Gallowgate End

Anybody know the amount of games Owen and Martins have both been fit to play alongside each other?? Can't be that many.

I haven't seen anything from Guthrie to suggest he offers the side the defensive cover that Butt does or better positive passing then Geremi does. Not quite sure what Keegan saw in Guthrie personally wouldn't have him anywhere near the side.

I haven't been that surprised by Coloccini start to the season to be honest; quite fine at one on one defending and very comfortable with the ball at his feet but he has struggled quite a lot with crosses and the amount of crosses from wide something he will get better at with more premiership games I would expect. Utterly dreadful on the cross for Everton second goal last match. Hopefully Beye fitness problems are now behind him and Coloccini and Taylor can get a long run and establish a partnership something the side has lacked for a long time.

Sounds like Gutierrez and Beye will return for this one. Official site saying Martins has returned to training also which is a big boost, doubtful he will be back for this one however. Glad finally N'Zogbia is starting to get played in his best position; there will be a lot to come from him in the coming months if he is to be given the chance to get at the opposition, I thought he was terrific against Everton most notably second half with his direct runs while nearly winning us the game. Bassong though has been the one who has surprised me when given the chance, I would have him in the side he looks a extremely promising young defender the current recruitment team did well getting him, he looks far more suited to the physical aspect of our league then Jose Enrique. I hope Kinnear with the return to fitness of Gutierrez doesn't make the mistake of ousting Geremi from the side he might not have the legs but his delivery and eye for a pass offers the side a lot and there must be a place for him I would have him in alongside Nicky Butt. Given Taylor Coloccini Beye Bassong Geremi Butt Gutierrez N'Zogbia Duff Martins SSN says Robinho was stretched off for Brazil last night looks like he might well be out

Good news Teared apart Taylor and Edger at Upton Park last season. Given Taylor Coloccini Geremi Bassong Gonzalez Butt Duff N'Zogbia Owen Martins However I suspect Chris Hughton will play threw Michael Owen in a diamond again with N'Zogbia at left back.

Agree. Bassong should of started Left-Back; we needed N'Zogbia in midfield giving us some sort of threat running from midfield with the absence of Guetirrez.

More importantly better then those who Jimenez and Wise have most likely lined up Gus Poyet ect. People need to realize no world renowned top standard manger will go near the current Newcastle United job. A Kevin Keegan return or Steve Bruce appointment is the best the club can hope for neither top managers.

I think your right.

Agree I am surprised at Mr Capello's ignorance. There simply isn't another current Englishmen with the goal pedigree that Michael Owen has 41 goals in 89 Internationals. 8 goals in his last 11 Premiership games also. Quite bizarre... I would guess Capello has brought back Emile Heskey to get the goals.

It's now 8 goals in his last 10 premiership games. I think Keegan's return has and will do a lot for Michael Owen.

7 assists from Geremi's delivery last season. I think he is a very valuable squad member for this season.

Agree great news regards Michael Owen; having him fit enough to be a impact sub could be important tomorrow. It will be interesting test for the new partnership of Taylor and Coloccini dealing with the great amount of aerial and diagonal balls that Bolton are bound to deliver. Last week Keegan said he emphasized on limiting the amount of ball Manchester United had making it clear "if they have 60 or 70 per cent of the ball over 90 minutes they will beat you" this week limiting the amount of set-pieces and corners we give them will be the key to a good result. Due to Bolton strengths I think it makes sense that Enrique comes back into the defense, i'd be tempted to oust Damien Duff from the side and get N'Zogbia going again down the Left again while moving Guetirrez up top with Obafemi Martins, we saw last week some great link up between the two twice Guetirrez joining up with him with great effect with Martins playing him in on goal. Given Taylor Coloccini Beye Enrique Butt Guthrie Milner N'Zogbia Guetirrez Martins Subs- Owen, Smith, Duff, Geremi, Cacapa, Bassong, Harper Fairly strong options on the bench also. Newcastle 2 v 0 Bolton martins double

Apparently he played a whole season as a defensive midfielder for Depor previously, and still plays there occassionally. Can't wait to see how things pan out. All very confusing at the moment. When?? Where did you hear that? He's certainly played a number of games there, but not for a full season. Played at DM in 2006-2007 apparently. Yes under Joaquin Caparros; they started playing him there after having man-marked Riquelme very effectively in the position, Caparros and Coloccini in the end fell out over this role. During last season when Depor played Barca he played left back to man-mark Messi; Coloccini will be adding alot of versatility to the back line but he won't be playing as a defensive midfielder I wouldn’t of thought.

Normally hugely against any thought of playing N'Zogbia at Left-Back but I would agree with you on those points.

Watched him many times very good signing for Aston Villa really dominant defender not so good on the ball though; once again disappointed Keegan wasn't in there "pitching".

Always makes me laugh.

For the multilingual individuals Coloccini - Goodbye - press conference is up on youtube - Ultima rueda prensa de Coloccini antes de irse a Newcastle -

Agree. It will be the end of the transfer windows when people finally realise these recruitment men are as useless as their experience in the position suggests.

Truth hurts sometimes. You have to be impressed by Tottenham's set up and the recruitment of players this transfer window.

I think your confusing him with Gonzalo; big part of the Villarreal side that came 2nd and pushed for the title.

£12 million is what you would expect to pay for Coloccini 4 or 5 years ago when he was at his best competing against the best in the Champions League; he has been part of a relatively poor Depor side for a good number of years now that concedes a lot of goals. For me Carlos Cueller would be a better and cheaper option.

Always rated King very highly watched him against Norwich the other night though physically he looks shot to pieces his mobility has gone made a horrendous mistake for the goal they conceded.

I think the club has made a very big error of judgement not competing with Tottenham and Aston Villa for David Bentley. Not since Robert and Solano has the club had a consistent provider of assists; the signing of Bentley I feel would have gone along way to correcting that.

I was in discussion with one of my good friends on the subject of Newcastle United's disappointing failure on deals and lack of money spent on player recruitment thus far; my friend believes Mike Ashley will simply not put the big money into recruitment of players like Shepherd did as he believes Mike Ashley is looking for buyers to make a profit by selling the club at a much bigger price he brought it at; this came to surface after the event of a month ago when it was suggested in the media that Mike Ashley was was in negotiation with Inter-Media Partners and had set a selling price of £400 million making it a profit of £265 million more then what he had originally brought the club for while I strongly disagree with a lot of this and a lot of the flak that has been directed at Mike Ashley my concern lies with that of his three inexperienced directors Wise, Jimenez, Vetere who were appointed with player recruitment based roles. The high financial bids for Modric and Woodgate that Chris Mort did confirm publicly suggests that Mike Ashley is willing to spend; the Modric saga in particular suggests a big financial deal was willing to be put in place but our recruitment men of Jimenez, Wise, Vetere lost the deal in agent negotiations lets not forget these three men have no background of successful recruitment of players, my fear is at the end of this transfer window could be the biggest example of that. I was wondering with the growing disappointment on the lack of player recruitment so far what is the general consensus on the reasoning on this subject?