TRon

Looked pretty weak today without Faye alongside. Dean Ashton ran riot pretty much as he liked tonight.

Went from possibly beloved to cunt over the course of two days. Record? Who think hes a cunt? On reflection I think he's a cunt to be fair. And as Billytray has pointed out he is pretty ugly so we may well have dodged a bullet here.

If anything it's encouraging we are going for £20m players in the first place. Obviously there will be other clubs competing so we don't have a divine right to win every player's signature. Modric seems to be a decent player but he looks a bit puny, so Spurs might get outmuscled in midfield next season.

Agree with this. We will finish the season higher than Spurs next season, they can sign all the Woodgates and Modric's they want. When Berbatov leaves they will still be weaker than before.

Would Deco want to come here? I have my doubts, so I'd vote for Modric on that alone. We want hungry youngsters not players who will always be yearning for their past glories at Barcelona.

It's the bolded bit I'd be concerned about. We signed Duff and played him ahead of N'Zogbia on account of reputation rather than ability. I'd be worried if we signed the likes of Riise for that reason only. By all means sign someone better if possible. Just make sure he is as good or better first.

Get in Big Slav. Reading those last few lines made my day.

The fact that it has been made public from Dinamo's side, and that wages haven't been agreed suggests there's still a lot of work to do yet.

I can picture it now.. "I can reveal in a Chronicle exclusive Modrich's agents have been in Newcastle..."

The thing with Modric is that the possibilities are as mind-boggling as they are exciting. I would say you're guess is right and he will drift in from JB's starting positon on the left, taking up more central positions the further forward we have posession and falling into formation center-left when we don't have the ball or have posession deep. I imagine JB will slot into a center-right ( of the 3 man). Geremi will downgrade into a backup/squad player. Of course what he gives us is the ability to deliver those passes and vision that currently by default is falling to Butt and Geremi niether of whom really have that in their locker and also as a by product perhaps spells the end of Duff (if Zoggy stays). All the signs from the side recently is that they are happier to move the ball around patiently with Owen and Martins rotating (coming deep) to make the extra man in midfield when called for. The advantage of the 433 is that it really always puts an opposition flat back 4 at a disadvantage as they really don't want to follow wandering forward around the park and at some point will lose them off the radar (owen has been profiting form this coming late and unmarked). On the other hand if we do go 442 Modric will slot into the middle with a minder. I haven't seen enough of Modric to pass a definitive judgement, but from reports it seems that he can put his foot in when needed, so maybe he won't need a minder as such. Might be ok in a 4-4-2 bearing that in mind.

Maybe I should rephrase that: Keegan would probably want the option to go back to 4-4-2 so he'll want a squad to cover all bases. FWIW, Modric is probably more suited to 4-3-3 in any case.

Barton's got quite a defensive role at the moment, Modric is further forward usually. Probably where Owen is playing I think. Leave Owen where he is man. As i said, direct replacement for Geremi. I'm not suggesting Modric should replace Owen, I just think that's the position Modric would play naturally, just off the front two. Geremi's role is quite defensive as well, like Barton's. KK could be thinking of going back to 4-4-2 next season in any case.

Barton's got quite a defensive role at the moment, Modric is further forward usually. Probably where Owen is playing I think.

I think that's probably right, which is why I'm cautiously optimistic that this story has something behind it.

Dennis Wise is credited with setting up a £12m deal in the Telegraph. Lots of details emerging, whether they are based on rumour or fact still has to be established. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/04/24/sfnnew124.xml

Darren Bent still has a lot to prove, like whether he can cut it in big games, but he's exactly the type of player we should be looking for. Good in the air and plenty of mobility. If not him, we need someone in that mould.

