Pardew Confirms "No Striker in Jan"

According to twitter, in his press conference that's going on now, we're not in for a striker.

In my opinion that's ****ing moronic bearing in mind our only good striker is off to ACoN.

 

Brilliant.

 

Pardew is just playing the game though. The two most pressing needs are a left back and a centre back. I'd like a new striker of class but we have to cut our cloth. Clearly there is only enough in the bank to spend a certain amount. So Pardew is quite sensibly re-routing his funds to the most needed area. End of the day Demba could be back in no time if they get dumped out (I think they'll do well and we'll miss him a while), and we have Best who prior to Ba's arrival had a great ratio. I firmly believe him and Benni can link well.

Pardew will want to get the 2 defenders in quickly, maybe persuading Mike on the striker later in the window. But realistically the next striker has to be a class act, and having abandoned Maiga, a lot more scouting and saving up of funds is likely.

 

Or is he just playing his cards close to his chest and keeping his targets to himself?

Why announce who or what you are going for, when it can alert other clubs?

 

Given we got priced out of a move in the summer, I'd say he's just being shrewd.

Definitely our priority should be defensive cover though. Even with Demba gone, Best and Benny can do a good job up front - hell, on the basis of last season, even Shola and Best can do a job. Whereas at the back... we have Perch.

 

Best is crap. We need another striker whether Ba is here or not. We are far too reliant on his goals. When they dry up/he's out injured/away for the tournament, we will be glaringly inadequate in that department.

 

I definitely agree we need CB cover as a first priority but Best is really poor so we do need cover upfront.

 

Get a defender or two in to start with then see how much money is left, if we're not scoring while Ba is at ACoN maybe Uncle Mike will put his hand in his pocket towards the end of the window.

 

We should go for a loan deal at least. Lukaku?

 

Lukaku can't move because he's played for two clubs already this season.

 

I'd like this, though he may feature for Chelsea if Anelka & maybe Drogba go in January.

He can, think it's in a calender year but he's being linked with Everton.

 

Bring back shefki kuqi!

 

Heard it suggested on twitter after the West Brom game that Pardew has been told the only player joining is a centre back, so maybe truth in that then.

 

Meh, defence is priority (wow, did I just say that!?!??!)

Perhaps we will have the opportunity to look int this at the end of the window, once the back line is safe.

Apparently we have a a word with Luuk de Jong who we were all talking about a couple of weeks ago.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newc...-by-newcastle-united-interest-72703-30008077/

 

Pretty sure that makes him ineligible. He's played for Chelsea and whoever it was he played for in Belgium.

 

I don't understand this knocking of Best. Fair enough he had a poor game on boxing day but it was only his 2nd or 3rd back after injury. We also seem to be forgetting that Ba has taken a lot of goals that Best was scoring previously. He's a good finisher and if we can get his confidence back, a decent hard working player who'll get a few goals. We do need a striker of course. The likes of Shola and Lovenkrands days must be now numbered if we want to continue our steady progression. But if someone said that Best would be our 4th choice striker behind Ba, Benni, a new striker, I'd be pretty happy. I'd play Benni ahead of him on Friday but I still think Best can do a job. He is still improving despite his age and was part of a very useful strikeforce early on in the season.

We've got to be realistic about how much business we can do in January. We need defenders, anything else is a bonus.

 

tbh if we play a 4411 with benny in the hole we are going to create a shed load of chances especially with either cabaye and vuckic or guthrie and with best to poach all the scrappy stuff think thats a team with a good balance... lets just hope senegal (sorry ba) have a shocker (and ive heard theyre in a bit of turmoil atm so looks likely he'll stay for longer to prepare as they have no friendlies and get dumped out early) unfotunatly same wont be the case for tiote :/

 

Best has been poor all season, his touch is too heavy, he has the turning circle of a cargo ship. I don't know who the answer is, all I know is that it's not Best, at least not long term.

 

Saw this being discussed on twitter the other day, and a football agent came in and clarified the ruling. It's 3 clubs in one season, but only 2 from the same league. So he would be able to play for a Premier League club

 

think we,re being too hard on besty about 2 months ago we were talking about giving him the no9 shirt...tht players still in there somewhere