Monroe Transfer

So basically Tiote is for sale if the right bid comes in. I was thinking about this the other night; we'd actually have a superb first 11 (as of today) if we'd have kept most of the players that have left since Ashley came in. Given Simpson Bassong Coloccini Enrique Tiote Milner Barton N'Zogbia Ben Arfa Carroll Subs: Martins Owen Faye Beye Harper Nolan Gutierrez

I'd really like the club to employ some special advisors, or to put someone on the board who actually understands football on a sporting level as well an industry one. Someone who also understands the club wouldn't go amiss either.

One look at our ridiculous injury list and the hierarchy should have been all over any half decent player going, even if they had to pay over the odds. As a short term solution, something had to be done. More loan signings for one - scour the European market for someone with a bit of something about him. We've not had much luck but we're not creating much for ourselves either. Getting rid of players and then bringing in an injured player just speaks volumes about the lack of foresight and ambition at the football club.

The amount of people who think we did well out of the Carroll deal astounds me. To be fair, a lot of them are fans of other clubs who perhaps aren't aware of the bigger picture. Particularly that we should have brought in a new striker regardless of his situation, and that to then sell him with no replacement is mindless.

This Routledge sounds quality. We should have a look at him, sounds like a gem of a player and just what we need.

What form is this? Not playing Tevez until West Ham were almost relegated and then getting lucky with him and him alone scoring the goals that kept them up?

No offence to Best but I'd have been able to score a hat-trick against West Ham that night, their defending was utterly woeful. That match hasn't certainly qualified him as a decent striker in this league. He's got a lot to prove - now is the time to do it.

Love a bit of rage.

They've also had their strikers out injured for long periods, to be fair. At least they've got more than decent options up front, regardless of whether they've been injured or not. I wouldn't say no to Johnson, Zamora and Dembele.

Time for Shearer to return tbh.

I see what you did there.

We are going to crawl over the finish line, as it were.

Now that's just being petty and cynical.

2 months!? You couldn't make this up.

Not sure why anyone would want to watch that. I'll be avoiding Liverpool games in the future just so I don't have to see him wearing that horrible red shirt. I'm as bitter as I was when Ferdinand (and Ginola) left to go to Spurs. I've hated Spurs ever since even though they didn't do anything wrong as such.

I agree with all of those apart from Keane who had some stupid demands for going to other clubs. Only West 'ammmm were stupid enough to pay it! keane scores goals man, unlike our current crop of fit strikers. Keane + OTT wage = goals goals > no goals no goals = relegation Something like that. I'm basically saying I'd rather pay over the odds for someone even if it's just their wages, if it guaranteed goals and stability. Any of those strikers would have strengthened us significantly. In fact we should have been in for 2 of them on loan, as I believe PL clubs are allowed to borrow a maximum of 2 players from other PL clubs.

It's the missed opportunity in regards to loan strikers that annoys me the most at the moment. Vela, Keane, Martins, Sturridge etc all would have improved us. Instead they've gone to clubs around us who already had a better strikeforce.

I see this mythical figure being constantly referred to as enough to stay up. Now firstly I'm not sure that that's the case - didn't West Ham go down one season after passing the 40 point barrier? My main worry is that the sides below us are capable of picking up points. Sides like West Ham for example have strengthened signifcantly by bringing in players like Keane. Picking up 10 points with 14 points to go should be doable, don't get me wrong. I just think it might not be as simple as that. We're looking behind us now.

I own, and am very happy with, an Acer 5XXX series laptop that I got late last year. Well built, quiet, not too heavy, decent components, and good value for money at around £600. What's more, I got it from Acer Direct who I believe are Laptops Direct's Acer-only outlet. Again can't fault the service.

Again, this. Can't understand why all the blame gets leveled at him. I get the impression some people don't like him because of his attitude or style off the pitch, or stuff like this - Leon Best is older and was probably even worse last night, as Pardew pointed out funnily enough (not sure doing that in public was a great idea).

Does 40 points guarantee safety or something? Is that just the mythical line you need to cross to stay up or has someone done the maths and worked out it would be enough?

Agreed that there are others more deserving of scathing criticism who seem to avoid it more than the likes of Ranger.

Going to quote NUFC.com here. Sums it up perfectly. On the evidence of tonight, we're completely fucked.

I don't think our record since Carroll got injured shows that we have enough to be honest. It's all about form and that was some good form. Good form isn't permanent and 6 points isn't much at all. The sides below us are all capable of picking up points - there is no Portsmouth, Burnley or Derby this season who look destined for the drop. We lose a few matches and we're in serious trouble, and if it's anything like the last time this happened we'll do well to recover. Relying on our forward line as it is - and goalscorers from midfield like Nolan - is potential suicide. Several strikers went out on loan to clubs during the window. Any one of them would have improved us significantly and we should have been in for them regardless of whether Carroll was fit or still our player.

At 29 he is young enough to adapt to his new role.