Anderson

I don't like Pearce either, but weren't they 5-0 up when he did that? 1-1 according to the web. Didn't he help win a penalty in the dying seconds which was then hit wide?

http://i.imgur.com/XlXNe.jpg

Cabaye was back today, does that just leave Hatem still to come back? Not sure why he wasn't in today.

Santon looks like the most excited of the three to be getting his photo taken.

http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20120723/an-evening-with-pardew-and-carver_2281670_2857909?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Wasn't sure where to stick this, probably more relevant to here than the Tiote thread... Just stumbled across this again, looking back it's great to watch and also quite interesting. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/9407235.stm The tide had just begun to turn in Pardew's favour after the 4-4 and it now seems like this was something of a statement of intent. Some quotes that stood out: "He's a young player, he's dynamic and that's what we want the team to be." ( mission accomplished so far) "Mike wanted to make that statement [that we're not a selling club] with Cheik." "I think he understands the club now. I think he wants to try and build something and hopefully this is the start of that." Tiote also mentions making the top 5 next season, he knew. He also looks so young without his Mr T haircut.

Wasn't aware of this, what was our final offer for de Jong? Can imagine us testing the water with a similar figure.

Definitely. I'd be willing to wager a fair amount that if Ba had offered the same level of performances in the second half of the season, but managed to net a couple tap-ins that there would be non of this.

The thing is, just as an example, say we replace Ba with Hoilett, it would lead us to play in a more rigid formation almost resembling a 4-5-1. That's because someone like him would be too similar to Ben Arfa so you'd end up with those two on either wing with Cisse having to stay completely central, so you're essentially restricting both Cisse and Ben Arfa and tying them down to one specific position, which would be to the detriment of the team. It's a subtle, but, IMO, massive change. Obviously, like Shak suggested, someone like Remy who is capable of playing both centrally as a striker and out wide would be ideal, but I don't think there are many players in that mould and more importantly players like that who would be available to us.

If we're classing players like Hoillett as advanced wide men I wouldn't say even that would suffice, it would leave us with Shola as third choice striker which, as much as I love the bloke, simply isn't on if we're wanting to consolidate our position or even try to push on.

If Ba were to leave we'd need two strikers in. One who's good enough to start for us and drop into the wider role when required, plus a Best replacement.

:anguish: That would also leave us with Cisse and Shola () as our only strikers. http://www.newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/Smileys/Newcastle-Online/anguish.gif

Fucking hell man, go have a long lie down and after that rewatch the Man Utd home game.

What a fucking knacker man. All things considered, VaVa has to be the stupidest twat around at the minute, charity dodging little twat too.

We've already seen something close to that at West Brom last season. Ben Arfa, who was for the most part on the right of the three, played a part in all three goals - setting one up from the left, breaking through the middle with Cisse to score and then again breaking down the middle, linking up with Ba, before moving out to the left to stick a ball into the box which bypassed Ba and was finished by Cisse who was hanging to the right as we broke. Coincidentally that was one of, if not, Ba's best performance since coming back from the ACON; hopefully with a fresh start we can once again see an in-form Ba which should then contribute to a much more fluid front three.

John Champion?

There's far too much importance placde on will he play left, will he play central, etc. I've said it before, but I'd hope that eventually we'll have a fluid and fully interchangeable front 3. We have 3 massively talented, but also diverse, forwards at the club currently and to tie them down to a rigid front three seems silly; they all offer different qualities and they're all very comfortable with the ball at their feet. We already saw signs of this last season; Demba spent a lot of time out wide and dropping deep to accommodate Cisse, but even before we had Cisse he looked his most effective when dropping deep (Man Utd at home being a shining example); Hatem would obviously relish a free role, he's undoubtedly at his most effective cutting in on his left from the right, but he also has a lot to offer playing through the middle and supplying the two big lads from the left; then in Cisse you have someone who genuinely looks like the complete forward, as well as being absolutely lethal in front of goal I can remember a couple times last season when he picked the ball up out wide and delivering a peach of cross.

Owen was doing a Q&A last night, inevitably it descended into a piss take, this one stood out... Sean Toner ‏@StonesLfc #askMOwen How much did it cost to advertise yourself at the Liverpool-Toronto match last night? pic.twitter.com/OtwPRnkC http://i.imgur.com/VQut1.jpg

Really don't understand the stupid cunts who make these sort of massive lays on Betfair.. Oddschecker @Oddschecker The Big Easy was matched at a whopping 469/1 @Betfair! Ouch.

Tbf to the little shit, there's not much you can say about this retweet... Sheby_23 ‏@sheby_23 @TheRealAC3 @piersmorgan Guess Whos winning... !! pic.twitter.com/FlFL7cjM http://i.imgur.com/4ldJr.jpg http://gifs.gifbin.com/1238584287_seinfeld_had_enough.gif

You know you've hit rock bottom when sicko turns up to fight your corner.

Second best's nowt to be ashamed of mind.

He'll be known for years to come as the Ginger Messi.

Dave out.