Rich

To add to that last bit, and whisper it quietly, but Dirty Diouf could actually be the answer there.

This is my take on things as well. I can't believe there are some people who think we're something like 10 new signings away from being able to finish top six! Realism is not on the agenda, it would seem. A few quality signings in the right positions could help drag us out of the mire that we're currently in, but Allardyce has the biggest role to play in picking the "right" teams and formations. A few quality signings would be a step in the right direction but our midfield needs work, Viduka and Owen will just get slower and Martins wont improve. Geremi, Smith, Butt and Milner are all decent players but not of sufficiently high standard and severely lacking in pace. Emre has some class but just isnt cutting it. Duff may re-discover his Chelsea form but thats a big if. The jury is still out on Barton (sic). What i dont get is the fact that people on the one hand are prepared to say that players arent good enough after watching a match, then say that they all have potential to be better. I'm going on the evidence of their ability to control the ball under pressure and find a man with a decent pass. Those skills have nothing to do with tactics or formations. Wouldn't entirely agree with that last bit, but I see what you're saying. I'm of the view that we're probably 3 new regular starters in the first team away from seeing an improvement in our play, making us a better team and reducing the effect that pressure has on our side. There's a lot more wrong with us than the ability to hold the ball/pass the ball, we have no pace or off the ball movement of any kind either, so it's a bit of a catch-22 situation. Last season Scott Parker would get continually savaged for keeping the ball and not releasing it, but most times he just didn't have a viable option for a pass that wasn't "high-risk". This is a lad who has obviously been coached to keep the ball, first and foremost, and the only way he could do that here was to keep it himself. He got berated for not having the passing ability of a Beckham or a Riqueleme, still two players who don't hit every pass they make. I realise that's a bit of a tangent, but to try and drag it back to my original point, three attacking players added to this squad who can bring a multitude of different facets to our game like pace, passing, off the ball movement, should open up games and allow our other players to start looking better. For the most part we don't have bad players, that's what people are saying, a lot of our players have looked brilliant elsewhere and suffered when they've arrived here - especially under the previous 3 managers. I hate to harp on about the past, but like others have alluded to, if we could bring in Nobby Solano, Craig Bellamy and Laurent Robert all over again then we'd start to look the fucking business again. It's Allardyce's job to see this and to rectify it, and I hope that he signs at least 1 attacking player to get us excited. However, I'm happy enough with N'Zogbia/Duff on the LW, so we go from needing a Robert to needing a Dyer. But asking for an overhaul of 6-10 players is unrealistic and ill-informed, in my eyes. I look at a team being a series of cogs in the overall machine, even just 1 quality player that "clicks" can be the difference between the team looking good and playing good football to things falling apart. For the can of worms it could open up, I never think we looked the same when Craig Bellamy used to miss games at his peak here, because he was absolutely instrumental to our play. We need some players like that to build the team around, more than anything. 2-3 is all it could take, if I just compare with Robson's strongest team again. The defence should be good enough, the player ability back there is as good as what we had under Robson (if not better) although some haven't settled yet and we keep getting injuries, the 'keeper is the same, the midfield definitely needs the most work as nothing we can cobble together holds a candle to Solano - Dyer - Speed - Robert. I genuinely think Viduka can be what Shearer was if you put better players around him and play to his strengths like we did with Big Al, and like I've said we could really do with a new Bellamy. Both Owen and Martins are too one-dimensional to play an effective role, for me.

So the definitive movements so far that have been made public are a bid for Wes Brown and an enquiry for Lassana Diarra. Both improvements over what we have, but nothing really worth getting in a big sweaty lather about. Let's hope there's an ace up the sleeve somewhere.

Wonder if it's a loan or a permanent move that's being discussed, btw? We've only made an enquiry about his availability, he could just end up here on loan with a view to a permanent move? That would probably be decent enough, in itself.

Arshavin doesn't play that deep, though. He's more of a Beardsley type player than anything.

He's better than what we have, though, isn't he? And surely we need to buy better players if and when they become available?

I don't doubt that his shooting ability will still be there, which was his major asset. He had a nice turn of pace, but he would never really beat a man or do anything outrageous with the ball apart from a top-class delivery/shot. These are two things he shouldn't have lost. He also used to get into quality positions a lot too, much like Duff does when he plays. Ah, Robert, what a fucking guy.

This is my take on things as well. I can't believe there are some people who think we're something like 10 new signings away from being able to finish top six! Realism is not on the agenda, it would seem. A few quality signings in the right positions could help drag us out of the mire that we're currently in, but Allardyce has the biggest role to play in picking the "right" teams and formations.

