Cronky

Another season, another hamstring injury.

It's amazing how much better the team looks with Butt not in it. Whether Bassong is quite up to it yet, I'm not sure, but I'd like to see us in a position to move Faye further forward into the DM position.

Now that just has to be the most inappropriately patronising remark I've ever read on this forum.

He looked quick off the mark and quick on the turn. There was a few times when someone tried to knock the ball past him and he just eased himself between man and ball without any trouble. Taylor may be stronger but he turns like an oil tanker. Bassong will be able to mark his man more tightly. So yeah, he looked very promising. It just remains to be seen how he'll do against the more physical strikers in the Premiership.

Yeah, it was one of those games when Milner drives you spare. He just doesn't release the ball at the right time. I've kept an open mind up till now, but if the scousers think they can make something of him, I say let them try. As with Friday, you just couldn't see where a goal was going to come from.

Last night, our 4-4-2 looked very static and predictable, and not for the first time. Football has moved on, and we need something more flexible.

The back four was terrible, but hopefully they won’t be our first choice defence in a fortnight’s time. Until Duff came on, there wasn’t much pace or invention going forward, but again I think we can expect something better soon. With Smith, you either have to play him in midfield or as a target man. As a striker playing off a target man in the first half, he couldn’t get involved, and it was like we had 10 men.

Sadly, nobody's name particularly springs out, but Faye is the player that I'd be least inclined to drop. Easily our best centre back, and probably our best defensive midfielder as well.

I'd love to see us get in a tough, experienced CB, but I voted walk away. If Deportivo have upped the price after we'd already agreed a fee, then there's no saying that they won't do it again. You've got to draw the line somewhere. Besides, it's always possible that when Deportivo realise we mean business, they'll relent.

First bit sounds like Owen. Oooh, don't get me started.......

We put all our eggs in one basket, and it didn't come off. You can say it was bad luck that he got injured, or you could say it was a risk we shouldn't have taken. The worse mistake came later, when he became bigger than the club and ended up playing for too long.

Seriously Translates as: However, Lendoiro seeks compensation for the summer of investments that will be futile if the proposed transfer to Newcastle Coloccini continued: "Depor have spent thousands of euros population towards the shelves of stores club with Fabricio wigs. Dennis Wise 'll have to buy all those wigs, and compensate our fans for the emotional harm of accidental purchase of cross-dressing products. " Mental. Get another player to grow their hair long. Problem solved.

or Millwall? I doubt it. The elderly among us will remember Clarence the Cross Eyed Lion as a character in an American TV series, Daktari. Early 70's I think. Clarence did bear a certain resemblance to Mr Wise (eye department only)

Firstly, it does make me wince a bit when people say that Ashley should put his hand in his pocket. He's already cleared £90m of debt, which in the medium to long-term, is a fantastic bonus for the club. Ever since the first Keegan era, I've had this sense that the club has been desperate to get back to the top, but not been realistic about what it takes. It's like there's a belief that it only needs one or two big signings, or a change of manager, to restore us to our supposedly rightful position. There's been an atmosphere of desperation that hasn't helped. The new Board is taking the IMO entirely correct position that we have to be build from where we are, not from where we'd like to be, and that in the current times, you can spend £100 million and still finish outside the top four. A certain ex-Thailand Prime Minister is going to find that out the hard way. The other problem is we missed the chance to establish ourselves in the top four, during the Sir Bob era. At a crucial point, when we should have kicked on, Sir Bob wasn't backed, and we started sliding back again. It's now more difficult to get up there than it was 10 years ago, and we just have to face that. What's important is that we start to establish an upward momentum. It doesn't have to be meteoric. We just need a sense that the club and the team is improving.

Every new manager seems to complain about the fitness of the squad they inherit. It's a bit like builders and plumbers commenting on what a mess the previous guy made of the job.

