Lush Vlad

Indeed. Right or wrong, the Carroll sale will hang over our heads for a while when it comes to this sort of thing though. Hopefully it was genuinely a one off based on the massive fee. I'm starting to think maybe it is, but alomst every player has their price I suppose. For example if clubs did actually bid £25m for someone like Tiote, or Cabaye, I would expect us to sell. But I hope and don't think we are just going to start splitting the team up for the sake of a bit of profit. Probably naive, but I'm not so sure we are just a 'selling club'. The money for Carroll was ridiculous and in hindsight was a cracking deal for NUFC. Could be totally wrong mind, just positive of late after the Cisse signing. I can see it going either way to be honest.

Same thing happens to Jonas when he has a bit of competition, must be a subconscious (sp) thing. Can't see Shola putting more effort in even if we signed Drogba, Benzema and RVP though, he'll just be a lazy sod for the rest of his days

They would lose Tiote and Yaya for the same amount of time every ACN, can't see it.

Spot on! Been saying for ages, Smith off the wage bill could be the catalyst for keeping our better players, Colo in particular.

Hoping he's just playing the game obviously, but I didn't expect him to be back, hopefully fit for the Brighton game. Wonder who he'll play instead and whether he will stick with a flat midfield 4? I reckon R.Taylor or Abeid will play.

Whilst I agree some (myself included) in the past have overreacted to the "Hatem needs to work harder" stories, I am getting so sick of reading them. It's almost every other day Pards comes out with the same shit, just worded slightly differently. Is he just trying to justify not playing him on the wings earlier and absolve himself of any blame. Or is he just generally obssessed with Hatem doing as much running as Jonas? Either way it's tedious as fuck, he's our most talented attacking player available, he opens space for others and he can make something out of nothing. Still expecting to see Ryan Taylor start instead of him on Saturday.

Hopefully Pards gives an update. Must be doing his pre match press conference this afternoon?

What is Cisse's chance conversion rate then? I've seen that windypants chirping up about that on there a few times. Doesn't look like he'd struggle physically to me and most of the repsected journos seem to speak highly of him. His record in Germany is superior to Ba's and he's playing in a worse team, says a lot.... bitter mackem in a strop they didn't sign him? Probably. Oh and you'd have to do a shitload of digging, but they were all slating Erding when we were in for him, shit record, poor league, not even first choice etc. I'm sure he'll be class if they get him!

I was one of the few that didn't mind him in England and with Inter. He has just become even more wacky and arrogant and tries to beat Barca by trying to kill all their players. Utter nob.

TBF Madrid's team is littered with twats and Mourinho has become a right dick since going there. Sanchez impressed me tonight. Starting to find his feet, was a bit underwhelmed by him the first few times I see him. Loves an offside, he's bloody quick so not sure why he goes so early. Xavi was a boss, AGAIN. Real choked, AGAIN!

Pepe. The biggest cunt in world football bar none, I cannot stand him. As if the kicking and trying to injure opponents isn't enough, he's now taking playacting to a whole new level. Horrible, horrible, bug faced gimp.

Bit tired of reading this line Didn't he want too much money, we dropped our interest, he signed for sunderland 6 month later. Oh and Gardner they're just going to ignore the fact we had alreayd signed Cabaye for £2m ish less. Gardner is fucking terrible man. The last few days that forum has taken the bitter mackem stereotype to a whole new level.

Well it's the first time I have had a stab at a song, thought it up on the way into work this morning! You know it will just be 'There's only one Papiss Cisse' or 'Cisse, Cisse, Cisse'

His nickname's Dave, he's Demba's mate, Cisse, Cisse He'll score for fun at the Gallowgate, Cisse, Cisse Ellis Short paid for his flight, Now he'll give him sleepless nights, Papiss Cisse, Newcastle's Number 9 Or seeing as sadly it's incorrect: His nickname's Dave, he's Demba's mate, Cisse, Cisse He'll score for fun at the Gallowgate, Cisse, Cisse Mike Ashley paid for his flight, He'll give defenders sleepless nights, Papiss Cisse, Newcastle's Number 9

Mad stats! Didn't Ba get quite a few goals for Hoffenheim (sp) before he moved to West Ham as well? Before Wikipedia got blacked out I had worked out between them, in the last season and a half they had scored 64 in total!

So without trawling through every page, are there any Bundesliga fans on here? Record is amazing and he looks good on denniswisevids.com, but I've not seen him live TBH. Just know he's been mentioned in Prem transfer rumours for a long while and is clearly an off the shoulder type according to opta stats and how many times he's offside. Him and Ba have 64 goals between them in the last season and a half!

Back on the bench for Fulham?

http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=664015&page=2 Most seem to rate Cattermole over Tiote......

You're right bout the positive quotes, not quite sure I like the sound of "the coach likes the long, direct game. He often says, "cross it in the box" though Aye, Pards has obviously been talking to his mate Gary 'get the ball in the box' Birtles.

:lol: class Santon is getting better with every game. Still can't believe we've signed such a talented youngster.

Sounds decent. The football on show was far better once we switched from the the long ball, rigid 4-4-2 that we've been pesevering with. The 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 was really effective and with the interchanging in positions and movement we created a lot of space and openings. That was with 3 of our better players missing as well. When Cabaye, Tiote and Ba are all back, I would love to see us try Smal's formation. Pardew changed it, the full backs looked better and the whole crowd got a lift. No reason why we can't try it again. Back to 4-4-2 hoof ball vs Fulham? Oh and Guthrie played well, thought Best, Santon and Ben Arfa were as good, but it was a tidy return to action. Get him a new contract!

Thought he was class yesterday personally. Lifted the flat crowd, to a level just above flat, switched play really well and often takes 2 or 3 players out the game with a run or pass. You can see his workrate off the ball is improving, not sure if it is down to being bollocked off Pardew, him getting fitter after the injury or a bit of both. But he tracked back fairly well, pressed the ball and followed SWP for about 50 yards when he was going through 1 on 1 in the second half. I was also impressed with his strength. Quite a few times he muscled people off the ball, or backed in and held it up. The counter that he set up when he passed to Colo and near the end of the game when he brought a free kick were perfect examples of this. Don't get me wrong, he has his faults. He holds onto it for far too long at times, seems reluctant to shoot or cross and seems hell bent on skinning every opposition player. But in the changed 4-2-3-1/4-3-3, he looked the business, him, Jonas and Guthrie all seemed comfortable playing that formation. Rather have this than 3 flat, rigid lines in a 4-4-2 with Ryan Taylor or Obertan wide right and zero movement. I watched most the game back when I got in from the match and MY WORD Wilkins is a bit of a dick. I disagree with him, I think Ben Arfa is a wonderfully talented young man Love watching this guy play

Anyone know how the ban will work? Will it count for the tournament with it just being a friendly?

Not the most glamorous fixture, early Sunday kick off, not long after Christmas, live on TV. If we get anywhere near 46k we're doing alright, as QPR won't bring up many I wouldn't have thought.

My thoughts on the matter. Not been linked with many centre backs lately, even the Tomkins link has gone a bit quiet.