Newcastle Thread

Would Richards really offer that much of an improvement on (the admittedly poorly developed) Steven Taylor?

Not from what I've seen of Steven Taylor.

I think they'll be similar, although I think if we sign Richards he'll be playing right back as backup to Janmaat?

Coloccini and Williamson play well together.

I assume so. The idea of Richards being signed to play as a centre-back is pretty ridiculous to be honest. He's just not good enough there.

He can cover there and right back, would be a good signing on that basis tbf.

I'd like us to stick a bid in for him and Sinclair, combined 10m or something.

For a manager who likes to play 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 we only have Obertan and Aarons in our first team that are actual wingers.

He can't really cover centre back at all. He's abysmal there

He'll be better than Steven Taylor.

Bingo. He used to be alright there, not any more.

Pardew actually used 'like a new signing' today...


Bloody club distracting away that Newcastle have only made 9 signings.

I did expect it at some point, but never thought it would be after the summer we've had

Ben Arfa's agent confirmed he rejected a move to Besiktas as he wants to stay at Newcastle, but will get the PFA involved if he continues to be kept on the fringes.

Maybe we should just play him or at least make an effort to keep in the squad. At the least he has more to offer the attack than Gouffran.

PARDEW PUTTING AARONS IN THE SHOP WINDOW.



HBA apparently turned down a new deal. Possibly because he loves the club too much.

Gouffran was shite today and didn't look interested, still better than Sissoko, Cabella and De Jong.

De Jong did look anonymous, aye. Cabella had bits and bobs but was flat, while Sissoko (and Riviere as well) was a passenger. Aarons was the best attacking threat and he only played 25 minutes.

As much as we still need a new striker, those in the AM roles really need a new strategy. So to does the defence, given it deteriorated into last season's mishaps again.

Don't think the defence is the problem, reckon it's an easy excuse blame a defender, (Steven Taylor or Dummett) - It's the complete lack of midfield in front of it.

Colback was the only one contributing enough defensively. If Newcastle are playing 4-4-1-1 Sissoko, Gouffran and Cabella need to actually defend and be in some sort of shape.

Found Cabella's attitude infuriating, happy to showboat, lose it, then stay up field. Absolute liability.

Typical defensive woes for Newcastle there. Tim Krul looked more average than usual. Chamakh shouldn't have even been allowed to get on the end of the ball for the first goal. Janmaat was lucky to get Newcastle's first after the pinball in the box. The real bright note was Ronaldo Aarons, hope to see more of him in the future. And I wish we'd got Zaha on loan (not that he'd have wanted to move even further away from his mum)!

I only saw highlights on MOTD, does anyone who saw the entire game have nice things to say about Rivière that weren't apparent?

tbh I thought all 6 goals were flukes in their own ways. But Newcastle just didn't control the game. Looked absolutely brittle. At least against Villa, Newcastle actually controlled the game and didn't look like conceding every time the opposition crossed the halfway line.

Thought Riviere was decent enough. Better than Sissoko, De Jong, Cabella and Gouffran anyway.

Bad marking was a fault for all 3 - Chamakh and Gayle on number 1, Puncheon (and Chamakh and Gayle in different parts of the box) on number 2 and more or less everyone on number 3, which made a mockery of there being 8 defenders in the home penalty area. The defending on number 3 in particular was a fucking joke, although after Zaha's introduction, the foundation did not look secure in any way.

Its odd - in the first half we had a lot of possession, but spent so long looking like we would never actually do anything with it.

Agreed our first goal was lucky and so to an extent was the 3rd, although it would've been an amazing strike if Aarons' initial hit had landed an inch to the left.

the 3rd was amazing. Newcastle have invented 'zone marking' - where everyone stands in one zone.

Assuming no further injuries and Tiote is fit, what would your team for Southampton be?

Krul
Janmaat-Colo-Williamson-Dummett
Tiote-Colback-Sissoko
Aarons-Obertan
Riviere

Elliot, Taylor, Haidara, Anita, Cabella, DeJong, Gouffran.

I've seen a suggestion saw Coloccini is the possible weak link in our back 4, though I can't help but think its the fault of poor midfield planning. Certainly he was awful against Palace, but neither Taylor, Dummett nor Haidara fill me with confidence, and there is a definite lack of protection when Colback is having to do all the attacking and defensive running on behalf of players that look like they can't be bothered with thatb it.

