TRon

I agree that Shepherd always backed his managers which was good. Unfortunately he didn't possess either the intelligence or judgement to make good appointments which makes the former good quality redundant. Shepherd's appointments of Souness and Roeder spoke volumes of his lack of judgement. Let those who would defend him explain in detail how such important decisions were made or justified. [pasted from previous page as the silence is deafening]

They arent that good, anyone would have scored them tbh, mind his movement wasnt too bad so i'll grant him that i don't think thats true. the volleys required very good technique and timing imo. They weren't spectacular but he's right, to control the ball when it's coming down from a height and distance takes technique and judgement. Just remains to be seen whether Luque's obvious ability in front of goal is enough to make him a worthwhile member of the squad.

From a business point of view alone, it would be pointless buying a big club like Newcastle then invest as if it were Carlisle. To grow the 'brand' as it were will mean spending serious money on the squad. It might not be possible straight away due to the recent take over but at the moment I'd just rather take Mort at face value. Allardyce has been given the go ahead to pinpoint players and the board will try and acquire them.

Allardyce's quotes don't mention anything about having £10m to work with.

If that is true how was it possible to make a £7m bid for a top defender last week? The figures don'y add up.

Malbranque has better end product than Dyer I agree, but then so does Luque. Malbranque has never struck me as either strong or injury-free so I don't really see what he would provide in midfield that say, Solano wouldn't? Except that Solano doesn't want to stay in the South.

Good choice IMO. If Wenger needs a pliable yes-man to kiss his Arsenal, Roeder would fit the bill.

Excellent point. I find it funny when people say he scored his goal against Palermo because it was put on his head, or that he scored two against Celtic because they were excellent crosses. I've seen Van Nistelrooy (no I'm not comparing the two, calm down people) score loads like that and people spunk everywhere over his movement and anticipation to create an easy chance for himself. Those two goals against Celtic, if we were talking about someone like Ruud everyone would be going on about his movement, yet cos it's Luque they make out like Solano and Milner made him score. I've just seen both goals and they show very good movement, anticipation and composure, real poachers goals. I'd be surprised to see Ameobi or even Martins scoring those types of goals and it shows Luque does have something in his locker. He might have done nowt else for the 45 minutes, but he scored two goals in the first half against a decent team and people are trying to knock him for it. At the end of the day it's difficult to judge a player objectively when you really don't like him (eg Luque), just as it is when you love a player (eg Shearer when his legs were going). Luque deserves a fair bit of criticism but he also deserves credit where it's due. I also tend to think that somebody with his pedigree deserves a chance to show it with a run in the team. I think he's lost serious pace because of that injury and it's sad to see, but I remember him raping Cafu as they put Milan out of the Champions League and I think a player who had that ability is worth a bit of patience, espescially when noone is bashing down the door to sign him up. I'm glad Sam sees this because he's paid handsomely to get as much as he can out of every player in the squad and isn't looking to wash his hands of players who will require hard work. i think both were excelent finishes, very well times volleys, but at the same time you have to recognise that luque and V.N are very different types of players. its ok that V.N (or Owen) have limited skill on the ball, and can be absent for 89 mins of a game, because they are 25 a season strikers, there to score goals, and natural predators. Luque is none of these things, he scored 2 vs celtic, but won't score 20 in a season, even if he starts every game, because he's not a natural finisher. He took both his goals well, and very good movement for the second, but his skill on the ball was woeful, and if he plays with limited on the ball skill, and won't score 20 a season, then what does he offer? he needs more confidence on the ball. The best bit of him at the moment is funnily his end product. He has good crosses, and has shown good shooting technique. If the other parts improve to PL standard (off the ball and on the ball skills) then he will be a good player for us. I saw the first half today and what struck me was that Luque was played as the leading front man, with Martins playing behind. In that position I would say Luque's main obligation was goals, just as Owen's would have been. 2 in 45 mins is hard to knock by anyone's standards, and what a lot of people here have failed to mention is they were both predator goals worthy of any striker.

I agree that Shepherd always backed his managers which was good. Unfortunately he didn't possess either the intelligence or judgement to make good appointments which makes the former good quality redundant. Shepherd's appointments of Souness and Roeder spoke volumes of his lack of judgement. Let those who would defend him explain in detail how such important decisions were made or justified.

The talk of Zog playing next season as LB worries me. No doubt he will do a great job but there are two problems. He sees himself as a left midfielder. We'd lose a very good left midfielder.

