TRon

I think Obertan might start ahead of Ba and we'll go with one striker. As for Raylor, despite being one of his biggest critics I thought he showed some nice touches against Fulham. Maybe with renewed confidence he'll look a different player in Barton's position?

You make it sound like we know what we are doing If these deals are anything to go by, you know exactly what you're doing. You run the risk of upsetting some posters Neil. Ashley and Co are cunts and there's no way past that, all these class signings must be some kind of accident or - ah got it.. they'll sell for more. I think you'll struggle to find anyone who is unhappy with the signings we've made. It's the gaping holes in the squad and lack of willing to push the club as far as possible that pisses people off. 'Gaping' holes? Please clarify. I can understand the latter part of your statement but some people seem unable to communicate clearly if you think it is just that which pisses people off. Well we've been extremely lucky to get away with playing Ryan Taylor at left back for four games this season. Starting the season without a single left back on the books is/was a bloody joke. We've had seven months to work out what to do with the Carroll money and bring in strikers that relegate our Championship-esque strikeforce to the bench or out of the squad altogether and aside from Ba (who I firmly believe like Gosling was signed more because he was available on the cheap rather than with a genuine belief he'd fit what we're trying to do) we're still here fucking around with a day to go. We needed a striker adding going into January, and that was before we sold Carroll. We've hardly any right-wing options that aren't square pegs in round holes, and the same goes for centre back cover. As I said, our signings on their own look great, but there's an almost complete lack of consideration for the overall picture IMO. It's very misleading to suggest that 'the negative people' are unhappy with our signings. Nah, you're right. Think I was just looking for an argument. They're pulling off some great deals but they don't seem to have their eye on the bigger picture at all. The striker deal is key for me. If we get Maiga in I'll have been very happy with this window's signings. If not then it will be pretty inexcusable tbh. Openly admit (again) I know nothing of the player, but generally speaking I agree. We can look to build on our great start results-wise and move forwards. I won't re-write my opinion on how we've done things with regards to timing and the numerous farces that we've been through yet again this summer though, nor my opinion that with more ambition we'd be able to move forwards more quickly. The fact that so many other clubs seem to do their business on the last few days of the window suggests that it isn't as easy to tie everything up as neatly as we would like. A lot of deals depend on other clubs moving players for example. I'm sure Arsenal would prefer to have done their business before now as it's actually cost them points in comparison to us.

Nice title change I certainly don't.

I'd prefer him on loan if he's coming here tbh. I agree with Bottledog, the talk about polishing other clubs players for them is drivel. If he's not got pace then it seems a pointless signing either way.

You make it sound like we know what we are doing If these deals are anything to go by, you know exactly what you're doing. You run the risk of upsetting some posters Neil. Ashley and Co are cunts and there's no way past that, all these class signings must be some kind of accident or - ah got it.. they'll sell for more. I think you'll struggle to find anyone who is unhappy with the signings we've made. It's the gaping holes in the squad and lack of willing to push the club as far as possible that pisses people off. 'Gaping' holes? Please clarify. I can understand the latter part of your statement but some people seem unable to communicate clearly if you think it is just that which pisses people off. Well we've been extremely lucky to get away with playing Ryan Taylor at left back for four games this season. Starting the season without a single left back on the books is/was a bloody joke. We've had seven months to work out what to do with the Carroll money and bring in strikers that relegate our Championship-esque strikeforce to the bench or out of the squad altogether and aside from Ba (who I firmly believe like Gosling was signed more because he was available on the cheap rather than with a genuine belief he'd fit what we're trying to do) we're still here fucking around with a day to go. We needed a striker adding going into January, and that was before we sold Carroll. We've hardly any right-wing options that aren't square pegs in round holes, and the same goes for centre back cover. As I said, our signings on their own look great, but there's an almost complete lack of consideration for the overall picture IMO. It's very misleading to suggest that 'the negative people' are unhappy with our signings. Nah, you're right. Think I was just looking for an argument. They're pulling off some great deals but they don't seem to have their eye on the bigger picture at all. The striker deal is key for me. If we get Maiga in I'll have been very happy with this window's signings. If not then it will be pretty inexcusable tbh.

Tbf Pardew would probably just as soon shag Santos. He is easy on the eye.

11 games, 0 goals. Exactly what we need, right? Know where your coming from (even if joking a bit), but the player who Rossi is now, is not the one we had. The same will probably be for Macheda. Not that I think Macheda will be half as good as Rossi. To be fair on Rossi he was never really given a fair crack of the whip by Roeder, majority of his games were off the bench so it's difficult to tell quite how good he could have been for us. Went to Parma and did very well for them in the same season. But yeah, would be very very surprised if Macheda turned out anywhere near as good as Rossi. Rossi did score on absolute class goal for us when given a start which hinted at his potential class. Unfortunately Roeder had the spine of a jelly fish so he wasn't prepared to upset any of the senior pros by giving him one of their spots.

