ohmelads

That's their entire gameplan I'm afraid.

A few of the Depor fans commented that they thought he was more effective up front. Isn't that where he used to play, before Depor moved him wide left? The Depor fans have cited his tendancy to be offside as his main problem up front though, they weren't surprised when they heard he'd scored an offside goal against Man Utd. Unlike Boa Morte, who I think can "do a job" up front, Luque has played much of his career there and could easily be a danger up front if we played him there, he has lightning pace, strength, he's good in the air and very dangerous shooting. They say his running isn't the most clever, but after Owen he'd be our best striker. 11 league goals from left wing tells its own story, particularly for a Depor side struggling for goals. Shearer needs crosses but so long as we have Solano on the right side, I wouldn't mind if Luque feels the need to cut inside on the left and get more involved in play. Having different options is a good thing, and hopefully Luque and Owen's pace in tandem would cause even the best of defences problems. Besides, I'm sure I've seen Luque putting in quality crosses before, even if it's not a main part of his game. So long as he can beat his full back he will always be a danger. Carr had to foul him a few times at the Riazor to save getting skinned for pace. It really feels quite strange to speak about attacking options, considering our first 11 has picked itself all summer. When (if) our squad gets everyone fully fit Souness will actually have some tough decisions to make. Solano vs Dyer for example, and when to rest Shearer.

I think we're all well aware of the danger of that. But it's the fee of 12M which is frankly laughable. Have you ever heard of a businessman shaking hands on a guaranteed 5m quid loss?! It sounds like there could well be a release clause (or more likely 'agreement') but that figure seems ridiculous. Let's not forget that the reason Liverpool got shafted for only 8M was because he was entering the last year of his contract, where a players value will often more than halve as they risk losing him for nothing. We have him on a 4-year contract, so even if that is just a symbol, it will ensure we get a good price for him. I'm not that worried. If he stays after next summer, great. If he doesn't, we'll probably get 15M+ for a world renowned striker with 3 years left on his contract (espescially if he has a good World Cup). He might surprise us all and see out his contract. It all depends on how the team does, if we finish 4th I think he'd definitely stay (short of a ridiculous offer). If we finished 5th or 6th but won the FA Cup (for example), I think there'd be a good chance he'd stay. He's probably on bigger wages here than he would get anywhere else in the Premiership (bar Chelsea) and he wouldn't be idolised elsewhere like he would here. It's not going to be enough to change his mind, but those things could help tip the balance if he's in doubt. But if we're trophyless and mid-table again there is no question he will want out. I don't blame the Liverpool fans for being bitter, I'd be the same if Shearer fucked us off in his prime for half of his value and then returned to play for a rival. But you can quite easily console yourselves with the Champions League trophy and knowing that we paid a bomb to bring him here while you got him for nothing. What sort of reaction do you think Owen will get at Anfield? Mixed?

The away games are the ones I'm more concerned about. I think we can beat anyone at home with our best team, you have to bear in mind we had terrible luck against Arsenal and Man Utd with the Jenas red card at Highbury and a hat-trick of injuries in under an hour against Man Utd. We were the better team in both games until that happened. Against West Ham and Bolton we were missing our only creative players for the entirity of both games (Emre and Dyer). We have brought in 3 new creative/dangerous players (Luque, Solano, Owen) so we should be more covered for such a scenario now. We also now have the option of playing 4-4-2, wheras before we struggled to field 2 fit strikers and were forced into 4-5-1 even if we were chasing the game.

We couldn't have asked for a better run of games in our current league position. Momentum is everything, we have an opportunity to shoot up the league and be up around the Champions League places by November, it's a chance we have to take with both hands.

If we have Dyer back I'll feel a lot more confident, as he and Luque will give us a threat from both flanks and it seems like a long time since we had that. Surely Souness has to return to 4-4-2 for this game? Owen can't play as the lone striker and I wouldn't waste such an expensive player in an unfamiliar role. If we're going to play the team around anyone it should be Owen. If we play Shearer and Owen up top with Luque and Dyer bombing down the flanks we should have enough going forward to really cause Fulham problems. The atmosphere and buildup to the game should be fantastic. Owen's debut in a toon shirt and we've hardly seen Luque either, who is another top class player. We've got (on paper) a fairly comfortable run of games for the next two months. Let's run riot!

No return date for Bowyer though.

It's quite plausible we could see this: -----------Shearer---Owen----------- Luque-----Parker----Faye---Bowyer That's not that strong to be honest, like all great players Owen is capable of being anonymous as is Luque, and like any striker he will need service. Bowyer is a useless right winger and Faye is seriously lacking in confidence. Luque, Parker and Owen are class acts and we will need them on top of their game. Parker has been an excellent signing, he looks very reliable but he is certainly playing a more defensive role and he and Faye might not work together. If Dyer is back that would be great news, but he probably needs a longer break otherwise he'll just pull his hamstring again. Same goes for Emre.

Owen may well leave after a year, but if he does I'm confident we'll get most of our money back at least. When has a club ever agreed to a clause which says they will almost certainly lose 5 million quid in one year? 12M just sounds like a bitter rumour to be honest, is it any surprise it seems to have been started by a Liverpool journalist? There may be some sort of agreement, but there's no way we would agree to something that incredibly stupid. Let's not forget that Owen didn't have a lot of choice in coming here, so we didn't have to agree to all his terms, we were in quite a good bargaining position considering Liverpool could never afford him anyway. In the end, he needed us nearly as much as we needed him. It was either us or the Madrid bench (if he's lucky), a straight choice, so he hardly had us by the balls at the negotiation table.