Tiote and Colback as deep-liers with a supporting trio of Sissoko, de Jong and Aarons might work, provided those 3 AMs are actually given a coherent strategy, which didn't seem in evidence v Palace until Aarons came on. Gouffran needs dropping.

I'd also pick Perez - seems a decent little runner, while Riviere has so far looked inert. Also, is Ferreyra ever going to appear in the first team?

I'd play 4-2-3-1

basically the same team as yesterday but drop gouffran for aarons.

And I agree about the strategy comments, there doesn't seem to be any cohesiveness between our 3 AM's.

Hopefully the Lacazette deal will get done, and he'll start.

Sky claiming we want Defoe. Given he's in Canada it would be tricky to fly him over in time.

Meanwhile, Italian media is claiming Yanga-Mbiwa is having a medical at Roma later. Be a total pain in the arse if he goes there and suddenly turns out to be good.

I've already reached my tipping point for the season.

9 players signed this window, and the twitter fans are already complaining about because Newcastle won't panic buy someone. Along with the usual moronic stuff, about players being #Pardewed. If you use stock phrases like that then you literally are a idiot, who can't actually make a coherent argument about football, so must use wild exaggeration to make your point.

Already read today that Sissoko was a £30m player (who we signed for £2m), Gouffran was a top striker (he isn't rated in France, and cost £750k), and Santon is a CL winning fullback.

So many people honestly believe in extremely simple solutions, it's almost childlike how people believe (or claim to believe) that changing x will change everything.

As these people shout the loudest, then the media etc seem to cater for their opinions and deliver what they want to read, rather than actual news or opinion.

Apparently Nastasic has been linked as the MYM replacement... might work. Might be an improvement on the other three to boot. Though it'd be a bit much if MYM was good enough to start in the Champions League for the Serie A title favourites yet not good enough to start ahead of Mike Williamson.

Panic buying means shit all and can usually backfire, but we still require a striker either way - as much as we've done well to replace the 3 that left in May, we needed one even after signing Luuk de Jong in January (although to call him a striker was insulting our intelligence). Hardly helping is the report we were offered Abel Hernandez and he joined Hull anyway. Welbeck may also work but time is hardly helpful.

For me, the biggest failures at NUFC remain in coaching the players (not talking management although that probably has a role in it) as we seem to lack defensive and attacking intelligence, have so far been very slow in attack in all 3 games and we still can't take a set-piece even if the fate of the planet was riding on it. So something has to be done to give the players a cohesive strategy. Maybe new coaches are needed, I don't know.

But its Twitter. You're rarely if ever going to get intelligence from that medium.

True. Coaching is something I'm reluctant to criticise because it's obviously outside the public eye. But most of our coaches seem to be appointed on the fact they are from the area, which is a worry.

Would rather Newcastle kept MYM because I don't want to give up on him. He seems to work hard and pretty likeable, it's a shame it hasn't worked out for him. Nastasic could be an outstanding signing, but I can't get excited about any new signings at the moment.

From a tactics POV, I always think we commit too many players high up too eatly, we can never break quickly because they are already there, rather than coming from deep/ spreading play/ attacking from different angles.

Thought against Palace, who were set up in the traditional counter attacking style with 6 defensive players, rather than dragging their players where they didn't want to go, we committed too many forward to early, totally congesting the play, and leading to the break always being on.

Personally I don't get excited about transfer rumours until there is the photo of them holding a black-and-white striped shirt in the tunnel for the club photographers. Learned that after last season, which saw us linked with quite a few players and sign nobody permanently. Seeing as MYM is quoted as set for the Roma move, I doubt he's gonna stay, but failing to acquire a replacement is a huge gamble - its too soon to chuck in Streete or Good, and the existing three aren't exactly amazing either.

Its not just their locality that we seem to appoint coaches by but also past connection too in a few cases. Beardsley does at least have praise from players, but a lot of our coaching squad look like they need to buck ideas up.

Our main issue is that the striker never seems to be involved. Riviere barely touched the ball against Palace, and neither did de Jong. We seemed to struggle to find our way through the Palace defensive ranks and seemed to ponder our way rather than really test them. Before Aarons the only one to really try a running was Janmaat ahead of his goal. In the meantime we just kept making it easy for them.

Newcastle press reporting Ben Arfa to Hull.

Should such a move happen, that would piss off some fans enough. Should he move and then score in Hull's seemingly annual win at SJP, there'll probably be horse punching again.

A real shame if true.