cubaricho

It looks like a really well balanced schedule to me, with December being the exception. I think we should be able to go on some runs before and after December that will see us sitting pretty. And if we don't do well in December that'll hopefully give Rafa and Ashley the impetus to bring in some quality in January so we can push on. Also, Arsenal at home the day after my birthday might mean a trip over the pond for that.

I think it's quoted at 400m.

According to that article that is exactly what would happen.

This is the weirdest medic situation I've ever seen.

Mexico play so dirty. The dude literally looks up to see where the play is going and then rolls around like he's injured.

Holy shit Michael Bradley.

Yeah this bums me out.

When was the last time an English dude went out and became a success on the continent?

Totally agree.

Ah man. This is terrible, terrible news. RIP big man.

Nah he fits the remit,,a cheap option. You can see this a mile off, cheap buys, loans, a couple of French guys,like ive earlier stated the aim is to survive and Rafa will play and build a team to survive , he looks ok and could be anything, he also could be shite. If Rafa has 70 million to spend it wont go far these days so this is the start of some underwhelming signings on paper,,its Rafas job to make them work. Weren't you fucking off until July?

Understatement.

I had a whole post typed up and then thought "fuck it" and deleted it. I should've gone for your simple and eloquent response instead of wasting five minutes of my life. It sums up pretty much what I was going to say anyway.

Get what you're saying and agree to an extent but in this ur position he's an ideal, short term fix with minimal risk. He's basically a cheap stopgap that'll buy us a year. I'd rather buy the real deal now but if it allows us to upgrade another 4 or 5 positions then I'm all for it. Also giving us another year in the bigger spotlight of the Prem, where hopefully we'll do well, and become a more fanciful destination for perhaps a higher quality striker next year then we could attract this year.

Good thing he didn't join Brighton then.

I do love a good streetview vacation. Right when I became a Newcastle fan I actually went to Newcastle and had lunch at the Strawberry but had forgotten which corner it was on, hence today's foray into streetview. I do streetview quite often around Newcastle though, and especially down by Tynemouth because that's one of the places I remember most when I was there. Rafa's bringing all that Newcastle love back for me now, so I especially love seeing stuff like what the Strawberry put up.

http://i.imgur.com/UfZurhp.jpg I'm sure most of y'all will have seen this, going to matches and living around Newcastle, but it made me laugh out loud when I was looking around SJP on Google Streetview. So happy that Google caught that moment with their car. Rafa man.

Called up the USMNT for the upcoming qualifiers.

Comfortably mid-table would do me just fine. If our name stays completely out of the relegation conversation for next season I think it will have been a good one.

I think what Ron's trying to get at is that he's good at leading the line in a way that when the ball goes up top, it sticks, because he can take it down and move with it. His movement is what makes him ideal to lead the line in the modern game. Is he good at holding the ball up in a way that he's taking down a header against a defender and laying it off for a #10 running in to the box? Absolutely not. But if you get the ball up that way - over the top or through the channel - it'll stick and he can do something with it. He brings people in to play in other ways rather than just winning headers.

If we have a bench full of dudes with this level of talent we'll be in a good spot for this season. Perfect signing.