Shearer and Speed - Two of the best?
So for this article I am going to concentrate on the last ten years, although to be fair I probably only really remember the last ten years given my relative youth compared to some of you more senior citizens!
In goal I think there can only be one option – Shay Given. One of the best shot-stoppers I have ever seen and always on top of his game. It was just a shame how he left us, but that shouldn’t take away from how good he was and how important he was for us over the years.
My right-back is going to be Habib Beye. He may have only been with us a few seasons but his ability not only to defend but to get forward and make a real impact in the other half makes him a stand out performer.
My two picks for centre-half go to Jonathan Woodgate and Sebastien Bassong. They played in different eras but when they played you could tell they were different class as they had everything you would want from a defender. It was just a shame that injuries and relegation meant that we didn’t see them for as long as I would have liked.
Left back is a very close call but I am going to go with Olivier Bernard. He was originally a winger but when he was converted to left-back we seen his true quality. He may not have been the best defensively but going forward he was brilliant and formed a great partnership with Laurent Robert, and scored some greats goals too!
Midfield next and my first pick is Nolberto Solano. Nobby was brilliant in both spells that he was with us and his pin point set-pieces, great goals and his commitment made him a firm favorite with the fans. One of our great foreign imports.
Next are Gary Speed and Kevin Nolan. Speed was a true professional, had a great engine on him and was a great foil for Kieron Dyer and Jermaine Jenas. A loyal servant.
Nolan may have only been with us for a few seasons but his impact since relegation has been nothing short of brilliant. His goal record is second to none and he’s a real leader for us. Also, who will ever forget his hat-trick against them lot from down the road?!?!
Only one man can be named in left midfield, and that’s Laurent Robert. Personally one of my favourite players, although he wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea and to say he didn’t do his defensive work was a bit of an understatement. It was hard to argue with his crossing and shooting ability though and it almost came as no surprise when he crashed in yet another screamer or provided yet another assist.
I don’t think it takes a genius to work out at least one of the positions for the striking role. Alan Shearer! What more do I have to say? Over 200 goals for us and a inspiration to everyone. Arguably our greatest ever player.
Partnering Big Al is Andy ‘judas’ Carroll. Still only 22 but in his year-and-a-half in the first team you could that tell he was going to be something special. He is the best header of the ball I have ever seen and if he’d have stayed with us he could have been the next Shearer, but he’s at Liverpool now and we move on. Few would argue that £35 million is a great bit of business – if invested back into the team.
Special mentions to; Steve Harper, Aaron Hughes, Nikos Dabizas, Jose Enrique, Scott Parker, Charles N’Zogbia, Obafemi Martins and Craig Bellamy who just didn’t make the cut.
So that’s my eleven… What’s yours? « Guthrie, Taylor and Pardew on Aston Villa. | Pardew backs Barton, but warns him to be careful. »
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165 Comments
That strikeforce has to be every defenders worst nightmare!
Josh
Why isn’t Barton there? WHY!!!!!
Carl cort? also
Marco Marin of Werder Bremin is a player I have always liked. He is on ESPN at the moment. He hasn’t raised a high enough profile for the likes of the “big boys” to really sniff about but he has performed in Europe and well in Bundesliga.
Player in the mould of Ben Arfa though and the physique of Shane Ferguson. Probably not suitable for our team.
I’d still say Shearer and Bellamy
Good article Dan
Id have have Jose over bernard ,
Agree Andrew
Should promote some discussion.
I’d go with everyone you said apart from Carroll. I think Bellamy did more for us over a longer periods and at a higher level than Carroll ever has and he linked up with Shearer well. He was/is a bell end, but he was a cracking player for us!
How about worst team of the deacde?
Harper in goal, Carr, Luque, Owen, Butt all have to be there surely.
Harps in goal Andrew? Controversial
Andrew that was going to be my next article
Johno within the past 10 year Harps has to be the worst keeper for me.
I think Carroll will be much better than bellamy but aye you can argue he did much more for us.
Ive only been thinking about it , who else have we had in goals in the last 10 years? Given? Krul? Snerick? Could well be ight!
