Cheick Tiote!

I think this is fair to be honest. Tiote can be absolutely unreal, or can give the ball away way too much, Lucas seems to be way more consistent. I'd still rather have Tiote than Lucas though I think we'll keep Tiote, i'm hoping Ashley proves that he doesn't sell unless the player pisses him off or wants to leave, or the offer's astronomical!

 

To be honest they need both. Tiote and a creative midfielder and they could be back on track for the title. (not that points-wise they're far off at present!)

The reason I think Tiote is perfect for them is that they need a real battler to control midfield - a position they've lacked probably since Keane left.

 

I honestly don't think (and I am being honest here) Tiote would be good enough for a top club. Yes, he's a great ball winner, but his distibution is awful a lot of the time. If you're playing at a Man United or a Chelsea you need to be able to start attacks when you win the ball back. A quality player, no doubt, but a tad overrated in my mind.

As for Ba, if he can stay fit I would say he is worth £40 million in the current climate. He scoring record is phenomonal given the lack of end prouct we see from Jonas and Obertan. Everyone was awful on Saturday (apart from Ba) and he still scored twice and had two goals ruled out. Imagine what he could do with Man City's midfield behind him!

 

40? Bloody hell!

25 tops. (Yes despite the 35mill previous!)

 

Carroll wasn't worth £35 million but then again you have to consider 'Englishman Tax'

 

70% in his case! 35 mill. It makes me weep thinking about it!

 

£40 million up front.

 

How about £35mil for Cheik and £35mil for Ba? You seem to be up for it.

Cheers. Merry Xmas.

 

I agree with the points made about Tiote's inconsistency, but that seems to have mainly occurred this season.

Last season he was very consistent and only had a couple of below par performances all season (Blackburn & Wigan at home). However, this season he has really struggled to find form. Even within individual games he is ranging from a superb tackle followed by a weaving dribble and sublime pass, to a poor first touch and a wayward pass which sets the opposition on their way. Another thing with Tiote is that he seems to pick his standards up against the top teams (Arsenal home and away last season, Tottenham this season), whilst not performing so well against the so-called 'lesser clubs' (West Brom the other night - he was ****ing atrocious).

 

Totally agreed on everything in this post.

 

What some of you are obviously totally oblivious too is he's obviously not fit. Cant you see an unfit player trudging round the pitch?

Maybe Pardew cant see it either. He is only playing because their is literally nobody else.

 

You're really quite far up your own arse.



As for Tiote, this season Guthrie has been a better player. Tiote's 'fitness' can be questioned, but he had a poor August and September, a decent October, and has come back and been poor again.

 

As its the bindippers....... One hundred million pounds!

 

So more than aguero? Or suarez? or rooney? or Villa?

Don't be silly, the only reason your saying he's worth 40 is because of Carroll or Torres, the market doesn't revolve around one or two players you know.

****ing hell.

If demba ba goes for more than 25m, i'd jump of a birdge

 

Not enough like the Carroll transfer for me. Add 25% sell on fee for both!

 

I'd say that £20m each is a fair valuation for Tiote and Ba. But the consistent word from the club is that we don't have to sell and won't unless silly offers come in.

I can only guess but to me that means £35m before Ashley would even come to the negotiating table.

Time will tell but i'm hoping that with the Fair Play regs kicking in now the days of paying silly money may be over, so my feeling is that interested clubs will go for cheaper options elsewhere.

If i'm proved wrong i'm confident that the money we would raise would enable us to improve the squad considerably, so i'm actually fairly relaxed about this either way.

January is going to be interesting I think!

 

Demba Ba is on the verge of being ****ed according to most medical people, and he's not worth the risk of a big money move.

Very good striker while fit though.

 

Ba is a much better player than Carroll, but we wouldnt get more than £20 million for him for a number of reasons: he's 26 and therefore has pretty much peaked so it isnt a long term investment, he's not English, and he his potential knee injury carries too much risk for top sides to invest a load of money on him.

 

Agreed. We took a risk on him when nobody seemed to want to. It has worked so far but I doubt that anybody will pay big money whilst the perception persists that he is an injury risk.

 

No. But anyone who has the thought of criticising Tiote over the past couple of games is a total clown. And we all know Tiote was going through Ramadan in August. As was Demba Ba in case you dont remember, and he was shocking. Now look at him.