Some points on players for you to disagree with

[Jayson]

Harper - Doesnt look a replacement for Given. Clearly his reflexes dont look to be what they once were.

 

Colocinni - Hasnt proven himself in any way whatsoever. To slow, easily dominated in the air, lacks strength, slow reaction speed, stands off players for to long...on this seasons showings he's lacked most of the essential qualities needed to be a good defender in the premiership. He's sometimes alright in a 1on1 situation. I dont see him being able to improve these any time soon...& think the prem just doesnt suit him. At best even if he improves in some areas...like his reaction speed..standing off etc. He'll be a player who simply doesnt make many mistakes, with Bassong sweeping up behind him just incase. No potential to excel like Bassong though. No where near justifys his 10 mill tag.

 

Duff - Not as bad a player as everyone makes out, can be quite an attacking force at times & generally tends to have more end product than gutierrez on recent showings. Doesnt have the potential to single handedly change a game really though as Gutierrez does...but you normally know what you're getting.

 

Butt - legs gone...been a bit better recent games. Still crap. Why doesnt he go up for corners/freekicks anymore (Management???), used to be one of our better headers of the ball.

 

Gutierrez - Has shown the potential to be a class player...like owen hed be better in a better side. Where players actually move into space for him and dont just watch and hope he'll go past 2 players on his own. Brilliant at tracking back. Has a woeful shot on him & not the best crosser tbh Needs to learn to cut inside instead of going outside all the time, to predictable. In our position, players like Milner/n'zogbia are far more useful though. Less potential than Jonas, but able to provide far more to a team who plays as we do consistantly. Milner was better at shooting & crossing (Corners, freekicks), Zog was more dangerous when running at players...simply because hed cut inside though & had a decent shot on him.

 

Barton - A key player for us. Our best passer of through balls, our best shooter from midfield, our best defensive midfielder, the one player who could possibly drive them on when needed.  If hes in the side at his best its a whole different Newcastle.

 

Martins - The same player who smashed one in against tottenham ? Hard to believe he's 24

 

Owen - lots been said about him. In a good side hes brilliant, in a side playing like us near useless. To many long balls when hes short. Or we pass to his feet when theres a 6'2 lad standing on his heels......the guy needs through balls. Should be simple sh.t...couldnt be more obvious. We should be playing to him and martins strengths...their runs. No one in centre mid gets foward enough to put through balls in even if they could...guti stays on the outside to much. Its all moronic. Even put him behind the two strikers, anything to give him space. Just dont leave him upfront in a 4-4-2 if the midfield wont get foward.

 

Lovenkrands - Has played upfront in a 4-4-2 twice and scored both times. Clearly has owen like instincts for poaching...has stated he prefers being upfront. Should be played constantly.

 

 

Overall though we've lost Given, Milner & Zog and replaced them with players who cannot help us as much.

[Guest Phil K]

Pretty fair summing up. Agree throughout.

Would have been kinder to Butt than you've been though.

The main problem is no ideas coming from coaching or management.

The idiocy of persevering with this ridiculous situation is going to cost us dear.

Owen is a class player who is probably buggering up a move to a top club due to his sick note waving.

[Unbelievable]

Hard to disagree with much of that. Martins deserves a lot more faith/respect based on his previous performances though, and Barton significantly less.. What has Barton done to justify saying he will transform the team? He's been mediocre, injury prone and a prick to boot, at the expense of the club.

[Big Geordie]

Jonas is a good player, but has little end product. Perhaps he'd be more suited to a role as an attacking wing-back? Whether we go down or not - clubs will be wanting to sign the lad in the summer because of the impact that he has had here.

 

Agree with the points about Owen - he needs a playmaker in midfield inorder to thrive. Another Wise masterstroke as to why that position has not been sourced so far.

 

Duff is finished and hasn't justified anywhere near the wages he gets. Has little or no pace and refuses to go outside of the fullback, something which he was noted for at Blackburn and Chelsea. Has to leave in the summer, regardless of where we are.

 

We have too many hasbeens at the club, who have bled it dry for too long. Time to ship them out.

[Jayson]

Hard to disagree with much of that. Martins deserves a lot more faith/respect based on his previous performances though, and Barton significantly less.. What has Barton done to justify saying he will transform the team? He's been mediocre, injury prone and a prick to boot, at the expense of the club.

