heid3ster

Yep, that's just you.

I'd love for him to stick around in a coaching role, but he's said he wants to keep playing, so wouldn't begrudge him if he dropped down a level or two to do just that. Just having him around some of the younger guys during pre-season seems like it's been good for them. As I've said all along, zero downside.

Don't give up hope, Hull apparently only has 13 fit senior players for the start of the season, and now that Bruce is staying he'll need to get on the transfer business quickly. Perhaps we can interest them in a CB, RB, utility RB/CM, backup GK?

Oh, schadenfreude, you never disappoint me.

Benteke talked to the press a few times about wanting to move, wanting to make a step up and play in Europe. He got some criticism for interviews like that here on the boards, but no one ever booed him on the pitch. You know the difference? Benteke backed up his talk with great performances on the pitch. Football fans will forgive a lot if the player performs well; Bacuna did not.

Although one thing I do agree with is your choice to leave out the goalkeeper completely, which is slightly stronger than playing Guzan.

No.

Welcome, Aaron!

You're right. That sounds awful.

Now you bumped the thread, I have to do this.

Who's going to fall on the floor and roll around for them?

Yeah, the problem there is that good players don't stay with us. Gabby's goal record has a lot more to do with longevity than quality play. And the reason he's been here this long is because he's not a good enough or consistent enough player for any other team to be interested in him.

I dunno, everyone seemed to think that Newcastle did well with transfers last summer, and strengthened well enough in January, but they still got relegated. In fact they couldn't even beat us! I see they terminated Coloccini's contract, though, so they've got their long-term trouble-maker out the door at last. Hope we follow suit with Agbonlahor soon. The difference there is that Coloccini wanted to go back to Argentina, I don't think Gabby wants to go anywhere. As a datapoint, I agree that Cissokho is "deluded," in that he has been trying to engineer a move away to a team like Spurs or Arsenal pretty much since he arrived at Newcastle, despite never having more than a handful of good games in a row. I think he has an over-inflated sense of his own ability and worth.

Even if we remove from the equation his piss-poor attitude, his last decent season for us was Lambert's first season, was that 2012-13? He's been pretty poor since then, and last season he was abominable both on and off the pitch. What possible reason would anyone have for wanting to persist with him? He had more suspensions than goals last season.

There are plenty of others I'd like to see leave first, but 6m is a good price.

It's Stan's will.

Stan is a hero for even trying this, and as far as I'm concerned, even if he never pulls on a shirt and plays for us again, he is already a winner. Having that attitude around in pre-season can only be a positive thing. There is literally (using actual definition of "literally" here) zero downside. This is one of those rare circumstances where it honestly doesn't even hurt anything to dream. If he makes the squad, it will be on his own merits. If he doesn't make the squad, he is still a stellar example to last season's band of misfits and losers.

NBC Sports floating a rumor that Middlesborough is interested in him.

I'm a little surprised at this reaction, from you of all people, TRO. You've written many times before about the need to add some determination, mental steel and fighting attitude to this team. I may be misremembering but I might even recall you stating that the mental aspect can be even more important than technical ability (I don't mean to put words in your mouth, so if you never said anything of the kind I retract). After the gutless wonders who have populated our squad for the last 3-4 years, I'd think you would be pleased at the thought of someone like Stan coming in -- a model pro, leads by example, doesn't know the meaning of the word quit. You want to talk about fight and determination? No one embodies those qualities more than Petrov. If he makes the first team squad, it will be because he's earned it ahead of other (presumably younger) players. No one is handing him a place on the team. I don't think any of us are expecing him to play 90 minutes week in, week out, but even as an option off the bench or added depth -- I simply cannot see any downside to this at all.

What I despised about watching him play was seeing him rampage forward, refuse to find a sensible pass, have the ball stolen off him, stroll back to position, then throw his hands in the air and look around accusingly at his teammates when the oppositon scored. I swear I saw this exact scenario play out several times, and I didn't even watch very many of our games last season. It's not just the frustration of seeing it once, it's knowing he takes zero responsibility for his own performance, and the fact that he is entirely unable to learn from previous mistakes. A horrible, horrible captain. And just a bad player. Get rid of him.

But you had a timer set for it and everything!!