Lotus

Well i'd say the 1st job of a defender is to defend and he's not much good at that. If people are unhappy with Perch don't start expecting Raylor will be any better. Or Simpson for that matter.

My Tuppence: Colo did well, gotten beaten to a header that hit the post but he's never going to win those, overall i thought he did well/ Williamson gotten beaten to often by Jones for flick ons. They didn't dop much with them but i expected MW to be more dominant in the air tbh. Perch, did alright. Kept Etherington quiet mostly, unlucky for OG, happens to everyone at some point. Routledge seems to not have the best 1st touch and that limits his options when he gets the ball. Also seemed a bit in his shell. Seemed to lack ideas as to how to get himself into the game. Tiote, did ok. Would have left him on so Barton could have kept going forward. Barton, tried. Looking for decent passes down the channels, trouble was he didn't have much movement in front of him. Barfa, ok. If he was injured then right to sub him otherwise should have left him on and pushed him upfront. We needed some quick feet in their box. Nolan. Was no better than their players. He's good with the 2nd ball (i think the only thing he's good at) but as we weren't even winning the 1st ball i wasn't sure what he was offering. Carroll, too static. We needed a player with quick feet and someone to make little runs into the channels. We needed someone upfront to start pulling their back 4 around and that never happened. If we'd have moved them about we could have found spaces to shoot. Routledge never really turned their LB, in fact we rarely got in behind them. Their defence was more often that not facing out, that makes it easier for them to head it clear. We could have played through the middle if we have smarter players making little runs, splitting the CB and FB. After about 60 mins i thought we should try Ameobi, at least he may have drawn a foul or a penalty. We were too predictable.

Nicky Butt - WRONG & WRONG. Thought he was very average at first at Man U but he turned to a decent player. Very good cover for Keane, decent on the ball as well. Was also wrong when we signed him, thought he'd carry some of that over, he didn't!

Good call! Jenas - WRONG. Christ i was well off with him! Thought he'd be a good player. Viana - WRONG. Thought he'd be a really good player, spraying it around. Didn't have the mental strength though, as evidenced by his plummet of a career!

Enrique - i was RIGHT! Many a hater on here on yous know it Paul Huntington - RIGHT. Never though he'd make it, after seeing only once or twice. Carroll - WRONG. He hasn't made it but he's sooooooooo much better than i expected. Thought he was well average before. Which game was it? Man City maybe? He was brought on late nd he didn't bother his arse to even break into a trot. I thought then he was a tosser who's never get anywhere. So far, i'm WRONG. Bowyer - WRONG. Thought he'd drive and goals, turned out he didn't add a lot of either tbh. I'll think of more.

A lot of posters on here thought the same about Enrique. We all get it wrong sometimes. I always thought Enrique could be a good player, even when he was giving the ball away every other pass. Colo i wasn't that sure about, did well last season but the one before was haunting me a bit. He's playing clever this year though. Doesn't try to get involved in the brawn much, playing it smart instead. Very good 1st touch and composed on the ball, always good to have a CB who can play the ball out. This has given me an idea....

......................,.Schmeichel.................... van Gobbel..Desailly...Woodgate....Cole Cronaldo.....Gerrard....Vieira.......Giggs .........................Bergkamp...................... ...........................Drogba........................

If Campbell's fit i'd have a think about bringing him in for Colo. Everton are good in the air.

Purely going off match highlights they struck me as a counter attacking team. And as i can't see us throwing players down the pitch to crowd their penalty area i can imagine this one being pretty dull.

If he had better movement and options around him his final ball wouldn't be half as bad imo.

Like all managers he'll judged on his signings and his substitutions. If his judgement his sound then he'll pick up a few clever players who'll set us up as a better team next season and if things aren't going well on the pitch then we'll see if he reacts to pressure rather than judgement. If he can't do both of those then i would imagine he'll be sacked, just like any other manager.

We need to give Krul, Kadar, Ranger and possibly Tavernier starts (although definitely not all at the same time) to see if they can cope. Will help with our thinking over close season transfers. Next year's all that matters now (in my mind).

