Guest Heneage Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I don't see it as replacing Lovenkrands because he isn't even a starting player in the championship. The mere suggestion of him being in a first choice premiership Xl is beyond absurd. To be fair to Lovenkrands, he managed 3 premiership goals in the time than Owen managed none. Still not good enough though. For a squad player it is, to say it for the umpteenth time, we are building a squad not a first eleven, it's the sheer lack of depth that got us in the mess. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Not good enough for the starting 11 was what I meant, read the thread mofo. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
merlin Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Squad would need a massive overhaul. We lack depth in defence, creativity and pace in midfield and an established striker who is PL quality. Dream scenario, get promoted with a few games left in the season, fat Mike to announce he's found a buyer, new owners to come in, bring in a manager with real pedigree and give him a warchest to sign players with. Of course that'll never happen. This - very good post by queensbury and the points made about midfield and lack of PL quality up front are particularly relevant. Even to address those two problems is going to cost the neck-end of 20m and there are also big questions about the viability of many of the other midfielders iat the top level. The managerial position is a crucial decision because whoever does the job has a big task to attract the type of players the club will need so we need to appoint the best guy available who would join the club - if Ashley remains in charge, there will be doubts in the minds of many possible candidates after the KK fiasco etc. It may seem harsh to be thinking of changing the manager but it will be a much tougher job in the Prem and Hughton will find it very difficult to meet the demands. Having said that, I am convinced that he will remain in charge if Ashley stays and despite some on here using teams like Burnley as 'dross', I think they would get a shock if we had to play them with this team - they have taken many decent scalps in the Prem and I hardly think the current Newcastle side will frighten them. Make no mistake - the side will struggle to survive without a transition of at least 3 top class players. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie Broon Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Nah... consider that Hull stayed up last season. The difference is clubs like Hull get underestimated; the top half see it as just another day at the office and expect to turn up and roll over them. However, despise the s***e state of our squad, we're still seen as a big club. The teams in the top half we used to compete with love beating us and will always 'turn up' against us. So, we need to be twice as good as the likes of Hull to get the same results. We're not. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Nah... consider that Hull stayed up last season. The difference is clubs like Hull get underestimated; the top half see it as just another day at the office and expect to turn up and roll over them. However, despise the s***e state of our squad, we're still seen as a big club. The teams in the top half we used to compete with love beating us and will always 'turn up' against us. So, we need to be twice as good as the likes of Hull to get the same results. We're not. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest n4e Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Can't see us getting the goals at all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beren Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Not because I'm especially keen to knock the team [which I think has done very well this season, all things considered] I just think the Premiership has become exceptionally strong. On the outer-regions of reality: we'd need to purchase more or less a new midfield, hope our current strikers are on form and have a lot of luck. Anything less than that and we'd go back down, anything more than that doesn't seem within the realms of realism(!) ...IMO Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnypd Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 this team with hughton would go straight back down. there is an argument that, if we go up, it'll be with two sides not as good as us. but typically sides that go up do so because they are a good team, not just a collection of good individuals. the whole is greater than the parts and that comes from the manager. those sides, the likes of Stoke, Birmingham or Burnley, have ready-made, cohesive systems that get the best out of the players available. and when the manager buys new players of better quality, they can fit right into the existing style of play more easily. this is how sides that on paper look nothing special can achieve better results than you'd imagine they could get. yet with us, having no pattern or recognisable style to our play, the only reason we're on top is due to having better players than the opposition. once we go up this will not be the case, so you have to ask just what we will be left with. have our players worked up a good understanding with one another? Aside from one or two like Enrique and Jonas, not really. and even with those two, can they sustain it in the top flight? Does the side have a specific way of playing that maximises the strengths of the players? Hardly, we look awful but because our squad has more expensive talent than any other side we can keep clean sheets and put chances away. Is the squad balanced and shaped towards the manager's specific way of playing the game? is it fuck. If we go up we'll be relying on the likes of Coloccini, Enrique and Taylor coasting through games as they do now. we know from previous seasons that at least two of those can be liabilities a division above so it is a big ask. in terms of goals we will be relying on Shola and Nolan scoring against the run of play - doesn't sound too likely does it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaizero Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 We weren't one of the 3 worst teams last season. We're still better than the 3 worst premier league teams this season. The only problem we have is getting the players to turn up and put in a decent shift on a regular basis and formulating a coherent game plan. A decent manager could see us to safety with the team we have now (including loanees). This tbh. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 We are easily worse than all of the current premiership teams. