KaKa

Zoggy seems to be getting toasted by Wright-Philips.

Seems to be our main area of vulnerability.

Well ... we can expect Martins to miss chances, but ultimately he will be more of a threat and of far greater use to us playing through the middle.

Faye booked  ... way too early for all this.

I really hope we at least keep 11 on the field for the whole game.

We really do need to find a consistent set piece taker ...

I just can't see the merit in changing the personnel and setup so drastically from game to game, it really confuses me.

 

It's been a pretty busy period so maybe it was to keep the team relatively fresh.

 

Then again, the team that played away to Wigan was so pathetic that the team needed a bit of a shakeup too.

 

 

 

Both fair points, but it's hardly going to help the team gel is it?

 

You surely can't be suggesting that we play the same personnel / formation as away to Wigan just to give some consistency though?

 

If they play that dire we need to make changes. If we don't change things then nothing will change. I think the problem is the formation though, and a 4-5-1 is not going to be productive. Ever.

It's not the 4-5-1/4-3-3 that is the problem though is it. It's the way the players move the ball and carry out their roles within the formation.

I have to say though, even though Martins is up front on his own, I still think he prefers this to playing out wide. He should therefore be more effective or at least more of a threat.

He essentially played upfront alone all last season, with either Sibierski or Dyer just off him and he did alright as far as scoring goals goes.

                       

                          Given

 

Beye      Cacapa         Taylor        N'Zogbia

 

                          Faye

            Smith                 Butt

 

    Milner           Martins                Duff

 

Would be my guess. Three holding midfield players effectively.

     

 

Mine too, on the ball anyway. If we are to have any chance they need to play the ball on the floor.

 

With that trio in central midfield, we will be utterly incapable of playing the ball on the floor.

Faye will make us a bit better, simply because he is so strong on the ball and isn't afraid to lose it and so he doesn't rush into the first available long ball. It won't be perfect but it will be better than it has been recently.

I just can't see the merit in changing the personnel and setup so drastically from game to game, it really confuses me.

It's been a pretty busy period so maybe it was to keep the team relatively fresh.

Then again, the team that played away to Wigan was so pathetic that the team needed a bit of a shakeup too.

                       

                          Given

 

Beye      Cacapa         Taylor        N'Zogbia

 

                          Faye

            Smith                 Butt

 

    Milner           Martins                Duff

 

Would be my guess. Three holding midfield players effectively.

     

Hopefully Alan Smith will be asked to get forward from midfield rather than sit in as a third holding midfielder.

I love the fact Faye is finally being played in midfield. He should be an improvement over Geremi. Taylor and Cacapa should be okay at the back too as the Chelsea strikers aren't particularly physical today.

If Milner, Duff and Martins can somehow get the ball played into their feet they could really give Ben Haim and Alex a scare too. Also it looks like Alan Smith will be given the freedom to charge forward from midfield rather than play the holding role so hopefully he will be better at doing this, and should essentially offer Martins support from there as a second striker type.

I'm choosing to be optimistic with this. I'm tired of the negativity. I'll at least wait to see how we perform before getting upset about anything to do with the tactics etc.

I'm really hoping for a big game from Faye in the middle of the park.

Well we are apparently doing our major signings in the summer so it must be us!

Yay!

mamic brothers to hollywood, honestly:)

looks like he signed a pre-contract with someone though, let's wait and see who it is.

Quit while your ahead pal.

If this happens and we sign anyone of this type of quality then it will restore some of my confidence in Allardyce.

One thing that has to be said about the guy and one thing we ought to appreciate is that he does have a habit of being able to bring top players into his clubs despite the club not looking the most attractive option. Anelka to Bolton being an example.

He says it is becoming a job no one will ever want, especially if we sack Sam. He thinks if anyone can turn us around it will be Allardyce. Allardyce also has a bit to say too and it does seem sensible, but my goodness it is hard to take what we have been served up recently.

Interesting stuff ...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/newcastle/article3105861.ece

Shearer wouldn't be that bad if we brought in a very experienced figure to act as a director of football. Someone who Shearer would be happy to work with of course.

However, Sheare on his own would be risky. ot sure what kind of contacts he has as far as identifying and bringin in players goes. We certainly wouldn't want him doing a Roy Keane and bringing in championship standard players.

My favourite clip of him. Look at how athletic he is.

 

http://eq.freechal.com/flvPlayer.swf?docId=199702&serviceId=QT00

Is that really the guy we are supposedly signing?!

This could be disastrous ...

What we need is a manager with some pedigree and experience who has an attacking philosophy.

It really is that simple. Any manager with these qualities would get the time he needs.

I'm a Korean guy who's been following the Toon since late 90s.

 

To make a long story short, Cho Jae-Jin is as bad as Lee Dong-Gook at Boro. Do I need to explain more? I'm sorry, but we don't have quality strikers to export right now. 

 

He's not even popular among Korean football fans. He's popular among Korean girls who don't care about football except footballers' thigh muscle. Don't expect Koreans to buy black and white shirts. We don't spend silly money for a crap player.

 

All I ask is to ship him back nice, and don't be too nasty. It's only good news for Lee Dong-Gook because he has a buddy to accompany him when he's shipped back soon.

Oba must get all the ladies in South Korea.

So Sam proposes that the team spend the Christmas period in London to prepare for the game against Chelsea and the players complain about it.

So what happens?

Barton returns to Liverpool and sure enough gets into trouble after being out till 5:30am.

They're like a bunch of kids the lot of them. They freakin' need to be watched over 24-7.

I can't help but feel that the Barton incident has completely changed things.

It might be the final straw. Even if it doesn't mean Sam gets the sack, it might certainly mean that he doesn't get any money this window.

Wow ... this is unbelievable.

I actually thought things couldn't get worse than they have been recently, but this really does take the cake.

Even if he does return to the team anytime soon, how can he expect to get the respect or support of the fans back?

We're back on the front pages folks! Everyones favourite soap/drama.

If this is true then Sam is in even more trouble, as this is one of the players he brought into the club inspite of his reputation.

Nothing seems to be going Sam's way right now.

HTT this is a great post.

A lot of the players have been awfully dissapointing.

Ideally Sam should be given the freedom to build a squad of his own and to get rid of the players who are letting him down. However, it's going to be difficult for this to happen now.

Will the owners back Sam's judgement and allow him to rebuild? This will be very difficult but ultimately I think it would probably be the best way to go about things. Even if Sam eventually has to leave, I still feel we need a bit of a clearout personnel wise anyway. Too many players still here who gave up on themselves a long time ago.

Emre finally got a start and did nothing with it, which is very dissapointing.

A dream player. Everything Martins should be but isn't.

Except Martins is a striker ...