merlin

Totally agree with your assessment of both their and our players - they will scrap, whereas the plodders we have aren't capable(apart from Smith & Barton, and they don't do it very cleverly..!) Hope you are wrong about relegation, but I fear you may be right... Suspect a 1-2 defeat for us at SJP - as has been said, we are useless in the second half and I reckon that we will score first and lose by 2 second half goals.

Agreed - Plus too many aging players in midfield(or whose legs have gone..!).

Tbf oldtype, how many strong Asian leagues are there? I reckon the Japanese one is the strongest, and then you have the middle-eastern leagues (Al-ahli etc.) and the Korean league. What other leagues are there? The Chinese league is w*** and most of the leagues in South-east Asia are of the same low quality. Trust me, there are many knowledgable football folk in and around Asia who will receive the clubs with open arms. And with regards to the Australian league, it's really not a priority seeing as Rubgy and Aussie Rules are more popular. But, we all have a different perspective anyway. For someone like me who's gonna be heading back after university/couple yrs of work, then I like this idea because it'll give me a bigger chance of getting to see us play competitively without having to visit England/Europe. So as a fan, I welcome this idea. You are totally wrong about football in Australia - Aussie Rules and Rugby have been heavily-backed by the Aussie media, but there are now more kids playing football at school than the other two codes - the interest is great and growing ; World Cup ties etc draw crowds over 50,000 and in one qualifier at Melbourne they had 96,000 in the MCG...think again - there will eventually be more really good players from Oz and only its geographical position makes players leave for Europe.

We're desperate for a striker in the summer imo. I think central midfield is probably the biggest problem but I'm not convinced any of our strikers are 'good enough'. Viduka is technically good and will score a few but his lack of mobility greatly limits any team. Shola isn't good enough, that's been pretty much proven. Smith looks s****. Martins is very inconsistent and Owen is rarely fit, half the player he was and potentially away in just over a year's time. The entire structure of our attack and midfield is all wrong. The partnerships up front and in central midfield are all wrong in both areas. what partnerships are they ? there hasn't been time to forge any partnerships since keegan came in. i doubt smith is his first choice forward nor barton/butt his first choice central midfield. You see, people are making excuses for the new board not backing Keegan ie you and mick who didn't reply to my earlier question. Keegan isnt' going to say anything other than what he said, because he quite firmly said that he wanted to bring in 2 or 3 players before the end of the transfer window. So what do you think changed, when players moved during the window ? And don't forget about other players such as Bentley who's transfer value has most definitely gone up in the last week or two ie buying him in the summer will cost more than buying him in January, so whats this nonsense about people saying wait until the summer all about ? Especially when we are in a relegation struggle. Fact is, the new board have cocked up with their policy, and they haven't recognised we have been playing a dangerous game with a squad short of numbers and quality. The central midfield balance between Butt, Faye, Emre, Barton is weak and unbalanced. The central strikers of Owen, Smith, Martins, Viduka is the same. Take into account other positions ie Enrique cost 6m quid and has hardly played, the failure to replace Solano. You are talking about major changes to the team here, and it won't be done looking around at 17 year old kids and cheap players out of contract alone. They have failed to understand football and grasp what was needed. didn't even see your earlier question. keegan also quite firmly stated that in his view he couldn't get in anyone who was better than what we already had. could it be the board have left it to the manager to decide ? You see, this is the bit that I simply don't buy. We know Keegan, we all know he wants results yesterday. There is no way he hasn't came in and decided instantly that we need a striker and midfield player, and didn't already know players playing for clubs lower and/or smaller than us who would improve us overnight. Whats wrong with bidding for these players ? He's being conservative with the truth, and rightly so in his position. He's missed off, at the end of his sentence, "for the money I have at the moment". We are playing a dangerous game, dicing with our premiership status here. or the players weren't available at the time?. the woodgate bid wasn't leaked by NUFC the levante centre half thing wasn't denied by NUFC ..they say nowt. we have no idea who they went after in the most part. for example...if we had bid for bentley,blackburn would hardly want it going public as they may have an unsettled player if an auction starts knowing full well that they'd get more in the summer if they wanted to sell. i agree we are playing a dangerous game but you may well be falling for the idea of "because i don't see action then none is happening" during the window. I can accept that is possible. However, we know that Benjani was available, because he moved. Keegan may well think he wouldn't do better than Viduka, Smith or be a better partner for Owen or Martins, do you think so ? I don't. The club - or somebody at the club - failed to grasp the need to replace Solano and Dyer, at least, letting them both go on transfer deadline day, and 5 months later still don't grasp it. no but it's more than possible he didn't want to sign someone like that just until the end of the season when he'd want to get better again in. FWIW i'd take martins,played correctly over benjani. Keegan might like Martins, in the short term he might get more consistency of performance and application from him, but my guess is in the long term he'll get shot of him. I agree - he WILL, one way or another...