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaizero Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 We'd easily be in with a shot to stay up considering the current bottom dross premiership teams even with our wankshit squad, albeit it would be a long and hard nail biting season. fyp Aye, agree. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 We'd struggle to keep clean sheets with that midfield and we wouldn't score goals. We'd finish on 15 points max, which obviously wouldn't be nail biting at all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tachikoma Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Making the assumption that our squad stays fit for 80%~ of the season, yes. That would include the likes of Barton so thats optimistic to say the least. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayson Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I do worry though that even in the summer Hughton will not see Midfield as a weaklink, thats the problem. Ive a feeling he'd be looking to improve the quality of our squad depth, rather than of the first team. So we'd get other players of decent quality...who'd be switched around every now and again. Even if we found someone good of Guthries standard, Hughtons shown he'd likely prefer older grafters over them. Anything with Hughton involved isnt looking promising right now, a lot of his decisions are suspect. Its likely that the quality of the players is the only thing thats been keeping it from being to big a problem up till now. Its still hard to really call him on it when we're sitting top though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David28 Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 If we buy some new, good, maybe even experienced players and let only the likes of Geremi go, than yes. Basically to be able to survive we should have such a good squad to keep out Nicky Butt the hole season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I do worry though that even in the summer Hughton will not see Midfield as a weaklink, thats the problem. Ive a feeling he'd be looking to improve the quality of our squad depth, rather than of the first team. So we'd get other players of decent quality...who'd be switched around every now and again. Even if we found someone good of Guthries standard, Hughtons shown he'd likely prefer older grafters over them. Anything with Hughton involved isnt looking promising right now, a lot of his decisions are suspect. Its likely that the quality of the players is the only thing thats been keeping it from being to big a problem up till now. Its still hard to really call him on it when we're sitting top though. We can survive no doubt, but while long ball football is ok to get us up then try and hang on next season on the cheap, if we want to become a football team I agree, we have to get quality central midfielders in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp40 Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Could we survive? With the right effort and commitment yes. Because of this , I think it is gioing to be very difficult without changes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sicko2ndbest Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 No, not with our current squad Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Lack of players who can run for 90 mins got us relegated and it may yet stop our promotion never mind survival if we go up. There are people on here who would still sign and play has beens even now, Look at the clamour for Sol Cambell. Nothing has been learned as Hughtons preference for the likes of Butt over Guthrie demonstrates. If no fit creative midfield players arrive in January the promotion bid could go seriously wrong IMO. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveItIfWeBeatU Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Could we survive? Highly unlikely. Our squad last season had better quality (on paper) and depth but we still went down. Fair enough, you could attribute some of that to the upheavals going on but that doesn't paper over all the cracks. Of our current strike force I guess Ameobi is the best and none of us rated him that highly when we were in the Premiership. None of our current strikers would score regularly in the Premiership. Our midfield is more or less the same as last season i.e. lacking in creativity and lacking pace. We've still got a lot of the same problems that got us relegated: - Lack of pace, lack of creativity, lack of quality from set pieces, lack of squad depth (Geremi and Butt's contracts expire at the end of this season. God knows if Butt will retire, leave or be given a new contract.), etc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueStar Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 How many premier league teams do you think we'd have a chance of beating with our current squad? Hull and Wolves probably. We've got better individuals than Burnley but they play better as a team. Wigan maybe because they're dross unless they're playing one of the big boys. Apart from that... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest palnese Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 No, not with our current squad Our midfield is shocking, so unless we got at least 2 new signings in there we would go straight down. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikri Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Two or three players simply won't be enough, we need two or three players in every area (except goalkeepers). In defence, S Taylor & Enrique are adequate, possibly Coloccini too. Simpson's a bit of an unknown for us against Premiership opposition. In midfield, Smith's lunatic two-footed challenges will see him sent off in every game he plays, Nolan simply isn't a midfielder. Guthrie & Jonas might be good enough. Up front, Lovenkrands & Ameobi are OK as backups & Ranger is potentially good enough but could probably do with spending a season on loan to a Championship club, starting every game he can to learn his trade. Carroll isn't good enough at the moment, he might develop into a decent player but like Ranger he'll need a season out on loan to a Championship or lower Premiership club to grow into the player he thinks he is. Frankly if we fail to sign at least 6 players we'll be dead certs for relegation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Could. Probably won't though. (Unless you get decent investment, etc etc). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Crooks Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Combination of non existent fitness in midfield and CH's tactical ineptitude would signal certain re-relegation without drastic measures. We'd become a yo-yo team Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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