KaKa

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.

Except Martins is a striker ...

That is quite rich from someone who has spent months crying out for a 433 formation. Yeah, but if the players are not suited or are not adjusting then we have to go with what works for the team. The 4-3-3 will never work with Viduka as the lone striker and so I will never be happy with it with Viduka up there. We saw things start to improve with Smith up there and if we had gone with Smith up top today and Faye at DM we would have played much better.

SSN - "Newcastle look more comfortable, more fluent, more effective in the 4-4-2" Why can't our manager see this!!!

I can't understand why we didn't just play Smith upfront with the Duke? Can't believe Sam went back to using him as a defensive midfielder. Why not just play Faye there if he wanted to rest Butt? And then play Cacapa and Taylor at centre Back. Sam is looking really bad right now. This is absolutely shocking stuff really.

Not surprised it looks like we are hoofing the balla lot to be honest. That will be because Viduka doesn't compete for the longer balls like Smith usually does and so the ball will never stick upfront when we play longer passes.

Cacapa is our only defender who doesn't hoof it up all the time. I was really hoping we would have Faye and Cacapa at centre back today. I don't really trust Taylor enough, apparently he almost just gave a penalty away.

Very dissapointed but definitely relieved too as we at least didn't lose. Here is my positive spin on things ... when Faye and Taylor are 100% fit it will mean Roz is our fourth choice centre back. Also, I thought Duff looked very bright and will definitely add something to the team. Lastly, I love Martins but he isn't going to work out for us on the wing. I believe we will actually look better with him at the African Nations Cup. Milner and Duff out wide will improve us a lot. Today was bad but I will at least give Sam some credit for avoiding disaster with good substitutions. We're in the top 10 right now and I think we'll be fine I honestly do. Portsmouth, Blackburn and Man City are also beginning to slow down a bit. Today I am grateful for small mercies. We did not lose the game.

How good is Bianchi! Why are Man City looking for a striker again?! He always seems to score when he is in the team.

I'm not so sure about the "speedy striker" bit, either, as I can see Duff taking Martins' role when he returns from injury. I'd also like to see N'Zogbia given a go in that sort of role at some point, too. It will be interesting to see what formation Allardyce uses at SJP after the recent results with one central striker up there. Very good point about Duff actually, and if we could get a left back like Riise then Zoggy would indeed be in the mix for one of those positions upfront too. Should be interesting.

It's very unlikely to happen, isn't it? Diarra alone would cost a fair whack, being only 6 months into a new contract. I'd be happy with Diarra + nobody, personally. Reasonably unlikely I guess, but I think Diarra only cost them £2m and has declared he wants out. Seems like he'd be the right signing at the right time with Butt looking seriously on the decline. Creativity is what we crave more than anything, imo, but it depends who's available. That's my ideal scenario though. Speaking of which did anyone see Songs performance yesterday? He looks like a great prospect as well and is only 20. Typically plays defensive midfield and was really good there when on loan for Charlton last season in the prem under Pardew.

Exactly Janitor. Quite a few think Riise is poor, but would you rather have N'Zogbia at left back? Besides there are hardly any decent left backs out there with premiership experience. He would certainly be a huge upgrade for us and better than we have had in years now at that position. I would definitely expect us to bring in a speedy striker type on loan too as Oba is off. We will absolutely need that speed option upfront, as Owen isn't quick anymore and is always one mistep away from serious injury. Most quality strikers from abroad e.g. Castillo are unlikely to be made available on loan, so we will probably be looking at the likes of Cisse, who could do a similar type of job as Martins (share similar good and bad habits but can both be effective) and will certainly utilize his pace better.

The Times says Rafa has to sell to buy in January after his meeting with the owners. apparently Riise is available with only 18 months left on his contract. I would expect Sam to be looking at him for sure if this is indeed true.

Sounds like we are looking at loan signings. Some options would definitely be the likes of Gudjohnsen and even Cisse as thye are somewhat out of favour at the moment.

Yup, I think he has. I was thinking the same while I was watching the match yesterday.

Well we know Sam loves his fullbacks with some height and so will probably be looking to develop this kid as a left back.

Really hope we manage to get Wes Brown or Ben Haim. If we could pair one of them with Cacapa then we could have Faye and Emre in midfield wit Barton, and drop Geremi and Butt.

We absolutely have to give Emre a run in the team from now on. He should start ahead of Geremiwho has been unbelievably poor. At least Sam made the change very early today.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=502036&in_page_id=1779&ito=newsnow Okay so here's the thing ... Our resurgence has come since we switched back to the 4-3-3 which also gave us a decent amount of success at the beginning of the season, and you honestly have to wonder where Owen fits into all this when he returns. I don't know if this is true but I wouldn't be surprised. I am particularly worried about the lack of pace we will suffer from upfront when Martins departs in January. We will be frightfully slow as an attacking unit. Whether Owen stays or not I think this has to be addressed. At the very least we could try and see if we could get Cisse on loan from Marseille if possible.

I must've missed that. It was just another means for him to get injured. He actually broke his leg doing the backflip while at Chelsea.

Will be interesting to see how Owen fits into the team that has got us results of late.