Hughesy

Wasn't sure where to dump this and it is written by Alan Oliver... http://www.people.co.uk/sport/football/news/2011/02/06/mike-ashley-to-stay-at-newcastle-and-splash-andy-cash-102039-22902145/

Deserves so much overdue credit. Some people's opinions about him are just ridiculous.

Apparently has delayed contract discussions until we have guaranteed safety. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1353870/Newcastle-Sunderland-Andy-Carroll-Darren-Bent-departures.html?

Not sure if this has any weight to it at all but thought I'd add to the 'did Carroll want to leave' debate - but a work colleague (a Liverpool fan) says his dad works with Wraith's dad. Apparently there quite a few more texts from Carroll stating that he was forced to leave.

Not really sure how anyone can blame (as they have done) Pardew for this. Was he meant to start writing the cheques himself?

He was pretty woeful last night - but I have to say it was more the service than anything else. Think we need to work what he is going to be (above and beyond an impact sub). He certainly isn't strong enough nor his hold up play good enough for him to be a target man. I think he is much better playing off he main striker and playing on the shoulder of the last defender. Definitely needs to improve his positional play though and general awareness.

As if Jonas was even close to our worst player tonight.

As if any pundits are any good anyway. It's all blindingly obvious. I can count on one hand the number of times any pundit anywhere has ever said anything particularly enlightening.

I don't get what more could be done though? Carroll Tell him to f*** off and wait till the summer. What would that have achieved? Postponing the inevitable, as well as the transfer fee potentially decreasing? Meanwhile we've got a high-profile player unhappy at the club. So what? Give him a new contract when he earns it not when he demands it. Why would his value have gone down? Liverpool were gonna offer him it then and there. There's no way he wasn't gonna end the month without the contract he wanted. Eh? He can't go until we accept a bid. We don't give him another contract and we don't accept the bid. Carroll stays. Simple. Or we state that Carroll can only go yesterday if or when we find an appropriate replacement. If we don't get one, Carroll stays.

I don't get what more could be done though? Carroll Tell him to f*** off and wait till the summer. What would that have achieved? Postponing the inevitable, as well as the transfer fee potentially decreasing? Meanwhile we've got a high-profile player unhappy at the club. So what? Give him a new contract when he earns it not when he demands it. Why would his value have gone down?

I don't get what more could be done though? Carroll, presumably, wanted us to match Liverpool's wages. Damn right we refused and ended up getting a colossal fee in compensation for a pretty massive loss. The fact we rejected previous bids showed to me that no one at the club wanted him to go. The Ashley cartoon that people have constructed would have accepted the first bid of £23m. Reject the bid and refuse to let him go??

Not posted all day. Just not sure where to even begin. Just utterly bemused and confused.

No doubt, but Ben Arfa barely speaks a word of English and I doubt that they will understand each other that well and be able to develop a great understanding during just a couple of weeks. And I'm agreeing with you about Jonas, I'd sell him if we got decent money in, but don't change something right now. We're on track to finish top half and challenging for that Europa League qualifier spot, why change it now? Rubbish. Jose had the easiest afternoon of his career against Everton with Ben Arfa down the left because Ben Arfa was busy murdering Everton every time he touched the ball. Again, remember that it was also way to easy as they had no threat on their right flank. But again play Tottenham with Lennon - Hutton, Man Utd with Rafael - Nani, Arsenal with Walcott - Sagna and it will be much harder. Trust me I'd love to see Ben Arfa and Jose working together, and while i believe he'd be more effective (might be wrong) centrally behind the striker theres no doubt that if they clicked they'd be the deadliest left flank in the Premier League. It might be one of those cases then where we build the team to adapt to what Ben Arfa does, ala Ginola. Because if shows the kind of form he did against Everton then we'll murder teams, especially at home. In the case of Jonas, he links up well with Jose obviously, but remember Opta posting on twitter that he's only completed 15% of his crosses this season, which is f***ing dire. He's very strong on the ball, quick and a decent passer. I'd be half tempted to experiment with him in the hole behind the front man next pre-season just to see if he could play there. How did 15% compare to other wingers? I can't believe that any cross conversion rate is very high.

Genuinely don't get how anyone can object to this. He was excellent 2 seasons ago. Prior to that he was pretty good. He's had a couple of off-seasons (both where, for one reason or another, he's been frozen out). We have him on loan. We need bodies in the squad. Don't get the whole 'ruining team spirit' argument. If the team spirit is that great, the addition of Ireland is not going to disrupt it. If it does, the team spirit can't have been all that great to start with... So what if he doesn't fit into the current rigid system - we need more than 11 players and need to be able to adapt our team to different games and situations.

ha ha - you clown.

It won't be like he's forgotten how to kick a ball...

They always are to be honest. I actually think this might be one of the more interesting ones..

Losing 4-0 at Southend. Losing 4-1 at home to Wolves (Steve Bull hat trick).

Would be ridiculous to sell him.

Just saw that... seems unlikely!

Except the commentator was Paul Walsh - a moron.

He's clearly done well. Don't know how anyone can dispute that.

What if one or two of them are injured? If we can get him in without promising him 1st team football - all for it myself.

Do they still think they play good football? I don't think I've ever seen them play good football. They're more route one than we are.

Played very well today.