KaKa

What is his official position? If we signed him where would he play?

Getting interviewed on SSN while getting his Afro trimmed

You got something against Afros then?

RACIST ALERT!!!!!!!!!

signed for west ham according to ssn

This summer has been so crazy already. I mean I knew it was coming but I can't believe it has actually been finalized now.

Scott Parker is gone! Wow! Good luck to him, shame he couldn't pass or shoot really.

Reo-Coker is a really good young player, who had an error of judgement that was more down to immaturity than anything else. He is only 21, and he went into a sulk because he wasn't allowed to speak to Arsenal when they came in for him whish is somewhat understandable.

To be fair to him he never demanded a move or caused as big a stink as he could have, and he at least remained on the pitch and towards the end of the season managed to get back on track.

I have no doubts that with a strong manager (which we now have) and away from London, and the real West Ham plonkers Ferdinand and Zamora, he would be excellent and committed. He would have learnt from his mistake this season and I doubt he would carry on like that again.

This boy was made captian of his team at age 20 and is the current captain of the England under 21 squad and I think that speaks volumes about his temperament and character.

It will be interesting to see how he performs this summer in the under 21 championships. I think after watching him many on here would be impressed.

I for one would have him in a swap for Parker.

Parker is asking for trouble if you ask me. He thinks it was tough here because a few fans got on his back after a game when the majority don't have too much of a problem with him?

Has he met any West Ham fans? You want to talk about a group of fans that are absolutely mental when they get on a players back? Knowing he is on those wages won't help him either because if he performs anywhere near to what he did here last season and West Ham struggle early on he will be getting it from their fans a thousand times worse than he ever did here.

I hope he does well though, as he is a good guy. He honestly just wasn't good enough and should have been transformed into a strict defensive midfielder with no attacking responsibility, as this was his only chance. For a player with such a reputation I have never seen a worse shooter or forward passer in my life! It actually made me cring many a time, as I felt embarrassed for the lad. Hope he does alright though.

Viduka would be gold....him and owen up front would be amazing.

 

Dukes works hard for the team and creates chances as well scoring regularly. Would be chuffed if he signed.

 

can we still get nani? anyone heard of this bloke anderson? I hope Big Sam is looking at them...apparently pretty talented

So you think we will be playing 4-4-2 then?

I'm not sure Sam will move away from the 4-3-3 which has brought him so much success.

Owen won't fit, and Martins might not either. Should be interesting.

 

Yikes ... it's English people, simple English.

 

You'd better be joking, tbh.

might be Or might be not. What think you?

Calm down people, Kaka was making a positive point!!

That's what I thought

Lord have mercy! I am so glad at least a couple of you grasped the point I was making!

My point was that he is a good pickup because he was really good last season, but that he has the potential to be even better which would be brilliant. I believe he could get 20 prem goals next season if he is fitter and therefore plays every game.

Yikes ... it's English people, simple English.

As god as Viduka was last year he still didn't look in great condition.

Can you imagine whathe will be like if he buys into Sam's fitness and dietary regime? Would make what seems like a decent move even better.

I must say if Roeder was still here and he made this move, I can't say I would have been as pleased about it. Big Sam's history of getting the best out of the aged is second to none.

The midfield three were Speed, Campo and Nolan if I am not mistaken. So did both Campo and Speed sit back as defensive midfielders with just Nolan pushing forward? Or did both Speed and Nolan push forward?

Also, did bolton at any point play a 4-4-2 with Anelka and Davies up front? Or did Anelka come in from the left hand side of the 4-3-3?

I can't ever really recall Bolton playing a 4-4-2 and with the success Allardyce has had over the last few years with the 4-3-3, could you imagine him changing to a 4-4-2? And would this be a good idea?

I know the 4-3-3 isn't that popular as some see it more as 4-5-1, but i imagine with better players it would look more attractive. I think I am leaning more towards Sam sticking with what has worked for himi.e. the 4-3-3, but with talk of him wanting Owen or Martins to stay I cnnot imagine how either could be accomodated in this setup.

