Article: And now for the facts... | Football, Newcastle

I've done the pretentious load of ****e thread (it was more for my own benefit than anyone elses) and now its time to talk about facts...

Newcastle, as we all know, have made a profit in every transfer window for the past 4 years. On one hand this will see us in good stead when UEFA enforce the new monetary rules, on the other its a frustrating and dangerous game being played by our top brass. Simply looking at this window and the coming season, these are some positives I've salvaged...

1) We DO have strikers. I'm a genuine fan of Leon Best. He can't hold a line, but when he isn't caught offside the lad can play. He has the ability to take the pace off balls aimed at his chest and get the ball down at feet to play. His finishing needs work, but he can definitely do a job. Shola and McLoven score goals (not many, and not necessarily great ones, but they all count) and I have no doubt Ba will improve now Ramadan is over.

2) We have goals in midfield. I'm sure of this. Marveaux and Cabaye can both shoot well, something we've seen from Cabaye already! Haris Vuckic and Sammy Ameobi both regularly score at lower levels and have the ability to step it up.

3) Ben Arfa is still due to come back. Some are asking if he will be the same player...Watch the Darlington highlights! He wasn't using his pace or trickery to burst past people as much, that can come with time, what he WAS demonstrating was his innate ability to spot a ball others don't. AND he linked up brilliantly with Cabaye (something I think will continue to happen when he gets back).

4) We've just brought in Davide Santon. Davide ****ing Santon! This lad was being touted as the future of Italian football! He's had one bad season and we've snapped him up for 5m? That is ridiculously good business! As with Obertan and Ben Arfa, we've got someone who just needs a confidence boost and a decent run of games and he could be one of the best, not in the team, not in the North East, but in the world!

5) This one is a bit hopeful more than anything BUT, we've still got the £35m. Whilst other clubs like Stoke, QPR and Fulham have spent their money now. We've still got an undeniably huge wad of ours available. I'm not saying its going to be spent (many will categorically state that it wont be) but when the January transfer window opens, we'll have the funds available to strengthen before the ACoN where others might not.

6) We didn't sign Carlton Cole!

 

Agreed!!

 

think someone on one of the Sports reviews yesterday made a statement about NUFC's spend that "value should not be linked with poor quality" .. I personally thought that was spot on (didn't know which thread to throw that into - this seemed ideal )

 

Some people's anger towards the board have blinded them to the value we have got from this window. Davide Santon for 5 mil, how can people be angry about that?! A player who captained Lille to the double, someone that was touted as the next Henry, Ba on a free! We may not have spent much but the price we paid for what we got, no one can complain about that!

 

please log in to view this image

?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSzNYstaAh0

 

I don't like this failure to get a striker blinding fans about our other business comment that keeps appearing on various threads. Its pretty patronising and to be honest wholly inaccurate. I think most fans think we've done decent business elsewhere in the team and reduced costs in the process (one of our targets whether you like it or not as a fan). This is good and we shouldn't knock the business we've done overall. But this should not gloss over that our priority signing since January 2011 has not arrived and possibly severely handicapped us in the process. We've got through our early games because of a magnificent defence. But realistically I think we all kn ow the days of 1-0 to the Arsenal are long gone in the PL. Stoke are as a close as you get, but I wouldn't pay to watch it every week. At some point you need to score plenty of goals and some feel we don't have them, some feel we do.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm dissapointed, I'm not trying to patronize - i'm just finding positives!

 

number 6 being by far the most important



On a serious note i agree with all the points youve made and really think we'll continue to improve throughout the season with Ben Arfa coming back soon and hopefully a new arrival or 2 in January

 

All the moaning is post transfer window anger. I avoided the site, this morning and late last night because you could predict the general Newcastle fan reaction to things.

