tmonkey

Why would Ashley be bothered about PR now anyway? At the time of the Keegan dismissal, sure, he had his cronies put lies out to save face. But that was back when he was still trying to be "one of us", some sort of free loving hippy owner mixing with the common folk. Since then he's pretty much torn the club apart and made decisions or actions that has had us up in arms (Kinnear, relegation, no spending or communications, Shearer treatment, sportsdirect@sjp, Hughton dismissal). It's quite clear that he doesn't care one bit what we think or do. So after everything he's done, why would he care about bad publicity or rep if he wanted to sell Carroll for a hefty fee? It's not like his stock in the eyes of the average supporter is going to go any lower (and even if it did he wouldn't care one bit). And as others have said, I don't think Spurs or Liverpool would have made such serious bids without having made sure that the player was willing to go to them in the first place. Unless they knew that Carroll was open to a move, I don't think they'd have bothered with a bid as he had just signed a new contract and was giving us the gab about being the #9 at club he supports, city he loves, etc etc. Carroll's agent has almost certainly been a busy man this week.

From the people who brought you: Milner Given N'Zogbia Bassong Carroll http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcStPowrV4k2ojKz2MD_t4_yPv9rPe_zysAvsYSVgeIZLaiU7v-T8A Coming soon: Enrique 2011 Tiote 2011 Barton 2011 Coloccini 2011 Krul Post-production Forster Pre-production Everything must go!

Would rather play Ameobi or give Ranger a chance.

Definitely siding with the Carroll-wanted-out view. Why are Spurs and Liverpool even making such serious bids unless they knew that the player is interested in joining them? No doubt his agent has been in cahoots with a number of clubs for some time now. Don't really buy the Ashley PR arguement either. It's pretty clear now that he doesn't care one bit what we think, after everything he's done and the numerous times he's had us up in arms. Why bother forcing a player to submit a transfer request if merely selling him isn't going to have the Newcastle fans do anything other than repeat "damn that Mike Ashley", which he's used to by now?

Has Torres gone to Chelsea yet? Probably have to wait to see if that goes through or not.

In all honesty, I dont think Carroll will say "No" to what might well be a £60-100k per week pay rise. Liverpool can just pay him whatever Torres is/was on when he joins Chelsea.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Mftku6Eta-I/hqdefault.jpg

£40m imo.

Google translation:

Seriously? He was awesome in the CL in that season when Madrid had a back three of him, Karanka and Helguerra. Though thinking about it now, it would explain how he went from Madrid to Bolton...

Lets not forget his horror show in the 4-1 loss at home to Portsmouth too, so bad he was taken off after 20 minutes. Or was that a bald black 30+ Brazilian player in a completely different season? My memory fails me. Anyone remember him trying to head the ball in his first season, only for it to hit face in comical fashion? Was when he had short hair for a brief moment.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQa_FH7JiXHVGKp9rWrdawY6LEjLRI924j_EiuIiZMQ1QbmcBt4&t=1 Ivan Campo springs to mind - converted from CB to DM in his latter years. Having similar hair means that Colo can probably make the adjustment just as easily.

"No team can get near them." Except for the three teams, including ours, who have already won at the Emirates.

Hughton again.

Simpson backed off Lennon far too much imo, so much so that Lennon didn't even have to turn him. Just shift the ball a bit to get a free shot in, no trickery or drop of the shoulder required. He's been backing off wingers all season long, it's a clear flaw in his game.

Simpson imo. Completely backed off Lennon giving him yards of space to maneuver.

Ranger should've hit it with his other left foot.

Unrecognisable. Amazing what hair can do.

Good move for all concerned. Has been found out at this level, almost as bad as Jonas in his end product but with far less contribution in the middle third. IIRC I think it was brummie a few months into the second half of last season who was saying that Routledge would be like this, back when we were wondering how we had aquired what looked to be a quality pacey winger for peanuts - that prediction has turned out to be spot on.

Not too suprised if they get a cheap replacement in. Bent's real replacement may well be Gyan, as I don't think the two of them (Bent and Gyan) can play well together due to being similar types of forwards.

As long as the play is in front of him, he's absolutely class. If it goes in behind, he has very little in his locker to do anything about it. Have yet to see him pull off a single good last ditch recovery tackle during his time here, he'll stay on his feet 99% of the time in those situations even if the striker is lining up a shot and the ball is within sliding distance (even Alan Smith has managed a few cracking last ditch tackles). I'd argue it's his biggest weakness, because normally the good defenders who stay on their feet most of the time tend to also be pretty quick (e.g. Rio Ferdinand), something which Coloccini lacks. Even when he does go to ground, it looks odd, as though he doesn't have the balance/agility/coordination/timing/leg reach to pull it off. But this is a criticism made only within the context of comparing him to a "typical" world class centreback, most of the time his positioning/reading is good enough for this to not be a problem.

6th highest paid player in the world. That's nearly double what Robben is on. Crazy.

This may be a minor point, but...was Jonas injured at the end? Why did Pardew sub him for Gosling? An unfit, rusty central midfielder who has been out of the game for nearly a year, thrown on out of position on the left wing. I know Jonas picked up a knock earlier on, but he looked to have recovered. Reason I mention it is because Gosling looked like a fish-out-of-water when he lost the ball cheaply in their half in the 90th/91st minute, which started the move from which Sunderland scored. Hence, what was the need to give Gosling a run out? This wasn't a friendly, there's no need to throw on unfit players (and out of position) in the dying moments of such a tight game. Or have I missed something here?

Woodgate was easily better imo. Faster, stronger, better reading, better positionally, cracking recovery tackle if he had to make it (something that Coloccini can't do unfortunately). Also a good leader at the back, certainly saw significant improvement in those around him when he played (Bramble/O'Brien in particular). Almost the perfect centreback when he peaked for us, and it needs to be remembered that there was a good reason why Leeds fans rated him as being the more naturally gifted defender out of him and Rio Ferdinand. Such a shame he was a crock.

That move started because Gosling was caught like a rabbit in the headlines on the left wing.