Punk77

Stop copying me you bastard

IMO Chelsea has not done their homework properly. They do not need Torres. What they actually need is a midfield that consist of players that fit together. As already mentioned, they have no wide play, and therefore try to pass everything through the middle. Instead of Torres, Chelseas should have bought a fast offensive midfielder, capable to distribute balls to left and right, and a fast winger on the right. This would have resulted in a team in balance, instead of a midfield now that consist of brutes only. With wings constantly bombarding the box with crossers, the job for Anelka and Drogba is easy.

Chelsea is crap. Notice the complete lack of movement. You got to move if want to beat good defensive teams like Fulham. They have no wide play at all. Consequently they struggle when they meet teams that match their own physicality.

I can remember Paul Warhurst the Sheffield Wednesday centre half in the late eighties I think. They put him up front after an injury crisis to their regular strikers and he couldnt stop scoring. He ended up being picked for England as a striker! Ahh, the good old Warhurst. I used to buy him all the time when I played Championship Manager 92-96. Those times..

thing is thats only 2 more games Correct, thank god for the FA-cup this coming weekend. If we can grab a draw and a victory before Everton, I'm satisfied. In March we'll have three quality players back, and Kuqi-monster has taken the PL with storm..

As already mentioned, keeping Enrique, Barton and Tiote must be first priority. I don't want any big signings, because of the risk involved. For example, it was mentioned that if we buy two players costing £7.5 millions each, and give them both a contract worth £50 000 a week, then all the money for Carroll's sale will be gone after a lousy four years. Consequently, the room for error is pretty limited when investing heavily in few players. Therefore, I rather want us to repeat the recipe of Tiote. Scout Europe, be patient, and do not buy before we find players that fit the bill: young, promising, hard working and a mind that goes with the rest of the group. A strong advantage with buying players other countries is that they're not on high salaries. Instead of forking out a shitload of money without correlated proof on the pitch (typical for the average pl-players), we let them have a go, and renegotiate the contract if they do well. Also, if we buy smart, we can afford mistakes. Tiote is now worth at least 10 times the sum we bought him for. If we sell him (god forbid) we can make 7-8 mistakes on the market, before we have to strike gold again. Also, another danger in investing heavily in few players is the danger of being overly dependent on them. Liverpool paid Cole a huge sign on fee, and a handsome weekly pay. But a single player cannot cary a team alone. Therefore it is in my opinion better to buy three four "low maintenance" players that in sum will improve the squad to a greater degree than one individual. That will also cover us in case of injuries. Conclusion: If MA listen to me, heaven is the limit for NUFC

pretty much spot on Spot on indeed. They way City and Chelsea are run, is ruining the PL imo. It is just plain stupid to buy players for £70 million a couple of days after the announcement of a deficit of similar size. Both clubs are utterly owner dependent. No senior player in chelsea is paid below £80 000. I wonder what will happen with that club if Abrah. decides enough is enough. I guess he will have problems with selling the club though. No man is willing to take over a club full of elderly players on very high salaries.

he is certainly the best 'footballer' i've seen us have at CB. i can only think of Woodgate who was as good at defending. well, the odd game he managed to play in he was anyway... Colo is outstanding. But he lacks the physical presence of Woodgate to surpass him. Colo's problems are shown not when he meets he likes of Torres, but when he's up against brutes like Roberts.

It's a huge myth that we "deserve" to be one of the top clubs in Europe. We're slightly underachieving relative to our stadium capacity, yes, but even if we fluke ourselves into the Champions league a couple times we are never, ever going to be on par with Man United, Barcelona, or even Liverpool for that matter. Disagree. The way the football economy is now, with clubs spending like idiots, the shit will hit the fan. And that includes Man U and Liverpool. Castle have a 52 000 seater capacity, and during the Bobby days, we could easily have filled 60 000, and that's for a club that has not won anything major since the 60s. Look at Liverpool in their down period under benitez, they had a 10 000 seats vacant. And Man U will soon be without Alex, and what will happen then. Do you actually think those asians are interested to fill the stadium up if the going gets tough? Without a silverware each season, their stadium would still have been a mediocre one.. Of course status has something to do with silverware, but the fans ability to stick with the club during tough time could be an indicator of its size when it achieves success. Good fanbase, an even bigger stadium (which we can fix if we stabilize) draws players, simple as that. Stop looking down on yourself...

Right now we're a feeder club. But that's only temporary. Few clubs have greater potential than Castle, it's the underachiever club number uno. Get some more good prospects in, establish us in the table spots that give us European league, filling up the stadium with thousands in line for a season ticket, then we will stop being a feeders club. Then we could increase the capacity of St James too..

