuity at the back. Sure Woodgate came in and out of the team and improved the defence instantly when he did, but he was a top class defender in his peak years. Basically I'm a big fan of having a stable back four, it's the one area of the pitch where stability is absolutely vital. Even tinker-man Benitez almost never messes with his back four and espescially not the centre backs. Someone with Campbell's injuries mean he would inevitably be in and out of the team and could prevent any lasting solid partnerships being formed.

I'd prefer Campbell over Hyypia, for the simple reason that I think he's always been a better defender. Because of our failure in the transfer market we're reaching the "beggars can't be choosers" stage, once again, but the major question mark I'd have over him are his injuries. On a free we missed him last season and got nothing instead, that was stupid. However now he'd cost a couple of million, is a year older and you know he'll struggle to play 20 games. We should be looking for a less injury prone player, but if we're too skint or can't attract one then it'll have to be Campbell.

The name 'Toon Ultras' wasn't the most sensible choice, but I appreciate what they're trying to do. I think anyone who knocks them for trying needs to ask themselves why they go to the games in the first place when just about every game is televised these days in pubs around the toon. Going to the game used to be about taking part in something, but the increasing middle class influence has taken its toll on people's attitudes.

Can't believe people are embarrassed by fans singing and enjoying themselves, disgraceful tbh. I'm far more embarrassed by these middle class cumheads who sit on their hands complaining all game, they tend to be the same ones who leave 5 minutes before a game's finished "to avoid the crowds". Don't sing if you don't want to, but I can't believe we have people moaning about how others around them enjoy the match.

James isn't wrong, he's just grossly exaggerating. Saying Dyer is world class at anything is as silly as saying Dyer is a sh*te footballer. I think he felt the need to exaggerate his strengths because others have exaggerated his weaknesses. IMO he's decent, nowt special, and his inconsistency and injuries are a decent reason to sell him. But at the end of the day we'll miss Dyer if we don't replace him, and if he stays injury free then someone has got themselves a bargain IMO. No coincidence that the richest clubs outside the top 4 are all (apparently) willing to take a chance on him, despite the injuries and inconsistency. That's because he's a good player. No point standing in his way if his heart isn't in it, but if we don't replace him then we're weaker so this can only be seen as good news when a better replacement is found.

These part-exchange deals are always speculated but they're very rare. The last part-exchange deal we did was the Gillespie/Cole deal 12 years ago.

Shame Viduka won't be playing, this'll be a decent test for us against a good defence. I'll be in the leazes end, just hoping we don't get any more injuries as we really can't afford any more with the season now two weeks tomorrow.

Played quite a lot there for Fulham.

Wonder if Boumsong will play? Believe it or not it's just come up on newsnow that Valencia are now looking at him according to the Spanish press. They're talking about a loan with option to buy.

Depending on his injuries I think we could be strengthening a rival here. Got a feeling he'll go there and go a season injury-free! But if he wants to go then there's no point stopping him. Up to us to sign a replacement now, all our central midfielders are injured, we need to bring one in. Is anyone that confident we'll get one?

There's every chance Allardyce will 'decide/have no choice but to' reshuffle the pack rather than replace him with another player, for the Bolton game at least. By that I mean playing Carr at right back and moving Geremi/Solano into central midfield, as he did against Celtic. Then when Barton/Emre are back, he can move Geremi/Solano back to right back if Carr (predictably) is injured or underperforming. Far from ideal, but the first priorities must be a left back and a centre back, then a centre mid. How far down that list we get is anyone's guess, Sam says he's confident he'll get 3-4 in but he's not confident of the quality he can get.

Nothing I haven't seen before. Celtic do have a twattish following, so do Rangers, and you're right that some of their worst fans come down when they play English teams. Celtic and Rangers don't get many big games to travel to, just the odd game in Europe, so it's no surprise they take this sort of thing seriously and see it as a chance to 'get one over on the English'. But in terms of fans' behaviour the English do just the same, and there's just as much anecdotal evidence to back that up. Many Scottish and Irish fans will tell you our lot are a disgrace and certainly wouldn't want us in their towns, and many here would deny that. It works both ways. Thousands of young people drinking heavily, puking and pissing in the streets and starting the odd bit of bother. You could be describing Benidorm or the Bigg Market on a Saturday night. Seriously, you'd think people had never heard of this stuff before. Some of them sing anti-English songs and threaten locals, but of course we never do that to them do we? Can't believe some of the double standards in this thread.

