TRon

There is a difference between sentimentality and man management... such insight. raylor's had a decent start, he's scored two free kicks but other than that been ok at the job he's there to do primarily. if you want to reward him leave him in the position he's had a decent start in, or put him at right back where simpson's been poor. don't weaken our midfield needlessly just to keep his spirits up, it's counter-productive. Raylor has been used at right midfield before, Pardew might well see him as a possible replacement for Barton. Might be worth a shot as he wouldn't be playing too far forward in a 3 man midfield.

I thought they used the same guy we did at the time? If it didn't work then why would it work now?

What is the protest hoping to achieve if you don't mind me asking? Kenwright has said he's skint. Unless there's a buyout what are the options? What do the protesters want him to do?

Don't see why he would have any more problem slotting in at left back that Ryan Taylor did, it's not like he hasn't played the position before.

Why is it a problem? You have to wonder why it's even being brought up as an issue. Has someone complained they aren't getting a break? I always assumed not many black players looked on coaching as a career after football.

Buying a gaff in Durham by all accounts. Can't say I blame him for staying well away from Sunderland. I try to use the metrocentre as little as possible because it's crawling with mackems most days. Most of them standing with gaping mouths stunned at the sight of more than three national retail outlets in one location.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Bendtner called in a sickie during the week and turned up at Longbenton hoping for a kick around after our training session. It's a lot closer to Jesmond where he'll be living after all.

I think he'd have come here without a second thought if we'd given the slightest hint we were interested. An arrogant tosser like Bendtner would fancy he belonged at the more glamorous clubs and without meaning to offend our Wearside neighbours that would be us not Sunderland. Christ almighty. You've got to love the sheer arrogance of Newcastle fans, dear me. Aye, I bet Bendtner was desperate to swap Champions League to move to a team who finished 8th bottom last season. Why not? He finally accepted a move to the shanty town a few miles away, what makes you think he wouldn't have jumped at the chance to move to a more high profile club for the sake of a point or two difference last season? He probably only agreed to move to Sunderland so he'd get more exposure to the Newcastle management. Not that it'll do him much good, as I suspect Ba is probably considered higher quality by Newcastle management. Keep on posting, your posts make me smile. It's no wonder Newcastle fans have the 'deluded' tag with posts like this. Yes, that's right it's me that's deluded fucking hell

Way to put words in Pardew's mouth Pardew finding it hard to keep a lid on his frustration with the board there tbf. Good on him.

I think he'd have come here without a second thought if we'd given the slightest hint we were interested. An arrogant tosser like Bendtner would fancy he belonged at the more glamorous clubs and without meaning to offend our Wearside neighbours that would be us not Sunderland. Christ almighty. You've got to love the sheer arrogance of Newcastle fans, dear me. Aye, I bet Bendtner was desperate to swap Champions League to move to a team who finished 8th bottom last season. Why not? He finally accepted a move to the shanty town a few miles away, what makes you think he wouldn't have jumped at the chance to move to a more high profile club for the sake of a point or two difference last season? He probably only agreed to move to Sunderland so he'd get more exposure to the Newcastle management. Not that it'll do him much good, as I suspect Ba is probably considered higher quality by Newcastle management.

I think he'd have come here without a second thought if we'd given the slightest hint we were interested. An arrogant tosser like Bendtner would fancy he belonged at the more glamorous clubs and without meaning to offend our Wearside neighbours that would be us not Sunderland.

Mmm... The same shit team who got a great 1-0 win at Everton and have since been took over by a new owner and have signed Barton SWP and Ferdinand... Not saying they ate worldbeaters but let's not get carried away... Classic NUFC banana skin awaiting us in front of the watching millions... I think we need to remember that despite the results we have been over run for large periods in all 4 games this season... Would love to say I don't have your fear as well, but, no, have it in spades. Barton is bound to have a major impact on the game as well. Just hope to God that it's the 'have fight with Taraabt and both get sent off' kind, rather than the 'sets up two, then scores the third' kind. I'm reckoning a red card myself. Although another possibility is he is almost anonymous. That would do too. I just have this feeling that Barton and SWP will be totally underwhelming and our midfield will be fizzing all around them. I think a sneaky away win is definitely possible.

Cabaye looks like he'll be a great player for us, but I'm still more excited about Ben Arfa. Both of them paying together is the most exciting thing of all though Makes a change not to be pinning all of our hopes/optimism on the fitness of one foreign gem Isn't that pretty much what we're doing though? Love what I've seen from Cabaye so far, but if he's got two of Ba, Shola, Best and Lovenkrands starting up top ahead of him he's not going to do much damage tbh. Cabaye AND Ben Arfa That's my point though, without some sort of quality in front of him I fear Cabaye won't be as effective as he could be. I was going to say the same thing myself in response to Rich's post. I am pinning my hopes on Ba showing what he's capable of now the fasting business is over.

