Picking over the bones........

Ok, out of the three relegated teams are there any players you would like to see brought in if a deal can be done?
I've included the players who were loaned OUT of each of the three clubs also.

Wigan

1 Joel Robles (G)
12 Mike Pollitt (G)
26 Ali Al Habsi (G)
3 Antolin Alcaraz (D)
5 Gary Caldwell (D)
17 Emmerson Boyce (D)
21 Ivan Ramis (D)
23 Ronnie Stam (D)
24 Piscu (D)
25 Roman Golobart (D)
31 Maynor Figueroa (D)
44 Eduard Campabadal (D)
4 James McCarthy (M)
7 Albert Crusat (M)
8 Ben Watson (M)
10 Shaun Maloney (M)
14 Jordi Gomez (M)
16 James McArthur (M)
18 Roger Espinoza (M)
20 Fraser Fyvie (M)
22 Jean Beausejour (M)
28 Daniel Redmond (M)
32 Ryo Miyaichi (M)
33 Paul Scharner (M)
43 Adam Buxton (M)
2 Arouna Kone (F)
9 Franco Di Santo (F)
11 Angelo Henriquez (F)
15 Callum McManaman (F)
35 Filip Orsula (F)

Players loaned
Lee Nicholls (G) to Northampton
Jordan Mustoe (M) to Carlisle
Rob Kiernan (M) to Brentford
David Jones (M) to Blackburn
Adam Dawson (F) to Barrow
Mauro Boselli (F) to Palermo
Nouha Dicko (F) to Wolves

Reading
1 Adam Federici (G)
21 Alex McCarthy (G)
31 Mikkel Andersen (G)
41 Stuart Taylor (G)
42 Jonathan Henley (G)
2 Chris Gunter (D)
3 Nicky Shorey (D)
5 Alex Pearce (D)
6 Adrian Mariappa (D)
15 Sean Morrison (D)
23 Ian Harte (D)
24 Shaun Cummings (D)
27 Stephen Kelly (D)
29 Daniel Carrico (D)
32 Nick Arnold (D)
46 Matt Partridge (D)
47 Pierce Sweeney (D)
4 Jem Karacan (M)
8 Mikele Leigertwood (M)
11 Jobi McAnuff (M)
12 Garath McCleary (M)
14 Jimmy Kebe (M)
19 Hal Robson-Kanu (M)
20 Danny Guthrie (M)
26 Brynjar Gunnarsson (M)
28 Hope Akpan (M)
43 Josh Webb (M)
7 Pavel Pogrebnyak (F)
9 Adam Le Fondre (F)
10 Noel Hunt (F)
18 Simon Church (F)
22 Nicholas Bignall (F)
30 Nick Blackman (F)
33 Jason Roberts (F)
44 Dominic Samuel (F)

Loaned players
Angus MacDonald (D) to Torquay
Kaspars Gorkss (D) to Wolves
Michael Hector (D) to Cheltenham
Jordan Obita (M) to Oldham
Jake Taylor (M) to Crawley
Jay Tabb (M) to Ipswich
Lawson D'Ath (M) to Exeter
Ryan Edwards (M) to Fleetwood
Karl Sheppard (F) to Shamrock R
Gozie Ugwu (F) to Plymouth


QPR

Rob Green (G)
24 Radek Cerny (G)
26 Brian Murphy (G)
33 Julio Cesar (G)
3 Armand Traore (D)
5 Christopher Samba (D)
6 Clint Hill (D)
13 Yun Suk-Young (D)
15 Nedum Onuoha (D)
19 Jose Bosingwa (D)
20 Fabio Da Silva (D)
21 Tal Ben-Haim (D)
38 Luke Young (D)
39 Sam Magri (D)
40 Stephane Mbia (D)
2 Samba Diakite (M)
4 Shaun Derry (M)
7 Ji-Sung Park (M)
10 Adel Taarabt (M)
11 Shaun Wright-Phillips (M)
14 Esteban Granero (M)
16 Jermaine Jenas (M)
22 Hogan Ephraim (M)
23 David Hoilett (M)
29 Andros Townsend (M)
8 Andrew Johnson (F)
12 Troy Hewitt (F)
12 Jamie Mackie (F)
18 Loic Remy (F)
25 Bobby Zamora (F)
37 Jay Bothroyd (F)
30 Frankie Sutherland (NA)

Loaned players
Anton Ferdinand (D) to Bursaspor
Michael Harriman (D) to Wycombe
Max Ehmer (D) to Stevenage
Joey Barton (M) to Marseille
Bruno Andrade (M) to Wycombe
Michael Doughty (M) to St Johnstone
Alejandro Faurlin (M) to Palermo
Mo Sharif (M) to Dag & Red
Djibril Cisse (F) to Al Gharafa
Rob Hulse (F) to Millwall
DJ Campbell (F) to Blackburn
Tom Hitchcock (F) to Bristol R
Angelo Balanta (F) to Yeovil

 

For all his twattishness the only player I would go for would be McManaman

 

From Wigan - Kone McManaman and Maloney
From Reading - Le Fondre
From QPR - Jenas (as long as a year's worth of fish food is included)

 

McManaman, McArthur, Remy, Samba, Guthrie would add real competition and quality.

