toontownman

Attitude over talent. Dangerous game whichever way you play it. Pardew clearly rates the latter "in his eyes". True gutter Hatem can't get a reprieve. Would be a huge boost having him back with Cabella on the left and Siem in the middle. Pardew didn't seem to mention "Chucky" either for what its worth. But maybe that's either a name I missed Pardew talking about or certainly for another thread.

Agree. Standing a guy with dubious composure up top on his own is a recipe for disaster. It was his first game. Let's not draw definite conlusions quite yet. Why not? Everyone declared Ba was s**** after his first game and we know that view turned out to be correct I don't remember anyone doing that on here. He's hardly Ba, like. Ba had a track record of scoring goals. These are the days where I am going to miss Cajun more than any other. He was one of the few who stuck up for Ba back then and yes it was based on his goal scoring pedigree. But even if he didn't score Riviere held the ball up better than I expected and led the line pretty well considering he was the only player in the opposition half at times. Rough Diamond to be sure. First touch was hit and miss at times, when it was heavy it was ugly. However, great strength and pace on show. Composure is the key word, hopefully when he settles and his team mates get to know him things will click more. He will get nothing if we don't support him though and continue to "respect" the opposition too much and play 10 players in our own half most of the game.

Same old story in defense, same old story with zero support for our striker in attack. Same old story with playing 10 men in our own half, too respectful but maybe to be expected against a superior citeh team that look up for it at least in defense. Dissapointing switch off from janmaat for the goal. We have looked slightly better than last season in general though with new signings looking decent and sissoko/Anita/Gouffran putting in decent shifts. Can see us picking up a few wins this season.

Am interested to see how he fares if we can truly create some movement around him and create chances for him. Wouldn't fully write him off yet.

Damn right he should be thankful to Ashley. Next to any other owner would have sent Pardew packing years ago, or wiser still never hired him in the first place. Utter bilge from our sad excuse for a manager. Making us look even more stupid when we get trounced on Sunday.

http://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/2014/clement-greniers-agent-confirms-newcastle-interest/ Should put this one to bed. Been multiple confirmations that he is interested in a move but just not to us. Too bad.

Can he play down the flanks? All joking aside.. We do need someone that can play the Remy role but on the right. We have papiss, Manu and facundo all vying for the centre.

Too bad. Remy won't drop his wage demands either. We will gamble with no Proven goalscorer until at least January. Dangerous. I could cope if we signed another winger for the right and Grenier to supply the strikers we have. On the upside it might backfire on pardew and be worth the misery.

Actually seems like he is using his brain, bigging him up and putting him in the shop window. Hard to believe he would be that cunning though. More likely he is forcing his way back into he starting lineup.

Heightens the need for getting Grenier tbh. Really missing creativity through the middle.

Tbf to Butt, in between his post manure blues and him being to old and slow, he played really well for us. Wouldn't put him amongst the others. As for Zaha 7m is a good deal. No chance there is truth in it though.

Been linked before to us and he is pretty highly rated. Supposed to be heading for Southampton though. Plus spending 10m on a defender....

Just can't see us signing anymore, that's 9 already. Unless we are serious about improving maybe a Grenier or Remy after all. What horrific hell is round the corner - Krul, Sissoko and Mbiwa out probably I would def suggest HBA for Grenier plus some cash, say 5-6 million, HBA is done here and Lyon may just take that. Think they would take that, however Hatem has no interest in dropping his wages and Grenier by all accounts has the same amount of interest Remy does in coming here. Doesn't mean we won't end up with both, but it's definitely on the unlikely side of possible.

Oh crap, we have sold him already. That didn't last long.

Burnley would never go for that, an interesting idea though.

Pardew is gutted he came through unscathed.

More importantly what does Lacassete think of us signing Lascelles?

Nice to be getting some potentially decent British players but where does that leave the youth we have? Satka - the new colo Good - rated highly in the oz setup and played well here and on loan before his injury Streete - also highly rated As mentioned we need a cb for now, not a year or two.

Well if we have been tracking him over 3 years we are probably fairly confident he will adapt and do ok. The loan just gives us a get out option if not.

He is back in the squad properly isn't he. Ameobi syndrome, he has more tools to be a success than the former but its only down to him to realise that and be confident and use his natural talent. Looked mint in pre-season for Manure just before we signed him too. :'(

Nowt like a good overreaction. There is literally 0% chance that we're looking for any more midfielders to be honest. And for me, Cabaye was best in the number 10 role (the 5th season) so the fact we've bought two players who could be considered number 10s suggests we think we've replaced him. If Grenier is available at the right price and interested we will get him. We have been linked with him since before Christmas. Another midfielder has been touted to be on our list all summer and still up to this week. If you nullify our winger we have nothing through the middle... You will have to excuse the negativity but performances like yesterday have been the norm for the past six months. If we don't have someone capable of holding the ball and creating from deep the wingers get cut out of the game easily, in turn the strikers are useless and we go back to long ball. Likewise protecting our back four. While Tiote will bring some protection, I am not convinced by Moussa through the middle with how we want to play, maybe it will work. Anita and Colback are industrious but not to be relied upon for a long ball or pass that will open up defenses. Siem is going to add what we have been missing since Nolan, and a whole lot more. If he is injured or marked out of the game, we are back to square one. After De Jong arrival, we probably won't play with a Cabaye type deep lying playmaker. De Jong as a no 10 and 2 defending midfielders. Counter attacking football and 4-4-1-1 it seems. Maybe, would just be nice to have options either way when the injuries hit or if god forbid our tactics aren't working and a formation change is needed.

Sammy/Ferguson/Aaron's all looked exciting and promising when they burst on the scene. Given our coaching teams success with ruining the careers of the former two we certainly shouldn't be too excited. Really had high hopes for Fergie especially, looked like he had pace, decent control, good cross and got stuck in. Sammy like Shola had all the tools but just doesn't have that mental switch turned on to take him further. Either way neither got a fair chance to prove themselves.

Definitely should be gettin some playing time with the first team this year. Great performances in preseason, reminds me of Lennon. Fergie had similar impact when he emerged for us but Aaron's is far more rapid. Exciting.

Doesn't mark overlapping right back when tracking back. Will never make it here.

What's with all the good looking women on livesport1. Best post match ever.