ChrisMcQuillan

Krul Anita Saylor Colo Santon Tiote Bigi Cabaye Ben Arfa Ba Cisse For me, like..

We still seem to be using the 'lob it to central defender approach' which worked fine when we had S. Taylor, Williamson, Nolan and Carroll floating around. Now, it doesn't, and we haven't adapted. We need a new approach, simple as.

Jonas needs to be dropped for Marveaux, coincidentally.

Just back from an extensive piss up at the Star Inn post-game, so apologies if this is less than eloquent. Ba and Cisse cannot play together up front, in the centre. They are too similar. They don't split defences with different runs, they look lost. This has to change. Only at NUFC would we fail to sign a RB, and then lose 3 RBs to injury in the space of 100 minutes. Anita should provide ample cover. The team look like they've been kicked for six. It took Ben Arfa's moment of genius to wake them up to day. Cabaye in particular looked whiny and less than 100%. Positives: Ben Arfa. Without him, we'd be in serious trouble. Bigirimana. This guy is gonna be quality. The composure on this lad's head for 18 years of age is remarkable. He spread the ball countless times for us, he'll be a great player. I'll get him on my shirt when I can afford this season's. Negatives: The transfer window has cost us. It's plain for all to see. Cisse and Ba were NOT working today, and we had no option to shake it up. I could say that will cost us points over the course of the season, but I dare say it already has. The real question is, why do the team look so disinterested when starting a game? They couldn't string two passes together. We need to get this fixed asap. On a side note: the referee was the worst referee I think I've ever seen in over 50 games at SJP today. Biased to the extreme. Ba should have had a penalty, Obertan practically got assaulted down the right, and the ref just blew for fouls to them. Never seen such flagrant bias, it was a disgrace. I've maintained for a while that you cannot be that bad at your job and not get fired, and I think with the Premier League we have a real concern that referees can be bribed on occasion. It's the only way I can explain such horrendous decision making. Thank goodness we had Ben Arfa to rifle a stunner into the net.

Can't believe they're booing AVB a day after signing Lloris and Dempsey, and having only lost once to us away in his three games in charge. Who'd want to be a manager, eh?

Southampton spending £12m on Gaston Ramirez...

Watching Sky Sports News is the most depressing experience at the minute.

Don't agree that Campbell is a wider player. To me, watching him play at the Milk Cup, he liked to play like Rooney, dropping deep into an AM, taking the ball, distributing it, and then making a run for the player to aim for. He's also perfectly capable of running from the last man and taking people on heading straight towards goal.

As much as I want to see Simpson upgraded, it would take him, Perch and Raylor to get injured to have to resort to Tavernier. If Cisse and Ba get injured, then we really are in trouble with Ameobi as only striker. Carroll is less of an improvement than Debuchy would be in terms of positions, yet he (or any real striker) is almost more of a priority over the course of a season.

I'd have Carroll. Wouldn't go near Enrique with a barge pole.

Pretty grim, isn't it?

Not at all. Lille is asking for a price that we don't think he's worth. It's pretty simple. It sucks, but it's cut and dry. So why not go for another RB? Surely there were back-up options. We're constantly told that by Pardew that they work down a list, i'm afraid i haven't seen any of that. Really do think that is bullshit at times. It is. I mean really, if we had 5 players in a list for the positions needing strengthened, and we can only afford one of, say, 15 players, then what's the point of having the list at all? It's still wheeling and dealing, albeit highly educated thanks to Carr.

Ticket hasn't arrived yet..

He has been right about pretty much everything he's claimed that I can see. Probably Twitter nonsense, but he seems a better bet than most.

He was good at the Milk Cup, for what it's worth.

Harper R. Taylor Perch Williamson Santon Bigirimana Gosling Marveaux Ben Arfa Amalfitano Ba Subs: Krul, Tavernier, Coloccini, Vuckic, Anita, Campbell, Cisse

That's all nonsense. They may have a list, but once they're filtered by the wheeler dealers, we"re left with or two possibilities.

According to a lot of people on Twitter, criticising United For Newcastle atm, we need to get behind the team and not worry about signing a new RB and back-up striker because "that way, we don't be broke."

Exactly. What's the point of a list of 10 if we can only get one. Clearly not the scouts advising on price.

If our scouts really have moved on to winter and next summer... We have a full year to target affordable players who would bolster the XI, and we come up with a rotational defensive mid? And that's the product of at least 6 months of trying to improve the first team? So Anita, Carroll, Douglas and Debuchy were our targets? So much for all the Plan C for each position thing. Douglas is possibly talking out of his arse, but the lack of signings is worrying.

This. We can look at other clubs around is not making much progress, for instance the Modric and Allen examples cited, but this should not be an excuse for making a lack of progress. We need to be opportunistic, and if this is the time we can capitalise and build on an advantage over other teams, we should be using it. If the transfer window closes, and we have not replaced Simpson, Lovenkrands and Best, then it will cost us points. Replace these players - that's just two signings, one RB and one ST - and it'll have been a very successful window. Fail to do so will be an opportunity missed, in my opinion, and with the case of Debuchy, where it seems to be all for the sake of £1m, I'll find that difficult to stomach. Disclaimer: I don't think the club have done badly in this window, but we have an opportunity to make it a great one.

This. Insane how people have random goes at eachother for no f***ing reason. f*** off It's all got very edgy around here lately.

Bigi just oozes confidence. Think he's class, like.