How the hell Spurs haven't snatched their hands off at £10m is beyond me. Fucking hell

Macheda then That probably just means he's the only option and if it doesn't go through there won't be a striker coming in.

Would people prefer if we went for Bendtner instead? He's a better striker but not going to provide us with pace off a front man, which is what we need IMO. Might be why we are considering Macheda as he is more the type we are looking to bring in, if not the quality we expected.

Looks like the Maiga bid has hit the rocks. No idea if the interest was ever serious about Roux, if we don't go back in for him then it's Macheda I would guess.

We'll just have to see what happens in the next 24 hrs then.

Good to see all those with that attitude being fucked off out of the club with their overblown salaries in any case. Enrique's still the only one I'll miss and he's the only one who went to a decent club.

Can we invoke the contract clause if we want to? Because I can't see them selling this late in the day unless they have no choice in the matter.

Brace yourselves everyone. This is looming larger by the hour.

I'm sensing trouble on the horizon.

He won't go anywhere, he's got two years left on a good contract. Let's see... If he fails to make the bench when fully fit I can't see him wanting to hang around for the duration of his contract... Though I agree it will be a good contract... Has anyone any ideas how much a week he's on these days? Guessing he must be at the top end of our new £55k a week pay structure?... I'm sure he'd prefer to move but who's going to pay him what we are? Where will he go? Bear in mind this is a keeper who was happy to sit on the bench for so many years as long as he could stay in Newcastle.

I'm sure Pardew said that he is one that might be ready to be involved this season at a senior level. They must rate him pretty highly.

Blinding insight there from Douglas. Who'd have thought?

Pardew has said quite consistently that we would sign a left back and a striker so it's not like that has changed because the ground wasn't full on Sunday.

He won't go anywhere, he's got two years left on a good contract.

It is probably just a back up in case the Maiga deal falls through. Macheda is probably waiting until the door closes before switching to QPR.

it's just about balance mate, that's all, and especially if you've got jonas ahead of him the other team pretty much know what they need to do to stop us down the left. he looks really comfortable on the ball though, him and ben arfa down the left is potentially incredible. It's not that straight forward at all. You can't just say because they're both left footed the other team knows exactly how to stop them. Disagree completely. the other team knows which way they're gonna go 9 times out of 10, and that they'll be running into traffic rather than space. i'm not saying it wont work, i'm not saying we wont have a good left flank, i'm saying we'll have a more predictable one and that's a bad thing imo. Everything depends on his pace and technique..If you are useless with the ball, like Simpson, it will be a disaster putting him on left back..But from what I've seen from Santon he's fast and is capable of going both ways..It's his skills that makes him unpredictable, not his preferred fot.. have you played much football? as a defender? I have, but at an inferiour level so it's hardly relevant for this discussion..My point is simple, Santon got skills, so he's probably capable of passing and crossing with both feet, although he prefers his right foot..Simpson on the other hand find it difficult to hit a simple pass..Consequently Simpson would be the shittest defender on earth if placed on left back, but not Santon. contrary to what sam allardyce might tell you, the basics of the game are the same at any level. and one of them is if you know which way someone's likely to go, you've got a better chance of stopping them. i'm not even sure why you're talking about simpson to be honest. Because he's a mong who justifies his existence on the board by pretending to get into the 'theory' of football and offer some 'great insight' - it's car-crashingly excruciating to read. Jeesus christ..Theories are propositons about football you ignorant..They're up for discussion...The problem with some supporters is that they're so in love with some players, or have such an fixated view of football, that they refuse to discuss alternatives..And those who propose an alternative view are branded as idiots. . You and Ronaldo are experts in this particular area. We had exactly the same discussion previous season with Nolan (his lack of fitness and incapability of distributing the ball)..I was of course slaughtered for even mentioning this..Even those with minimal brain activity (that excludes you and Ronaldo) now see how much more balanced and better our central midfield is. I have no problem with people disagreeing with me, but you could at least try to argument why instead of polluting the internet with idiotic remarks. Spot on. I was critical of Nolan's signing from day 1 and got slated for it a few times but just seeing Cabaye in there now vindicates everything. Not that Nolan did badly for us but he stopped us moving on.

Seems like it's just depending on Gradel's move to Sochaux going through now. I would be happy enough with this signing. If we prefer him over Roux it must be because our scouting team rate him higher. Sochaux's reluctance to sell also tends to suggest he's pretty good. Hope it gets done and dusted without any hitches.