Our squad...

Choosing to criticise KK when we've got this lot of untrustworthy ****zters shutting up shop back in June is pretty ridiculous. There's not an ounce of honour IMO in most of Pardew's behaviour - other than him holding on to his job.

 

Not really, KK deserved to be criticized. A huffy man. We could g through the whole KK debate but its pointless. Its been done million times.

Where is this massive dishonour from Pardew though? Not walking away? The board are ****e, but funnily enough he doesn't really have much control over that.

 

To be fair, Remy has been injured. However you're right, its only one injury required.

 

To be fair, weedling your way into someone else's job via mysterious gambling links is pretty dishonourable...

 

I meant real things, not what Dave down the club said

 

HEY! I dare you to bad-mouth Dave...

Don't listen to him Dave! I love you, even if your wife and three kids don't

 

Pardew out.

Bring back KK.

 

It wouldn't be deadline day in Newcastle without some KK praise and calls to get him back. I think a petition or boycott is required.

 

Are we still able to sign "free" players?

Carlton Cole anyone?

 

The only advantage I can see in us not getting another striker in is the fact that hoofball from the start is going to be less likely. Of course it's still going to be used in the last 20 mins by Pardew when he brings on Shola whether we are winning, losing or drawing.

 

We're one Cisse injury away from having to trot out Shola on a regular basis, and one Debuchy injury away from having selections problems at fullback that you wouldn't want.

 

One (inevitable?) HBA injury from having no spark, one Colo injury from having a crumbly defence...

 

But the point is Villa are Benteke or Vlaar injury from being short, Sunderland now only have Roberge and Diakite at CB after O'Shea's red, Stoke's view of strengthening is Steven Ireland , Swansea are two injuries away from (Bony & Michu) from playing an unproven Spanish striker up top, Norwich's first choice CB is Michael Turner. West Ham have no decent back up for Carroll. If Baines gets injured Everton are then shifting Distin to LB and bringing in Alcaraz which will unsettle the back four.

I could go on but there are about 10 teams in the same boat. Most of us have 13-14 good players but after that a lot of teams are thin on the ground. It's why none of the above mentioned teams (including us) will challenge the top 6. We are all in a mini league competing from 7th - 16th.

We are not in as bad a shape as some on here are making out and our squad is stronger than when we finished 5th. We only had Cisse for half a season that year too leaving Ba, Shola and Best. We now have Cisse, Remy, Gouffran and Shola so it could be argued we are stronger in that department too.

 

I'm pretty happy with our first 11, and yes, many other teams are in a similar boat. But that isn't the point.

The point is that we were 2 or 3 signings away from a very good squad with good backup options in all positions. 1 more striker, 1 more pacy, creative winger, 1 more decent CB (ideally who could also cover at LB or RB). It was easily achievable, would not have cost the world, and suitable players who were likely to be interested in joining NUFC were available. To have signed no one is one of the most blatant signs of MA's disinterest, lack of ambition and contempt for the fans that we have yet had.

 

But we KNOW he's not interested!! We KNOW he's trying to recoup his money and get out. We KNOW he doesn't care, he doesn't bleed black and white, he doesn't have the ambition we crave. But what is that ambition? It would take £100m just to TRY and compete for SIXTH!! 7th and possibly a cup is the best we can get. The current squad, with better luck on injuries than last year, is capable of that. Sure, the manager's probably not and we all feel the pain of just wanting a bit of ambition, but it's just not there and there's fck all we can do about it. I hate saying it, I hate hearing it but it's completely true. Even had to have it pointed out to me, unpalatable though it is.

 

What's wrong with Remy and/or Gouffran, like?

 

1st team

GK Krul

RB Debuchy
CB Colo
CB Mbiwa
LB Santon

CM Sissoko
CM Cabaye
CM Anita

RW Remy
ST Cissé
LW Ben Arfa

2nd team

GK Elliott

RB Haidara (or santon, anita, jonas, MYM etc)
CB Taylor
CB Williamson
LB Dummett

CM Tiote
CM Gosling
CM Bigi

RW Marveaux
ST Gouffran
LW Jonas

reserves

GK Alnwick
DF Good
MD Obertan
MD Sammy
MD Vuckic
ST Shola

basically our bench os okay to replace injured players, but no one is a game changer. Week as ****

 

Remy's absolutely fine, but even with Remy and Cisse, Shola will still see time. So I mentioned Shola on a regular basis, meaning like 60 minutes a game of Shola instead of the current 20-30 norm.

And I don't consider Gouffran a striker, did u see his misses over the past few games? He works well as a Winger/SS , but I won't depend on playing him as an out-and-out striker.