alexthegreat

Just said on 5Live that "Liverpool's Andy Carroll has rejected a loan move to West Ham despite the 2 clubs agreeing terms".

While i would like it to be this straight forward i just dont think it is. Unlike last season we are now shopping in a better market but want to pay under the going rate. Thats ok with players who are up and coming or unkown quantities. It does not work so well with International players unless we find one with a clause (Cabs). Last season we were very clever, this season we are starting to look amateurish and taking the p*ss with our offers. I thought we looked amateurish and were taking the p*ss with our offers last season as well tbh. Offering £6-7m for a 26 year old full back is fairly Abrahmovic-esque by Ashley's standards. So did I. At the time I thought we were making a terrible mess. Seem to remember Pardew saying we'd definitely have a left back "over the line" for the start of the season. Then we only got Santon 2 games in and he immediately injured his knee. This forum went mental on the last day of the window because we didn't sign a striker, thought there was all the Bryan Ruiz in a helicopter bollocks. There was also some last day rumours of Ridgewell coming in as well. Pardew had also said he didn't want to lose Nolan, Barton, or Enrique and all had gone anyway. No one was at all happy at the time about Barton being f***ed off on a free. In fact Pardew had been made to look so daft with his assurances repeatedly failing to materialise that a lot of people had the derby down as a "game he dare not lose" (to quote true faith from the time). Then a few months down the line we are riding high in the table with everyone casting envious glances at our superior transfer policy. Worth remembering it was all far from straightforward last summer and this year could well be similar.

Think we certainly overperformed in the 1st 11 games of last season. Starting line up was: Krul Simpson Taylor Colo RTaylor Obertan Tiote Cabaye Jonas Ba Best Limited full backs and quite a blunt front 4 overall really. It was also quite a thin squad. We had a relative drop off in form after the 11th game until the a month after the end of the ACON. Pardew tried Vuckic in midfield a couple of times in that period. Also tried a 433 with Shola and Best which wasn't great. He still didn't fully trust HBA either at this time so he was still in and out. It was when we finished the season with the same names as above, except with HBA in for Obertan, Santon in for Taylor, and Cisse in for Best (and Williamson for STaylor) that I think we really looked a genuine top 5 / 6 side. Point I'm making is that we really developed over the course of a season. If we were starting with the same XI as we started last season with then I would say we were very much a flash in the pan side. But with HBA, Santon, Cisse, and hopefully Debuchy in the starting line up, as well as Marveaux and Ferguson pushing Jonas and perhaps even a striker to challenge Ba then I'd say we would be completely justified in hoping for 5th or 6th again, as all the weakest points will have been strengthened over the last 12 months. I also think the fact we developed over the season is significant. Finding ways to improve during a season is something Moyes manages regularly at Everton and Ferguson often changes things around for a strong finish as well. I think its the sign of a good manager. The likes of Redknapp and Bruce on the other hand just do the same thing over and over until they run out of steam in February. So I'd back Pardew to keep up the good work.

Not much wrong with Cabaye and Tiote as first choice in centre midfield. Beyond that theres Amalfitano - 23 years old in a month - you'd think he'd be looking to get close to the team straight away. Gosling is 22 and has achieved nothing in 2 years here. Must have some ability hidden there if he played for under 21s - big season for him and it is worth giving him more chances. Been talking himself up a bit in the press recently and didnt do too badly the other day. Vuckic and Abeid are both nearly 20 and Vuckic supposedly did fairly well at Cardiff last year which isn't a bad standard. Bigirimana was also playing championship football fairly regularly last year. Then theres Perch can still do a job as a destroyer and we also used Ryan Taylor in the centre as well, not that I'd particularly like to see that again. The club have said all along that we want to be a club that develops young players and they'll not be spending unecessarily either . With that in mind I really don't think we'll sign another centre midfielder unless its to replace Tiote. It could leave us a little short on experience but we've got 5 young players there looking to prove themselves, hopefully one or 2 of them will stand out this season.

Vuckic almost scored the goal of the season (pre-cisse) , apart from that he has shown nothing really. I think the Europa League is perfect for him to shine though. The impression I have of Vuckic is that he has the ingredients to be a very good player - looks to have a decent touch, can find a pass, has a hammer of a shot. However he also looks very slow, and doesn't seem to anticipate well enough yet to make up for this. Consequently I think games can pass him by a bit. Think some time on loan could be the making of him - Cardiff were keen to keep him at the end of last season. Hes still only 19 as well - will be 20 in a couple of weeks. Could yet be a very good player for us.

Think its very very unlikely that the 2 sides will reach an agreement anyway so doubt it will happen. Maybe next year.

