alpal78

cant find that clip, taken down? did come accross this "Ben Arfa vs Abou Diaby fight" which is like a out of control school trip loved the goal on sat must have watched it a 100 times, dont you just love seeing players running away celebrating as soon as the shot leaves there boot ! Search that line in bold on Google, rather than Youtube. Wow that clip was ridiculously good, he was really taking the piss. Don't know whether he can play like that all the time. regardless we should give him a super reception against Stoke!

Didn’t realize that, I thought Carrol was just helping out the defence on his volition but if that was Hughton's instructions, then he deserves credit. I still think however that his main weakness is his inability to use subs properly and at the right time. He prefers to let the team work things out for themselves which can sometimes backfire (though in this case it did not). 2 specific instances against Everton 1) In the second half when Everton was dictating the game and attacking us in waves around the 60-75 minutes, he should have done something. Ideally putting on a more defensive midfielder in place of a knackered Nolan would have been good to add more steel to the midfield but since our only other ‘defensive midfielder’ is Alan Smith, he should have still taken off Nolan and put in Jonas or Lovenkrads. At the very least their pace would have prevented Everton's defence from moving so high up to join their midfield/attack and ease the pressure on us. 2) In the last few minutes of injury time, when we were again at risk of conceding, he should have wasted some valuable time by making a sub. Even the Jonas for HBA sub seems more like enforced coz HBA was already limping when the sub was made. So he deserves credit for having the courage to start both HBA and Tiote but he has to use his subs more strategically. We won but on another day his inaction could have lost us 2 valuable points. It's easy to be a manager playing what if. 1) If Hughton panics and subs off Nolan at the first sign of pressure from Everton (which didn't actually amount to any significant chances in that period), then he's not on the field to get what should have been a pen to wrap the game up, and he's not there to deflect Yakubu's shot onto the post. Would Lovenkrands have been there for both those incidents and done better than Nolan otherwise? Possibly. Would Gutierrez? Not a chance. 2) Everton are attacking and we're under constant pressure. Sub comes on & trots into box, not had a kick, doesn't know who he's supposed to be picking up, loses his man or has an adrenaline fuelled rush of blood and gives away a pen. 1-1, Hughton's fault for trying to waste 10 seconds. I actually agree with you, nobody knows the effect of substitutions for sure, it's all hypothetical. But I'd rather the manager try to do something when we are under the cosh then just rely on players to correct things themselves, even if by trying, things backfire if that makes sense. On the balance of things effective substitutions at the right time are more likely to bear fruit than backfire. Substitution takes courage and changing things around when things are not working is a hallmark of good managers. Moyes made two subs after 45 minutes to change things around, Mourinho would even sub a player off after 20-30 minutes if he was playing badly. Ditto with SAF, Wenger...etc, they use subs effectively. Unfortunately this is an area that Hughton still has to work on imo. Against Blackpool he waited far too long to change things around and introduce HBA. Against Everton I would have liked to see him try something when we were under pressure and it was clear that Nolan was knackered. Sure the whole time wasting thing could have backfired but we've seen it being used so frequently that chances are it won't. We could have easily conceded two goals in the last 2-3 minutes (Yakubu against the post and Colo block on Feliani from what 4-5 yards) and were very lucky in that sense. Time wasting in all probability would have reduced at least one of those chances. You're right, if the last minute subs did backfire, some would blame him...I would have defended him though.

yup couldn't agree more, he seems at ease threading the ball through and going solo. Even for his goal, you can see that he paused a bit to see if he can put anyone through and when he saw no runners...he was like "fuck let me have a go myself!"

I have seen nothing to suggest that he would be remotely good at full back. Yes he is a solid defender but you need more than this to play FB effectively. His control/vision/distribution isn't good enough to play there, especially in a game where we'll need to attack the opposition and take the iniative to them. Nor can I imagine him overlapping Routledge and putting a ball - something we're going to need as we'll need to try to get in behind Stoke and get them turned to expose their lack of pace at the back. Has he not filled in at RB in a game last season? I can't remember. It's not ideal, but Perch looks very vulnerable in the air and I think we need that extra protection. His ball control actually isn't that bad. He can pass quite accurately. True, he won't be a lot of help to Routledge going forward, but neither is Perch at the moment. A crucial point here is Coloccini, who doesn't win many aerial battles from the opposition's set pieces. With all those throw ins coming in, we do look vulnerable to a sucker punch. His ball control/passing is fine although it could be improved, not saying its bad, but when you're playing FB you have to have a little bit more about you than when playing CB which i don't think he has. Think Perch has done ok going forward, he's no Jose but he is always an option and as for him being poor in the air I can't see that myself, wins a lot in the air, is 6ft+ or he looks it. Its his tackling and his positional sense that has been letting him down. Wouldn't shock me if Carroll comes back to defend quite a bit when Delap is hoying them in anyway. The game could have a lot of goals in it, Stokes defence is in a shocking condition and Sorensen isn't doing so good either at the moment. Ben Arfa vs Huth and Routledge vs Danny Collins, that's gonna be interesting. That'll be Ben Arfa going off injured after 10min then. Was gonna say that myself, don't like the thought of Huth against HBA coz Huth can be nasty bitch with his stud up tackles.

