Lotus

If we sell Cabaye the money we get for him has to pay for the new guy's transfer fee, signing on fee, agent's fees and 5 year worth of wages if my Mikenomics are correct.

Hopefully he'll do his coaching badges while here.

Actually forgot he existed. Further proves my point, Shirley

I know I'm bucking the trend here but for me, signing another striker is not a priority. We have Cisse, Gouffran is certainly more of a striker than a wide man and Remy will be available in about a month. Who do we have who can actually play LW? No one. Gouffran isn't suited to it (he can fill in if needed), Jonas offers no discernable addition to offensive play whatsoever and Marveaux actually vanishes as he approaches the touchline. Who else do we have? Sammy??? We need a left winger because we don't have single one at the club.

Actually saw some of a Norwich friendly when out in Portugal a fair few weeks ago. Didn't know it was Norwich at first and i thought the team had good movement, nice range of passing and imagination. Bastards. Guess the point is they did look in a different world to us, actually! Anyway, hopefully they'll collapse under the weight of my expectation and we'll finish comfortably above them!!!

They also live in a different world to us, our world is run by a tight fisted arsehole theirs isnt. well put!

Whilst I understand the argument of rather buying younger players with a longer future, one thing I can't get my head around is consciously keeping Pardew who has been banging the drum of requiring Premiership experience and probably players suited to a more direct style, and then proceeding to not providing him with the tools he wants. You'd either look for a manager capable of making the most of the profile of player you target (and trust your chief scout's judgement on their valuation based on their growth potential), or you back your manager to give him the best possible chance of succeeding. As it is, we are doing neither, which is not benefitting anybody, be it Pardew, the players, the fans or the owner. This is because our entire recruitmemt strategy is based on opportunism as opposed to suitability. Manager included.

Although we previously finished 5th. Down to luck and last season was bad luck. He's got the tools for a top 8. Let's hope he does it.

I'd like to add that i personally don't think he's up to it. Anything less than 8th and he's failed imo. However, i hope to be completely wrong and for him to really show some strong managerial form that makes us a dangerous and exciting team. Roll on Monday! Bit harsh considering a lot of people think we are in for a relegation battle. High expectations to say top 8 or failed. I personally think we will be there abouts and fancy us to get in top 8 but wouldn't say he's failed if he gets top half to steady the sinking ship. If Europe was the reason last season went to sh1t then he needn't worry about it this year. He's easily got a team that can finish top 8. If you're settling for less with this: Krul Debuchey Saylor/MYM Colo Santon Tiote Sissoko Cabaye HBA Remy Cisse then you've a losers mentality pure and simple. We could have terrible injuries this year which would obviously be a mitigating factor. That aside, the team's more than good enough and i sincerely hope Pardew is too.

I'd like to add that i personally don't think he's up to it. Anything less than 8th and he's failed imo. However, i hope to be completely wrong and for him to really show some strong managerial form that makes us a dangerous and exciting team. Roll on Monday!

This season is where we find out what he's really like. He's got a squad far better than the one he started with last season. He's had a bad season to learn a few things. If there's anything about him we'll find out this year. He's got a squad more than capable of finishing top 8. Let's see if he can do it.

Can remember a Spurs supporter on here complaining about Bent and in particular his inability to play with Berbatov. Kingdawson i think it was.

Was hoping beyond any semblence of reasoning that we would replace Tiote with Capoue. Shame.

Only way i could see Marveaux in the middle is at the expense of Cabaye completely and asking Sissoko to play deeper to help Tiote out. That would give SM the license to concentrate on floating around and trying to get involved. He offers roughly f**k all when we don't have the ball so we'd need our back screened effectively (or at least with numbers). Basically: Tiote Sissoko HBA Marveaux Mr LW Striker

It's a shame he can't get his head around playing on the left. Bit of positional awareness, bit of work ethic, show for the ball regularly, bit of heart. He'd be a shoe-in.

How much more do they have to do than be clearly better footballers than Jonas and Tiote? As for making themselves undroppable, that's down to the manager...... Listen, i don't like Jonas and i don't like Tiote (much) but Anita is powder puff and Marveaux goes missing. Simple. Neither of them have put in the kind of perfomance that screams for inclusion. That's a shame because we could do with their talents but they need to show more competitve spirit. More fire. I bet you were banging this drum re: Ben Arfa as well Nope.

He wouldn't be the first one to say that and still end up at a club without European football. Agreed, but if he seemed pretty adamant, and Ajax has CL themselves. Don't know of his contract situation, or if Ajax wants to cash in though. 1 year left unsurprisingly. Bet he took french at school. Or went to Morocco on a family holiday as a bairn.

How much more do they have to do than be clearly better footballers than Jonas and Tiote? As for making themselves undroppable, that's down to the manager...... Listen, i don't like Jonas and i don't like Tiote (much) but Anita is powder puff and Marveaux goes missing. Simple. Neither of them have put in the kind of perfomance that screams for inclusion. That's a shame because we could do with their talents but they need to show more competitve spirit. More fire.

But how can they, when they've never been given a chance? They have actually been on the pitch if you remember. It was easy to miss at times, i know...

Neither Anita nor Marveaux have done enough to make their inclusion an absolute necessity. I love the 'Marveaux type' player, absolutely love them, but, he doesn't go looking for the ball nearly enough. Tons of ability, great control, gets his head, fantastic range of passing (best at the club), good spurt of speed when he wants. Shown a lack the competitive edge to dominate his opponents with his ability though. He's only got the likes of Jonas to compete against for a place. He should make himself undroppable.

Thing is, if we're honest. Anita hasn't looked like a EPL holding midfielder, Marveaux hasn't looked like a player who can bother his arse for 90 mins and we've all seen Gouffran run out of puff after 70 mins.

We aren't talking of playing with 3 genuine strikers 1 striker 2 wing forwards. More like a 4-2-3-1 then?

What other teams play a genuine 4-3-3 in the EPL out of interest? I mean with 3 genuine strikers?

Could argue that happened to SBR. The Window when we only signed Bowyer Speed sold without his prior knowledge Sacked after finishing the season before in 5th. We were a totally different club with ambition then. The Bowyer summer was the exception, never the rule. Plus, who did we attract then? The worst manager in recent NUFC history. I reckon Pardew has a worst win % Win % can be a problematic way to assess managers. Especially if it shows them in a worst light than you want them to

Could argue that happened to SBR. The Window when we only signed Bowyer Speed sold without his prior knowledge Sacked after finishing the season before in 5th. We were a totally different club with ambition then. The Bowyer summer was the exception, never the rule. Plus, who did we attract then? The worst manager in recent NUFC history. I reckon Pardew has a worst win %