merlin

After yesterday's results, defeat in this game will be a disaster. With the injury problems and Ba's unsettled frame of mind, I would take a draw right now. If we lose, it will give heart to teams like Villa who managed a point - and almost a win - away from home yesterday. I still think Lambert has a chance of pulling them round because their problems are mainly due to playing a lot of youngsters so any slip up by us at home will be music to their ears. As HBA looks to be out until Feb, we face a very nervous January....being around the relegation zone in Feb is asking for trouble for the rest of the season so a result in this match is vital.

Agreed...he's playing for a move, will get his wish in summer...

If there was a thread for the best VALUE transfer over the club's history, it would be hard to look beyond Terry Mac...bought by Joe Harvey in 1971 from Bury for 25,000 and sold to Liverpool 3 years later for 175,000. We bought him back for a pittance in 83 and he helped us to get promotion the following year. Supermac was a record 180,000 when we bought him in 71, we got 5 great years from him and still got 333,000 when we sold him to Arsenal in 76....he would be worth a king's ransom today as would Beardo. Macdonald was the most exciting CF I have seen playing for Newcastle but Shearer was the most professional .

This exactly...I voted for Colo because he overcame a very shaky start to become almost irreplaceable in our defence. One look at the results when he is out tells you all... We would be certs for relegation if we didn't have this guy right now. HBA ia the most talented attacking player on the books, but we've played well in the last 2 games without him and would have got a point from each had we had better defenders alongside Colo.

I only saw the highlights on MOTD but by god were they unlucky and looked very good. Jelavic is a right handful and Fellaini will be back from suspension as well. We'll do very very well to get a point. Agree with this although I hope we are wrong. Jelavic will cause massive problems for our defence and their m/f is very hard working and combative. A point is a must.

Time will tell...you can be sure I'll remind you if he does move.!

Frankly disappointing and a worry....if Chelsea won't do the deal, who will ? Hard to see this being resolved to anyone's satisfaction if his agents etc don't trim their cut drastically because the insurance is always going to be high in his case. Main problem for NUFC is if he starts sulking because nothing happens and then we have an unhappy and unproductive player on our hands. So far,he has not let his wish to move affect his game too much but that could change. In any event we would have to wait until his contract ends to replace him because we have more pressing needs in defence and Ashley won't spend on forwards unless they are priced competitively if he isn't getting money from the Ba transfer.

Brilliant post, agree 100%. Incidentally, which country is your pool in, expat...!?

Not really something we should be thinking about - if Ba leaves we need a replacement anyway because we are still light of a striker since Best went. IF Ba is replaced adequately then Debuchy's arrival would undoubtedly make us stonger...hopefully, it will bring Cabaye out of his strop as welll which would be a double bonus. Simpson has been a liability for over a year and his limitations both as a defender and a support to the attack were there for all to see in the last 2 games.

When he first signed this was all true...made instant impact at Everton in his first game and dominated m/f. You don't lose that sort of ability so either he has had his head turned - very likely in my view - or he is not responding to our style of play or what he is being asked to do...

Spending s---loads of money on players has been proven to work.....it depends who is doing the buying.... QPR may not have much chance of getting any of these players now, but are you saying that they would still be a crap side if they did..?

I'm convinced that Tiote has had his head turned by either Man U or Chelsea, which is why his performances are poor. Ferguson tried to buy him last summer but refused to pay the 20m we wanted..... If there is anything in this, he will go but maybe in summer.

Not surprised at all to see Ba seemingly on the way out. He has not really been committed to NUFC since the summer and he and Cisse just are not compatible as a duo. To his credit though, he has kept scoring and working hard although he is NOT a good target man and neither is Cisse because neither can hold up the ball when it is played up to them and they have defenders at their back. Crucial to replace him properly and whilst Remy seems to be a skilful forward, it remains to be seen whether he will enjoy the cut and thrust up front in the PL. Unfortunately, the club have got themselves into the position of being beggars and beggars cannot be choosers. The time to buy players is when you are doing well and preceived to be on the up - more reason why the summer was wasted. On the credit side of this transfer, Ba's value and appeal to other clubs will decline after a year or so as he gets older and people begin to take account of his suspect knee so provided he is replaced properly I don't have too many problems with him leaving as he seems to be a bit of a lone-wolf mercenary. Unfortunately, I don't think Ba will be the last of the decent players to leave.....almost certain Cabaye will go in summer because he is currently disillusioned and we WILL miss his talents.

Any half-decent striker must rub their hands when they see we are visiting.....

"the f***"? So you're happy to admit that your hypothesis is potentially squillions out and might have no bearing on reality whatsoever but you're prepared to use it as a stick to beat Ashley with nonetheless, plus you'd have been quite happy to end up with just Colo and one good centre half with Taylor as the only backup, putting us back in a situation where one or two injuries means a totally makeshift central defence? Doesn't sound like a great way to display ambition and build up the squad to me. You bet it's a worthless road to go down - you haven't really made any sense whatsoever. If you're that happy to rely on 'kids coming through' then there's no problem is there? Real weirdness from all angles from you there why am i biting but run a poll to ask if people would be happy with colo, douglas, saylor and perch (4th choice) as your CB pairings at the start of this season and i think you'd have a resounding yes mate never said the prices were accurate and in fact it doesn't matter hence why you're clinging onto it...i could have been 10m in my estimations, it still needed to happen Well, that ambition-at-any-cost mentality is where we differ I suppose - and obviously where you and a lot of supporters differ from Ashley. That's fine - you think the correct thing to do is just lob more money at it no matter what, and I think that's a daft thing to do even if it means you have a shitty transfer window here and there. No problem, Freddie. you're off your napper man Relegation costs much more tollemache, surely you can see that? What was it they reckoned, 50 million or somewhere in that region? also, the thought that 10m would be too much to all but ensure a top class defence for the next 3 years So relegation is a likely consequence of not managing to buy a centre half in the summer? Disagree Then you are very much in the minority....it wasn't just the failure to buy a CH that has put us in a mess, but also the decision to persist and gamble on Simpson instead of buying Debuchy.

