Jump to content

Honest assessment of our squad ...


Matty_Lash

Recommended Posts

After yet another in a long line of disappointments I found myself looking at some of the players that I used to love thinking ‘you’re not good enough’. So today I forgot all of my personal feelings and memories of our players and have given an honest assessment of  what I think.

 

Goalkeeper

This is clearly our best position, we have arguably the best shot stopper in the league (although distribution is poor) and a protégé who was recently described as ‘the next Buffon’ by the Juventus chief of scouting.

 

 

Given – One of only a few class players to have played for this club recently. Top draw. Arguably better loyalty than Shearer (what with him not being a Geordie)

 

Harper - Until recently there were often claims that Steve was of equal quality to shay. After an extended first team run this season it is clear that he is not. On a bumper contract due to his loyalty, he will not ever be good enough. SELL.

 

Krul – Should be our number two. Get experience in cup games. In 2-3 years will be on a par with given.

 

Defence

Even Townsend was getting irate at our defensive personnel. Needs an overhaul.

 

 

Solano – has got to be right back from now on due to ineffectiveness at right mid. My all time favourite player but has he still got enough in him? Would keep him but only as back up to both the right back and right mid. Recent media interviews lead me to believe that he is intelligent enough to make a fine manager one day and his experience and ability mean he should be given a senior role at the club possibly player/coach.

 

Carr – High wages. High Fat chocolate fire guard. GET RID

 

Babayaro – See above. GET RID

 

Bernard & Moore – Ditto! GET RID

 

Bramble – Have previously said he should be given time. His time is up. Hes simply not good enough unless hes playing pub teams in the intertoto. GET RID

 

Taylor – still to be convinced. But has potential and is young. Needs a mentor, Tony Adams?

 

Ramage & Edgar – Obviously not good enough but are on a pittance and provide honest back up in case of the worst injury scare.

 

Hunty – was awful last night and against Wigan but still a nipper and captained England at his level. Too early to judge.

 

Onyewu- doesn’t seem good enough either. No point in buying somebody who is no better than what we have already got. DO NOT BUY

 

wow that was depressing.

 

Midfield

Some great names on paper, but it just doesn’t work does it. A lot of our problems last night stemmed from our inability to string 3 passes together. Even at my level we get balled at by the manager if we don’t do this.

 

Milner – Great potential and a tremendous work ethic. The hours he puts in on the training field will make him better and better. Needs to gain consistency with his quality.

 

Parker – I feel he is still suffering the effects of the glandular fever which apparently takes a couple of years to get over fully. Was awesome last season, great drive which seems to be missing this campaign. I feel he has to accept the defensive midfield position and the responsibility which comes with it(no more headless chicken stuff) as it is clear he is no playmaker.

 

Emre – Cannot defend and is in the team for his attacking abilities. So where are they? Does not score goals, does not create goals and wastes a huge amount of set pieces. Typical Newcastle player, comes with a big name but lacks substance. Being attacking is about more than being able to beat the same man 3 or 4 times. SELL

 

Butt – What a turnaround eh? But still not good enough in possession. Will do as backup but he isn’t getting any younger and should only have one more year at tops.

 

N’Zog – Again bags of potential. One of the youngsters we can actually pin our hopes on. Has suffered as a result of selling Boumsong and Faye and needs confidence badly. Can you imagine him playing under Wenger’s protective arm? I can!

 

Duff – disappointing but has to be given at least some time. With him milner and zog vying for 2 positions I feel we are adequately covered.

 

Dyer – what does he bring to the team? Pace? Hes not good enough up front or in centre mid and dosnt have he discipline or crossing ability for right wing. Could make a killer super-sub, but or 90grand a week we could get more. SELL

 

Pattison & O’brien – never going to make it so whats the point in keeping them around? SELL

 

Lua Lua – looking forward to seeing his emergence and hopefully a few games as sub in the years to come

 

Strikers

We have some quality here but do we need a big man who can cope with our pathetic, aimless long balls due to our inability to string passes together?