What the hell is this thread actually about? Well decky, its about Mort saying that the club won't sign players to appease the fans. Some of us are wondering just who he is talking about and discussing the merits of who we think he is referring to. Some people are just being daft and obstructive though, then they will accuse others of dragging it all down. Some people actually think that these signings to "appease the fans" are actually the whole idea of making good signings Shame its all gone a bit off track like, but I for one was quite intrigued by this one for a while. i read it that he is talking about the situation we were in in jnauary when some were clamouring for players...any players regardless of wether they were better than those we already had or not. well what do you know, an intelligent response, its been a while. We were in a bad position, at the time, and needed players, and if not for Keegan finding a way to play the front 3 that he did and keeping Owen fit, his lack of "appeasing the fans" may have spectacularly backfired. Thats the point under discussion. He obviously means that he thinks the club have brought these players before, shame they just happen to be players that got the club into the Champions League ? That did appease you I take it ? If you think he wasn't in fact talking about any current player(s) on the books, then I take it you mean the club bought good players with a genuine intention of building a good football club prior to Mort ? The clubs record buy, that many people have slated, has came along, produced the goods, and scored some vital goals, arguably saving the club and him from a barrage of criticism. So which is it ? I think Mort is probably saying that it's pointless making panic buys in a hurry or you end up with Luque or Boumsong (or Benjani if he'd gone with your instinct at the time). In the event, Mort and Ashley made the correct appointment in Keegan and have rightly kept their powder dry to get the players they really want in the summer. What is wrong with that? You said Benjani or bust, they said no thanks we don't need players who aren't better than what we have got. I think they got it right to be fair. considering our best 2 buys last summer were both on deadline day ............ Sibierski wasn't so bad for a "panic buy", and neither was Owen. Players like Bouimsong were well researched and linked with the club, so was Luque. Last summer, was the same ala Barton, and Viduka. You're making it up, it doesn't matter when they sign for you. Totally irrelevant. So you stick by your view we should have signed the likes of Benjani in the January window then?

I thought Barca's possession was mostly cosmetic, they didn't commit bodies in the opposition penalty area enough to get goals. The tie is 50/50 for me, as we will probably get another chess match at OT.

What the hell is this thread actually about? Well decky, its about Mort saying that the club won't sign players to appease the fans. Some of us are wondering just who he is talking about and discussing the merits of who we think he is referring to. Some people are just being daft and obstructive though, then they will accuse others of dragging it all down. Some people actually think that these signings to "appease the fans" are actually the whole idea of making good signings Shame its all gone a bit off track like, but I for one was quite intrigued by this one for a while. i read it that he is talking about the situation we were in in jnauary when some were clamouring for players...any players regardless of wether they were better than those we already had or not. well what do you know, an intelligent response, its been a while. We were in a bad position, at the time, and needed players, and if not for Keegan finding a way to play the front 3 that he did and keeping Owen fit, his lack of "appeasing the fans" may have spectacularly backfired. Thats the point under discussion. He obviously means that he thinks the club have brought these players before, shame they just happen to be players that got the club into the Champions League ? That did appease you I take it ? If you think he wasn't in fact talking about any current player(s) on the books, then I take it you mean the club bought good players with a genuine intention of building a good football club prior to Mort ? The clubs record buy, that many people have slated, has came along, produced the goods, and scored some vital goals, arguably saving the club and him from a barrage of criticism. So which is it ? I think Mort is probably saying that it's pointless making panic buys in a hurry or you end up with Luque or Boumsong (or Benjani if he'd gone with your instinct at the time). In the event, Mort and Ashley made the correct appointment in Keegan and have rightly kept their powder dry to get the players they really want in the summer. What is wrong with that? You said Benjani or bust, they said no thanks we don't need players who aren't better than what we have got. I think they got it right to be fair.

Barca fans are supposed to be notorious in demanding entertaining football. Well they should all be demanding their money back after that safety first shite. As for Man U, if Fergie ever complains about other premier teams being defensive, I hope someone refers him to this game.

Crap game played at walking pace. Barca were too scared of committing men forward because of the away goal rule. waste of 90 mins.

Sky Sports writers don't read this forum, do they? The piece is written by Alan Oliver who isn't the most objective journalist in the north east.

I agree he's a rung below top, top class, but I also think he's one of the best players I've seen playing for us in recent years. That season where he got those daft highlights in his hair (2004/2005 I think, Souness's first season) he was arguably one of the best strikers in the league (hope my memory isn't failing me - 2004 - 2007 is a bit of a blurr for me). He'd also be ideally suited to Martin's role in the current team. Again I'm not saying we should sign him, mostly because of fitness worries and attitude questions, but purely based on what he can do when he's on his game, I think he'd be an asset to the squad. I think Martins does it better tbh. He scores more goals, and he's less injury prone. If we replace Martins I can't see it being Bellamy.

Will the top players want to come though? I see us spending about £35m (net £30m) purely because some of the top players will not want to come (yet). If we have a good next season (top 8 say) then I can see another £35m being spent next summer and us probably pushing on for a champions league place. Best case scenario anyway. I just have a lot of faith in Keegan's ability to sell the club, even though we aren't in Europe. If we can get in one signing like Modric it will put down a marker. I have a feeling that players will be excited at the prospect of joining a club set to take off again. Not all will, but some might.

It's exactly what Keegan is all about. He won't ever be content to stand in the shadows, he would love it to beat the big boy's for his first major signing since coming back. Love it!