I dont think id have bassong there either , only played a season , id think id go with collo , been immense for last 2 years
Harper has to be there by default. It isn’t a negative though.
We haven’t really had any other keepers outside Given and Harper in the last decade besides the odd game for Tim Krul or someone else.
If Given is in the best, then Harper has to be the worst, which is a shame as I don’t think Harper has ever really let us down in any way.
Just the way it is due to our incredible run of top class keepers. I don’t know how we do it with goalkeepers.
Dan – Do it anyway. It’ll still be a good’un for debate
Srníček?
Pav is a legend
How about worst team of the deacde?
Harper in goal, Carr, Luque, Owen, Butt all have to be there surely
————————–
Not sure but toonsy MAY vote for Ryan Taylor.
Harpers shit, he waited around for years and years. Fair enough he’s a decent shot stopper, apart from that he’s terrible – can’t kick for shit.
MDS –
AndrewNUFC,
You say that Harper waiting as if it is a bad thing. If he had left, you’d just moan he had no loyalty. He can’t win, can he?
can’t remember the last keeper we had who could kick, Given’s kicking was crap….probably Dave Beasant because being x Wimbledon he had to be able to hoof it all the way up field
Funky if Harps had any ambition he would have left and played football – I admire his loyalty in staying but I don’t rate him at all. A keeper needs to have good kicking, being one myself, he costs us points its that bad.
We need better than Harper next season, Forster needs to be number one for me.
I am a big fan of Forster, especially since he is at Celtic, it’s a given I will be bias – but he has never played a first team game for us and you’d be happy to throw him into “second season syndrome” as first choice over our most experienced player and Krul, who has played in Europe and Premiership for us?
We didn’t even trust Forster to be back up in the Championship but we’re suddenly gonna take him as no. 1?
I look like a Forster hater in this message but we need some sort of logic here.
Rich – Good point actually. Shay’s kicking was shite, so was Pav and Hislop.
Krul isnt the best at kicking also
Andrew…I used to think the same about Ole G Solskaer, If your a footballer surely you want to be playing fairly regularly if not your own pride should want you to look elsewhere for a game no matter which club your at.
Andrew i think ur looking at Harper in the wrong way , his job is to keep the ball out of the net and you praise him for his shot stopping yet he is shit for his kicking….I dunno about you but id rather have some who cant stop the ball going into the back of the net ahead of someone who can kick the ball
…maybe im weird tho 
FJ….how did they not trust Forster?, 3 decent keepers so someone has to be the odd one out. Absolutely sod all to do with trust.
Whey ya are a wee bit Johno
My mrs says that all the time to me Richie , yet she the crazy b***h that married me
Rich – All settled in now?
Fcking Oliver Bernard?
WTF!!!
Jose…
I like Harper, he’s a loyal geordie who loves the club. As a goal keeper I don’t think he’s good enough, Forster has had two full seasons of playing at a very good level. I would make him number one – I rekon he will become one of the best keepers around, for me he will only become better under the pressure here.
Given
Beye
Enrique
Woodgate
Bassong
Solano
Speed
Barton
Robert
Shearer
Bellamy
Toonsy…not even close, still painting to do, removal truck comes tomorrow and if any fecker still has their car parked in the 25m I’ve signed off we have to call the cops to tow em away……how to make friends with ya new neighbours eh?
….whey gonna have some bait and a couple of cold ones.later lads.
Not a fan then Stuart?
Given,Beye,Enrique,Woody,Bassong,Nobby,Joey,Speed,Robert,
Wor Al,Bella’s.
richietoon,
I don’t think they trust him as they have loaned him out two seasons in a row and not Krul. That either means no trust in Forster or Krul has an ego and refuses to go out on loan again after his deal at Falkirk.
Or the mystery idea that they loan Forster out to groom him as no. 1, in which case Krul becomes the foreign Steve Harper who forever warms the bench.
I just get the impression from the tone Forster gives in his interviews that his faith in his Newcastle career isn’t the strongest and he has all but said he wants to stay at Celtic, just not in those words.
Again, I look at the negative of things however so I may be too down on it. I dunno.
richie,
It’s been feckin boiling over here m8!!
