Baggio

This front 6 of ours look quality and we're picking it up at the right time. If we can keep the majority of our starting players and add to the back 4 I think we can challenge for top 6 again next season.

I don't see what Moyes has done unless they win the cup. They've had a few better seasons under him before.

Ben Arfa created both goals to continue his recent good form. “I was quite confident the penny would drop,” said Pardew. “I think now I could put him anywhere on the pitch and he’d know what to do.” Read More http://www.journallive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2012/04/02/alan-pardew-has-reasons-to-be-thankful-61634-30672381/2/#ixzz1qs4HlDO1

Diving is the Liverpool way.

What a kick in the balls for Enrique. His first game back at our place and he has Ben Arfa taking the piss out of him for most of the game then ends up in goals

11 clean sheets now in the league.

NEWCASTLE United’s summer transfer priority is bolstering their back four with a new left-back and centre-back. And the Sunday Sun can also reveal that the club are making contingency plans in case Demba Ba is enticed away from St James’ Park – with Paris Saint Germain understood to be keen. Although the club are holding off on their annual end of season transfer summit until they know whether they are in Europe, boss Alan Pardew has revealed the club has “revved up” their scouting efforts in anticipation of dipping into the market. But the club only intend to make a couple of high calibre additions, with the rest of the squad strengthened by good young players in the Mehdi Abeid mould. United do not believe there will be wholesale departures, although Ba is vulnerable with his transfer release clause. Discussions on a new contract will start when the club know their European fate. A top target is PSV man Erik Pieters, but the club are NOT looking at any players who will be out of contract at the end of the season. “We have started,” Pardew told the Sunday Sun. “You can’t obviously talk to players, which is a problem, but you can talk to clubs, you can talk to agents and you can generally get a feel for the market. “That’s, of course, what we’re doing and our scouting has revved up a little. I shall certainly be on my travels between now and the end of the season, and possibly not be around the training ground as much as I normally am. “It’s important we get that part of it right.” http://www.sundaysun...9310-30668316/?

Looks like it could be a cracking fight to the finish down there. Wolves look gone and Villa only 5 points above the relegation zone.

I think the thing going for us is Liverpool are a good cup team, they won't be fazed by Wembley and usually come out better of the Merseyside games.

As it stands Liverpool are 9th.

Aston Villa 1-1 Chelsea Everton 2-1 West Brom Fulham 2-2 Norwich Man City 5-0 Sunderland QPR 1-1 Arsenal Wigan 2-1 Stoke Wolves 1-2 Bolton Newcastle 1-2 Liverpool Tottenham 2-1 Swansea Blackburn 1-2 Man Utd

We should be looking to win this one in midfield, I presume Liverpool will partner Gerrard and Spearing in midfield and if that's the case we should be all over them in that area, closing down quickly and using the extra man to our advantage (if we stick with 4-3-3) Looking forward to Ben Arfa vs Enrique.

I'm not saying they have made a massive net spend since Dalglish took charge, more that what they have brought in from sales they've rushed out to spend it asap, clubs knew it was burning a hole in their pockets and took full advantage. So what could have been invested wisely they've blown in a desperate rush and now they will be back to spending what they earn unless they sell someone else for big money, luckily for them it's more profit than we have or so I'm led to believe bit not enough to catch the 2 Manchester clubs any time soon.

What Dalglish has spent makes it look worse than it is. A huge proportion has been offset by sales. The story you posted shows their net spend over 5 years is under £100m. £20m a year is less than half the TV money....and only the amount Ashley claims he'd planned to spend when he bought the club. They got more for that than Sunderland got from thieir £12m a year. I'm talking about the situation of the last 18 months rather than including the period with different owners. They've spent massively over the odds on players just for the sake of getting them in as soon as possible and it hasn't worked for them, the Carroll situation being a perfect example where they could have just gone with Suarez until the summer and then looked at it, instead they tried to spend the Torres money on some guy playing in Spain and when that fell through they were throwing money at us to get him.

What I've taken from the Liverpool situation is the opinion that it isn't always the best idea to blow every penny you've got as soon as you can. Maybe they will have more to spend next year? I know they've got some impressive shirt sponsor and manufacturing deals but their summer spend was like someone with money burning a hole in their pocket and it hasn't worked for them.

If we finish above them this season it will be the 2nd time in something like 15 seasons so you can't blame people for not betting we will finish above them tbf.

Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool top the net spend table, with Arsenal and Newcastle United at the bottom, with Sunderland more extravagant than Manchester United. We all know Manchester City are flush with wealth, but until the figures are laid bare, it is often difficult to appreciate the scale of their spending power. Here is the Premier League table alternate top 10, by net spend, for figures over the past five seasons, from 2007/08 to 2011/12. Manchester City: £430.77 million Chelsea: £159.7 million Liverpool: £99.25 million Sunderland: £57.6 million Tottenham Hotspur: £49.4 million Manchester United: £47.25 million Swansea City: £8.25 million Everton: £5 million Newcastle United: -£30.25 million Arsenal: -£31.3 million The immediate standout conclusion from this table is just how far ahead Manchester City are above everybody else, with Sheikh Mansour's wealth putting Roman Abramovich in the shade, yet this is the price of propelling a mid-table Premier League club to battling it out at the summit of the Premier League. What does it say about the Premier League, which is usually such a closed shop and used to feature the same 'big four' teams, that it takes such a disproportionate amount of spending for a team to rise from mediocrity to have a chance of winning it. Over in the NFL in America this is the exact reason the sport has salary caps and drafts, to prevent clubs becoming so far ahead of others, and to attempt to stop the distance between the clubs at the top and bottom from expanding. If that had happened over here, City may have been able to reach the top organically, rather than being forced to splash the cash to compete. Liverpool and Sunderland's net spend is also interesting, and both clubs should be asking themselves right now what exactly do the have to show for it? Manchester United's low spend is offset by the major £80 million fee recouped by the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo, but supporters who used to relish in their financial power, will remain sceptical of their owners the Glazers when their net spend averages under £10 million a season over the past five years. Do they have the capability to compete for the world's best players? Newcastle United and Arsenal supporters should have the biggest smiles, especially considering their league positions up against these figures, they are both clearly overperforming their financial status, Newcastle in 6th and Arsenal 3rd. Arsenal of course have kept their net spend so low by selling major stars, such as Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Emmanuel Adebayor for huge sums, and fans will hope this trend comes to an end this summer and they keep Robin van Persie. The Gunners finances are in a healthy state, and they reportedly have a £50 million plus transfer kitty, so there is no financial need to sell him. Newcastle fans will likewise be impressed at Mike Ashley's financial model, but will now want the club to kick on, and keep their major stars such as Cheik Tiote. They will also smile at the fact they are above rivals Sunderland in the Premier League, despite spending far less. http://hereisthecity.com/2012/03/29/the-staggering-disparities-of-the-premier-league-top-10-by-net-s/

Jan Molby in their local paper... IT’S going to be a great occasion when Liverpool face Everton at Wembley next month but before then they really need to get some confidence back. It won’t be easy to achieve that at St James’ Park on Sunday. The one club I envy for the work they’ve done in the transfer market is Newcastle. They sold some real characters with the departure of Andy Carroll followed by Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Jose Enrique. But their scouts did an excellent job spotting new recruits with potential and the club have reaped the rewards. Since August I’ve been waiting for their season to fall apart but it’s never happened. Strikers Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse are a real handful. They are big and strong and chase down everything. They will give our centre-backs a tough time. Ben Arfa has hit some form and I like the midfield duo of Cheick Tiote and Yohan Cabaye. Even if they lose a couple of them this summer they will get a big profit on what they paid for them. Newcastle are the form team and unless there’s a big improvement we could be in for some more disappointment.

Not another player we're worried about leaving in the summer? A few more goals and we can add Cisse too I take it.

So what sort of reception do people think Carroll and Enrique will get? I think Carroll might get it quite easy.

I think what they've shown with Cisse is that they are prepared to wait to get the players in they want rather than spending decent money for the sake of it. We've been linked with 2 centre backs and they couldn't join in January for different reasons, Montpellier's chairman came out and said Yanga-M'Biwa or any other player won't be able to leave in January as they are attempting to win the league for the first time, Douglas is the other player and he won't leave until the summer as he can play for the Dutch national team then having completed his 5 years in the country. So while I understand their reason for waiting and I expect one of them I've mentioned to join in the summer, they could have got some cover in on loan.

I think we will lose the next 2 games tbh, if we do win them then I'd favour us for 5th over Chelsea.

If Liverpool beat Everton then we get Europe as long as we finish in the top 7. If we finish 6th above Liverpool but Everton get to the final, then 5th will get Uefa cup football along with Liverpool and Everton.

I was looking at the French league the other day and for all of the talk about PSG getting owners from Dubai who are throwing money around they're currently second in the league behind Montpellier, a team that has never won Ligue 1, were only promoted a few years back and don't have much money to spend. Good to see.

Another quick question... I'm trying to get my head around how we made so much after transfer dealings as it doesn't add up when you include the players bought, now looking at the SMB in their financial results thread someone has said that transfers fee's when you buy a player don't go through as one hit and will be fed through over the length of the players contract, unlike when you sell a player and it all goes at once. Is that correct? Here's the thread if anyone is interested. http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=686290