fredbob

Adebayor was the difference today, his confidence is high, he is strong on the ball and has a hunger that our forward line severly lacks. Really? Adebayor was the diffrence today? So by saying that you're saying if Adebayor was on our side we'd of won? Personally i thought the game was lost in the centre of midfiled, we were easily overran in the midfiled, our attacks were broken down with ease and we didnt regain or retain posession well enough. No denying that their midfield is better than ours, but even in the first half when we were well in the game and playing some good stuff we never really looked all that likely to score, due to the lack of real class up front. You knew once Arsenal got going and got the ball into their strikers they'd score. It's a bit of both tbh, but we desperately lack a genuine top class forward. Well to be fair, in the first half we create a couple of chances, Smith had one off the line, Zog and Duff made a couple of decent moves down the left. I just dont see a top class striker making any difference to be honest. Owen is completely inneffective outside the 18yard box and if we arent able to pin teams in there own half and retain possession well enough we wont utilise him well enough. I still think he will score goals for us, i actually cant rememeber seeing him have any chances for a long long time now, how will any striker score without an chances? Once the second half started Butt and Zog dissapperred, the number of times i saw Zog pull out to the flank was unreal, Fabregas would never find himself in the same position as Zog. Aslo saw Cacapa make alot of tackles in the DM area.

"And some players were dismayed at new Newcastle boss Keegan's farcical tactical team meeting ahead of yesterday's 3-0 FA Cup fourth round drubbing at Arsenal. A Toon insider said: "The players were waiting for Kevin to give his instructions but all he said was: ‘Arsenal are a great passing team. We must make sure we pass the ball better than them.' "That was it. There were no specific tactics, no work on set pieces...the players were stunned." I know its jumping the gun, but its the sort of thing that worried me with the appointment of Keegan.

On the flip side he is also our best DM, so why not play him there? It depends on where you see the problems with our defence lie, i personally think the problems lie with te protection, many of of dfenders have good games yet we still conceded alot of goal. We conceded too much possession in the centre of midfiled and arent proficient enough in regaining it. Game against Bolton when we had huge amounts of possession because we kept the ball well and won it back easily, then take the game against arsenal where in the first half we won the ball well, and kept it well, even carved out a couple of chances, but collapsed in the second half when the posession wasnt kept even half as well, Butt and Zog disappeared in the second half.

I pray that there is no truth in that team tactic bit, that would be exactly what i would be scared of. Really sends shivers down my spine.

Adebayor was the difference today, his confidence is high, he is strong on the ball and has a hunger that our forward line severly lacks. Really? Adebayor was the diffrence today? So by saying that you're saying if Adebayor was on our side we'd of won? Personally i thought the game was lost in the centre of midfiled, we were easily overran in the midfiled, our attacks were broken down with ease and we didnt regain or retain posession well enough.

A fit Woodgate would more than match Ferdinand, not seen too much of King to be fair. JT isnt as good as an on form Woodgate, again not sure about King.

Kaboul and Dawson ought to be made to just sit in the stands, watch King and Woodgate and learn how it should be done. Both of those are better than Terry. King is, Woodgate definatly isnt. Its weird as i had the exact same debate with people over at GG about this yesterday. Lol, where has that come from? Terry is an excellent defender who has been onthe top of his game for 4/5 years now. Woodgate is a fine fine defender who on his day is every bit as good as Ferdinand. What is everyone basing there opinion on Woodgate on? This season?

Couple of years ago i would of been gutted, but this tme around im not. We have 4 good defenders i dont think its a case of our defenders not being good enough but more our defending not being good enough,. Woodgate would make a bit of a difference but he still wouldnt make us inpenetrable.

In my opinion we reallyneed a DM, badly. Watched Cacapa play most the second half, in a DM position because he kept on being drawn out. Butt was alrite in the first half, and it showed because we werent being overun. I still think we have the good partnership in there, we just need to be able to retain possession better and get it back.

Wierd, a coupleof years ago, i wouldnt think twice about having him here, but there seems to be too much baggage with him for me to get too excited bout it. I still belive there is a quality centre pairing with the defenders we already have. Have we been linkd with any midfielders?

