'Purple' Players...?

So Llambias has now said that, basically, Newcastle will run a policy whereby there are no less than THREE players per position (sqaud of 33, he said), with eleven "Purple" players forming the first XI, with maybe mauve players beneath them and perhaps some burgundy ones below that. Llambias goes on to say that we actually have eleven "purples" (and adds "if you include Anita"), so it stands that our Purple XI is Krul, Anita, Taylor, Colo, Santon, Ben Arfa, Tiote, Cabaye, Gutierrez, Ba, Cisse. The upshot here is that we will not be buying anyone to 'strengthen' as we will only look to replace players - how do you feel about this? Does this, erm, "system" make any sense, when the likes of Gosling and Williamson are so obviously mediocre? How do you really strengthen or push on if you will only bring in a "purple" when one leaves? How do you compete in 4 competitions with just eleven "purple" players - surely it's about 2 Premier League quality players per position?

 

for me.. this policy depends on how good the back up players are.
If the back ups are poor (eg Willo) then it doesn't benefit the club.
Overall the challenge should be to replace players like Willo with better CB's surely?
Tactically I'd say we still need a quality RB too.

 

Sounds like a phone company renaming its contracts Tiger, Dolphin and Hedgehog to make up for the fact they all now cost £5 more a month than they did previously.

Let's just assume that Derak Llambias's main motivation is to avoid spending money on anything but the essentials, and work back from there. So we're re-labeling our first XI as purple, ignoring the fact that, for example, Jonas plays much better when he's competing for his place, and reimagining Mike Williamson and James Perch as a viable CB pairing in a pinch, which they quite plainly aren't.

We need to understand that this is the same attitude that spins keeping our top players as an acceptable aim for the summer window, when seemingly everyone except DL could see we were vulnerable at the back. For the injuries we've had to the team, and then for him to come out and say we're doing fine, when it's his stubborn tightfisted blinkered attitude which got us in this mess in the first place, doesn't bode well for January.

 

It sounds like a policy to fit our club at this specific time. Those constraints would change with success I'd imagine. Seems sensible to work within your means to me, "cut your coat according to your cloth" as my mother would say. Basically I'm fairly happy with the quality of our first 11. It has shown on many occasions it can compete with the very best. We need to improve our 2nd and 3rd 11 with players better prepared to step in when we have injuries/suspensions. I don't think he is saying they are not looking to improve our squad at the end of day, which would be a real concern. And there is always scope for players to improve, youngsters to burst through and become a purple as it were.

Nothing to see here basically!

 

We'll only get better by improving our 'mauve' players, since uninjured, our 'purple' players are definitely top 6 quality, maybe even pushing top 4

 

But is this first Xi, that Llambias seems to deem as untouchable and as good as we can get, really so? I had a worry pre-season that the players who were so lauded for last season were actually rated higher than they are. Don't get me wrong, I love Cheick, Yohan and the gang but did I ever imagine that Steven Taylor would be the best we could hope for at centre back? Or that Bigirimana (for all he looks a super prospect) would be the first off the bench? Or that Best's replacement would be a 17 year old? I really thought people like Vertonghen, Giroud or Mirallas were what we were aiming for. If Steve's purple, then people like Vertonghen are, what, gold?!

I look through the squad - I know this sounds odd, but we are a selling club, essentially, even if it takes high bids for our players. So it stands to reason that if they're good enough, they're worth it and will be bought - particularly is money's not really worth the paper it's printed on. Now all I seem to remember our transfer team doing in the last window was waking up and holding a pillow over their head until 2300 on the 31st August then praising themselves because other clubs didn't feel our players were as good as we think they are. It wasn't until the war was over did we realise not a single shot had been fired...so no-one thought Ba worth £7m? No-one actually bid for Cabaye? Simpson not quite worth the £3m asking price? Yet people were paying £15m for Steven Fletcher, £24m for Van Persie (29), £17m for Cazorla and so on. I remain sceptical that our players are as good as some of us, and certainly Llambias/Pardew, think they are.

And so the whole model that they want to run here is more akin to a Championship Club, isn't it? Where rewards are scarce, tight ship is everything and competition for places should be between a bunch of youth players and the one player you can afford on a decent contract, right? Which is what we have. Who's Tiote's replacement? YTS Trainee of the year Gael. What about Cabaye? Dan "Still-Trying" Gosling. Simpson/Anita seem the only evenly matched pair on the park, and I'm not convinced either is actually "purple".

It all looks a little bit "business plan" to me. It's jargon to add bureaucracy, stability and management to a very organic and unpredictable side of the business. I imagine there's an excel spreadsheet somewhere with "purple", "blue" and "green" tabs. Pards had his deadline to fill it in so that his senior management could glance at it and nod, safe in the knowledge they've saved another £10m.

It's one of two things - a massive lack of ambition, or an attempt to make the business look evermore appealing to prospective owners.

 

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But which is best? There's only one way to out...

 

Sums up the whole article for me, you can have as many U21's as you like but you need 2 quality teams. You are allowed 25 man squads though excluding U21's.

Prem starting XI

Then of our reserves/cup players at the moment I would keep 7...

Elliott (GK)
Simpson (RB)
Perch (Utility RB, LB, DM)
Raylor (Utility RB, LB, CM)
Amalfitano (CM)
Marveux (LW)
Shola (FW, sentimental/derby's)

Still leaves 7 senior spaces to be filled before getting to people like Ferguson (whos 21-ish) Bigirimana, Abeid, Good, Streete Tav's, Vuckic Campbell.

Throw a quality RM, young CF and 1 good, 1 young + proven CB's into the reserve squad and we would have a quality squad (still with 3 spaces left).

 

I don't even think its about having 2 premier league quality players per position...

It's about THE COMPETITION for places. Right now, players like the purple XI would gladly rest on their laurels, and might not even give their all in certain games. Why? Because they know in certain games(say, FA cup/Europa), however they play there, they'll still start in the PL game. Even if they do not do so, they would still not push as hard as they could have to improve, because this is human nature.

What we really want to see is getting quality players in to improve the team, no matter what position it is, push them... Only then will the team get stronger. For example, get quality Left Winger in, relegate Jonas to the bench, and we know we can depen on Jonas. Get a RB in, get Simmo out of the first 11, then we know Simmo can do a job. Only then will the team improve.

The method Llamearse claims to be implementing? It will never work.

 

wtf they are all white or black? ****ing purple players I can't think of any unless we are bringing in a few Neptunians.

 

Mr T... Seems your in a wumming mood this morning. Can it please.

 

hhhhhmmmmm

Just for you Albert

 

Good man.

 

Seems as though your rep score is climbing fella

 

we should just keep the purple ones and bring the other colours through the ranks.

 

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