I'd go for Lassana Diarra. Apparently he rejected a new contract offer from Chelsea, and at his age he needs regular football. He's a versatile centre-mid who has filled in at right back for Chelsea and France. Played at Le Havre with N'Zogbia and he's already in the France squad at the age of 21, definite prospect. We're well stocked with wingers, but we need a centre-mid. Barton could be out for months and Butt and Emre will probably pick up injuries. Diarra would be a long-term replacement for Butt but he's also good enough to challenge for a position in DM and RB now. Would be an excellent signing IMO, and a realistic target too.

I never seem to get any bother off them, usually find them to be quite friendly. They do have their twattish element but like all sets of fans I find if you're in a group they won't dare try it on. Let's face it, English fans have caused far more trouble on their travels, yet people always exaggerate about how bad it is. Remember when Celtic took tens of thousands of fans to Seville and there was only something like one arrest? That'd never happen with our lot. The Irish fans tend to be a lot more relaxed than the Scottish fans, I have a lot of Northern Irish Celtic fans as friends and we just enjoy the banter. I'm not doubting anyone's stories but I always hear these anecdotes yet I very rarely see it, I think a lot of people do stress over a bit of banter, on both sides of the border, and the media are only too happy to hype it all up.

Good to see Luque bag a couple of goals, he really needed that. Allardyce seems to have a lot of common sense, something which Roeder and Souness were desperately lacking. To get Luque performing will take some patience and common sense IMO, I don't think he's a lost cause. I think Sam'll look to introduce Luque when the circumstances are favourable, to boost his confidence and cut him some slack with the fans, I think once the player sees he's got a shot at the first team he'll be a lot easier to motivate and the manager knows this. The way Roeder dealth with him was like a perfect example of how not to handle a struggling player. He brought him on for a few minutes in games we were losing where the crowd was hostile. He'd give him a start once in a blue moon, and if he scored we wouldn't see him for ages. When he scored twice in his first reserve game, it was decided that he won't play in reserve games either. It was very strange behaviour from Roeder, yet everyone assumed the problem was at Luque's end. I think the two of them clearly had a personal problem which Roeder was not prepared to put aside for the good of the club. To get Luque playing well again will require hard work, patience and cooperation from the manager and the player. If either isn't committed then it won't succeed. Roeder wasn't committed to that and perhaps Luque wasn't either, but in Sam we have a manager prepared to meet the player half way, and that's a start. It's up to Luque now, I'm confident Sam will give him the chance that Roeder never gave him.

I'd rather go for Miguel Torres, looks a big prospect who might not get the chances at Real, one of their unsung heroes from last season. They're often keen to loan out their younger players like Soldado etc. Given that he's equally comfortable at right back and left back he'd offer good competition even if we just got him on loan.

Excellent on his day but he's definitely gone downhill and he's starting to really lack pace. He's still excellent going forward as he showed in the Mallorca game with several megs to open up the defence, but defensively he's a bit suspect and it's very late in his career to get used to English football. Don't think it'd be a good move to be honest.

Interestingly Troisi was left out of the young Newcastle XI which played Benfield and has featured in all three of our pre-season games, setting up two of our three goals against Hartlepool. He was also the only new face from the reserves to feature in tonight's squad. Seems he's the next in line to follow Huntington, Edgar and Carroll into the first team squad. What type of player is Troisi and how did he get on today? I know nowt about him.

Considering our efforts to replace the 4 defenders we let go I'm not holding my breath.

Relative to the current market we're operating in it's not. £5m? Cardiff got that for Chopra. Birmingham offered 6M for Mido. I don't think £5m is much money at all at the moment, I'd expect an experienced England international to be going for more money than Mido or Chopra. We're being taken advantage of here, by a rival club, and I think we'll be weaker at the end of it.