Papa Lazaru

I'm a lot happier now than I was a week or so ago, before we brought in the last crop of signing (before that squad was paper thin even without Europe this year). But yeah, just like last season we still need a quality attacking/playmaking midfielder, if we're looking at Europe anyway (and yeah probably a little bit more defensively too). Having said that considering it has effectively been almost a complete team rebuilding off-season, I don't think we can really complain now if this is all we get. That's it. Allardyce had a massive task imo. Could you imagine Roeder trying to get the players in he has? New contract for Bramble would probably have been part of his solution. The manager has done very well in difficult circumstances I think. Totally agree but I can't help feeling a 'great' start to the season is imperative, that means don't lose a game in our first 6 and win at least 4 of them. The fans would be right behind the new regime then....happy days A good start is vital. We've been given a fixture list that provides a very good chance to get off to a flyer (though away to Bolton is a tough opener) and if we do start well, coupled with some good performances at home the crowd will be behidnd the team and that in turn can only help. Sam has done a great job in turning the squad round by shifting a load of players and replacing them, all on a small budget compared to some clubs this season. If he can then also get alot more out of the players already here it'll be a completely different NUFC we watch this season. It can be a really good season next year with a bit of luck and a few less injuries compared to normal! The top 4 are out of reach as usual, Spurs it remains to be seen, they always get hyped up by the cockney media but in all those years, last season is the first time they ever lived up to any of it, so don't rule out them cocking up again. Other than those teams, its all up for grabs if we do the business at home and actually battle away from home rather than rolling over and giving up every week!

The man is a complete cnut. He has no journalistic integrity or weight behind anything he does because he kisses the arse of whoever is in charge and won't ever take any of them on, until he see the winds of change and jumps ship and starts little snide remarks, until they're definitely on the out and he'll give them loads of shit and kiss the arse of the next one! I can't remember the exact quotes but somebody found a paragraph about Allardyce before he was here and the one after and Anal completely contradicted evreything he had said.

The great thing as somebody said is that we can't decide on a first XI as plenty of players deserve to be in there and we can't decide on an exact formation either. And that's because Big Sam will change it to suit the situation, he actually thinks about things like that! We could well see much differing lineups for home against lightweight opposition compared to away against big, tough teams. I honestly have no idea what team i'd pick if everyone was fit, and that's the first time i can say that in years!

I'll be happy to have him back as long as he gets on with it, works hard and helps the team. He's different to the rest of our midfilders and offers something else and i think he's a player who would really benefit from playing under Big Sam. The risk is that he really doesn't wnat to be here and the usual fuckwitts will give him shit every match he plays in. It never seems to occur to these people that as a supporter NUFC comes first and you back them for 90 mins and try to lift them to win, not act like little kids booing players and basically helping the opposition. If you hate Dyer, fair enough, but why showing that is more important to these people than supporting the team is beyond me. Its up to Dyer, he's doen it before, where he had half the ground giving him hell, and that time he didn't hide, he worked hard, looked for the ball and steadilly got better and the fans eventually let it go. It'll be difficult, but he can do it again if he has the right attitude. Mind you if i was Big Sam i'd start Dyer in an away match first, if he can play and have a stormer that would help before facing the home crowd!

Good that he's looking for a challenge and to show he's still hungry, and that he's loking forward to the physcial side of the prem, should fit in well at the back for us.

That's bollocks isn't it? Its more like 6 or 7 goals in 14 games

Happy birthday Jimbo!

I was always happy enough being linked with Baines, but generally i don't know that much about opposition players, but i did often hear people say he's better going forward than defending. Whereas the lad we've signed is being classed as a defender first and foremost, he's bigger which we need at the back and the reaction of Villareal fans seems to indicate he's a good player!

We'll just have to hope Big Sam can use his pursuasive powers to get the guy here. We still need an experienced centre back and cover at LB and this player can do both which makes him a very good signing for us.

Me too, I think he could be a top player. His pass / cross for Martins' 'miss' was quality. I always liked the look of Zog as a player and thought lasts eason with Roeder (and some fault of the lad himself) had finsihed him here and we'd lose out. Luckilly Big Sam has come in and he'll definitely be aplayer he rates and will get more out of. Throw in Zog actually being happy and we'll see more of the player at his best and not the shadow of him we saw last season.

When you look at it, if (and its a big if) we shift Dyer eventually for say £7m and hopefully bring in Drago for £2.5-3m then Big Sam will have transformed the squad and not spent much at all compared to what some clubs have been throwing around. Add in the fact he wanted Haim and Sidwell for free but couldn't beat Chleski, plus distin for free if he'd been here in time and we'd be laughing!

Shearer has said that many times hismelf after a big serious injury you come back and pick up a few minor ones here and there. Under Big Sam Owen will get hismelf sorted, and apart from doing this thigh injury everyone (including Owen) has been saying how fit he'd got himself, he'd bulked up his mucle a bit and had worked on things to sort his hamstring problems as well. As for the England match, usually i wouldn't want him anywhere near the England game, but in this case i agree with Big Sam. Owen needs games as quickly as possible to get any sort of match fitness and sharpness after so long out the game, and if he can use England to get fit for us, so much the better.

