ACN - BIG impact for NUFC but none for SAFC

SAFC fan in Peace

Just saw the article below and found it quite surprising that we lose 0 players to the ACN (Since that twat Gyan decided that he would rather play in front of 300 people every week!!) and it has quite an impact on you guys with the loss of Tiote and Demba Ba!

How do you guys think you'll do without, let's face it, 2 of your more important players (Tiote, IMO, is probably your most important ATM - not to mention Demba Ba's injury issues as I can't see his international side being as "gentle" on him as you guys will be!)

http://www.journallive.co.uk/nufc/n...lan-pardew-s-african-headache-61634-29573012/

 

Good job we're not a Mackem free board!......back to your question ...we will miss both guys so fingers crossed they return fit.

 

we have good strength in depth in midfield, so i cant see it affecting us that much (hopefully). HBA for Ba in the no.10 role (if wer're nor already playing that) and Gosling would be my choice to stand in for Tiote, although Guthrie performed admirably in a 3 man midfield in the CC so he'll be looking to stake his claim (and win a new contract in the process)

 

Good job I'm not a mackem as I was born and live in Durham

 

you never know we might actually buy someone in jan thus making it not an issue at all (striker wise,midfield wise we do have plenty of cover all be it not as good as tiote)but i'm sure we'll cope.

 

It could be bad, but the team has to have something about them to come through it. It's not like Tiote and Ba have done all the work so far this season though. They were both pretty awful until about 4 or 5 games in due to religious fasting.

We've still got a decent midfield without Tiote, but the defence will have to be on their toes a bit more. Hopefully we'll sign a striker or two in January to make up for the loss of goals, assuming of course Ba continues with his current scoring rate!

 

Tiote will be the big loss. Ba will only be a loss if we don't sign a striker early on in January in my opinion.

 

Hopefully we get 2 replacements in early for them. A permanent striker is needed anyway in January and a loan deal for a experienced midfielder would be good. Gosling and Guth both deserve a chance but a bad start from either of them and there confidence could go and we are in trouble. I still think an experienced head would be good,someone like Lassana Diarra until the end of the season.

EDIT: I forgot about Mehdi,maybe we don't need a loan deal but the lack of experienced back up does worry me a little.

 

I have a feeling the two we lose may be offset by some business in the January transfer window. Come January the club will have had a full 12 months to resolve our ongoing striker situation. I think the deal will be done before the window even opens if they have any sense, and I expect to see Maiga rock up. To be honest we have all been expecting a switch to a single striker at some stage anyway, certainly away from home. We have Ben Arfa fit now so the likes of him/ Vuckic and Marveaux come under consideration for the second striker role. Then of course we have young Sammy who is quite an exciting prospect. The likes of him Vuckic and Abeid are very highly rated and I'm a big believer in the giving the young players their head when they are good enough. So in terms of the forward situation I'm not too worried, we have been on that for a while.

Tiote is less clear and it will really depend on whether the money is available to cover that with a transfer or loan. We do have other options but I'm not convinced they'll be good ones in terms of keeping our form with Guthrie and Smith! The problem is we have a bigger priority at centre back and even left back, so I doubt we'll see anything done central midfield wise. We are lucky though because Cabaye is versatile in that he's equally as comfortable playing Cheik's role of breaking up play.

It will have an impact but how much is unclear. Tiote might as well not have played in our opening 4 games this season. He was still in pre season having missed the end and was playing for the other team at times! Fortunately the area our success is really built on is that of the triangle of giveyoufuckall, Colo, Saylor and Krul. One of those 3 would have been a much bigger problem.

 

Abeid will come in for Tiote and Best will come in for Ba, it hopefully won't make too much of a difference and it'll only be for 2-3 games I reckon.

 

Problem is that Ivory Coast and Senegal are in great form. I expect Ivory Coast to win it so I don't know what that means in terms of time and games?

 

I think that means 3 games missed if the team goes all the way.

 

21st Jan - 12th Feb so Fulham away (21st Jan), Blackburn away (1st Feb), Villa home (4th Feb) and Spurs away (11th Feb).

Edit: You can probably add QPR home (14th Jan) to that as I would imagine the teams spend a few days together before the actual tournament!

 

As long as Smith stays injured, I have faith in whoever will replace Tiote. Abeid seems inexperienced so I'd prefer Guthrie who did pretty well especially against ManU....

 

Tiote will be a huge loss for us, hoping Ashley might splash some cash and get in a striker in January.

 

Guthrie tends to get forward too much for me, while Abeid is more of a defensive minded player from what I've seen.

 

We're lucky in that we have a current selection dilemma, but the good kind. With Ba and Best's good form, we've been unable to fit Ben Arfa into the side, who is arguably one of our best players, if not the best we have. Even if he is though, no one will break up an unbeaten side.

However, with Ba gone, it's the prime time for Ben Arfa to play in the hole behind best so we can see what they can do together, so I ain't worried there.

Tiote is a little more of a worry, but we have decent players like Guthrie and Gosling who can slot in to take his place. Of course we won't be as strong, but plenty of other teams get by just fine without someone as good as Tiote in their side, so we should be able to get through the ACN period without a great deal of difficulty.

 

Oh no we may lose Shola to Nigeria

 

Personally I agree with Warm Pouch in the fact Cabaye's versatility could be a big factor. Personally if I was Pardew I would go with:

Obertan----Cabaye------Jonas-----Marveaux

HBA

Bestie

 

Jonas in the centre does nowt for me like.