Shak

Extra incentive for him to try and push for a move surely? Pretty clear he wanted to leave at some point, surely CL football is a decent consolation for him if he's not getting his move? Obviously it's not a 'If they lose, he leaves' scenario but it's not entirely ridiculous to think that Lille going out might help us.

Lille in front, they've looked shite and all up til now.

Snitching cunt. Fuck him.

Catts for me like.

I'm thinking Dave saw that stat posted somewhere... Probably.

The problem is there's 4 days left We knew he was too expensive for us when they rejected our loan offer a month ago. You seriously don't think we're already pursuing other options if the Carroll deal has died? Probably not tbh, no. I think we've put our final offer in for Carroll and we'll give Liverpool right until the deadline to accept it. If we don't get him then we'll roll with what we have for now and hope Carroll gets fuck all game time until January and Liverpool are desperate to get rid. Be very surprised if we sign anyone other than Debuchy or Carroll.

Aye, massive few days. If we sell a big player and bring nobody in it'll be a disaster, last season will essentially have been for nowt in the long term and I could see us regressing this year. If we see no incomings and no outgoings I'll be disappointed, the squad looks a bit thin and we've got more games this year, we'll need to avoid injuries if we're going to push for Europe. Sign a RB and a striker and we have a shot at pushing for fourth. I expect nothing to happen.

Nah, fuck that. I'm not going to hate American players because they play for teams that are rivals of my team. I chose Newcastle. I'll learn the history and realize who the rivals are and enjoy those wins a bit more and lament the losses a bit harder, but I'm not going to turn my back on some shit that I am for something that I chose. If Dempsey going to Sunderland makes the US team better, I hope he goes. It'd be great if he went to Rome, though. That would be way better. *Read this post in the voice George Snr. from Arrested Development* I'm saying you fake it you idiot, I mean how much more obvious can I be? You want me to make a big post in capital letters saying 'JUST PRETEND TO HATE THEM WHILE ON HERE AND BE SECRETLY HAPPY WHEN HE DOES WELL'. I mean come on Michael, take your head out of your ass here.

Don´t be silly What? I also think that strengthening the positions we're weak in would be a good thing, crazily enough.

Aye, the problem isn't that Simpson can't cross (he's a poor crosser of the ball, but it's not THAT important for a fullback to be able to cross the ball), that's not what I mean when I say he offers nothing going forward. The problem is that when we're in possession we can't really rely on Simpson to receive the ball and distribute it effectively, even at a fairly basic level. Under any sort of pressure whatsoever he'll generally just hoof the ball forward. He's not a terrible RB by any means. He's defensively alright and is a good athlete. But if we're serious about progressing and challenging for Europe on a consistent basis then we have to do better IMO.

A RB who's good going forward would improve us so much with Ben Arfa likely to be given a lot of license to roam in from the right, it'll be a real opportunity missed if we spend the year trotting Simpson out there. Wonder if Pardew will consider giving Raylor a go there in certain games if we don't get anyone in, maybe against weaker teams where we're expecting to be on top? Or yeah, we could always buy someone good.

That's completely different. They're your local rivals. Of course you wouldn't give a shit. The Newcastle v Sunderland thing doesn't really mean as much to me. I understand it's like Yankees v Mets or something, but it's not like Dempsey left us to play for them. That would be totally different. 'before' Just trying to spare the guy's feelings. Some basic fucking shit here Mike, how long you been on this board? You know that I understand rivalries, man. You more than anyone. You post in the US threads. But there are Newcastle fans all over the world now, and you have to understand that the stuff that means a lot to you won't mean a lot to some of the foreigners. I remember typing this shit before. I can empathize, but most of the time the Sunderland stuff is just ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . Your hatred of them is hilarious, but if Dempsey goes there, I'll look out for their results and hope he does well while they stay mid-bottom of the league. You dimwit. You honestly think I care that much about Sunderland? I've never met a Mackem in my life. We didn't have Sunderland fans over here until a few years ago and, knowing what I know now, I mostly just feel bad for them when I hear that's who they support. But once you sign up to serve the black and white then you take on everything that comes with it. James McClean? Hope he turns out to be absolute shite. John O'Shea? Hate the guy now. We're part of war that never ends Michael, it may not be our war but when that inbred Mackem comes at you with his weaponised cheesy chips do you think he sees that apathy in your eyes? No, he only sees the black and white stripes, and it's fight with your brothers or die on your own. So soldier the fuck up, you pussy.

