afar

Improved or played in a lower division? That's where some of our fans need to think twice before getting ahead of themselves. WTF man. Who is getting ahead of himself ? Are you suggesting that Rafa influence on the players is non existent ? Then why are we all clamouring for him to not leave ? Are you seriously telling me that Clark is not a better player now than he was before he joined us ? Or that Shelvey is still the same player he was when he left Swansea ? The point I was making was that these so called pundits know fuck all about our squad and are basing their views on their hazy memories of a year or two, because they live in a PL bubble, they may be proved right in the end and these players never improved but they are talking from positions of no education. Stop with the considending shit and use some reading comprehension before mouthing off next time.

We saw the stadard in that division in pre-season, one of the best sides in league one last year Bradford hardly got a kick of the ball in our game. They'll make it out to be a great win at a tricky away game but really it's not. Builds up their confidence a little more though which is not a good thing. Funny how last year against us in the league cup (at a much more advanced stage), Grayson made 11 changes or something, and we beat them 6-0 of course, but for whatever reason this year with the Mackems he plays his full strength team (outside of Catts of course). What does that say about his faith in the squad he has ?

The mackems were raving about him during the Derby game.

It's pretty much their full strength team by the looks of them. They are minus the world class Catts though.

Which one, they got Blackburn's reserve keeper and then signed someone who got dumped by a smallish dutch team. TBF, if you are shopping in the bargain basement , this is what you would expect.

No hate here, it's not really his fault that the managers we've had, including Rafa, have continued to select him. He's been clearly not good enough, which was apparent a couple of months into his Newcastle career, he actually started off ok, but it went downhill from about the time he made that England squad. Hopefully we have a buyer lined up for him and he can continue his career someplace else.

Before anything I will say, think we'll get beat this weekend. But the thing is all these pundits paid little to no attention to us last year, so their view on our squad is based on what the players did the last time they paid any attention: Clark - He was a bag a shite at Villa, according to them, Newcastle are relying on him to be their main CB, they are screwed. LeJuene - Failed at Man City, bargain basement signing, not going to be any good. Manquillo - Awful at the worst club in the division last year. Ritchie - Was OK at Bournemouth but they let him go to a Championship team last season and still had a decent season without him. Atsu - Was crap at Everton, failed at Chelsea. Shelvey - A lot of promise that never materialised in stints at Liverpool and Swansea, was ineffective in trying to keep Newcastle up. Hayden - Never heard of him, he's a failed Arsenal youth player. Gayle - Couldn't get into the Palace team, he's their main striker, wtf. The truth is though, if they had watched us last season, a lot of these players have improved immensely under Rafa, it's good to be a little under the radar and keep these perceptions going for now, because if they for example dismiss Shelvey as a threat and give him the space he was afforded against Verona or Bradford, he'll have a field day. Spuds though are a class above us for sure, no point in disguising that, it's amazing that our last PL game was against them and we thrashed them. Lighting isn't going to strike twice, just hope we don't get embarrassed or not turn up, like the Fulham game last year.

Difficult to judge just yet, so much has changed for a lot of the clubs in that division. Last year's beaten playoff teams are always one of the favourites, along with the relegated teams. I don't see a stand out team, just yet, I'm sure one or two will emerge, like last year with us and Brighton.

Must have been nice to be given a free stadium, then bank rolled by an oil rich middle eastern state. To think that could have been us if you believe the rumours that they came to see Ashley first.

Well tbf the Mirror own the Ronny Gill, so they could lay claim to this.

I think we are covered in Rafa's mind. Going by pre-season it looks like Diame is solely going to be used as a CM now. Shelvey and Hayden first choice backed up my Merino and Diame.

Good for him to get off the mark so early in his loan, I understand the need for him and Toney to get experience but my god right now the senior side is woefully short up top, if we are not to address that then we could have used one or both of them here.

Totally agree but I would make exceptions if they are loans with obligation to buy, hopefully it's that kind of loan because he's a young kid and obviously talented, surely Ashley will see it as a good investment.

