yep, Cabaye and Tiote as mentioned. I don't actually think Tiote is one of their top 2 players but he does seem to be rated. Cabaye on the other hand looks a top player and i wouldn't be crying if he missed out against us. Also, i think an Toonite was on here the other day saying Arfa might be unfit also. 0-0 written all over it
I bet one of Tiote or Cabaye starts, to me it's got home win to the Toon written all over it. Their crowd will be really up for it, we'll be limited in our attacks, they'll score eventually.
Well if it's any comfort Newcastle haven't won an opening match for 10 years and a colleague has told me that Modric has gone. So let's spend the money on a midfielder and a striker in the £10-15 mill price range and not blow the lot on one player.
it was tongue in cheek......in response to GHoddle..i dont think any of us care about such things...the Pool and Toon fans love it though.
this little men thing.........and big men thing..i dont buy into it..if your good enough then..well Maradona will tell you the rest.....or just ask Xavi and Iniesta..big man bollocks.
JD is staying, and the Ade saga is not dead, according to this.. http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11675/7996364/Spurs-plan-striking-addition
"Our focus and attention is towards that position, which we will try to sort out next week." We hope!
fine when you pick out individuals dona, but we're talking about starting 5 or 6 in attack who are neither tall and/or aren't of the aerial type. slight difference mate.
Depends who we pick, Roo. If Sandro and Huddlestone start, then I think that negates a lot of the height problem. The Brazilian was put on Kevin Davies for set-pieces when we beat Bolton towards the end of last season and he dealt with him comfortably. I was very impressed by that. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that Jenas will be in our first XI for the weekend. I'll be happy to be proved wrong on that one.
like you say PNP, it's fine for set pieces, but what about during free flowing football where we're at our most dangerous? our record of set pieces has been atrocious in the past anyway, so i've not even taken that into consideration to be honest. Also, again, Hudd and sandro could also give us the "2 defensive midfieders" issue, which is another problem in itself.
We'll struggle to offer any kind of aerial threat from open play, but we didn't have one last season, either. Talksport had an article today showing how teams ranked on goals from headers and the only side to have scored less than us was Villa. We only managed 5. Man Utd were top with 16. I don't see Huddlestone as a defensive midfielder, Roo. He plays pretty deep, but he's a creative player and can often dictate play, when he's fully fit. I think he'd combine well with Sandro, who likes to get forward sometimes and seems to actually have a bit of a goal threat, when he's allowed to.
I'm by no means saying that we've ever been a team that poses a massive aeriel threat, but with adebayor's height and size, it's something that other teams have to keep an eye on at all times. - with the other names mentioned previous, they don't pose any threat at all in that area making a defenders job that little bit easier. I also don't see Thudd as a DM either PNP, but do you not think that we'll see him alongside sandro? - in that "DM" position, and be forced to play deeper, in order for VDV and Sig to play their attacking roles? ... I do. - I think he'll be there helping Sandro mop up, which isn't the best use of his overall game.
I agree about the aerial threat, but Defoe only scored 1 less headed goal than Adebayor last year. 3 between them! Van der Vaart's not bad in the air, but he rarely got in a position to do anything about it, as he took too many set-pieces and was awful at them, in my opinion. Can't see a solution coming any time soon, unless we sign someone that's a real threat. I'd like to see Huddlestone picked alongside Sandro in the centre of the park, but he didn't feature enough in the pre-season, for me. I have a horrible feeling that Villas-Boas will start Jenas. He may even pick Livermore alongside him, as the Brazilian was away with the Olympic squad, then his national side, so he's yet to be picked for us under our new manager. Not what I'd do, but it wouldn't surprise me.
