Punk77

It's because HBA is probably one of the quickest and the most technical player in PL that I want to rest him against particular opponents. Consequently he'll be much more susceptible for idiotic tackles made by slow and fat players like Henry, Cattermole and De Jong than many others. It's not about intimidation, it's about facing the facts. We're probably not going to win away against City or Manure. And it's not those teams we'll have to beat if we want Europe. It's Everton Tham etc. And Wolves we should manage to beat anyways, without HBA: SAF is one of the best managers in that area, he rotates players according to opponents he's up against.

Get lost, man. It's a reason why there are almost no playmakers in the PL. And the few that exists, spends most of their time in the injury room, eg Fabregas and Arteta. I think the toughness of PL could explain some of that absence. It's important to rotate players according to the opponents we're up against. Away against City is not the place we should take three points anyway. Why risk him?

Seriously, he should be rested against the more physical and brutal teams, for example Wolves and Man City. His pace and acceleration will obviously cause De Jong or Henry to mistime their tackles once again, fucking cunts!

That's what the Sunday Sun article says. It's irrelevant whether it says we need to "sell to fund", because we don't know how much the cost of the striker and fullback would be. Cheap as cheesy chips as the Mackems would say as the agents cost more than the transfer fees according to Pardew . In the case of free transfers, I think that's pretty obvious. f*** no...it's around 1 million for Ba as a signing fee for the player and agent together! 2 max It's more than £1 mill, I guarantee you. Geremi received that amount when he signed. And that was some years back, and he was/is a shit player. The most attractive free agents could net around £10 mill in sign on fee I've heard. Ba is not in that category, but £3-4 mill combined on Ba and his agent is not unrealistic.

FCNU: Some contingencies you cannot plan: That Gameiro didn't want to leave France and Erdnic's clinch with his agent are not MA/Pards or Llambias' fault. It's very hard to get rid of deadwood when nobody wants it. Who wants to sign a crocked Smith who's netting £60 000 a week?

I just think that Ashley wants 'value for wages' with his players. The likes of Smith and Xisco are still a huge drain on resources and they contribute absolutely nothing of value. I firmly believe that if we were able to get a proven world-class player on £60,000+ a week that Ashley would do it. It's not about 'doing it on the cheap' for me, it's about getting value for money. Obviously, the mantra of if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys applies, but there are exceptions to that rule (see Tiote) and Ashley seems intent on finding more of those exceptions. It's a risky strategy but certainly more viable than the old Shepherd transfer policy. Also, I don't think it's a case of Pardew needing to raise transfer funds through player sales. I think if he was to remove what is estimated to be £100,000~ a week from the wage bill by getting shot of those two players (even on free transfers) then he'd be able to bring in two or maybe even three players in their place, depending on their wages of course. Additionally, it's not as if he's having to sell key players to get the wage budget down. Smith and Xisco contribute f*** all between them. The likes of Perch, R.Taylor and Routledge also aren't needed/the required standard and can be moved on too. I'd be interested to see what Ashley's policy would look like if Pardew removed all of these chaff/high earning players from the wage bill and we moved up the table gradually as a result. If he doesn't sell the club as you suggested, would he begin to invest and chase the European spots in order to garner more revenue? It's guesswork.

Sturridge on loan with an option to buy would have been fantastic. But we're so in need of a striker that I will take him without that buy clause too. Hopefully he'll contribute to us pushing for Europe, which will make it possible for us to buy him next year, or a striker of similar quality and potential..

Best got potential. What he lacks first and foremost is concentration. Pards is working on that particular part of his game however..

http://www.journallive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2011/07/15/jose-enrique-leaves-nufc-transfer-plans-in-limbo-61634-29056832/2/ http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/football/newcastle/9141476.Pardew__Enrique_will_leave_Newcastle/ If Enrique is as good as we think he is, we'll have no problems selling him this summer. After all, the buyer will get one of the better lb in Pl for half the price. And the competition for him will be even stronger if he's a free agent, which some clubs probably want to avoid.

. Yep, it's very unlikely that he will sign for us. But a lot can happen before the window shuts. It will be nice to have the money on hand if he or a player of similar potential suddenly become available.

