midds

No holding midfielder? It's onl... Nah, I'll not tempt it.

Our supposed good reputation in France could be on its way down the shitter as we type I can recall how we slagged the Deportivo chairman off a few years ago for messing us about and moving the goalposts. I think Llambias is even worse.

Fwiw Fair point.

Get the impression we're absolute arseholes to deal with in negotiations.

This is not an option. It would be unforgivable to go a full year without adequately replacing a striker we received £35 million for. Not saying I like the prospect. It's just about do-able and the exact thing I'm expecting to happen.

We need a striker. End of. I know.

Honestly think Ben Arfa will be used as one of our strikers and will always start if fit (I know). It's Ben Arfa and someone else at the minute. He could play behind either Ba, Shola or Best. We've got 4 names there (plus Lovenkrands) so, although we clearly need more quality up front, we could just about muddle through to January with what we've already got if we absolutely had to. Not ideal but do-able.

Either/or tbh. They'll both be an upgrade on Taylor (despite his free-kick) and would be very welcome thank you very much

Let's hope that continues as we don't exactly have an eye for the oppositions goal atm! looking at our fixtures i dont see why not. after coming out well from two tough-ish games (i say ish cos arsenal look as bad as they've been in well over a decade and we always give the mackems a good game) we have some very winnable matches coming up. Definitely. If we can go into the first international break with 7 points, that's an excellent platform to build on. It takes the pressure off and means we can have a real go at getting up to about 25/30 points by Xmas. All the better if we can get a LB and a striker in to bolster things a bit. It's there for us.

Tavernier is at Carlisle on loan. Is he? Completely missed that one.

Where is that from? Some fucking idiot from their 'Echo Jury'. Michael Tuckwell he's called but I could have picked any of them tbh.

Listen to this fucking nonsense: "So, with no finishing product, we yet again (and predictably) concede from a set-piece, get a player sent off and lose three points to a team we should be thrashing, especially at home. I now fear for our European challenge because more pathetic performances like that against other lesser teams and it's just another season of just scraping by." Now, just a few things. This thrashing they were supposed to give us - they've beaten us once in 31 years at home. Even that was only a 2-1 defeat. They've not managed to keep a clean sheet against us in 23 attempts.... Lesser teams? They've managed to muster a whopping 17 points from their last 22 games. This record includes taking just 7 points out of 33 at home in 2011. They've lost 8 of their last 9 at home. European challenge? They'll be lucky to stay in the division if they can't snap out of this extended run of form - it's not a blip of a few games it's two thirds of a season. And they call us deluded? Fuck me.

It's not getting locked. The option of not opening the thread is always there. (The Ashely thread was locked by the OP)

Can't see QPR turning his head, it's hardly the best career move for him is it? I think he'd prefer to spend the season up here and either sign a new deal or go on a Bosman. That said, the club have put him on the list for a free transfer so he's in the same position as a Bosman now.

If his head isn't right and he's not going to play, what's the point in keeping him? If he's not going to be sold, play him.

Not fixtures btw. These are results since Feb '11: Home Chelsea Lost Away Stoke Lost Home Spurs Lost Away Everton Lost Away Arsenal Draw Home Liverpool Lost Away Man City Lost Home West Brom Lost Away Birmingham Lost Home Wigan Won Home Fulham Lost Away Bolton Won Home Wolves Lost Away West Ham Won Away Liverpool Draw Home Newcastle Lost Wins - 3 Losses - 11 Draws - 2 Points - 11 Possible Points - 48 Read more: http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?p=10616518#post10616518#ixzz1Vhp0L6Rm Fucking hell....

17 points from the last 66 available. 7 points from the last 33 at home. Best team in 50 years though. Obviously...

Absolutely.

http://www.newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/index.php/topic,19161.0.html ...from the rules and guidelines you were asked to read when you signed up.