 

Owen – I get worried about whether he will come back as the same player, but then I see a clip of him scoring goals and his beaming smile. He will still be a top poacher no matter what.

 

Martins – I cant repeat some of the things that I was shouting at the tv last night as I watched him strole around half-heartedly. Then he got his chance and I was surprised to see him go for his favourite dink over the keeper (not!). Why when you have Andy Roddicks serve in your left boot would you not just bell the ball and rip the net off?

Again has bags of potential and with the right coaching (cough Shearer) will learn how to make his runs and how to stay clam in front of goal Could be brilliant.

 

Luque – Hasn’t worked out, wasting money on wages. SELL

 

Ameobi – I actually believe a lot of his critics are unfair, and Im sorry to say that I feel there is a racial element to this. Has bags of quality and looked a different player at the start of this season/end of last, even though he was carrying an injury. Admittedly he has no consistency but again maybe with coaching it will come. In any event hes good enough for the bottom half of the premiership and so makes a good backup striker in my opinion.

 

Sib – only player I feel identifies with the fans. Lacks quality but has great attitude and work rate. Obviously not good enough but will do for a new dimension if we are strugging (long balls)

 

 

 

Thanks for bearing with me. I have felt disappointment before with this club. The only difference is this time I saw it coming. Nothing is a surprise anymore. Come the big occasions – come the bottling performances. It really has to change and I pray it does, we can no longer accept it. And if that means booing the team off after semi final defeats etc then so be it. Failure is not acceptable.

 

By the way this was my first post, I’m just sorry it wasn’t under happier circumstances.

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

 

Ameobi I actually believe a lot of his critics are unfair, and Im sorry to say that I feel there is a racial element to this. Has bags of quality and looked a different player at the start of this season/end of last, even though he was carrying an injury. Admittedly he has no consistency but again maybe with coaching it will come. In any event hes good enough for the bottom half of the premiership and so makes a good backup striker in my opinion.

 

Do you have any reason for thinking it's racial?  Any at all?

Link to post
Share on other sites

 

Ameobi – I actually believe a lot of his critics are unfair, and Im sorry to say that I feel there is a racial element to this. Has bags of quality and looked a different player at the start of this season/end of last, even though he was carrying an injury. Admittedly he has no consistency but again maybe with coaching it will come. In any event hes good enough for the bottom half of the premiership and so makes a good backup striker in my opinion.

 

Do you have any reason for thinking it's racial?  Any at all?

 

Aye, complete nonsense tbh.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest given take

 

 

Emre – Cannot defend and is in the team for his attacking abilities. So where are they? Does not score goals, does not create goals and wastes a huge amount of set pieces. Typical Newcastle player, comes with a big name but lacks substance. Being attacking is about more than being able to beat the same man 3 or 4 times. SELL

 

 

i suggest you take up another sport to follow as you clearly dont know anything about football.

Link to post
Share on other sites

 

 

Emre – Cannot defend and is in the team for his attacking abilities. So where are they? Does not score goals, does not create goals and wastes a huge amount of set pieces. Typical Newcastle player, comes with a big name but lacks substance. Being attacking is about more than being able to beat the same man 3 or 4 times. SELL

 

 

i suggest you take up another sport to follow as you clearly dont know anything about football.

 

Fucking hell, what is it with people these days? :lol:

 

What exactly is your argument?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest kingdawson

i agree with matty about emre. compare him to lampard, gerrard and scholes and hes a joke

 

You're not a top 4 team ffs so why are you comparing him to players that play for top 4 clubs.

Link to post
Share on other sites

i agree with matty about emre. compare him to lampard, gerrard and scholes and hes a joke

 

Those three are amongst the very best central midfielders in Europe. I agree Emre isn't all that, but it's a bit harsh comparing him to them.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest TheOrder

I disagree with Edgar. He's a decent defender and still very young. Has shown nothing to show he won't get better, and he hasn't been given the chances Hunts has had.

 

Huntington is an awful left back, but a very competant centre back. But still needs another year on the fringe imo.

