mozy

Toonsend Welcome.

Be a weird one this, obviously goes totally against the transfer 'policy' we've had for the last few years. He's the closest thing to a proven goalscorer you can get though, £12 million is basically one hand on a ticket to stay up.

Spurs have also consistently played inverted wingers with Pochettino, so (assuming we view him as a left winger) he hasn't had much of a chance on that side.

If he plays on the left I think he'll be class, on the right I think he'll be meh. Still, it's a good signing.

He's not doing enough to make a poor squad better than it actually is. Saying that I don't really buy all these 'the talent is there' comments. In terms of experienced PL players in their prime who are actually good, we started the season with Krul, Sissoko and Janmaat. That's it. Everyone else is old, new, young or shit. Not exactly a great situation to go into.

5 assists isn't terrible either. Even if 3 of them did come in 1 game.

Aarons needs to sort himself out, living off the back off two or three decent cameos.

Aided by a fair amount of s**** on the pitch. All he had to do was make one f***ing change. Jesus. And then what? Our centre halves still would've been mugged off by Deeney and Ighalo being able to out-muscle them. So might have been an idea to play to our strengths then rather than rely on a defence that got raped by the same front pair at St James. The f*** are people watching? The same thing but trying to view it with more balance, maybe? Balance. Christ. Have you actually criticised any players today, by any chance? Or is it just your usual McClaren rant that you've been regurgitating every single week for about the last 7 months? We're back to the Pardew days again are we? Manager gets it all wrong so lets blame the players, or perceived lack of them. Last week was McClaren, I don't recall anyone taking it away from him. Today was McClaren too, f***ing s***. Every decision wrong just like most of his time here or we'd have more points. Why do you only view this as one way or the other? That's my point, I only ever see you criticise one person out of the staff in our whole mess. Because we go through players like a hot knife through butter while holding onto managers for years. It's simple stuff to me. Get a better manager the players will play better. Today was the worst I've seen of McClaren, basically Pardew vs Reading levels of absolute s****. You blame whoever you want but I said before the game started we were beat with that formation and selection and that's how it turned out. And you don't think there's a decent chance we'd have been beaten in a 4-2-3-1 with 2 physically poor CBs against 2 of the most direct forwards in the league? I think today was reminiscent of early this season with Anita playing at 3rd CB so things looked good until everyone realises we had no attacking intent and we lost. I really don't think I'm alone in thinking if we'd played the same formation as WHU with Aarons at LB we'd have given a much better account of ourselves. You praised the Anita thing and gave him pelters when he stopped doing it Meh. This won't go anywhere. We didn't look very good going forward today even when people were in their more conventional spots. The only time we looked threatening was that opening 20 which was with a 3. Excuse me? Ah yeah, total nonsense. Cheers. Not total nonsense at all. I vividly remember us having a discussion a few months back and you definitely criticised him for stopping the Anita dropping back thing. You pretty much said every decision McClaren made was shit and the only good thing he'd done, get Anita to drop back and pick up the ball, was something he'd abandoned. No, I said it was the only thing he'd done tactically that worked and it was correct at the time. That's garbage, how exactly did it work?

He's just an absolute cunt.

I like and have stuck up for McClaren. Now, that quote is pure Pardew. What the fuck is he on about. It's one thing to want to not slate your players in the media, it's another thing entirely to just chat fucking cheddar. The thing I like(d) about McClaren is that he's generally honest, so if that goes then he has very little left.

I'd have done that too, however mental that seems on paper.

For those who think McClaren is complete and total shite, do you seriously think the players / squad are good enough?

Nah, your central midfielder has to be one of the most active players on the pitch, you can't leave the work to someone else. Didn't see the game today though, so no idea if he was as bad as is being made out. He's not inactive or lazy, he's just not very agile.It's hard for him to be a high tenacity, buzzy type player, if that makes sense.

I can't want us to lose unless I really think it's going to get us somewhere (Pardew to be sacked at the start of 14/15).

Aarons, Gouffran, Lascalles, Mbemba all could have played LB at a push. No need for the 3-5-2. It didn't work in the slightest.

As long as he's passing the ball forwards then he's doing the right things. Needs a 'buzzy' type player alongside him though.

You can't absolve any of the players of criticism though, even if the formation was wrong.

Wasn't more like 5 at the back? I wasn't watching but that's what they reckoned on Radio Newcastle. It was a clear 3 to me, but it was utter shite regardless. Had nothing in midfield or going forwards.

Fucked it up today with 3 at the back shite.

Mitro should have scored 2, Kane / Ighalo etc would score both those.

You can't say we didn't need Shelvey or at least a player of his type.

Doesn't help that he almost always seems to shoot when he's off balance to the extent of falling over.

He's like a shitter version of Kevin Doyle.

Out of his depth? Come on, don't be ridiculous. Wherever Colback plays he will be average, boring and safe. We are not going to get a new left back, certainly not until the summer. Though Dummett needs to improve an awful lot to be considered good enough.

I don't really see how we need him other than off the bench? And why would we over-pay for someone to sit on our bench? I mean I'm all for depth, but Townsend at £14m is absolutely ridiculous. Rather give Thauvin a chance and put that money into improving at LB and getting someone like Berahino. We aren't going to sign a new left back though. And personally I think it would help Dummett if Townsend were to be playing down that side ahead of him. Our squad lacks a pacey, direct, out and out winger. Aarons and arguably Thauvin could become that player, but they are sure as hell not ready to be counted on from what we've seen and read so far. Who do we have vying for the Left Wing spot at the moment? Perez (a central player), Gini (Better in the centre), Thauvin and Aarons. None of those options are good enough for me, and I'm talking about having a proper impact this season, not for the long term future. For the money they're talking about i'm sure we could get someone better than Townsend tofill that role. he won't be inglish though, we need more of the right DNA in our teeeeam man I'm not sure why it's seen as Xenophobic or wrong to want more English based players, or those with Premier League experience in the team. It's not rocket science to think that those players will have a more immediate impact than those from abroad who will need an adjustment period for the tempo and physicality. Even someone with the sheer class of Wijnaldum has taken 4/5 months to adjust properly, we can't really afford that time period given our league position. And just because a player happens to be English doesn't automatically make him Jack Colback.