buzza

My main worry is cover for Gayle, if we go into the season without a second striker who can get a reasonable amount of goals we are taking a huge risk. We know that gayle will have a hamstring pull or two during the season and god forbid he gets a long term injury... Wish we would start following, monitoring, enquiring and then doing something about strikers tbh! Chuck in a fast number ten and a defensive midfielder and we will be sound. FWIW I am not worried at the moment, it is early days and i reckon we will do our business nearer the end of the window when clubs get twitchy about not selling...

If there was any chance of kovacic from madrid it would be a steal. Excellent player from the little I have seen of him. Box to box midfielder, with defensive attributes slightly better than attacking, good on ball and controls game rythym well...

It´s quite a reality check when we are talking about other teams´ strikers: Giroud, Lukaku, Sanchez, Aguero, Ibra, Rashford, Costa, Kane, vardy, Hazard, Mane, Coutinho... Mind, the ones out of the top ten are all pretty "normal".

"Honestly, no njeed to worry" - yep, second guessing the fat bar-steward is a lottery (my positive take...)

Honestly, no need to worry, reading between the lines and taking into account the desire to sell a part of NUFc; this guy has been brought in to prepare the paperwork and re-order finances before presenting to external interested parties. Sounds like an internal due-diligence exercise which saves you a lot of time when trying to sell a complicated asset... Very typical in large multinationals and the likes.

Tadic for our missig no10 signing... we can dream

Did cairney play for scotland yesterday? if so, any good?

Have an outline agreement with NewcStle for the next four years. Looking good!

Well... I wouldn´t mind too much if Liverpool, Rangers or Manu got landed with the fake for a couple of years

A realistic placing perhaps is ninth to forteenth. We are a long way off any european places. Rafa obviously knows what he is doing and has a definitive blueprint he wants to implement. I am happy with this, but we need to temper expectations, we will need two to three years before we get close to top six competitive, that as well having luck with signings and injuries... Seventeenth is obviously a wind up, who would set the target so low as just to avoid relegation, it would de-motivate all related to the club, fans included (see Pardle et all...). We have the beginnings of a decent squad, if clark, yedlin, gayle, ritchie, hayden and shelvey all translate their play to the prem we will have the spine we need. Some astute signings and we will be a lot more competitive.

N´zonzi, oops!

For a statement sigi¡ning I would go for Nonzi who is now at Seville, he has matured into a very fine holding midfielder who rarely misspasses and cleans and blocks everything. He gives the impression of a mix of yaya Toure and Patrick viera... Would cost a fair bit tho...

Why in that order? The reason I reckon that order is because we simply won't be one of the strongest attacking teams in the division after one window and not only that we're a young and naive team playing up against world cup and European cup winners. A steady head at the back who reads the game and can play the ball about will bring confidence to the keeper, defence and midfield and will allow them all to do their jobs better. It also would take the weight of the captaincy from Lascelles (we should sign someone captain material) so that both he and Clark are focusing solely on their own game and improving. If we tighten up the back and then midfield then we have a solid platform to build upon and if we just consolidate our position in the league we can kick on from there. We're more than capable of retaining possession so chances will always come albeit maybe not as many as if we went all out attack. But 38 draws virtually provides you with safety so keeping goals out is more important than chancing it on a few occasional wins at the level we are at. Not entertaining or very positive I know. I just think it's steady and solid and probably more like what Rafa would do. Aye, good point! Although the team would have a lot more balance if we had a really good nº10

Two supposed reasons why Rafa wasn´t playing him: lack of english and not following instructions. For some people a language can really be hard going, Mbemba should be integrated by now. Benitez would have seen this as a lack of interest and took the appropriate decision. He has pace and can play the ball out well, I think it might have been a blip and Rafa is giving him another go. Would really like to see him and clark playing together, is Mbemba left footed? this could be a problem or perhaps why he hasn´t played as much??

This is it! The goal against bolton; watching it at st james with my son, left him marked for life (in a positive way). Still asks about him and where he is playing...

He actually reminds me of pardew, a slightly more eloquent version (slightly!).

He has been here two years and has done nothing to justify the money spent. Let´s just admit he was a mistake, he had a golden year before signing for us and has regressed to the level he is... at best a championship striker!

I would reverse that order.. 10, 9, CM & CB

I would take either, have liked both of them this season, age is decent so will probably improve also... The alternative is mccarthy from everton who I am underwhelmed by!

Kodjia, best attacker against us this season. Would like him!

What is crystal clear is that we aren´t that confident in Lascelles, neither Gayle for the prem, who we all wish will prove us wrong. Gouff will no longer be here and we need more than atsu and ritchie for the whole season. Add to that we need another central midfielder to replace Cack Colback: CB Nº10 Striker Winger Centre midfield I would go for big spend on CB & Nº10, then secondary spend on other three.

We need a threat on the wing and he could do that...

Thought one of the most threatening players against us this season was that kodjia bloke at villa, really looked a threat every time he had the ball. Worth a cheeky bid??

I think with a Nº10 and winger, this team would stay up. We need more matchwinners than ritchie and shelvey that´s for sure. I like Gayle, just wonder if he can repeat it in the prem, really hope he does...

From what is in the press, I would say Rafa understands he won´t realistically be challenging next season, but his strategical plan would certainly be looking for top half and perhaps europe the season after...