LucaAltieri

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.

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.