LucaAltieri

Looks like Liverpool are sitcking to this 3 centre backs with 2 wing backs formation and getting results. It makes perfect sense. Teams are playing narrower and with fewer attacking players. Tactics have evolved... where 4-4-2 was the standard, 4-5-1 has now taken over. A 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 is the next logical evolution. Well played Dalglish for giving it a go. Same goes for Shearer who tried it a couple of years back.

GTFI

Another 4-4.

Depends, what are the fixtures?

OMG our stop gap, 4th choice striker, brought in to cover injuries, chosen from a tiny pool of available players, might not be of the standard to lead our front line! Pardew OUT!

Of all the stop gap freebies available he's probably the best option for our team. This season's Sibierski. Will score some important goals without setting the world alight.

Okaka once again demonstrating his poor movement and timing. Shitehawk.

Agreed. Really cut the mistakes out of his game in this new position.

What the fuck just happened?

Taylor started life as a striker, if I remember correctly.

Is this even a serious question? Ginola by a country mile.

Once again, just let me emphasise how shit Inter were last night. The ludicrousness of it was only surpassed by the fact Okaka is paid professional footballer. Can't believe some were hoping to sign him for Newcastle this transfer window. There is honestly not a single striker on the Newcastle books I'd put behind this joker.

Still in the car park trying to get out of the ground. Shit game. Neither side deserved it. Bari had the better attacking plays but lacked quality. Inter were just dour. Deserved nothing more than a point. Never got out of first gear.

I've been reading this post for an hour. What on earth have you been watching/drinking? Ranger has the ability/potential. He's shown it playing against boys (youth teams, reserves, and in the cup against Chelsea's kids), now he needs to make the step up to the men's game. Time will tell if he can manage it. I think he can. I also don't think he needs to move out on loan to do it, either. The main reason for sending a player out on loan is to give them game time. With our squad so thin there's no need for him to move to get game time. If we want him to become a premier league player he needs to be getting experience against premier league quality teams.

Agreed. Entirely possible that club x and club y agreed that a player might be available... only for club x to ask for more money once they realised we suddenly had an extra £35m floating around, and for the player at club y to not fancy a loan move or whatever when approached. Could be a million reasons.

Nothing more than a gut feeling, but I reckon once he's put his first premier league goal away he'll suddenly get some self belief and start tearing it up.

Interesting post. What do you study?

How do you know we weren't? Just because you're making enquiries doesn't mean you're going to find the right players available for the right price. If we stay up and spend wisely in the summer then that is preferable to a deadline day panic buy. Of course, by failing to replace Carroll we run the risk of getting sucked into a relegation battle, and in that sense it's a bit of a gamble... but there's no saying an over-priced panic buy would see us do any better.

Likes the ball a his feet and running with it from what I've seen. He's reasonably tall at 6ft+ but haven't seen him use his height at all, really. Definitely doesn't put himself about enough.

Left the Spurs (I think) centrebacks for dead, the other week, and should have scored or squared it.

Similar player to Walcott and Lennon... loads of pace, a bit lightweight, not the best touch/delivery/composure. With time and coaching both Walcott and Lennon have come on massively and would both walk into our team. I think Ranger has more potential than either of those two as he has a natural eye for goal. Give the lad time. No wonder our record of developing talent is shit. You'd think after Andy Carroll (and Jose, and Colo, and Bassong, and N'Zogbia, and Milner, etc) people would learn to STFU and be patient.

Possibly right. Defensively speaking I think we're sorted with a 4-4-2 or 4-5-1. The problem is going forward. We lack the quality for one or two individuals holding the forward line. My thinking with the wing backs is to have players operating in both defence and midfield thus allowing 3 dedicated attacking options. But yeah, not sure if our squad has the intelligence to get the hang of it. That said, I would really like to see Ranger given the chance to run the wing and the channels. Could be quite effective in that role running at defenders.

Possibly not... so substitute Routledge for Ranger. The point is the formation, getting the most out of the talents we DO have in the squad. Nippy forward #1 is out on loan, so forget about him, use nippy forward #2. It's all much of a muchness.

You're missing the point. Shola will be back and Best is a similar type of player. The question I'm asking is: does our squad lend itself to this sort of formation? Seems to me that a 4-4-2 or a 4-5-1 doesn't really suit the players we have.

He's got to say something.