Shak

Surprised he's being included at the expense of Viduka. And Owen as well.

Some people prefer not to move away from where they were born. Not like he's moving to Bahrain for the rest of his life though, just a few years a bit further south to try and fully use the gifts and abilities he has.

People really going overboard on the Geremi bandwagon if you ask me.

The prospect of a liquid young right full-back here to compete with Carr is too good to be true surely? I'm holding out hope though, based on the fact that he's tall and Sam wants tall full-backs. Flimsy, I know.

Riise and Finnan tbh.

I'd have agreed with you about the midfield lynchpin a few weks ago Rich, but the form of Geremi and Butt pre-season has been very encouraging. By and large we're set throughout the squad (unless this Drago deal falls through ), with the exception of good, natural right-backs. So I'd be happy to see us spend a big sum of money there. Aside from that, though, if we're spending big elsewhere I maintain it should be a quality CF. Not that I think we will buy a big name, mind you.

I don't understand the mentality of players like Harper if I'm honest. Knows he's got fuck all chance of getting a game here yet he stays. Could easily be playing regularly for another Premiership team, or at least have the chance to prove he's up to it. But he stays here. Easy way out IMO.

That exact side in that exact system looked pretty lame yesterday tbh.

He's young, fast and a right-back. Well, he passes the Shak test anyway.

You really think Martins in a free role behind the strikers is going to lead to anything positive? More chance of amounting to something out wide in a 4-3-3 IMO. Of course he'll have to learn how to run at full-backs then. It's frustrating at times, cos i've seen so many times here where he could have just knocked the ball by the defender and ran after it and he'd have beaten his man easy. Maybe he doesn't know he's fast, wouldn't rule it out.

Chairman In Toon Youth Pledge By Craig Hope NEWCASTLE United chairman Chris Mort admits he has been very impressed with the Magpies youth system after no fewer than 16 Academy products turned out for the Geordies during pre-season. The new Toon chief has taken a keen interest in the Club's development of young players, and has visited the Little Benton Academy which has nurtured the talents of current first-team stars such as Steven Taylor, Peter Ramage and Andy Carroll. And Mr Mort says the Club will again be looking to extend their youth recruitment efforts in the coming months. "I have taken a great deal of personal interest in developing the Academy and the youth side of the Club generally," he told Black and White matchday programme. "Over the weeks and months to come I would like to extend our recruitment efforts and the support we give to our Academy to try to capture the best local talent, together with talent from further field. "Our Academy boys played key roles in the wins against Juventus and Celtic - with eight current or former academy trainees appearing in both fixtures. "This is a great testament to the work done by our Academy team to date and the potential we have within the Club."

I'm relatively content tbh, just if we do go for a big name signing I'd just rather see us get a big name striker than this CM playmaker people seem to be raving on about. We're covered much better in CM than up front. Don't think we will be making a big name signing for what it's worth either. As for your point about other top clubs, it's fair enough but none of those players are considered as injury prone or inconsistent as Viduka. There all also vastly better players, while we're on the subject. (with the exception of Van Persie, who's a different type of player anyway)

Did you have to go back and edit it just for the sake of adding the 'Lunacy' bit? Personally don't see Smith as a striker, he'll be mostly midfield IMO. What happens if Viduka gets a long-term injury, something which isn't exactly impossible? Unless we're expecting to play Arsenal/Man U style football we'll need someone who can play up front with his back to goal. That'll leave us with only Shola. I'm not comfortable with that at all.

I didn't realise I was getting there tbh. And Luque wasn't included as a striker for a reason. Even if he has been useless for the last 2 years according to some people, but finally showing some glimpses he has a chance of being a good squad player you still don't give him the benefit of the doubt. A bit fickle there i reckon. Yes, it is a bit fickle of you to be expecting Luque to be contributing for us based on a few "glimpses".

I like both - we can play both and looked very imposing changing it around on yesterday! I'd say we looked directionless with 4-4-2 yesterday, with things improving a lot when we switched to 4-3-3.

I didn't realise I was getting there tbh. And Luque wasn't included as a striker for a reason.

Agree with Baggio, not enough pace. If we're going 4-4-2 I'd have N'Zogbia LW every time. I've got my heart set on a 4-3-3 at this point though.

A striker. Namely a top class, out-and-out center forward type who will score goals as well as be the focal point of our attack for years to come. With Allardyce in charge, one thing we'll always have in our team is a striker who will be expected to play with his back to goal and recieve the ball to feet, linking the play and involving runners from midfield. Not only this, but he'll be expected to pick up his fair share of goals as well. So far the two players we have earmarked for this role are Shola Ameobi and Mark Viduka. While a classy player, Viduka is approaching 32 years of age and is generally considered injury prone and inconsistent. He'll not play every game this season, and this leaves us with Ameobi as our other option. While I would love Shola to go on and prove himself a top striker, due to the incredibly OTT criticisms he recieves from some segments of our fanbase as much as anything, my head tells me that'll never happen. Too erratic and doesn't impose himself anywhere near enough on games. So there are legitimate question marks over these two. Then there's Michael Owen. There are absolutely no gaurantees Owen will play a fully fit game for us at all this season. He injured himself taking a shot in training FFS, he's like a piece of glass and we can't expect anything from him. Add to that that if he does get a run of games and does well then he'll be on his bike at the first opportunity then he's not a player I want us to rely on at all. Without Owen fully fit, where will the consistent supply of goals come from? Smith, Viduka, Ameobi and Martins is a decent quartet, but none of them are top class strikers. If we want to make a serious push up the league and maybe even have an outside chance of pushing for Top 4, then a top class CF is the player we need. Stick in a bid for Klaas Jan Huntelaar I say, see what the price is. He's young, tall, quick, got a great touch, good in the air and a clinical finisher. Could be a staple of our team for years to come and, with Viduka here already, he'll have somebody to learn from and won't be expected to come in and take the PL by storm immediately.

Can't believe the Sam Allar-dice is still only on 3, given how well he's wheeled and dealed this smmer.

Seems the best bet of who we have at the moment. Obviously if we had a blatantly outstanding captain material player on our books we'd all just vote for him, but we don't. Who would you suggest then, apart from your previous terrible suggestion of Cacapa?

Easily is a bit of a stretch, but we'll have a chance alright.

Doesn't speak any English. Wouldn't be ideal. Also not a gauranteed starter and injury prone.

Pity we missed out on Distin, on reflection.

http://www.morethings.com/fan/south_park/photo_gallery/al-gore-is-manbearpig.jpg