Minhosa

Fucking hell. Desperation. Sell the cunt now Mike. He's at his peak value. Loads of contract left and an England cap.

That's the exact reason I see De Jong as being key. If he doesn't produce or turns out to be injury prone then I genuinely don't see where the goals are coming from. I think in a 4-5-1, the '1' has to be able to bring others into play and become a target for attacking possession. If he can't manage the ball for a period of time for the defensively minded fucknuggets we've got in midfield to catch up with the play then we've got jack all chance of scoring goals at any frequency imho. So, whether he is or he isn't a targetman, he's going to be using an awful lot of similar characteristics. And, at the risk of repeating myself, if AP insists on this system, I'm not sure Remy would make an awful lot of difference in terms of overall team goals.

Hit me with them. Are you asking me if Ashley would realistically appoint them or if there are better managers who hypothetically might be prepared to come to us if asked? Off the top of my head, I think we could have approached and had discussions with Bielsa (before he went to Marseille), Tuchel, Paco Jemez, Dragan Stojkovic, Zdenek Zemen, Laudrup, De Boer, Ketsbaia, Eddie Howe. I don't see a reason why the above list that I came up with in one minute could not be enlarged with extra thought. Clearly not all of them would be prepared to work for Ashley but that wasn't what I said. is there a reason you didn't mention moyes btw? Forgot about him to be honest. I'd like Moyes here but I suspect his wages would be too high. I think in general, as with English players, better value seems to be found abroad. For example, I think Bilic is only on 600k a year, and the Algerian coach was on 300k or something low. Think Moyes could be convinced personally, he'll doubtless have a point to prove after his treatment at Manyoo And he's got experience of working on small budgets too.

And nobody to knock them down. Hence the reason for sticking that post in this thread. I think that's Riviere's prime job. His role in the '1' is to knock down, hold up and bring in to play. We already know he's not exactly widely known for goalscoring exploits, so I can only assume he's been brought in to play the target man role for the benefit of De Jong, Cabella etc. If the ball keeps coming back, bouncing off him or generally ending up in the possession of the opposition then its clear he's not the man for it and I'm not sure how much longer AP perseveres given how toothless we look. I've said it all pre-season, our survival this season, looks wholly down to De Jongs ability to score goals UNLESS we sign someone proven to score goals. And, even then, if AP is insistent on playing this new system and incorporating the extra midfielder, they've not just got to be proven to score goals but to score them in a system that's basically designed to soak up pressure and counter attack.

This is the only way he'll go. He's got more front than Whitley Bay and he'll hate the ego hit if he's constantly getting rinsed off the crowd. He's already known to be prone to cracking under any pressure. He'll have to walk before Ashley bins him, 100%.

A chronic lack of movement has always been a huge issue under Pardews reign. There's a fundamental lack of fluidity about our play, hardly any 'pass and go' nor do we ever seem joined up in our attacking momentum. We are the very definition of a pedestrian side. It's a shame with the amount of ability we have in the squad that it goes missing other than the odd individual flash of brilliance here or the rare glimpse of genius there. Unless we sign someone who is guaranteed goals I fear for us this season. It's like going back in time.......though, rather than relying on Kevin Nolan to pounce on knockdowns and rebounds, it's now De Jong. Have we really actually improved as a side since the days of Barton, Nolan, Carroll et al under CH? It doesn't feel like we've moved forward at all. Still, we've made a few quid though, so that'll count for something.

Who did they get to paint the yellow on the edge of those steps?

Gone for goals tonight. 3-2 City and 3-2 Liverpool. 17's and 25's respectively. Money back if a draw or Sturridge scores.

Only it's not clear at all. We could very easily find a midfielder with a brain who, over the course of the season, would add more value to the side than him. Intelligence over brawn every time.

First game of the season and we're exposed to Obertan, Dummett, Willo and 2 x kids. How many other teams would they get in to?

Colback was a million miles better than him today and arguably just as positive, despite his deeper role. Aye. And he cost nowt. Precisely my point.

I hope so. He's going to need a fuck load more bodies around him than he had today though, thats for sure. Thank god for Pardew's range of expansive football, eh?

We're going to be very reliant on De Jong I think. Hope he can stay fit otherwise we could well struggle.

Really surprised at this Tooj given your penchant for proper footballers such as Solano etc.

Agree. Standing a guy with dubious composure up top on his own is a recipe for disaster. It was his first game. Let's not draw definite conlusions quite yet. What's definitive about 'dubious'? His record certainly doesn't indicate that he's the next big thing though does it?

If this is to do with my criticism of Sissoko then its got nothing to do with todays result. I said the same throughout last season as well. He might not be at the top of the clubs list of problems but he's certainly not anything special and could be easily improved upon imho. His lack of composure for that chance at 0-1 today was so indicative of the guys ability.

I honestly don't get this. The guy has nothing, other than pure brawn, in his locker. There's nothing he does that excites me. He's not got a trick nor has he the intelligence to find a pass. He does make things happen. Not in an elegant way but he does. He's capable of a good cross, nice through ball but not consistently. He's about capable of that as he is of simple passes too which is infuriating. Better than Gouffran init. More likely to create or score from open play than Colback/Anita/Tiote too. But he's not great aye. He's got no stand out features that's for certain.

I honestly don't get this. The guy has nothing, other than pure brawn, in his locker. There's nothing he does that excites me. He's not got a trick nor has he the intelligence to find a pass.

Agree. Standing a guy with dubious composure up top on his own is a recipe for disaster.

Him to Geoff Shreeves in the interview after the game "we had some fret around the box that we've not had since Cabaye left". A momentary silence as the big fuck off elephant in the room wanders into shot and then........................on to the next soft question. Are these media cunts briefed not to ask about HBA or is Shreeves clueless?

FYP.

No. I did too. He's a f***ing braindead. Nonsense, he was one of the best players on the pitch. Running around and getting stuck in doesn't constitute a performance from a midfielder in my opinion. Needs more to his game than that. Doesn't have it IMHO.

No. I did too. He's a fucking braindead.