The way some people on here go on you'd think Ba and Cisse were George Weah and Romario and Carroll was Micheal Ricketts. If he comes back and rediscovers his form he'll be first choice striker. Not necessarily because he's better than Ba or Cisse, though he might be, but because he'll give us something that Pardew clearly wants in the team, namely a physical presence up front. Ba and Cisse as a duo hasn't looked good at all so far. They'll probably improve, but they're not a great natural fit by any means. Think both of them would compliment Carroll pretty well though.

16m is probably a bit pricey tbh. That said, it's not like if we don't get Carroll we're going to spend that money elsewhere. It'll be Carroll or nobody IMO, and while I'd rather we went for a different type of player I do think Carroll would be a great addition to the team.

'before' Just trying to spare the guy's feelings. Some basic fucking shit here Mike, how long you been on this board?

Hats off to them btw, they've overpaid for Fletcher but he'll improve them quite a bit and so will Johnson. Dempsey would also be a tremendous addition, could see them being decent this year tbh.

Fuck sake Mike, get back in the NFL thread before you embarrass yourself.

Assume he means at RB? Rather we just buy a RB like, especially with Taylor actually playing well at CB the last couple of years.

I'd honestly wank my cock clean off if we went for Remy. He and Ben Arfa on the flanks in a 4-3-3 would be the absolute tits.

Messi. Pointlessly good.

We have generally looked better in a 4-3-3 than in a 4-4-2, don't really think that's even open for debate tbh. A major issue when we play 4-4-2 is that both of our first choice wingers are much more comfortable cutting inside than they are getting to the byline and whipping in crosses. This issue is compounded by our fullbacks. On one side Santon is another who is more comfortable cutting in and on the other we have Simpson who is incredibly limited offensively. The end result is that we have no width whatsoever. This wouldn't be so bad if we had a striker who was good at linking midfield to attack, but we don't. Both Ba and Cisse play their best football in and around the box, neither are tremendous at either working the channels, dropping off the front and finding and creating space to play in or acting as a physical target man who can receive the ball with his back to goal and bring others into play that way. If we're going to persist with this system then we absolutely need to get out there and sign a striker, I know they haven't played a lot together but Ba and Cisse don't look like a natural fit. If we sign Carroll then I fully expect he'll pretty much become our first choice striker with Ba and Cisse fighting to be his partner. Carroll the big physical target man (with Shola as backup in that role) with Ba or Cisse playing on the last shoulder of the defence. We also need a fullback who can contribute more offensively. In our 4-4-2 the CM's both play quite deep. Any 2 of Cabaye, Tiote and Anita should provide a very good engine room and protect the defenders well. That should allow our fullbacks to bomb forward and provide overlaps for the likes of Ben Arfa, Jonas and Marveaux as they cut inside. Personally still feel we should move Santon to the right and bring in a LB, giving us good width on both sides. But I'd be very pleased with someone like Debuchy coming in too, obviously. The reason we've looked better in a 4-3-3 is that these issues aren't really present. Jonas pushing in alongside Tiote allows Cabaye to play further forward and be the link man between midfield and attack, and Ba pushing out left and Ben Arfa pushing further up the field on the right helps us stretch teams. We still don't have tremendous width, but the positioning of our front three is much better than when we have Cisse and Ba standing beside each other in the middle trying not to get in each other's way. My preference with our squad would have been to bring in a pacey winger/striker type, someone like a Hoilett for example, who could play on the left of a three. Tell Ba he's fighting for the central spot with Cisse and also for the left wing spot, he'd get plenty of games through the middle but he'd also have to play out left occasionally. Turn Jonas into a full time CM with he, Tiote, Cabaye and Anita fighting for three spots. Doesn't seem like Pardew is going for that, and that's fine too if he thinks he's got a better way for us to play. I just don't see what that might be yet, and the fact that we improved significantly when we went to 4-3-3 against Spurs yet reverted straight to 4-4-2 against Chelsea makes you wonder what his logic is. Can't truly believe it's as simple as making Ba happy, no way I could see him playing an inferior system just to keep one player from sulking. Hope he finds a way for his system to click in any case, still early doors this year and we've played two good teams. Villa game next week should tell us a lot.

Iniesta having a mare.