OTF

Opportune striker who can poke or prod the ball home. Similar to Chopra but with a more hefty arse. I don't think he will do that well at Middlesbrough, particularly with the loss of Johnson. I'd like to be proved wrong though because ultimately Australia is very weak up front at the moment and we need as many forwards in form as possible (mind you when he has played for Australia he's been pretty poor, partly due to being misused by our manager).

Agree that it would be good to see Guthrie played in his preferred position for a while. We'd finally be able to sort out whether or not he's any good. Smith was poor in the last match, but I think he may have been smarting after the horrible challenge from Wellens early on. Didn't have the same fire that we've seen from him most times out, hopefully he'll bring that back this week. It could have been the fact that him and Butt were trying to play the same role out there (neither doing it well). I like the look of cock's formation, though I'm non-plussed on the striking options. Part of me says I'd like to see Lovenkrands out there, as out of all the strikers he seems to make the most intelligent runs off the ball where-as Shola and Carroll both seem to want the ball to come to them. Not too sure about Ranger just yet. Nolan is definitely due to be dropped, though I think Hughton will be thinking he's due to score and so won't want to drop him. Playing him will be a mistake, playing him anywhere except up front will be a painfully dull, boring, and slow mistake. I think Hughton will keep him there in lieu of a second striker and as a result I can see him forming a triangle out of Smith, Butt and Nolan (Collectively they have the pace of a lame guinnea pig, the talent of Peter Ramage and the attackmindedness of the Italian Director of Defense).

The key to it all of course is the investment into the squad. Thus far with Ashley, excluding the initial purchase of Coloccini and Jonas we've seen nothing in the way of ambition with purchases. They've all (including the aforementioned two with the benefit of hindsight) come across as amateur or opportunistic deals struck by pretend businessmen. Someone else mentioned it - all of the players who the manager and chairman would proclaim as our first and primary targets who are just what we need are players who are available (or not available if you don't pay enough) on the cheap. They've got lucky with Williamson in that Portsmouth are in a diabolical situation, could have also got lucky with Moses from Palace (though they're both far from proven). If two thirds of the money from recent outgoing sales were spent (and in theory there's no reason that they shouldn't be) I firmly believe we could have a squad that (withstanding horrendous injury troubles) could safely restabalise in the Premierleague, forming a foundation for gradual improvement over the next several seasons, culminating in Newcastle being back in the Top Half of the Premier League (by then who knows what financial malarky will have taken place at Liverpool and Manchester United!). Sadly though I think the cretins in charge will greatly misunderestimate the investment required and as a result we'll spend another dreadfully depressing season trying to escape the clutches of relegation, desperately hoping that there's at least three teams that are worse than us.

Better than I was expecting, that's for sure, but still nothing to get too excited about. The real transfer window will come at the end of the season. If we gain promotion I think we'll be completely underwhelmed with what happens. If we don't we'll be disgusted.

Our wide variety of average strikers/forwards would be passable if we actually had a decent midfield. As it is they're nigh on useless.

I was just thinking of all the players who we have sold or let go of in the past 18 months. It's quite a large list featuring predominantly high earning underachievers. Certainly we've lost some players of talent, there's no denying that, but overall the wage bill has been vastly reduced and a significant amount of capital has been generated from numerous players sales. The likes of Michael Owen, Mark Viduka, Damien Duff, Obafemi Martins, Geremi, Nicky Butt, Shay Given, James Milner, Charles N'Zogbia will all have departed (or will before we kick a ball next season). In their place we have added Danny Simpson, Ryan Taylor, Kevin Nolan, Wayne Routledge and Mike Williamson. With the possible exception of Kevin Nolan they'd all be on wages much much less than those departing. The amount of money generated from the sale of the above players (with the addition of the money from Bassong) is a significant amount. So much so that we'd all be ecstatic if 2/3 of it was reinvested into the quad in the off-season (IF we earn promotion). If that amount of money was invested in bringing in new players in my opinion we'd be in a better position than we were when we kicked off season 2008/09. We'd have a lower wage bill, with a squad potentially of similar ability. Financially it has benn a cleanout that had been a long time coming (not entirely finished of course with the likes of Barton hanging about).

No more 'signings' in the window and then an emergency loan signing there after (assuming this is still possible).

Yep, West Brom have been the better side in 3 out of 3 matches against us this season.

Xisco!

If Moses saw any of our game today he'd be thanking his lucky stars he wasn't headed here.

