"Boss Looking Forward To Five Of The Best"

This has just came up on the official site:

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew believes he has five new signings on board at St. James' Park, despite only bringing three fresh faces to the Club over the summer.

Midfielders Yohan Cabaye and Sylvain Marveaux have arrived from French outfits Lille and Rennes respectively, while striker Demba Ba has been recruited from West Ham.

But Pardew is equally excited at seeing long-term injury absentees Hatem Ben Arfa and Dan Gosling back in action after lengthy spells on the sidelines.

French international forward Ben Arfa has not kicked a ball in anger since breaking his leg at Manchester City last October, and a troublesome knee problem has restricted Gosling to just a couple of minutes of first team action following his arrival a year ago.
So in the manager's eyes the duo are like new additions to his playing staff.

"I am really pleased with the way the squad is taking shape. I'm excited," Pardew told nufc.co.uk this week.

"You could say we've got five new players who we didn't have last year. We've obviously lost Kevin Nolan, but we've gained Yohan Cabaye, Demba Ba, Sylvain Marveaux. And then there is Hatem Ben Arfa and Dan Gosling.

"Hatem could be the best signing if he stays fit all year, and we're looking forward to seeing what Dan can do as well. As we kick off, with the exception of a little injury to James Perch, everyone is fit and well which is great news."

Pardew is delighted at Newcastle's dealings in the transfer market so far this summer, and tipped his trio of new recruits to be a big success in the North-East.

"Cabaye is a ball-manouverer, someone who can work the ball and make a pass that has an incisiveness to it," explained the manager.

"He can unlock the door and comes to us full of confidence on the back of winning the league and cup double with Lille.

"Ba is an out-and-out goalscorer, a winner and will certainly give everything he's got. I expect him to get between 15 and 25 goals this year.

"Marveaux has impressed and, because of his contract situation, he didn't play a lot last season, but that means he comes to us fresh. We think there is a lot to come from him.

"He works off the left-hand side as a rule, can play off either foot and will certainly give us competition for Gutierrez and Joey on both flanks. It's really nice options for us.

"The only way the players are good value is if they are a big success for the team, and hopefully they will be, playing at a venue as big as Newcastle."

Interesting comments, glad to see Barton mentioned as staying for next season, and do you agree with what he's saying? 15-25 goals is a hell of an expectation for Ba, but the rest is good.

 

Perch is still injured.... hahaha

 

Hope there's a couple more at least still to come. It's all very good and positive from Pardew but we have to bare in mind Pardew hasn't worked with the 3 new signings or the 2 long term injuries yet as pre-season doesn't start til next week.

 

Never heard it called that before.

Was hoping he'd define Ba as a 'net re-arranger'

 

definatly looking positive for the future. i think if we can get a couple more signings this summer then there is no reason why we cant push for a top 10 place this coming season

 

Maybe he means Cabaye spends a lot of time with his hands in his trouser pockets.

 

Tiote is a leg re-arranger

I keep forgetting about Gosling. Can't wait to see him involved.

 

...indeed!

It sounds a bit like there are no more deals brewing - he's said it's like 5 signings when in actual fact we've not really replaced Carroll and Cabaye was a replacement for Nolan.

Do the math.

 

From now on Im going to be calling my steel-toed boots my attitude adjusters

 

to be fair i dont really rate gosling. i hope he proves me wrong big style

 

I think Gosling could be the next Guthrie.... Potential with no fruit... in pardew paraphrase.... Fruitless Picker!

It does sound like he has done all his dealings though dont it. I mean why officially release a statement of this sort anyways other than to set your intentions.

We still need a Striker and one more CB in my opinion!

 

"We are still looking to get another striker – whether or not they will wear no 9, we will have to see." - Pardew.

 

No mention of Mehdi Abeid

 

NO ONE - Should wear the number 9 until, in my opinion, he has proven to be a prolific goal scorer for at least 2 seasons.

Stop giving the number 9 out like it's a toy, and give it respect!!

Or else the shirt will rapidly lose meaning.

 

I think Abeid is basically one for the future mate. I think we may only see him in the cup games and probably not the premier league until 2012/13 at least.

 

Other than Martins, who have we "given it to like its a toy"? Carroll earned it, even if he proved in hindsight it was a mistake.

 

Doubt he's a signing expected to be near the first team soon.

 

He's expected to sign tomorrow, but I dont think they see him as a player who will be in the first team much, if at all, this season.

 

Does anyone else think this supports the fact that Ashley wont give Pardew the 35m?

Pardew is bigging up "5 brand new signings" before they've even played yet, when he's hardly spent any money at all.

We've signed 3 players, 2 for free, 1 for less than 5 million quid, and sold one for the same amount.

We should still have 35 million. I think Pardew will try and fool us with another two ore three signings on the cheap, say to all the fans "look i promised you lots of new players, and i've delivered", which he hopes will take our minds off the fact that we've spent hardly any money at all.

I know you don't have to spend big to be successful, but it just stinks, and sounds to me like Pardew has got next to no money to spend, and told he needs to sell players if he needs extra cash. This is exactly what Ashley did to Hughton.

Pardew and John Carver have been sucking us all off through the papers, trying to get us into these new players, and take our minds off the amount of money we've spent.

That's my two cents. I just hope it all pays off in the end.

 

the stigma around the no9 shirt will probably hinder us with constantly high and unrealistic expectations. we shoud give it to 3 **** strikers year after year so that this world class striker bollocks goes away and we can concentrate on becoming stable and so we dont look like mugs in the eyes of every other club