greydos

Watched the extended highlights on Sky and he looked very promising to me. He has the ability to stalk an opponent, jogging towards them effortlessly before sprinting to make the tackle when they took a dodgy touch. He also showed he can drop a shoulder in tight areas, turn and give a forward pass turning defence into attack. There was a moment when he didn't appreciate a player was coming from behind him and so he was muscled off of the ball. I would be worried if he did realise the player was there and was actively shielding it but was a weakling, but fact was he was just taken by surprise - probably the added physicality of the premier league compared with ligue one. The good thing about his passing range is that if opposition teams try to stamp on Shelvey to stop us playing our game others can supply Gini and the others, retaining our threat. I'm genuinely excited by him

Shouldn't this thread title be "Jack Colback, 1 brain cell away from 1 brain cell"?

Colo played some nice passes on the floor into Cisse and Sissoko's feet. Dummet is terrible on the ball. Whereas a decent player passes the ball to another player, Dummett always passes the ball to an "area." He's the typical no talent kid stuck at fullback at school: you tell good players to try and pick out so-an-so up top, you tell a Dummett to "hit it up the channel." At least he looks like he thinks that when he gets the ball

I said their skill sets were similar, not the same. Both could sprint the full length of the pitch with and without the ball, quicker than most other CMs they'd come up against. Both were unsuited to intricate short passing, but could get by in a team that wasn't totally possession based and could play the odd decent low cross when in wider channels. Both are weak in the air. Both are ropey (or at least less than convincing) at finishing. Both have a great set of lungs on them. Neither can shoot from outside the box. Dyer could harry and press, but so could Sissoko if trained. Neither are great tacklers, but could be effective as the applied pressure in a midfield press allowing a colleague to make the tackle. Like Dyer, Sissoko could sprint from CM and beyond the last man like an on-the-shoulder striker if he was trained and instructed to. Anyway, even if you disagree that they are similar, surely the underlying point remains true that a proper manager would make Sissoko work as a CM. Far worse players have been effective as CMs in decent premier league teams.

A good manager would make Sissoko at a CM work. His skill set is not too disimilar to Keiran Dyer's and Sir Bobby (a proper manager) made that prosper, albeit next to Speedo a class DM. Good managers get Aaron Hughes looking a decent right back in the top half of the prem, or win champions leagues with Jerzy Dudek. They win the league with help from John O'Shea and Wes Brown. Both Sissoko and Wijnaldum would be highly effective CMs under decent managers (although not next to each other in a two). They should both start CM in a 433 with a decent DM between them - that should be our recruitment aim along with a solid scrappy stocky stab his own mum for the last Yorkshire pudding type CB.

How long til a newspaper runs with the headline "Klopp Kops Cop! Criminal defending sees Reds routed" or "Klopp's Kop Flop: Parky has another victim"

Colback should be our left back. He'd make a decent(ish) old school 1990s full back that can pass but not get further than 3 quarters of the way up the pitch and put in deep crosses when needed. Would help to free Thauvin a little from having to bust a gut after losing possession, as a counter-attack down his flank would be well defended (in terms of a body there, rather than the ability of the defender). It would also have the advantage of keeping a "Geordie" on the pitch and in theory better ball-playing ability in defence. Having played centre-mid for a few years Colback should be more calm and composed under pressure than Haidara and so passes on the floor rather than hopeful channel balls should follow. (I appreciate a lot of this post is optimistic as to Colback's abilities a but at least it gets him out of centre mid.)

I get the feeling Pardew would absolutely love to f*** his own face

Could it be? :: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jun/09/jurgen-klopp-premier-league-very-exciting

*sigh* Ugh. Are you saying that you want Kinnear? Because a few of us have discussed this and decided that that is definitely the only alternative. Good post. Ironic post?

I want Aaron Ramsey here. Fanciful i know. But perhaps Wilshere's development will see room for him at the gunners disappear. Here's to hoping...