Heres the same story in the Mail in January. They reckoned we were prepared to pay £10m back then. We didn't have Cisse at that time though. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2084948/Andy-Carroll-Newcastle-ready-bid-Liverpool-striker.html#ixzz20idU21A

Ba and Cisse ocassionally struggle just a little bit to hold the ball up against powerful defenders (happened in the derby in March). Carroll would be a much better option than Shola for those scenarios. Would be great to get him on loan but wouldn't want to pay any serious money for a player in that role. Seem to recall a similar story to this one appearing in the papers back in January - amounted to nothing then and I expect this to be the same. I just can't see any way Liverpool will agree a deal with one of their rivals that doesn't involve them picking up at least £15mish for him and theres no way we will pay that.

Not really. We've got reasonable cover in Perch and Raylor, and if worst comes to worse we have Ferguson and Tavernier who can come in. Ideally yes, but I'd say we've got more pressing concerns in centre back and forward positions. Shane Ferguson is 21 now, made his first team debut 2 years ago and has shown a bit of promise every time I have seen him play. Thought he was one of our best players when he came on as sub in the game v Man City (against tired legs, admittedly). Got no problem at all with him as an understudy to Santon at left back - think this could be a big season for him and think he will be a good player. Would rather give him a chance than sign someone else tbh

Seen him out and about a few times recently and he has bulked up noticeably since he got injured. Didn't think he had the strength to play as a target man before, he might do now though.

Their squad as it stands at the moment: Goalkeepers: Westwood 22 Mignolet Defenders 2 Bardsley 4 Turner 5 Brown 11 Richardson 12 Kilgallon 16 O'Shea 19 Bramble 42 Egan Angeleri Midfielders 6 Cattermole 7 Larsson 8 Gardner 14 Colback 15 Vaughan 18 Meyler 23 McClean 26 Cook 27 Elmohamady 28 Sessegnon . Forwards 9 Campbell 10 Wickham 17 Ji 38 Lynch Too my biased eyes it looks woeful. Richardson, Elmohamady, and Angeleri all likely to be away (though the latter two are hopeless anyway). Theres been rumours about Sessegnon as well. Theres an awful lot to do for O'Neill to do in the next 8 weeks. If they don't do much between now and the start of the season then 14/1 on another relegation looks very tempting, would be a good bet to cheer on.

Hes very fast but hasn't got that acceleration to get past players like a Gillespie. He can't unbalance a defender like a Ginola. Can't cross very well either. Hes got quite a good first touch a lot of the time which can deceive you into thinking theres a good player in there. I don't think it is a mental problem with him though, in fact I think his assessment of his own abilities is probably spot on. He should forget about trying to be Cristiano Ronaldo and should study some James Milner videos, preferably either while in France or in the Championship.

The other 11 clubs have to vote on whether to let them in the SPL or not. I would be surprised if the other clubs in the league were a model of financial health themselves - I expect there could be a real fear of losing tv income. On the other hand I think Livingston got relegated to the 3rd when they were put in liquidation - can't have one rule for them and a different one for others. I wouldn't be surprised if the eventual outcome is a calciopoli style fudge - maybe Rangers end up doing a year in the first division. Really think they should be made to play in the 3rd though.

Pele scored a hat trick against us 40 years ago today: 1972 Santos (Brazil) (a) 2-4 (2-1) Friendly Green, Tudor Pele 3, scorer tbc crowd tbc This match in Hong Kong pitted United against the brilliance of Pele, who hit a hat-trick. Ex-Magpie John Tudor takes up the story: "It happened in the summer of '72 when we were on a Far East tour. We played Pele's club Santos in Hong Kong. "We were leading 2-1 at half-time and Pele had done nowt. Tony Green scored with a 35-yard screamer and I'd headed our second. "It was Newcastle who were playing well and we thought it was a doddle. Then for quarter of an hour Pele decided it was time to entertain the crowd. They had come along to see only him. "He scored three brilliant goals in that 15 minutes. The delicate close-control skills, the amazing acceleration, the powerhouse shooting had the crowd in ecstasy. It was like trying to stop a flash of lightning. "Job done, Pele walked off to thunderous applause. Every one of us went over to shake his hand. We knew we'd been in the presence of greatness."

Obertan started 19 games on the right wing last season. Perch and Taylor were both used in central midfield and we only played 43 games in total. Could well be looking at 55+ next year Barnetta sounds quality, will improve us greatly in these areas and is free. Would be an excellent siging imo.

