So where are we at the moment

Assuming Riviere arrives and Debuchy goes but otherwise dealing with the current squad, where do we stack up against where we were at the beginning of last season ?

Remy: Gone. Not replaced. Weaker at the moment.

Shola: Gone, Reviere in. Assume this is an improvement.

Cabaye: Gone. Cabella and SDJ in. Both promising, both untried. Perhaps a minor improvement.

HBA: Useless last season. Likely to be unused this season. No change.

Debuchy. Gone, Replaced with Janmatt. Exciting prospect but untried in the Prem. Probably weaker for at least the first season.

Over all verdict: We are seriously short one good striker. Other than that, more or less as good as we started last season, at which point we did manage to keep up with the top 6.

Thoughts ?

 

We are worse than this time last year

 

Care to elaborate ?

 

LDJ: Gone. I'll offer to play for free. Slight improvement.

 

Once Remy is replaced we're much stronger.

Colback is an improvement on Gosling.

Debuchy replaced by Janmaat.

Cabaye replaced by De Jong & Cabella so an improvement on numbers with both players very talented. And Rivierre replacing Shola which is an improvement. Only need a striker to be better off than where we were this time last season. Add Ryan Taylor in to the mix which is another body and we're looking very healthy. I'm excited about the new season.

 

I agree. You could also argue that Siem is the Cabaye replacement and Cabella is the HBA replacement in advance. If Siem can play as well as he was doing before last season we won't miss Cabaye much and by all accounts Cabella is an upgrade on HBA.

We definitely need our top striker signing though. The main three names being mentioned at the minute are Benteke, Lacazette and Aubameyang. Any of those would be very good and crown a successful transfer window. If we lose any other players such as Mbiwa or Sissoko I hope we will do as we did with Debuchy and immediately replace with players like Caulker and Grenier.

 

Benteke would be a fantastic signing and would be top of my list out of the three named above, after that I'd prefer PEA over Lacazette (mainly because I've not seen him play much) but I'd be happy just to sign a big name striker truth be told.

 

I think we should try and sign Vlaar from Villa. They need the cash. I think he is a class player.

If we get a top class striker in then I think we are much better equipped than last season.

We should be happy, the club have signed a good mix of young players.

I am optimistic.

I would take Demba Ba back!

 

Just signed for Besiktas!

 

Benteke is Premier League proven so I can see why he's top of your list. I'd be over the moon with any of the three, possibly PEA the most because he looks very very good. All three will probably cost £15-£16million each which makes them all unlikely but we can hope a bit in this transfer window.

 

Graeme Bailey ‏@GraemeBailey 5h

Deal for Emmanuel Riviere agreed. Third deal in as many days for Newcastle. Talks already underway for another striker.

 

I'm happy with our business and think that overall we are stronger.

 

Krul injured we are ****ed
Colo injured we are ****ed
Cabella injured we are ****ed
De Jong injured we're ****ed

Basically we're still ****ed if we get 3 or 4 injuries and these signings could be worse than the lads we sold

 

Yep

 

Where are we at the moment?? Up **** CREEK, in a canoe made out ****, with oars made out of **** and Lifejackets made out of PISS constructed by Fat Mikes Sports Direct!! ****ing Useless bunch of TWATS!!!