alpal78

Not really when you consider that the previous two were useles buggers whom we unfortunately called managers!

No Dave, there is hostility (beyond normal rivalry) one the part of their fans towards SA and the Toon. The above is just one example, it's all over the net man. Plus I did qualify my post that I am not generalizing and I'm sure there are as many decent Bolton fans as there are knob heads. But the recent hostility is also unmistakable unless you put blinkers on when you surf.

Not generalizing like, but there are some knobheads calling themselves Bolton fans, it seems that they just can't accept the fact that we got Big Sam. This is from: http://www.bolton.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=81889 Not even sure if some of those quotes and points made are true, entirely possible that they were all fabricated.

Thanks Niina, interesting collection

I would take Nobby as a coach without hesitation, his technique far exceeds what most other local players/coach can teach the younger players.

I know many would rather a tramp clutching a 1997 football sticker of an ex-Newcastle player won a tiddlywinks contest in Morocco than England won the World Cup, but your thoughts? This is interesting, so many posters commented that they disapprove of the conclusion in the article yet voted "Yes" in the poll, maybe a bit of Levitt Frekonomics at play. The only significant stats in the article is the how the number of foreign players far exceed the number of their British counterparts. Based on that, then surely there would be more foreign players in the first team and that they would score more goals, all the other stats are just a consequence of the former. As for Brooking's arguments, it's the same free trade conundrum, competition leads to efficiency Vs protecting local industries (players). Although some of the young homegrown players might not get a chance with the big clubs, if they don't get regular action, their price will drop even if they are English and then they will be affordable to mid table teams. If they then perform and excel, then the bigger clubs will snap them up again. Let's not forget the likes of Lampard, Shearer etc....all came from mid table clubs. It's all market forces man. Besides, the EPL is not there to fulfill a national agenda, once a club becomes a PLC, then results that brings in money has to come first. If they can get better players for cheaper, then that is what they will and should do. As for the below average foreigners that are sometimes bought by the clubs, well tough shit...mistakes happen in life and it is not something that happens exclusively with foreign players only. It only sticks in our mind more because we expect more from a foreign player and because there is a higher frequency to the mistake, because clubs do buy more foreign players. There is no fool proof way of making sure that only the best foreigners are bought by clubs, the rule that seeks to enforce this should be flexibility, there is no way that Everton for instance should have been prevented from buying Yakubu who is at least one or two notch better than Bent.

it is an "old custom" of football that the player fouled shouldn't take the penalty. guess it is because he is too worked up or something.... Did RVP just not take it because he missed last week? According to the ESPN reporter (though not sure how he would know), it was becauseof Arsenal's said policy, and not because RVP missed the last penalty.

Do you mean 8,000,000.00 or 8.000000 Euros? Not being pedantic like but the placement of the comas and decimals makes a huge difference.

Agree but Sam's views on our 'leaky' defence might result in him going for an overkill by lining up two defensive midfielders (3 if he plays Smith as a right midfielder coz his contribution attacking wise is very limited when played on the right).

So how many did we nick off Bolton then?

Since we are on the subject of penalty taking , any idea why Arsenal have this policy of not having the player fouled, to get up and take the penalty himself even if he was the designated penalty taken (case in point RVP yesterday). Is there a superior Wenger logic behnid this and hence something we should adopt or should we just go with the player that has been designated?

