Rich

I'm not sure you need to worry too much, mate - he looks finished here to me.

CLOTHESLINE... LAMPARD DUCKS OUT... STUNNER!!! That would have been better, tbh. Blatant clothesline attempt.

Which, based on that logic, would mean that Michael Chopra was in the England squad as of yesterday. Have a word.

Must be s**** then. Wasn't a dive like, Carvalho clearly didn't get the ball. I thought Berbatov was excellent in the first-half, especially considering he was up against John Terry for the vast majority of it. Held the ball up well at times, made a lot of good runs, won a stack of headers and his first-touch was absolutely phenomenal. Faded a bit in the second and Chelsea came into it more, but then won them the penalty and would have probably scored if not because of it. A fair bit better than Martins at the current time, IMO, and would be far better with Owen, as well. Excellent mate Did he care to jump at Jeanne-Arse pinpoint cross... no he didn't? he just care that it might mess his hair... where his flick-ons goes... to nowhere lands... Skillfull at feet? yes he is.... Pace?no... Heading? no The pinpoint cross that was about 6-feet ahead of him? Mess his hair!? Crikey, I'm not sure if I can argue with such a mature explanation for Berbatov having a poor game, you have truly demonstrated that your opinion is the correct one. I assume his hair does not get messed-up when he challenges for hopeful high balls and wins the vast majority against John Terry? No pace? For someone his size he's not exactly slow, is he? Christ, I don't even know why I'm bothering with this. For the record, I'd say I dislike Spurs as much (if not more) than anyone on here, but Berbatov is a class-act and is only going to improve. I just hope to high heaven he shuffles off to a bigger club in the summer, so that I can enjoy watching him play a lot more than I currently do. He was unplayable at Stamford Bridge in the first game and he gave their central defenders a torrid time again tonight. He did miss a few flick-ons and passes, but his vision, first-touch and aerial ability are something to behold. How you cannot appreciate that, I do not know. By the way, do you honestly believe that he committed a "blatant dive"? Or have I been sucked into another wind-up?

Has to be 95/96 for me. My Dad certainly hasn't been the same since and I remember my Granddad being totally devastated by football from that point onwards, up until his death even he was never as enthusiastic about them again (and he'd been going since he was a bairn) not to mention the fact that my Great Uncle can barely bring himself to watch a Toon match these days, either, mainly because of that. I wasn't exactly old enough to remember the full impact that it had on the city/club/staff/players, but I've done a fair bit of reading/watching-up on it (there was a programme on ESPN Classic last night that touched upon it for 15 minutes or so with interviews from Terry Mac, Big Les, David Batty and others about Keegan) and it brought it all flooding back to me. That season defines the modern Newcastle United, unfortunately. Still wouldn't swap it for some of the stuff the older generations have had to suffer, mind.

remember the good old days when we used to sign a net 12 players every year... He did say that it wouldn't all happen in one window, you big goon. Very good read, I thought. Found myself agreeing with a lot of the things that YT mentioned. Not all of it, but a lot of it made sense and it was well-written as well. However, no team ever "totally fixes their weaknesses", there are no perfect teams (obviously). Although we should strive for perfection as a club I think we should be prioritising things, first and foremost, which is where most of the recent debate about the summer transfer window has come from. There is nobody saying we don't need to sign a few/a lot of players, it's just which players and for what positions.

Must be shite then. Wasn't a dive like, Carvalho clearly didn't get the ball. I thought Berbatov was excellent in the first-half, especially considering he was up against John Terry for the vast majority of it. Held the ball up well at times, made a lot of good runs, won a stack of headers and his first-touch was absolutely phenomenal. Faded a bit in the second and Chelsea came into it more, but then won them the penalty and would have probably scored if not because of it. A fair bit better than Martins at the current time, IMO, and would be far better with Owen, as well.

Loved the sly kicks on the lad on the ground from the Chelsea players, Ashley Cole in particular. Mental fans.

Its funny what people will choose to ignore if a player has the ability. Think it was more a case of Bowyer's other on-field/off-field antics, allied with this, in comparison to Woodgate's, from the public perception. Bowyer was hardly shite at his peak, either, so the ability thing isn't nailed-on. Woody might be a right cunt off the field, but he's not on it, and that's where the vast majority of people will judge him as a player/person. EDIT: As for the Bellamy thing, I cannot believe you've brought him up in here!

Left-back is most definitely THE priority position, for me. Full-back is generally a vastly undervalued part of a line-up, especially in the modern game. I might be slightly zany here, but full-backs are my favourite players to watch (good ones, that is.) They need to be adept at so many different skills and they need to cover so much of the pitch. It's arguably why people say there are "so few good left-backs/right-backs", because it is such a difficult position to master. We've all seen the difference Nobby has made in games where he is allowed to attack more than defend, imagine if we had someone that useful on BOTH sides of the pitch and equally adept at defending/attacking?

Michael Chopra thinks he should be getting an England call-up? Christ has just fallen off his bike.

It's never years, man! He signed the £80k p/w contract in the summer of 2005, played about a dozen games that season and made his full return to "fitness" in November 2006, this season. I'll give you "15 months", but no way are you saying we've paid him £80k for being injured for years! Cheeky blighter! Technically, we've never paid a supposed back-up player £80k p/w, have we? Ever?

