ohmelads

Sadly the Queudrue rumours are a tad more believable, don't you think? Don't know why I bothered responding to that actually, it's a crap wind up to be fair.

How the hell has this nonsense NoTW story - clearly aimed at taking the piss out of this club - made 4 pages of discussion?

If Australia get knocked out on Monday then he'll have a week or two's rest and I would imagine he'll be available for the Bolton game.

Perhaps, but I think he meant a right back, two centre backs and a left back. I think he intends to keep Babayaro and work on his fitness (that's what he's said anyway). I think we need two centre backs, as I don't see Ramage as remotely good enough cover. He's currently our 3rd choice CB and I don't want to see him anywhere near the first team.

I think our targets are more of an indication that the budget is not that big. When we signed Parker & Emre and still needed a striker, you could safely guess there was money still available because they were fairly big names for decent fees. Now we need defenders and are linked with Young and Queudrue, on the back of two free transfers, and you begin to think maybe the money just isn't there. Who knows, he might be skimping on the left back position so he can bring in a top centre back, which I think we really need. I'm not panicking by any means, I'm fairly content actually, but I feel we could do better than Queudrue that's all.

We're not a big enough club to attract these players as back up, we're not Chelsea. They can get regular Prem football elsewhere and they're 28, supposedly around their peak age. The only time players agree to that is if they're paid a fortune or there's silverware in it for them. What are we going to say to them? "Come to Newcastle, you won't win any trophies or play in Europe and we won't pay you a fortune, but you might get a game if Geremi gets injured". No chance IMO.

I think some people have very selective memories. When we finished 4th, 3rd and 5th in the league we still couldn't attract the top players, we bought players like Carr, Butt, Milner, Bowyer. Kluivert came too because we paid him a fortune in wages, but he had strings attached anyway regarding fitness/attitude. Woodgate was the only truly big signing during those years but he also had strings attached because of his injuries. Our pulling power next summer will be the same as it is now, barring a miracle league performance.

Given Allardyce's comments about Babayaro playing more games this season, as well as his complaints about having to fill so many holes in the squad, and the fact we have no evidence of these "two new left backs" quotes, I think it's pretty safe to say we'll only be buying one left back and Babayaro will provide the competition. I also don't think we're big enough to buy someone like Queudreu, at the age of 28, as a backup player when he can probably get first team football elsewhere in the Prem. Players generally only agree to that if there's loads of money or medals in it for them.

Everyone's assuming that in a year's time we'll be in a position to attract much better players. We can't really afford to be working on assumptions like that. Even if we do finish in the top 6, our pulling power won't improve much at all. I seem to remember when we finished 5th we were attracting similar players to those we are now, and everyone was complaining that we needed CL football to get anyone better. That hasn't changed. If we fork out, say, £6m for Baines now he might not develop much, in which case we've paid a pretty penny for an 'alright' left back. Alternatively, he might go on to have another good season and his value will go up, while bigger clubs than ourselves take a look at him. We waited to see how Carrick would do and and ended up with Butt, we waited to see how Miguel would do and ended up with Carr. Queudrue would be very much a Shepherd-type signing, going for the cheaper option and turning your nose up at a young up and coming player because he isn't the finished product and would cost a bit.

It's easy to keep trotting out that line, but if we don't make Europe we are lumped with players like Queudrue who won't get any better. I do think that with a few sound signings we can finish top 6, maybe not far off 4th if we're ambitious enough. But cementing our position as top half also-rans in some sort of attempt to gradually inch up the table doesn't sound sensible to me. Why skimp on a few million for the sake of it when you can sign a better, younger player in Baines? His value might go up considerably and we'll miss out on yet another up and coming player, as we did with Carrick and so many others. Spurs have moved forward in recent years through signings like that.

:lol:

Argentina have always been and always will be one of the very best footballing nations. But I think you're overstating the case a little bit in that article Shak. I think Bellers' assessment is a touch more accurate, the Germans matched them all the way and were unfortunate to go behind, while Argentina were fortunate to defeat Mexico with an extra time screamer. I thought Argentina, Germany and France played the best football of the tournament, with Germany the most consistent of all and Italy the luckiest of all. I thought France's performance against Brazil was the best example of how to control a game, Brazil barely had a sniff and rarely have I ever seen Brazil look that desperate. France squeezed the life out of them and hit them where it hurts, changing the pace of the game so suddenly. Zidane toyed with them, slowing things down and then when the guard drops, sliding through a pass or playing in a winger. Brazil didn't play badly that day, France were just superb in every aspect of the game and Zidane produced a masterclass. For me this was the best performance of the tournament, even though it wasn't laden with goals and chances. To do that against such a good Brazil team was more impressive for me than putting six past an average Serbian side. Argentina are beginning to look the business, and their combination of tenacity, tactics and flair bodes well for them. In Messi I think they have potentially the best player in the world of his generation, from his first game at Barcelona you could see this kid was something special. But in international tournaments anything can happen, as any Italian will tell you. Argentina must do it against the very best, not Mexico or Serbia, and they have a chance to show what they're made of against the old enemy, Brazil, in the final. I don't think it's fair to call them the new Brazil because Brazil have their own style of play and so do Argentina. The Argies just look like they have an excellent generation of players and a very balanced squad. I don't think they or Brazil have fundamentally changed their approach to football.

