TRon

See how Smith does being played out of position like Guthrie has been. Smith has been played out of position, he's a forward by trade, albeit a bad one. I think this focus on Smith is misplaced, he's not a great midfielder and no one is pretending that he is,but the problems are in other areas of the pitch and that's where we are struggling imo. He hasn't been a forward since his days at Man Utd though. I'd say he's a central midfielder now. He played as a forward for us as well as on the right wing under Allardyce, it is only this season he has played in the centre of midfield regularly at Newcastle. It's beside the point anyway, like i said, i think our problems are in other areas of the pitch rather than Smith's role. I doubt playing Butt instead would improve matters.

When people talk about the quality of our players, which ones are they referring to exactly? I'm struggling to name more than three who have looked any better than the opposition in their respective positions in this league. The penny has not dropped for some people that we are a team of cloggers. Our GK & defenders in Jose, Taylor & Colo make us a cut above the rest of the teams in this league (fucking reading sounds like when Cowell says "IN THIS COMPETITION" on X-factor). Spot on. I would agree that our defenders are probably the only players who look a class above so far, the midfielders can't string two passes together and the forwards don't offer anything other than height from what i've seen. This idea that we are "quality" is a bad joke.

When people talk about the quality of our players, which ones are they referring to exactly? I'm struggling to name more than three who have looked any better than the opposition in their respective positions in this league.

See how Smith does being played out of position like Guthrie has been. Smith has been played out of position, he's a forward by trade, albeit a bad one. I think this focus on Smith is misplaced, he's not a great midfielder and no one is pretending that he is,but the problems are in other areas of the pitch and that's where we are struggling imo.

Why is Ashley bothered whether anyone is the right person to take over the club? If he's going to hold out for the right price before he sells then he better not bank on us being definite promotion candidates this season from what I've seen over the last few games. If we slip out of the top two positions things could get very ugly for Ashley imo.

if it's costing you £20m a year why are you asking for £80m up front fatty?

Where's Johnny Hall? I recall he thought it was a bit premature to think the big four's monopoly might be under threat this season yet here we are with a thread on the very subject.

Butt is just another legless codger who can't keep up with the game. Just because the rest are bad doesn't mean he's the answer. One of the few successes this season has been Butt's replacement, Smith. partly my point. he's not the answer but did he deserve the lickings of a dog he got and why aren't smith,nolan and others getting similar for worse performances ? Smith has been better imo. Guthrie and Nolan, I agree have been s**** but I've said that previously. smith at the start of the season fair enough....last 5 or 6 games ? nah! Now you are making Smith the scapegoat. He's doing his job in front of the back four, it's the midfieders who don't dovetail with the attack that are failing.

Our slow turgid cloggers couldn't live with them, just as they couldn't live with us a few years ago when we used to have a team of thoroughbreds and they had the cart horses.

Butt is just another legless codger who can't keep up with the game. Just because the rest are bad doesn't mean he's the answer. One of the few successes this season has been Butt's replacement, Smith. partly my point. he's not the answer but did he deserve the lickings of a dog he got and why aren't smith,nolan and others getting similar for worse performances ? Smith has been better imo. Guthrie and Nolan, I agree have been shite but I've said that previously.

I haven't seen much evidence this season that we have far more quality than other teams, in fact I'd say that even when we've won games we haven't looked better for long stretches of the game. We've got more experience and nous maybe, but there are a few teams in this division which have been been able to boss us in midfield in particular.

Butt is just another legless codger who can't keep up with the game. Just because the rest are bad doesn't mean he's the answer. One of the few successes this season has been Butt's replacement, Smith.

Said this earlier in the thread. Forest only had one striker, but their midfield supported him much better. Nolan, Guthrie and Lovenkrands were utter wank as usual.

it's not only that the forwards were s**** (which they were) but they had absolutely no support from the midfield in the first half especially. Guthrie, Nolan and Lovenkrands stood watching instead of chasing the flick ons. So far Ipswich has been our best perfomance this season home or away. Not one of the goals came from a long ball up, it was lots of short passing then out wide for crossing. It was about getting it into the channels, which we didn't try and do today, if we try and do what we did today against Scunthorpe then I don't expect a different result. I thought we looked second best against Ipswich as well until we scored. I am yet to be convinced that the midfielders we have can run for 90 mins, which is what you need to do to play a passing game.

it's not only that the forwards were shite (which they were) but they had absolutely no support from the midfield in the first half especially. Guthrie, Nolan and Lovenkrands stood watching instead of chasing the flick ons.

Unless we sort out a midfield that can compete with the younger, quicker players that many of the teams in this division have we are going to find it difficult to fluke many more wins. There are no outstanding teams but plenty of competitive ones who will fancy running at our wheezing, lazy pub players. It's going to be a long hard season.

They didn't look inferior to me.

Said earlier on. I've watched both teams today, and Newcastle have no chance on Tuesday. Scunthorpe's midfield > Newcastle's midfield Newcastle's midfield is worse than a majority of the teams in this division if you ask me.

Exactly. It's embarrassing but there you are.

Harewood and Carroll have been absolutely gash so far.

I don't like Liverpool and if Sunderland are going to beat anyone it might as well be them. Even so it sickens me that they are now fielding prope athletes like Bent in their side while we have the type of wheezing farts which used to be found in every section of their squad.

It's probably the best 4-4-2 we could have asked for, really. I feel quite confident. I reckon we'll sneak a 1-0. Nolan and Lovenkrands aren't proper midfielders, one is too fat to keep up, the other won't want to be involved out wide. i think we'll do well to get a win tbh.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA Another way of saying Newcastle play mediocre football but the likes of Nolan can grab a goal despite the general lack of quality football.

You're right but Ashley has barely acted logically since he bought the club. It would have made sense to strengthen the club in the winter and try and stave off relegation by improving the team but he sold Given and N'Zogbia and didn't reinvest all the money. Same goes for this summer, only Lovenkrands came in as Ashley decided to chance it with injuries. Last year he suggested we could finish 6th! I fully expect him to do the same again in the winter window - I expect nothing but loan signings in and one or two going out. You're right it'd be madness but sadly that's the way things have been since he arrived. Ashley's only concern is to make a profit or at least reduce losses year on year. Investing in the first team is too risky when he can just sell players and loan indefinitely while we are in this division and if we go up it's a bonus.

He did very well against Leicester to be fair, and they've got a fucking massive centre forward. I wouldn't want to be relying on him repeating that performance on a regular basis.