Unbelievable

You back bimpy mate?

A very early contender for POTY

It's happening

Gelukkig nieuwjaar! Let's make it one to remember. Here's hoping for a fantastic year for you all personally, the N-O community (thanks Dave and mods for continuing to make it possible) and our beloved club!

What the fuck's going on here? I wasn't impressed when we went for Anita and I'm still not. He's not the type of player who I expected to adapt well to this league. He's still miles better than Colback though and would probably be of much more use in a league where they play actual football, like La Liga.

Erm, your maths are off. We'd be on 37 and quite possibly down.

Again though, they're plenty good enough to not be in the relegation zone. If, as I expect, we will be able to just about hang on to PL survival in May, will people say McClaren has overachieved by doing so? Of course they won't, and rightly so.

He'll be 23 next week and he's only ever played two games in league one, the rest in league two. If this is the type of player we're going for this January we deserve what's coming.

As much as I don't rate Cisse there's no way we're letting him go without a proven replacement (hah!) in our current situation, and nor should we.

Ah, haven't seen those tweets but if true that's a fair point.

Why's that?

Aye, even the best defence lawyer in the world would struggle to muster a good looking case for him. Frightening stats those. HTT's post earlier is decent but i don't think it gives enough credit to the actual talent a fair few of our players have. I've no doubt that if we had a better manager, we would be nowhere near this position. They would have tried different players, different formations/systems and found a solution to play our best football. McClaren is trying to buy more and more time without actually looking to change anything but hoping he gets luck on the way. His delusion and blindness is taking us down.

I would personally go with Tiote in midfield and see if he can regain his old form. I know a lot of people have given up on him but I've always found that he needs a few games under his belt when he comes back from injury/absence before he gets back to something resembling his old self. Might even dangle captaincy in front of him if he performs, as he always seem to be more composed when he plays with the captaincy and our current captain offers very little in terms of on the pitch encouragement. We all know at his best Cheick pisses all over Colback and Anita in that position. As long as he is instructed to only sit back and protect the defence and is paired with someone like Wijnaldum in a two or preferably Wijnaldum and Sissoko in a three that should five us a fairly physical midfield that wouldn't get walked over by every other midfield in the country. We could then go diamond with a 10 and two forwards or play two wide players and the one forward. Edit: that said, ideally we would go for a new DM who is capable of providing what Tiote once did on a consistent basis and without giving away as many fouls. It would make a world of difference.

I'll stick this in here too: I was on about a five, basically because I believe a relegation would be good for us in the long run and since nothing good ever happens at NUFC I see us hanging on by the skin of our teeth once again and for the rest of eternity, but those stats paint a pretty bleak picture. Could this be the year?

Holy shit

Let's say at best it was worth a try to see if it could work. It doesn't, so why persevere with it? Regarding your comment about Wijnaldum how many times has he actually played in the centre of midfield for us with a dependable defensive midfield player behind him? I've seen him play in central midfield for Holland in the World Cup and whilst not the strongest link in that side, he didn't look out of place. At PSV he also had to balance offensive and defensive duties. He has the physical attributes to be successful in that position in this league. If the alternative is to keep doing what we have been doing for the past few months it's a no brainer imo, as it keeps one of Colback/Anita out of the side and allows us to bring a winger on in their place. I agree it's worth a try. I just dn't have much hope for it. Gini - we don't have a dependable DM. If he's dependant on that to succeed at CM - it isn't going to happen now. How much attacking did he do in that Holland set up? From memory - not a lot. They left it to Robben, Sneijder and RVP. I don't think it makes sense to give Gini more defensive responsibility so we can play Thauvin. CM in Eredivisie is much different than PL. But in any case. I agree it's worth a try. I just don't see it working unless the players show me somethnig they never have, Again, you appear to have written off Thauvin based on very little evidence. He's another case of "worth a try" out wide surely in our current predicament? Wijnaldum played as a box to box midfielder for Holland at the 2014 World Cup. He did a fair bit of attacking although as you say it was mainly the front three providing the danger. You say playing CM in Eredivisie is different to the PL and I won't contest that, but looking beyond that the point is that bringing back Wijnaldum may take something away from his own team which would be more than compensated in theory by what it does for the team, i.e. effectively replace one of our hopeless DM's by a winger who could provide Mitrovic with the service he so desperately needs. It's all about balance in the team, and with four central midfielders scattered across the pitch there simply is none. The midfield does not protect the back four nor does it provide the front two with anything to work with. It's been an unmitigated disaster and it's about time McClaren shook things up a little.

Let's say at best it was worth a try to see if it could work. It doesn't, so why persevere with it? Regarding your comment about Wijnaldum how many times has he actually played in the centre of midfield for us with a dependable defensive midfield player behind him? I've seen him play in central midfield for Holland in the World Cup and whilst not the strongest link in that side, he didn't look out of place. At PSV he also had to balance offensive and defensive duties. He has the physical attributes to be successful in that position in this league. If the alternative is to keep doing what we have been doing for the past few months it's a no brainer imo, as it keeps one of Colback/Anita out of the side and allows us to bring a winger on in their place.

Ouch

Holy shit!

The new contract I meant. It appears his contract runs out in the summer and if so he'd have to be a fruitcake to even contemplate renewing imo. Yes, there is vastly more competition for places at some of the other clubs credited with an interest, but at least they play with wingers.

Did this ever happen in the end? http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rolando-aarons-ready-commit-newcastle-10043521

That quote man

Isn't that at least in part the manager's responsibility? I don't need convincing that there are a lot of other things wrong at the club, but the premise here is that this squad of players is apparently so awful that relegation is practically a foregone conclusion. Back in September most people on here felt that this squad was capable of midtable. I still believe it is. There's quite a few teams above us currently whose squad I wouldn't swap with ours (keeping managers in place). Edit: just seen your edit. Agreed.