So judging by the way he had his players setup at Bolton last year, who do you imagine out of our current players would be compatible in this system and therefore more likely to still be around?

I am no longer taking the Barton rumours seriously. I think Willie McKay is just trying to keep his players name out there, and we know he loves to link his players to Newcastle. He's probably heard Parker will be let go and is trying to tout his player to us.

Freakin' slimeball.

To be fair though I do think Barton is decent.

on two unproven youngsters is a gamble. Fair enough if they also sign proven quality though.

 

Your gaffers (Arnsen/Jol) have been gambling on youngster for a while now, although not at this end of the market.

 

Were not challenging for the league though.

Dont get me wrong, these are exciting times if your a united fan but i still think they need a quality front man.

Envy is such an ugly thing dude ...

You keep saying htey are unproven but so was Ronaldo. Unti they come to the league and play here no one knows yet. Somehow I think they will do extremely well, especially with Ferguson bringin them along. They will also settle quickly with the portuguese figurehead there in Carlos Quieroz not to mention Ronaldo too.

I've told you already, Harry Kewell will be playing on the left-side of midfield for Tottenham next year. You guys were so sure it was Nani, so what happened?

if we can afford to spend £8m on boumsong, £6m on bramble, £10m on luque etc. i think we can afford to risk "less than 1 million" on this guy!!!!

 

We couldn't really afford to spend that sort of money on those players but I agree with your general point.

 

I am a little worried that those who have actually seen him play think he wont make it though.

 

I've seen him play recently for Ghana, and I am not surprised Sam is interested. He has been really good of late and seems to be back on the up.

 

All those who think he won't make it saw him at Sweden, where he probably wasn't as motivated. He had just excelled at the under 20 championships and was voted Ghana's most promising player ahead of the Essiens and Appiahs and he was also brilliant for Panathanikos in the champions league but somehow ended up in Sweden (probably due to a dodgy agent).

 

He is a good player, and at the very worst will be a solid squad player. At the very best he has the potential to be up there with Essien. I feel optimistic because he will be working with Big Sam as well so it is more likely he will play at his peak rather than underachieve.

 

More or less my outlook on the player. He hasn't really been tested at the highest level, but Ghanian and Nigerian players have plenty of fight in them. I defer to Sam'd judgement, won't be an impulse buy that's for sure. Deal is close.

What is exciting about him is that he has excellent athletic ability and pace which are the more typical African attributes, but his use of the ball is also very good. He is better with the ball than Essien is. Passes and spreads the ball around very well.

I have a page where you can watch a stream of a recent Ghana vs Austria match where he plays in centre mid, but I don't know if it is okay to post it on here?

It is the page for a user on filefront who has some Ghana games. Am I allowed to post this? The page doesn't actually contain the video clip itself.

if we can afford to spend £8m on boumsong, £6m on bramble, £10m on luque etc. i think we can afford to risk "less than 1 million" on this guy!!!!

 

We couldn't really afford to spend that sort of money on those players but I agree with your general point.

 

I am a little worried that those who have actually seen him play think he wont make it though.

I've seen him play recently for Ghana, and I am not surprised Sam is interested. He has been really good of late and seems to be back on the up.

All those who think he won't make it saw him at Sweden, where he probably wasn't as motivated. He had just excelled at the under 20 championships and was voted Ghana's most promising player ahead of the Essiens and Appiahs and he was also brilliant for Panathanikos in the champions league but somehow ended up in Sweden (probably due to a dodgy agent).

He is a good player, and at the very worst will be a solid squad player. At the very best he has the potential to be up there with Essien. I feel optimistic because he will be working with Big Sam as well so it is more likely he will play at his peak rather than underachieve.

He's signed.

Signed what?

If we're after africans then we should sign Boka.

 

Good shout.

