KaKa

Ibra will be devastating in Spain.

Ash can you please help me understand why Wenger doesn't just play Diaby alongside Fab in the centre?

On the rare occassions he has done Diaby has looked great both defensively and going forward.

Still he shunts Diaby out to the wing way too much and will then play the pre-pubescent Denilson in the centre, who proceeds to get tossed around like a rag doll.

You could definitely do with a real top class DM in there though. Shame about Melo really.

So Bruce is signing Crouch and letting Kenwyne go?

Dumb move imo. Jones could really flourish with the right guidance. He's got huge potential.

How quickly people forget eh? The season before last he was being linked with Chelsea because of his performances. He had injury problems last year and Sunderland was a mess and everyone's forgotten what he is capable of already.

Bruce is going to bomb spectacularly.

On Assists.. Kevin Nolan is 46th with 4 assists.

 

Of course it doesn't say how many were for Bolton.

 

We rank pretty highly on the red/yellow card tables.

 

Tackles "lost" table .. 1 Nicky Butt Newcastle United 49

HA! I had to laugh out loud on that one.

Biggest misconception out there is that Butt is some sort of ball winner.

The guy more often than not completely misses his tackles and is left strewn out on the pitch while the opposition saunter merrily into our area with our defence left completely unprotected.

Last season was just unspeakably awful. It would be really difficult to top it but we are well on our way it seems.

 

 

Porto signed Radomel Falcao from River Plate for just 5.5m Euros as Lisandro Lopez` replacement....another bargain made by Porto.

 

South America is a gold mine if people would just put in the work and scout there properly. It's hardly a risk too as the players are so cheap.

 

Valencia cost Wigan less than £1 million for goodness sake.

 

Signed from Villarreal.

 

Work Permits will always rape the UK from signing up these South American talents.

Is true. However a lot of the internationals from the less renowned countries like Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Colombia etc would qualify, and a lot of these guys are better than the same old Zamoras, Bowyers, etc.

No reason to be anything other than happy with the Downing signing brummie, maybe a bit pricey but everyone is these days.

 

Id like us to look abroad a little more often, but i quite like Downing. He was superb against us at our place this season, is two footed, and provides ammunition:

 

Daily Telegraph - Chances Created Last Season

 

1 Frank Lampard Chelsea 124

2 Steven Gerrard Liverpool 80

3 Stewart Downing Middlesbrough 72

4 Luis Antonio Valencia Wigan Athletic 70

5 Wayne Rooney Manchester United 67

6 Francesc Fabregas Arsenal 63

7 Mikel Arteta Everton 63

8 Dirk Kuyt Liverpool 63

9 Mark Noble West Ham United 63

10 Nicolas Anelka Chelsea 62

 

 

My appreciation of Downing really grew this last season. Managed to catch a lot of Boro games and he really is a good player.

His left foot is great, passing , crossing or shooting it's never far off. My favourite thing about him though is his smarts. He knows what he's good at and he focuses on doing those things well. Doesn't force the issue and makes very good decisions the majority of the time. He's also a lot more versatile than I thought, saw him on the right and through the middle at times last season.

Solid purchase. A bargain considering Milner cost the same. He's on a completely different level to Milner.

 

 

Porto signed Radomel Falcao from River Plate for just 5.5m Euros as Lisandro Lopez` replacement....another bargain made by Porto.

South America is a gold mine if people would just put in the work and scout there properly. It's hardly a risk too as the players are so cheap.

Valencia cost Wigan less than £1 million for goodness sake.

I will never ever understand these managers.

Rather than pay more for someone you know cannot score in the premiership why not spend less on one of the young championship strikers who scored a lot of goals last season and see if they can do it at a higher level.

Bobby Zamora? Darryl Murphy?

Has anyone seen Kinnear's comments from the weekend btw?

 

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2009/07/15/newcastle-united-deny-joe-kinnear-return-claims-72703-24158294/

Speaking to the Irish Press at the weekend, he claimed: “Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer, the Messiahs, got nine points between them.

 

“When I went into hospital, we were 13th with 13 games left. Everything was going in our favour.

 

“All the other clubs were getting beat, and we were on a great run. It was looking an absolute doddle.”

 

“I said to Mike (Ashley), ‘let me come back’, but he said, ‘no, the club doctor spoke to the specialist, and it was too dangerous’.

 

“What disappointed me most was that, irrespective of my health, I could have been a figurehead, so Alan could have bounced things off me.

 

“I would have be able to help and guide him.

 

“Alan has been a phenomenal player, but he’s never been in management or coaching.”

 

“The whole of Newcastle wanted him, and they got him.

 

“They have delusions of grandeur…

 

“They need someone who can put a winning unit together on a regular basis.

 

“If it was me, and I had pot loads of money, I would try and get someone like Martin O’Neill.”

 

What a dickhead.

What the hell is this guys problem?

Your management stinks, your attitude stinks, your health stinks, your hair looks like it stinks and I'm willing to bet your breath freakin' stinks too.

Crawl back into your gutter and be silent punk. Damn.