Agree. Won the league in Scotland, broke clean sheets records, and its still not enough to stop Jack Butland seemingly being ahead of him in the England pecking order. My mate is a Norwich fan who said Forster was absolutely excellent there. Ruddy was his replacement and he is now ahead of him as well. Think Hodgson's England squad could well be a wake up call that he needs to get out of Scotland.

this is actually quite funny: http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=700008

Man City home form: WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWDWWW Away: WWDWWWWDLDLWLWLDWWW They had a poor run 9 game run away from home where they only got 2 wins in the middle of the season. Think they also crashed out of all the cups in this period as well. Yet they were so good in the rest of the season that they still put 89 points on the board - only 5 short of Mourinho's record of 94. Possible reasons for that blip? Toure going to ACON? Flaky form of Dzeko while Tevez and Balotelli acted like pricks? Lack of cover at centre half (remember Savic getting a few games). I also saw Gary Neville do a piece on Monday Night football where he reckoned Manicini had been sussed out a bit tactically. 6 wins on the bounce to finish off with suggests Mancini got any tactical problems sorted out. Point I'm making is there are really obvious areas where they can improve next year, yet they still got a massive points haul. I thought they were the best side I'd seen at SJP in a long time - Toure and Kompany could show themselves to be as good as the Premier League has ever seen. If they splash the cash on RVP and chuck some money at a few other big name players I could see them winning the league by a distance next year, and possibly dominating for some time after that. Will today be remembered as the day power shifted across Manchester?

Get him, a midfielder, a RB/LB and CB and sell no big stars and i'll be delighted and quite frankly dont think we need anymore than that. We also need a striker who can cover for Ba and Cisse while they're away. If we're letting Ranger, Lovenkrands and Best go, we must be bringing one, maybe two strikers. One for the development squad, and another to have a go while our Geordie boys from Senegal are doing their thing in Africa. Aye we should definitely be looking to add a young up and coming striker in the 19-21 year old range to develop - only really got Sammy in that bracket and he doesn't look like an out and out striker. Aside from that theres only Adam Campbell who won't be anywhere near ready and Ranger who is a waste of space.

the real goal of the season is Frazier Campbell v Norwich NOT Cisse v Chelsea. Here is why: Read more: http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=698360&page=3#ixzz1uEFRs1C9

Top 25 imo: Taylor v Sunderland Sammy v Scunthorpe Cabaye v Blackburn (free kick in cup) Jonas v Wolves Shola v Spurs Cabaye v Wigan Taylor v Everton Ba v Norwich (think it was under rated because of the result but brilliant Cabaye pass and control and finish from Ba) Ba v WBA (free kick) Ba v Man U Cabaye v Man U Ben Arfa v Blackburn (my winner) Guthrie v Fulham Cisse v Villa Jonas v Wolves Cisse v Norwich Ben Arfa v WBA Cisse v WBA Cisse v Liverpool Cisse v Swansea Ben Arfa v Bolton Cisse v Stoke (for Cabaye’s pass) Cabaye v Stoke Cisse v Chelsea Cisse v Chelsea

He was 25 years old at the time - been in England for 4 years. Had shown the potential to be 1 of the best players in his position in the league but was at a club he had only ever known as a mid table side at best and they seemed intent on selling all their best players (most supporters were aiming the same criticisms at the board as he was). With one year left on his contract he had a choice: commit a few more of the best years of his career to a mid table side seemingly destined for more chaos and tipped by some pundits for a relegation battle. head to a side showing a lot more ambition - throwing a lot of money around and talking about a title challlenge. He just made the same choice that anyone who came to this country to play football would make. It just so happened that his judgment in believing the pre-season hype around Liverpool (and ourselves) was terrible. I'd hardly blame him for that

Really? He was excellent earlier in the season, I went on RAWK and many were saying he was their best signing in a while. What changed? Been a bit s*** the last few games. Looked of the pace since January to me. Think in the game after Hughton got sacked (3-1 win v Liverpool) he was unusually poor, possibly more affected by it than anyone else. Then after selling Carroll in that Arsenal first half in the 4-4 he was terrible (far from alone in that though). Poor first season for us and as Liverpool have fallen apart he has been as bad as any of their players. I think he lets off the pitch stuff and poor form get to him as much as any player I've seen, he can let his head drop when things aren't going well. Get the feeling hes a player who really needs a good manager but instead he is playing for the worst manager in the league. Would still love to have him back here, starting to suspect he wouldn't mind either.

in the programme today Colo was doing a Q and A session. Got asked who the best trainer at the club was and said: "We have a squad who work very hard. But for me it is probably Perchy. He always trains hard and I like the way he trains."

Lescott: "Hard game today our fans were immense and played there part. Credit to Newcastle fans as well applauding us after the game. Travel safe #Bluemooner's"