fredbob

It concerns me that we're not going the old fashioned route of buying players we need outright rather than looking at these players that are cheap or in the last year of their contract, especially with the funds we have.

Agree with this, i said this earlier but I think Ba was a purely oppurtunistic signing judging by the first post in this thread and it doesn't make sense that we were only targeting erding as our main striker after gameiro obviously.

I honestly would give him a free role, think he's a very special talent and needs to be allowed to express himself- messi stylee.

My take on this is that pardew just doesn't rate him. Remember him making comments about best "banging on my door everyday," if I remember this rightly it was during the time that we were struggling with injuries to strikers as well, meaning he despite are injury woes he still had to be convinced to play him. He also said he was "surprised" by nolan's performances suggesting he didn't rate him either and was obviously very vocal about ranger. It's all there. I predict Jonas to be the next "surprising" outgoing.

Can't help but think that on top of Ba and Erding there's another striker in there. I just don't think that pardew ever saw our midfield as the place we needs to spend money on, let alone decent money. Judging by the first post in this thread Ba looks to be a purely oppurtunistic signing and I dont see erding being the only forward signing they were hoping to make.

That's how I read it. I thought cabaret was a deep lying cm as well? Seems strange to play someone and not play him in his natural position. Only other thing I can think of is tiote playing a more box to box role rather than sitting ie contribute more to attack like pardew hinted at last year. Our essien! Tiote = essien? Matuadi = mikel/makelele? Cabaye= lampard?

My 2 pennies worth: ridiculous from barton, he's one player who has really stepped upto the plate and been excellent this past season and his performances merited a contract extension, yet he's proved yet again what a liability he can be. As has been said before, senior players play an important roles in the progression of the club, speed and shearer being perfect examples in the past for nufc. Someone like barton could have been an even better example to players, a professional who acted professionally after seemingly conquering his demons and most importantly doing so whilst playing well on the pitch. Instead, with only one good season out of 4 where the club had backed him more than other clubs would have done (Marlon king at wigan) he's been more outspoken than he should be, for me he's overplayed his hand and will suffer because of it. Nolan's demeanor + barton's ability = extended contract for a senior player.

I can see the interest cooling because his price is at an absolute premium, clubs know he's available and unless they're willing to pay that premium price then won't make a move either. The only clubs I see doing that are Liverpool and sunderland out of desperation. If those clubs don't act, then it becomes a waiting game because wigan have to sell. It's a risky strategy, one that I think will back fire because I think sunderland in particular are desperate. This one could be a disaster for the PR.

The more I think about it, the more I think he could work in a midfield three with Tiote & Cabaye based on his workrate and ability to run with the ball. Potentially a nice blend there with Tiote being the ballwinner, Cabaye the passer/playmaker and Jonas the dribbler. Would he get enough space in a centralized position to go on a dribble, assuming he advances play with his dribble will his distribution in the final 3rd be good enough as well? For me, Jonas will have his value as an impact player or an orthodox winger. If I was to try him in a new position id love to see how he coped as a rb. I know, box of frogs.

Good point.

or Tiote Cabaye N'Zogbia Ben Arfa Erding Ba Tiote Barton. cabaye HBA Erding Ba See in my opinion none of these line ups quite add up, be it lack of width or a player being played out of position. The only solution I see is 442 with Ben arfa behind ba, or a 433 with Ben arfa lining up as one of the forward 3 but drifting in like he did when he played for us at the beginning of the season. How about: Zoggy---------Tiote----------Cabaye----------Ben Arfa -----------------D. Ba----------Erding--------------------- Possibly, but I think pardew has singled out Ben arfa as a special talent and wants him to play centrally, not sure he'd be able to drift in a 442. I'm more than likely to be wrong like. I'll go for 433, barton, Mr t and cabaye, with zog, ba and Ben arfa drifting in.

Who'll miss part of the season anyway. Madness For a fee of something like 12m+ Yes, they really did need another flashy winger who can't finish, didn't they? He can finish can't he? Think this is exactly the type of signing they need. Walcott, arshavin and nasri are far too wasteful in front of goal, considering how much arsenal create. Is he that much better than any of those lads though? Well judging by his goals and assists record, id say yes. Arsenals front 4 wasted far too many chances last season. He'll be competition for walcott. They definitely need to learn how to see out games but they're equally guilty of not putting themselves out of reach in the first place.