We didn't try hard enough then did we, and at this time it's cost the club potentially £7,500,000 in prize money. Also, the loss of not bringing in the two players we required will probably have a knock on effect and make it even more difficuilt to bring in the type of player that we want. It's easier to bring somebody into a team who have just finished 5th than it is to bring players into a 15th placed team. Yep. It might prove to have been a cock-up long term. It might mean we end up slackening our transfer policy and being a little bit more willing to push the boat out. What it doesn't mean is that the owner doesn't know what he's doing. At worst it was a cock-up and our policy needs to be tweaked. At best it's a sign that we actually have a policy, which is a relief after the Shepherd days and will serve us a lot better than his approach did in the long run. no, it means he's a gambler which we always knew...his gamble was to set his prices and not move on them based on the understanding that simpson and williamson (in particular) would have another decent season the gamble failed, badly It isn't the first time he has gambled and failed either...both with NUFC and in his oen financial dealings a few years ago...

Agreed - can't be bothered to argue the point with him at all. Owners/Directors are there for one purpose...to appoint the manager, see that the club performs UP TO ITS CAPABILITIES and provide the finance for players the club and manager need to take the club forward. If they fail to do that, they fail as badly as a poor manager can do.

This was a disgrace but it summed up the side....the forwards and m/f did a good job until the ever-solid back line let them down once too often and they lost heart in the final 20 mins. Pardew - once again - compounded all this by removing Bigirimana AGAIN, and our m/f fell apart...Arsenal, refreshed by Giroud coming on, duly poured into the gaps and rubbed our noses in it well and truly. It defied belief that Simpson repeated his throw in error of this fixture last season which cost us that game...it probably did again this time because a goal against us was the result of his sloppy throw-in which gave Arsenal possession. The only slight mitigation was the lack of movement to give him clear alternatives but that is no excuse. Tiote was a disaster, and looks to be playing for a move...obviously been told to play poorly so that someone like the old idiot at OT can sign him cheaply. I would NOT play him in the first team once Anita is fit to play alongside Bigi who I thought was immense for his age....he certainly didn't deserve to go off. Marveaux had another excellent game and hauled us back into it twice...his brilliant cross for Ba and his own goal at the far post. Didn't deserve to be on the losing side and Obertan also caused them problems with his direct running. Santon had a dire game where everything he did went pear-shaped and this, added to the uncertainty by Perch - good in m/f not a CD - and Simpson gave Colo a very busy afternoon. As a fan of around 50 years standing, I can only recall us losing by 7 goals once...in a LC game at OT in 1976 and it was a bit of a fluke...this was partly self-inflicted and the club is in a huge mess now. They have let down the most loyal supporters in English football badly and none of those in charge should be anywhere NEAR Newcastle United after their shoddy and cheapskate policies. I don't care what anyone says...Pardew is not fit to manage us and he is simply reverting to type...the sad fact is that those running the club could not get a better replacement and that, as much as any transfer non-dealings, illustrates just how our standing in the game has fallen. No good trying to use these hard fixtures as an excuse...they know we have to play these sides and their policies have ensured that we have sent teams there likely to be taken apart at the back - we have failed to beat teams we should be beating and that is where the trouble lies, not losing at Man U or Arsenal, but the manner of surrender at the Emirates was a spit in the eye for every NUFC fan. Even if the owner and his shill decide to buy some players, we are in a poor position to recruit...other teams know we are in a mess and will demand a premium price which will cause Ashley to back down, thus illustrating the foolishness of his summer tight-wad antics...any decent players will be reluctant to join a relegation-threatened side too, and the suggestion of someone like Lescott on loan is probably as good as we'll get, but we all know what the board think about loans... Even with Taylor, Cabaye and HBA back, we face a torrid last 4 months of the season now.

A silk purse from a sow's ear you cannot make...no matter HOW many hours are spent training.

I stopped reading after you described Simpson and Williamson as 'creditable first teamers'...

...remind me - how many games did Woodgate play for us before we managed to unload him to Real Madrid..?

Yep...another on-the-nose post...quite right.

This - nail on head. Whilst other posts have been good and very detailed, this one goes right to the heart of the problem.. Also, I disagree that its impossible to go down...any team that concedes 4 goals after pulling back deficits 3 times has EVERY chance of going down if the squad is not strengthened adequately. We are a total shambles of a club right now and the sooner everyone realizes this the better.

Defend properly ? Not with Williamson and Simpson in the side...oh well - at least Williamson seems to be counted out this time !

Pay peanuts, get monkeys....