 

McCarthy, McManaman, Remy, Hoilett, Le Fondre

 

miss guthrie

 

Don't miss Guthrie personally, I thought he was cack for us. Gives the ball away in obscene quantities and I don't miss his pathetic little kicks to give dangerous free kicks away. Ok to bring on when games were won but we upgraded last summer with Anita for me.

 

Again, I don't see us going here for players. We've never worked in this way before, so we won't this time. Remy is the only option to us as he's the only one we've had a good look at. I could see it happening as I don't think there'll be many better options for him - Wenger wasn't interested in January and I doubt would be again, as he's another who tends not to go for relegated players. Aside from that, we'll already have our shortlist which now won't change as there's no more games and we don't go for players on a feeling or reputation.

Luuk De Jong lost his place at BMG so might be worth a shout, same for Gameiro at PSG. Erdinc seems to have found his level in Rennes so probably won't move now, no loss there. I think we'll continue to set aside a pot for Carroll and play silly buggers up to the 1st September. Not sure what the future holds for either Giroud or Gervinho - perhaps one will be surplus to requirements at Arsenal, though I accept that NUFC are unlikely to hold much appeal after the Emirates, it's just not a transfer that tends to happen.

 

For me I actually think it's vital that we sign (at least) two players that will be first team regulars that already have 2/3 years premiership experience and are preferably british.

Not sure who though, Carroll would be good but doubt it'll happen. I'm a fan of James Morrison at West Brom, very good passer of the ball with a cracking work ethic, only 25/26. Again I doubt we'll go down this route as these players do have an inflated price tag.

 

I think we dodged a badun with that Gervinho - he's looked distinctly average at Arsenal. Wouldn't want him now.

 

Our mistake has been in bringing in too many players and not keeping enough leaders. Maybe Cabaye will step up with a clean slate and a new season. But we need at least one at the back and one up front. Just bringing in players, given the tw@t we've got as a manager, isn't quite enough. We need people on the pitch who can do the managers job for him when he so obviously gets it wrong. That's what Colo brings, should be what Cabaye brings. We need game readers. You can see the difference between a Ba vs Cisse. Same with someone like Torres vs Drogba. Drogba can read a game and change the way he and his team mates play, Torres just keeps doing the same things over and over, whether it works or not.

 

The anti Pardew brigades circling of problems back to him is getting quite amusing now.

EVERY manager needs leaders in his team. Whether that be Pardew, or the great and good like Klopp, SAF, Matt Busby, Bobby Robson, Mourinho etc etc. Its not about doing the managers job for him, its about ensuring that the team functions at all times as the manager expects it too. As you say correctly note its about leading in adversity etc.

We need leaders because we don't have any bar Colo.

You can slate Pardew for allowing the leaders to be sold by Mike (depending on how much say you think he has) but not for needing leaders, its a fundamental part of any successful team.

 

Ok, ok - cheap shot, granted. If the players were going against the managers wishes, it's pretty much a given that relegation/the sack will sharply follow.

On a side note, found this statistical representation of the club which kind of highlights the flaw in not getting the striker in;



Shocking figures showing we were, in everything but scoring, more attacking. Sure never felt like it, mind. But the defense was an absolute shambles. Makes me wonder if we did just go all out and get two or three decent players in...

 

What I will say is that Pardew is to blame for removing leadership qualities from certain players. Jonas being a prime example, when playing on the left consistently he wouldn't stop running, knew his role inside out and led a bit like Beckham did for England (but on a lesser level). He would never give up and other players would follow his example. By playing Jonas in 127 different positions Pardew took consistency out of his game, took away his confidence and as a result Jonas is a shadow of his former self.

You then have Cisse??? A natural leader, not in a million years. But as a striker, with a team built to suit his game he has massive confidence in his own ability and again knew his exact role in the team last season. But playing him on the right and then in a system that doesn't suit him Pardew again sapped all of his confidence/arrogance and he also looks a shadow of the player we had last season.

Cabaye, a leader? Jury is still out, but play him in the middle of the park with him as your main ball player and he enjoys the game, play him in a team where he rarely see's the ball and he doesn't enjoy it, it's plain for all to see. And any footballer not enjoying their football is never going to hit top form.

So three big players there, and Pardew has criminally mismanaged all three this season in my opinion. So no they aren't natural leaders, but all three were very self assured before this season. If you look over at your team mate and they know their job in the team inside out and carry it out with confidence, it's infectious and rubs off on other players. By playing them out of position, in the wrong system and with the wrong style of football Pardew sapped that confidence and slowly rubbed off the on to the rest of the team in my opinion.