I didn't see the game so can't say i've seen the pass you're talking about. But it sounds similar to the pass barton played to ameobi against wham before receiving it back and getting the assist for carroll. In my eyes JB's as good a passer as anyone we've got on our books

What, Mark Hughes who took Blackburn to 6th in the premier league playing attractive football on a budget of f*** all and signing and developing some superb players? And McClaren who's got unfashionable Twente 4 points clear of world renowned Ajax and 5 ahead of PSV in the Dutch league this season? Did Blackburn play attractive football though? Allardyce got Bolton to 5th didn't he? What's your point in that perspective? Either way, both of them managers did well over time at their club. Blackburn did when they came 6th imo, they had Bentley and MGP flying on the wings and Bellamy up top. They played some great stuff at times, I know it's a much derided line on this forum but I lived with a Rovers fan at the time and they played some cracking stuff. Also, I've mentioned it before, but his transfer record was astounding. Warnock, Bentley, Samba, Emerton, Nelson, MGP, McCarthy, Santa Cruz, Dunn all between £300k and £3.5m, mostly at the lower end of the spectrum. Just to be clear, I'm not criticising or even comparing to Hughton here, just pointing out that Phil is talking utter s*** in deriding Hughes like that. It's rather late and my memory's not at it's best but i'm quite sure MGP and Emerton were signed by Graeme Souness not Mark Hughes. According to Alan Oliver we were taking those 2 players for years but then Souness got them at Ewood and then left them to ruin us internally

We've moved on from Keegan before... and never achieved what he did. give him the chance, and some cash. And some talented well-scounted youngsters. He'll give us a team to be proud of. A team that performs for us. A proper, worthy, newcastle united team

Even if the situation, as it appears was/is exactly the same as when/why he left in the first place? Then he thinks more of his ego than he does of the club. Baggio emotions/feelings are things that come naturally and can be very hard to control. If KK was (rightly) p*ssed off about the situation at the club, wouldn't that have affected his relationship with the players and ability to motivate the club? Doubly so if he thought it was a long term problem. Therefore his leaving can be considered in the best interests of the club. It's certainly not the 'my ego' versus 'nufc's good' scenario that you're making out

Ashely needed the balls to back his system to work properly. If he wanted a DOF to scout young players with potential, then that's fine. Give KK the final say on ALL transfers. If the DOF finds young players with GENUINE potential, then obviously KK, or any manager, would say yes to them. However there's a huge difference between that and, letting the DOF pick the players for the manager. (Ashley hints that this was his intention in the statement by talking about the huge loss of money when new managers come in and so players chop and change. The constancy of a DOF means the players don't chop and change if the DOF's brought the players in.) This is wrong. Get the right manager, back him on players. Even if they can only be youngsters. Spend on a new young LB.

Zico sounds worryingly similar to Souness in a "i don't really do tactics i just tell players to play - good players always know what to do" type of way

And you know this how?

Does Chris Hughton staying mean he wasn't ''Keegan's man''?

Can´t really understand your fear of that! I really do admire wenger and what he´s done at arsenal. they play beautiful football have a young squad and dont pay silly wages like us and end up with overpaid useless players like smith. And he still buy "expensive" good attractive players nasri. can´t see there problem......though i know we are at least 5-10 years behind. Only Wenger is able to pull it off so successfully. If we do it, there's more chance we'll turn into.... (shudders)... Middlesboro!

Hiring Deschamps might just be enough to keep the players here. Apart from Shay, Owen and Harps as i think they'll likely leave.

The worrying thing about Ashley for me is how impulsive he seems. He bought the club in 3 days because it came available. He 'heard' KK would return so got it done in a flash. The man's the epitome of carpe diem which worries me because you don't know what he'll decide to do with the club. There are some seriously hard times ahead.

Oh yes it's the best thing in the world that the best goalscorer we've had since shearer will leave. I just hated Owen's goals that kept us up last season. Why didn't he **** off a year earlier, that way we wouldn't have needed to try and sell Sholla in order for him to find his level in the Championship.

I'll have a go.

KK had a 3 year contract. He was charged with the task of finishing off unfinished business by winning us a trophy in that period. A squad of promising players is very unlikely to win you a trophy. Like everything, there needs balance. KK was right to target more established players. The Board were wrong to take control over who came in.