Come on Pards, what's your master plan?

With the signing of Cabaye now official, I'm delighted to have signed a player who is undoubtedly a top player. however I'm now slightly concerned about our midfielder numbers. With the likes of Cabaye, Nolan, Tiote, Barton, Ben Arfa, Gutierrez and Guthrie fighting for 4/5 places, one of 3 things is going to happen:

1) Nolan and/or Barton are on their way out of the club this summer
2) Pardew will be happy to see some of our big names sit on the bench, potentially damging morale
3) Promising young players like LuaLua and Ameobi will be given even fewer first team opportunities, and will have to go out on loan rather than getting a chance of Premier League experience. This will hinder their growth.

I'd like to know when Pards is going to leave the midfield alone and focus on the positions that we NEED to strengthen, namely at least 1, preferably 2 strikers, and a right back!

 

The signing of Cabaye gives a young, creative, well paced and attack minded option. Apart from a striker, he's just exactly what we need. He should work well with Ben Arfa.

 

1) Nolan can go for 5m - 6m. Cabaye is TWICE the player.

1/2 strikers are a MUST. Salomon Rondon would be my personal option.

 

If we are going to push as high up the league as possible and give the League/Fa cup a good go then competitions for places must be increased!

 

This

Me and Tash agree on most it seems!

 

We should keep Nolan for one more season.

We need squad depth, and buying one player and selling another isn't going to achieve that.

Plus Nolan is a proven goal scorer, a massive part of the dressing room and a player that held us together when times were down. We can't just sell him after two excellent years and scoring 30 goals. He could be a good impact player and a good back up player. Don't sell Nolan. We don't need 6 million quid and that money will go straight to Ashley anyway.

 

Nolan is needed for spirit on and off the pitch, that may sound stupid but without good team spirit it makes it harder for us to gel.

 

He's not even one of our targets

 

That's better. I thought you were gonig to start saying ''don't disrespect Nolan.. you ****** blah blah''. Fair enough. I agree, but I'm not sure we would keep hold of Nolan if the ''fat man'' up there accepts a offer..

 

That's right bitch

Haha, in all seriousness, Nolan is a good bloke to have around here. Without him it's difficult to see where the team spirit will go. Nolan scores goals, can have impact, adds aggression to the squad and can put in a shift.

I don't think he should get a long term contract, but i still think he should stay as an impact player and he should still get the captains armband, as he deserves it more than anyone.

 

I'd be suprised if both/either of Nolan and Barton are here come next season.

 

I dont think we have too many. Bear in mind we have an injury crisis pretty much every year at some point.

 

in addition to the team spirit it's Nolan's goals we may miss... unless we get a pair of proven strikers.....

 

If we want to get rid of a player with no pace or skill, get rid of Shola.

I think Nolan should stay here long term if he keeps fit, simply because he scores goals and is a massive character in the dressing room.

 

In agreement with Tash. Selling either Nolan or Barton is definitely the last thing we'll wanna do. No point getting one in, shifting one out. We've a thin squad anyway. Definitely don't wanna see a personality as big as theirs go either. Can see it being more of a hindrance than anything else

Can see where Smudger is coming from though, if the reports are true and they're turning down contracts, then I just can't see how we're gonna hold onto them.

 

As i said before, imagine if we get a couple of bad injuries.... we could end up REALLY missing Nolan.

 

Struggle to see how he's going to fit in next season anyway. Squad rotation is probably the best. But if we're playing our strongest XI i can't see Nolan being in it, so would he really want to be sitting on the bench? Keeping him is DEFINITELY in the club's best interest... but what about Nolan's interest?

Just makes ya think that somebody is gonna be leaving this summer ...

 

Sick of saying this on articles


NOLAN MUST STAY

 

Actually for once I would like to see us with a strong bench, it will give us more options in games rather than bringing on Kuqi in the 70th minute.

 

I'm being a little bit "Nolan tinted specs" i agree, but just because he'll not be part of our STRONGEST starting 11, doesn't mean he wont get games or play a big part.

He'll most likely get 30+ apps easily. All he said he wants to be remembered as is a good player that scored alot of goals, and that's perfectly reasonable.

His play in the CM isn't good or bad, it's just not as good as other players we could sign. However, his defensive and attacking contributions are undeniable. He's aggressive and is good at winning back possession when we're defending, and he's lethal at attacking the opposition. It's just playing the ball in midfield where's he's an average player.

He's worth keeping none the less, for his goals, leadership and as an impact player. I could see him being even more effective when he's fully charged and against tired legs.

I still think he'll score around 10+ goals next season.