Agreed. Although it would have been nice to see the Zog in black and white again, there's other positions that need to be strengthened first. If £13-14 mill could tempt Chelsea to depart with Sturridge. I'd rather see that happening than than us using £9 mill on Zog and a similar, or probably less sum on a striker. Not that I believe Chelsea will sell him for that price, but the owner is an unstable fuck who's capable of doing strange things .Sturridge and that dude from Crystal Palace would have been great

Yeah, I just believe that the current squad is capable of taking us much higher than 12th place the coming season, hence my point of steady improvement. Quality on pitch = better league position

Sorry man, but i disagree. I much more prefer MA to a rich Sheik who wants to use this club as his personal playground. The club is now in much healthier shape than the era of Fat Fred. We actually got some good players too. Promising youth is also knocking on the door, which they certainly didn't earlier. We've made gradual SUSTAINABLE improvement each season. How the f*** is this bad? Oh yeah, the improvement's been f***ing astonishing. I sometimes think about moaning and then recall the glory of the past 4 years and think better of it. Yeah: Tiote is no improvement compared to Butt, HBA is a crap player that must be sold immediately. Cabaye is plays for a shitty national team, Colo is a sub par defender with no technique what so ever. BA was useless in a seriously good team previous season, and Barton and Enrique are just utter shit. That's SEVEN horrible players. And still we have crap talents in Ferguson, Gosling, Vukic and Krul . The latter have had some cameos for a stinky national team. Whether you like it or not, progress is first and foremost measured through the quality of the players on the pitch, and we have not at all made any impact on that particular area the last seasons.

:clap:

I'm not apologizing for the mistakes MA previously has done. But I'm pointing out that I like the direction the club is heading. We need probably one or two more signings, and we're capable of pushing for Europe. That Gameiro and Erdnic are not coming, is not Pards or MA's fault..Some of you have a serious attribution problem: Everything bad that happens must be MA's fault, even when it's obviously not.

Sorry man, but i disagree. I much more prefer MA to a rich Sheik who wants to use this club as his personal playground. The club is now in much healthier shape than the era of Fat Fred. We actually got some good players too. Promising youth is also knocking on the door, which they certainly didn't earlier. We've made gradual SUSTAINABLE improvement each season. How the fuck is this bad?

Doesn't seem to harm the team spirit having Coloccini on those wages. If they're worth it i think we should sanction big wages, even if it is just on one player. Even then having a complete waste of space like Smith on big wages was a non-issue. Colo was given those wages before the salary cap was implemented..Big difference.

Confirmed by the club: http://www.swanseacity.net/page/Latest/0,,10354~2392858,00.html

That is your right, but you're still wrong! He has few assists, but so do Cole and Evra. But if you check Enrique's general involvement in the build up play before any goals scored, I think you'll find him missing (3rd involvement , making an offensive run that opens space for others etc). I for one struggle to remember situations where I obviously could see enrique contributing. Happy if people could prove me wrong though...

In my reply to Ian, I wrote that he's good at getting forward (if you define forward as offensive runs). But his involvements don't lead to goals. More often than not he gets blinkers when he's approaching the opponent's box. As a consequence he makes the wrong choices: dribbling when he shouldn't, losing the ball, incapable of delivering good crossers even when he's under no pressure at all, passing the ball to the wrong player failing to use Jonas when he overlaps (Jonas is not good enough in that particular area either) etc. He needs to become more decisive when he's attacking. If he does, he'll be on the Spanish team soon.

You what? He's good at getting forward, but he's often making the wrong choices when he's around the opponent's box.

I have great faith in young ferguson. Enrique is almost impotent in attack, so Ferguson will have no problem in surpassing him in that particular area. The big question is his defensive skills..

I can understand him. It's likely that he'll be second choice with us. But that would probably hamper his development. He's in an age were he needs to play day in and day out to get better.

Who's fault is it? Zog for example. He loves the club, but is still not willing to arrange himself according to the current wage structure. That could make him a hypocrite. As I've mentioned before: It's could be dangerous to break the wage structure for one player, because it will set precedence for all future contract negotiations. If Zog gets 60 a week, I guarantee that Enrique will demand an identical salary, or more. Accordingly the club has initiated a negative spiral that is very difficult to stop. If we haven't bid for him all that is irrelevant though. That is true.

Who's fault is it? Zog for example. He loves the club, but is still not willing to arrange himself according to the current wage structure. That could make him a hypocrite. As I've mentioned before: It's could be dangerous to break the wage structure for one player, because it will set precedence for all future contract negotiations. If Zog gets 60 a week, I guarantee that Enrique will demand an identical salary, or more. Accordingly the club has initiated a negative spiral that is very difficult to stop.