greydos

Point amongst points!! It's like my old champ man days when i would manage a second team to buy all my crap off me for extraordinary prices to make myself rich!! Throw in Peter Ramge whilst we're at it!

We're out mate

I notice you tried to convince me there HTT that Quinton Fortune is an example of SA wanting attractive technically gifted footballers? (There were other examples you said which made me laugh equally as much!!) Also, SA didn't sign "2 attacking fullbacks". He signed Beye, a centre back who has been converted for a couple of years into a full back, for whom getting forward is NOT a strength, but being defensively solid, quick and athletic is. And he bought Enrique, not an attacking fullback, but nicknamed "the Bull" for his hard tackling. Also, about Cacapa and Rozenhal, SA did not say that they were good because they were good passing defenders, he only recently said that Cacapa's ability to pass is incidental to his qualities, and that he's a "destroyer" not a player. SA is all about being workmanlike, efficient, and effective. He analyses what seems to work best on paper, i.e. statistics about how teams concede goals, usually through not being able to concentrate for a full 90 minutes when faced with having to clear their lines from aerial bombardments, and sets about making that happen on the pitch. Hence EVERY throw in we ever get we'll have to witness Geremi try and launch it into their box. There's no excuses for that, it evinces SA' intentions perfectly

HTT nobody wants this team to be the finished article after 6 games. What we want is there to be signs that we want to play positive football. If you've got a whole pre-season with a team, there is no doubt in my mind that Sam could have coached them to at least attempt passing triangles and movement in matches. Even if we played possession football for 20 mins in a match, that would show where he wants to go. Right now, there is no evidence that he even wants to play nice football as his long term aim. Oh, and for the record, there was not an Okocha for every grafter at Bolton. There was ONE Okocha, and ONE Anelka. There were PLENTY of grafters

Firstly, Tino Asprilla a wide man? Secondly, i thought it was a Blackburn article not a newcaslte one!!

For me it's Owen Ameobi Martins. Lob the ball up to ameobi and his first touch will reliably go anywhere, leading to many 'accidental' assists for owen or martins i think.

1. newcastle 18. chelsea (that way they have season long hopes of survival before dropping) 19. west ham 20. spurs

Which is why he's the BEST. EVER. Again NM, there's a "by far" missing

there's a "by far" missing from the title of this thread

i thought this was going to be a "yes" and move on thread

Milner's good enough for newcastle now, yes. Until we have two right wingers better than him, he'll be good enough in my eyes. And, when thinking about two better wingers, allow for the fact that milner will get better, and will probably end his career playing in a box to box midfield role

Fair enough points HTT. I wasn't aware of this 'database', would be very interested to know where you got this from? (is this some kind of subtle FM 2006 joke?) Not sure i read Enrique's quotes about BS being after him for a while, i know rozenhal said that, but fair enough if he did say. Ultimately, the Enrique situation is a matter of time and coaching. My two biggest concerns are really that ideally, Big Sam's vision of how to win a football match would be all about being strong and percentage football, relying on the human errors of the oppositions, as opposed to wanting to rip the opposition open and gut them, ala Ferguson, Wenger Keegan. Still, many many positives. Chuffed with keeping N'Zogbia, and the defence is marvellous. The fact that he's brought in specialists to the club has been good, and also, he brings an added discipline and noticeable team spirit, without making that what he's all about (al Souness). I think the most pleasing aspect of Allardyce for me is, his desire to get controversial players in and manage them. Souness with Robert and Bellamy just shirked the challenge, couldn't hack a bit of attitude for the sake of the team. Roeder would freeze people out. Big Sam relished having Barton here for what he gave the team, and backed himself to overcome problems that players can present. It's that self-belief, epitomised in the manager, which if it gets through to the team, i think will really take us far

