How things have changed eh? I for one would have had Sessegnon as the better option earlier in the season. I had faith in Benni's ability but he still had it all to prove. Sessegnon has been very good all season, consistently Sunderlands top performer. But i think it would be fair to say you wouldn't find a Newcastle supporter who'd swap now Benni has fully recovered from injury. The kid looks a world beater who we best enjoy while he 's here. Personally I don't think it will be long because the top clubs don't miss much. Certainly not someone who can score two absolute Messi esque wonder goals in one season. He's only 24 and has the world at his feet.
Ben Arfa has always had the talent. I wouldn't swap him for Sess, but I'm not saying Sess is definitely a better player. Fergie has long admired Ben Arfa, I wouldn't be surprised if he rekindles that now, the lad is superb.
Aye and Wenger. I knew he was good but to be honest he's better than I thought. Its great but the Bolton goal tells me he is destined for great things. He'll want European football soon, and its still looking less than likely at the moment. The only saving grace is that he has been at massive clubs before (Marseille and Lyon) and got lost, so he may not be so quick to jump ship this time. Basically we either qualify for the Europa or we'll probably lose him and Tiote. They'd bring in a pretty penny though!
Not totally true really mate. He was outstanding for Lyon, and forced the move to Marseille (he did the same to you, which may cause you concern...) He started really well at Marseille, then the whole club had a bit of a wobble, and he was never going to be a starter under Deschamps, who is negative as ****. His dribbling at pace is utterly stunning, more-so is the split second it takes him to get from standing to full pace. As you know, Arsene described him as 'in the 3 most natural players we have in France', and he is a blueprint Arsenal player. Like you say, finishing 4th or 5th might be the saving grace, but it could be that either way a mega-club comes knocking. I imagine you'll have him till at least next Jan.
Tiote is the main worry. With Benni there are a number of reasons to think he'll stay another season. Tiote loves it here but he'll be desperate to play in Europe. If we can't offer him it and the big clubs come with 20m plus offers, what can you do. Pardew is saying "grass isn't always greener". Its true but this is not Andy Carroll and Liverpool. I think Man U and Chelsea will be his main suitors. He is good enough for boths starting 11. Certainly in the case of Man U, there is little doubt the grass will be greener because you are guaranteed to be contesting the title and playing in an CL quarter final every year.
Aye. It's that bastard thing, you're trying to establish yourself as a club, you make progress, and there's bigger clubs knock you back down. If you get an extra year, then you get there, and they might just stay. For the record, I think Tiote is replaceable, not that he's not a good player, just that there are many good holding players in Holland, Portugal, France etc who could replace him for £5-8million.
Even Thierry Henry is a big fan of Ben Arfa, stating on twitter he was better than Nasri. Which in my opinion could prove to be correct. In the free role Newcastle could never find a better player.
I've thought that for a while. But then you watch the impact he has when plays, we're a different animal. He just wants the ball so badly and has the engine/energy to try and get it all day long. I think the one thing which will still be counting against him with the big clubs is kicking of folk and yellow card count. But it never stopped them with Keane and Vieira! The main reason I think he has a special talent which is tough to replace is when we're down in games, regardless of opposition, he just takes the game by the scruff of the enck and gets us going. He is a leader in that he does it when it matters the most. He did against Sunderland, Man U, Arsenal and several others. Its why folk will like Benni too though because he is becoming similar in a different way. When we've needed a bit of magic or a great cross to break the deadlock lately, he has produced. The big clubs like players who can change a game. We just have to accept it. And as you say its catch 22. You're trying to build to bridge the gap, but they keep taking bits out of the ****ing bridge!!!
You need to sort your back 4 out, but **** me are you decent going forward. I'm spitting that we never did the Cisse deal 18 months ago.
Mbiwa may stay an extra season, Montpellier may win the league, unreal season they are having! He'd be a good signing mind, don't really rate Pieters, not bad , but pretty average, not the quickest. Means you could shift Santon to RB though, so would deffoe be a start.
5 goals and 7 assists for Ben Arfa to 6 goals and 9 assists for Sessegnon, despite only starting 10 games this season. I'd happily take Ben Arfa over Sessegnon. Sess is a cracking player but it's still an easy choice for me.
Aye but the deal was supposedly very pricey 18 months and 12 months ago. Pardew admitted the club had tried twice before and said the deal was too rich. They wanted 16m last summer and 12m in the previous January. To be fair to them, they were only after his market value by the looks of things! Obviously we have Steven Taylor to come back which will help in defence but we need another centre half to complement him and Colo. Willo is better than some of our fans would say, but he really needs to be 4th choice option. Left back is the major problem. It took us ages to find a good one in Jose so god knows what's ahead there. We're being heavily linked with this Erik Pieters. I have to be honest and say I haven't liked what I've seen. First off he looks a centre half playing left back. And 2nd he looked to have a shoddy touch against England which is worrying for a dutchman! That said it was his first game for a while and I haven't seen much so maybe I just got a bad look at him. I have faith that the scouts will find the two or three defensive recruitments we need. I'm really excited to see what Santon can do when he moves over to right back, his natural role. I rate the lad highly and was well aware of his pedigree when he joined. I frequent a little Italians where the owner is an Inter fan, he's still raging about them selling him to us!! You can see why when you see the age of their current squad.
Dump £15million in front of him and see what happens. Knockaert is a quality, quality player though but I'd prefer Sess