Downing will flourish at Villa. Unlike Milner he actually has serious talent with still more room to grow.

I believe Downing even has the potential to play centrally and could very well step right into Barry's former position.

If I was O'Neill though I would just push Milner into right back and hope he develops there. It's the only position I could ever really see Milner perhaps being decent in. His work rate and stamina would be good assets at right back and his average attacking ability will look better as a right back also.

Well thank God!

Where are these tales coming from?

Freddy trying to crank up the pressure?

Kinnear was ranting on about how he was best friends with Ferguson and Wenger in that silly interview. Let's at least hope we can get some young players of them on loan if this mess is true.

This would really prove how thick Ashley is btw. Last season he announces he wants to sell, then doesnt, then appoints Kinnear, we go from Hughton to Kinnear and back again, then we go down. Exact same thing is unfolding here if this news is true. Ashley doesnt have to put the same men that took us down in charge, but it seems he is going to. f***ing grade A idiot. You know what, I bet he reckons Kinnear would have kept us up, I bet he really does rate him. Moron.

Absolutely. Without a shadow of a doubt. Lets not forget that they had already drawn up a three year contract for this man they were so smitten with him. Now he has declared he has been given the all clear they have brought him straight back in.

   Why would we belive daily mail they even posted Vialli story last week and reading this article there is no new quots so all is full of Bu***

The day I came home to find Kinnear on TV going on about Owen and his desire to come back to manage Newcastle "if" the club wasn't sold, I tell you a cold shiver ran down my spine. I felt something dodgy was up then but didn't dare dwell on it too long.

It is the most likely of outcomes all things considered.

Kinnear 's most likely been in his ear harping on about how he can get the club straight back up and so Mike wouldn't lose any money. Probably been harping on about his experience of the sort of footbal needed in the championship.

Kinnear is an ass and he reeks of desperation and for some reason he seems to have Ashley's ear so we are screwed.

They knew they couldn't meet the demands Shearer wanted in order to make him manager and for them it was probably the Keegan scenario all over again so they've decided not to even go there perhaps.

It will be untrue, if they were going to bring in any manager then it would be Shearer, that is the guy most if not all the parties who are bidding for the club want, and the reason they did not appoint him was because incase they wanted to bring in their own manager, so why would they bring him back?, it would just create a stumbling block to sell the club.

Perhaps they aren't selling anymore?

[move] [/move]

 

He'll do to stabilise us this season (ie avoid another relegation), hopefully by next season we'll have new owners and can get a manager with whom we can progress.

Best we can hope for at this point.

Wow ...

Something has happened in that meeting with Shearer at the end of the season.

I bet they've blamed him somewhat for not keeping us up and therefore were never going to appoint him and back him, especially if he came out and made any kind of demands which didn't suit them.

This whole sale thing has just been a front yet again to allow them to scheme away in the background.

Just an absolutely unreal situation right now.

It was just a few seasons ago everyone was moaning about becoming a mid table club in the prem.

Now just having an owner and a manager would suit me just fine.

So unreal.

Spurs going for Vieira shows who's the smaller club in that rivalry.

 

Yes and league positions didn't show that already.

What the heck happened to Harry Redknapp?

If there is one thing you always felt he could do it was find a good young player from abroad rather than resort to bringing in someone washed up.

Especially a DM of all things?! That was his bread and butter at Portsmouth, the French or African DMs. Can't believe he has resorted to this.

He's gone to a club with a bit more expectations and he appears to be bottling it in the transfer market. He's only gone for sure things who have done it in the premier league since he went to Tottenham. Doing this every time in the market is not a good move at all.

Would probably be a lot easier if he just confirmed who City didn't want.

Really looking forward to seeing that smug look wiped of his face too. The nitwit.

Anyone who thinks Enrique was our worst player is off their heads.

Owen, Butt, Coloccini, Smith, Duff, Raylor, Nolan, Ameobi were all worse just off the top of my head.

Maybe Ashley is just stalling until Kinnear is fit enough and 100% cleared by the doctors.

Kinnear popping up on TV the other day to give his opinions on Owen and his desire to return should the club not be sold is beginning to look like way too much of a coincidence.

True or not, the situation in the Guardian article is basically our worst nightmare and something which is looking more and more likely with each passing day - potential buyers scared off when they see the books and drifting into the new season with no players, effectively no owner and effectively no manager.

 

Have said it somewhere in this thread, you can't be asking for a 100m for a club that costs 20m every 3 months to run (as is).

 

He (MA) is either greedy or doesn't want to sell.

I think he's greedy and now doesnt give a s*** what happens to the club.  I've a feeling he'd rather run us into the ground and asset strip than he would accept a lower price

 

 

I'm not so sure looking at the price he wants to sell, it's summat I've been pondering the last weeks. It's a smokescreen so he doesn't have to do owt during the summer.

There was an article that pretty much implied it would actually be more expensive to sell the players this summer than to keep them so maybe you are right. Ashley probably feels they all deserve to play in the Championship this coming season too.