James

Sven is an international class manager and had a year to scout the players he brought in. Proves that it can be done though. s*** team + Good manager + flair players = Entertaining football But...there's no comparison mate. Not now there isn't but before Allardyce and Sven were appointed Newcastle and Man City were in a similar situation. They weren't in a similar situation at all, as Sven inherited a good spine of players that takes time to develop, he just needed to wisely add to these players. Dunne, Richards... ... ...the goalkeepers, Ireland, Hamann, Mpenza, Johnson, Ball. All these players were already there and would have developed a good understanding of one another in training. In reality, Sven has added Elano, Corluka and Petrov to an existing squad, and reaped the rewards similarly to how Robson did with Robert and Bellamy.

Sven is an international class manager and had a year to scout the players he brought in. Proves that it can be done though. s*** team + Good manager + flair players = Entertaining football But...there's no comparison mate. Not now there isn't but before Allardyce and Sven were appointed Newcastle and Man City were in a similar situation. They weren't in a similar situation at all, as Sven inherited a good spine of players that takes time to develop, he just needed to wisely add to these players.

Also Manchester City started out with a better spine to their team.

Who? Ashley Young's brother. Meant to be better throughout all the youth teams.

We don't know whether those are wise words until we see how the players react. If they react well, it is good man-management. If they react badly, it is the end of Allardyce.

Anelka Arshavin Lewis Young

So are people disputing what Robson says about strikers being better at converting chances from one flank opposed to the other? Owen has always been more prolific from crosses from the right hand side (although that doesn't mean that he doesn't sometimes convert crosses from the left), as has Martins at Newcastle. I had mentioned Viduka versus West Ham - He clearly prefers it from the left, the only question is whether he can keep up. The bottom line is that we need to get our right hand flank sorted, preferably with a pacy player so that we can provide crosses that Owen and Martins stand a better chance of converting.

Whoops, my mistake.

6.8m Euros = £4.2m It was 9.3m Euros though It wasn't. One of the newspapers cocked up by putting the Euro price down as pounds sterling, and people with poor memories subsequently start coming out with the £7m price as its just another negative to beat people with.

Why do people keep suggesting Hutton when our best player is a right back?

A midfielder? Well lets put it this way: whenever one of the numerous Martins fanboys on here describe the talents of Obafemi Martins, they are actually describing the talents of Sulley Muntari, many of which do actually not apply to Obafemi Martins.

A dream player. Everything Martins should be but isn't.

Lets hope when the time comes, be it tomorrow or in five years time, that Ashley and Mort don't listen to people like you.

Ideally, yes. But who was the better full back? I was only 15 or so at the time, so my judgement of Domi is blinded by his assists and not his overall contribution, I'm just interested to hear what older people think.

Beye now or Domi then, who would you choose?

6.8m Euros = £4.2m

Aye, like I said in the opening post, its not just about speed, the player needs to know how to use that speed to best effect. For example, Martins can run 100m in less than 11 seconds, yet I dont think I have ever seen him make a quick and effective forward run that is going to stretch our opponent.

Bottom line is, you couldn't buy the quality we got on the right hand side from Solano and Dyer for £12.5m What quality did Dyer provide like? See pace thread.

Certainly from late November when he returned, the team became more urgent, found more space on the ball in dangerous areas, scored more goals and won more matches, and this carried on until his performaces started to become more gutless from Late January/February.

I'm torn 50-50 as to whether he uses his pace well. I'm not sure either that he is quite as quick as he was, he seems to have stockened up at the expense of his pace.

The only player at the club who has pace and consistently knows how to use it, is Habib Beye. We were in the same situation last season and producing poor results as we just weren't stretching our opponents, but were rescued by an in-form and fit Dyer during December and January. Now, with Dyer gone, who is going to rescue us by providing an injection of pace that we urgently need?

Bottom line is, you couldn't buy the quality we got on the right hand side from Solano and Dyer for £12.5m

He lost his ability to be a non-tool years and years ago. When he joined Radio Newcastle, actually. You don't agree with him then? To be fair, that phrase is a cliche of Mick Lowes that he wheels out during every bad spell.

Look at his reaction to the goals against Fulham and Birmingham. He wants to win. After Allardyce was appointed, one poster (HTT) predicted that Allardyce's stubbornessand long term approach would make him very unpopular with a large portion of NUFC fans, particularly those whom are stubborn or impatient. This is pretty much coming true now, not trying to be patronising or anything, just acknowledging that Allardyce has a personality that will make many fans dislike him. In my point of view, us this season equals Aston Villa last season. Last season, Villa were producing very poor and mediocre stuff. This season, they are one of the teams that I want to watch. Allardyce needs more time, he has inherited a team with awful balance, and it can be difficult to realise this if you are coming in from the outside. So because one poster is of an opinion it must be true? That's not patronising, just ridiculous. It was not an opinion, it was a prediction, and whether its right or wrong, this prediction has certainly come true. But its not a prediction, its saying those who may become unhappy with SA are such and such. It is a prediction by HTT that Allardyce's stubborness would make him unpopular with stubborn fans, and it is my opinion that this has come true, and this opinion is based onposts I have read by posters (not yourself) who I perceive as being stubborn. It's my prediction that Allardyce's stubbornness will make him unpopular amongst fans with half a brain, the ones who can see that 433 doesn'tr work with the current players and that a major rehaul of the squad is needed for it to be affective so playing 442, what we know and what the players like is beneficial to the club in its current season and for following seasons as it will build be a winning mentality, build up reputation and bring good players into the club who can then possibly play 433 at a later date. Stubborn, impatient, logical and intelligent, yep its all the same in this context. And in my opinion, this may also come true.

That is quite rich from someone who has spent months crying out for a 433 formation.