Who is going to play on the right side? Nobby suspended, Milner on loan, Dyer crocked. What's the latest on Dyer's injury, any chance of him making the Fulham game? Emre is also injured, so will we see Bowyer out of position on the right and Faye and Parker in the centre?

I'd return immediately to 4-4-2, but I still believe in 4-3-3 against the big sides. When we had our full team we were the better side against Arsenal and Man Utd using 4-3-3. We were just bloody unlucky in both games, a dodgy red card against Arsenal and 3 injuries against Man Utd. That sort of thing weakens any team. Against everyone outside the top 3, I'd go 4-4-2. I rate Dyer but it's important to have a consistent first 11 who can gel and get a run of games together, and for that you need players who don't keep breaking down injured. Now Solano has arrived, Dyer has to fight for his place back as far as I'm concerned. His pace would make him a very threatening substitute, we saw that when he came on for England to replace Beckham and in 10 minutes was England's most threatening player, setting up chances immediately as he skinned tired defenders. Dyer would be a great option to have on the bench. Solano----Parker---Emre---Luque -----------Shearer--Owen----------

I can't wait to see our first 11, we just have to get them all fit at once. Solano's arrival may give Dyer a kick up the arse, knowing that he can't just come off the treatment table and automatically walk back into the first team. That midfield and strikeforce would give us many options, pace from Owen and Luque, power from Shearer and Parker, creativity from Emre and Nobby, and Solano's crosses for Shearer. We'd also have left and right-footed dead ball specialists, and we'd have Dyer to bring off the bench to run tired at tired defences. All sounds great in theory, but the biggest task will be keeping everybody fit. At least we know Nobby isn't injury prone.

Cheers mate I was just going to ask if anyone had it.

I know the Shearer line is an easy one to come out with for new signings to get onside with the fans, but I do think that Shearer would have that big advantage were he to become manager. He'd help us to attract big names, espescially English ones, because he was a star who came here near the peak of his career so you could say he's already put his money where his mouth is. Solano will bring us options we've lacked since we sold him. Consistent set-pieces, natural right-sided width, crosses for Shearer, intelligent, creative play and goals from midfield. Dyer's pace can be very effective on the right flank but he and Milner didn't really give us much width or give the team much balance, something which I think is very important. We actually have a player who wants to play on the right of midfield now.

I'm less worried about him coming good, I'm more worried about our lack of central midfield cover. Although I've defended Faye in the past, he is beginning to prove his critics correct. Dyer is simply not a central midfielder, Clark was released by Fulham for christ sake. Basically we have Parker, Emre and Bowyer, and Faye to "do a job". I can see Clark getting a lot of action this season, it only takes two injuries and he's in the team. Having shite players in the team cost us valuable points last season. Elliott, O'Brien etc. I'd put Clark in that category these days, however harsh that may sound. If Viana had stayed I think he'd have got quite a lot of action this season, and alongside Parker who has been excellent so far, he could have been a revelation. He's another class altogether compared to Faye and Clark, and yet he's on loan to Valencia.

I remember one time where he skinned 3 players, did a little dummy, a stepover and then played a sublime, curling 40-yard pass back to Given

Milner really needs regular games at the top level, Villa would be a good club for him to develop. They're unlikely to be down in relegation getting tonked every weekend and he won't have the pressure he would have here, a good place to let him develop. Solano will give us options we don't currently have. A right-footed dead-ball specialist (Luque and Emre are both left-footed), an intelligent, cultured, creative player and a natural right-sided player who will give us width. And crucially, his crossing is sublime, and how many crosses has Shearer had to feed off recently? Him and Luque on the flanks would give us much more balance and when Dyer is out we'd have a first class replacement in Solano. Only problem is he's banned for three weeks, so it'll be at least a month before we see him if he signs.

Torres is overrated.

Newcastle 3 - 0 Liverpool. Liverpool tried to sign Luque earlier in the summer as well.

AS are also claiming the same, but they say that our offer was 38M straight up with another 7M depending on certain targets. http://www.as.com/articulo.html?d_date=&xr...nchor=dasftbA00

There's an article about this in Marca http://www.marca.es/edicion/marca/futbol/1...llo/556318.html Claims Newcastle were willing to pay 38m euros (about 25m quid) straight up!

Cisse could yet become a top striker but we've just gone one better and signed a finished article in Owen.

Sounds like bollocks.

If we sell Jenas I think it will come back to haunt us. Not necessarily because he will go on to be great, but because the minute we get an injury crisis (and we will, this is Newcastle) we'll be cursing his departure. I hate to say it, but it's inevitable. Every season there are people say we have enough players in one position and in the end we don't. Last season we seemingly had too many strikers, in the end we were short. The season before we thought we had enough midfielders, but when half our team had picked up injuries we crashed out of the UEFA Cup in Marseille. If we sell Jenas, you just know that a month down the line we will see Faye and Clark in our starting line up as we battle to contain West Brom.

Solano was never a pacy player who could skin his full-back, his game always relied on excellent crosses and intelligent link-up play. For that reason, I don't think he'll age as quickly as most wingers do when they lose their legs. I think he probably has 2 years left at the top. His best ever season was probably last season with Villa, he was their top scorer from right midfield. While Luque and Owen are both a real coup, Shearer lives off crosses and we don't have anyone who can reliably put them in. Solano is one of the best in the business at that. Solano and Dyer will give us different options on the right hand side and I'd be happy to see Milner go the other way for a season, he needs the games to develop. But I haven't seen a mention of this anywhere on the net from a creditable source, is there really any substance in it? Also, if we have suddenly targetted Solano, might this be an indication that the news on Dyer's hamstrings is not good?