midds

I like Danny Guthrie more than I did half an hour ago, if that's any consolation?

Pretty much word for word what I'd write. Also need another striker as a priority though/ Well, I dunno. We have Xisco and Best sitting there. To an extent, they're unknowns. Best looked good in pre-season, and Xisco I still feel has talent if we don't just let him rot. We're never gonna get anyone as good as Carroll in January. Either of those two may prove to be as good as anything we could get. But yes, if they are both poor then we need another striker. It's spot on.

Pretty much word for word what I'd write. Also need another striker as a priority though/

I'd pick a back 4, a balanced midfield 4, Carroll up top and Ben Arfa can roam and do what the fuck he likes. Complete freedom.

You know, I am of the opinion that footballers should motivate themselves. If Nile isn't driven by the desire to think "I am going to be NUFC's main strike partner for Andy", then no amount of varying management techniques will work. Not disputing his attitude needs sorting. I'm disputing how Pardew is going about it. surprising thing is it's a quite keeganesque thing to do. Keegan was bullet-proof when he did it though. (You're thinking Beresford and Clark obviously.)

You know, I am of the opinion that footballers should motivate themselves. If Nile isn't driven by the desire to think "I am going to be NUFC's main strike partner for Andy", then no amount of varying management techniques will work. Not disputing his attitude needs sorting. I'm disputing how Pardew is going about it.

We don't know yet whether this is has made the situation worse. Only the people inside the club will be able to gauge that by studying Nile over the next few weeks. Yeah we'll have to wait and see how he reacts but I think Pardew should have kept it to himself rather than telling the hacks in the media. We'll see.

Well that could have gone for a lot more footballers than Ranger through history, footballers are like everybody else. They need to be managed and nobody is saying anything other than that in this case. Where the difference in opinion comes into it is how he's managed. Exactly. Some need the iron fist and some need the velvet glove. The key to being a good manager is to know how to get the best from each and every player. Bollocking Ranger in public makes the situation worse. Rank bad management from Pardew. Perhaps Pardew has identified embarrassing him in the media as the way to get a response. Maybe? Public humiliation rarely motivates imo though. Possibly the worst thing he could have done as it'll only inflame the situation.

Well that could have gone for a lot more footballers than Ranger through history, footballers are like everybody else. They need to be managed and nobody is saying anything other than that in this case. Where the difference in opinion comes into it is how he's managed. Exactly. Some need the iron fist and some need the velvet glove. The key to being a good manager is to know how to get the best from each and every player. Bollocking Ranger in public makes the situation worse. Rank bad management from Pardew.

he was. Thanks for being honest. Loads of people were saying exactly the same and wanting him subbed before he walked during the game tbh. We're not blind!

Pardew has an obligation to pick the team he feels has the best chance of getting a result. If that means playing an arsehole then so be it. If he wants to discipline any player then he should be doing it behind closed doors and picking him when it matters. Pardew making it personal and snubbing him doesn't help us win. (Not disputing or condoning Ranger's indiscipline off the field btw)

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. Erm, we're not replacing him. That was the whole point of the question. Is the current squad capable of soaking up injuries to key players? If it's not - obviously it isn't - then there is a definite need to strengthen. So yeah, try harder next time. In that case the answer to your question is no. Some people might say yes. It'll be riveting to see how it pans out.

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.