PaddockLad

Why are Swansea letting him go?....perhaps because he's like the Leon Best its ok to like as he's a Geordie?....27, bit old too...it's a no from me, and Mike probably...

Is it fair to say the side he was captain of in 2009 was on paper the most talented squad ever to be relegated since Sky invented football in 1992?...What a coloassall fuckin strap on that man is.

Newcastle: Krul; Perch, Williamson, Coloccini ©, Santon; Tiote, Anita; Cisse, Marveaux, Obertan; Shola Ameobi. Subs: Elliot, Ferguson, Tavernier, Abeid, Bigirimana, Sammy Ameobi, Ranger. Everton: Howard, Baines, Heitinga, Distin, Jagielka, Pienaar, Osman, Neville, Fellaini, Naismith, Jelavic. Subs: Mucha, Oviedo, Hitzlsperger, Anichebe, Gueye, Vellios, Duffy.

Shola starts!

Has he failed a medical by any chance?....or have his henchmen asked for an extra "sweetner" to help the deal across the line?

over to you CT.... we do need two strikers this window, but theres more chance of Lord Lucan riding Shergar to the moon and back than Ashley getting us what we need. But at least we'll be "wiping our own mouth"

No, but we've lost 4(?) strikers since the summer and not signed one. That sort of does suggest that the squad is being neglected, to say the least.

Aye, bit difficult when its a 15mill player you've got tio replcae with only 5mill profit "wiping our own mouth"

As we speak; senior strikers in the NUFC squad: Papiss Demba Cisse and Shola Ameobi "it'll give Adam Campbell good experiance, being involved in a relegation scrap"....

Its difficult, but the likes of Lyon stayed at the top table of European football for a decade on a budget dwarfed by the likes of Chelsea by making sure that when they let a player go they'd already had his replacement at the club for a good six months or so....its called planning

Would a deal to keep one player for 5 months really have sunk Ashley?... I doubt it.

Thats not to say that all players dont have a price. Thats just a fact of modern day football at virtually every club So its ok for Chelsea but not ok for the club who had a higher average gate than they did when we were in the championship? We're not allowed to try to keep our best talent? We're not allowed to try to control a dressing room full of egos? Sounds like you're happy with us not giving it a go. This is where Stevie's favourite subject "lack of ambition" comes in. Its why KK left in the huff. I don't know, I can see both sides,and appreciate our financial situation is somewhat different from Chelsea's, but am far from happy about it looking at where we are in the league.

We could have paid him and his agents off till the end of the season, say half a million, and then let him join anyone he likes...the player and his agents get more that way, and we stand a better chance of staying up. Looked at the league table lately? 5th bottom last time I looked...speculate to accumaulate they used to call it...

So the club seem have fought really hard to keep the second top scorer in the league In saying that, anyone couldve offered the 7.5million to get to speak to him... who pays the henchmen?...us, Chelsea,Demba?....

Me. I'm fuckin well saying it. Problem? Theres cunts in the media getting paid for this shit. I thought I'd give it a go

Aye, they dont have manager, they have coach, who picks the players he's provided with by his bosses. A lot of clubs do this now. Including ourselves. So theres a school of thought that Ba is being used as bait in a move for Falcao?...oh dear Is there anythng concrete about PSG's interest?...

HBA and Ronaldo arent given rigid and restrcitive roles for their clubs. They can play it as they see it most of the time. HBA has more defensive responsibilties at his club though so mainly stays wide. All this talk of a "no 10" is fairly irrelevent. If a team is sent out with one central striker playing in behind the other one you'll find that a lot of the width tends to come from fullback, and we know how good ours are at that. Say what you want about Santon, he's been fuckin awful lately, defensively poor and offensively fairly ineffective. Simpson is Simpson. Shite.

Dont we play 433?

To be fair, you havent. Youve got both Marveux and HBA in a sort of 3 "inside forward" line along with Demba Ba, the club's leading scorer and the second top scorer in England Then you have what appears to be a two man midfield...it would appear to be an approximation of.....well,as far as I can make out and funnily enough it looks to me like Terry Vanables's much-vaunted "Christmas Tree" formation which hasnt been played in the premier league by anyone....well anyone since TV himself employed it at Boro. For a couple of games. Southgate said the other players couldnt understand it , which is a bit ironic when you think about it....

Thats the decision Prdew has been bottling all season...he's been trying to keep his top strikers happy, which meant for a long time 442. As a result results have suffered. He's been hampered all season with injuries which in a way made it easy for him to persist with picking two "purples" when only is required for the one role in the team, assuming that it goes without saying that the best formation is 433. Marveux in front of HBA? Again, CT on the wind up.

Yes. Thank you for the Deano-esque diagram Feel free to pick the bones out of it if you wish....thats obviously if Ba leaves, if Ba stays, he starts every time.

play Obertan and HBA either side of Cisse when attacking they then make a 5 in the centre of the park when the opposistion are attacking either side of Tiote,Perch and Cabaye Perch sits at the base, protects the back 4 We play better with Perch in midfield this season, we keep posseison a lot more. And theres then pace either side of Cisse. Guti and Marveux to change the game from the bench.

Answer the question...why in gods name would you play Cisse up front instead of Ba this season? It makes no logical sense. This isnt football manager, these lads actually have to cross a white line and play. You set yourself up for this, which I guess is pretty much the point

My favourite formation is the one Pardew picks. He knows more about football then me. Correct me if am wrong, but hes seldom if ever put Cisse and Ba on the pitch with Cisse playing centrally this season, certainly not as a starting formation. With everyone from March onwards last season playing at the top of their games it was easy to carry Ba out wide but he was barely contributing a fucking thing in some games. This season, with a lot of our top players either injured or a sad shadow form wise of what they were last spring, we cant afford to carry anybody. Its not worth the risk, and with a fully fit squad I'd drop one or the other to the bench. Now explain why you think you know better than Pardew.

Squad: United are without Ryan Taylor, Dan Gosling, Haris Vuckic, Yohan Cabaye, Steven Taylor, Hatem Ben Arfa, Jonas Gutierrez, Vurnon Anita