Cheers! case for the defence And bob- haha yes go on then, Europe next season! Lovely indeed. But not the aim. A lovely Brucey bonus!
I noticed a few journo's had us down for a very poor finish. Frankly, I find it ****ing bonkers. Our squad is much stronger now than it was last season, and any other new signings will only make it stronger. Some so called experts really are a bunch of plonkers. They completely read into the media hype, see that Andy "£35million" Carroll and Kevin "12 goals" Nolan are gone and think we're doomed into oblivion. In reality, we only had Carroll for under half a season, and despite Nolan's many goals, he was a big weak link in our CM play. Now we have Cabaye, who is so much better than Nolan it's unreal, and players like Ben Arfa, Ba and others who can fill the goal void left by Carroll and co. There's more depth too, which is great. I mean christ, for almost half the season we were relying on an attacking partnership of Ameobi and Lovenkrands, arguably the worst strike partnership in the entire EPL, yet we still stayed up quite comfortably. If were in a position where we don't have to resort to that again, then we're on our way to doing better already. I'm going for us to finish quite a bit higher than we did last season. The quality is just better, the depth is larger and, most importantly, our weaknesses have been relatively cured. And I think both us and you guys have the quality to finish above the likes of Stoke, West Brom and Bolton. If one paper thought Bolton would get 9th then some journo's are even more stupid than I thought.
Dear Bobby boy, I would take a cup any day of the week, my only concern is that what happened to B'ham. As soon as they won the League cup they plummeted like a rock.
I know that, just what happened the rails fell off, jeez we don't normally need any help in that dept
As I've said countless times, Nolan isn't really that good. He was our weak link. If we ever wanted to really improve our midfield play, Nolan was always going to be replaced eventually. Great goalscorer, but not much else. His pace, fitness, passing, technique and vision left a lot to be desired, trust me. Cabaye is exactly what we needed. As for Carroll, we won just as many points with him in the team as we did when he was sold. Tallied up the goals for us early on, but left before he could make any major impact to the results of the season. Now we have players to fill the goal void. Barton will probably stay, Enrique might go, but it depends who else we bring in. I don't see why he's so important really. There are plenty of other teams in the EPL who don't have a top top top class left back, but they seem to do well. Why would we have to rely on him so heavily with the quality we have in our squad? I really do think we're stronger, and the attributes we so desperately needed have been catered for in the new players. It'll be even better if we do bring in a new striker.
I for once think Chappaz has a point. Them up the road have lost Caroll and Nolan but have Ben Arfa, Ba and Cabaye as replacements. The big thing for them is keeping Barton and Enrique (which I can't see happening). A word to all SAFC fans, don't underestimate them up the road as they wont be as weak as some of you are thinking. Remember we don't have a left side at the moment and our reserves up top are young and un-proven. I think we will finish above Newcastle again but only by a place or 2, that is as long as Fat Mike does not do something silly which is entirely possible.
Hooray for common sense Keep an eye out for Cabaye though. Only NUFC fans have really seen him in pre-season. Some of you might be quite surprised. I think he's another Tiote-esque signing, and will piss right over Nolan and anything he was capable of (apart from maybe goals).
mate you will find I am very unbias even when it comes to you lot. Don't let that fool you I hope we spank you in a couple of weeks time Its going to be an interesting season for both clubs.
still dont get the whole ben arfa is amazing thing!!! and there is no way on earth newcastle are stronger this season then they were last season!! they have got rid of proven premiership players and replaced them with unknown!! end of....
In the last 4 seasons we have accumulated 39, 36, 44 and 47 points .................. a target for me would be 54 points, that feels like upper mid table rather than just above the bottom half achieved last year. In the last 4 years 54 points has achieved, 10th, 7th, 9th and 7th last season. 54 points could also be gained by winning more than we lose, another good target (W15 D9 L14) .... and it would be good to go to the new Wembley even in the semi-finals
Solid 8th-10th for me, no mid season collapse and coming out of the derbies with pride, that's what I'll be expecting for this season Also success would be no mutterings of Bruce out.
I do, i think Everton may struggle big time this season, others are catching, and it wont be long till they are left in the dust, they wont get relegated, but i cant see them getting 7th.
Do you honestly think you have the quality to overtake the likes of Everton? i don't see why we can't overtake everton this year to be fair, to be honest i feel everton will slowly fall away fron that top 7 over the next 2 years unless they find someone to invest. you can't sit still in this league and over the last 2 seasons everton have sold a lot of fringe players without replacing them in my opinion and that will be there downfall, only the hard work of moyes kept them there but can't see that this year i also feel you lot will do quite well this year, the signing of cabaye is a good one imo and your 1st choice 11 looks half decent, the one problem i see is your strength in depth to be fair but i see you being solid at home this year and have enough flair (injuries deciding) to pick up a few points on the road. i predict a 10-9th place finish for u lot and a 9-8th finish for us but time will tell as both sets of fans know only too well when it comes to both teams life in the north east is a roller coaster so be ready for the ride !!! p.s if we sign the left winger we've been crying out for can see a 8-7th finish for us this year with a half decent cup run tossed in for good measure
****! About 10 minutes after I made the thread, no one had replied! Now there has been 37 posts! As for Newcastle I think you will survivr
Survive comfortably, I don't think you'll score as many goals though (thank god). Maybe 12-10. As for us I'd be very happy with a comfortable top ten finish, and a cup run.