Its stuff like this that defines managers like Allardyce and why they can attract players and get the best out of them. Roeder, Souness et al would have signed him and basically dumped him in the middle of town and said sort yourself out from now! Also Big Sam has been talking about easing the new players who haven't played in the prem into the season, not just chuckign them all in at the start when they mightn't quite be ready from pre season and also making sure we start with plenty of prem experience in a game like Bolton away. I'm sure we'll see one of the new defenders get a game home to Villa though. Sam just continually impresses you as somebody who really knows what they're doing, and is in a different leage to the previous muppets!

Dare I say it he reminds me (particularly when he got back to the centre circle and was encouraging the others) very much of a certain welshman who used to play for us... The fella is better though IMO Ian Rush? Was good to see a player fired up for a friendly though! Looked like he shouted "Get the fucking ball back" or something like that, but anyway he looked well up for it.

Its classic NUFC, if at the start of the season i could have picked 3 players i wanted playing the most it'd have been Given and Owen and most likely Barton. Two of them are clearly going to miss the start of the season, and i'm worried about Given now. Obviosuly we're expecting a big improvement in our defence but they still need Given behind them.

Its typical that we've just sent Krul out on loan and Given has problems, though hopefully it won't be anything to worry about, but with our luck that's not that likely! It seems since Given had that serious injury that he's subsequently picked up more than he ever used to, hope that will calm down soon as well.

Agree 100%. The press (and other teams fans) loved the fact were a complete circus, guarenteed to explode at any moment, and fileld with idots like Fred willing to shout their mouths off at all times, making us look ever more stupid. Now they are being fed nothing from the manager, chairman and owner unless it makes sense for us to disclose it, they aren't makign stupid comments, they aren't doing anything stupid and the cockney media fucking hates it! Hence why despite everyone involved sayign Martin's is staying we get a new story every day about him havign to be sold or we're fucked! And locally, Anal Oliver is probably crying himself to sleep these days as he realises the club will give him jack shit and he's lost Fred and Roeder feeding him stuff all the time. And the clearer that becomes the more the minority of toon fans left who believe him, will come to their senses and he will eb compeltely discredited.

That's the sort of thing toon fans want to hear! Yes, so far its only friendlies, but the ability to get a lead and close games out is something we have never had, and i hope this will be something we see a fair bit of in the prem. Also the idea that Big Sam has plan A,B and more to adapt to different oppositoon, different situations and the like, better than Roeder's plan A which didn't work and him sitting there watching it not work and doing fuck all!

If we could stick Dyers pace and occasional flair with all of Smith's attributes that'd be some player! Smith and indeed Barton are the sort of players we have been lacking for some time and are exactly what i was hoping and expecting Big Sam would bring here. Though i would actually have liked to see Dyer here, fit (as he seems now to be) under Big Sam's guidance to see what he could have done. But with him being desperate to leave and having fallen out with the fans, its best for all that he goes.

One of the things i am looking forward to is seeing us firstly play well at St. james and get back to beating some of the shite teams who play in the prem, and secondly like you say,s eeing a toon team with soem fight and aggression about them. Putting ourselves about and not taking a backwards step, respecting the big teams but not in awe of them, being able to come backf rom behind and every now and then maybe giving somebody a right good hammering like we used to.

Not having 10+ midweek games in europe is going to give us a definite advantage over the likes of Spurs, Blackburn and whoever else is in the UEFA cup. Less risk of injuries, more chance to recover from little niggling injuries and generally being fitter and fresher when we play prem matches. We've seen it before when SBR team wasn't in europe as we lost in the intertoto and we had a great season. Ultimately of course we have to get straight back into europe to attract the next level of players and move upwards, but just this one off season out of europe may be a good thing, providing we make the very most of it.

I'd say till January, when Big sam will re-assess everything. As things stand RB will be far from his priority as he really wanted LB's and CB's which he's been sorting, as well as getting the likes of Viduka, Smith, Barton and Geremi. So since we have a few players who can play RB (to varying degrees) i don't think we'll see one brought in just yet.

Good stuff about Enrique, hopefully that deal will be concluded tomorrow and we'll finally have a left back!!!! Then we can look forward to Sam getting another couple of players in on top of that, certainly one more before the season kicks off.

These are the only stuff in the press worth giving any attention to, ie. ones that actually have direct quotes from Big Sam and/or Mort. Some of the other shite that gets written day in and day out (by both National journos and our own local fuckwitt at the chronicle) is not worht paying attention to by and large. If you believed all the press we'd have sold most of our squad, brought in Shearer, Keegan and god knows who else and pratcically nobody would be getting on with anyone else!

Its always hard to predict what teams will do with all their new signings, but most people accept the top 4 as set in stone pretty much with Spurs now the favourites for 5th and aiming to sneak into the top 4 if somebody slips up. We should definitely be aiming for 6th as its achievable and looking (if things are going well) to get 5th ourselves, especially if come January we are looking good and invest in a couple of top class players. But if Big Sam gets us to 7th or below but there are signs of big improvement in the direction we are heading then he's still goign to have vastly improved us from the shite under the previous two imbeciles.