Didn’t realize that, I thought Carrol was just helping out the defence on his volition but if that was Hughton's instructions, then he deserves credit. I still think however that his main weakness is his inability to use subs properly and at the right time. He prefers to let the team work things out for themselves which can sometimes backfire (though in this case it did not). 2 specific instances against Everton 1) In the second half when Everton was dictating the game and attacking us in waves around the 60-75 minutes, he should have done something. Ideally putting on a more defensive midfielder in place of a knackered Nolan would have been good to add more steel to the midfield but since our only other ‘defensive midfielder’ is Alan Smith, he should have still taken off Nolan and put in Jonas or Lovenkrads. At the very least their pace would have prevented Everton's defence from moving so high up to join their midfield/attack and ease the pressure on us. 2) In the last few minutes of injury time, when we were again at risk of conceding, he should have wasted some valuable time by making a sub. Even the Jonas for HBA sub seems more like enforced coz HBA was already limping when the sub was made. So he deserves credit for having the courage to start both HBA and Tiote but he has to use his subs more strategically. We won but on another day his inaction could have lost us 2 valuable points.

Not sure if this has been posted but more self praising from the idiot For me those two parts in bold really highlight the type of person he is. The first part shows he is so desperate to prove that he is different with all his reliance on sports science that he is blinded even when they are utterly ineffective. The second part just proves that he is a c***...to be disappointed to see someone go just because he can't wind him up anymore...absolutely no class!

which post is an overreaction? I just see people being happy because we seem to have really got a good player!

Difference is Allardyce would be using that tactic against the likes of Montenegro and Bulgaria!

As always, the truth is somewhere in the middle. It would take a lot for AC to leave us especially after getting the No 9 shirt, but saying that scoring one goal for us = 1,000 goals for Man Utd is bollocks exaggeration. Yes there is the emotional attachment of a Geordie playing for a Newcastle, but if we don't match his ambition (assuming he improves) in the next 3-4 years, then he would jump ship to any of the top 8 for European football and a better wage packet. Local pride is not unique to Newcastle, fans of so many clubs have their own version of what loyalty means, yet time and time again we see local players leaving their beloved clubs for a variety of reasons. Loyalty and love of the club is a factor for the player to consider, but it almost never trumps ambition, trophies and money.

That's even worse! Nolan in centre midfield is twice as bad as Nolan in the supporting striker role!

All this talk about their keeper having one of those games is off imo, the only shot that could/would have been a goal was Carrol's shot that hit his legs. The Routledge shot that was cleared off the line was more like bobbling towards the goal, any decent defender would have cleared that and Barton's shot when one on one was too near the keeper, nothing outstanding about that save really. All the other shots especially from Loven was just piss poor.

I hate people who but right now I'm just going to have to You were saying mate? Putting supposedly our best player in the 73rd minute is a joke however you look at it!

Alway knew can't rely on Hughton to make big decisions. Players like Smith and Nolan has him in the palm of their hands! To start off with an inferior team is excusable on grounds that we've done reasonably well this season with the same line up. But to stick with the same players who underperformed in 45 minutes for the second half is just stupidity and cowardice.

Could not agree more, I mean it's one thing to be excited, but he's being made out to be Messi like and in slightly more than 24 hours we'll get many posts of disappointment.

Just watched all of them. Can see shades of three previous Newcastle players all wrapped up in one guy. Robert, Dyer and Beardsley. f***ing hell, should never have watched those videos. Just got excited a la Luque x 100 My concern is that we are building him up so much that when he inevitably does not live up to our super high expectations, people will start getting on his back. Even with his ability he will need 5-10 games to get use to new team mates, new country, new tactics...etc. That's it? minimum

Just watched all of them. Can see shades of three previous Newcastle players all wrapped up in one guy. Robert, Dyer and Beardsley. f***ing hell, should never have watched those videos. Just got excited a la Luque x 100 My concern is that we are building him up so much that when he inevitably does not live up to our super high expectations, people will start getting on his back. Even with his ability he will need 5-10 games to get use to new team mates, new country, new tactics...etc.

I would so take that if you and your word had any credibility at all. Should make it realistic say 50 quid, ask Dave or one of the admin if you can both pay into the sites paypal account, then they release the funds to the winner and takes say 10% for the site. I like the way you think. Come on now guys put your money where your mouth is!

w*****. He's setting himself up. Yep. I would put money on Karl Henry leaving St James on a stretcher. Isn't this the main reason we got Tiote? Y Judging by his handling of Elano....I'd answer that with a resounding Yes. Tiote to Hughton...which legs do I break boss Hughton (with LOTR music in the background)...all of them!

My gut feeling is that Hughton will be rotating Nolan with Barton. Tiote will be the anchor, the two wingers will remain and Ben Arfa will play behind Carroll. Of course if one of the wingers is having a shit day, Arfa can replace him on the wing leaving both Barton and Nolan to support Carroll from the centre (probably against team with a more physical approach coz I don't think it gets tougher than Tiote, Barton, Nolan and Carroll through the middle). The beauty of this is that we can now change our emphasis of attack either through the wings or from the centre. Happy days!

I'd rather the sky did fall than for us to sell Enrique. I wonder what the reaction on this forum will be if Mike sold off Enrique

No. Dassier saying he expects to see Ben Arfa in a Newcastle shirt soon. That's even worse, chances of him telling the truth is lower than that bird in your avatar finally standing the fuck up!

All the optimism/happiness just based on some Echo/Journal reports?

The way everyone is going collectively metal about this will be long remembered...love you guys!

Wow didn't realize he is that good. I know video clips only highlight the best parts but if he can do half of the moves he did in that video on a fairly consistent basis, he will set the Premiership alight. Seems to be a thinking player too and the best part is if defenders crowd him out, Jonas will have a field day.

Ben Arfa reminds me of Bellamy, he's that type of player and I can't wait to see him in Black & White if he signs. If we do get him then I think we have a much better first 11 than what took us down and we'll give a lot of teams a lot of problems. This signing will mean that we're good enough to finish mid-table rather than possibly fighting to stay in the division, I feel like a kid at Christmas. Ya but can we please give the lad at least 10 games to settle in, none of this getting on his back after a few miserable game. He will need time to adjust to the team and he has not trained for quite some time.