Mackem in peace

Boo, trend breaker

 

Shut up. Thoo.

 

Why would you break such a lovely trend Sombrero? You're a horrible man.

 

Cheers tbh though I don't post all that much even on the sunderland board, all the bickering that goes on there just doesn't interest me! Hopefully now syd has made his SAFC-only board though all the "I will ignore your post because you're a mag and insult you regardless" types (I bet you know exactly who I mean lol) will disappear. Personally I like seeing posts from newcastle fans on our board as I actually find you tend to be quite unbiased about our club, whereas I think alot of our fans wear red and white specs sometimes! On a related note, whatever happened to Chappaz? I always thought he was a decent poster, despite the flak he got..

Anyway, back on topic, cheers for the replies guys.

Saylor is mega cheap which is why I asked about him, but I guess he's not worth the risk given his injury record.

The majority on here seem to think Santon is almost a guaranteed starter, but I thought Pardew favoured simpson, and havn't you been looking at fullbacks anyway (Debuchy, etc). I thought that Anita guy you've all-but-signed could play left back, so he might slot in there? Can't see him dislodging tiote as your CDM? Or has Santon been playing all your preseason games as RB with simpson on the bench?

I always thought HBA was a quality player, and the majority seem to agree but also think he will only play 70%-80% of games.. Why is that? Injury record? Does pardew just not favour him? I thought towards the end of the season you were playing 4-3-3 with Ba-Cisse-HBA up top, and it seemed to work pretty well for you, will Pardew not stick with that? If not I might plump for sess but truth be told I think Ben Arfa is the better of the two
, and certainly more of a goal threat. I have a horrible feeling sess won't perform quite so well this season, but maybe thats just the pesimist in me!

Anyways, I realise thats a bit of a wall of a text but any help would be appreciated

P.S. Er... thine?

 

Santon plays LB for us, although he may switch to RB if Anita plays LB. Simpson, although he puts in a decent shift, if widely regarded as our weak link. Not to mention he's refusing to sign a new contract, so will probs be sold in Jan.

No way Anita will dislodge Tiote, if he plays in place of anyone it'll be Jonas.

HBA is a quality player, but Pards has said he wants to manage him effectively, i.e. resting him, picking which games to use him in. He almost certainly won't play in Europe, and defo won't in cup games.

HBA will certainly get more points than Sess, he'll be involved in most of our goals when he plays. If you decide against him, its worth getting someone expensive in that position (Valencia, Nasri, Cazorla etc.), it can gain you a lot of points.

As for Chaps, I think he was one of the first to leave after the GC invasion, they seemed to target him a lot for some reason, so he had enough.

 

Norfolk ~ We have the divvies on both boards. We don't get a great deal of visitors on here, don't know why? It's good to have cross club banter in my opinion, as long as it doesn't go too daft.

 

Leave them well alone mate

 

Who would you suggest then?

Bardsley
Sessegnon
Bramble

Yeah defo leave well alone.

 

IMO, Saylor is worth the risk, if you manage to stash him in your team as a sub first and eventually start him if all's going well... As for Santon, he's LB, as Gogledd Cymru Toon has said, all that. Also, Anita likely won't be playing LB, I see him more as a CM-dominant player who will spell time for Cabaye or Tiote, I don't think he'll replace Jonas, there's other competition on the flank and Anita isn't a wide player by nature...

As for HBA, this is tough... He can be the difference maker in every game he plays...but he has his off nights as well. For now, he hasn't had preseason, and is currently injured, and it's quite a blow for him since he won't start the season and will hence likely see time as an impact sub. The true question of when he starts is unknown, since AP may continue with the starter be it Obertan, Marveaux or whoever... That is the reason why there is hesitancy when we discuss HBA.

 

To be honest, if they're all cheap, I'd still go with them...Granted you only get 5 changes, but then so do the rest of the lads/lady e's playing and you're going to have to try and save money somewhere!

From a points scoring point of view, Taylor will be the most likely out of our current back 4 to score - he did in Pre-Season and loves to get forward (his first ever goal was greeted by a Forrest Gump style sprint around the outside of the whole pitch). Pardew has said he's been looking at the logistics of corners, and got his analysts to try and work out what is the optimum corner to take. He specifically said that this was key area he wanted to focus on and, if he's fit, Taylor will be the one who benefits.

This will be a big season for Santon. He showed glimpses of the class that won him Italy caps at the age of 18, but he also showed defensive frailties that can stick with a player throughout their career. He has all the natural atributes, he just needs the confidence, but at a talk in the other day, Pardew talked fairly extensively about confidence and mentality - he'll be managed well this season and I reckon he'll be a solid point scorer (if not spectacular)

Ben Arfa WILL get you points, his scoring record has been class in England and he could've had more. Pardew has got him looking for passes now as opposed to always looking to take players on and this is helping his assist tally as well. If you play a front 3, you can afford to break the bank on the other 2 and scrimp a bit on Ben Arfa - he'll be worth it IMO.