Shola - Comments

Except for Shola, he's probably distraught.

We've completely fucked this Teixera deal, doing what fucking Arsenal did with Suarez and pissing about over a few million. Wouldn't be surprised if we missed out on him completely now.

£24m on Shelvey and Townsend is miles too much but they seem more like the kind of player that Newcastle should be going for. It was obvious that Cabella and Thauvin were going to fail. Especially Thauvin, I've no idea why they splashed out on him after seeing what happened with Cabella - they seem pretty much identical.

I agree that they're not particularly great players but if they were would they be going to Newcastle in the first place?

Its the same with the moaning about Charlie Austin. Is anyone really surprised he'd rather go to Southampton than Newcastle?

Its a relatively positive step for Newcastle fans that have long complained about buying cheap players from the continent who have by and large failed that they're willing to stump up the cash for players who aren't that, no?

Nobody is complaining about the lack of investment this season (well at least I hope they're not)

I'm complaining that we're still in dire need of a goalscorer and we're signing anybody but a goalscorer atm.

Yet seem willing to keep bidding/scouting Lacazette when he has no interest in coming here.

Move onto someone a bit shitter as we're not good enough for Lacazette.

That being said - this investment is long overdue, should have been done years ago.

John Stones probably is over-rated but its not hard to see why, can't think of many centre-backs as well rounded as he is. And whilst he's still got a way to go, he's 21 after all, I can't see anything that will stop him from being great.

As an aside anyone who uses the phrase 'Trequarista' or 'Enganche' in any sort of discussion outside of FM deserves to be lynched. Jamie Jackson described Juan Mata yesterday as 'the Spanish Trequarista' should be a sackable offence on its own, that.

I'm guessing that as Southampton recently used 3 at the back tactics when they beat Watford and that we were the better side in the FA Cup tie, even with gifting them the win, it was used. But the stats indicate we were poor and so to do the anecdotes. Its an oddity as the teamsheet Tweet before kick-off had 4-4-1-1, then essentially a 3-5-1-1, before ending by the sounds of it in a 4-2-1-3, and being poor in all of them. Regardless, our away form is concerning - lowest away scorers in the league is not a badge of pride.

Lascelles I guess was easy to make me a little uneasy as he was poor at left-back against Man City and was last given a larger role in the humilation by Palace, but I've seen a few saying he was one of the only few that tried. I still think as we only had 4 match-fit defenders (although I'm guessing Steven Taylor will be around for Everton).

Special top marks surely for Gouffran, Perez and Riviere inexplicably sending easy headers off target.

I saw that one of his players broke his glasses during the melee. If it was a defender then penalty enough should be having to buy him his new pair.

Yeah there's something lacking coherence tactically with his decision making, and its very odd that an injury to Paul Dummett of all people means we have to go for a destabilising personnel and tactical shift. The system used v West Ham seemed to work better, and surely even with Lascelles or Mbemba out of position at LB, it shouldn't have lead to an immediate double whammy of changes that sapped of the good qualities of that afternoon.

Seems to be a forward thing to - apparently Janmaat and Shelvey were seen complainiing the forwards didn't do enough moving.

NUFC have been in the bottom six since the opening month, and only 5 wins in 23 for McClaren... most clubs in this position would've pulled the trigger by now.

Can't put out a back four at the weekend but were well stocked in defence so don't need to buy any.

Hmm.

When you sign someone like Nordin Amrabat for a club record £6m it's almost as if you deserve to go down, lol.

Football is broken, mate. Especially at this level. The latest FFP rules actively encourage spending over your means to chase the riches of the Premier League. Average players earn ridiculous money (see above for one example). The emphasis on the instant fix and throwing money at it is ridiculous. Bolton, if truth be told, aren't the worst culprits - they're the ones who Premier League excesses simply caught up with and who had a chairman who had had enough. I can think of quite a few other clubs, even among the ranks of the sensibly-run, who would be even further up the creek if the chairman pulled the plug because they're not sustainable. In fact, I'd argue most of the division falls into that category.

A major financial crash will come somewhere down the line and a lot of clubs will find themselves in bother as they were from about 2001-2003 as revenues from such as TV dry up. That said, I've been predicting that crash for years and it hasn't happened yet and doesn't show any real signs of happening soon.

Since the end of the 5th place season, he's not been consistent in any way. He's had episodes of playing something like his form in his first two seasons, including of late, but its mostly been unimpressive.

£8m for a 29-year-old who has been far too inconsistent works out I guess.

Southampton have signed Charlie Austin for £4m.

Well... seeing as he's apparently a boyhood Saints fan and cba with moving from the South, guess it was to be expected NUFC wouldn't land this one. Ho hum.

Taking Özil off once again costing us 3 points. Good game though, a draw probably a fair result but christ we let some absolute nobody's score against us so many times. Ramsey bar the goal was appalling & alongside Flamini it just ends up with the midfield being non-existent.