Newcastle United Transfer Rumours and General Chat

daithifleming wrote: »

Crouch might be a decent replacement as target man.

I'm torn on this one. I have always thougtt Crouch was under-rated and is getting an unwarranted benching at Liverpool at the moment. However, i'm not sure he would suit the style we are presently trying to play at the moment.

Viduka is very economic with how he uses his presence, and is always thinking two steps ahead as to who's running by him and where to lay it off. I'm just not sure if Crouch will do that for us.

But, look what KK has done for Owen as of late, so you never know.

My other concern would be the price. Liverpool paid 7 million for him, and I think should we buy him, we should pay no more than that. His lack of football at that club is only hurting his game in the long run. I've heard Liverpool fans bandy around figures of 12-15 million for crouch which seems OTT.

Greetings sports fans!

As some of you may have seen, I am currently doing a bit of a survey on the soccer forum. I know some of you have responded so cheers for that but it would great to get as many people as possible.

It's just three short questions so pop on over!

How are people feeling for the Pompey game?

This will be tough in that we will be playing against a lean defence for the first time since the Liverpool game. I still would stick with the same tactics though as I think offence is our best defence if you get me.

I really have a feeling Owen will have a route in one of his games before the season ends. Even though he has scored in his last four, in each of those games, at his sharpest, he would have had 3 or 4 with the chances he was given. Probably not gonna happen this week. Although with Martins pace we might be able to rough up Campbell and Distin.

I'm afraid I might jinx it by watching it on tele on Setanta this week when the last 3 games I have watched online?

EDIT: Just read a piece in today's Guardian by Lawrence Donegan entitled "Honesty, optimism: no wonder Keegan's spirit riles the cynics". It is a nice change from the usual bile we have to put up with. Here's the final paragraph, but I recommend reading the whole piece.

It is probably stretching matters too far to argue Wenger could learn a thing or two from Keegan, just as it is premature to say he will do brilliantly at Newcastle. But it is not too soon to say this: welcome back Kevin. It is good to have you around.

I would imagine that KK will have a bit of a conundrum for next season. Does he stick with Steve Harper and drop Shay Given or, does he restore Given to the lineup to reward him for sticking with us all these years, when he could have moved to a big 4 team.

I'm finding it difficult to come up with an answer for this. Whilst Shay is a top keeper, he does have weaknesses (:eek: shock horror I know), namely his distribution of the ball and commanding his back 4. Harper has always been a top keeper, but I think he has really stood out in the last 5 games, and hasn't done anything to warrant losing that starting place.

But Shay has been so loyal to us and surely he would move if he were not to get his game. Effectively playing Harper is saying 'thanks shay, but fcuk off now'. However, Steve Harper has also shown immense loyalty for sticking with the team for 15 years, when really, he could have been a starter for any no. of prem clubs.

Personally, I think Harper is slightly the better keeper. I have always said that Shay's distribution is poor (and often puts us under pressure) and for this reason alone, I am happier when Harper is between the sticks. I posted this on the 27th Feb. and I fully stick by it.

charlie mchugh wrote:

Oh yeah, someone said Given's absence will be a disaster. Not so in my books. Harper is a great keeper and has always been excellent when Shay has been injured. As a plus, he can kick a ball properly. Whenever I have seen the Toon live, Shay has always looked very ropey when kicking back passes.

The clean sheets and goals conceded of late is proof to a degree (i'm not attributing this soley to Harper, but he has kept a better reign on things back there). But like I said, Given has been super for us (probably past his world class days) and I would not like to see his loyalty go unrewarded.

So what do others think?

Limerick Dude wrote: »

However i think it would be possible to do a bit of a rotating policy for the 2 goalkeepers.

Never good policy in my books. The back 4 need consistency, consistency of knowing how your keeper comes for balls, how he reacts to certain situations, and what he expects from his defence.

Such a policy was used with United and Arsenal a few years back and failed.

Chelsea may have a little less to play for when we get to them anyway

he had a good day today in fairness to him, his first derby win as well.

