LucaAltieri

Aye... Ranger while he's away. Forgot we loaned him out... fucking bare bones. Panic! Panic!

In my opinion, Chris Hughton's primary contribution to the club was forming a team spirit. However, a close second was his willingness to break away from 4-4-2 and implement a 4-5-1/4-4-1-1 which better suited the players we had at our disposal. Likewise, in Keegan's second stint here we got some great results out of shaking things up, playing Owen just behind the forward line, and approaching the game in a different way. Now we have lost Andy Carroll and all the great target man qualities he brought to the team, is it time for us to toy with another plan B in terms of formation and tactics? As we are all painfully aware: we lack forwards of the right quality. So what qualities do we still have in the team that we can utilise? I'd suggest the major positives we have are: - Enrique's wing play - The pace of Routledge & Ranger - Shola's ability to hold up the ball - Tiote - Barton being a one-man midfield - Simpson's delivery - Colo's ability to read play - Jonas' dribbling/ability to keep the ball With this in mind, I think it might be worth us experimenting with a 5-2-3/3-4-3/5-4-1 system using wing backs. Something along the lines of: - - - - - - - - - Harper - - - - Taylor - Colo - Williamson Simpson - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Enrique - - - - - - Barton - - - Tiote Routledge - - - - - - - - - - - - Jonas - - - - - - - - - - Shola Ok, hear me out... The Benefits Having an extra centre half allows Simpson and Enrique more feedom going forward, as there's always someone who can come across to cover should we gte hit on the counter attack. Likewise, there is always the spare man in the middle to 1) pick up an opposition player breaking into the box from midfield, 2) to come across if an opposition winger cuts inside. When sitting back we have a numbers advantage. If the ball is played through the middle, Colo has the freedom to take a step forward and cut out the pass. Likewise, it means Tiote and Barton don't have to worry about marking a player sitting in the hole just in front of the defence... again Colo can pop forward when necessary to cover that. Jonas and Routledge can sit higher up the pitch meaning we always have a couple of outlets for us to direct the play towards when breaking from defence. In addition to that, Shola has made decent contributions in the target man role recently when it comes to holding the ball up. Should Shola get the ball he could play it out to either wing and have someone there to latch on to it. The formation also suits Barton and Tiote's range of passing. AND, if we're absolutely forced to play Smith, his cross-field passes should have someone running on to them. Barton and Tiote can chase down everything that comes through the middle without having to worry about covering the wings (as Barton often does) as Taylor can assist on the right side and Williamson on the left (also, Jonas is often back covering for Enrique anyway). Tiote and Barton could dominate the centre of the park defensively and are reliable when knocking the ball forward. As a lot of teams are now playing 4-3-3/4-5-1, having the extra man at the back allows us to crowd out their forward line. And finally, this formation lets us make the most of our limited squad. McLoven and Ranger are ready made replacements on the left and right, offering similar options to Jonas and Routledge... although Loven is arguably better with his final ball and shooting than Jonas. Ben Arfa would also be able to play that left-sided forward position. Best can play that Shola role equally as well... and would arguably offer a bit more as he is more mobile. We have cover for the wing back roles in Jonas on the left and Ryan Taylor on the right. Perch could also cover either side... it may actually get the best out of him as he is athletic, and there would be less pressure on him as there would always be someone to come across to cover should they get past him. Having that safety net might be enough in itself to make him more confident and a better player. An extra centre back means we are more of an aerial threat from set plays. The Possible Flaws - It's a relatively untested formation. When Shearer implemented something similar in our relegation season it showed some promise but a lot of the players didn't seem sure of their role. It would require some practice and a lot of coaching, but we are pretty much drifting from now until the end of the season anyway. Why not give it a run out? - Kevin Nolan doesn't fit into this system. For that reason alone I would only consider it a plan B option if Nolan is having another of his invisible performances or is injured/out for some reason. - Our attacking play could become fairly one dimsenional since Routledge and Simpson don't have much in way of range of passing. They both like to stick to the wing and cross (badly) into the box. That's not how we should play this system. There'd need to be more pass-and-move. I'd have no such worries about Enrique and Jonas on the left side, though. - Is it actually better playing one shit striker as opposed to two shit strikers? Don't know. Worth a try, in my opinion.

Napoli fans are the best fans in the world, tbh. Even in Serie C1 they were still getting thousands turn up for the games. Proper football fans.

But is commonly called the San Siro, even in Italy.

Reading the italian papers today. They call it the "strangest" transfer of the window. 35mil on a player who has scored so few goals, is currently injured, made only 1 token appearance for the national side, and is more well known for his actions off the pitch. Interesting outsider perspective.

Difficult to tell, really. There are loads of players who were undoubtedly better than Carroll is currently. But who knows how good he may become. Certainly Shearer, Sir Les, Cole, Beardsley, & Bellamy are better players from our recent history. The question as whole is a bit irrelevant. Historically, he was never going to be our best ever striker... but he's the best one we had this season. That's the important/tragic part.

Altidore, FFS. i'd rather stick my cock in a mangle.

No idea about strikers but I would still like to see us in for Dario Conca. He pisses excellence.

Just moved to a Mexican team, I think. Genuinely would feel as if we could stay up if we brought the old man in. He's still fucking playing? Christ.

Cuauhtémoc Blanco?

BLACK POWER!

Money to burn, bitches.

Impact sub only, please. Once he's managed to knock a couple in then think about starting him.

So we're officially playing 4-6-0 then?

Has this been confirmed yet?

First a bid for N'Zogbia, now a bid for Chopra. Silly season!

Had a bid for Hamsik accepted. Not really a Carroll replacement but a good signing imo.

Zamora is just about fit again now, isn't he?

Nah mate, you're confused. He's not 6'7"... he's 67.

Hopefully we'll sign some obscure, Serbian, brick shithouse target man we have been secretly scouting for 6 months.

I don't understand why Carroll would be up for this. Maybe if he was on his way to Spurs I could understand it, but Liverpool are still a team in turmoil, he won't be a guaranteed first team choice at Liverpool, Unlikely to make Europe, selling off their best player, and as a Geordie he must hate Dalglish... it's the law. Silly boy.

I'd agree. His career hasn't exactly been stellar since he left either. He was skilful but not strong enough or quick enough. Exactly. We took a punt on a promising young player and it didn't work out. It happens. No one else has managed to get the best out of him either so he probably just wasn't up to it.

Not sure why people keep mentioning Viana... or am I going to get whooshed? I think we could have got a bit more out of Milner, although not a great deal. He came on a bit at Villa but he's never going to be a world beater. Agree with those who've mentioned Ambrose and Saha. Babayaro is another one. He was a decent player but we couldn't get the best out of him for whatever reason. Same with Carr, sort of. Alright, he was a limited player, but our midfield did little to protect him and our attack wasn't very mobile so we needed our full backs pushing forward... Carr wasn't up to it. He probably came out looking worse than he really was. Parker is another one. We were asking the world and not really playing to his strengths.

As happy as I am now, the Newcastle fan in me knows that at some point in the future we will regret not cashing-in.