Updated: Keegan & the group of players he inherited (their futures?)

[Guest Knightrider]

Which ones will survive and who will make way? Which ones will benefit most from KK and which ones ought to be fearful for their futures?

 

Discuss.

[Mike]

Based on today alone

 

Milner as a starter

 

Shola

 

Carr

[Cajun]

I thought Carr did well today.

 

 

 

 

 

*hides*

[Guest SeattleToon]

To be brutally honest, none of our players except Owen & Given are significantly above average. If the goal is to compete with Chelsea, Man. United, Liverpool, and Arsenal for the title, then just about everyone should go.

 

On the other hand, if our goal is simply to get back to the point where we qualify for Europe every year, but don't compete for the title (i.e. where we were under SBR), then our squad really doesn't need huge amounts of improvement. We've got plenty of depth, as evdienced by today's match where we were able to put eleven experienced players on the pitch even with eight 1st-teamers unavailable.

 

Tactically, I think our biggest need is some creative central midfielders. Personally, I don't think that Emre & Barton are good enough. Milner and Zoggy are fine as wingers, but suffer from continually getting double teamed since we have no threats up the middle of the pitch (how I'd love to have Scott Parker back!). Our strikers are decent if they ever get any service, but we need a central midfielder who can break down defenses.

[tmonkey]

Out:

 

Owen - overrated, abysmal when hes not scoring, injury prone, huge wages, disliked Keegan previously.

Viduka - lazy crock who is reaching the end of his career. Moderately talented, but the type of talent that only sees flashes of brilliance in every 5 attempts, which is why he was playing for Middlesboro at his peak.

Emre - angry midget crock who goes down every time he gets challenged.

Milner - winger with no pace and not enough crossing or technical abiilty to compensate.

Duff - winger who is scared to take players on and like Owen can go through games doing literally nothing yet avoiding heavy criticism because of his previous reputation.

Ameobi - shit.

Carr - shit.

 

Stay:

Taylor - strong and good in the air, at the very least will make a handy squad centreback.

Cacapa - composed and classy, type of defender who starts alot of moves off.

N'Zogbia - potential to be a beast of a midfielder. Just needs to learn to play more of a team game first.

Martins - possibly. Martins is a confidence player. Keegan might be handy in that department.

Smith - I think he'll be kept in the squad as a David Batty equivalent. Might not be a good footballer, but a handy aggressive player to have for specific games.

Beye & Faye - naturally because theyre good defenders.

[Mr. Snrub]

I thought Carr did well today.

 

 

 

 

 

*hides*

 

He did.

 

Fair enough he has usually been shite for us, but this season when he's played Carr has done alright.  I see what some mean when they say people just like to use him as a scapegoat.

[Cajun]

Not a fan at all of Carr but if he played like he did today every game I would warm to him.

[Mike]

I thought Carr did well today.

 

 

 

 

 

*hides*

 

He didn't do bad. But once Beye gets back, I don't think he'd get many matches in the future.

[STM]

I believe the bulk of the squad is capable. Simply because i'm a big critic of wholesale changes. I dont think Ameobi, Emre, Viduka and Duff will last too long though.

[KaKa]

Out:

 

Owen - overrated, abysmal when hes not scoring, injury prone, huge wages, disliked Keegan previously.

Viduka - lazy crock who is reaching the end of his career. Moderately talented, but the type of talent that only sees flashes of brilliance in every 5 attempts, which is why he was playing for Middlesboro at his peak.

Emre - angry midget crock who goes down every time he gets challenged.

Milner - winger with no pace and not enough crossing or technical abiilty to compensate.

Duff - winger who is scared to take players on and like Owen can go through games doing literally nothing yet avoiding heavy criticism because of his previous reputation.

Ameobi - s***.

Carr - s***.

 

Stay:

Taylor - strong and good in the air, at the very least will make a handy squad centreback.

Cacapa - composed and classy, type of defender who starts alot of moves off.

N'Zogbia - potential to be a beast of a midfielder. Just needs to learn to play more of a team game first.

Martins - possibly. Martins is a confidence player. Keegan might be handy in that department.

Smith - I think he'll be kept in the squad as a David Batty equivalent. Might not be a good footballer, but a handy aggressive player to have for specific games.

Beye & Faye - naturally because theyre good defenders.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

An absolutely brilliant summary.