Jon, surely that's an exaggeration. If Luque does perform for Ajax (and by that I don't mean just scoring in his first game), then those who defended him and said that he could have done well for us had he been given the chance surely has the right to point out the club's mistake in selling him especially if players like Duff continue to frustrate, and yes it works the other way around as well. Are you unable to see the major flaw in this argument? Who is to say Luque would have ever been a success here in this league? It's a bit different doing the business for Ajax in the Eredivisie than it is doing the business for us in the Premiership, why can't some people just accept the fact that certain players don't work out at certain clubs? Fair enough he should have had more of a chance, but if his sale gets labeled a "mistake" because he does well for Ajax then the people who do so need an e-slap. It's fairly obvious that the bloke wants to leave now, as well. Surely it's sensible to wish him luck and hope he does well, realising that he was never really destined to "make it" over here for whatever reason. On the contrary, I think your analysis is overly simplistic. I accept that the Dutch League is inferior to the EPL and in a way nobody could tell for sure how he would have performed if he had been given a run of games, or at least shown that the management has confidence in him (remember Roeder playing an immobile crocked Ameobi ahead of him). But given that it is an unknown variable, it's fair to say a player who performed reasnably well for Deportivo and if he does well for Ajax on a consistent basis could have done well in the EPL had he been given the chance. Economist called this trend analysis (after making adjustment to differentiating factors off course). To be sure there are some differences between the three leagues but not enough to conclude that a player who performs in the other two leagues, bought for 10M and sold on a free (?) was not a mistake. Selling an asset worth 10M for free after 2-3 years would be considered criminal negligent in any other non footballing corporation and take the whacky world of football and transfer markets as mitigation factors, I don't see why this should not be seen as a mistake....to say the least. saying that we should "accept the fact that certain players don't work out at certain clubs" is just a convenient way of masking the mistake and making us all feel hunky dorry inside. It's not simply about the quality of the league, though, that wasn't all I was getting at. You need to take things like his injury into account and his subsequent loss of confidence, the culture shock of moving from La Coruna to Newcastle, the fact he didn't learn English until he'd been here for more than a year, the fact that we paid a grossly inflated fee for the lad and paid him huge wages due to an incompetent manager/chairman combination... there's absolutely loads that goes into how well a certain player does at a certain club, I completely understand that and I'm sure you already appreciate it too. As it stands Albert Luque is, rightly or wrongly, a 6th choice striker if we're playing 4-4-2 and is equally down the pecking order for a position up-front down the middle/on the left of the 4-3-3/4-5-1, meaning he's costing us a lot of money in wages and we won't see any return from him at all on the football pitch. He also seems like he wants to leave the club and try his hand elsewhere. His value has depreciated massively from that over-inflated fee we paid back in 2005 and it's easy to see why when you look at his time here. As you've said, it's completely unknowable whether Luque would have ever done really well here for us, which was my exact point in saying IF he does well for Ajax then I will find it extremely frustrating if people label it a MISTAKE for us to have sold him, because he could have done the same for us here. It's not a mistake, it's a necessary move for NUFC and for Luque after his time here has been a complete write-off, due to a number of factors. I don't blame Luque entirely for how things have gone and I was quite happy to see him given a chance under Allardyce, but it seems both the manager and the player realise it's probably best if he heads off somewhere else to chance his arm. Fair play to him, I say, and good luck. But I won't be calling it a "mistake" if he does well for Ajax, I'll just be happy that he's doing well for himself. It was a mistake how Roeder handled him, perhaps paying that £11.4M/£9.5M for him was a mistake initially, it was probably a mistake that Souness threw him in at the deep end, it was a mistake for him not to bother learning English until 2006, there have been a lot of mistakes from a lot of different parties that have led us to this unavoidable point in time. I, for one, will not be crying over spilt milk though. Then we'll just have to agree to disagree. Whilst I accept that whether or Luque would have performed for us is an unknown variable, I also said that if he perfomed well for Ajax, then selling him on a free, when we bougt him for 10M just 2 years ago (even if that was inflated due to Souness' incompetency) would still go down as a mistake.

Agree with that, that'd be the best 6 for a typical 4-3-3. But we have to find a way to incorporate Owen when he's fit, for the majority of games at least. One potential solution could be that at home especially against average teams we drop both our defensive midfielders and play our best 6 lined up as below: Barton Emre Milner Zoggy Owen Martins Don't see the need for a specialist DM (i.e. Butt/ Geremi) coz I consider both Bartona nd Emre to be aggressive players, who will not shirk tackles and who can hold their own against most midfield duo. This is off course provided we can play fluent football (hopefully we can with Barton's and Emre's creativity) without needing an explicit target man (i.e Viduka). The lack of a strong centre forward should not be a problem if we play crosses into the box as both Owen and Martins are excellent with headers (refer Martin's salmon jump and Owen's immaculate timing). I really have outdone myself this time with such a thorough analysis