 

When Barton came back earlier in the season he had key roles in our two wins in a row v Westbrom and aston villa. Set up the pen against west brom & set up martins first against villa. Both simple through balls from midfield setting up our attackers in dangerous positions...two wins. He then went out and we've been useless since then. He's not even brilliant at through balls...hes just far better than anyone else in our side. He's just our most dangerous midfielder and we need him.

 

Martins is obviously good still, i think he lacks the confidence he used to have. That chance he had against man united a few years ago would have been smashed in.

[Jayson]

Duff is finished and hasn't justified anywhere near the wages he gets. Has little or no pace and refuses to go outside of the fullback, something which he was noted for at Blackburn and Chelsea. Has to leave in the summer, regardless of where we are.

 

Agree with what you say..but he has to be chosen over the likes of Geremi. Also think he offers more than R taylor attacking wise tbh. Taylor is good with crossing etc...but none of our players are that good at heading..so it kinda cancels itself out. I suppose now owens back he could be useful, will have to see. Anyone but Geremi.

[Beezeri]

How about playing Jonas in the central role? As an attacking playmaker which we're lacking so badly since Emre?

 

Jonas is good on the ball and very good passer and has enough creativity to unlock opponent's defences. Very strong runner with the ball as well. Something which is lacking is ability to tackle and maybe strenght could be a problem also but they are not that important for such role. He just should be told not to shoot but look for through passes instead...

 

What do you think? At least until Joey's back(and Nacho man)

[Guest Heneage]

Of that list, I see Martins, Jonas, Colo improving. Martins could do with a better supply line. Jonas would be far better if he wasn't the only one in the midfield having to create, he needs players to work with him, he's often picking it up from deep and having to beat men and get in. He obviously can't do all that. Colo I still think will settle in time.

[Cronky]

I agree with most of that, in particular Barton's importance to the side and Colo not being suited to the Premiership.

 

Guti is frustrating, but his appetite for work and his ability to hold on to the ball is enough to warrant a place IMO. Milner and Zoggy could certainly shoot, but had other weaknesses in their game.

 

I think there's a bigger problem with Owen then you're suggesting though. I don't think he'd still be brilliant in a good side, and clearly neither do Messrs Ferguson, Mourinho, Capello and Benitez.

 

I agree that we're missing an attacking CM though, just as we need an attacker that can play well in the space between striker and midfield, (alhtough Lovenkrands should be given a longer try in that role) Our better teams have featured players that can fill those two roles (Beardsley and Lee; Bellamy and Dyer)

 

 

 

[Fatwax]

How about playing Jonas in the central role? As an attacking playmaker which we're lacking so badly since Emre?

 

Jonas is good on the ball and very good passer and has enough creativity to unlock opponent's defences. Very strong runner with the ball as well. Something which is lacking is ability to tackle and maybe strenght could be a problem also but they are not that important for such role. He just should be told not to shoot but look for through passes instead...

 

What do you think? At least until Joey's back(and Nacho man)

 

Emre hardly ever played for us. We miss Dyer more and he hardly played either.

[Skirge]

Cannot argue at all really, BUT I think we would see the best out of the above players IF we had A PROPPER manager and coaching staff. Nothing will change until that is sorted out and Ashley has no intention of changing any of them.

[Gallowgate Toon]

We should switch around our wingers much more imo, Jonas can actually deliver on his right foot. Admittedly not spectacularly but he put in a decent couple with his right yesterday. His shooting is much more to do with confidence than anything else imo. I'm not sure how much people realise football is a confidence game.

 

Colo will improve, CB and CM are undoubtedly the hardest positions to adapt to when moving from a foreign league that is very slow because that's where the pace of the game is really felt. Bassong's been ok because the French league, players wise is quite young and the games can be quite frenetic in pace.

 

On Martins i think we're seeing a totally different player to 2 seasons ago, his general confidence is much higher and the improvements in his overall game of late have been great, his touch, awareness and most of all passing have improved a lot. It's a shame however his run intelligence hasn't improved much, he made a great one against Hull and nearly scored he should be looking to do that a lot more often.

[dcmk]

We should switch around our wingers much more imo, Jonas can actually deliver on his right foot. Admittedly not spectacularly but he put in a decent couple with his right yesterday. His shooting is much more to do with confidence than anything else imo. I'm not sure how much people realise football is a confidence game.