http://www.nufc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10278~1366670,00.html From the Independent - Newcastle target Coloccini again to plug defence gap By Sam Wallace Friday, 25 July 2008 Newcastle United's increasingly desperate hunt for a new central defender has caused them to look again at the Argentinian international Fabricio Coloccini, a mainstay of the Deportivo La Coruña team, who would cost around £8m. The club are considering a serious bid as they run out of options for defensive cover in the new season. Kevin Keegan may not be completely sold on the club's approach to transfers, executive director Dennis Wise runs the operation from London, but it is getting to the point where he is going to have to trust the judgement of Wise and his assistant Tony Jimenez if Newcastle are to be competitive next season. Coloccini's name has been known to Premier League scouts over the last few years, but there are doubts about his suitability for the English game. He had an unsuccessful spell at Milan and, moving around in Spain after that, has established himself at Deportivo where he captained the team on occasions last season. He has the added advantage of being versatile and has played at right-back and as a defensive midfielder in Spain. A full Argentina international, who played at the 2006 World Cup, Coloccini, 26, is contracted for the next three years. Not that Newcastle can afford to be too choosy at the moment. They were turned down by Anton Ferdinand earlier this month and have already dispensed with the services of Stephen Carr and David Rozehnal. They have made just two signings all summer in Jonas Gutierrez, the Real Mallorca striker, and Danny Guthrie from Liverpool. They are also interested in Blackburn's Stephen Warnock, but the list of those they have missed out on is more extensive. The club had intended to make this summer one of intensive rebuilding with Wise, Jimenez and Jeff Vetere, the club's head of player recruitment, scouring Europe for the best, competitively-priced talent. They have not always concurred with Keegan on the type of players that the club should be trying to attract, but the urgency to bolster the squad will increase the closer they get to the start of the new season.

I liked his comment about Guthrie. That's given me a bit of hope.

Also spot on. Owen's ridiculous transfer fee plus obscene wages, coupled to the fact he'll walk for nothing next year (but get maybe a third of what he's on now elsewhere) gives the whole thing an even more bitter taste. Considering half his time here has been on the sick, its substantially more irritating. Owen was the worst example, but there have been others like Parker, Emre, Luque, and to an extent Martins. You wonder whether we'd have got just a good a player for half the price and half the salary, if we'd looked at players who may not have had the same reputations, but who were up and coming. Owen wasn't overpriced at all. Not all up and coming players achieve their potential, yet you can pay as much of a premium for that potential as you do for a ready made player, and of course if they do reach that potential they will demand a larger salary anyway or they'll be off. It's not the obviously better solution you suggest, and without the right people with a good ability to select those up and coming players it may well cost you more in the long run. yes he was real madrid made a 8 million profit in 1 season on him neesy, howay man, think about it a bit - UV's right, for the age and pedigree of owen his price was "right", it was the price real got him for that was a joke carrick = 18m bent = 17m owen = ? owen was only 26 when he signed as well Those aren't great comparisons, because Bent was also way over-priced, and Carrick came at a premium as well because Spurs didn't want to sell. We're not the only ones to go down this road, but that doesn't mean it's not a mistake.

Also spot on. Owen's ridiculous transfer fee plus obscene wages, coupled to the fact he'll walk for nothing next year (but get maybe a third of what he's on now elsewhere) gives the whole thing an even more bitter taste. Considering half his time here has been on the sick, its substantially more irritating. Owen was the worst example, but there have been others like Parker, Emre, Luque, and to an extent Martins. You wonder whether we'd have got just a good a player for half the price and half the salary, if we'd looked at players who may not have had the same reputations, but who were up and coming.

It does feel strange when you read comments like 'we've not bought anyone', when in fact we've brought in two players. The negativity says far more about the expectations than the reality. Not many players are moving at the moment, but that'll change. One thing seems pretty clear - this Board will not pay an inflated transfer fee and inflated wages to persuade a player who, for whatever reason, is reluctant to move to Newcastle. Owen-style transfers simply haven't worked, and took the club nearer to bankruptcy and relegation than the European places, so I'm quite happy to see a new strategy.

There's something in that, and a new position is worth a go. What I'd really like to see is an attacking midfielder who can make runs into the box, beyond the strikers, and getting on the end of chances, like Cahill, or Rob Lee. I can't quite see Milner doing that - but let's see.

I really enjoyed that.

There can't be any more meaningless statistic than passing accuracy. Anyone can get a good percentage if they move the ball backwards or sideways. Getting it forward to open up a defence involves risk.

Apart from Man City, where I think it was by mutual agreement. For England, of course, he walked out half an hour after a game, so it can't be said he doesn't have some previous. There's too many unknowns. I think that financial considerations may well play a part here.

Whoever we put in midfield, someone's going to have to do some tackling. Our priority is to get in a DM who can pass the ball. That'd make a big difference. Until then, it feels like we're tinkering around the edges of the problem.