Why go to Spain?
funny like thinking about keepers kicking,few years back f/backs used to take goal kicks for poor kicking keepers,dead art now maybe
AndrewNUFC,
Harper is not a Geordie!! He’s a Mackem
Reet, I’m off to work. Catch you all in a bit
ice,
I remember Frank Clark occasionally taking goal kicks when McFaul was in goal.
To be fair, if you had to pick a goalkeeper you’d have to pick Harper.
TGS aye mate you picked it in one
FJ…..or the manager rates Harper and Krul as better keepers at the moment or feels Forster has more to gain by being the one to go on loan, either waystill absolutely nowt to do with “trust” .
It is. If they don’t rate him as a keeper, they wouldn’t trust playing him – hence booting him to any team that will take him two seasons in a row, lol.
If they trusted him, they’d have kept him for third place like Soderberg has had to fill in this season.
TSG….30c here tomorrow, see who’s heatwave lasts the longest
FJ….what a load of bollox, sending him out on loan gets him experience, playing 3rd choice keeper doesn’t……..although playing 3rd choice for us would still be a more challenging level than he’s getting now
I think Forster needs to move to a team that might win a trophy in his lifetime
He did when he was loaned to Norwich
He might well get a treble this season too.
We can have a player in our squad next season who has never played for us, who would probably have more trophy wins than the rest of our squad combined.
Top stuff.
@54 ;D
Not counting the Championship of course, that would be silly and make my last post totally wrong…….
FJ….true
Meant to ask the other day about that Dutch winger who plays in Germany. Looked good what I saw of him in the World cup, think he’s at Hamburg , dya know how he’s doing there?
Im here lads!
Mladen Petric, Eljero Elia or Romeo Castelen? They are the three Dutch forwards at Hamburg (I love a team called Hamburger).
Petric and Elia at the two players being sniffed about and I believe we’ve had a nosey at Elia ourselves. Castelen is a sick note injury wise and I wouldn’t bother with him.
Hamburg are doing ok, 7th in the table but they are a fair distance from Dortmund. I don’t think things are rosey since Van Nistelrooy wanted to stay in the summer and yet now he is talking of at the end of the season.
The table is set up that Hamburg can fall a few places if results go against them too so if that happens, they finish low and some of their better players may want to leave.
Jack that, I have no idea why I thought Petric was Dutch. He clearly isn’t and his name doesn’t indicate it either, lol.
Elia I think, came on as sub and hit the post and the someone(Kuyt?) put in the rebound, he looked a decent player from what I saw.
Evening Lads
Good evening Lads whats the craic
Dan good thread mate even if I dont agree with all your team
He is a good player and I think he would be a good player for us too. Naturally, Damien Comolli’s obsession with us and our transfer targets mean Liverpool are also sniffing about him, but they seem to have got that Sylvan dude, so they may back off.
Elia is also young and his value may increase with us, so it could be a real target for us.
On a better and more comical note – Carlton Cole has been charged by the FA for his immigration joke against Ghana.
Evening Jobey and big Dave!
I see young Wickham has signed a new 3 yr deal
Well Spencer I take it your comp is ok
cheers FJ
alreet Dave, hello goodbye away for some kip. Cream crackered.neet lads
Night Richie
Big dave- Contracts mean little for lower league players, get a prem offer and he’ll be off
It is big Dave, came on just to say hello to you!
Richie take it easy you lazy git
did you think I would do that on you 
bit of advise but dont give out your email on the net as you could get spamed by allsorts
Jobey even in the prem they dont mean much
Spencer
big dave- aye, definitely.
I trust all the lads on here though (bar Jobey). I wouldnt give it out on a random website.
Spencer, it’s always the ones you don’t expect
Evening Dave
Unfortunately we’ve been pretty shite for the majority of the last ten years so you’ve really only got the Sir Bobby era to choose from…thus us my team:
Given (despite his shit kicking)
Warren Barton
Woodgate
Beresford
Well lads, work done for the night. Now I just have eight hours of mooching the internet to do
Have I missed anything?