Can i just say, if we're depending on a few core players like Harper, Nolan and Carroll then we're f**ked. That article isn't informative in the least. Actually, i might doing it a disservice, he's writing for the broader public not diehard Newcastle fans who know the realities. Not going to go into the merits or not of the players you mention - I don't see them as often as you lot do - but surely, for any team which is newly promoted, you have to do precisely that - pick a core group of players, and rely on them. The alternative is assembling an entirely new nucleus to your squad, which is just infeasbile - both in terms of the time you have got to do it (especially with a World Cup in the summer distracting the usual business of football transfers) but also in terms of how much it would cost (unless you're Man City). Surely the clever thing to do is pick one or two areas where you can improve, at a decent price, and do that? No point throwing the baby out with the bath water. I understand your point however, Harper might be ok but Nolan doesn't do nearly enough often enough at the level he's playing at now and Carroll isn't of a calibre (yet) that we can rely on to score against Prem defences. If the jorno had said, Jonas, Barton, Enrique, and Collocini (question marks over how he'll adapt) then i could have understood his point. The 4 i've mentioned actually have the ability to play at a decent level in the Prem, 2 out of 3 he picked don't.

Can i just say, if we're depending on a few core players like Harper, Nolan and Carroll then we're f**ked. That article isn't informative in the least. Actually, i might doing it a disservice, he's writing for the broader public not diehard Newcastle fans who know the realities.

He needs to cut out the flashy stuff next year. Evra and Cole are good examples. They're very good going forward but they don't do it all the time and they don't put their side at risk. If Enrique plays it sensible most of the time and then chooses his moments to attack he'll flourish next season. As long as he plays it smart he'll be very good LB.

That confuses me somewhat. You're obviously not convinced he's up to it which is why you've added the caveat 'not sure how he'll do.' I know you can never tell but if he doesn't have your confidence why would you be happy to give him the chance? I'd rather have someone with a track record because i expect next season to very difficult. I don't expect us to sign the quality of players to make the squad a mid table finish which means we could be in another relegation dogfight with half a squad that's been down once already and the other half cheap buys or free transfers.

I'm absolutely staggered that you think that in most games the other team has 'looked more organised, coherent and motivated'. Seriously? Totally f**king serious, unfortunately. Strikers in this league can't keep their heads and defenders don't concetrate for 90 minutes. So we've done well at either end, in the middle however........ f***ing hell My very words watching our midfield this season. I totally hope i look like a mug next season as Hughton puts together a decent team. I'm worried you will instead.

I'm absolutely staggered that you think that in most games the other team has 'looked more organised, coherent and motivated'. Seriously? Totally f**king serious, unfortunately. Strikers in this league can't keep their heads and defenders don't concetrate for 90 minutes. So we've done well at either end, in the middle however........

He's had better players at his disposal this season and yet often i've thought we've looked like the worst team. It has been the oppostions lack of ability as individual players that has allowed to get points. The other teams have often (not always, obviously) looked more organised, coherent and motivated. Next season we'll be playing teams with at best on par players and regularly teams with better players than ours. I just can't see Hughton moulding a team that is greater than the sum of its parts. That is my view based on this season.

This year he's got better players than the opposition but the team performances on the whole haven't been very good. Next year he certainly won't have better players than the opposition in most games.

lol

Look s the weakest link in their back 4 imo.

They look a little small at the back so i'd reckon Carrol and Ranger upfront with Loven to come off the bench to keep it fresh. I would say we definitely need the delivery from Raylor and Ricky. Maybe starting with: ......Raylor....Smith....Guthrie... ....................Nolan.................. in the middle and bring on Jonas and Loven for whoever's tired when we need to freshen things up. Would stop their midfield knocking it about as well. If we force teams down the flanks i reckon our FBs are good enough to cope with most if not all wingers in this division (based on what i've seen so far).

He has ability to carry the ball from our half to the oppostions, the ONLY player we have who can do this. He doesn't do much with the ball, granted. However he keeps the oppostion weary and makes them stand off a bit. He's a bit like a jab imo Can't hurt you much but keeps you over there while the right hand lines you up. A few fans on here need to get real, i bet they're the same ones who used to lambast Dyer for the same reasons as Jonas (Dyer was a better player, i'll give you). Every other team in this division would want Jonas in their squad, i guarantee it. We're scoring enough goals to win games and Raylor, Guthrie and Barton (when on the pitch) can play a good ball in. Enrique can also whip in a good cross, what Jonas does is create a bit of space. If we sell him to Roma in January we'll likely up end with someone like Gary F**king Teale on the wing then you'll have a proper f**king reason to grumble. People are judging our players against the 2001-2003 team. Thats a looooooong time ago now.

His Dad's big so that's handy. Good to see we're measuring the parents. Very thorough these days. If he doesn't make it he can always fall back on his Big Dad.