The Premiership 5 games in - thoughts?

[toptoon]

Still early days obviously but right now i'd predict man u, Chelski and Liverpool will still be top three come the end of the season. Arsenal i'm not so sure about.

 

Toon, Villa, Everton, Blackburn all look tough teams this year and Spurs and the hammers should recover soon too. Citeh look good at the moment but will be around midtable come the end.

[McCormick]

Im happy with the results in a way compared to opening 5games from previous seasons but we have been creating nothing and wont be as lucky in a few weeks time

Must improve going forward but the defence has been steady as ever

I wanted a win against boro but a draw v villa was OK

 

we were all over wigan and shouldve gotten atleast 8!

 

 

didn't see the match as i was at my dad's house... when somebody told us that it took us til the 80 min (was it? i cant remember..) to score against a 10-man wigan. the usual "bloody hell, same old newcastle- can hardly beat 10 men" grumbles ensued (my dad obviously).

 

good to know that we were that dominant though, restores a bit of faith really..

that said i think it'll be tough season with us coming 8th-6th with it being very close.. disappointed with anything less than 8th

 

and as much as i hate them, i think liverpool look very solid and i didnt fall asleep watching them play aswell- they could produce a few surprises...

[Guest Phil K]

Happy with the way it's gone thus far.

I expected with so many chances in personel for the lads to be taking a while to gel.

Still haven't gelled, but cant be upset with 8 from 12.

[gray]

we need a box to box player!

[CPL]

Just out of curiosity Digger what do you think to the Peter Crouch situation? Where would you rank him in the strikers department? Starting? Super Sub? or sell him?

[Guest teepee]

pool are looking a lot better than i thought, and torres has settled in faster as well....

 

... we look decent, without being impressive (30 minutes against bolton aside)

[merlin]

Been very encouraged by the new season, more even, more competitive, better players, better tactics and an all-round better feel to it. There are clearly a number of leagues now within the league itself and for once there are a stream of clubs outside the top four who all seem very strong and capable. While further down it also looks the same. In the actual top 4 I think it will be a lot closer this time around too and I wouldn't write Arsenal off (Parky) while we'd be fools to write either Chelsea or Man Utd off who are both playing appallingly by their high standards. Liverpool are looking good I must admit but whether they can maintain that remains to be seen. This could well be one of the best seasons yet, some of the goals scored have been fantastic and there have been some very good games too. 

 

I think like last season, we badly need a pacy midfield player or front runner. When the club sold Dyer and Nobby, they should have brought in a different player to either Faye or Merde.

 

Apart from that, we needed more steel, more character, more leadership, and he's bought the right type of players in that respect.

 

From this point on, more quality needed in the front players to break into the top elite again.

 

I think we should get into the top 6 or 7. A front player would have made 4th place a possibility.

 

 

 

That's a fair comment - reflects most of my own views.

[merlin]

5 games in is a bit early to say how the season is going to go especially when you see how some clubs have had a poor start to the season due to the fixture list.  Derby looks as if they'll not do too well and some of the other strugglers may be OK once they've had a few more games to adjust.

 

I thought Man U had signed really good players but they've not done too well so far but they are a team that could go on a long unbeaten run, just like any of last season’s top 4, so far Liverpool look to have got the best balance but they've looked good before and fell away after a good start.  The European places look like they'll be really fought over, probably more so than for a long time as so many clubs look as if they could do well.

 

Spurs don't seem to have moved forwards, they've been more like Newcastle than Newcastle so far and may have shot themselves in the foot a bit.  I think we'll know more about the teams in a couple of months when all of the new players have been tried and some possibly failed by then.

 

 

Agree with most of that Mick - Man U have disappointed so far , Chelsea have looked off the pace by their standards, Arsenal are not as convincing but Liverpool look greatly-improved - Torres' signing was a bit of a gamble as to whether he would settle quickly, but he has been a revelation, and despite those who rubbished him when we failed to sign him, I wish we had Kuyt now - what an asset to a side he is with his attitiude.Those 2 will get goals and I will be surprised if Liverpool are not in the Top 3 at the end.

 

Villa and ourselves are on a par(we probably have a bit more defensive cover, whereas they have youth & pace up front), Everton are rivals for a top 6 place as are Blackburn - Hughes has done a good job.

Spurs are, as you said, more like Newcastle than we are now - up & down and giving goals away although the Fulham equaliser was lucky.

Suspect all is not well there and, as we know to our cost, if there are problems OFF the field, they tend to encroach on to it as well...they may do better with a new manager...

 

If we had a bit more in the midfield brains dept., and more pace up front, we would be knocking on the Top 4 door by the end, but I reckon 7th is probably where we'll end up.

[Guest optimistic nit]

i think were a long way from top 4 personally (re NE5 and HTT). we have Given and Owen (Duff as well if he does better this season) who are proven top 4 players and thats it. we at the moment have a squad of pretty much only top 6 players, which is a very good thing, as before we had a couple of top 4 players, a few top 6, a few top 10 and a lot of relegation battlers. Now we've gotten rid of the shite, and we have a consistent top 6 squad imo, with no real weak links.

 

To get top 4 though, a lot of that will need replacing. the only weakness we have at the moment is in attacking midfield, but get one of those and we still wont be top 4. I think we may need players in every position to compete with the likes of arsenal and liverpool's squads, because when you see how many truely great players both have, it puts our squad in perspective.

 

We have a lot of good players, and a manager who is good at getting the most out of his players. the only way we can get CL though, would be if a top 4 club slips up badly. we don't have enough star quality, we just have a lot of good players. We would need to replace a lot of these players if we wanted to think about CL though, but for once, we have balence, finally.

I would even go as far as to say we are the most balenced side in the league (only a few months ago we were by far and away the least balenced), and this is why i think we will do well. our only weakness is in creative midfield.

[Guest black]

we need a box to box player!

 

Lucky we've got one in Barton then isn't it?

[gray]

ive always thought of him as an "arriving late in the box" player