Disco

They actually win stuff tho. F**k me they have revamped their team and we've done nothing but the Spears kid. Come on Mikey, get your wallet out man. I suppose that's the hard bit for a Newcastle fan to take as there never is a great difference in the two clubs, Newcastle have fallen just short in the Premiership and the FA Cup, while Spurs, never challenging for the League, have picked up the occasional bit of silverware. I think the fans' views would have changed a lot had Newcastle won one of the the FA Cups, one cup success can generate a lot of optimism for following seasons. It's the 'we've done it once, we can do it again' thinking, not 'is it possible to win something this year?' As for revamping the squad, I'm surprised, I thought the Newcastle management would have done a lot more than they have. Maybe not so much that no-one for the first team squad has been signed but the lack of links to players who may be added. I'm not rubbing at old sores but Gomis looked poor in the Euros and Arshavin now looks to be completely out of reach, so does Turan. But are £15m players (give or take) really what Newcastle need when the squad overall needs significant improvement? My view, rightly or wrongly, is that Newcastle needs to adopt a Portsmouth approach, a bigger squad mainly made up with experienced freebies or players costing around the £7m mark. Diarra, Muntari, Kranjcar, Utaka, Defoe and Johnson individually look decent enough but put together they're a lot more effective than the sum of the individuals. As for the Spurs squad, there still seems to be more work in progress with a solid DM, Bentley and 1 or 2 CD's left on the list (plus a new striker if Bent moves on). The pleasing thing from the Spurs point of view is that Ramos wanted most of the new purchases to be made before the start of pre-season training so they could bond together better and, so far, that's been happening. For the opening day of the season, the team could look something like: Gomes Hutton - Woodgate - King/New - Bale New/Zokora New/Lennon Dos Santos Modric Keane Berbatov Subs: Pick 7 from: Alnwick - Gunter - Gilberto - Dawson(?) - Zokora - Malbranque - Jenas - Huddlestone - O'Hara - Bent Diarra is still the #1 pick for DM, whether he can prised away from Pompey is another thing, Bentley has to tell Ince to his face that he wants away before that can progress and the list of CD options is almost as long as the GK list prior to Gomes' arrival. I'm happy with how it's gone so far. That midfield lookslike one that will be good at home but will get trampled all over away especially playing with two very attack minded full backs. Tottenham, as with last season, be a good team to watch.

Deco didn't play in the hole really though, he much more a box to box player, something Arshavin is not. If Barca do buy him it's probable they'll stick him on the left cutting in as they have with Messi on the right.

Yossi Benayoun isn't the worst shout I've heard, can play all over midfielder/off the striker, bags of experience and chips in with a few goals. He's offensive to the eyes though.

Senna has been one of the players of the tournament and has been superb for a few years now at Villareal, he's very much like Mascherano, does the simple things well lets the better 'footballers' go forward while he does the hard graft.

If we don't sign a keeper soon, we genuinely will have No Juan in goal. At least your not the first team with a competitive match...oh shit!

brilliant

Maybe Man U should get him to replace Ronaldo.

Doesn't need the money tbh, already on £50k p/w at Zenit.

If I were Chelsea I'd be pleased to get shot of Malouda, has been gash all season for club and country.

Ruel Fox

I'd hazard a guess at 5,000 at least with normal general sale, less ST holders, Bolton's gash travelling support.

Can you do the white and black stripes the other way round someone?

fully agreed.

Have they released how much individual match tickets are going to be next season yet? Surely if ST's are going up match tickets will be going up the same if not more.

Physical aspects definitely don't seem to be one thing he'll struggle with, he is a big lad and doesn't seem shy to put himself about.

Since when was Shepherd involved with Majorca ?

Ben Arfa has attitude problems according to many sources and can't be happy at a club. Quality, Quality player, but untill he improves his attitude he wont be joining a top league imo. I think this will make Nasri official today, they (Marseille) wanted to appease the fans with a good signing imo before letting Nasri go! Didn't some 1 say ages ago this would be happening. Might have been everyones favourite ITK IIRC.

Don't think the bus will make it to Majorca like

I know, I'm just pointing out. I can see why you think it as well, not an alround player but does put the ball in the net. Would be interesting to see him in a tougher league though although he has 3 in Euro 2008 plus the 2 he scored past in England in Moscow so he can play & score past 'good' teams

Agreed. He's very inconsistent in a shite league, not a good sign. Is 67 goals in 136 games for Spartak and 9 in 21 for Russia inconsistant ? You have high standards.

Good to know. Good to see the club are putting some thought into our youth setup for once and not just jobs for the boys.

Depends if he moves, Spartak will be in the CL next season and if he stays with them he is likely to keep up his 1 in 2 record.

Me too but I'd doubt he'll move to a team not in the CL and one willing to pay mega bucks for him. If we had sense we should've talked to him Russian pre-season (Jan-Mar)

I think you'll find: a) we have been linked with Derdiyok for a while and this Swiss no name is good enough to lead his country on his own upfront at 19 in a major championship. b) where in the article or thread does it say we are not after 'bigger' name players?

aye, came on as sub and scored IIRC