TRon

Go Mourinho tell it like it is

If I were Shay Given, I'd sack my solicitor. Nice to see JK taking a leaf out of Keegans book and protecting his employers 24 hours before a major cup game. Not that we believe everything we see on TV or in the press, unless you are the type to believe what you want to believe. I doubt Shay will do that as there is no way that his solicitor would be saying all that without Given having some idea about it. Shay's solicitor will stay very much employed with a nudge and a wink from the right places

Shay should be sold and Harper given a new contract, with a view to either Krul or Forster being the two in line to becoming the club no 1 keeper. I salute Given for his service. I also offer a two finger salute to send him on his way to whichever team he signs for. We should also withdraw the contract offer made to Butt. With all the old guard jumping ship we don't need to be left with the worst one on our books. Out with the old and in with the new. It's a new era of shiteness in all likelihood, but just possibly of hope.

We can't basically. When we've had most of our squad available we've picked up results but we are now back to the decimated team Hughton had to work with. JK said there were players on the pitch against Liverpool who were half fit and they certainly played like it. I think we are in for a couple more weeks of results and performances that will test the patience so I'm not damping down my expectations (even further).

A source close to Given has suggested that he loves it here and has no intention of leaving so that's good enough for me assuming it's true. It's important to have as many good players on board as possible and it's even more important that they are happy and comitted.

Both Owen and Given are already very well paid at Newcastle and very highly regarded as senior pros. Owen has been offered a new contract which he has declined to accept. Shay is committed to Newcastle (on paper) for another couple of years. If either of them feel like jumping ship they should be encouraged to fuck off ASAP as far as I'm concerned. Don't want to stay guys? FUCK...RIGHT...OFF.

I think we will be spending some money, the real question is how much is there to spend and in the current economic climate how much should we expect Ashley to spend?

No. If he wants to go he should fuck off there for the right fee.

Tactics won't make any difference in matches like these, we need a central midfielder who can replace Butt and hope to keep up with the opposition. Danny Guthrie shouldn't be an automatic choice either, if he puts in abysmal performances like on Sunday we should have other options so we can drop his lazy arse onto the bench.

And it's the ideal way to blood the lad, without the harness of being closely checked during a game's more physical opening stages. His older brother - as a dribbling & quick ball-carrier - at times had a major impact while moonlighting on the flanks on the counter, and a few late season games in season 01-02 spring to mind. Notably one jinking run down the left flank, leading to an assist to Bernard. That game may have been away to Derby if i recall correctly, when we put them to the sword late on. I'd say that he appears to be more creative, to have more vision/or an eye for a final ball than Tressor after beating his man. I see him as somebody who can inflict some damage around the bylines, with the likes of Jonas & Guthrie inside and his elder brother was no slouch in this department. Especially when the former floats inside. Barton, when fit, is intelligent with his late off-the-ball movement/runs into the box. These just a players who can benefit from having such a player on the pitch/the right flank - another being Owen. N'Zogbia's inside play - off the ball - as a wideman is an under-recognized strength imo. When the game opens up late, you don't necessarily need a specialist crossing winger out there/operating wide in order to kill teams. Quick ball-carriers, who can get to the bylines are just about standard order. Bellamy, Lua-Lua, Martins have killed teams late and these are recent examples in our case. He may not be an all-out crossing type winger, but I see no reason as to why he shouldn't be injected into the fray on the right side, with 20 to go, especially with a lead & with the finishing line in sight. Very good post.

The bolded bit is the crucial factor, and the signs are he's getting itchy feet for me. If so, bye bye and thanks.

He's tied up until 2011 so we don't have to sell. If he's happy to stay I'd like to keep him, but if he should become set on a move we should consider selling if the offer is right. I think we have decent keepers in reserve so it's not like we'd be desperate for a replacement.

No one is going to pay us £12m for a goalkeeper, we might be able to command £7-8m. I don't want to sell but like Owen I have the feeling he will be looking to leave this summer, if that's the case we should sell.

Very gloomy financial outlook for football clubs ahead from next season predicted in this article.

We'll get a win or draw if we have enough key players fit in the right areas which looks doubtful. We are fucked at left back and right back, only one central midfielder currently fit (not counting pensioners) and a forward line comprised of Shola, a young drunk and a captain who can't wait to jump ship. Other than that we should be fine.

That's probably the best post in this thread. It's the best post on this board for a fair few weeks. It's been put very nicely, but I've seen a lot of posters saying stuff along these lines since the summer in all honesty. Still, I'm glad some realism is starting to kick in across the board.

I'm easily pleased, and an improvement on what we have had for the last couple of seasons is good enough for me at the moment.

