BottledDog

Mmm... The same shit team who got a great 1-0 win at Everton and have since been took over by a new owner and have signed Barton SWP and Ferdinand... Not saying they ate worldbeaters but let's not get carried away... Classic NUFC banana skin awaiting us in front of the watching millions... I think we need to remember that despite the results we have been over run for large periods in all 4 games this season... Would love to say I don't have your fear as well, but, no, have it in spades. Barton is bound to have a major impact on the game as well. Just hope to God that it's the 'have fight with Taraabt and both get sent off' kind, rather than the 'sets up two, then scores the third' kind.

Hmmm, I'll believe it when we sign someone in January. Surely it's a bit pointless even discussing January already. /besides, I bet he's talking about a replacement for Jonas and HBA there, not a striker.

He has been pony like. Be great if both he and Simpson start kicking on again against QPR. /that said, knowing our luck Cabaye has just been in a purple patch and is, in actual fact, turboshit.

At least I had the decency to use the players we'd had available in our last fixture, and then included the list of injured / unavailable players and mentioned the fact that they'd displace a couple of the team that started that match - you've chosen a team that was down to the bare bones on the very last day of the season and decided to misrepresent that as the top choice first team. The simple facts are that the squad is still bereft of proven quality once you get past the first 11, backed up with a reserve squad of mostly cheap misfits and development players. The simple facts are that I feel more positive about the squad we have this season than the one at the end of last season, and you don't. Lets leave it at that. /obviously, as always, we all wish it could be better.

There is absolutely no chance we are deliberately making bids we know will fail. I don't believe that for a second. What about January's last minute, knee-jerk bid for N'zogbia? If there was one chairman that Ashley could almost guarantee wouldn't accept his bid, it'd be Dave Whelan. IMO that was exactly why it was the only bid made. How would that benefit us or Ashley though? At the time, it was just another thing to get frustrated and angry about. In fact Whelan was the only one to gain anything by being able to crow that he had got one over Mike and turned us down. In fact Pardew has since denied we'd actually made any bid (just sounded out a number of players, but never went further as we were fucked for time) so maybe it was just Whelan and Sky playing silly buggers in the end.

You've got Jonas covering both wings by the way... I honestly cannot see how either of you can say that the bench is noticably strenghtened tough as the only real difference there is the addition of either Obertan or Marveux. One player added to a list of dubious quality and that's if we can ever get that first team out fit and playing together and then we get Smith, Guthrie or development players on the bench. We had Ba on the bench as well. A bit of an upgrade on Kuqi don't you think? In this example that was posted I think that you'll find that Ba is in the starting 11. An upgrade on Kuqi, but so were our other misfit forwards last season, but an upgrade on Andy Carroll? Sorry, was referring to the teams we posted, but aye, obviously not an upgrade on AC (but then, I'd already pointed that out in my previous post). An upgrade on what we had at the end of last season though which is what you challenged... still yes.

Good to hear.

You've got Jonas covering both wings by the way... I honestly cannot see how either of you can say that the bench is noticably strenghtened tough as the only real difference there is the addition of either Obertan or Marveux. One player added to a list of dubious quality and that's if we can ever get that first team out fit and playing together and then we get Smith, Guthrie or development players on the bench. We had Ba on the bench as well. A bit of an upgrade on Kuqi don't you think?

Really? Here's the team from the last match. Krul, Simpson, Ryan Taylor, Steven Taylor, Coloccini, Cabaye, Tiote, Obertan, Best, Lovenkrands, Gutierrez Soderberg, Ba, Vuckic, Smith, Marveaux, Sammy Ameobi, Ferguson Sorry, but that bench doesn't look too strong to me as we've got 4 development players on there that have yet to prove themselves up to the level required (one of which hasn't had a 1st team game for that matter), a player coming back from a serious injury, a striker who is looking out of shape and Alan Smith, who actually got time on the field. Of course that team would have had Ben Arfa, Santon, Shoala, Williamson and Harper in if they were fit / available, but then Ben Arfa and Santon would be in the starting 11 in place of Lovenkrands and Ryan Taylor. The transfer business over the summer did nothing to strengthen the squad, and it is still uncertain whether the players are adequate replacements for those leaving, never mind an improvment. Yes, really. Here's the team at the end of last season. Krul Simpson Jose Enrique Coloccini Steven Taylor Ryan Taylor Barton Guthrie Shola Ameobi Lovenkrands Ferguson Substitutes: LuaLua Smith Best Soderberg Ranger Tavernier Kuqi Comparing the two, I'm still a good deal happier and more positive with the current lot (team on the pitch and subs).

The 'tweets', if accurate, add a bit more of an insight than that article to be fair.