Howay Thailand then. When is the Thailand-Aussie game?

The people who need a reality check are those who think we couldn't attract Leighton Baines to Newcastle. The guy survived relegation on the last day of the season at Wigan, they're going nowhere fast. If we stump up the money we'll get him, and we may very well have that left back spot sewn up for the next 10 years.

You think we can't attract Shorey and Wigan won't sell to us? Why won't Wigan sell Baines to us if we put in a decent offer? I'm sure the player would be up for the move. And I'm pretty sure we could attract Shorey too, thought I'd much rather we go for Baines even if it meant £6m.

I can actually see us selling a lot of shirts with this guy.

Yep. When we signed Carr everyone pointed to his Spurs form, where he was once considered one of the best right backs in the league. Now everyone is pointing to Queudreu's Boro form. Young, well he was never that good, so I'd compare him with Babayaro. The only difference is that these two don't get injured so often. They're lower mid-table players at the moment just like Baba and Carr. Neither particularly stood out in two terrible defences in the league last season, defences which each conceded 60 (!!) league goals, more than anyone else in the league including Watford.

Hit the nail on the head. I couldn't give a crap about prices, it's the quality of players we're (apparently) chasing. Gradually we're after poorer players and that's reason for concern in my book. Are we struggling to attract the players necessary to improve us? Is there no money in the kitty? Why are we looking at midtable players like Young and Queudrue? Young and Queudrue would be very much like the signings of Babayaro and Carr.

We know nothing about this guy's intentions and it is healthy and normal to question his motives, his moves. He's just taken over the club we all love and support, of course we should be asking questions and I worry about those who don't care who he is. These are exciting times but this guy may or may not be good news for us, time will tell. We're all in the dark at the moment so I find a lot of the blind faith in Ashley a bit curious to say the least. I'm delighted Shepherd's gone and my gut feeling is we're heading in the right direction, but until I know who this guy is and what his intentions are I'm not going to get carried away or whinge at people who have constructive views.

Well Carr was very good at Spurs but dipped, we got him on the cheap at 28 and he never recovered that form. He was a fallback option after we were priced out of a move for Miguel. Queudreu was very good at Boro but dipped, we're after him on the cheap at 28. We've failed to lure Heinze and it seems we won't pay the going rate for Baines/Shorey. Queudrue, like Carr, looks like the cheap fallback option. Personally I'd rather go for Baines. He's just finished his season on a high, impressed at the U21s, he could grow with the team and be our left back for the next ten years. For an extra few million, that sounds much more "sensible" to me.

Maybe they are, but I'm willing to give that one a chance. Like I say, you'll never keep everyone happy. Most signings a manager makes don't turn out how we expect them to be, there are so many variables in football, hence there will always be a split in opinion on any transfer. It's normal to question a signing if you have concerns, because there is often someone out there who could do a better job and would come, the hard part is finding them and some clubs/managers are much better than others at doing that. I see Queudreu as another Steven Carr signing. When we signed Carr he was cheap and available, the same age, from a club smaller than ourselves, he was once pretty good but his form had dipped. The only difference here is Queudreu doesn't have quite the same injury problems, though he did miss a quarter of Fulham's league games last season, and a quarter of Boro's the season before that.

Yes, you're never going to keep everyone happy. Opinion will always be split. It doesn't mean people want us to sign Dani Alves because they don't rate Luke Young, however. There is more to the transfer market.

Why? Some of the best left backs this league has seen, I hadn't heard of or knew little about before they came. Is it too much to ask that our club find one of these? We'll never unearth a top player with this kind of attitudes, that a 28 year old cheap left back becomes available from a club much smaller than ourselves, so we buy him to fill a slot because he's a proven average Premiership player who will 'do a job'. This is how we ended up with Steven Carr. Since the Premierships inception, we've never found a good full back who grew with the club. The closest we came was Bernard but he didn't make it, and that was under a manager who, for all his flaws, saw the potential value in taking chances on certain players and letting them grow with the team. I'm not even convinced Queudreu and Young are better than Babayaro and Carr, just a lot less injury prone. I won't suggest a realistic alternative, I expect my club with its massive resources to find one, or try at the very least. Other clubs manage it. I think there's far too much blind faith in Big Sam at the moment, and I can see the bubble bursting after the transfer window slams shut. I hope I'm wrong but I just don't share all the excitement in the moves we're making. I think calling these moves "sensible" depends on who we are and where we're going - if the objective is club profits then they are very sensible indeed.

If someone doesn't like the signing of Queudreu or Young, it doesn't mean they think we should sign Ashley Cole and Dani Alves. Howay let's have a bit of serious discussion. Queudreu was in good form two seasons back, someone I'd have taken a chance on a year ago, but situations change and a year on I'd give him a miss. We have been penny pinching for far too long in defence, espescially the full back positions, and it looks like we're going to do it yet again. Despite a change in management and ownership it seems this club will never learn. I expect someone is going to expect me to compile some sort of detailed list of targets now, as if I'm a professional scout.

He isn't good enough for where we want to be, he's a midtable Premiership player at best. He got an England cap and suddenly people think he's an up and coming star because they hadn't noticed of him before. He's 28 and didn't really stand out in a shocking Charlton defence. Ignore the price. Why pay £2.7M for something not good enough when double that might get you the man you need for the next 5 years. We need to stop penny pinching in defence.