 

Mr Cisse looks for somewhere to hide..................

 

It points more to the fact that we scored so many "goal of the season contenders" the year before that we did actually get lucky. It's just more statistics that make Pardew look even more inept then he already is.

I mean let's face it, we could have had our very own goal of the season competition. Cisse scored about 8 worldys, HBA 3/4, Shola at home to Spurs was a worldy finish, you then have 6/7 from Ba, 2/3 from Raylor and 2/3 from Cabaye. Over 20 goals that are not normally seen on a football pitch, it's uncanny and points to the fact we won many games we probably didn't deserve to.

 

Jonas definitely has been pissed about by Pardew. He is a winger, nothing more, nothing less. People have focused on his lack of productivity but he has never been that kind of winger. He is a winger who can carry the ball long distances to move you up the field, and work his balls off to frustrate the opposition. Not a glamorous type that many want to see but a usefull squad option to me. Due to our tightness and unwillingness to fatten the squad sufficiently, Pardew has decided to try and make him a utility man. He joins Raylor and Perch. How many utility men do we want? It just wreaks badly of cutting corners and it catching up with us. We try to make round pegs fit square holes and gamble on the likes of HBA staying fit so we don't have to do it too often. If not we sign freebies like Marveaux, Gosling because nobody else wants their injury prone ways and say "well look you have this many". you don't really though. This whole grand frugal gambling policy has come crashing down round our ears once the squad had a bit of strain placed on it!

Cisse has no leadership qualities at all. Arrogance/confidence is fine but the bottom line is we don't have the personnel to play a system to suit Cisse. We have no natural number 10. For him to be successful you need one of two things for me, a big man or a number 10. I'm not talking about ball players like Cabaye either. You need a Bellamy, Beardo, Gotze, Okocha, Sheringham, Rooney etc. A proper deep lying forward. If you have a natural number 10, they can be your leader in that area like Beardo was. If not and they are a bit fair weather like a Le Tissier, then you'll need a guy up front like Shearer who can make it stick and lead the line. Really though if you have the correct variety of striker options, then you don't have to worry too much because you can play styles to suit games.

Cabaye is no leader regardless where he plays. He played in the advanced role plenty this season and simply went missing and looking for somewhere to hide. He might get away with being captain of Lille in powder puff French football where its virtually non contact but he doesn't fancy it here. We just have to accept he is a ball playing midfielder and no more. Get someone doing his work and ugly stuff and let him play. Tiote did that for a year or 2 but has struggled for a while. Tiote led by commitment. I blame Pardew here because he has tried to develop his game and make him more than just a holding midfielder. He is not bright enough to be anything else. Get the ball and give it to Cabaye, don't over complicate him. Makelele did this for years in a variety of teams. Not every player can be Clarence Seedorf and talented enough to play any midfield role.

 

Its not luck at all, its quality. To be honest it wasn't down to scoring loads of great goals. We did score some great ones in the 2nd half of the season when we were riding the crest of a wave but the groundwork was done long before that. You only have to look at our opening 11 games.

I lost count of the number of posts that season where we simply talked about defending really well, and being really economical with the chances we got. Demba barely missed and we just had a team funcitioning incredibly well. Injuries, poor management, poor form, lack of preparation time and Demba leaving, robbed us of that consistency.

This talk of luck in that season is just a slap in the face of the management, coaching and playing staff. You get what you deserve by what you put in. Last season they all got it right. This season, not many of them did.

 

It is luck, I'm not referring to world class footballing goals, but long shots that flew in when 99 times out of 100 they don't.

I'd say maybe a quarter to a third of our goals last season were down to pure flashes of individual quality rather than created by a distinct style of play etc. I mean look at the 3-0 against Man Utd at home. You had a Jones O.G, a Ba wonder strike from a long ball from Krul and a Cabaye 30 yard free kick. Against Bolton at home we won 1-0 because HBA ran with the ball from our own half, beat 5 players and scored. Sunderland away 1-0, another world class free kick. Man Utd away we got a point from a penalty that never should have been given.

A lot of points gained there from games where we didn't really create our goals from open play. Now I'm not saying it's all luck etc, and as you've rightly pointed out it was built from solid foundations at the back. But it can't be denied the number of incredible solo goals/strikes was unusually high last season and not something any manager actually influences himself.

I'm not saying Pardew didn't do a good job when we finished 5th because clearly he did, but near enough everything we touched turned to gold and just like this season there were things that were out of his hands that he couldn't help, he had the same last season but they went in his favour instead of against him.

 

Surely that is the whole point of having quality players? They are not flukes given Cabaye, Benni and Ba have all repeated the dose time and time again.

Shearer, Ginola, Robert, Beardsley - what do you think these players did?

Cantona, Ronaldo, Giggs, Beckham - you could go through loads of teams and players.

Of course you need to play good football too and get goals that way, and we did. We just had fantastic structure, balance and coherence. All things sadly lacking this time around.