He must have started his career there by this on wiki: "Kenedy scored six goals in eight games for Brazil under-17 as they came third at the 2013 South American Championship in Argentina."

In many respects I think he's cost us more than anything else by destroying the way we play, we certainly haven't got value for money from the free transfer

No ? Come on Ian you are better than that

What's his work permit status ? Some dodgy EU passport ?

That would be fantastic then, at last some competition for Dummett.

Thought he was more of a Striker, I always buy him on FIFA and play him up top. Edit: Looking at his goal scoring record of 7 goals in 62 apps, he's definitely not a striker He is born Feb 1996 though, so won't count against the 25, that's a positive.

Hayden is already 22, Sterry and Aarons are still 21 until November, again not sure of the rules but thought is was 21 and under before the end of the window. We'll not be registering Armstrong of course as he is on a season long loan. I'm pretty sure it's January 1st. As long as the player is born in 1996 they don't need to be registered. So Aarons will need to be, Merino won't. Aye. We are probably looking at something like this. We would be too light at GK with that, think everyone involved in the last two pre-season games will be registered unless they are sold before, Darlow included.

Highlights the fact that we really need to sell not solely for financially reasons but to also free up some squad space.

Hayden is already 22, Sterry and Aarons are still 21 until November, again not sure of the rules but thought is was 21 and under before the end of the window. We'll not be registering Armstrong of course as he is on a season long loan.

Not sure if the rule is that they must have played in England or something, could be wrong ?

According to this we have 33 players in the first team squad :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcastle_United_F.C. Woodman and perhaps Sterry should qualify as u21, so no need to register, not sure about Hayden and Aarons, assume they are both too old then we need to leave out 6 players to meet the 25 man squad limit, you would assume it is the following: Krul Lazaar Riv Saivet Hanley Colback Edit: looks like Aarons is the same age as Sterry born in the same month, so looks like he qualifies too as u21 (assuming the rule is you need to be 21 or younger at the end of the window), if so it would have most probably been a choice between Colback and Hanley, with the latter winning.

Some absolute fannies on here. And others who are arrogant in their willful ignorance, acting as if nothing ever happens. Not arrogance just some fans can't see serious problems or choose not to when it's abundantly clear. This squad will have serious problems stopping up. There's a number of players who are either total s*** or have question marks whether they can cut it in the premier. The manager is obviously bordering on being dillusioned with the current transfer policy and the only reason he is stopping is due to a sense of loyalty to the fans. Think it's quite sad when people come out with 'fannies', 'bed wetters' or 'cry babies' when the problems at this club or so obvious that when people say this they are either so blinkered or just plain clueless. Rafa is not a god and he can only take players with questionable top flight quality so far and that's why his annoyance is increasing daily. It's really not rocket science. Completely disagree with this, our first 11 is much much better than most on here want to give it credit for, I dunno why that is. maybe it's too much listening to mackem lies, read a post on there the other day that said, even in there current state , their current team would easily beat ours. Even beyond the first 11 we have some quality too, in the likes of Murphy, Aarons, the team captain, and Merino. The problem with our squad is that we have limited back up for the likes of Shelvey and Gayle, but if those two stay fit the bulk of the season, we'll be absolutely fine and anyone getting their knickers in a twist about this being a relegation battle, is talking nonsense, the bottom of the PL didn't get so much better in the space of one transfer window, it's still pretty poor on the whole and has nothing, even with our current squad for us to be afraid of. Watching the same players last season, I guess. It's unbelievable this, like. If anyone calls me a pessimistic bastard this season, I'll be pointing right back to this thread. That team last season won promotion with ease last season, the one game we had against top flight opposition ended in a penalty shootout defeat in a away game we dominated for the majority of. Do you honestly think that this team is way worse than the team that were relegated by a point, when managed by Steve bloody McClaren ? No one is questioning the need to make more signings, but suggesting that the first choice 11 can't compete with the likes of Brighton, Huddersfield, Watford, Burnley, Stoke, WBA, Palace and a like, is just over the top drama queen nonsense.