Start again…
Given
Warren Barton
Woodgate
Collocini
Beresford
Ginola
Rob Lee
Beardsley
Ferdinard
Shearer
Andy Cole
Thinking back we have had some cracking players at the Toon and some real good teams but we have never got it right at the same time, we have always imo been only 1or 2 players short of a top class team
Witters there is a few there that wern’t with us in the last decade
Jesus looking back over the last ten years its hard to see how we wern’t relegated earlier as much as we had good players we also had some awful ones….. anyway here goes.
GK: Given
RB: A Hughes
CB: Coloccini
CB: Woodgate
LB: Enrique
DMF: Tiote
CM: Barton
CM: Speed
RAM:Solano
LAM: Emre
CF: Shearer (Capt)
SUBS…..
GK: Harper
DEF: N Dabizas
DEF: S Taylor
MID: J Milner
MID: K Nolan
MID: L Robert
ATT: Bellemy
Emre over Robert? Although he was a lazy coont he was and always will be my favourite toon player!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-edtGtB-pY
Big Dave…I know but we’ve been pretty shite for the majority of the last ten years so I did my own not restricted to the last ten years!
I’ve basically gone for a Keegan & Robson combo with the exception of Collocini
Oblong I would take your team
Spencer Ginola was far better than Robert…
Spencer some of Roberts few good games stand out because he was special, but most games were below his own stantard.
Witters I like your team but its still cheating
DAVE ime off,but been watching your back all night mate,nee worrys
Witters Ginola isnt even on Oblong’s bench and that is the team i was refurring to!
Big Dave- I dont care if he was shyte most games because he is my favourite ever player!
Talking of Robert I honestly believe Benny will be a better version of Robert, but there is something about Benny that reminds me of Robert apart from the fact the’re both French
Ice take it easy mate and thanks for watching me back catch you tomorrow Bud
Im off lads, farting and heads spinning, need freshining up!
Spencer he was a right lazy git too but then Ginola was the same, but I would have them both back in a heart beat. So where does Big Al come on your list ?
DAVE cheers,and oh by the way robert was a right lazy git,benny covered more ground in the few games he played than robert covered in a whole season
Spencer…I was merely saying Ginola was better than Robert although admittedly that was more than 10 years ago & Oblongs team is within the last ten years…
As Big Dave said…I’m cheating!
Oh right so witters I miss understood, and im too young for Ginola
*sorry
Ice great minds and all that
Reet im going mesel I need me dinner im starving
Nite Lads keep it clean
dinner Big dave? Bit late, ive been for a curry and a few pints
100. Howay the lads. Howay the baggies for tomorow.
It’s quiet tonight, it’s an hour since i posted the last comment.
I’m still around, lurking
Why does Paul Bracewell never get a mention?
Or Barry venison?
Because they both quit way before 2000?
Ah right didn’t realise this was the last decade, clocked ginola scrolling down. F*ck kno’s then. Too drunk to work out who was and when. Howay Stevie Howey Whey ya Makem!
speaking of drunk, toonsy- spencers had a few and is confessing love for people on footyMAD. such a lightweight XD
I loved Speed me like. Legend.
Parker was a fanny for us, used to pull out of 50/50′s. Everyone knew it. Now he has hit a bit of form you see articles mentioning we shouldn’t have sold him. Southern shandy drinking puff.
Agree. Parker was the best sideway passer of a ball I’ve ever seen. Couldn’t hack the heat up here.
Jobey – Can’t get Footymad at work. Nee messageboards allowed. Funnily, the message board on here is accessable though
have a look next time you’re on, he’s just come out the closet
He needs to stop with the beer and acting like a bit of a bell end IMO.
haha. ”a bit” understatement
what time you working till mate?
About 6am I reckon mate
ahh man, that’s not cool. can’t be much longer till you move?
Just waiting on some paperwork to come back to me which is in the post. If I get it today or Monday then I’ll be starting my new job on the 18th. Any later and it will be on the 25th.
I need to write an article but I can’t even be arsed to do that
fingers crossed for tomorrow or monday then.