What's bullshit? He's basically saying people are right to criticise the board. Well said Pardew me owld sun. If we did bid for Ruiz mind, I hope he means prior to him winging his way into London, otherwise that's about as terrifyingly knee-jerk as you can get.

Staple gun or hole punch?

He's right. HBA's still knacked, and it's a pisser that Vukic and Abeid are out for a couple of weeks, and yes yes yes we still need a fkn number 9, but just looking at the bench we have mustered this season compared to where we finished last season makes me a good deal happier about the squad to be honest.

Shola, Lovenkrands and Best are among our four current best strikers. How can our B targets not be better options than them? Well any transfer is a gamble, and it's possible to spend a lot of money and not end up with a better option. But I find the way you've put the dilemma quite strange. Instead of looking at the players you don't rate that highly and saying we can find someone better, shouldn't we be aiming to get in the best player that we can possibly land? At the least, better than Ba, who I assume you feel is our best striker at the moment. To put it another way, if all we end up with is someone marginally better than our weaker players (as you define them), would it not be better to wait? Unless what we've seen of Ba is very misleading we are still missing a Bellamy type of player who will run down the channels and play off the big man. The two we have are Ben Arfa possibly, and Lovenkrands who is not fit for this level. Relying on Ben Arfa to be fit for most of this season is optimistic at this time when no one knows how completely he's recovered from a serious setback. So yes we should have brought someone in. Even Bellamy himself if no one else was available. I'm sure he would have preferred first team football here to sitting on Liverpool's bench. Don't forget Obertan was hinting that he hoped to move into a more advanced striking role when we bought him. Not saying that I'd particularly want him there myself on what I've seen (and I can't see him getting many games up front now Barton has gone), but you never know. /If Pards can flick a switch on his lightbulb heed, there may just be a 20 goal a season striker hidden in there somewhere... maybe.

yep. if you want players to be available without release clauses or with 6 months left on their contract, you've got to make them available by bidding higher than the market value. not gonna happen. Aye, Santon this summer, or Tiote (and I suppose Perch) last summer never happened (nor the majority of players we have brought in under Ashley).

We do, but really not a fan of N'Gog at all (possibly unfairly). Just realised that Tuncay was a loan. There probably would have been some grief if we brought him in, but if he was still available late in the window, I'd have been happy to take a punt on him for a few months.

So who was there that teams around us got that would have been 'b' grade upgrades (though obviously some had moved by the time we were struggling)? Yakubu Jordan Slew Tuncay Ngog Orlando Sa Steve Morison DJ Campbell Jay Bothroyd Ji Dong-won Danny Graham Leroy Lita Shaun Maloney Nouha Dicko Hell even some of the 'a' grade players like Peter Crouch at £12m I'd struggle with, and I can't say I'd have been jumping up and down at being stuck with any of those on on 4/5 year contracts (or even Bentner on loan considering he's not that far removed from Best or Shola to a point). It's ridiculous that we didn't get a top striker in, but if we do struggle through and get him in the next window (yes, it's a big if), then I'd prefer to wait.

There's no fooling some.

So he chose QPR above a top 6 club because they offered to pay him more, though that may only last for just the one year? Seems pretty mercenary.

On a more serious, releated note. Did someone not say he's recently invested in some well-known French brand? Probably why tbf, raising profiles and all that. I think the recent one he bought was 'No Fear' (who I think are American). SD though are looking to open stores in France, but I really don't think that relates to us or affects our transfer policy. The very simple reason we are buying players from the French league, or players like Santon and Tiote from other leagues is that with good scouting, we can pick up impressive young(ish) players who are willing to come to us, for relatively reasonable prices. Considering the only players we have actually bought from France under Ashley are Cabaye and Ben Arfa (Abeid, Marveaux were unattached but I guess could also be included), I'd be delighted if we feel we can pick up any more players like that from there. Bullshit. How's that then?

Oh joy. What the ferk is a 'flex faced box'?

On a more serious, releated note. Did someone not say he's recently invested in some well-known French brand? Probably why tbf, raising profiles and all that. I think the recent one he bought was 'No Fear' (who I think are American). SD though are looking to open stores in France, but I really don't think that relates to us or affects our transfer policy. The very simple reason we are buying players from the French league, or players like Santon and Tiote from other leagues is that with good scouting, we can pick up impressive young(ish) players who are willing to come to us, for relatively reasonable prices. Considering the only players we have actually bought from France under Ashley are Cabaye and Ben Arfa (Abeid, Marveaux were unattached but I guess could also be included), I'd be delighted if we feel we can pick up any more players like that from there.

What bollocks.

Sounds like he's happy on the left then, and is not right footed as people were saying. Anyone know what position did he play last night captaining the u21s?