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Lloydie

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  1. Since there's no knowing what he will do, here's what he should do. Try to offload Barton, Geremi, Smith, Xisco and Colocinni, and try to keep the rest. Let Harewood's deal expire now Shola's fit and Lovenkrands is in. It's unlikely we could get rid of all the players suggested, but they're all a big drag on the wage bill, and with the exception of Colocinni I don't see any of them playing a part in keeping us in the Premiership next year. Colocinni, sadly, is paid far too much to keep him around on his current contract.* But outgoings need to be balanced by new arrivals. Hopefully by now we've actually identified some players we want who could do a job for us for the rest of this season, and into next. West Ham and Portsmouth may well be open to offers for players, and the players themselves might be looking for a way out. Other than that we should be scouring the Championship and below, plus the Nordic, Dutch, Scottish and Irish leagues. There is talent there, and players from those nations tend to adapt quickly to English football. * This is 90 grand a week I think. Which is probably enough to hire 45 scouts full time. What would have been the better investment?
  2. Lloydie

    Beckham

    It's bollocks. Not a single thing in the article that isn't speculation. Papers sold, rumours started, job done. One hack can sleep well tonight. As for Beckham - no. He's probably 6 months away from being fit enough to compete in the Premier League again. Let's hope he gets his 100th England cap and then wave him goodbye.
  3. Ferguson's right, and Allardyce should stay. And WarrenBarton's got a point, the media do a lot to stoke this and they do it because it's Newcastle. People do buy papers when they see stories about us, not just in the North East, but further south as well. Write a 'Crisis on the Tyne' headline, stick on a picture of fat bloke in tears and a toon shirt, throw in a dash of player misbehaviour and you've got a decent 'lets all laugh at the Geordies story' right there. It's all Keegan's bloody fault... ;-) (Incidentally, this makes interesting reading, we all expected to finish 7-8 this season http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=40144.0 ) This season hasn't been pretty, and the football could have been better but I do think Allardyce is making progress on a few fronts. First the squad looks a lot healthier, I can't see the likes of Pattison or Ramage getting a game again, and buying players like Tozer seems like a sensible thing to be doing. Personally I'm still annoyed that we sold Parker and brought in Barton who I said would end up in jail (I know, it's only temporary, but he's working on it isn't he?) but other than that the buying and selling's been good. I mean he sold Kieron Dyer for good money! Discipline seems a bit better as well. It's Christmas and so far only one players been in the papers for being an idiot! This is a serious point though, both Souness and Roeder were done in by the squad - clearly there were a bunch of players who once they'd decided they didn't like the manager started whispering to the chairman and then it was over. I get the feeling Mort and Allardyce won't be going that way and we're probably only a couple of sales (Carr?) from clearing out that particular kind of cancer. What I'm hoping for in January is that he'll be able to bring in the player or players he needs to get the team into a decent shape on the pitch. Sooner or later Enrique's got to step into the first team, that frees up N'zogbia, Milner can go somewhere more useful, Barton can stay inside and really we just need to work out what we're supposed to be doing with our front 3 or 2 or however many they are. I can see us finishing the season somewhere between 8th and 12th which isn't great, but it's not firing time either. Next season I'd be looking for a definite top 10, probably top 8. For me the model is probably Moyes at Everton, steady stable progress off the pitch and (mostly) progress on it.
  4. It's funny isn't it. Two weeks ago we were a crisis club, 1 point from 9. Today we're 7 from 9 and a win against Derby will see us go to Wigan on Boxing day as 'One of the Premierships' form teams with 10 points from the last 12'. Mostly though it'd see us go there with 28 points which is a fair bit better than the last few years.
  5. On the last set of predictions the pessimists were mostly right, with the last set of four games bringing just four points. Still, a draw with Arsenal and a good performance against Birmingham should give us hope - right? Well we end the year with the following games Fulham Away Derby Home Wigan Away Chelsea Away I'm going to say six points from the four games. We should definately get three against Derby and I'd expect us to win one of the other three, or maybe draw them all. Chelsea might not be losing at home yet, but they're definately easier to get a draw against than they were under Mourinho. I could see us beating Fulham or Wigan, but probably not both and maybe not either. So, any advance on six points?
  6. I'd have him. Good player, stacks of experience. Only concern would be since he's on a free / cheap he'll be looking for very high wages, which is probably why he's leaving Man Utd. So good player, but the whole price has to be right.
  7. Well looks like the pessimists were right over those last four matches. This time it's Liverpool (h) Blackburn (a) Arsenal (h) Birmingham (h) It's a little bit late to be kicking this off but anyway. This time out I'll say 5 points. 1 against Liverpool, 1 against Arsenal and 3 against Birmingham. I don't expect us to get anything away at Blackburn... What say the rest of you?
  8. Well, last time most of us picked somewhere between 7 and 10 points, and we ended up with 6, plus out of the Carling Cup to Wengers B team. Still, we've got Emre back now, Enrique is starting games as is Beye and Owen survived surgery on a hernia plus two games for England so there's got to be an outside chance he'll make it through these four. Coming up next are Spurs (h) Reading (a) Portsmouth (h) Mackems (a) I can't see us winning all those, so I'm going for 7 points. Wins against Spurs and the Mackems, a point against Portsmouth and an irritating derbyesque defeat to Reading. That would leave us on 21 points from 12 games
  9. Look man. 5 games in, 8 points and we've even been beaten by Citeh. We're creating next to nothing up front, we've got no proper striker to lead the line and a lineup that used to ooze goals has suddenly turned into the most boring team in the league. It's obvious the manager doesn't know what he's doing. This whole rebuilding ideas a joke. Ferguson out! Oh, sorry, wrong forum
  10. I agree it's too early to judge Allardyce. From the sound of it there are people thinking that he's gone home after the match thinking 'Hmm. We created almost nothing, didn't defend that well. Best do exactly the same next week'. Teams evolve, styles of play evolve. Allardyce's Bolton were brutally effective at times, and you've got to believe he's going to be working toward that. He won't tolerate our sudden inability to take a good corner, and our new addiction to long throws is at least an improvement on our inability to take any last season. It may well be that the midfield 3 isn't working the way he wants it to, either because he's lacking the personnel or because players are still getting to grips with the formation. Personally I think it looks like the team is making progress. I'm not sure we're progressing to a style of play I'll be particularly happy with, but its what we signed up for when we picked Allardyce. It's still a decent start to the season, there's quality to come back into the midfield, and when we get Enrique fit we can unleash N'Zogbia higher up the pitch. Cheer up lads.
  11. So no changes from Allardye at half time? By the sound of you lot we'd better hope he's changed some instructions, or just given them the right kind of bollocking.
  12. If he gets five years, at three goals a year he should be OK :-) A qualifying group with Luxembourg and San Marino for the next world cup and he's home dry.
  13. Hmm. If fit... Given Richards Woodgate King Barry Bentley Butt Arteta N'Zogbia Berbatov Owen
  14. Can we get draws in the third round of the CC or does it go straight to penalties?
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