Excellent post.

Same here. I really can't be bothered even thinking about signings in January after the failure to get the striker we needed this summer. I just hope Ba and Best step up to the mark and we can just get on with enjoying what was promising to be a very interesting season.

I'm sure there's one called BenArfa BenArfa as well. Or something like that.

When do you play Forest ? It isn't a premier league team, no ? (What division ?) We play them on the 20th September, it's a League Cup game. Nottingham Forest are a Championship team. That's just brilliant news. Barely two weeks away

Quite funny to think that we might soon have a surplus of options at full-back. Raylor/Simpson/Santon/Perch/Saylor @ RB; & Ferguson/Santon/Raylor @ LB ...and Paul Dummett. Admittedly, they are of varying quality, but considering we barely had bodies to throw in those positions not so long ago it is still quite the turnaround. CB looking a bit threadbare. Two of the three left backs you mentioned are right footed. Even the genuine left footer is not sure whether he's a full back or a winger, so while the right back area is well covered in a poor quality sort of way, left back is still very questionable. Although Santon might prove all the fears misguided if he excels there.

I said this earlier, but if you are only willing to spend £8-10m and pay 50k a week you aren't going to get a proven striker unless he's past his sell by date. For that price all you can buy is promise such as Maiga or Connor Wickham and with promising players there is always a risk. It's the market we want to trade in so why complain about it?

Shola, Lovenkrands and Best are among our four current best strikers. How can our B targets not be better options than them? Well any transfer is a gamble, and it's possible to spend a lot of money and not end up with a better option. But I find the way you've put the dilemma quite strange. Instead of looking at the players you don't rate that highly and saying we can find someone better, shouldn't we be aiming to get in the best player that we can possibly land? At the least, better than Ba, who I assume you feel is our best striker at the moment. To put it another way, if all we end up with is someone marginally better than our weaker players (as you define them), would it not be better to wait? Unless what we've seen of Ba is very misleading we are still missing a Bellamy type of player who will run down the channels and play off the big man. The two we have are Ben Arfa possibly, and Lovenkrands who is not fit for this level. Relying on Ben Arfa to be fit for most of this season is optimistic at this time when no one knows how completely he's recovered from a serious setback. So yes we should have brought someone in. Even Bellamy himself if no one else was available. I'm sure he would have preferred first team football here to sitting on Liverpool's bench. Don't forget Obertan was hinting that he hoped to move into a more advanced striking role when we bought him. /Not that I'd particularly want him there myself on what I've seen (and I can't see him getting many games up front now Barton has gone), but you never know. I saw Obertan playing up front in one game and he was sat back on his heels whenever there was a header flick on from the striker. I don't think he's a natural forward and I doubt he'll get many goals. Lovenkrands is the closest we've got and he's abysmal. We might just have to hope Vukic or Sammy step up quicker than we hoped, although neither are genuine strikers either.

I don't think it should be hard to drop Taylor. He's done the job asked of him manfully but he's still a very limited player who won't offer any of the options Santon does. We've missed Jose's ability to bring the ball out of defence and Santon will give us that again. Get him in.

I have a feeling Mehdi Abeid will prove to be a quality addition before the season is out. Speculation at this point, but when talking about the strength of the squad he might be worth considering.

Seriously it's great that we now have two French posters here. They offer great insight into the abilities of our French players.

Shola, Lovenkrands and Best are among our four current best strikers. How can our B targets not be better options than them? Well any transfer is a gamble, and it's possible to spend a lot of money and not end up with a better option. But I find the way you've put the dilemma quite strange. Instead of looking at the players you don't rate that highly and saying we can find someone better, shouldn't we be aiming to get in the best player that we can possibly land? At the least, better than Ba, who I assume you feel is our best striker at the moment. To put it another way, if all we end up with is someone marginally better than our weaker players (as you define them), would it not be better to wait? Unless what we've seen of Ba is very misleading we are still missing a Bellamy type of player who will run down the channels and play off the big man. The two we have are Ben Arfa possibly, and Lovenkrands who is not fit for this level. Relying on Ben Arfa to be fit for most of this season is optimistic at this time when no one knows how completely he's recovered from a serious setback. So yes we should have brought someone in. Even Bellamy himself if no one else was available. I'm sure he would have preferred first team football here to sitting on Liverpool's bench.

Pretty ironic saying people need to let it go when you sound pretty bitter there. What's bitter about it? It seems to be far more based on reason than championing Barton's value based on his now legendary twitter crap.