How many back-up players have been paid £80k a week, like? Must have missed all of them over the "years", I highly doubt there were first-choice players getting over £80k even 2/3 seasons ago, man. Or even before Owen was here, to be precise. That daftness aside, it's one of those "agree to disagree" things because I'm never going to believe that playing James Milner on the right ahead of Dyer with Michael Owen and Obafemi Martins up-front is the best move, until it proves to be so (if it ever does), nor will I agree that we should be paying a "back-up" striker the second-highest wage in the entire squad, especially when we need to spend money so badly at this particular time. (£80k a week is £4.16m a year, according to my noggin.) I'm sure you feel equally as strongly the other way, too. It's one of those things that can't be proved and that we could spend hours of our lives going on about. If you're ever truly at a loose-end for something to do we could bring it back up, though! As for the original question of strikers/defenders, I completely agree with your initial post on the subject in that it would be ludicrous to buy another big-money striker if Martins & Owen stay and IF we don't have that much cash to throw around. The Viduka suggestion is one I back 100%, although it's probably wishful thinking, but as far as spending big money goes I think we need to build from the back and I think Glenn knows it. People shouldn't underestimate the difference that having a fully fit Michael Owen/Shola Ameobi will make to our goalscoring power, either. Both had excellent goal records in varying times last season, playing in a team that was no better than it is now and playing with vastly inferior partners to what they should have now. Two first-choice fullbacks and a centre-half would be top of my wish-list for this summer, with Carr, Bernard, Moore & Bramble all hopefully waving "goodbye" and provided that Onyewu improves/is signed, which I fully expect to happen.

£80k a week for a backup striker is ludicrous, I think we've adapted to suit Dyer's wages after 8 years. It was more ludicrous paying £80k a week for a player who lies on the injury table for 18 months... Still doesn't change the fact that we cannot afford to pay £80,000 every week to a player who will not be considered first choice, whatever way you spin it. Is your general stance that Dyer should not be a first-choice player at all, then? Or should he start ahead of Owen/Martins (if they are ever fit at the same time, that is)?

£80k a week for a backup striker is ludicrous, which is why it seems nailed-on to me that Dyer will be considered as first-choice right-midfielder next season, if he's fit. It seems our only option is going to be to play an on-the-deck passing game with pace on the flanks and up-front, if Owen stays and if our "big players" are fit. Sort of like a shoddy version of Arsenal, at their very best, with Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Ljungberg, Vieira and Gilberto as their front-six. Dyer being the Ljungberg of that group, obviously, as a wide-man who cannot really be called a winger. I don't think Roeder considers Dyer as a stiker unless there are no other options available and I certainly don't think the player himself has been overly brilliant in a more advanced role, although I can see where you are coming from and I think he would prosper in a team that plays it on the deck and looks for his oft-excellent runs early. I think you're right in saying that up front is probably his best position and I think he'd thrive if played there with the correct service. However, basing it on our current crop of players Dyer's best position, for me, is on the right of the midfield, because if Martins and Owen are fit he quite simply will not get a look-in up front - leaving the only realistic position to call his own as right-midfield (as Roeder doesn't mind dropping Milner half as much as anyone else.) Which, thankfully, he's not all that bad at either. Dyer is a useful player, although his form has stuttered recently, in that he is good enough to be a first-choice player in our current midfield and, as you say, he also offers decent cover up front when called upon. His best game this season came on the right of midfield, I reckon, and he's played some excellent games there in the past, so I'm certainly not worried about him making that role his own. Watch him get injured soon, anyway, rendering all of this entirely futile.

Stozo started his first, in fairness. By a mighty 16 seconds, no less! Good news for us and Emre, I say. He's our best option in the centre.

Good read, most definitely.

Re: Spurs. They didn't simply get a good manager and a few good signings, they were taken-over by ENIC in 2001, who came in with a proper plan for the club and money to back it with. If Spurs still had Sugar I'd be highly dubious that they'd even be in the Premiership, let alone near the top of it. However, that's not to be said ENIC got it right straight away, either. Not saying this will happen at NUFC, but I'm just saying that Spurs didn't "just" get a good manager and made some good signings. In fact, ENIC seemed to take a while to "strike it lucky" with Jol, after the Santini debacle - but they certainly seemed to have a vision for the club and backed it with cash. As Gemmill has said, we're looking for some of that from Shepherd this summer, because at the minute everything about the club is being questioned from all angles.

pervert mackems.gif You know, though, it's supposed to be a fucking "strip-tease" and they've gone and whacked the titties out immediately.

Surely it would have made more sense to go from the socks up to the collar!?

Source £1m-£2m are the fees mentioned there from when Fulham (£1m), Chelsea (£2m) and Marseille (£2m) were rumoured to have made bids for him. Seems to make sense and is a well-written enough article, from a decent source, to suggest there may be truth to it. So it looks to be between £0-2m for him, that's quite a range. Certainly not the £3m/£4m some have suggested.

Most definitely. But I'm sure I recall reading at the time we got him that his contract was expired in the summer and that we've agreed a fee already with Standard if we want to make the deal permanent. If his contract is up and Standard have allowed him to leave on loan then surely that fee is going to be next-to-nothing? It's either this summer or next summer, at the latest.

At least the bloke has some raw materials to work with, though. Unlike Ramage and Huntington, in particular. Depending on the fee I think we should definitely look at keeping a hold of him, hopefully with a view to partnering him with a top-class player. He's massive, already fairly good in the air, seems to be fairly athletic along with it and he has showed, at times, some ability with the ball at his feet. He has been dodgy-ish, yes, but like you've said he's come into a dodgy team at a bad time and hasn't been helped by having to miss the European games. Nobody is beyond saving, ever, especially not after a few games.

Unless he was like Michael Owen and didn't come near the place until his rehabilitation was due to start Whatever the weather, it's going to take a fair bit more than 1 centre-half who knows the game/can play the game to sort out the current mess. Like HTL has said, ideally you want at least one in every section of the field. Signing the crazy bugger would have been a start, though, along with Woodgate - of course! This summer is shaping up to be an interesting one, if nothing else. Am I naive for thinking we'll be slightly more active than we have been the last two times around the block?

28 people... Jesus.