 

Think we should get Kingston in, heard nothing but good reports about him in Scotland and seems a very dynamic player and a bit of a cult hero to boost. The Russian club that owns him only want about 500k for him which would be worth a gamble in anyones book.

Because our last superstar signing from Scotland turned out well. In my opinion we shouldn't go anywhere near someone who hasn't proven himself in a decent league yet.

 

Hardly costing £8m is he? Should we wait untill he proves himself and the the price becomes extorinate?

It's not like were exactly short of cash now is it. If we are aiming for the CL in the next few years we should not be going for this type of player. When did you last see one of the top 4 signing a player with his sort of background.

 

Also it seems utterly bizarre Sam would want a new DM when we have Butt and Parker who we know are very capable DM and most likely miles better than this guy from Hearts and that Boateng.

 

Sam showed at Bolton that you can only take a team of cheap imports so far before you hit a brick wall.

This is the kind of attitude that takes us backward

I was so staggered and dissapointed by that comment I couldn't even muster the energy to respond, with all the crap we have done in the last few years how can there are still be some people with such an outlook.

Then to have the nerve to have a dig at Sam for "hitting a brick wall"? It is quite unbelievable ... if Sam is hitting a brick wall then what the hell have we been doing? We ain't even anywhere near the damned building man!

Isn't it amazing that even with such an apparently wacky mathematical formula, Ronaldo still comes out tops.

 

A clock which has stopped shows the correct time twice a day. This list can only do one right out of 403.

I was thinking more along the lines that Ronaldo couldn't even be held back by this mathematics. He beats it as well. He just had a great season in evrey way shape and form. Hopefully one of ours will be up there next season ...

Will people never learn!?!

 

How many big-name players have we bought over the last decade?

 

And where has it got us?

 

The answers are:

 

Loads.

 

f****** nowhere!!

 

We need to be building a decent squad before we start buying luxury players, you lot are trying to hang the curtains before we've even laid the foundations!! No matter how much money comes into the club, we're still going to need decent players who can do a job, but won't think they're the dog's bollocks and whinge like f*** when they don't get their own way. Look at how much money Chelsea, and even more so Real, have wasted chasing a team of Galacticos. The players that have been a success at Chelsea are specifically not the ones that were bought more for the name on the shirt rather than the player inside it. Crespo, Shevchenko (I still reckon he'll turn it around like), Veron, etc, etc, all flops, flops that were bought for glamour and not footballing logic.

 

I'm really looking forward to seeing us bring in 5 or 6 players this summer for what we'd usually pay for one, at last someone with a brain is running our transfer policy, thank f*** for that!!

You only have to look at Man u too .... not exactly all world beaters when they were bought, although they were expensive.

Van Nistelrooy had only really done it in Holland.

Ronaldo had only done it in Sporting Lisbon's reserves?

Rooney was very much on the rise but hadn't really achieved anything out of this world at Everton.

Carrick was good for Tottenham but wasn't exactly a Riquelme or any of the sexier names out there.

Even Hargreaves as good as he is, isn't exactly a typical superstar signing.

Throw Vidic in there as well. No one even knew who he was!!!

Isn't it amazing that even with such an apparently wacky mathematical formula, Ronaldo still comes out tops.

No way Sam blows £10 million on Davies. This has to be a left over rumours from the Glenn Roeder days.

 

The reaction to Kingston and Boateng makes me giggle though. Is it such a surprise that good players can be found in not so obvious places? Just look at Drogba you want to talk about a late developer? He was playing in the second division at the age of 22!

 

Even Ben Haim, you know, the guy we are all hoping signs ... I wonder what the rection would have been if we were signing him from Israel like Sam did while he was at Bolton. I mean we are talking about an Israeli player from Israel here. People would have been going mental!

 

Sam's got skills. I'm not necessarily saying that these guys will be world beaters, but I can guarantee you they will not be crap, and there is a chance, in my opinion, that they will be very good. They will make a contribution to our team. 

 

I am really excited that Sam appears to be sticking to his formula and not deviating from it just because there might be a rich new owner.