With the score at 0-0 we made the only substitution that could sensibly be made, ie swapping a midfielder for a quick striker. We had no other sensible substitutions available, but you could have hardly called N'Zogbia a left back, with him occupying an attacking midfield position whenever off the ball. What people are stupidly failing to appreciate is that the game became more difficult for us when Wigan went down to ten men. In the first half, we were creating chances because Wigan were creating spaces through their own play by trying to win the game themselves (but with little joy due to our defenders being a step ahead). However, in the second half, Wigan packed every player in their defensive third, stopping us playing the short ball, while their physical presense was always going to make us lose out on the long ball. It is an effective tactic that can win invaluable points for a smaller team just hoping to avoid relegation. Man Utd and Chelsea would have struggled to win this game. Only an excellent playmaker could have broken the deadlock, but a playmaker who is good enough to make a consistent impact in the every day 11 vs 11 hustle and bustle in the Premiership is rare. In England, we have Alonso, Arteta and Scholes, and that is about it. Not sure if my post "stupidly fails to appreciate" the point you raised. On the contrary, I acknowledged that when going against a team with 10 men, we needed to play with 2 wide men to stretch the play as the 10 men opponent would likely pack their defence resulting in a very narrow formation. 2 ways to skin the cat, have a superb playmaker in the mold of Riqeulme (and we don't have a player of that ability in our squad currently) to thread the ball through the pack defence or use the 2 wide men approach to stretch the play. In my view, by keeping both Milner and Zoggy on the same side and retaining Smith on the other side (till Martins came on that is), we did not do what we could have done to counter the packed Wigan defence. Unsurprisingly we scored the moment Martins played on the right and from probably his first cross as well which vindicates my point and suggests that we could have potentially scored earlier had we gone with 2 wide men.

Glad with the win but on another day we would have easily drawn and we will draw a canny few if we keep on playing like this. Dissapointed Aallardyce didn't went for it after they were down to 10 men, you just know that Mourinho would have taken off a defender and sub with an attacking player. Sam just relied on his players working harder and harder and threw on Martins as the last throw of the dice without changing the formation. It's good to have faith in your players but sometimes you have to go for it to win more than you draw. A few things on the tactics we use. The 4-3-3 is not an attacking formation when we play with two strikers and one winger (Zog was playing LB). I'd rather we play 4-4-2 at home with two wide wingers the way SBR plays, bring back the era of Robert and Solano. From the look of things, we have a solid back four (credit to Sam for that), so why do we need 3 hard tackling midfielders. Surely one of Butt and Geremi would have been enough. If we ever play Smith in midfield again, he should be at the tip end of the diamond formation, which would once again require us to abandon the 4-3-3. That way he can be the extra man in the box and hopefully he still remembers how to shoot long range. One thing for sure, he is useless playing as a right midfield. That requires someone who can put an early cross and crossing is probably Smithy's worst attribute. Solano would have been perfect for that position. It was so painfully obvious that we lacked balance in the team with all the crosses coming from Milner's side. We should have used Zog as a winger (along with Milner) once they were one man short. The first rule of playing against 10 man is to always strech the play wide and we could not do that coz we only had Milner on the left. Agree with Millner needing to put the cross in early, early and simple the way Oba did, less of that twisting and turning crap please, otherwise our strikers won't know when to make their runs. Anyway he is young and he will learn (hopefully). Also think Oba should start. Rant over, good 3 points and good start to the season by Big Sam (credit where credit is due).

Nothing to be ashamed of wearing a top with an ex player's name on it when the player is like Nobby!

We've just lost the most technically gifted player in our squad, there's a reason why Maradona himself called him the Peruvian Maradona. He puts the ball into the box with such ease, love it when he crosses the ball with the outside of his boot so nonchalantly. More than the player, we'll be missing a real character and a player who bled black and white. For all the positives of the transfer window, we are looking very short on the technical side, I fear we are fast becoming an all graft action sort of team and severly lack the "door openers" sort of players as Souness would put it.

Sorry that post just undermine your own credibility. Even if I accept that Lennon is better than Millner, do you realze the gulf between Given and I'll flapped the ball to the nearest striker that you call your goalkeeper? A more apt comparison between the two keepers would be like comparing Lennon against Carr playing at right wing.

