Gallowgate Toon

Tiote is a defensive midfielder, Sissoko is not, it would be a real waste of his talents to play him as one too. Anita can play all over the midfield, but he's shone as a defensive midfielder above all else. I do not particularly see Anita as a player who breaks up play and wins the battle. Sissoko has the physical presence to do that even if he isn't deployed in a ancorman role. Anita on the other hand is the most modern midfielder we have. His passing and movement is/will be vital for our game if we actually adapt a 4-3-3 permanentley. The way in which he links defence to midfield is such a vital part of building play, I reckon he will revel with Yanga-Mbiwa/Coloccini in behind him. We could probably sacrifice Tioté who's more one-dimensional than any of the other CM's. While I think it's a common misconception that defensive midfielders need to be particularly physical, look at Makelele for example, Anita's primary roles would be to harry, cover, help us keep possession and use his good passing range to help break teams down, hence why I suggested certain games. He was excellent as a defensive midfielder for Ajax, it was the form of his life, I see no reason why he couldn't replicate that here.

I think it's more circumstantial than that, the only player that has a spot nailed down, in my opinion, is Cabaye. I think the rest are all interchangeable depending on the opposition, I quite like this squad malarkey

Tiote is a defensive midfielder, Sissoko is not, it would be a real waste of his talents to play him as one too. Anita can play all over the midfield, but he's shone as a defensive midfielder above all else.

He's solely competing against Tiote for me, if used correctly then they should both get plenty of starts with us. Anita should play games where we're looking to be the team on top, his pace can cover breaks if full backs push up, and he's a better player on the ball to help us break teams down. Tiote should be playing games where we're looking likely to have more of a battle or will be under the cosh. Simply put, if I was manager, I'd be looking to play Anita in most home games and Tiote in the majority of the away matches. Sissoko is wasted as a defensive midfielder, he's pure box-to-box and should be playing higher up. For me, he'd be competing with Marveaux and again it depends on the team we'll be playing.

Who's the lad next to Debuchy? Edit: Turns out Bigi just has another new hair cut

Excellent news if true. He wouldn't displace Anita IMO, Sissoko's wasted as a DM. Hopefully by the weekend, we could have Tiote and Anita vying for the defensive midfielder spot (with Perch as back up), with Cabaye, Marveaux, Sissoko and Bigi going for the central places. There's some good options there for different games, which is key. All of those players have different strengths and will suit certain circumstances, the only sure starter for all would be Cabaye for me.

If Shola starts ahead of Gouffran man Even Ryan Taylor said a few months ago that Shola can barely play 60 minutes, I know we've had a lack of options recently, but there's no excuse now.

Gouffran's the player we need for the position we're in, we have enough flashy players, we need some more effective ones. Remy's a better overall player in my opinion, it's just that he has that added ability on the ball but he's not particularly more effective for goals, and he's a lot more work shy. Gouffran will be full of running, both forward and back, and he'll be a nuisance in and around the box. With the creativity we have in the team, we need someone else with the instinct to put the ball in the back of the net and to make space for other players.

Probably Giggs, but going off the NUFCTV interview, Cabaye's tapped up another one Gouffran's words were 'Cabaye had been telling me how great it was to play for Newcastle, for quite a while'.

As long as there's a firm set of rules regarding speaking in English to each other, and encouraging everyone to mix, then I see no issue. I'd prefer to have a bit more balance but we seem to be getting good footballers, so I can't complain really.

If true, I think he's simply cheated on his missus and she's gone home. If it was homesickness, then he surely could have waited until the summer. If it was illness, then the parties involved would have been much more respectful, especially his Dad.

He can't wait 4 months? What a dickhead if true.

Fingers crossed, I feel quite the same really, hopefully he works better for the team, individually he'll not match what Ba offered, but this was always going to be the case whoever we brought in. My feelings exactly.

This is a great signing, adds a much needed potency to our team, and has a good attitude. We just need him to be Ba in last year's 4-3-3, where I think he's actually a better fit as he'll work harder, will add more pace and will most likely nab a few goals. I think he'll be our most important signing over the coming months, I can see him getting 5 or 6.

Just walked past him and his agent going into YoCabs' house, there must be about 10 people sleeping there tonight Plucked up the courage to say hello and good luck.

Two French title winning captains in the team for the second half of the season gives me a hell of a lot more confidence. Too right. Some more leaders on the pitch, something we've really, really missed over the last 2 months.

Good interview, he seems to have a fantastic winners attitude. More of a character than I anticipated.

Got this nagging feeling he'll be on the bench. Hopefully it's just my defense mechanism kicking in. I wouldn't be surprised I just hope he turns it on in training, making it impossible to not start him.

Going to be an interesting battle between him and Benteke next week.

:lol:

I can understand why people aren't enthralled with the signing and while there are better overall footballers out there, he's the exact type of forward we need, and I do think many will be surprised. With the likes of Cabaye, HBA and Marveaux in the team, and with Debuchy's crossing, there's plenty of creativity in there but not enough goals. Gouffran is a good predator and will make the most of chances provided.

A large reason as to why we were so bad with everyone fit, was because Pards persisted in trying to fit Ba and Cisse in the middle, using his old 'fast, front-foot' system. There were other factors of course but that was the root problem. We aren't signing a player like Ba, in terms of attributes or attitude, I think we'll see a marked improvement.

I think he'll be here before the Villa game.

We won't buy anyone else for years after this window probably used up our 2016 kitty.

With it looking increasingly likely that we'll have 3 new players in before Villa, does anyone think AP is going to change his negative style/tactics?