General NUFC stuff

[Ronaldo]

Was Mike Hooper.

[The College Dropout]

22 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

Pope being commanding on crosses is a huge plus for me over Given, on shot stopping there's not a huge amount between them.

Massive. Given was too small to command his box. Pope deals with a little more issues at source. 
 

It’s not close for me I’ll be honest.  Given was an elite shot stopper and was v. consistent. Pope is about equal a shot stopper, far better on crosses, far better off his line and can save penalties. 
 

 

Given might not even be a PL goalkeeper in this era. Or at least not one of the better ones.  

[The College Dropout]

21 minutes ago, Ronaldo said:

5 out of 10 is pretty outrageous. So he’s only conceded 4 of the 10 penalties faced. Really impressive, but he’s built to save them. Long arms, and despite the numbers saying there’s only 2 inches between them a quick Google suggests it’s more like 5. 
 

Given gets the nod overall because as said he was playing behind comparative clowns.

Shay did an interview with Pope at the driving range. The difference in size in significant. 

[Pilko]

Just now, The College Dropout said:

Given might not even be a PL goalkeeper in this era.

 

this is a fucking terrible take mind. The Given v Pope thing has supporters on both sides of the fence but to suggest peak Shay wouldn't be able to find a place in this absolutely honking quality modern PL is lunacy.

[Ronaldo]

Given starts for Man U and Arsenal without me putting any thought into the rest.

[The College Dropout]

1 hour ago, Pilko said:

 

this is a fucking terrible take mind. The Given v Pope thing has supporters on both sides of the fence but to suggest peak Shay wouldn't be able to find a place in this absolutely honking quality modern PL is lunacy.

De Gea is a better shot stopper than Given. He’s a free agent. He was let go and hasn’t been signed by any top club because he’s rooted to his line, doesn’t collect crosses, can’t save penalties and is bad with his feet.  He’s a better version of Given and he was replaced by someone that can play football.

 

Thats the way of the modern game. No top team has a GK the profile of Given anymore.   
 

GKs these days for top clubs have 2 of these or almost 3:

Good on the ball

Shot stopper

claims crosses / commanding

sweeper keeper so teams can play a high line 

 

Given is only good at 1 of these.  

[The College Dropout]

1 hour ago, Ronaldo said:

Given starts for Man U and Arsenal without me putting any thought into the rest.

 No he doesn’t. The good shot stopper and not much else Arsenal had plays for Fulham now. Man U’s is a free agent. 

[Ronaldo]

4 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

 No he doesn’t. The good shot stopper and not much else Arsenal had plays for Fulham now. Man U’s is a free agent. 

You been on the bourbon, brah? 

[SteV]

22 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

De Gea is a better shot stopper than Given. He’s a free agent. He was let go and hasn’t been signed by any top club because he’s rooted to his line, doesn’t collect crosses, can’t save penalties and is bad with his feet.  He’s a better version of Given and he was replaced by someone that can play football.

 

His astronomical wage requirements probably play a significant part as well like.

[Holloway]

                      Shearer 

 

Ginola           Beardsley         Ben Arfur

 

             Lee              Bruno

 

Enrique     Woodgate  Schar       Trippier

 

                     Pope

[The Butcher]

Given

 

Trippier 

Colo

Botman 

Enrique

 

HBA

Lee

Speed

Robert

 

Shearer

Carroll

[Coffee_Johnny]

15 hours ago, number37 said:

I was thinking about the all time best XI, give it a bit of thought, maybe too much thought, and came up with a lineup but then considered substitutions but couldn't remember how many subs are allowed these days and ended up with a squad big enough to take to a rugby World Cup. 

 

I also tried to think of a viable, feasible team based on playing style and also relationships with other players and how they would fit in with each other. It was a bit difficult when considering players from different eras.

 

So I did the easy thing and abandoned the single team approach and instead went for how a match between two teams could look like if there were to be a glamorous friendly played at St. James' Park, a Newcastle Exhibition, if you like - Sir Bobby Robson XI v Rafa Benitez XI. I picked these two managers for their legendary statuses and also, most importantly for this exercise, because they're not involved on the pitch. 

 

Here are my two teams.

 

Sir Bobby Robson XI:

 

Rafa Benitez XI:

 

They're definitely fuelled by my own personal biases and I know there are notable exclusions but isn't that the beauty of this kind of thing? I've swapped players in and out of both teams and also swapped between them and even I'm not 100% satisfied but I have to draw the line somewhere. 

 

The goalkeepers are most likely the easiest to interchange but I thought Given wouldn't be under too much aerial threat from Gallacher/Milburn/Keegan (admittedly I don't know how tall Jimmy Lawrence was but I suppose I could check if I wanted). I was really keen to go for a Shearer/Gallacher combo due to their size differences in a Shearer/Bellamy type way but I then thought having Macdonald/Shearer up front with Hibbitt and Solano out wide would be quite tasty. 

 

The differences between the two defences was also interesting to me because it's a nice clash of styles as they could maybe show there are many different ways to defend. Plus, I think it would also be interesting to see how they'd deal with the attacks they'd each have to face. 