 

I think Enrique will only get better too and has definitely shown enough to be kept around, with maybe a more experienced player brought in ahead of him, to give Enrique more time to develop.

[pedro111]

Not a fan at all of Carr but if he played like he did today every game I would warm to him.

 

I cant believe that a professional footballer who gets paid thousands upon thousands each week has no idea how to strike a ball on goal no matter what position he plays, his two attempts today where totally pathetic.

 

Having said that, the rest of his game was ok.

[Cajun]

Not a fan at all of Carr but if he played like he did today every game I would warm to him.

 

I cant believe that a professional footballer who gets paid thousands upon thousands each week has no idea how to strike a ball on goal no matter what position he plays, his two attempts today where totally pathetic.

 

Having said that, the rest of his game was ok.

 

Siad the same about Butt the other week. They were REALLY bad shots considering he plays the game for a living but as it was only two and not 47 like Butt seemed to hit the other week I let him off for that.

[Guest Knightrider]

I'm going to reserve judgment personally as it's too early to tell at the moment which players exactly will be here to stay and which will go. I have doubts about a good number of them though.

[Guest criminalz]

Please please get rid of owen. sell him, loan him out, kill him, whatever it takes to get rid of him.

 

Viduka...he dun deserve to even be the corner flag, let alone a striker.

 

duff, please check if we have a refund policy.

 

milner, nobody stops him from going to aston villa anymore.

 

carr.....geesh where do i start...

[STM]

All i will say is that Beye and Keegan are going to have wonderful relationship.

[Guest Toon83]

Out:

Emre - he hasn't proven himself as the player he once was with Galatasary and even Inter, under neither Souness, Roeder or Allardyce and if you believe the rumours there are a few clubs happy to take him

Geremi - Maybe he was restricted by Allardyce's tactics, but if Mourinho says he has the legs of a 40-year-old then you have to believe him

Stephen Carr - Has been going backwards for years, its time for him to leave

Pete Ramage - Hasn't developed as many thought he would, this could be down to injuries, I would let him go but I can see Keegan giving him a chance

Mark Viduka - Never seen a lazier player than Viduka play for Newcastle

Shola Ameobi - See Peter Ramage

 

Stay:

Steven Taylor - Getting better but a tad rash sometimes, Keegan will calm him down

Cacapa, Abdoulaye Faye and Habib Beye - All quality defenders

Alan Smith and Nicky Butt - provide steel in the middle of the park (ala David Batty)

Charlie N'Zogbia - has the potential to be the best player at SJP if coached right by Keegan

Joey Barton - Keegan has already said he will support him all the way, all depends on the courts though

 

And the rest of the squad

 

we do need about 4 players in the window and i believe todays match will convince Keegan to bring them in

[tmonkey]

We need a replacement for Butt for next season. Hes already started too many games this term, hes not doing a good enough job in front of the defence, his passing is somehow getting worse, and centrebacks like Faye and Rozehnal in their brief appearances in the same position have already looked considerably better than Butt.

 

I would love it if we could get Carrick in to replace Butt. He's struggling for form at ManU, and although hes not a £15mill player per se, hes the sort of reliable defensive midfielder who you can build a very good team around because hes a consistently good passer of the ball on top of having a good engine, physique, etc. Spurs have struggled to replace him, and when he was in the side they were pushing for a top 4 team. If we've got the money, make a move. Its not entirely sentimental either, its hard to find a solid defensive midfielder who is good at starting moves off, and thats what Carrick is.

 

Maybe thats a bit of a pipedream, but its far from impossible and would be a very, very good start to spending Ashley's money.

[johnnypd]

We need a replacement for Butt for next season. Hes already started too many games this term, hes not doing a good enough job in front of the defence, his passing is somehow getting worse, and centrebacks like Faye and Rozehnal in their brief appearances in the same position have already looked considerably better than Butt.

 

I would love it if we could get Carrick in to replace Butt. He's struggling for form at ManU, and although hes not a £15mill player per se, hes the sort of reliable defensive midfielder who you can build a very good team around because hes a consistently good passer of the ball on top of having a good engine, physique, etc. Spurs have struggled to replace him, and when he was in the side they were pushing for a top 4 team. If we've got the money, make a move. Its not entirely sentimental either, its hard to find a solid defensive midfielder who is good at starting moves off, and thats what Carrick is.

 

Maybe thats a bit of a pipedream, but its far from impossible and would be a very, very good start to spending Ashley's money.

