midds

Hypothetical situation: Carroll/Nolan (one of the two) is seriously injured in the Wigan match. Ruled out for the rest of the season. Is this squad capable of soaking up this said hypothetical injury? Depends who we get in to replace them with. Which means no-one can answer you in this thread. Bad times.

I said exactly the same thing the season we went down.

1-1

Let's keep random speculation out of this. So you've started a thread about strengthening the squad but you're not happy about people speculating as to which positions and players we need to strengthen? Odd.

The squad isn't thin it's anorexic. Perch, Smith, Lovenkrands simply aren't good enough and it's no surprise that when we need to play more than one of them we invariably lose. It's not a coincidence. Identifying the problem is one thing, replacing them with better on the cheap is going to be virtually impossible.

Didn't expect anything from City or Spurs, they're both far, far better than us. Our next two games are fucking massive now. Need 4 points minimum from them to keep our heads above water. Move on and put it right at Wigan.

I'll upgrade my 3-0 to 4-0.

Erm.....

Any club outside the elite clubs who has an asset like Carroll will probably sell if someone offers crazy money. Look at Rooney to Man Utd, Milner to Man City, even our very own Woodgate to Real Madrid. Let's not make this another anti-Ashley thread because no matter who the chairman was, if a club offered something mental for him, they'd more than likely look closely at it. Fair point. I just think Ashley is even more likely than most chairmen/owners to flog him. He won't think twice about doing it.

Who has Ashley actually sold? His bad decisions have been about managers or wage caps, not about keeping players that will keep us in the division. He's never had a player as valuable as Carroll to sell though.

Just to qualify what I was saying last night about Carroll going to anyone who comes in with a big bid. I don't want the club to sell him and if the club was being run by different people then selling him wouldn't be an option, he'd be the one to build the team around. However we all know who's calling the shots and I honestly believe that he'll be sold sooner rather than later to the highest bidder. And there isn't a damn thing we can do about it. Newcastle is Ashley's plaything and he's proved numerous times that he doesn't give a fuck about the uproar his barmy decisions cause. I'm expecting him to be hawked around Europe's top clubs and he'll go this summer.

Simpson has surprised me. I thought he'd really struggle to make the step up but he's looked reasonably good so far. Still could be an option if Pardew needs to try something different though.

Williamson is more disciplined and his positioning is better. He holds the line well and keeps it simple. He make mistakes too obviously but he's canny enough for us atm. Taylor's really rash and a bit of a wild card. That can sometimes be a good thing but I like my defenders to be a bit boring and dull but steady and consistent. I'd still like to see all 3 (Colo, Williamson and Taylor) all play but with Taylor as RB where he's got a bit more freedom to go on the rampage and overlap Barton.

Adebayor isn't even worth discussing as a possibility.

This is where we are as a club. I don't like it any more than you and I'd fight desperately to keep him but at the end of the day we all know he'll move on to a bigger and better club where he can win things and earn megastar money. He's a diamond and this NUFC team is too small for him.

Fair enough, £40m would do it for you. My point is that if someone offers the right amount, whatever that may be, then he'll be off. Money talks.

I'd like to think that our lot can spot when they're doing it tongue in cheek.

If he keeps on improving at the rate he is then we won't be able to keep him unfortunately. He'll have ambitions and soon realise that they won't be fulfilled here whilst Ashley is running the gaff. Every player at every club has his price and Carroll's no different. That price will vary from person to person but not many would turn down something stupid like £35m in the summer if City or Chelsea want him badly enough. Reality sucks.

I'm no Taylor apologist but he was probably out of position for the first because he, like all of us, expected Krul to put his foot through it. He could have done better for it but it's down to Krul imo.

Please he's signed mainly because we'll now get a fee for him if someone comes in with a big(ish) bid for him. We'll see a lot more of him this season though.

Horses for courses. Barton HAS to play. He's our best midfielder imo and must start if he's fit. I like Routledge and his pace worries teams. I'd play him against poorer teams as he could really hurt them.

Still think it will be all the W's Wolves, Blackburn and one from West Ham, WBA, Fulham, Blackpool to join them. Won't be too much in it like. Got a hunch we'll be 'up there' with the likes of Stoke and Bolton. Christ that's depressing to type out. Come to think of it Whackburn sounds a lot better. Really think Blackburn are in genuine trouble. Neither the board nor the manager have got a clue how to go on. They're fucked. I'll be really disappointed if we don't finish above Wolves, West Ham, Wigan, Blackburn, Fulham, Blackpool or WBA. That would see us (fairly comfortably) in 13th. That's not bad.

Still think it will be all the W's Wolves, Blackburn and one from West Ham, WBA, Fulham, Blackpool to join them. Won't be too much in it like. Got a hunch we'll be 'up there' with the likes of Stoke and Bolton. Christ that's depressing to type out.

Flood the middle of the park to deny them possession and space is the way to go. They're much better than us but cutting their supply down is the key to getting a result. Don't think we will like.

Got no problem with any of that. But if a goal is conceded through lack of judgement or lack of agility/shot-stopping it doesn't make much difference - it's gone in. Krul's the future and Harper's the past. That's the thing, though. It's usually a lot easier for opponents to exploit instances of poor judgement, as we saw today. Lack of agility will cost us, but only as a last line of defence. Today we gift-wrapped a goal. You've said yourself (maybe in this thread, I'm not going to go looking) that Krul should only be dropped if he starts costing us games. Today his poor judgement cost us a goal but not the game. It's not worth losing his place over imo. Stick by him and give him the chance to learn from it.