I'd replace excellent with adequate. I agree. We should be looking to bring in John Terry and Rio Ferdinand to form a top class centre back pairing with Steve Taylor providing hot competition to keep them on their toes

Liverpool's system isn't that complicated. They have good players at their peak who can run for 90 mins. I'm sure if we had a bigger squad with players of that description we'd look a lot better too.

wasn't exactly a one on one as gerrard played between their midfield and attack....hate to say it but a masterclass in MOVEMENT from gerrard today Wasn't actually a one on one as Butt didn't get near him all afternoon. neither'd guthrie,coloccini,taylor,n'zogbia,geremi,gutierrez..........why make it butt only ? Because I f***ing hate him And he was exactly the same at Wigan on Friday. I'm a tad more objective. i thought guthrie was woeful on and off the ball aswell, had lots of chances to break forward but held back forcing either butt forward or isolating the forwards. duff was more dynamic than n'zogbia,enrique has no confidence,owen was anonymous,given could have held two of them saves.....i could go on I'd agree with all of that, but Butt is a week in week out problem now. He had to go some to be worse than he was on Friday at Wigan, but he managed to achieve it. He is only ever a good defensive midfielder when we're playing well, when we need him to be holding the midfield together when under pressure he's one of the first to disappear out of the game. The only time you then notice him is when he's repeatedly giving the ball back to the opposition playing simple 5 yard passes. maybe he'd be a better defensive midfielder if he was allowed to do just that as opposed to doing guthries (gooad games against pompey and spurs aside) work trying to get a little bit further forward ? Butt struggles to play the simplest of passes though. Not sure how many passes he completed today but I can't remember many. His legs have gone too and he tires badly too imo. Guthrie isn't the answer either but he shows a bit of drive from time to time. The sooner Barton's back the better and I never thought I'd say that often. butts pasing was equal to most for us today...it was that bad. he shouldn't need the legs,guthrie shouldn't be forcing him forward. 2 new centre mids may be too much to ask but bartona and 1 other please. if only to get to the end of the season. If you're starting a Premiership game in CM then you need legs. Possession changes hands that often and the tempo is so high that getting about the park is paramount in CM. His legs have gone which means he can't get up and down or tackle cleanly anymore. When the ball breaks to him he invariably gives it straight back. He can't track runners from midfield and provides nothing going forward. He's a f***ing liability and the sooner the ginger c*** is out of the door the better. There, I've said it. i agree to a point......why dont you say the same about guthrie who has been equally as bad....worse if you think he should have more legs. I don't think Guthrie has been as bad though. He hasn't been great but I think he keeps possession better and offers more going forward than Butt does. I'm not trying to make him out as being another Vieira but Butt is going to get slower and less mobile as time goes on. Ideally the club will bring in someone to partner Barton in there as you say, but until that happens then Guthrie deserves is spot over Butt every day of the week. Imo obviously. i don't see much of a difference between butt and guthrie. in fact the only difference is that butt takes more blame,he's the whipping boy and guthrie is riding anonymously by That's true to some extent. I said before this was brought up that Guthrie played a cowardly game yesterday, for me he was hiding in this game. I was watching the central midfielders very closely because I had a feeling we were going to get over run in that area, and while Butt jogged around without a clue while the game passed him by, I was surprised to see the same was true of Guthrie. Both players were stood watching far too often while Liverpool's forwards bombed passed them. The only difference between the two is Guthrie isn't a fossil so there is still hope he can be coached into upping his game.

The time and space given to them was a disgrace. Why the fuck weren't the players told to get stuck in? Liverpool's players were taking two or three touches before a black and white shirt got near them. I also thought Carroll should have been hoyed on at half time since the only problems we caused them were in the air (Taylor could very easily have scored just before Edgar did) instead of the piss-poor in the air Shola - second half game plan should have just been to play for as many corners as possible and see how they coped. Not that it would have mattered much after the embarrassing defending to send them 3-1 up. This is what I wrote before the game yesterday: It was a shit plan with desperate tactics but shamefully it looks like it was the best one going. How sad is that?

I was watching the central midfield area with special attention today and it was painful watching their midfielders race past our two time and time again. Butt just shuffled around and Guthrie wasn't much better. I was actually quite shocked how their midfileders got goalside of ours without even being tracked. What was clear to me was that Butt isn't capable of moving either backwards or forwards more thatn a few steps, so if he is going to play it should be as a sweeper...sweeping the dressing rooms after the players have gone home.

After some thought you're right, a brick would not be able to put Nicky Butt in the starting 11. Ironically Bruce is one of the few managers who actively target Butt in the transfer window. This is why I'm still not convinced Bruce hasn't just got lucky with a couple of good signings this season.

