alias75

Im sure Bruce would have said the same about Bent last week

should buy him for 350k and sell him to Wolves for 500k, thats 1 weeks wages for Gerrard sorted!!

Yeah didn't take him long to change his mind though, maybe he should have given Spearing a look before committing that much money and wages to a 30 plus year old.

think the new owners have been shocked at the wages here and the amount you pay players that hardly contribute. I think what we might see happen is we let go a few of those high earning players that aren't offering us much, Babel, Jovanovic, Poulson and replace them with a mixture of young players from within and 1 or 2 real top players that can go straight into the first team and justify the big wages. We've already seen Suso and Coady promoted to Melwood and this is probably the most talented group of young players we've had for a while, they need to see a route into the first team. Just look at the Poulson signing as a prime example, we already had Spearing at the club that can do a similar job as 3rd / 4th choice CM so why would you waste £5 million plus whatever wages hes on, for a 30 plus player?? It makes no sense.

That clears that up then

hes quicker than Riera or Cole or Maxi or Kuyt

Disagree and think this is one of our main problems this season. None of those players you mentioned are proper wide players they all like to tuck inside which means the middle of the pitch gets crowded and we have no real width to our play. None of those players can take on their fullback and whip in a decent ball. In terms of ability Downing might not be an upgrade on those players, but in terms of getting in someone that can play that wide position well and hold his width throughout the game, he does that better than anyone we have. Would personally prefer Downing to Young but either will benefit the team because they will give us a proper winger.

But Maxi is a different type of wide player, he drifts inside a lot id have no problem playing someone like Downing wide left who'll hold his position and give us width and then Maxi on the right who'll drift a bit more but open up the space for someone like Johnson to give us that width on the right. At the moment though we have 0 wide players that will hug the touchline. (Babel maybe but hes pretty usueless)

Think you might be surprised what a few decent players in problem positions would do to the rest of the team. Balance is so important, Riera was nothing more than a good player but just having a proper winger that held his position improved the team so much. If you have that proper width you make the pitch bigger and give much more space to your attacking players like Gerrard and Torres. It also gives you more passing options when you have possession when you know you have men wide right and wide left that will hold their position. Think hes one of the better wingers in the league and would be a pretty big improvement in what we have at the moment.

Elisha reading this topic, is he that much out of the loop that he has to get the latest rumours off this thread, or hopefully he has something juicy to share!!

Depends on the price but i agree he'd do a similar job to what Riera did. The team badly lacks balance we have too many players that want to play inside which makes the pitch smaller and limits the space to our attacking players. Downing is a proper wide player that will hold his width, hes quicker than Riera and is better than what we have in those positions. Not sure what his contract situation is, we also have a few players we could offer in part ex.

He does it all the time and hes a penalty waiting to happen on every corner, he does the old Italian trick of not looking at the ball and simply facing his man and holding him to try and stop him jumping.

so Babel + £17million

not sure if the stuff about him having the same agent as Torres is true but we can only hope the chance to play with Torres is a big factor. Cos i think once we make a firm bid teams like Spus that can offer him CL football will also be interested. Hopefully we still have some pull.

Downing could do a similar job to what Riera did, he'll hold his width and give us balance on the left side. Think hes been playing pretty well this season too, i remember when they drew 2-2 with Utd and he was the best player on the pitch. Guess the only problem is you pay a premium for English players but we could do worse.

to be honest though more than anything the team needs balance, we don't want to be playing right backs at left back (especially right backs that are dodgy defensively) so if we get Warnock hes an improvement on PFK and at least that gives us balance in the back 4. Riera wasn't a great player but just having a player that knew his position and held his width makes a huge difference. You look at the forward thinking managers and its all about holding your width and making the pitch as big as possible so your attacking players have space to play in and you can push your fullbacks on. We have too many players that aren't comfortable out wide and want to come inside all the time.

When we had Mascherano the back 4 was protected so well and very often Pepe would only have 1 or maybe 2 real saves to make each game, With Masch gone we need defenders that are more capable in those 1 on 1 situations and we desperately need someone that's dominant in the air. Even when we defended well under Rafa, Skrtel looked dodgy, hes never been dominant in the air and loses far too many headers in key positions. Its a tough position to fill but i do think we need to look at someone thats used to the league and can cope with the physicality and more aerial bombardment you face here. Someone like Cahill i guess is the obvious choice hes quick and despite being just over 6ft is very strong in the air. One other possible is maybe Collicini hes someone we were linked with before he came to Newcastle and after a shaky start has looked really good the last 2 seasons. Hes strong in the air and decent on the ball. But if we are going to play a bit more offensive style you need defenders that can cope in those 1 on 1 situations pace is a necessity and we badly lack that at the moment.