 

said similar in another thread, mascherano is available too, after the liverpool owners stalled on signing him permanently. Miguel Veloso is another in that vein and has yet to move to a big club, he might be another viana but he seems a lot stronger physically.

[Wullie]

We'd probably have won today if Viduka had played imo. The type of player with magic you need when you're struggling to break a bunch of cloggers like Bolton down.

 

He's lazy though. And fat. We need someone like Berbatov who breaks his back to get to every ball.

[STM]

It's just occured that when Oba gets back he will FINALLY get a chance to play in an attacking 442 alongside a competant striker for a considerable period.

 

I dont think he's had that since he joined despite scoring a fair few last year.

[Mick]

Not a fan at all of Carr but if he played like he did today every game I would warm to him.

 

You obviously don't sit in level 7, the club should consider putting up protective screening if he gets too many games.

[fredbob]

Exactly, he's the type of player Keegan would love.

[STM]

We need a replacement for Butt for next season. Hes already started too many games this term, hes not doing a good enough job in front of the defence, his passing is somehow getting worse, and centrebacks like Faye and Rozehnal in their brief appearances in the same position have already looked considerably better than Butt.

 

I would love it if we could get Carrick in to replace Butt. He's struggling for form at ManU, and although hes not a £15mill player per se, hes the sort of reliable defensive midfielder who you can build a very good team around because hes a consistently good passer of the ball on top of having a good engine, physique, etc. Spurs have struggled to replace him, and when he was in the side they were pushing for a top 4 team. If we've got the money, make a move. Its not entirely sentimental either, its hard to find a solid defensive midfielder who is good at starting moves off, and thats what Carrick is.

 

Maybe thats a bit of a pipedream, but its far from impossible and would be a very, very good start to spending Ashley's money.

 

said similar in another thread, mascherano is available too, after the liverpool owners stalled on signing him permanently. Miguel Veloso is another in that vein and has yet to move to a big club, he might be another viana but he seems a lot stronger physically.

 

I take Viana at the moment. Better passer than most of our midfielders.

[johnnypd]

We'd probably have won today if Viduka had played imo. The type of player with magic you need when you're struggling to break a bunch of cloggers like Bolton down.

 

He's lazy though. And fat. We need someone like Berbatov who breaks his back to get to every ball.

 

berbatov's movement is excellent tho, always buzzing about, drifting wide and making mazy dribbles in and around the area. this helps him brings others into the game far more than viduka can nowadays. with berbatov it's "i'm going to bring the ball to you" with viduka it's "you're gonna have to come over here to get the ball". fitter and scores more too, and while viduka-owen never really looks like a good partnership i'm pretty sure berbatov would be an excellent partner for owen or martins.

[The College Dropout]

We need a replacement for Butt for next season. Hes already started too many games this term, hes not doing a good enough job in front of the defence, his passing is somehow getting worse, and centrebacks like Faye and Rozehnal in their brief appearances in the same position have already looked considerably better than Butt.

 

I would love it if we could get Carrick in to replace Butt. He's struggling for form at ManU, and although hes not a £15mill player per se, hes the sort of reliable defensive midfielder who you can build a very good team around because hes a consistently good passer of the ball on top of having a good engine, physique, etc. Spurs have struggled to replace him, and when he was in the side they were pushing for a top 4 team. If we've got the money, make a move. Its not entirely sentimental either, its hard to find a solid defensive midfielder who is good at starting moves off, and thats what Carrick is.

 

Maybe thats a bit of a pipedream, but its far from impossible and would be a very, very good start to spending Ashley's money.

 

I don't consider Carrick a DM at all. Until season he's been very light in the tackle. If anything he's a deep lying play maker, similar to Pirlo.

 

And he hasn't struggled for form either, he's kept Hargreaves out the time (when he's been fit) and has formed a good partnership with Anderson.

 

He's more suited to a better team (if that make sense) than being at Spurs. Against the top sides he always played well but many a time he looked no better than Jenas, that's because games seemed to fly by him. Spurs finished 5th again when he left and they only battled for a place in the top 4 the previous season because of a young Arsenal side faltering.

 

Now Mascherano, that's a muthaphuggin defensive midfielder. Wouldn't come here like but he's quickish, strong in the tackle, good positioning to break up attacks and his passing is very under-rated. He keeps possession tremendously without relying on the Jenas pass.