Shak

Boring innit. Adds character to the place, apparently.

Good finish to be fair, though his stepovers were fuck all to be excited about tbh. Some of the comments below the video are brilliant. He's MUCH better than Torres apparently and is either this season's version of Berbatov or the new Cristiano Ronaldo, depending on who you believe.

If we're taking age into account, he wouldn't be drafted for a long, long time.

They could get Kaka to go to MLS, still wouldn't make a difference. "Soccer" is generally looked down upon in the US, just like American Football is looked down upon over here. It's not real football, the one that you're brought up with and is in your blood. Sure, some of the more open minded people will take interest in it, but it'll generally be the sport that they're attracted to in the first place rather than the players. Beckham will get a few more people going to games over there, but I'd wager it'll mostly be people who already know a bit about football and want to see Beckham live going rather than people deciding to give it a chance because some alledged superstar has arrived. It'd be like Peyton Manning coming over to finish his career in NFL Europe (not going to happen ). People over here who follow the NFL would go along to see him play live, but it's not like the people who've always thought American Football was shit are going to suddenly sit up and say "Hmmm, this guy is meant to be the business, think I'll go along and see him even though I think the sport is shit."

4-4-3? ssssshhhhhhh!! We'll never get away with it with whistle-blowers like you around.

Jesus was a threat, Vic is more of an amusing irritation. He's safe from the Romans.

Shade OTT We need a top quality CB and LB, maybe at RB if Sam isn't comfortable with Solano, Geremi and Carr there. The other LB only has to be decent cover, if we even sign one that is. Reckon Babayaro will end up being 2nd choice. Possibly a 4th choice CB, but even then I'm not expecting anything more than a solid, but quite limited, player. We need a really top class LB and CB though. Marquez and Riise/Heinze would do nicely.

http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=42575.msg912977#msg912977 So fuuuuuuck you! Mind if I don't get it, I'm gonna start charging you rent, sunshine. I'll expect to be allowed smoke in the house in that case.

Was it the goal when the ball was on the corner of the box and he overhead kicked it into the opposite corner and the goalie just stood still? probably a different goal i saw. Nope. The striker just volleyed it as hard as he could as it dropped, out of sheer frustration and it happened to arrow into the top corner from about 30 yards. No skill - just sheer luck tbh. I think most long range goals are tbh, when people watch players like Lampard or whoever hit them from 25-30 yards and it flys in the top corner, it's more clever play than skill, it's almost impossible to hit the ball that accurate so they play the percentages as their body shape won't be perfect. You've never played the game then, right? That'd be my bet. Sure, I suppose you need a bit of luck and not every shot from range is going to go in, but to imply its more luck than skill is absolutely ridiculous.

Pretty much sums it up. Reckon we could do with a DM as well, considering we'll probably be playing 3 in the middle a fair bit. Pretty much sums it up. Reckon we could do with a DM as well, considering we'll probably be playing 3 in the middle a fair bit. We haven't signed Duscher yet and I've already said he'll do if we haven't got much to spend, so you can roll those eyes up your ass mate.

Pretty much sums it up. Reckon we could do with a DM as well, considering we'll probably be playing 3 in the middle a fair bit.

And Man Utd, which is what most seem to be rating him from rather than watching him with their own 2 eyes. Hypocrite. How? Basing it on a few forum comments than what you've seen yourself. Can you read?! I've said I've seen him play and that he's average, he wouldn't improve the team and is technically awful. I haven't even read the comments from the Spanish site Ohmelads is talking about but I'd listen to their opinions as they sit in the stadium and watch him, also living in Spain they will have a better feel for the general opinion of the player. How is that similar to people rating him without never seeing him play but presume he must be good because he was linked with Man Utd? 1.Once? 2.They usually end up less than half of their capacity in the stadium so i doubt it. Who said Once? I think you're clutching at straws here, I've seen him play well into double figures on tv, which is what most on that forum are basing their opinions on. Point 2 seems a bit desperate too tbh, if they average gates of 25,000 then chances are a good few of them on their main board go to games and watch them. Question, Do you think he's better than Nicky Butt? If yes, why? Sure you have mate Deportivo have been on Sky about 10 times in the last 3 years so i don't see how you've seen him that many times, do i think he's better than Nicky Butt? i think he's got a lot more to offer considering he's got age on his side and the main question is, do you think he would be a good addition to the squad and my answer is yes. To be fair, 10 times would equate to double figures. I'm sure nobody is doubting he'll make a decent addition in terms of depth, but there comes a time where you'll need quality to stand apart from that depth, which is why I'm sure some people would have preffered splashing out on a younger player with the potential to be really top class. While Duscher would be a big improvement on who we had as back-up last year, will he really improve the team. Perhaps, but it does seem doubtful.