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest triggy99

well in my opinion we are in the top 6 biggest clubs in the premiership and the only other teams players i should compare him with are arsenals and spurs

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest Hibbits left foot

KEEP; given, harper , krul

taylor, edgar, solano, bernard,gooch,huntington

parker, butt, milner, dyer, o brien, nzog

owen , martins .

SELL; the rest and invest in the most important positions, centre back , right back , left back ,midfield,  striker ( not another little guy obviously )

Oh and Van Gaal for manager please

Link to post
Share on other sites

KEEP; given, harper , krul

taylor, edgar, solano, bernard,gooch

parker, butt, milner, dyer, o brien, nzog

owen , martins .

SELL; the rest and invest in the most important positions, centre back , right back , left back ,midfield,  striker ( not another little guy obviously )

Oh and Van Gaal for manager please

 

If I see Van Gaal's face again I'm going to puke.

 

And Bernard? How can we keep something that doesn't even exist?

 

Bernard's an urban legend tbh. The Batman of NUFC.

Link to post
Share on other sites

RE the ameobi racism.

 

I actually go to every home game and about 15 away games a season, and almost every game shola gets the racist abuse (admittedly nothing sinister but name calling etc is still racist) and often when anybody says sumthing back along the lines of ''hes from walker, hes a geordie'' they get shot down with the ai but hes black response, cue the laughter. Im not saying everybody thinks hes crap because hes black hence why i said i think SOME of his critics are being unfair.

I can also tell you that I am by no means the only person who thinks there is a racial element to the criticism as it was pointed out to me by other fans when travelling to away games and I have heard it a lot. You should also read through nufc.com's match reports where it has actually been mentioned on a couple of occasions in the waffle section.

 

To the martins point of course he wont be getting much stick because hes a damn good player. Shola however has quite a lot of critics to start with and I feel that many people who dont really know what they are talking about jump on the bandwagon precisely because he is black.

 

Please dont get me wrong I didnt want to make a big point of it, it was more just an example of why i think he gets unfair stick because i rate him. The point of my post was to assess the state of our squad which i feel is in a terrible state(note the defence) and I wanted peoples opinions on how we could improve the situation.

 

To given take who claims i should take up another sport as i clearly know nothing about football ..........

I actually play to quite a high standard and am involved with coaching at junior level, you could in fact say that football is my career in a roundabout way (although im not that good). I would also say that I go to a lot of games and watch pretty much every league in europe so when you say I know nothing about football I find it laughable.

 

Anyways I was just wanting to see peoples opinions on the situation without people becoming hysterical and crying for roeder out  sack the board etc. As I say I am involved a lot with football and I can assure you that change is possible although it does take time. Keep the replies coming, Im always up for a bit craic even if I think you are a tool Given Take  O0 . So what do you feel emre brings to the team then????

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest Knightrider

If I'm being totally honest....

 

Keep

 

Shay

Krul

Solano (back-up)

Taylor (back-up)

Milner (back-upP

Parker (back-up/DCM)

N'Zogbia

Martins

Ameobi (back-up)

Huntington (back to the reserves)

Edgar (see above)

 

I'd get rid of everyone else because they are either not good enough, getting on now, lack the right mentality, are perma-crocks, have a shit attitude, want away or aren't worth their wages, or in some cases, all of that.

 

PS Gooch - not seen enough yet, not exactly convinced by him though.

Link to post
Share on other sites

If I'm being totally honest....

 

Keep

 

Shay

Krul

Solano (back-up)

Taylor (back-up)

Milner (back-upP

Parker (back-up/DCM)

N'Zogbia

Martins

Ameobi (back-up)

Huntington (back to the reserves)

Edgar (see above)

 

I'd get rid of everyone else because they are either not good enough, getting on now, lack the right mentality, are perma-crocks, have a s*** attitude, want away or aren't worth their wages, or in some cases, all of that.

 

PS Gooch - not seen enough yet, not exactly convinced by him though.

 

I'd add Edgar and I'd probably keep Harper as I would hate to bring back a player who had retired, again.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...