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o'malley

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  1. Laursen was skinned by Fuller on Stokes last goal not Carews fault, Boro were gifted a goal by Sidders nothing to do with big JC, and for Newcastle iirc we had Cuellar and Laursen as centrebacks marking the very fast Martins when Davies should have been marking him - once again nothing to do with Carew a MON error that last one. Carew wasn't even playing vs Boro, far as I remember.
  2. Not sure it really matters, the only ones I probably wouldn't give it to are Young, Agbonlahor, Milner. Pretty much every other first-teamer has been captain elsewhere at some point and would be able to do a fine job - and all this leadership on the pitch is a big reason we're doing so well.
  3. I agree with the general sentiment that ideally we'd bring in 2, and let Harewood leave. 1 of the Carew-type, so we've got an alternative when he's injured (Heskey the obvious; RSC, Jones or Ashton if we want to spend big) and the other a goalscorer who could play alongside/instead of Agbonlahor depending on situation (be this Defoe, Owen, Bellamy). Personally I think it'd be better if one of these was younger and not someone who'd expect first team all the time (maybe there's someone from the Championship who could step up?) - as I think it'd be difficult to keep Agbonlahor, Carew and say, Heskey + Owen happy. But if we could manage it, that would be a brilliant set of strikers to have...I do fear Agbonlahor will tire later in the season, so it would be particularly nice to have someone like Owen to take the pressure off. Maybe it wouldn't be so difficult in that, of those 4, at least one is likely to be injured at any one time! In some ways, I'd quite like a different Newcastle striker, in Obafemi Martins. Younger, very pacy and has a bit of flair about him. Downside is that he's less consistent scorer. Of course, there is always the outside chance we'll look further afield. Podolski would be brilliant, lots of potential and he strikes me as someone who'd fit into Premier League football well - downside being I don't think he'd sign for us! It would be great if we were at least trying to get someone of his calibre though, a young talent playing for one of the big international sides. Finally, I don't understand the negativity on Heskey. As is acknowledged for England recently he excels at causing trouble for defences and making space for those alongside him. He doesn't have the skill of Carew, but he is probably more effective at that role of winning headers, holding up the ball. No defence would like to have Heskey the battering ram in the middle, and the potential of Gabby & Young running at them either side of him. He draws in two defenders, our pacy players can get in behind. It's a crude tactic, but it will get goals in the premiership.
  4. Yeah, take it. This thing needs to be sorted out, it's dragged out waaaay too long. We've made the point, not caved in and Finnan's value is arguable, so we've got the price we wanted, give or take a few thousand. I don't get the "17m + Finnan or we've backed down" attitude, as the 1m valuation on Finnan is just a figure plucked out the air by the papers.
  5. i find this a strange point. these people professionally own and run a football club. if you accuse them of not knowing a single thing about football, it appears to me that you are accusing them of being unprofessional. i don't see how you can separate the two.
  6. totally agree with the sentiment of this thread. i find all the panickers hilarious. very entertaining reading some other threads on here this evening. shoot me if i ever turn into one of those fine posters who vomit hyperbole in everything they post (but whose opinions are, of course, worthy of respect). for my part, although (like everyone else) i know we need 2 or 3 more players in, i think having a close-knit squad and good team spirit will count for a lot over the season. i think of everton when they finished 4th. that was not a good squad on paper, but they were able to grind out wins and got the league position that no-one expected as a result. not saying i want us to play like them and try to grind out 1-0s all the time, but in terms of team spirit i think that's what we should go for, and that's what hopefully we have now. man city, west ham, portsmouth may have more glamour signings but that will mean nothing if they don't play like a team and perform on the pitch. i'd take our first 11 over theirs right now, for sure. we've got a great first 11 (minus rb!) and some good options on the bench (berger, moore, maloney, etc.), add a little more squad depth (which we will by the end of the month) and i'm confident for a top 6/8 finish. shame we missed out on gordon, but c'est la vie. up the villa!
  7. finnan would be an excellent signing for the next couple of seasons. an improvement on what we've got and it'd give us time to get a long term successor (contrary to what some seem to think, we are not going to be buying our entire team for the next 5 years this summer!). be surprised if liverpool let him go, but if they are getting alves or someone, he may not want to be backup at this stage in his career.
  8. lahm would be fantastic. bayern not being in the cl gives a smidgen of hope, but i'd still be extemely surprised if a german international left bayern for villa
  9. your worry seems to be based on only 2 things: us not being linked with high-profile enough players in tabloid newspapers and other clubs signing players that you would like (but o'neill may have no interest in). we haven't missed out on parker, distin or whoever if we never tried to sign them. it's completely reasonable to point to ashley young as an example of why not to worry. the board was prepared to fund £8m or so on an up-and-coming player and outcompete teams around us - west ham, spurs. there has been absolutely nothing so far to suggest we can't do the same this summer for the targets o'neill has chosen - which, lest we forget, none of us know the identify of. obviously there's no guarantees in football. deals may fall through for reasons beyond our control, but so it goes. it's the same for every club. i'd still rather be waiting to try and sign first choices than going for second or third choices now, even if that may mean having to make a couple of rushed deadline-day deals if the first choice falls through. with the point about the carew deal, whether or not o'neill instigated the deal, the result was good so it's entirely a positive as far as o'neill's transfer credentials go. he wouldn't have sold baros without signing a striker and he decided exchanging him for carew would improve the team, and it did. that strongly suggests to me he knows what he's doing with this team.
  10. We're not in a position to get really top level players as yet. The odd one like Carew we may get lucky with but generally we're looking at player to take us to the next level. Until we get Europe it isnt really going to happen. i agree with what you're saying. maybe i didn't say it the best, but i was more meaning i don't think he is someone who can take us to the next level because he's no better than what we've got (other than his penchant for stunning goals). as i say though, he'd be okay as a squad player. just i'd be a little disappointed if he was being brought in as 1st choice, e.g. young-petrov-barry-taylor, to me would be very little enhancement on young-petrov-mccann-barry.
  11. He scored 9 goals last season. Which is a good return, but in the games where he doesnt find the net he doesnt do anything. exactly. i see him as a similar to riise and i don't rate riise that highly. lots of effort and a spectacular goal every so often is fine, but there needs to be more for him to be a real top level player. don't get me wrong, he'd be a nice option as a squad player, but with bouma/barry/o'halloran as options for lb and barry/maloney/young/berger for lm, i can't see him getting that many games.
  12. i don't think taylor is all that great, outside the shooting. wouldn't see the point in getting baines either, as he'd cost £5m, want to be 1st team and bouma is better. he's off to newcastle anyhow.
  13. but some great players do have spells in scotland. think gattuso, arteta, larsson, viduka. maloney's looked promising and petrov - while not always convincing - definitely has potential to do very well. so i don't think players should be automatically written off because they come from scotland.
  14. not much better than taylor and injury prone so he doesn't seem worth it. i reckon he'll drop down a level to be someone's 1st choice after being backup for so long, back to ipswich perhaps.
  15. sissoko? liverpool are signing another cm in a brazilian called lucas. if they keep mascherano as well, momo could be about 4th/5th in the pecking order. okay he can't score to save his life and his passing is inconsistent, but he's still got a lot of potential. he'd be like a younger, stronger, more energetic and just generally better, version of mccann
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