The College Dropout

Getting beaten 1-5 at home to Birmingham still beats it, for me. Just. We seem to have little fight with a midfield that just seems to stand off and lolop back and forward with little purporse. I'm burying my head in the sand these days, unfortunately, there is simply too much wrong to even begin analysing it. I need a drink.

Only 1-0 lads.....

I'd like to see them pass the ball to each other.

99 caps and out Y'know He'll get the 100. If only to do a Baggio.

Tomorrow 8:30. Listening to 5live. Apparently Capello wants the job. lol. Y'know he made a positive impact when he came on.

What has happened to Bridge? Woeful Lescott struggles at this level. Campbell is past-it by atleast 2 years. Gerrard. Woeful.

agree. also don't know why people are touting hughes for working on a budget and have a tough side. big sam had the same kind record at bolton, only better. the job requirements at newcastle aren't about working on a shoestring budget or making a side tough and workmanlike, finding bargains for less than a million is no guarantee that a manager will spend bigger sums just as wisely, it could be that they spend the best part of £12m on joey barton and alan smith. Blackburn play far better football than Bolton ever did.

Hughes. Did what he needed to do when he first arrived. The Blackburn side he inherited had many awful players. And unlike Redknapp, MON and Jol he's built a very good side with a very tight budget and got them playing good football. He made use of Emerton. I'm sure that New Zealand character (forgot his name) and Christopher Samba were bought for less than a combined £2m. When he sold his best player (Bellamy)he replaced him with someone even more productive (McCarthy). in the summer I would have wanted him, Ramos or big Sam so i'm not too worried.

No, in fairness, I think he has done a good job too, especially working with that s*** board. lol. He got alot back from what he spent so I don't think his net spending would be that high. He bought the likes of Pennant & Heskey for around £10M and got most of it back. Made a profit on Upson as well.

If's, but's The lad is a liability.

with the new tv deal i think there's plenty of teams who could pay his wages and plenty would make a special case for owen as he has such a high reputation. wigan, spurs and west ham are the three who would probably be most interested, but i could also see the likes of villa and birmingham backed by their new owners making a speculative bid. i don't think there'd be any shortage of takers at all, the problem is, would Owen want to move to any of those clubs? as i've said elsewhere i think the best he can hope for is that man utd or chelsea make a bid for him and use him as a squad player who plays sparingly, the kind of way Man Utd use Giggs or Saha, as that is the very best he can possibly hope for these days. Wigan? Birmingham? He'll never go there. Villa? Sideways step. Spurs? Maybe. if they threw in Defoe or Bent as part of the deal. Yet Keane is one of their best players and is in great form. And the top 4 don't want him. Only realistically leaves Man City.

Who would buy him though and be able to pay is wages? The only team I can think of is Manchester City.

I thought Sir Bob died. **sighs**

I always fancy us to beat the Scousers at home.

At the very least the Scots can be proud of their team. When was the last time the English could say the same? Kinda gutted for them tbh.

Ouch.

Sell.

This. I'd say N'Zogbia (lol). He seems to be the only one guaranteed to start.

With all Ashleys money. I would of thought Sam chose not to spend all the money available. Wasn't like we where priced out of players. We spent £6m on Smith. They spent £6m on Elano. Pisses me off a little bit tbh.

I don't think Rafa fancies Owen that much either.

I hope your right HTT. Part of my recent disdain for Big Sam is how quickly another manager (Sven) has got his team playing his football successfully. I thought Sam would start better than Sven. btw why Aidy Boothroyd?

To your first question HTT. I ask because it's clear you've put in the time and thought to really analyze the future movements of Big Sam. I personally can hardly ever be bothered to type more than one 5 line paragraph. I reckon Sam pays you to be his internet street-team.. telling us he knows what he's doing. I too thought Smith was Viduka's replacement, i'm not so sure anymore. More likely the Dyer replacement. Oba is more likely to nick a goal in an away game where we are under the kosh. He has the ability to score from absolutely nothing, with either foot, from anywhere around the 25 yard area. Owen can't do this, he needs the ball in the box. His inclusion in the team smacks me of someone scared to drop the star player. He's manager of Newcastle United. We have managed to avoid a relegation battle with managers like Souness and Roeder. We aren't getting relegated. We don't need 4-5 short term signings. I think Big Sam is winging it.

Yes he would struggle. He's no Kevin davies, Drogba or even Heskey. The main striker in this formation needs to be mobile. A human battering ram, this isn't Viduka. i don't think thats neccicarially a neccicity. i think what viduka lacks in mobile batteringramness he makes up in technique. viduka can do a lot with very little, which is very important imo, his goal against boro is a great example. Yeah in the box he's great. That's his strength. Get it in the box at his feet and he'll do something. Outside of the box he's limited to constantly tangling with defenders. Despite his great first touch and strength he seems to struggle.

Owen can only ever play as a box player. even to suggest doing anything else with him should be enough to put you in an asylum in my opinion. I was saying that it was a somewhat ludicrous idea. That's pretty much what Sam did. It seemed stupid to me. All the factors in yesterdays match led me to believe Martins would be the best option upfront.

Yes he would struggle. He's no Kevin davies, Drogba or even Heskey. The main striker in this formation needs to be mobile. A human battering ram, this isn't Viduka.