If Butt doesn't play who will be given the holding role in mkidfield? Ideal opportunity to give Geremi a go there?

Sam has already ruled out buying a CB with no Prem experience so it won't be Hangeland. I can see us getting in Quedrue if the Silvestre deal isn't revived.

This is a very valid point like, the same one I used when we were linked with Woodgate last summer. It's all well and good having a top-class defender for half the games a season - but it does you absolutely no favours in the other half. Campbell only missed 6 league games for Portsmouth last season, though, which isn't too bad and bodes quite well for the fact that he can still "do it" at the top level if looked after properly. Going by this logic as well, we still need another first-choice pair of fullbacks as well as a centre-half! Wasn't aware Campbell played so many games, perhaps it'd be worth the risk then. On the full backs issue, it looks likely that Geremi will spend a lot, perhaps most of his time elsewhere, and we all know we need a left back anyway, so yes I'd say we need a RB, LB and two CBs, or keep Geremi at RB and buy a CM instead. Basically we need 4 more players, 3 absolute minimum, and they need to be decent at the very least. The way I see it, we need a minimum of 3 defenders through the door (LB, RB, CD) and unless Allardyce feels Geremi could be used as a holding midfielder, then we need cover for Butt as well. I can understand if we have to lower our standards failing to land our main targets, but there will be no excuses for another summer wasted if we don't sign slightly lesser players for those positions as plan B.

I think you'll find that Taylor would be the one left out, rightly so IMO. Sam is right, for all his promise, he's still got plenty to learn. Don't think Sol Campbell is going to leave Portsmouth either, they are in the same wages league as us at the moment.

You use the words "tackle, run, pass, offer aggression and track back" as if it's normal for front players to be oblivious to these concepts. Obviously you want players to have these attributes, but the flip side to this view is that a forward needs to score goals first and foremost. So I would think the reason Allardyce is still making relatively positive noises about Luque is that he'll look at his plusses as well as the negatives. Far prefer that approach to Roeder's tbh.

Maybe we should play two central midfielders up front? That way, unlike Martins and Luque they could tackle, run, pass, offer aggression and track back like no one's business! ok we'd lose 1-0 but think of the work rate!

I rate Sven, but prefer Allardyce for us. Agree there. Sven is probably going to shock a few people and I expect City to do alright next season. Sven is light years ahead of Pearce, but I still prefer Allardyce here. easy to say,wonder what pearce would have been like if backed the way sven has been so far. This is just my opinion but Pearce offers passion and not much else. A manager needs other qualities as well and whether Pearce had millions or not, he's not a person I'd ever want near a management position at Newcastle.

I rate Sven, but prefer Allardyce for us. Agree there. Sven is probably going to shock a few people and I expect City to do alright next season. Sven is light years ahead of Pearce, but I still prefer Allardyce here.

To those saying we don't need a replacement, I am just taking Sam at his word that we will need to buy one. I think there is a fair case that we have plenty of players who can cover till Barton's back. How many of them are genuine CM's though? Milner isn't, Emre isn't, not sure abot Geremi but I think he could do it.

Will we need one? Allardyce was hinting yes, and though my first instinct was Baptista, I'm starting to get a feeling that we might go for Alan Smith instead. As a front player he's a waste of time IMO, but Sam might see him as a direct replacement for Dyer as an attacking midfielder. Totally different qualities but what you lose in pace you would replace with effort and desire. Can see this happening tbh.

He could possibly play the Djiouff role in a front 3 I'm guessing.

you're expecting him to be grateful NOW, after all this time getting paid shedloads for mediocrity? take what we can get, and f*** the skanky little tosspot off. Like I said to you or other cockney wankers...pay up or f*** off. Preferably both. Other cockney wankers? What the f*** are you talking about? And lets not pretend he's worht the £5m being bandied around. We should take whatever we can get to get rid of the little scumbag. Are you a West Ham mole or just an idiot? I don't know if you understand this but to "take whatever we can get to get" works in the London club's favour not ours. I understand you and your mates don't like Dyer, but trust me getting decent money for Dyer will be better for Newcastle. Understand? BETTER. For our club not West Ham.

Obviously Sam wants to up his fitness levels and by all accounts he appears to be putting in a lot more effort. A plaqyer who can score goals is an asset IF he can get maintain a good attitude.

Sam described himself as being a natural pessimist, being a defender by nature. If he's a pessimist, that makes you a potential suicide victim by comparison.