 

As I say, even I don't think either side is the absolute "best" eleven of Newcastle United and there are most likely players in each side who wouldn't make a "best of" but my approach was to put together teams that would in principle be most likely to function (kind of) if they actually had to play with each other - but still be comprised of a significant number of our best. There are some examples of square peg/round hole as I've tried to shoe horn players in positions where they wouldn't be fully comfortable but maybe there can be some tactical flexibility and a strong use of imagination. 

 

Who knows who would win this game (I do lean slightly more towards Rafa's team though) but I would be surprised if both sides still had their full eleven at the end as I reckon it could get a wee bit spicy. 

 

It would be great to see who would make it into our respective sides, who our common players would be and maybe the odd wildcard here and there. 

 

In case you're interested, I just used www.lineup11.net but other similar sites are available. 

 

 

 

 

Ouf! Would be a fantastic game between those two sides! 

[54]

My personal Favourite XI:

 

Given

 

Trippier

Colo

Schar

Enrique

 

Tiote

Cabaye

Bruno

 

Ben Arfa

Shearer

Robert

 

 

[BlazeT44]

2 minutes ago, 54 said:

My personal Favourite XI:

 

Given

 

Trippier

Colo

Schar

Enrique

 

Tiote

Cabaye

Bruno

 

Ben Arfa

Shearer

Robert

 

 

 

This is close to my favourite XI. Can I play Gutierrez out of position at Left Back, instead of Enrique? 

 

Speed might just edge Tiote...

[bowlingcrofty]

I always thought Tiote was limited as fuck, decent when he had a ball player alongside him but ask him to do anything other than tackle and pass 5 yards and he was exposed. Cabaye was excellent at his peak but was a moody bastard and turned up when he felt like it. I wouldn't have either anywhere near a favourite XI - but maybe they're just tarnished by being Pardew players.

 

Given; Tripper, Woodgate, Botman, Beresford; Lee, Speed; Nobby, HBA, Bruno; Shearer. Probably changes on a daily basis though.

[jack j]

Best thing about these threads is I could probably put 3 11s up before any sunlund player in my life time would come into reckoning.

Seen some of theirs and they've got cattermole kevin ball nicky sumerbee steed malbranque etc in

Poor fuckers

 

[madras]

Just now, jack j said:

Best thing about these threads is I could probably put 3 11s up before any sunlund player in my life time would come into reckoning.

Seen some of theirs and they've got cattermole kevin ball nicky sumerbee steed malbranque etc in

Poor fuckers

 

Kevin Philips probably their best in my lifetime. He'd be behind Shearer, Cole, Ferdinand, Beardsley at least.

[TheBrownBottle]

1 hour ago, bowlingcrofty said:

I always thought Tiote was limited as fuck, decent when he had a ball player alongside him but ask him to do anything other than tackle and pass 5 yards and he was exposed. Cabaye was excellent at his peak but was a moody bastard and turned up when he felt like it. I wouldn't have either anywhere near a favourite XI - but maybe they're just tarnished by being Pardew players.

 

Given; Tripper, Woodgate, Botman, Beresford; Lee, Speed; Nobby, HBA, Bruno; Shearer. Probably changes on a daily basis though.

You were around to see Beresford (a thoroughly average left back) et al yet no Beardsley?  Sacrilege, sir  

[Menace]

Zero respect being shown to Ba.

[Guest]

49 minutes ago, jack j said:

Best thing about these threads is I could probably put 3 11s up before any sunlund player in my life time would come into reckoning.

Seen some of theirs and they've got cattermole kevin ball nicky sumerbee steed malbranque etc in

Poor fuckers

 

 

Arca 00/01 at left-back when he first joined them is the only one who'd get close. 

[bowlingcrofty]

42 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

You were around to see Beresford (a thoroughly average left back) et al yet no Beardsley?  Sacrilege, sir  

Bez wasn't average, I loved him! Shows the paucity of decent left backs we've had over the years though admittedly.

 

And yeah - when I say it changes every day...it changes multiple times per day. Beardsley over HBA, even though I loved that mad bastard as much for standing against everything I hated about NUFC at the time as I did for his abilities, numerous though they were.

 

I'd say people like Colo, Jose, Cole, Ferdinand, Gillespie, Ginola, Pope, Robert are all unlucky not to feature.

 

As an aside, it's fair to say literally every single player mentioned here would be Sunderland's greatest ever player, by quite a distance? (Aside Cole and Given who both played for them at the wrong times in their career)

[LFEE]

Any team without Beardsley in it is wrong.

[Guest]

Aye I forgot about him.

 

In for Isak in my original XI.

[Fezzle]

Given, Trippier, Woodgate, Albert, Enrique, Solano, Lee, Speed, Bruno, Beardsley, Shearer without really thinking too much about it. Would no doubt change 3/4 if i overthink it

[The College Dropout]

No top team has GKs the profile of Given. The GK role has evolved far beyond what Given could do. He was a great shot-stopper and consistent. What else was he good at?

- Distribution and generally bad with his feet

- He didn't command his area or collect crosses often

-  Sweeper keeper, absolutely not

- Penalty saving record was woeful

 

That's why there's so few top keepers in today's game. They have to do a lot more. That's what makes Pope such a great keeper. Great at the traditional stuff (penalties, shot stopping, commanding his area) and he can sweep it up. If he was good with his feet / on the ball he would be one of the best in the world.