Prefer it with Jonas personally, think having Ben Arfa and N'Zogbia in the team would mean his lack of end product wouldn't be so much of an issue. The pace of that front 4 would be a bit tasty like. Really want to see that formation, but I don't think barton or Jonas would be able to play the roles given in that formation.

Who'll miss part of the season anyway. Madness For a fee of something like 12m+ Yes, they really did need another flashy winger who can't finish, didn't they? He can finish can't he? Think this is exactly the type of signing they need. Walcott, arshavin and nasri are far too wasteful in front of goal, considering how much arsenal create.

or Tiote Cabaye N'Zogbia Ben Arfa Erding Ba Tiote Barton. cabaye HBA Erding Ba See in my opinion none of these line ups quite add up, be it lack of width or a player being played out of position. The only solution I see is 442 with Ben arfa behind ba, or a 433 with Ben arfa lining up as one of the forward 3 but drifting in like he did when he played for us at the beginning of the season.

Aye, was thinking the same thing myself, I just can't quite figure out where nzog and Ben arfa fit into all this, especially with pardew apparently saying he wanted to plate Ben arfa centrally.

The only reason I agree with this is because I can't help but feel I'm getting second hand goods. There's just something completely satisfying about taking someone's prized asset rather than getting them by default.

So cringeworthy.

Henderson is a strange one, but carroll and certainly adams have there merits. Really like the look of adams, put him in the deep lying playmaker role and he'll add an extra dimension to that team with gerrard and meiriles in front of him. Liverpool are just begging for some width. I cant remember the last decent winger they had.

True enough. I'm personally a massive fan of Suarez, he reminds me of a bellamy who can finish, only minus the attitude and plus the teeth.

That's funny as f***. On what basis did he have a better season (or half) than Suarez? Anyone who has watched both of them play cannot in anyway dispute that Suarez is by far the better striker and has played better for Liverpool You're letting Suarez' dazzling feet mislead you slightly, like. He scored 4 goals in the league (actualy worse than Carroll's 1 in 3 for Liverpool). I'm sorry like, but Carroll's half a season for us before he got himself injured was far more devastating than Suarez was since he joined Liverpool, it isn't even debateable. It really is debatable. Suarez has been superb in his first 6 months in English football, he may not of contributed statistically but his direct play has contributed massively to Liverpools success. Excellent player, one that will outshine Carroll next season in my opinion.

I disagree, no matter how you look at this, Carroll will never be worth more than £35m at any point in his career no matter how well he performs. No one pays 35m for potential. As someone with more experience of the english game and of a similar age, surely you'd be expecting him to at least match Suarez' performances.

35 million puts him in price range of the cream of the premier league. He has to perform as such otherwise he's deemed a failure. Simple. Looking at the kind of strikers he has to match upto (PL): Shearer Henry Drogba Torres Tevez Rooney Just look at what Berbatov has achieved and how despite that he's still deemed a relative flop. If he fails to do even one of those things he's screwed.

Good post, i keep trying to avoid saying "this window will be a test of ashleys plans" because ive said it a couple of times already and ended up looking a prat but i dare say that with the boost in revenue we'll get and the 35 million from the carroll sale that this really would be the test of ashelys intentions. The amount of money spent is no issue to me and shouldnt be an issue for any fan, the only thing that should be an issue is that we're getting quality players. People seem to forget that all these quality playyers who cost a lot now were unknown and cheap a year earlier. If we do things right we're looking at these players now. So far it looks as though we've spent 5m and potentially have 2 excellent players on our books.

Good spot. Point stands then. You're point is an absurd joke, frankly. There must be half a dozen players on similar wages to Jonas to contribute less than half what he does. Half a dozen on Jonas' wage? Preposterous. Feel free to name then and why the club will sell them. Smith, Taylor, Xisco, Harper, Shola? Agree with smith and xisco, not with the rest be it wages, potential transfer fee return or there role in the team. Its just the way i see it, ashley wont get all those players without balanciing the books and jonas would be a prime candidate in my opinion. This isnt what i want bytheway, i recognise the value of jonas to our team in recent years.