 

They're not crap by any stretch of the imagination. I'm going with Sam's judgement on these two, Kingston especially from what I've heard 2nd hand is a bit tasty.

 

Parky I was wondering though ... do you think Boateng is being monitored as an alternative to Kingston or do you think Sam wants both?

 

I cannot believe Hearts have an agreement to take up the option on Kingston for £500,00 and they haven't done so. Just over a week to go and we will have a chance at him.

 

No idea unfortunately. I have a feeling we would have signed sounded out  Kingston untill the Ashley thing changed the whole ball game.

 

What? I was really looking forward to some classic Sam signings. players who would definitely be taking a steop up by coming here, and hopefully doing very well. I had high hopes for Kingston.

 

That really sucks! I hope your not saying Sam's got 'stars' in his eyes. Is he now after bigger names, or has the Ashley thing just slowed everything down.

 

 

 

 

The media are fanning up a whole host of flames reg Beckham (cobblers) Crouch (not even leaving Liverpool by all accounts) and even Reo-Cocker who is clearly going to Arsenal, because there is still a lag in the system and they haven't come to terms with Sam/Newcastle and the fact he is very diligent regarding researching players. Hence Kingston and Boateng aren't names the red tops want to attach to us. Although regarding Kingston ( I mentioned him to a few on here two weeks ago iirc) began to appear as a definite possibility ( and I think he still is) as someone who Sam has been tracking from his Bolton days.

Sam will sign one or two hard working and high tempo African players and he also likes a bargain, these two fit the frame. I know very little about them, but you can bet Sam knows as much as he needs to know. On the last point he probably is looking for a big marquee player as the whole ballgame has changed over the last week, but that doesn't mean he will turn down Sammy style bargains.

Good. I just wasn't sure what you meant by Ashleys arrival affecting Sam possibly going after Kingston ...

Newcastle's Rankings according to their formula

1. Obafemi Martins (35)

2. Kieron Dyer (46)

3. Shola Ameobi (115)

4. Steven Taylor (139)

5. Oguchi Onyewu (159)

6. Antoine Sibierski (168)

7. Damien Duff (175)

8. Craig Moore (183)

9. Emre Belozoglu (197)

10. Peter Ramage (208)

11. Scott Parker (215)

12. James Milner (228)

13. Paul Huntington (239)

14. Charles N'Zogbia (248)

15. Steve Harper (261)

16. Celestine Babayaro (262)

17. Shay Given (264)

18. Titus Bramble (297)

19. Nolberto Solano (318)

20. Stephen Carr (352)

21. Nicky Butt (358)

The numbers in brackets are their overall rankings out of 403.

Very interesting article. They don't have the full article online, but I have it at home. They also ranked the players on each team  and Martins was, according to this formula our best player, while Nicky Butt was the worst!!! Fascinating stuff check it out. I will type up the rankings for our team in a bit ...

Just to add they ranked 403 players and Paul Robinson came in at 402!!! He was ranked as one of the worst keepers in the league!!! My eyes always told me he was and now I have mathematical proof. There are a lot of surprises in there.

The nation’s top ten - no arguments

Our correspondent offers a mathematical conclusion to the Premiership talent contest

 

Daniel Finkelstein

From one to 403 - the full listings

 

Five of the best and worst

 

So here you have it. Every Premiership player’s season, ranked. How did Fink Tank do it? We used a multivariate Poisson log-normal model. I hope you find that information helpful.

 

Dr Ian Graham and Dr Henry Stott used the model to allow us to identify the relationship between goals scored and every kick of the ball made by every player for every club. Once this was done, they simulated the league season over and over again, removing players one by one and replacing them with an average player in his position.

 

Related Links

The essential Premiership stats at a glance

This allowed them to see whether a player added or subtracted points from his team compared to an average replacement. The best player this season would be the one who added the most points.

 

But this process did not yield us the player of the year automatically. There were a couple of dilemmas to overcome.