Skrtel had a brief spell where he looked like he was going to be a good player for us but even under Rafa when we usually defended pretty well he looked like he had plenty of errors in him and hes never been as dominant as he should be. The number of times he loses headers he should win that lead to goals is too many to be a coincidence. Maybe that bad knock he took a while ago has affected him, either way we need at least 1 new CB.

central defence is a priority at the monent, its crazy how we've gone from being such a strong defensive side to one that makes so many mistakes in such a short space of time, i do think losing such a quality player like Mascherano who can protect them is as big of a factor as the individual defenders. If you think back to games under Rafa very often Pepe would only have 1 maybe 2 saves to make each game such was the quality of protection our central midfielders gave the back 4. However its obvious we need a dominant centre back with pace to replace Skrtel. Hes simply not good enough in most aspects of the game for someone of his size he should dominate but he loses far too many headers. Ideally you'd go for someone thats used to the league, i guess the obvious candidates are Cahill but i also think Collocini has been excellent for Newcastle over the last couple of seasons, he was someone we were linked with before he came to the UK and he looks a top defender plus someone thats comfortable on the ball. Also think its time to try GJ wide right, its such a problem position for us, defensively Johnson is a liability, but he is one of our better attacking players so i do think we have to find a place for him in the team, you only have to look how Bale adapted to being moved further forward to see its worth trying at least we're not getting much from those wide positions anyway so theres nothing to lose really. Hopefully we can bring in 1 or 2 new faces, i think if we signed a couple of players of the quality to slot straight into the first team we'd see pretty rapid improvements.

Personally wouldn't mind Warnock especially on loan, left back is a problem position and while long term id prefer someone like Coentrão we do need someone else in if Konchesky is being frozen out because otherwise we end up playing a right back there when Aurellio isn't fit (which is often) don't think his form has been great but he is a solid option and offers more than Konchesky.

Think its a combination at the moment of a poor squad plus very low confidence. I think if you added 1 or 2 top players that could come straight into the first team you'd see everyone's level improve. One look at yesterdays team and i knew we'd struggle, we badly need a new CB with pace and at least 1 new wide option thats quick. I think a midfield 3 of Lucas, Meireles and Gerrard is good, but after if one of them is missing the drop off is too big, having Aquilani back would sort that out but i doubt that's going to happen. Also agree the lack of pace is a problem and has been for a while, thats fine if you have the technical ability of Barcelona or height and strength but we have neither. on the plus side Kenny will identify the right type of player we need, i don't think Roy would have.

Charlie Adams, the Scottish Alonso!! we could do a lot worse at the moment.

Yeah your central midfielder should be more involved than Poulson was, hes not mobile enough im afraid and if his job was to protect the back 4 he didn't do a very good job of it.

Kind of expected this when i saw the team, the players put in so much effort on Sunday with 10 men and Blackpool rested most of their first team i did worry we'd tire, and thats what happened the last 10min when we needed to get the goal we didn't have the energy to even create anything. Think we saw the difference between a team playing with confidence and a team short of confidence, Kenny's main job is to slowly build the confidence of the team. Think it also showed the need for 1 or 2 new faces just to freshen things up, we need another CB once again Skrtel loseskey headers he should be eating up, we also need to bring back Insua and Aquilani if possible ASAP having to play people out of position isn't going to help. Hopefully we can sign someone to play out wide, once again that wide right position is a real problem, unless Maxi plays we get hard work but not a lot else from those wide positions and if your playing 4-2-3-1 its so important those wide players help support the striker and are a goal threat. On the plus side i thought Torres was better, he just needs more support up there and better quality of service, Gerrards tackle on the weekend whether you think it was a red card or not was really reckless and at the moment Kenny needs him in the team. Think its vital we sign some quality in the window, 1 or 2 players that can come into the first team and not have that baggage the current players have.

might be time to try Johnson wide right, Kelly deserves a run in the side and we're lacking options out there, Johnson at least has pace and can run with the ball. Also with Stevie missing 3 games now we could probably use Kuyt behind Torres.