Punk77

He is one of a front 3, which is a bit different to being a wide man in say 442. Didn't know that...Well spotted

Impressive by Swansea's goalscorer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Sinclair 32 matches and 16 goals. And he's a winger..

You got to remember that Europe will lead to extra income, and we will be more attractive for players. So we should be able to acquire the necessary depth in our squad to handle the extra fixtures.

But crap defending from their left back, McCartney. He eliminated the offside trap completely. What's worse is that he had stood in a position where he had complete oversight over the line. He should have adjusted himself accordingly.

Normally I agree, but it's Barton we're talking about. We saved his f***ing career. He owes us!

You have one valid point NG. He should be allowed to speak the truth, telling that MA should invest Carroll's money into new players. Nobody disagrees about that. What I react on is his hesitation of signing a new contract, because he owes NUFC a new contract after all the s*** he's done. Why couldn't he just sign that bloody deal to show his intent. I wouldn't have reacted that he after signing had gone out and said that now he's fulfilled his part, now it's MA turn to do his. It's almost as he thinks that if he signs, that eliminates his chance to tell his opinion. That wrongful thinking. He could disagree with some of the policy, but still be loyal to the club.

Nolan doesn't function as an AM, he's too slow. Not able to keep the ball, and leaves us vulnerable for counter attacks due to his ball losses. His mobility is not good enough either. So he ends up running between the attacker and the midfield, not filling either role sufficiently. If Loven fails to shake of his injury, I actually wants Kuqi to start, with Ranger replacing him around the 60th minute of the game. Kuqi's running will wear the defenders out, making Ranger too hot to handle when he's replacing Kuqi.

Davies is a tanker alright: he's utter class in the air. Although this season he's proved that people don't need to be young to be able to develop their game.

Of course

That's where you're wrong. Loven takes many solid runs without being used. Because of Nolan we don't have a cm that's able to serve him the balls we need (through balls behind the defense, either on ground or in air). Barton is able to do this, but since he plays as RM he's often crossing the ball to the other side. It's much harder to hit a through ball from his position. Loven is not that gong ho as Ranger: He doesn't run that much, but his runs are good and accurate. If he's calledd off for offside, it's often very marginal or a wrong decision. We need an attacker today that constantly is trying to break through Bolton's defense. That's what physical teams hate: passing and through balls on the ground in the longitudinal direction. We will not win this game by hitting those long balls. That's also why we played so well against Bham and Burn: we kept the ball on the ground.

Fuck! We need his runs today. Ranger is also having max effect when used as a impact sub because then he's fit while the defenders are starting to feel the fatigue.

Is it so that Arsenal have to win the carling cup tomorrow for the 7th place to be granted Europe?

That was a beautiful picture. Do you have a high resolution version?

In my first post regarding this topic, I stated that talent and continuity from the club interacts. First, you got to have talent to succeed, which Enrique has. But regardless, this talent needs to be developed in correct settings, eg. being able to play football on the highest level, through many years, without being punished for mistakes made due to inexperience. Consequently, if you doesn't have talent or focus, you end up like Perch. However, you can have a shitload of talent, but it will not released if you don't receive the proper backup or mentoring. This mentoring Enrique has received from the club. In other words, to succeed as a player you're dependent on TWO factors: one, you need to have some talent, work ethic or focus. But secondly, you also need a club that sees your potential and backs you up, even though you don't deliver immediately. This even applied for CRonaldo, as I've mentioned earlier. And both those factors applies for Enrique, but I argue that the second factor has been more important for his development than the former.. Accordingly those factors varies in importance from player to player. Some has more talent, and needs less development and takes the level immediately, while others needs more time, like Enrique. In fact, most players depend more on the second than the first factor. And as a result, I mean that Enrique owes the club a new contract so that we're able to recoup our outlay if we have to sell him because his ambitions has outgrown ours.

Got to remember that in our 5-1 loss we had a midfield consisting of Smith and an unfit Guthrie. That's a cakewalk for most teams. I think Bolton will be very satisfied with a draw today. In other words, they will sit deep, gambling on counter attacks through long balls behind the defense (Davis flicking through) or they will move all their tankers up in the box if awarded a decent free kick or a corner kick. In other words, as long as we avoid those free kicks and pay attention when the sudden long ball is played, we will be fine.