I beg to differ tbh. I'd happily take another bottom half finish (as long as we're not in danger) as opposed to finishing 8th-10th if it helped us get to the League Cup semi's giving us a decent chance of winning something. It's been too long since we had a good cup run and we're not going to win the league any time shortly. That's fair enough. It has been too long since we won something and realistically this Cup is our best chance of doing it. I'm just saying we shouldn't be putting our first XI out on Thursday night knowing we've got Fulham on Sunday afternoon. Mix a few young lads in with a few older heads whilst giving players like Tiote games to get him up to speed. Oh I agree because we shouldn't need to put a full-strength side out against Scunthorpe to get the win. I went to the 4-0 home defeat versus Arsenal last year and was pissed off that we'd fucked off another chance to have a good go at winning a trophy by playing a weakened side. But a few days later I was torn because we beat the mackems 5-1. In hindsight I'll forgive it because it was our first season back up in the top flight and matches against Sunderland are a special case, but in general we're not in a position to basically deliberately lose a cup match when we've went such a pathetic amount of time without a trophy. And seen the likes of Birmingham, Leicester and Portsmouth win trophies in the mean time. I'd be astonished and annoyed if any of our lot genuinely wanted that tbh. I want us to win every game but some games (and competitions) are more important than others. The team we put out against Arsenal that night was akin to deliberately losing the game imo, we wanted to get it over with and move on. I was on about the fans like, but it's a fair point well made.

I beg to differ tbh. I'd happily take another bottom half finish (as long as we're not in danger) as opposed to finishing 8th-10th if it helped us get to the League Cup semi's giving us a decent chance of winning something. It's been too long since we had a good cup run and we're not going to win the league any time shortly. That's fair enough. It has been too long since we won something and realistically this Cup is our best chance of doing it. I'm just saying we shouldn't be putting our first XI out on Thursday night knowing we've got Fulham on Sunday afternoon. Mix a few young lads in with a few older heads whilst giving players like Tiote games to get him up to speed. Oh I agree because we shouldn't need to put a full-strength side out against Scunthorpe to get the win. I went to the 4-0 home defeat versus Arsenal last year and was pissed off that we'd fucked off another chance to have a good go at winning a trophy by playing a weakened side. But a few days later I was torn because we beat the mackems 5-1. In hindsight I'll forgive it because it was our first season back up in the top flight and matches against Sunderland are a special case, but in general we're not in a position to basically deliberately lose a cup match when we've went such a pathetic amount of time without a trophy. And seen the likes of Birmingham, Leicester and Portsmouth win trophies in the mean time. I'd be astonished and annoyed if any of our lot genuinely wanted that tbh. I want us to win every game but some games (and competitions) are more important than others.

I beg to differ tbh. I'd happily take another bottom half finish (as long as we're not in danger) as opposed to finishing 8th-10th if it helped us get to the League Cup semi's giving us a decent chance of winning something. It's been too long since we had a good cup run and we're not going to win the league any time shortly. That's fair enough. It has been too long since we won something and realistically this Cup is our best chance of doing it. I'm just saying we shouldn't be putting our first XI out on Thursday night knowing we've got Fulham on Sunday afternoon. Mix a few young lads in with a few older heads whilst giving players like Tiote games to get him up to speed.

It's always tough to balance between putting out a side strong enough to beat Scunthorpe (or whoever) whilst not jeopardising the chances of winning the following league game. The League will always be more important than Carling Cup. I'd be tempted to start with Best and/or Ba up front. I'd like to see Vuckic and Abeid get a full game each, Tiote needs another hour, Marveaux needs to start. I'd rest Cabaye and start Gosling. Perch (if fit) could start along with Williamson and Tavernier. It's all about rotation and giving whoever needs games/fitness what they need.

The praise got progressively bitter towards the end. He's not given the Sunderland ratings I notice... Bearing in mind he's admitted we deserved it I'd like to what he made of his own players after slagging many of our lot off.

Credit where it's due, Pardew got it spot on today.