Got to agree. Agree too. For now I think Forster has greater potential than Krul because of his height. Against areal teams like Stoke, he is able to pick more of those throw ins than most. On the other hand I've heard that Forster (because of his height) is not that quick with his feet. Someone seen some Celtic games who can share some views on that particular development in Forster's play?

Most of baines quality delivery comes from set pieces He is nowhere near as effective as Enrique offensively or defensively Bains delivers some fantastic crossers in open play too. They're hard and precise. Enrique's crossers are on the other hand frequently too loose and lofty, which makes the attacker's job harder. He had some good crossers yesterday though, but he also had examples where he under no pressure managed to deliver some inferior crossers. As Madras already has pointed out, he needs to be more consistent in his deliveries. That will take him to another level. Let us all prey that he signs a new contract before then..

you say that like he puts in loads of crosses every game, fact is his distribution is his weak point, too many simple passes go astray. cuts tham out and he's a champs league/spanish intl. Exactly.

Enrique is fantastic defensively, but he needs some improvement in his offensive play where Baines is a class above him. I don't think Baines is so good as Enrique in his defensive play though,.

Never thought that about Carroll either, eh? If a top club offer a better deal than what he has got here, he is off. Maybe I'm far out, but Enrique seems more down to earth, while Carroll on the other hand likes to be the center of attention. Differences in culture may also hit in. Spaniards are more family oriented while in UK are more oriented towards the anglo-american values when it comes to salaries: It's deemed alright to exit an organization if you're paid enough, and good pay increases status. Maybe that's why you see more players being loyal to their clubs in Spain and Italy..Or am I talking shit right now...

he's got to be pinching himself like. Fair play to the lad, would love him to become a cult hero. He's probably pinching himself and that's why he will bleed for the jersey. Never underestimate people with passion. That can sometimes make up for lack of skills. And as Pardew pointed out: that's one of the reasons why he brought him in. He's a well liked, serious guy, and they sometimes rise to the occasion when given the chance. I really hopes he bags plenty of goals. We need another cult heroo!

He was extreme today, a class above the rest. If he's sold this summer, he will be very expensive. One more season and he's the best defensive midfielder in the league. It's unique that a player in that position has the ability to pass the ball so nicely as he does. It enables us to keep the pressure. A very good example of this was a situation around the midfield where he was surrounded by two burn players. Plenty of midfielders (and smith in particular) would have played the support pass back to keeper. Tiote on the other hand took a 180 degree turn and immediately hit an excellent pass to Barton who was on the opposite side of the midfield. Instead of Harper clearing the ball, that little piece of brilliance kept us in the attacking position.

I don't think Enrique is the kind of person who leaves because he's not paid enough. Two factors decide his future: 1. We avoid the relegation battle, and end the season preferable around the middle of the table. 2. We invest in some promising players. If both those factors are satisfied, he stays.

You got to be joking. He was MOM in my opinion. He had the midfield in his pocket, passed the ball brilliantly and denied burn room. That took them out of the game. They were not able to pass..

Todays match was a huge step in the right direction. Can't remember last time we dominated so much. Ironic that we did not bag all points. As already mentioned, it seems like we now are a bit more organized. When you factor in all the injuries and difficult opponents I'm satisfied with the development.

Feels like forever, but we've met some very solid opponents and have a horrific injury list. Remember that we are a promoted team. We look more solid for each game, and will have great players back from injury soon.

A very good game by us. Did everything but score. Cannot complain, because we've lost six matches in a row against Burn. Tiote, Williamson, Enrique and Barton was good today. Tiote mom in my opinion. He owned the midfield. Our attackers need to be more on the alert though. Some of the crossers by Enrique should have been expedited. And Jonas' crossers need more improvement. He had tons of wasted opportunities today.Should have done better.

Spot on! His defensive duties cannot be underestimated. He gives Enrique a lot of help. Also he's frequently awarded free kicks in good positions. And we've scored on many of them. I thought that taking Jonas off at SOS was our downfall tbh, he's a good outlet when defending even if it is just to get the ball further down the pitch with a run. I reacted on that substitution too. When we're in the lead, and the game is coming to an end, it's strange to substitute one of the most devoted players we got.

Spot on! His defensive duties cannot be underestimated. He gives Enrique a lot of help. Also he's frequently awarded free kicks in good positions. And we've scored on many of them.

Altintop is class, but he's too old, and he's used to play in CL for Bayern. It's risky business to buy players who see their new club as a step DOWN in their career. If Altintop signs for us, it's only for the money, and we've seen what good that has done to us before. For those reasons, I predicted that Cole would be a flop in Pool, and I was spot on. We got to buy players that have a hungry mentality. Players who view castle as a steppingstone (HBA maybe..) or as a upgrade from their previous club. They know castle will be their chance to make it the big league, and as a result they will put in some effort.