TRon

Just can't see where our goals are going to come from at the moment. Maybe Birmingham's utter shitness will inspire our pop gun strikers into action.

I don't really understand why Barton is holding out for better terms if he is desperate to stay at Newcastle. He's in danger of putting himself in the same category as Seb Larsson as an option and I'm not sure he's a better package all things considered.

He looked very good to me. If Liverpool weren't interested before they certainly won't have been put off today. In contrast the only way Nolan will get back to his home town club will be if he chauffeurs Enrique there like he did with Carroll.

Disagree like, think he just comes across as dry, which is a good thing. Really liked his interviews when he was here. Great manager too, I'll never really understand/get over why he didn't work out here. Really enjoyed today. Carroll was a nice distraction. One of the major reasons he didn't work out here was because he sold flair players and bought carthorses. Then proceeded to play defensive, fearful football. But he did well while he had the use of Keegan's players similar to how he's doing well with the players he's inherited at Anfield.

Some people might say his heart wasn't in it today, but he looked a million miles better than most of our clueless inept squad today. I can guarantee you if any of our best players leave for top clubs it will be Enrique and Tiote at the top of the list and influential dressing room figures will be bottom of the list.

If we want to progress I would say next season we should be looking at playing only one of them in most game as they are both slow around the pitch. Barton losing possession regularly when he plays in the middle is testament to that. By all means keep them here for team spirit but I don't see why either should command big club wages when most big clubs won't touch them with a barge pole.

I hope he's not going to be on a big money contract. Someone was saying before the game that Liverpool looked weak in midfield before the game with Spearing in there. Well he doesn't look that great but he's pissed all over Nolan all game. Absolutely pissed on him.

Not many papers on Monday morning will agree with that I'd venture.

That's the bottom line for me. Nolan is effective to a limited degree, but then so are Stoke and Rory Delap. Is that the extent of our ambition? Pointless comparing the two players really, they work at completely different levels.

The footballing ability throughout their side will mean they will still dominate possession then their quality strikers will score the goals that win the game while we will make one or two chances which we'll fail to convert. The most we'll get is one goal if we're lucky and that won't be enough.

It's quite simple, I look at the teams whose style I would want us to play in, e.g, Arsenal, Tottenham, Man U, Liverpool, SBR's/Keegan's Newcastle and then I think which player would those teams most likely buy? While they probably wouldn't buy either of them you could make a case that you could put a fully fit Ireland into their team without fucking up their passing and mobility, you couldn't do that with Nolan.

for the deeper role, joining the attack late on, that Nolan plays - no. playing just off the striker with limited defensive duties - yes. Ireland's had one good season in his career, the rest have been average, or downright poor. let's look elsewhere please. I could see Ireland fitting into a good passing side more easily than Nolan that's why I rate him more. But I don't want to spend good money on a crock so I agree we should look elsewhere.

Ireland is better than Nolan...if he's fit. Which he never is so it's a moot point.

It's not just the injuries though, there's a question mark over his attitude. I'm not convinced he's as desperate as he should be to make a new start, he looks a bit flabby to me. We really needed him to get out there on the pitch and show he was serious. Maybe it is just bad luck...or maybe his lifestyle makes it's own luck. Nothing's really any clearer so you can understand why Pardew isn't made up on him yet.

We can't score goals. They can.

These are the type of rumours which get me interested rather than the likes of Lukaku who we would never contemplate buying at £18m. Assuming the Tabanou link isn't fictional then it would suggest that our scouting network has moved on and the Tiote signing wasn't a fluke.

I like him as a player, he brings much needed craft and guile into the attacking third. But there's a sneaking suspicion he's a busted flush at an early age similar to Michael Owen.