I've heard Wullie is looking to make a few quid in order to put off getting a job as well... Something's up.

Touchy.

They put free transfer + a few comments on the Deportivo forum and came to the conclusion he was s***. Are you his mother or something? Personally I'd tend to put a fair bit of value on what fans of his own team have to say about him. I would, i speak to a lot of them every week Post the link to the forum where they all say he's a good player, I'd like to read it. http://www.deportivo-la-coruna.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3341&page=31 Latest comments. Fair enough, I'll trust Big Sam's judgement on this one as I know fuck all about Duscher in all honesty. Would still prefer someone younger but whatever. Let's hope we'll be splashing the cash on two or three really top class players, that's the ideal explanation as to why we're after so many cheap transfers. The not so ideal explanation being that we're not gonna spend much money at all.

They put free transfer + a few comments on the Deportivo forum and came to the conclusion he was s***. Are you his mother or something? Personally I'd tend to put a fair bit of value on what fans of his own team have to say about him.

Not having a pre-knock (what sort of sad loser has a pre-anything, anyway?) so to speak, but it does seem like there's not really much chance of this guy being any sort of improvement on Butt, just someone to provide depth. While depth is all well and good, IF we have a bit of money to spend then it does seem logical to spend it on a young DM that will learn from, and ultimately replace, Butt, rather than someone like Duscher who seems to have a very limited upside.

I wanted Owen to leave at the start of the summer. Think he'll almost certainly be gone next summer anyway, and I felt that he was a player that wouldn't fit into the way Big Sam might want to play in certain games. Think it's very obvious what his strategy has been all summer and he's only now saying he's happy here because he knows he's stuck here. However, now that he's here I'll be getting behind him and hoping he does the business for us. He's head and shoulders above all of our other strikers and if he catches form he has the ability to propel us towards the Top 4 this coming season. Also think Allardyce's training methods could prove to be massively helpful and should hopefully keep him fit for the majority of games. One thing this is going to tell us pretty quickly is how good a mind for tactics Big Sam really has. At Bolton he's always gone with the tried and tested 4-5-1/4-3-3 with two creative winger/forward types either side of a target man. Owen won't fit into this system, so we'll have to adapt a new one. In football you always play to accentuate the strengths of your best players, and as of right now Michael Owen is our best player. I've confidence in Sam, and I'll be looking with great interest to see how we set up for our first games this season. A big worry for me is that January transfer window, specifically one of the big clubs left in the CL seeing Owen in form for us and thinking he could be the final piece of the jigsaw to bring them success. If they offer enough to activate his clause, there's nothing we can do, and I've little faith in Owen to come out and stick with us to the end of the season in such a case. If we lose him then, we won't be able to replace him properly until the summer really, as teams won't generally let their best players go in January unless they have some sort of clause or financial crisis at the club. Add to that that we'll be losing Martins around January-February and we could see our striking options severely hurt, and our season could fizzle out. So January is a worry but other than that I see us as having a season to prove to Michael Owen that his future lies here. He'll have a season left on his contract come next summer and if he won't sign a new one then, flog him. If he's proven his fitness by then I'm sure we'll find someone to take him on the cheap. But if we can convince him, through signing quality players and having a top notch management setup, that his future is here then we could tie up one of the world's best natural goalscorers for the foreseeable future, something that may come in handy for the Ashley revolution. Reckon we'll need Top 4 or very close to it though, so it's going to be very tough.

Dunno, I'd have Ronaldinho here myself.

Begorrah! In English, please. You people spawned the language afterall, shouldn't be too much to ask.

Got to agree with OML that it seems really strange we're looking at this. It seems that there is money to spend, a good young DM with a lot of potential that can compete for the holding midfield role with Butt seems to be as obvious a place as any to spend a bit. Unless Allardyce has a couple of truly big money targets in mind this all does seem a bit strange. Dare I suggest that maybe we won't be spending much money at all this summer. Mort has said there is money available, but for all we know that could be £10m, and we'll need to focus it all on defence in that case. Perhaps the plan is to have Allardyce work on putting together a solid, cheap squad this summer that will do us for the season while Ashley and his people review the club thoroughly from top to bottom before really splashing out next year? I'm inclined to doubt it, but it's a possibility.

I've written him off in my mind so anything he can produce is a bonus, if he flops again then I'll lose no sleep over it. No lose situation really, let's see what he can do.

Now I have a machine gun... HO HO HO