Good of the club my f***ing anus - nobody will pay his price so he attempts to get back in in - and there are complete idiots who actually buy it. Also the timing meant to deflect from the Bobby Robson day should see the c*** shot. Nah, howay man, he loves the club. The man can f*** off. He's been feeding the media with little bits here, little bits there, to pave the way for this. He's as dishonest as the day is long and has no backbone whatsoever. He's a cretin and an opportunist. As long as he remains we will go nowhere from this point, look forward to Kinnear getting a new deal in the summer, more limited net spending and more empty seats. I can see crowds of 35K next season unless he spends big in Jan, again in the summer and appoints a top manager. Will it happen? Will it f***. Where are the north east business consortiums who should have come in and saved us from the dastardly Ashley? The club was for sale, why didn't they put their hands in their pockets and deliver us from Cockney evil? What has that got to do with anything? To play along, perhaps the price of the club was too high? I thought you and 299,999 others were going to put a grand in each and buy the club? Good of the club my f***ing anus - nobody will pay his price so he attempts to get back in in - and there are complete idiots who actually buy it. Also the timing meant to deflect from the Bobby Robson day should see the c*** shot. Nah, howay man, he loves the club. The man can f*** off. He's been feeding the media with little bits here, little bits there, to pave the way for this. He's as dishonest as the day is long and has no backbone whatsoever. He's a cretin and an opportunist. As long as he remains we will go nowhere from this point, look forward to Kinnear getting a new deal in the summer, more limited net spending and more empty seats. I can see crowds of 35K next season unless he spends big in Jan, again in the summer and appoints a top manager. Will it happen? Will it f***. Where are the north east business consortiums who should have come in and saved us from the dastardly Ashley? The club was for sale, why didn't they put their hands in their pockets and deliver us from Cockney evil? What has that got to do with anything? To play along, perhaps the price of the club was too high? What is the point of complaining about the current owner when no one else is prepared to pay the price to buy the club? It's all well and good to say the price of the club is too high, but to me it's clear that there is no one out there willing to spend money on football clubs at the current time unless they are given away. There are no geordie Abramovich's out there...in fact there aren't even any Russian Abramovichs'...Chelski are cutting costs big time. Therefore...Ashley IN...time wasters kindly f*** off. Will you apply such logic with our players, i.e. no complaining about Butt because we have no-one better to replace him with or a manager when he fucks up? How are the situations even remotely comparable? We can replace Butt or the manager because we have the option of spending money at our disposal to do it. We can't force anyone to buy Newcastle can we?

Good of the club my f***ing anus - nobody will pay his price so he attempts to get back in in - and there are complete idiots who actually buy it. Also the timing meant to deflect from the Bobby Robson day should see the c*** shot. Nah, howay man, he loves the club. The man can f*** off. He's been feeding the media with little bits here, little bits there, to pave the way for this. He's as dishonest as the day is long and has no backbone whatsoever. He's a cretin and an opportunist. As long as he remains we will go nowhere from this point, look forward to Kinnear getting a new deal in the summer, more limited net spending and more empty seats. I can see crowds of 35K next season unless he spends big in Jan, again in the summer and appoints a top manager. Will it happen? Will it f***. Where are the north east business consortiums who should have come in and saved us from the dastardly Ashley? The club was for sale, why didn't they put their hands in their pockets and deliver us from Cockney evil? What has that got to do with anything? To play along, perhaps the price of the club was too high? I thought you and 299,999 others were going to put a grand in each and buy the club? Good of the club my f***ing anus - nobody will pay his price so he attempts to get back in in - and there are complete idiots who actually buy it. Also the timing meant to deflect from the Bobby Robson day should see the c*** shot. Nah, howay man, he loves the club. The man can f*** off. He's been feeding the media with little bits here, little bits there, to pave the way for this. He's as dishonest as the day is long and has no backbone whatsoever. He's a cretin and an opportunist. As long as he remains we will go nowhere from this point, look forward to Kinnear getting a new deal in the summer, more limited net spending and more empty seats. I can see crowds of 35K next season unless he spends big in Jan, again in the summer and appoints a top manager. Will it happen? Will it f***. Where are the north east business consortiums who should have come in and saved us from the dastardly Ashley? The club was for sale, why didn't they put their hands in their pockets and deliver us from Cockney evil? What has that got to do with anything? To play along, perhaps the price of the club was too high? What is the point of complaining about the current owner when no one else is prepared to pay the price to buy the club? It's all well and good to say the price of the club is too high, but to me it's clear that there is no one out there willing to spend money on football clubs at the current time unless they are given away. There are no geordie Abramovich's out there...in fact there aren't even any Russian Abramovichs'...Chelski are cutting costs big time. Therefore...Ashley IN...time wasters kindly fuck off.