Yes, the timing of Allardyce's sacking was poor - he should have gone before Christmas because as we all know, the team is just not good enough and negotiations should have been under way LONG BEFORE the Jan deadline so we had signings in the pipeline - NOT scrambling around after players who have virtually already agreed to sign for another club. To this extent, it was not wise to appoint someone who had no idea how bad the players were because he had had no chance to see them in action until we were right in the middle of the Transfer window...if Ashley wanted KK, he should have made the change when it was going to be easier for Keegan to get new players in rather than a mad scramble which resulted in nothing. Only time will tell whether this decision will have serious consequences for the club - right at this point in time, I just don't know where the next points are coming from watching this team ; they are in dire need of new blood in the squad and if we get heavily beaten by Man U and L/pool morale will drop even further so that games against the Mackems & Blackburn become real hurdles.

I am absolutely SICK of excuses being made for wasters at Newcastle United - it is a DISGRACE. We've had the likes of Dyer , Bramble and Barton dragging the club's name through the mud by both their off-field AND on-field activities, many of which have contributed to making the club into a joke for Journalists & fans outside the region. I am not the TINIEST bit interested in their hard-luck stories - not a bit...they are in a job most decent people would give their right arms for and yet they behave like childish yobs. Dyer would never have worn the shirt again had I been Chairman and saw what he did with the captain's armband after being subbed at Boro, or after hearing he had refused to play RW for SBR, let alone his fiasco with Bowyer for which Dyer was equally to blame. Likewise with Barton after his nightclub brawl in Liverpool - he had his chance, now he should go.. This club needs to establish a reputation that if players persistently offend, they are OUT - no second chances, or we will continue to end up with the dross of the PL on our books.

I have been pointing out, ever since late September , that the passing and movement off the ball has been dreadful ; I was blaming the coaching and if this keeps on being a feature of our play it indicates that it is definitely the players to blame as KK always got the players doing pass & move/5 a side in training during his first stint as manager. The type of midfielders we have tend to be static(Butt, Geremi, Faye when played there - even Barton has been poor in that department) ; only the likes of Zog, Milner and Duff show plenty of movement off the ball and they are basically wide players.Emre CAN do it, but is a bit lightweight and disappears for long periods of the game which is probably why managers tend to use him as a sub. Emre is the only one who attempts a through ball to try to split defences - no-one else has the accuracy... The wide players, with the exception of Duff, are also poor crossers of the ball - only Duff has tried to beat the fullback and pull the ball back into the area ; the others tend to lump it in from behind the 18 yard line. Altogether, as I said previously, we do not have a TEAM - they don't attack as one, or defend as one and once possession is given away(which is very regularly)they are under pressure immediately. It is not hard to see why we are in this position.....

This is why it will be a total disaster if we go down - even mediocre players wouldn't join the club then because they can stay in the Prem with clubs in the bottom half/middle. The Academies are going to be even more important in future years because clubs outside the Top 4 will have to bring through their own talent...it is hard to see how any club can break into this cartel now, and it will get harder still in future.The PL is almost like Scotland now - a few top clubs winning everything each year and the rest making up numbers. It will eventually result in the failure of the PL through dropping gates among all but the top 4 and even they will get disillusioned in time - Welcome to Football's brave New World.!

Excellent ! Loved this..very funny but sadly accurate in summing up the situation - the question is 'Would you buy a used car from these men !'...