 

The first was whether to take into account periods out with injury or not being played. Robbie Keane, for instance, is a fabulous player, but for one reason or another he spent only 47 per cent of the season’s playing time on the pitch for Tottenham Hotspur. Should we just ignore this?

 

We decided not to. Players were penalised for being out of the team. We multiplied the points added in our simulation by the proportion of time on the pitch. This produces one controversial feature of our ranking. If a player adds points compared to the average, they rise up the table the more they play. But if they subtract points, then the more they play the lower they are in the rankings. We take the view that they are making their team worse the more they play.

 

The other dilemma was more complicated. Gilberto Silva added more points to Arsenal than any player did to any team in England. Should he be the player of the year? The case for him is simply his importance to his team. But the case against him is that he was boosted by the fact that there were fewer impressive Arsenal players during this campaign for him to share the points with. A Manchester United player might have been better but had to split his contribution with four of five other stars.

 

So we hit on another way of calculating the player of the year. We looked at how many points a player would add to an average team, giving us an even playing field. This is not the perfect solution – Wayne Rooney may score more than a Sheffield United player simply because of the quality of Manchester United’s passing – but we thought that it was fair.

 

So what was the outcome? Here are a few headline points. Cristiano Ronaldo deserved to be crowned player of the year. The data confirms that judgment.

 

Also, Frank Lampard is fabulous. The common view is that Steven Gerrard is better than Lampard. Well, we cannot pass comment on basic skills. We are ranking the contributions made by players this season, not ranking abstract talent. Perhaps Liverpool do not let him breathe. Or something. But Fink Tank is absolutely clear that the free-scoring, great-passing Lampard is a towering figure. And Gerrard? He came 80th.

 

Finally, England and Tottenham have a goalkeeping problem. We rank 403 players and Paul Robinson came 402nd.

 

Now feel free to roam our rankings yourself.

 

HOW IT WORKS

 

The Fink Tank Predictor provides forecasts and ranking systems for English and European club football, based on a statistical model of matches based on more than five years of football scores.

 

In looking at player rankings for this season, the phrase “time-adjusted points” means the number of points the player would have added to an average team in the full season, compared with an average replacement. The points are then adjusted to reflect the amount of time spent on the pitch – minimum 400 minutes.

 

THE TOP 10

 

KEY: Player, club, position, pitch time, time-adjusted points

 

1 C Ronaldo Manchester United Midfield 85.12% 19.12

 

Voted player of the year by his fellow professionals and by football writers, the 22-year-old Portugal winger is our man of the season as well

 

2 F Lampard Chelsea M 97.31% 16.24

 

An ordinary season for Lampard? The statistics say otherwise

 

3 Gilberto Arsenal M 88.14% 16.01 P

 

Ten league goals was a remarkable return for the midfield man

 

4 Cech Chelsea G 50.15% 14.41

 

Chelsea missed their ’keeper desperately when he was injured

 

5 J Lehmann Arsenal G 97.30% 13.94

 

He may be 37 but the German is still among the league’s elite

 

6 P Scholes Man Utd M 79.10% 13.50

 

Enjoyed spectacular return to form after last season’s eye injury

 

7 T Howard Everton G 94.59% 12.96

 

Failed to make the grade at Old Trafford but a Goodison star

 

8 N Vidic Man Utd D 66.11% 10.48

 

The centre back was rock-solid in his first full season in England

 

9 B McCarthy Blackburn F 88.98% 9.91

 

Eighteen goals in 36 starts proves McCarthy is a lethal predator

 

10 A Hleb Arsenal M 68.14% 9.87

 

Not as flashy as some of his teammates, but highly effective

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/fink_tank/article1851667.ece

No way Sam blows £10 million on Davies. This has to be a left over rumours from the Glenn Roeder days.

 

The reaction to Kingston and Boateng makes me giggle though. Is it such a surprise that good players can be found in not so obvious places? Just look at Drogba you want to talk about a late developer? He was playing in the second division at the age of 22!