Ideally I would like to see him get through todays game without a booking. Everton is a team with a very high max capacity. And without Tiote, I'm afraid Arteta could have himself a party. Stoke away and Wolfes home are teams we have a good chance of beating regardless, as long as we avoid unnecessary corners and free kicks in good positions.

It's not his fault that the opponents are weak inferior souls that can't handle the wrath of God.

Sorry, but the two first seasons, Enrique was not our star performer, like he's now. In fact, he was shit sometimes. Often being directly the cause of goals: misplaced, forgetting to mark his man, making far to many risky passes in defense that sometimes were intercepted and led to dangerous attacks against us. If we've had the same lack of patience with him as we've had with many others, he may have been sitting on the bench instead, missing the continuity that he needed to develop into the player he's today. So you're actually missing cause and effect here. Enrique didn't become good player DESPITE NUFC (that attributes every accomplishment of his with him as an individual) Enrique became the player he's today BECAUSE of NUFC. This club enabled him to play on the highest level DESPITE his early wrongdoings. That he experienced some turmoils, so what? He's a professional, and earns more in a week than most do in a year. He should be grateful, and not complaining about club's lack of ambitions when the club in reality was the cause of him raising his ambitions in the first place.

Are you sure about that? Maybe he just want to secure his place in heaven?

Looks from that like he's made the difference between staying up and going down again. I think he's our most important player. Without him Nolan's weaknesses would have been revealed to much greater degree. He's invaluable, much more so than Carroll.

http://www.journallive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2011/02/25/gutierrez-worried-he-will-lose-his-compadres-61634-28232798/ I find this a bit irritating : I can to an extent that Enrique is a tad skeptical. But he should also remember his debt to NUFC. Enrique may have some talent, but he is a much better player now than when he joined us. And while some of that improvement should credited to his hard work, the better part of it should be credited his club, who allowed him to continue playing on a REGULAR basis, despite his many junior during the first years (Enrique's errors against Fham and Bham are classical representations of errors he made frequently in his early days). He's soon finished with his fourth year, but it wasn't before the season in Championship that he started to pay us back. And this season is his first good season in PL. In other words, NUFC made him the player he's today. The same goes with Barton too, we took him when nobody else was willing to touch him with an iron rod. NUFC believed in both players, despite their early failings. But when NUFC finally is starting to reap the rewards for its patience, the players are suddenly talking about the club not matching their ambitions, forgetting totally what the club has done for them! They owe the club to sign new contracts. If the club still fails to match their ambitions, at least NUFC is able to command a price that reflects their value. That will not be the case if they don't sign. And that's a big difference! I could have understood their reservations if they had been the club's star performers from day one. But they weren't'. In fact, NUFC had to wait for many seasons before they delivered. If it wasn't for that particular club patience, Barton and Enrique could been playing for small clubs now, earning petty cash compared to what they're currently on. I will be very disappointed if they don't sign. Sadly, their moral compasses will then point in the corrupted direction that football generally is heading towards today.

I for one think Carroll probably was a bit naive, and was given given some bad advise.. Carroll signing a £80 a week contract resulted in a very positive economical upturn for Carroll and the agent. As a consequence, the latter shithead had every incentive to unsettle him. That is the problem with agents generally, they ignore important sporting factors such as his age, that he's still undeveloped, that he's young and therefore needs to be in a stable environment to develop, like his home club. Had the agent given Carroll such advise, it's not sure that he would have demanded a new contract at all..

Everybody wanted Carroll to stay. But the money for him makes it possible to buy plenty of solid talents that will secure the long term future of this club. Carroll is good, but he's not better than the combined force of all the players that replace him. That can lead us to Europe.

In addition to what Northerngimp has mentioned: The club was interested in giving him a new contract. But Carroll decided he wanted to be the best paid player in the club. And that's an absurd demand they couldn't say yes to. And Carroll was already on a much better contract than Tiote. Source for all that? Unconfirmed source, so you nailed me there.. But, what i do know is that Pardew has confirmed that Carroll came into his office asking for a new contract, but Carroll turned and left when Pardew asked how much he wanted.. But you can't have both, that's the reality. Without Carroll money= no longterm Tiote contract.Sad but true.