Fucking hell, as I've said in months gone by, I'd be very happy with this move if we can pull it off. Fair play to Allardyce for even being interested, in my book. Best mates with N'Zogbia, extremely close to Geremi as well, who was his "father" at Chelsea... two things in our favour. I'd assume we'd pay bigger wages than the other clubs interested, and that he'd play first-team football here as well. Bloody hell, I'm excited again, a bit.

"Pretty good" as in "quite good"? I'm baffled at that, I took it to mean that he's been above average most of the time, which is fair enough. "Excellent", "Great" or "Brilliant" would surely have been the chosen verbatum otherwise!?

Though I wouldn't go that far, he's generally been pretty good this season. Even I'd agree with this. I wouldn't. I actually thought last season he redeemed himself after his horrendous early form when he first signed, but he's getting on, and isn't particularly good at anything. By all means keep him until we get something better, but I really really really hope he isn't an integral part of Big Sam's plans. Same with a lot of players really(!) He's been our best central midfielder, though (which I do realise isn't saying much), and has played in almost every game, which is no mean feat at his age. Credit where it's due. I don't like the bloke at all, but I'm not blinkered enough to do him a disservice.

Beye and Given are kicking arse here, the latter is a bigger surprise to me personally. Good to see he's still rated. 96% each from 74 votes as it stands at the time of posting. The Zog is rated by 93% so far and Faye by 92%. I personally find it heartening that we have a good few players who are still supported by the vast, vast majority, and that Stephen Carr has 0 votes from 77.

For all his mistakes, I can't help that he'll only improve the more he plays. He doesn't seem the sort of character that will be eaten up by playing for NUFC and I think him getting a regular game and getting through the sticky patches which he has undoubtedly suffered will be the making of him. The lad has huge potential, despite the tide starting to turn against him, and I'm prepared to keep allowing for a few mistakes here and there if he keeps performing with spirit and desire. If we had other options which I was convinced were far better than him, then obviously I may think differently. As it stands, he's probably worth the gamble. Even if Wes Brown were to arrive, I think I'd be more in favour of keeping Taylor in defence and moving Faye into the centre of the park to give us more height/power in the spine of the team.

I'm still confident he can play a part here, he has shown far too much class at times to be written off already. There is a danger of the "Boumsong" about him, who also looked solid to begin with before he/we destroyed his confidence, but hopefully if he's used more sparingly then we should start seeing him thrive again. I don't think he'll be a regular starter, but I don't doubt he's a good influence to have at the club and that he can only help the likes of Taylor to improve. He probably doesn't have the physical presence, like Rozehnal, to ever be really top-drawer for us, but he should be good enough when necessary. If you consider Taylor/Faye as our first-choice pair, which I would assume plenty do, then Rozehnal/Cacapa look like very strong back-up when you consider the players we've had to play there in the recent past. They should only get better as they adjust to the country/game, as well.

Surely not? Scott Parker was fucking rubbish man, absolutely woeful... he looks better with every passing game to me. I liked the bloke.

I'm seriously going to bum some people into next week if good threads like this one keep getting sidetracked. :knuppel2:

Me too. Hells yes.

Though I wouldn't go that far, he's generally been pretty good this season. Even I'd agree with this.

I actually voted for everyone bar Carr and Ameobi, provided that if those two were released/sold they were replaed with 2 quality players (Wes Brown + a central midfielder) and we added a 22nd man (RM) to replace Nolberto Solano. EDIT: I'm amused that in 46 votes, Carr has 0 and Ameobi has 1.

I'm not sure we're bad enough at the minute to require a £100m facelift, but we definitely need a few inspirational buys in the mould of Robert and Bellamy. We could probably do with adding a top quality right winger to replace Solano, a creative midfielder to replace Emre (who must be off) and a quality striker to replace Michael Owen (he's never going to work out here) first and foremost. I genuinely think even just two of the three in those positions (RW/CM first and foremost) at something like £15M net spend for the pair, at this point in time, would see a fairly hefty improvement in our performances.

It's definitely not clear cut, which is where I'm hoping we'll get some raging debate from. Just think of it from a personal perspective: who are you happy with to see play realistically, under the current gaffer? We're not talking about anything else here, just the abilities of the players when they're on the park in our colours at the current moment in time.

Erm, not quite sure you're analysing that right mate. 22 out of 24 people have voted "yes" for Faye, Beye and N'Zogbia - which is around 90% for each of those players. It's the numbers more than the percentages we're looking at.

You can edit your votes, if necessary!

Let's say the definition of a "squad player" is someone who is good enough to come in and play a part in case of injuries/suspensions, etc. Without a major detriment to the team's performance as a whole. Not someone who would be considered a liability and would make you think "oh no" if he had to play. *Cough* Ramage *Cough*