This:

[video=youtube;9fEjJ4Ecy9Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fEjJ4Ecy9Q[/video]

 

Not at all mate and I wasn't even referring to your comments. You make some valid points for me. I'm just don't think its relevant to our failure to secure a striker to keep saying "but look what else we got". I am very critical of Steve Bruce for instance, I think he is a really average manager. Now obviously you can't pin it all at a managers door but the guy has failed to sign a left back despite an obvious need in about 4 successive windows. I think that is poor management and it has hurt them badly. I'd imagine he has more say over transfers than Pardew, so with us I level the same thing at our board. It is extremely poor to have 7 months to get a striker and fail. As it happens I don't mind that Bruce keeps handicapping Sunderland and I hope he stays for a very long time. I feel slightly differently with regard to our own fortunes.

I think I just get frustrated with the not606 board sometimes that everytime we have a discussion topic, people seem to think it is only worth looking at the positive aspects. Equally I can't be bothered with only looking at the negative aspects. I think you need balance. So while I'm happy with our transfer work and efforts to reduce costs, I am sorely disappointed and worried by our lacklustre strikeforce. I juts don't see the goals in the squad to progress from last year. To utilise some management mumbo jumbo, continual improvement should always be the target. I don't think anyone could seriously say we will finish higher than last year for certain.

 

we have signed ba after all, how many strikers were we actually linked with who could cement a first team place instantly? not many. infact the only ones who could of were the ones we made our top 3 targets, we matched bids for them and they turned us down, i think fans on here need to realise its up to the players where they want to go and newcastle is not a preffered destination for most. infact only one striker wanted to come here (maiga) and he isnt good enough to be a first teamer ahead of best and ba, personally after seeing quite a bit of him i would prefer to have him below vukic and ranger, who both have potential.

realistically after we missed out on our top tagets it was always going to be hard to get someone in, most fans have short memories and wanted us to splash the cash just to get players through the door, do people really want to see more of the days when we spalsh out 10m on luque or 8m on boumsong? then pay stupid high wages just to lure them here? we will end up getting relegated, i dont expect us to challenge for europe anytime soon as we do need a prolific striker and more strength in depth. we will however avoid relegation with the squad weve got, we have got young talent with huge potential like santon, obertan and marvueax. if we keep building like this big things will come this way.

 

We have replaced the players that have left with the exception of Andy Carroll - Leon Best is not the long-term answer to our striking question, neither is Shola Ameobi. I hope that the gamble doesn't back-fire on Ashley/Llambias/Pardew and we don't struggle too much for goals.

With Pardew's 4-5-1 looking good for a tight defence,(except for the first half at Scunny!), we will not score enough goals to improve on last seasons 12th place finish. I think we'll do well to even get close to repeating it. Injuries and suspensions will take their toll at some point and we simply do not have enough depth in the striking department.

 

Don't think anybody is saying that. I certainly wouldn't but 7 months to get your priority target is more than ample if you really want them. We should have signed a first choice striker for me, simple as that. Certainly do not want the club to spend way over the odds in fees and wages.

 

Our strike options remain one of the worst in the Premiership If we were trying to hijack the Fulham deal why on earth wasnt this money used a lot earlier. Answer Ashley wants everything on the cheap until the panic button was hit late last night.

 

Are they really? Who has a better front two in the league (outside the top 6) better than Ba and Best? Better than people think.

 

I agree - why does it have to one or the other. Why do we have to have extremes - surely a middle option is attainable?

 

Hypothetical question:
Had Ba been signed for £8m from West Ham, given the #9 shirt and Pardew never mentioned the need for another striker to the press again, who would have been satisfied with this window?

For one, I would, bar the size of the transfer fee I just made up

 

I'd have to say no. I thought he was average when we got him but good back up. I haven't changed my opinion just yet but I have to be honest and say he's looked terrible. Happy to give him time and don't think he should now be expected to fulfill a role he was not signed for.

Smudger - I do think we have one of the weakest PL strikeforces. Simply by virtue if you have one good striker you're better off. The only clubs I can see with a weaker strikerforce than us are Swansea, QPR and Blackburn. You could argue Everton because Saha is never fit.

 

I'm content with it as it is, 1 or 2 more signings and it would have been a great window.