Eh? Surely keeping hold of our club captain is good news regardless of how much we spend? It's about standards. Ambitious clubs don't want players like Nolan no matter how well he's done in our eyes. If he's been given a new contract as a player who has earned it I've no problem with that. If he's been given a new contract to cement his place in the first team for the next three years then it means we are happy with being a top 10 club IMO. why is it always one thing or another? can you think of any other newly prompted club that would be talking about not being happy as a top 10 club in their first season back up? yes we have a good fan base, and have a good recent history in the PL, but if we want to be in the top 10 and higher we need a solid foundation to build on, not to start demanding europe after one season back in the PL. The club should always be ambitious and look to get better, but right now we should be looking at cementing our premier league status. This season isn't over yet, and by the end of it we may not be sitting in the top 10. many clubs have done well in their first PL season, only to get relegated the season after. Being a top 10 club mean competing with the likes of Bolton, Aston Villa and Everton, clubs that are better than us now squad wise (had we not sold our only decent striker, i'd say we were level with them, but we have no attack at the moment). If in the next couple of years we can get to a position when we are consistently challenging the likes of Villa and Everton then we will have done very well. if we can push on after that then great, but right now we need to be focussing on challenging them, and its players like Nolan which will help us do that. Having a player like Nolan in the midfield limits the type of football you can play IMO. He's more of a Sam Allardyce player than a Keegan or Robson type. With £35m available I'd like to think we could aim to progress rather than just survive over the next three years. So it's fine to give Nolan a new contract as long as he's part of the rebuilding phase, not the final solution, that's all I'm saying.

Eh? Surely keeping hold of our club captain is good news regardless of how much we spend? It's about standards. Ambitious clubs don't want players like Nolan no matter how well he's done in our eyes. If he's been given a new contract as a player who has earned it I've no problem with that. If he's been given a new contract to cement his place in the first team for the next three years then it means we are happy with being a top 10 club IMO.

I'll wait to see who we sign in the summer before deciding if this is good news or not. Hopefully we will use the Carroll money to sign quality and Nolan has been given a new contract because he's an influential squad member.

Love all this talk about them having a dodgy defence. As if we've got the strikers to capitalise... We'll get beat by at least two goals, more likely three.

Unless that position of strength translates into us being able to buy better players than most other teams it won't mean much really...except to the clubs bank.

Ireland is not prolific goalscorer though & even less so when compared to Nolan, Nolan is not far off scoring more PL goals this season than Ireland has for his career. With our current lack of goals I think we should play Nolan off a striker & hope the likes of Ireland & Barton can create chances for them. I think Nolan is better in midfield where he gets more space. Ireland is definitely better off playing off the striker too imo. What ever position is best for Kevin Nolan to score goals I am not that fussed really. If Nolan can be part of a team that can go on to challenge the top six sides by playing attractive football then I'm ok with that. Actually strike that - if he can be part of a side which gets into Europe that'll do for me. Forget the good football, even Stoke-esque football will do if it's effective. Why has Nolan got to do all that? Surely it is th whole team ffs!!! A few posts ago you were said Ireland "would get goals" apart from 1 season he hasn't really done goalscoring. I am not fussed about big Kev, but with the current crop of strikers e needs to be in the team as he has pedigree of scoring goals. Where did I say that Nolan had to do all that? I said "If Nolan can be part of a team" which can challenge. Whether Nolan scores goals or Ireland doesn't isn't really anything I am debating. My view is that they both lack something as either midfielders or forwards so we lose something in those areas when they play.

Ireland is not prolific goalscorer though & even less so when compared to Nolan, Nolan is not far off scoring more PL goals this season than Ireland has for his career. With our current lack of goals I think we should play Nolan off a striker & hope the likes of Ireland & Barton can create chances for them. I think Nolan is better in midfield where he gets more space. Ireland is definitely better off playing off the striker too imo. What ever position is best for Kevin Nolan to score goals I am not that fussed really. If Nolan can be part of a team that can go on to challenge the top six sides by playing attractive football then I'm ok with that. Actually strike that - if he can be part of a side which gets into Europe that'll do for me. Forget the good football, even Stoke-esque football will do if it's effective.