Was a good day today, and even more impressed the way the held off through the second half. Back 4 done really well. Officially safe now and to manage that against Sunderland, good day all round

Definetly not our best performance in the past few weeks but 3 points are 3 points, and its even more satisfying with a win over the Mackems

mike65 wrote: »

Jasus KK will have to stop this! I was looking at the teams Newcastle have played and beaten on thier run and you have been pretty lucky in your opposition so far, Chelsea will be a good measure of real progress. As for Crouch its still hard to know if he will be at Liverpool next season. He and Owen (IF you keep him) would be a handy combo alright.

Mike.

Yeah, sure turning over Spurs 4-1 away and heading to Fratton Park is always a doddle.

Not our best performance of late, but impressive nonetheless.

Great to see consistency of line-up yet again. That is something we have suffered from in the last few years, and it shows of late how beneficial maintaining the same 11 is. The defence I thought was superb today, and I loved how at ease Taylor looked, and was commanding in his stride. Beye and Enrique were great again, and i'm so proud of Jose at how he's coming along, Big Sam knocked alot of confidence out of that lad.

The midfield was as solid as ever, but I thought, for the first time, Geremi outshone the other two boys, he was particularly good in his crossing today. Barton looked a little quieter in this game, although Sunderland were crowding out the centre of the park.

The front men were as effective as usual. Loved the link-up play between Viduka and Owen for the penalty. Oba looked as dangerous as ever, and today was another example of how he flusters defences with his pace. I did feel though he was a little selfish at times shooting instead of squaring it across the box.

A whole paragraph goes to St. Michael himself. Brilliant header, and yet another example of how he is proving his critics wrong. I would love if sky brought back player cam, because to watch Owen's work rate today (and in the previous games) has been immense. He is being deployed in a deeper role, yet he still manges to get to the box and flanks at the pivotal times. There were times today when he was back in the midfield jumping and winning headers he had no claim to, out jumping players quite taller than himself.

By rights we should have stuck a couple more past them today, but once we got the second, we slightly lost our edge, and Sunderland were hustling for the ball alot, but without ever threatening with it. I think the lads knew the 3 points were in the bag and that they didn't need to get a 3rd or 4th to solidify the win, understandable I guess.

I understood why KK gave Duff a runout for Martins, but I thought Duff looked woeful. Fair enough, he didn't do anything badly, but he didn't grasp the opportunity he had to prove himself. I'm not expecting wonders from him, but there were times he looked reluctant in challenges and didn't want the ball badly enough. With the way the team are presently playing, that's unforgiveable if you're trying to prove your worth and earn back your place.

Thought young Edgar looked great when he came on, composed and slotted in perfectly.

Finally, Harper was on form again today. He didn't have too much to do, but the important saves he needed to make, he did them no bother. On a more subtle note though, I thought he was bossing the defence well, and seem to have good communication with Taylor on pass backs, collecting, and general tendering to the edge of the box.

estebancambias wrote: »

Who would you like to see Newcastle buy in the summer?

- Dunne (Man City's revival should make this a no no, but his contract still hasn't been resolved. Exactly the type of player we need to sign).

- Benzema (Looks very potent and, should be able to afford him, but bigger teams may be in for him) .

- Obi Mikel (Seems settled at Chelsea, but their squad is Mass-efe. We need a ball winner in the centre and he has impressed me alot, except for his soft lad antics).

- Lassana Diarra (Been smashing at Pompey, and with the right bid I can't see Pompey turning an offer down. Could be others chasing him though)

- Bentley (Big stretch here, but Top 4 don't seem interested, so maybe enough $$$ would do it along with KK convincing him Newcastle will be pushing higher than Blackburn in 2 years time).

- If Bentley was a no goer, I would go for Andrei Arshavin, looks to be a great player, and playing in the North East should be no bother to him.

I know these are ambitious, but they're not totally out of reach, mainly because the big 4 probably aren't interested, with Benzema possibly being the exception. Diarra, Bentley and Dunne would be the three I would covet most. I think KK has illustrated that we have a stronger squad than we thought we had 6 months ago.