Aha, fecking get it done
joking mate 
I’ll send you a contact with quotes from my sources who have told me we’re signing Benzema, he’s really reliable
About time you cracked off another thread init?
Got to get ahead with the blog today. Got shitloads to do.
Do some stuff for my sister (cover her job basicallly)
Change oil on car
Change oil filter
Change air filter
Change spark plugs
Cut grass front and back
Other garden stuff
Not looking forward to today
Just had a cup of tea for the first time in years…
…Forgot how disgusting it was
Sounds fun toonsy
My day will consist of maybe going to the Sunderland game and going to Andrew’s on the night time for a few drinks
Going to the Suderland game???
Dan – It may not be fun but it needs doing I guess. Me being me I will try and do it all in one go rather than pace myself
Toonsy- Ill be doing one soon, when i’ve got a bit of time,
dan- are you a fecking closet mackem?
I’ve got a thing going with my mackem mate, he comes to some of our games and vice verse, last game was when they got beat of Westham in the cup
Yeah I’m the same, knowing I have something to do does my head in
ahh fair enough
Hopefully you’re bad luck and they lose again tomorrow
Just going to say that Jobey. Hope Dan jinxes them again
Think a draw may be about the best result for us, rivalry aside.
I always look out of place because when I’ve gone I’ve sat in the south west corner and when the away team scores were really close and I end up laughing
It’s a rarity for me to see some away fans, I can see the front row of them if am lucky where I sit for home games!
thread up about Grand National if you 2 have a bet put your pick in there, see who knows there shit
Jobey – I leave that to the mrs. She like throwing money away so I let her crack on.
Me, I’ve got Comply or Die
Jobey, I know nothing, I can’t even go in and bet
Got someone else too, didn’t know what horses to pick so picked numbers 7 and 22
i haven’t got a clue either, got my dad to betfair it for me, Comply or die sy, that horse is fecking ancient
won a couple o’ years ago, Niche market for me, don’t ask why. might get a tip of Kev tomorrow,
I just love the Grand National. Hate horse racing like, but I like the way the loads of people turn into expert tipsters at this time of year. Makes me chuckle.
Bit like Wimbledon, where evryone is suddenly tennis mad until the Brits go out in day one or two
Speaking of tennis, I am addicted to playing. must have went for about a months straight last summer and can’t wait to go again
yeah, im not that much of a fan either, never really watch it, watch the national that’s about it. Im gunna pick random ones on the NUFCmad horse thing they’re doing, see who i can beat.
I like womens Tennis
you knock one out over the Williams brothers.
Camel toe is camel toe
aye, and bollocks are bollocks and they have a pair each
Josh-NUFC has broke many a racquet because of suffering a beating off me
I am the calmest of tennis players dan
Josh- Don’t you know the correct Tennis etiquette?!
We’ll see come the summer
dont back dusty carpet – it’ll get beat.
& dont back foreskin – it keeps getting pulled back.
night night.
Cracking tip for you, V-neck at 40/1. heard it’s a cracking jumper…
Jobey – I only do it against Dan, he plays slice shots that have so much spin on them they go back over the net……
Back hand slice, unstoppable
I had to show Nadal one or two things but he got there eventually
Josh- I can see why. That’s just cheating, have a word about that. Find someone else to play with
anyway, im off lads, laters.
Later mate.
Later Jobey
Dan are your knees up to tennis?
So far so good
According to the doc tennis is good for them, don’t think a months straight is though! It’s football that’s knacked them
Puff
Should see me in the summer man, sport crazy; football, tennis, cricket, badminton the lot
Badminton is a cracking game to be fair. Mind you, it’s football for me a pub sport like darts or pool instead
Feck me this night is proper dragging:(
I’m terrible at darts, alright at pool! There’s park near us where there’s tennis courts, football and cricket so it’s sorted
3 hours and 20 minutes to go
Had a flurry of work to do then
2 hours 50 mins
Right am off here now mate.
Might not be on tomorrow but I’ll be back for our game on Sunday
Later
Aye catch you later mate
cant believe no 1 put rob lee in
wheres ginola, albert , asprilla , batty ?? youve put most of th eplayers that buggerd off early
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