Harper was only 'unable to keep his place' because Allardyce chickened out of a possible confrontation with Given had he kept Harper in the side when Given recovered from injury - one of two ridiculous decisions(the other was to make Geremi captain so quickly) which proved to me that Allardyce was a poor judge.

Harper doesn't let us down once he's had a few games, he should never have been dropped earlier in the season. Yet again - totally agree ; I also made the same point as Brummie yesterday. We could have lost 6-1.

shame but the last time you made those sort of comments, a few people came along and told you what a clown you were and agreed with me. See the link in my last post. Only a complete idiot is judging Keegan after 5 games. Like those in your london press that you read. The same people who assured us ie you, that finishing runners up in the premiership is "tactically naive" and "failure". I remember you being one of those people who said that Souness should have time, and you deny that of Keegan. Only one clown here, cobber. If we go down, the seeds of it were sown by the s*** transfer policy and sub standard players we brought in last summer, me and only a handful of others who said so at the time what it was and is now being exposed. Change your long range telescope, or your newspaper, is my advice. I could agree with this if not for "If we go down, the seeds of it were sown by the s*** transfer policy and sub standard players we brought in last summer". The present squad is a result of years of mismanagement at all levels of the club, probably starting with the recruitment of Bowyer. The squad here has had no depth in quality for years. You're right that Keegan is not to blame. This is the main point - the previous Chairman and SOME members of the board are responsible for the dire transfer policy after 2003 when we failed to strengthen the side by signing only Bowyer on a free - methinks there were good personal reasons why they didn't sign more players - quite a few million of them..... The decline of the club as a major force began there and we failed to beat Partizan as a result with the loss of millions in revenue.

Northampton Chronicle ? Do they actually know what a round ball IS ? I thought all they were good at is egg-chasing, and you have to laugh at their desperate attempt to become Southerners - most people in London think Northampton is the start of the Midlands..!!

And after 45mins - whilst not being perfect - things were going well. Not the line-up you or I would have picked, but it was working. Was it though? Surely you must have been concerned even in that first-half Carr's inability to do anything at left-back. We played well first half. See the match thread for everyone's thoughts. Everyone knows Carr is s****, but it was working. Can't agree with all of that Dave - we only played well in patches, we were never the better side by any distance and we were a class below after half-time AS USUAL ; in my view these players are either not properly fit or they cannot play at a high tempo for 90 mins(too old in some cases)

I see your point but then some of them have not that chance under Keegan, playing football. I respect what you say Dave, but I don't think it matters too much as the players are just not good enough. Since finishing 5th under Robson we have just been a mid table team for the last 4 years or so. Seeing that nearly everyone around us spent a lot more than us in the summer time it's no surprise that we are struggling! I don't know if you were alluding to Emre as being a player who should be given a chance to play under Keegan but for me he sums up everything that is wrong about the Toon. He could be managed by any manager in the world and he will never be consistent! Same goes for Shola and who ever else is mentioned. We could all argue who should be in the team but really as I said they are all much of a muchness! What is really sad to see is how short changed our fans have been and out of desperation we have threads like this where people are clutching at straws, deep down we all know that the vast majority of our players are terrible and it would make no difference who was playing! Agree totally.

I see very little or no improvement on Allardyce reign. Still picking Smith for starters ...... It's not even been a month since Keegan came in. Players are obviously still used to Allardyce's football and players Keegan has arent even those he brought. WHAT DO YOU f****** EXPECT?! You mean like the Spurs players took a month to 'get used' to Ramos' football..

See what you are saying - there are only about 3-4 players in the squad who I would retain if we could ship out the remainder ; this lot are going nowhere. When KK took over in 92, he had Kelly and Peacock up front, both of whom went on to play a major part in the team's promotion the following season ; he also had some good young players in Watson(whose goal at Port Vale was almost as important in keeping us up as Ned's against Pompey),Elliott and Clark, two of whom became good Prem defenders(if Elliott hadn't got a bad injury, I reckon he would have played for England)....there are NONE of the current squad who you could say were real building bricks for a big improvement in the side - even Zog is likely to want to leave. KK was also able to get Kilcline in as in those days there was NO windows in the transfer market and Kilcline was also vital in keeping us up..KK couldn't get what he wanted in the Jan window and if Reading had not been playing so poorly, we would be in very serious danger of relegation because the current squad cannot even battle for points. Although we will be in the Prem unless disaster strikes - not impossible either - we are in a worse position to build a new side than we were in KKs first season as manager.