You have to look at Shola and judge him as a player that we hope to keep in we are to go places, does he have the attributes to spearhead the attack and provde an end to our produce? No is the answer, can anyone actually name me a strength of Shola? Pace? Movement? Finishing? Heading? Link up? Strength? Creativity? Touch? I wouldnt say he was strong with any of these attributes. How anyone can defend him as a footballer is beyond me. I think id rather have Heskey than Shola.

Not sure why we'd see RB as a particularly weak area, unless Keegan is making wholesale changes. I dont like the fact he's such a troublemaker, he's a very good player, no doubt and would be good competition for Beye, but id rather see the money go on the midfield. Have we been linked with many midfilders? i cant think of any.

Good point.

Think its a good idea to be honest, 90k is a huge amount of money and he's not worth it but we havea player who is 23 and has a max value of £13m as it stands, if we get 2 good years out of him he'll be worth double that and the contract pays itself.

Its the quiet ones you have to look out for, i bet he eats nails to breakfast.

Surpirsed so few keepers have been mentioned, they're fuckinfg nut jobs.

Samba, Vidic, Lehman - Samba would be a beast, Vidic looks like a psycho and Lehmann would be an unpredictable nutter.

Depends how much he wants to stay in England, no clubs in England look like being after him, liverpol cant aford him, and we are a club in an excellent situation. Crazier things have happened.

as a defensive midfielder mascherano is miles better than carrick. Mascherano is a fantastic tackler and rarely misplaces a pass. the attacking midfielder should provide the creativity not the defensive player. Mascheranos passing is underrated, whereas carrick doesn't seem to want to dirty his shorts. I wouldnt say "miles" Masch is definitely a better at breaking up opposition attacks, his passing is good but definitely doesnt offer the same range that Carrick does, i find that Carrick is less commited in his tackles because he reads the game exceptionally well, but his tackling is still good anyway, also i thiunk Carrick starts alot of attacks with his range of passing. Personally they offer different things as DM nd id have either one of them, but if i had to choose id probably go for Carrick because of what he offers passing wise and dstrrbtuion wise, add to the fact he loves Nufc and you have a player whose motives and commimtment wont be questioned.

Fair point! Obviously, there are many players to pick from, but I guess there's only a few that would settle in as quickly as Carrick (with that calibre). And keegan wants that type of player. However, I must admit spending that much money on him would be crazy. It's a lot of cash! Plus, whenever Ferguson decides to sell it's not because he's forced to, it's because he knows the player is 'past his peak'. S.A. Ferguson is damn good at that, and he's rarely wrong Its a lot of money for the old newcastle yeh, but id advocating spending as much money as possible for a new manager, keegan needs his own players and Carrick is exactly what we need. Fergie isnt daft, you're right and thats where the problem lies, he'd definitely want a decent profit on him, i wouldnt be surprised to see something stupid put on him like £22m+ Persnally, i would snap up Carrick for the exact same price that man u would but not a penny more.

Who could you get for £18m who would be as willing to come? What does Mashcereno offer that Carrick doesnt? MAybe a little more defensive protection becuase if you ask me, Carrick makes up for that with his passing ability.

Hes definately not worth that money. Id pay 10 for him, not more. For 17 mil we could just aswell go for some real star quality like Van der Vaart or Diego Exactly! if your going spend big money why not spend it on someone who really is worth that much, that isn't Carrick for sure. Why isnt he worth that much? He's proven now at 2 clubs, and on the international scene as well, what does a DM have to do to be worth £15m? He reads the game brilliantly, protects the defence well is passing is sublime which is good becasue it retains posession for the team and importantly starts alot of attacks off, he also chips in the the odd goal.

Apparently there stalling on a 70k wage that micah wants which is fair enouhg, so they are at cross roads with him. He's a long term player and at 70k at 19 hes only gonna get older and more expenisive. May prefer making a huge profit on him than see that profit go on wages.

Dont think Barnes is overrated. Micah would be a huge coup, cant see Sven selling him. Would love it to be true Micah is the type of signin any one would want, however if keeganis looking at three and a defender is one of the 3 positions that means he rates one of our DM, AM or RW.

Exactly, flavour of the month if you ask me Pretty hopeless defensively, we get forward well though. Fairly predictable Keegan signing. Completley unnecessary though if Keegan actually has any belief in Enrique. Could be a back up signing, think Enrique needs to improve attackng wise.