 

Even Ben Haim, you know, the guy we are all hoping signs ... I wonder what the rection would have been if we were signing him from Israel like Sam did while he was at Bolton. I mean we are talking about an Israeli player from Israel here. People would have been going mental!

 

Sam's got skills. I'm not necessarily saying that these guys will be world beaters, but I can guarantee you they will not be crap, and there is a chance, in my opinion, that they will be very good. They will make a contribution to our team. 

 

I am really excited that Sam appears to be sticking to his formula and not deviating from it just because there might be a rich new owner.

 

They're not crap by any stretch of the imagination. I'm going with Sam's judgement on these two, Kingston especially from what I've heard 2nd hand is a bit tasty.

 

Parky I was wondering though ... do you think Boateng is being monitored as an alternative to Kingston or do you think Sam wants both?

 

I cannot believe Hearts have an agreement to take up the option on Kingston for £500,00 and they haven't done so. Just over a week to go and we will have a chance at him.

 

No idea unfortunately. I have a feeling we would have signed sounded out  Kingston untill the Ashley thing changed the whole ball game.

What? I was really looking forward to some classic Sam signings. players who would definitely be taking a steop up by coming here, and hopefully doing very well. I had high hopes for Kingston.

That really sucks! I hope your not saying Sam's got 'stars' in his eyes. Is he now after bigger names, or has the Ashley thing just slowed everything down.

No way Sam blows £10 million on Davies. This has to be a left over rumours from the Glenn Roeder days.

 

The reaction to Kingston and Boateng makes me giggle though. Is it such a surprise that good players can be found in not so obvious places? Just look at Drogba you want to talk about a late developer? He was playing in the second division at the age of 22!

 

Even Ben Haim, you know, the guy we are all hoping signs ... I wonder what the rection would have been if we were signing him from Israel like Sam did while he was at Bolton. I mean we are talking about an Israeli player from Israel here. People would have been going mental!

 

Sam's got skills. I'm not necessarily saying that these guys will be world beaters, but I can guarantee you they will not be crap, and there is a chance, in my opinion, that they will be very good. They will make a contribution to our team. 

 

I am really excited that Sam appears to be sticking to his formula and not deviating from it just because there might be a rich new owner.

 

They're not crap by any stretch of the imagination. I'm going with Sam's judgement on these two, Kingston especially from what I've heard 2nd hand is a bit tasty.

Parky I was wondering though ... do you think Boateng is being monitored as an alternative to Kingston or do you think Sam wants both?

I cannot believe Hearts have an agreement to take up the option on Kingston for £500,00 and they haven't done so. Just over a week to go and we will have a chance at him.

No way Sam blows £10 million on Davies. This has to be a left over rumours from the Glenn Roeder days.

 

The reaction to Kingston and Boateng makes me giggle though. Is it such a surprise that good players can be found in not so obvious places? Just look at Drogba you want to talk about a late developer? He was playing in the second division at the age of 22!

 

Even Ben Haim, you know, the guy we are all hoping signs ... I wonder what the rection would have been if we were signing him from Israel like Sam did while he was at Bolton. I mean we are talking about an Israeli player from Israel here. People would have been going mental!

 

Sam's got skills. I'm not necessarily saying that these guys will be world beaters, but I can guarantee you they will not be crap, and there is a chance, in my opinion, that they will be very good. They will make a contribution to our team. 

 

I am really excited that Sam appears to be sticking to his formula and not deviating from it just because there might be a rich new owner.

 

Agreed, dunno why Sam would want Davies when we have Taylor, is there any point at all? All we need is experience beside Taylor which we can get dirt cheap seemingly. Which is nice.

 

Squad depth. Plus despite what he may have looked like in a U21 game or the odd appearance someone may have caught of West Brom he is actually a very good young player.

He certainly is, but for £10 million you want someone who is going to come in and lead your defence. Not a youngster for squad depth. West Brom are really messing the boy up with their outrageous valuation of him.