The College Dropout

Well obviously I think we all realise that at this point. Still doesn't stop the fact that we desperately need one even if it probably won't happen. I don't think we desperately need one. The defence has shown it can be pretty solid for prolonged periods of time. If the front 6 play well the defence tends to be decent.

Unless we move Mapou on - we won't look for a CB. I'd take just a striker coming in.

When did Ajax last win anything worth winning? 1995? And Lille had 1 very good season in about 50 by the looks of it. Hardly Messi joining Olham, is it? When have we won anything? When was the last time we where in the CL? If the Eredivisie means nothing it's because of money. As a club we are European minnows. We benefit from being in the richest league of them all meaning we can afford higher wages than 90% of European teams.

The sooner football fans realise players' see this as a job - the better. Remy's just like the rest of them - except he's shown he can really play and could play at a higher level. As soon as any of them start to show that consistency in top performances they'll do the same. If Steven Taylor was a world beater he'd be off in a shot. Reading this thread is making me laugh. Someone said "none of those players mentioned turned us down for a worse team purely for more money". I've said this many times but we've signed first team regulars from championship winning Lille and fucking Ajax. I'm sure we'd comfortably lose to both teams. Both teams constantly play in the PL. All these fancy players that join us do so for the money and the opportunity of a big move.

Nothing wrong with his attitude on the pitch and seemingly in training. Commitment? He's a committed player. Career-wise - why would he be committed to NUFC?

Ashley will be livid - what's his sell-on value if he can't find a club to take him for 8m after last season?

They were below us tbf. Yes but i'm talking about performances.

We would have got more money for Cabaye this summer. If he had continued the good form, scored 10-15 he would have gone for 20+ i'm sure.

Southampton played better than their results / points showed. At least when the going was good it was very good. Which is why i'm not sure about Pocchetino at Spurs - they'll expect results. You look at how they beat us 3-0 or whatever it was. They totally outplayed us for 90 minutes on the front foot. We never do that.

That was like a run of 3 games. I'm not sure about Mapou - he hasn't shown much to me at all but he's rarely been given the chance. As we are in desperate need of a striker I would prefer he stay.. we'll need him at some point and I hope he can show some real quality.

Disagree a bit. Formations aren't the be all but they are very important. Of course how you play within that is more important and can differ dramatically. The 4-4-2's used by Real, Atletico and City last season at various points are all very different.

I wasn't dissappointed at all. £35m? Bloody brilliant. He never struck me as having 35m potential.

A 4-3-3 requires 3 forwards. Pardew doesn't like to play with 3 forwards. His 4-2-3-1 is a 4-4-1-1. The attacking midfielder is clearly ahead of the wide men without the ball and often with the ball unles said wide man is attacking. That's the one reason I didn't mind Gouff there as he used to make an effort to join the attack.

It's 4411.

Chile have played in a similar fashion for pretty much 5 years straight. Biesla laid the blueprint and they've largely stuck to it. We've got Alan.

4-2-3-1 is basically a 4-4-1-1 in a team like ours anyway.

Atletico Madrid won La Liga often playing 4-4-2. Likewise some of Real Madrid's best performances came in a 4-4-2. We don't have the personnel for 4-4-2 or the manager for 3-5-2.

Can the players brought in replace the goals and assists of Cabaye & Remy? That's 21 goals and at least 4 assists. Think we'll struggle for goals again without a new striker. I'd take only 1 good striker as the last of our dealings. CM / Widemen we can get by on and finish top half with a 15 goal striker.

This is the best Arsenal side since they sold Fabregas and Nasri in the same window. Top 4 guaranteed.

Gerrard's positionally flexible in terms of where he plays but tactically he's very rigid. As in he plays very much as an individual. Which can happen when you're the star player for a decade.

Except he's really quite good. very. He doesn't suit their successful formations of last year and they already have Isco.

James is the most pointless signing in football history.

I don't entirely disagree with your point, but Sturridge has had more than one season in the first team. He had a half season with Bolton when he was the main striker, was an important part of Chelsea's squad the year they won the CL, and walked into Liverpool's first team after being injured for most of the early season (at Chelsea). Half a season at Bolton. Half a season under AVB he was out the team when they got it together. Another half with Liverpool. He should have had 3 or 4 seasons of regular football.

It would help if more English players explored opportunities in other leagues. you need to play somewhere first.

Biggest problem is young English players don't play enough in the PL, CL and now in the national team. Forget Germany & Spain, we won't even get to the level we where at in the 90's / 00's. Daniel Sturridge is 24 - only had 1 full season of first team action and has just the 15 caps. I don't think he's significantly less talented than a Muller. But his opportunities have been far less.