Jon, surely that's an exaggeration. If Luque does perform for Ajax (and by that I don't mean just scoring in his first game), then those who defended him and said that he could have done well for us had he been given the chance surely has the right to point out the club's mistake in selling him especially if players like Duff continue to frustrate, and yes it works the other way around as well. Are you unable to see the major flaw in this argument? Who is to say Luque would have ever been a success here in this league? It's a bit different doing the business for Ajax in the Eredivisie than it is doing the business for us in the Premiership, why can't some people just accept the fact that certain players don't work out at certain clubs? Fair enough he should have had more of a chance, but if his sale gets labeled a "mistake" because he does well for Ajax then the people who do so need an e-slap. It's fairly obvious that the bloke wants to leave now, as well. Surely it's sensible to wish him luck and hope he does well, realising that he was never really destined to "make it" over here for whatever reason. On the contrary, I think your analysis is overly simplistic. I accept that the Dutch League is inferior to the EPL and in a way nobody could tell for sure how he would have performed if he had been given a run of games, or at least shown that the management has confidence in him (remember Roeder playing an immobile crocked Ameobi ahead of him). But given that it is an unknown variable, it's fair to say a player who performed reasnably well for Deportivo and if he does well for Ajax on a consistent basis could have done well in the EPL had he been given the chance. Economist called this trend analysis (after making adjustment to differentiating factors off course). To be sure there are some differences between the three leagues but not enough to conclude that a player who performs in the other two leagues, bought for 10M and sold on a free (?) was not a mistake. Selling an asset worth 10M for free after 2-3 years would be considered criminal negligent in any other non footballing corporation and take the whacky world of football and transfer markets as mitigation factors, I don't see why this should not be seen as a mistake....to say the least. saying that we should "accept the fact that certain players don't work out at certain clubs" is just a convenient way of masking the mistake and making us all feel hunky dorry inside.

Jon, surely that's an exaggeration. If Luque does perform for Ajax (and by that I don't mean just scoring in his first game), then those who defended him and said that he could have done well for us had he been given the chance surely has the right to point out the club's mistake in selling him especially if players like Duff continue to frustrate, and yes it works the other way around as well.

Sorry Dave, I disagree with that logic that is often been flouted about. You can't conflate the three managers views on Luque and mask Roeder's and Souness' inability to manage Luque with the "well if Allardyce does not want him either, then surely something is wrong with him" approach. Allardyce clearly has not had enough time to assess all his attacking options (he has not even seen Duff play under him) and their relative merit to each other. Hence Big Sam selling him should not be attributed to him thinking that Luque is worthless or bottom of the list. It is more the need to free wages and to find the easiest player to ship out without suffering fans backlash. Much easier to justify the selling Luque than Duff to our fans on the pretext that he is a continental player who just could not adapt to the EPL though it might very well be the wrong decision. Once again I fear we will learn on our folly once we see Luque in action for Ajax and compare it our Duff.

I'm all for Allardyce and and delighted that he is managing the club, but I am slightly concerned that because of his emphasis on getting players with the right attitude, he is sacrificing a bit of the flair and playmaker type of players who by their very own creative instincts aren't usually the most disciplined of players. You can't do well with just having discipllined hacklers like Smith, Butt and Geremi in midfield. I know it's early days, but the only creative players we have in midfield now is Emre, Milner, Barton (maybe), Zoggy (if he is played in midfield) and Duff (though to me he still has lots to prove). Objectively, there is not much difference between Allardyce's "players with the right attitude" and Souness' "proper players". I'm also not very sure of how Barton can be categorized as having the right attitude. I hope Allardyce can turn him around but if there was one player that is equally a magnet for bad press the way Dyer and Bowyer was, then it has to be Barton. Show me a disciplined creative playmaker who does not attarct any bad press and I'll show you a virgin whore....I can think of Paul Scholes (playmaker in the very lose sense)....but I struggle after that...

He's a class player man. By your twisted logic and exaggeration, Duff and Shola are world class players man You'll have to explain how my saying both have been s*** for Newcastle makes me think they're world class. Good luck with that one. Easy...because nobody is saying that Luque was class for us but you chose to belittle the valid points made by misrepresenting them, so it is only fair for me to also misrepresent you on your views of Duff and Shola...tit for tat and all that.

He's a class player man. By your twisted logic and exaggeration, Duff and Shola are world class players man

Disappointed that the club has yet again splashed money into the drains. Granted that we save on his wages but had he been given a chance or a round of few games even as 4th choice striker (behind Viduka, Oba and Owen....who we all know is just an injury waiting), we might have been able to recoup some money. So much for Big Sam saying that he would be given another chance. In the end it's just so convenient to dump him on the pretext that the Spaniard could not adapt to the EPL instead of selling players like Duff who despite being given numerous opportunities has been just as unproductive. Yet very few say anything about him not having the right attitude The same people who got on Luque's back for 'not performing' in the few chances he got says nothing of why a winger who was so successful at Chelsea now looks like he is taking a hard dump whenever he tries to beat his marker. More than just throwing money away, I fear that the Luque incident will damage our reputation in the continent and we’ll be seen as a club who is just unable to deal with foreign players who don't hit the right buttons from the word go the way Solano and Robert did. What does this say to Enrique? What does this say to future transfer targets from the continent? Ultimately I fear without the right blend of home based/British and foreign imports, we will never break into the top 4.