Please don't shoot me down as a pessimist, as i'm not, but i want to inject a different perspective and some other thoughts on what's happened at the club this summer. Sam's transfers in have been very good, can't fault who has has brought in, bar smith. Unecessary signing, and seemed as though it was the type of reactionary purchase that all in this thread are saying he doesn't got for,( i.e he plans all his signings meticulously etc). This doesn't seem the case as he said something along the lines of "as soon as i heard he was going i said snap him up"). I think that tells us he didn't actually plan for alan smith, at least not on trying to lure him here. and i can't see where smith fits in. Similarly, the Enrique transfer, allardyce said something like "the chairman rang me up and said, we can get enrique, do you want him for Xmillion?". That to me is ambiguous as to whether he was planned for and targeted or not, especially as many rumours had us after dragutinovic. In terms of tactics and playing style, i'm a bit concerned. We're turning into a team that are very strong, solid, and will fight for every last ball. We will rarely, if ever, experience a 5-0 defeat against birmingham at home under Allardyce. And that's a positive. But i just wonder, given all the money in the world, what Big Sam's IDEAL style of play would be. Would he still want balls in the box targetting mistakes of other defenders, or prefer a better more exciting style which relies not on mistakes of the opposition, but the brilliance of us being able to open them up with our attacks. The final point i would make is that, Big Sam has said some things that i just don't like to hear, now matter how true it is, and i wouldn't want him to say those things internally in the club, to players/staff etc. Such as "heinze would probably want to go to a bigger club than us". i would much prefer him to say, "if heinze wants a challenege at another genuine big club, there could be an opportunity for him here" etc. Basically, backing ourselves. There was one thing that i did agree with Glenn Roeder saying, and that is, we should not be overawed by the big teams and think they're different and better than us, we should have a more positive strong attitude. We're newcastle, we're a big club, a good team. Back yourselves to be better than others.

Can anyone give a tactical/detailed opinion for why Cacapa impressed on the weekend? I didn't get to see the game as what at an all day Hindu wedding

What happened to Giorkas Seiteridas? (sp?) He was an absolute stand out in the 2004 Euros. Looked top class

I think sniffer's talking sense too. We're building a squad full of players who can be strong, battle, chase and be aggressive, but once we win the ball what do we do with it? Wait for set pieces, and play percentages? I think amidst all the grind in our team, we need some players to turn a game. Create chances.

Part of my worries and reservations about Big Sam coming to Newcastle was the suspicion that he may be a Clive Woodward type of manager, in that, he may be clever at organising and arranging specialists to come in and prepare a team to play, but when the play is actually happening, does he have the in depth tactical knowledge to be able to change a game? For example, Benitez and SBR are two of the most tactically astute managers for me, would Big Sam be able to hold his own, or could any manager decide to employ specialists, and therefore, Big Sam's advantage is pretty much wiped out. I guess in short what i'm worried about is, does Big Sam offer anything aside of a willingness to engage in science, and if so, are the extra qualities offered a match for other top managers? If they are not, i'd rather we had a Scolari, Hiddink etc who is great tactically, and can be encouraged to hire nutritionists and all the other science people

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6919549.stm This has been on the BBC Website for a short while now, but i have not seen it posted on here. One of the coaches giving opinions on what the pre-season is for, and how teams should approach it, is Damien Roden, Bolton's first team fitness coach. He makes many interesting comments, especially concerning heart rate monitors, and not taking pre-season friendly results seriously. Does anybody think that his views are Big Sam influenced? And what insight does this give to the work that we have done this season? All thoughts are welcome

4 players needed for me: RB, CB/LB, DM and creative AM. Squad would then be virtually complete. All we'd need at a stretch would be another RW.

Why would Riise be leaving Liverpool?

Hugo Viana

that's crap What other CAPTAIN of a Premiership club, a club which had just welcomed a new manager and brand new owners with money to burn would fly speedily out the door at the first chance. Sad but true. Personally I thought he was a cracking player at Charlton. Didn't quite cut it at Chelsea and was a bloody disgrace at NUFC. Nigel Reo Coker?

Kingdawson, your comments are just absolutely unbelievable!! I try to just read this forum and keep posts to a minimum, but you literally made me almost break my laptop by spitting my chips and mayonnaise back out of my mouth all over the keys!! What ON EARTH are you THINKING?!?! Honestly the things you're saying are on the same level of ignorance as those die-hard rugby-loving types that know nothing about football and want rugby to take over the world. Please, for my health if nothing else, just cut it out

For me what Allardyce has said is fine as long as in private with the players, he tells them completely different. If he's convinced Owen to stay, surely he's told him we're aiming for higher than "better than last year". I should think, in private he'll be aiming for top 6. With these players: Owen, Martins, Viduka, Emre, Barton, Dyer, Butt, Duff, Solano, n'Zogbia, Given, How he can be looking anywhere beneath top 6 would be beyond me.

Why the whole of that post came out emboldened i don't know :-[