 

Colo will improve, CB and CM are undoubtedly the hardest positions to adapt to when moving from a foreign league that is very slow because that's where the pace of the game is really felt. Bassong's been ok because the French league, players wise is quite young and the games can be quite frenetic in pace.

 

On Martins i think we're seeing a totally different player to 2 seasons ago, his general confidence is much higher and the improvements in his overall game of late have been great, his touch, awareness and most of all passing have improved a lot. It's a shame however his run intelligence hasn't improved much, he made a great one against Hull and nearly scored he should be looking to do that a lot more often.

 

Nah check his record everywhere he has been, goal scoring record is abysmal for a winger.

[Gallowgate Toon]

We should switch around our wingers much more imo, Jonas can actually deliver on his right foot. Admittedly not spectacularly but he put in a decent couple with his right yesterday. His shooting is much more to do with confidence than anything else imo. I'm not sure how much people realise football is a confidence game.

 

Colo will improve, CB and CM are undoubtedly the hardest positions to adapt to when moving from a foreign league that is very slow because that's where the pace of the game is really felt. Bassong's been ok because the French league, players wise is quite young and the games can be quite frenetic in pace.

 

On Martins i think we're seeing a totally different player to 2 seasons ago, his general confidence is much higher and the improvements in his overall game of late have been great, his touch, awareness and most of all passing have improved a lot. It's a shame however his run intelligence hasn't improved much, he made a great one against Hull and nearly scored he should be looking to do that a lot more often.

 

Nah check his record everywhere he has been, goal scoring record is abysmal for a winger.

Well yeah it's not ever been great but he scored a few last season for Mallorca iirc. On deliveries and assists he played with Mallorca last season, who had the top scorer in the division with Guiza, he must have set him up a few times?

[Ember]

It's hard to disagree with those points.

 

However one point I'm going to raise with Owen is that he's our captain but he isn't loud enough, he needs to communicate a bit more.

 

Out of interest, when is Barton meant to be back?

[Guest Stephen927]

It's hard to disagree with those points.

 

However one point I'm going to raise with Owen is that he's our captain but he isn't loud enough, he needs to communicate a bit more.

 

Out of interest, when is Barton meant to be back?

 

Giving Owen the captaincy was never anything more than simply trying to tempt him into signing a new deal imo.

 

Going on communication, Bassong should have the armband.

[Guest michaelfoster]

Milner was better at shooting & crossing (Corners, freekicks), Zog was more dangerous when running at players...simply because hed cut inside though & had a decent shot on him.

 

Milner was gash at crossing and his corners always hit the first man

 

[Ronaldo]

Milner's crossing was very poor here. Especially in his last full season

[Ronaldo]

btw, I find it ridiculous to the point of being funny that you consider Lovenkrands to have poaching instincts based on 2 goals

[Guest Heneage]

btw, I find it ridiculous to the point of being funny that you consider Lovenkrands to have poaching instincts based on 2 goals

I can see his point, right place right time.

[Jayson]

btw, I find it ridiculous to the point of being funny that you consider Lovenkrands to have poaching instincts based on 2 goals

 

Because Lovenkrands has never played or scored in any other football match before joining us obviously.....

[Fatwax]

Think you're a being a bit harsh on Colo, but then I've was constantly impressed with him in La Liga over the last two seasons before joining us. I'm confident he'll be a good buy for us - he looked a hell of a lot better with Beye in the defence as well.

 

Everything else is pretty on the ball for me.

[Jayson]

Only overly harsh on colo because of the price tag. Cant say i watched him La liga, was he a massively different player ?

 

Tbh seems to me if he spent a fair amount of time in the gym and got his strength up...had better coaches training him, a lot of his weaknesses from this season could be fixed hopefully.

 

He just stands off to much atm, allowing players to beat him with pace in to many scenarios. Remember him and S taylor both standing off Ronaldo dancing around our left side of our area in the Man u game...got a clear shot off easily..just hit it badly luckily for us. Couldnt understand it, no pressure on him atall. Ridiculous against a player like Ronaldo.

Get him to stay tighter & have a bigger physical presence he'd probably be far harder to play against...he'd win a lot more headers also. They just ease him off atm to easily. These two do have the potential to create our best central defense in a long time though...atm 75% of that is down to Bassong.