His performances have been rubbish - I wouldn't pay 2m for him and we will struggle to get our money back - if he was worth 5.8m, Robert Lee must have been worth15m at his peak..even Nobby now is worth more...

Outplaying Villa??? Toe to toe with Arsenal?? A game lasts 90 MINUTES..I don't know about Hitler in a previous life, but Walter Mitty maybe, or perhaps Don Quixote....!

Not confident because he doesn't have much choice - we are in a mess of several years' making....

Spot on - Harper made 2 great saves. Given was a disaster, the deflection was very small and he was really slow in getting across. Should have been dropped ages ago, and would have been by many other managers...

Unadulterated rubbish from a shoddy side today - this team couldn't pass water, never mind a football. The lack of movement, backwards passing, sideways passing, all signs of a team whose players are refusing to take responsibility. KK's decision to play Carr at LB blew up on him spectacularly - surely Enrique could not have been worse ? The handball for the pen was utterly amateurish. I have said before that Harper should have been in the side long ago, and that was proven today - Harper made two great saves after he came on - we could have been buried 5 or 6-1 today, and this was a Villa side playing nowhere near its best and without Agbonlahor..... The midfield had no guile whatsoever until Emre came on and all he did was to pass the ball to an unmarked NUFC player, or play it into space instead of a mass of players from each side. Once we conceded( a stupid goal and I am waiting to hear if Given was injured prior to conceding it because if not, it was yet ANOTHER 'Given easily beaten from long range' effort), we never looked like getting a point and the defence was a shambles for the second & third goals. It is no exaggeration to say that this is the worst side to wear the B & W since the early 90s - there are one or two talented players but the rest are playing in a division too high for their capabilities - the team of 95-96 would have taken this side apart by half-time ; even the side playing in our first Prem season(93-94) would have easily beaten this shambles of a team because the only player who would give them any problem at all would be N'Zogbia - and I bet even Venison would have kept him reasonably quiet. Andy Cole & Beardsley would have rubbed their hands at the prospect of taking on our central defenders.!! I genuinely believe these comments and I look forward to those who cannot remember those sides trying to take issue with them - I bet THAT will stimulate some debate....! The club is in a mess and big time - it may be that the late late goal by Mark Viduka against Derby ends up being just as crucial as David Kelly's against Pompey in 1992.. whether people like it or not, unless there is a miraculous turnaround, it will be that close ; not a happy time for the next 3 months.

Exactly right, Doug - all some blind optimists can do is shoot the messenger ; the facts are there for all to see and I reckon its going to need 37 points to be sure of escape - perhaps the ones who think its impossible would like to give a forecast of where those points are coming from after such a comprehensive defeat by Villa who were without their best player and supposedly on a bad run...?

The problem has mainly been over the last 10 years when short-termism has been the mantra - we have had some shocking buys, too many to mention.Dalglish was probably the last manager to bring in some players who improved ; Given, Solano, Hamman etc. SBR brought in Bellamy and Robert, but it is questionable as to whether they improved at NUFC ; Viana was a waste as was Cort, Gullit brought in the King of Wasters, Marcelino(Crown Prince Maric..!!) Hopefully we will now get in youngsters who will improve rather than people looking for a last good pay-off as has been the case. A reputation such as the one we have in Holland is hard to get rid of, and will take years to remove.

Fair point really. It is a slap in the face to the leagues in Asia and America, although I hadn't really thought of it like that. The FFA(Football Federation of Australia)have said that whilst they are not opposed to the idea as a novelty, their main aim is to improve the quality of the A-League and keep interest in it rising domestically - they do not want(or visualize)these games being played on any other than a very occasional basis. The PL and Sky are just interested in making more & more money - as i said earlier, SKY are cra--ing themselves in case quite a number stop taking Pay Per View or SKYSPORTS ...trouble is that too many haven't got the willpower to do this...just as the Borrow-and-spend Economy has started to hit the rocks, so willthe Prem and SKY - the Market decides in the end and once customers stop paying, they haven't got a business.