<puts hand up>

19 year old one month loanee was clearly our best player. Worrying indeed. Came closest to scoring, put in the best cross of the game and saved what would otherwise have been a goal for Leicester. Other than that Hughton has had a shocker. I can only assume that Jonas was there for no reason other than to fill a bench seat. He would have been the perfect player for this match and no doubt would have linked up nicely with van Aanholt down the left hand channel. As it was Guthrie was yet again forced to play out of position but this time on his much less favoured left hand side WTF Chris? Nicky Butt and Alan Smith in central midfield - what a creative duo that was WTF Chris? Together they couldn;t seem to muster the average contribution you'd expect from a central midfielder. Hughton should have removed one or both of them MUCH MUCH earlier in the match - ie. as soon as they were down to 10 men. Another depressing watch. Put some players into the team who can fucking pass a ball Chris, and then some players who like to run into space. We've now got the players in our side, so use them properly. Lumping the ball forward to Carroll does very little except turn over possession and frustrate the supporters. Stop our players from doing it all the time. Having some players with a little urgency on the ball may go a way towards doing that. Onto the good things - Williamson was solid, the previously mentioned van Aanholt was good, and Routledge looks like he's added some pace and ability on the ball (as well as some good off the ball runs). So our three new players were the best of a very poor bunch.

Needs a rest to rivitalise.

Don't know about quality, but better than expected. It's not good in the championship having a myriad of mediocre striking options. It'd be horrible having it in the Premier League.

The biggest concern I have is that he picks players based on their status/stature within the side, and not on their merits as players and what additional dimensions they would bring to the side. His substitutions sometimes seem to target certain players as though he doesn't want to upset more senior players. It would be harsh to get rid of him that's for sure, but if the right manager was available it may be a consideration. Conversely you might say that he's improving as a manager all along and now that he has done well in the Championship he should be better equipped to face the Premier League. For me though, the key influencing factor is that he previously proclaimed that he did not want to be a manager. If he didn't have that ambition in the first place he's likely to not be a great fit in that position. I'd like a manager who commands the changing room (but maybe not one who throws shoes at our best players) and whose blood boils when players give away the ball unneccesarily.

Unrelated, but Obafemi wasted Nigeria's best chance again Ghana today. Same frustrating player (mind you Nigeria's play was pretty awful - even still they created lots of half chances). It was a very ugly, boring game.

That's bullshit. The easiest position on the field for Newcastle is central midfield. Mosey about making the occassional well timed sliding tackle, contribute nothing else yet still retain your position. Seriously though fullback is possibly a position that can be played ok without too much trouble but takes a lot to be very good. Also a lot depends on the team you're up against. A team with quick tricky wingers quickly shows up the difference between a fullback and a central defender or midfielder playing in the fullback position.

I shudder to think about Nicky Butt in defense. Thankfully Ryan Taylor is back for the next match. He's not a great right back by any stretch, but he's a darn sight better than Nicky Butt, and unlike Butt plays in the wide channels naturally. Could form a good partnership with Routledge. If we had the same sort of play down our right as we have had down our left we'd be a great deal more enterprising (and a larger thorn in other sides) than we currently are. .. can't really imagine Pancrate playing right back though.. would have been interesting.

The ghost of Steven Taylor? (except for the trying to keep things organised part) Good news that both Williamson and Routledge had positive debuts. They'll both be very important for the remainder of the season.

Dodged a bullet on this one? Highlights from the Everton vs Sunderland match:

According to Enrique over at the Newcastle website, Louise Taylor is just a 'toss'.

Our players have now taken to feigning injury in an attempt to get the owner to bring more players in? This will surely shake Ashley into further action before the window snaps shut. We're desperately thin at the back and if Enrique has done his hamstring he'll be out for a month or two. If our defense isn't up to par all the matches where we've been nabbing wins will be draws and all the ones where we've held on desperately for draws will be losses. With the form of Forest and the ever-presense of West Brom (who have been better than us in all three games against them this season) there's every chance that we'd slip down into a playoff spot. From there it's a lottery.

Probably a few reasons on the Xisco front: (i) They want him in the shop window for a while longer so they can hopefully recoup some of the money spent on him (ii) Good enough to bother? (iii) Not exactly a good omen that he supposedly faked injury in an attempt to get out of the club He'd still be very far down the pecking order. Such a stupid stupid purchase.

He's got Nobby's left foot!

Very bad news. Very very bad news. I guess now we'll get to see how Kadar does week in week out. Better to give him a run IMO rather than someone that's new to the club the calibre that is being talked of. We really are desperately short of cover across the back.