Time will tell on that, but right now we have Tottenham Hotspur to take care of as they roll up to St James’ Park with a new man at the helm looking to arrest an alarming run of form at the Cathedral on the Hill.
Andre Villa-Boas is the new man in charge at White Hart Lane these days and he will bring his Lillywhites to Newcastle looking to improve on a rather abysmal league record that has seen them win just three games on Tyneside since the inception of the Premier League, with the last win coming way back in 2004! Since then there have been six meetings between the two sides in the North East with Newcastle tasting victory four times and the spoils being shared on the other two occasions.
Newcastle
New signing Vurnon Anita is fit and ready to play a part although I’m not sure whether he will be given the nod from the start having only arrived from Ajax yesterday. It’s possible though, and both manager and player have said that he could be an option due to his fitness levels built up with Ajax, and they know far more than many of us do.
Besides that the news for Newcastle is pretty grim. On the plus side, Fabricio Coloccini and Papiss Cisse look like they will be fine to feature. However Demba Ba is struggling with a shin complaint and Yohan Cabaye, Hatem Ben Arfa and Cheik Tiote have trained this week but all have question marks over their fitness. Sammy Ameobi is definitely out.
Tottenham
The thing about Tottenham is that they are kind of rebuilding at the moment, and it’s a work in progress. Luka Modric is unlikely to play as he waits to finalise his protracted move to Real Madrid, but it’s up front where they have a problem with Jermaine Defoe being their only recognised first team striker at the moment.’Elsewhere Scott Parker is out but aside from that Villas-Boas has a full squad to choose from.
Final thoughts…
I’ll skip the history as I got carried away with myself and covered it earlier, so now it’s straight onto thoughts about the game itself.
If it wasn’t for the injuries I would be confident of a win for our boys to kick the season off with. This is not to say we can’t get a win regardless, but missing a few of our players hits us quite hard in certain areas and it kind of balances our Spurs’ relative weakness in attack.
Well I say weakness, but they still have Jermaine Defoe who has proved he is a top striker over the years and always seems to love playing against us, as does Rafael van der Vaart and Gareth Bale. However the one area where we are going to be at our strongest is in defence with a first choice pairing of Fabricio Coloccini and Steven Taylor flanked either side by Davide Santon and Danny Simpson protecting Tim Krul between the sticks.
It’s midfield where I worry though, especially in the centre and even more so should Yohan Cabaye and Cheik Tiote fail to make it. Personally I think Tiote will make it but Cabaye will miss out thanks to a lack of football in pre-season owing to tiredness, something that Tiote has managed to avoid while playing games throughout pre-season so his fitness should be at a higher level. If neither make it what are the options? Dan Gosling? Vurnon Anita? James Perch? I think so as I don’t think any of our young lads like Mehdi Abeid or Gael Bigirimana will be thrown in just yet.
Up front it’s simple really. No Demba Ba means Shola Ameobi will partner Papiss Cisse up front but before people scoff just remember Shola’s rocket from last season against the same opposition where he came off the bench and rescued a point for us. Shola Ameobi as a front two leaves me feeling less pensive than just playing Shola Ameobi up front on his own, put it that way!
In conclusion the time for talking and debate is nearly over, transfer speculation can take a back seat for at least a day or two and we can concentrate on that green piece of grass in the middle of St James’ Park once more. It’s been a long time coming…
Howay the lads!
Venue: St James’ Park
Date: Saturday, 18th August, 2012
Kick-off: 5:30pm – Live on ESPN
Newkie@72 – No need for that mate. Michael is quite capable of injuring himself 😉 I give him 2 games before he pulls, strains or tears summit 😉
Jon R(Quote)
I hope Shola starts on the bench really. Cisse can play as the lone striker with wingers and midfielders backing him up. Marveaux will definitely start.
We just might see Jonas in the center of midfield too
AndrewT(Quote)
Jon R-Well, there will be no “tears” from me when it happens.
Ho ho ho….
😥
Wow, RVP top of the assist table in the last 4 years 😯
Newkie(Quote)
Agree with you Andrew, would prefer to see Shola on the bench and all service given to Cisse in something similar to last years 4-3-3 up until Ba gets back.
Newkie(Quote)
Jay jay…agreed but that doesn’t mean you play players that aren’t fit. Especially with 3 tough matches today
MDS(Quote)
Phil Mcnulty at BBCsports preview says Liverpool 6th ,Everton 7th ,VILLA 8th 😯 and Toon 9th. , nice to see some things never change eh,at least he ain’t got us down for relegation candidates. 🙄
kimtoon(Quote)
benny, cabaye, cheik and papiss are fit i think they all trained yesterday as they were all on the pics on the website, the only 1 i didnt see was demba,
Alex(Quote)
Kimtoon-I do expect villa to be better this year, much better manager and their squad has always been good-some very good first teamers and constantly seem to produce good young players too. People like Zog, Ireland and Given are a few players most wanted/wanted back not too long ago, and Darren Bent is a top class striker.
Still, they shouldn’t be finishing ahead of us 😉
Newkie(Quote)
Well if they are all fit to play I will go Krul Simmo Saylor Colo Santon Anita Tiote Benny Cabaye Marv and Cisse in a 4231 formation ,No Ba as he’s got a bad shin apparently.
kimtoon(Quote)
…two of my best mates are Villa and Everton supporters. We’ve had £20 bets this last 3 seasons over who finishes highest. I’ll certainly be offering to take their hard-earned off them again in 2013. I can see Everton being there or there abouts, but not Villa. their squad ‘ain’t bad’, but Lambert’s no magician. They ain’t been the same since Ashley Young left, and their back line is *****. They’ll be lucky to break the top 10, IMO.
Rodzilla(Quote)
Lambert isn’t a magician, but anyone who isn’t McLeish (or Megson) is bound to be able to get a lot more out of the side. Not really sure if their squad suits his style of play though with the emphasis on crosses and a “big man”..they have too many technical players that are just wasted….still all the better for us.
Back line is *****, and Warnock is a dirty *******
Everton will be reliant on keeping Jelavic fit I guess.
Newkie(Quote)
@80, I meant “this week”
MDS(Quote)
Rodz @ 85 I tend to agree Villa around 10th and Everton around the 8th mark.
Kim @ 67 I was just reading Pards interview there 😉 Can’t wait to ask Solano if he thinks Pards is utterly ridiculous and deluded as well as me, for putting so much pressure on himsel and the team 😆 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
Yes I do Newkie @74. My mistake. I wouldn’t assume they will be in the top 4 however. They look to be slipping to me. Maybe Spurs will fall out of the top 5 as well but Wenger always pulls it together in the league so I think the final standings might be Man City, ManU, Chelsea, Arsenal, Newcastle, Spurs, Liverpool. Below that anyone’s guess. Sunderland 10th or lower, Aston Villa improved over last year but still 10th or lower. All this without any really big signings by the top 7 in the remaining days of the window of course so probably things will change again by Sept. 1.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Yeah Newkie, Jellyfish was a reet find for them at £5m. I think he’ll be in a few people’s fantasy teams this season. Mine included.
I’m amazed at McNulty having Villa finishing above us anyway. Did he travel back in time 3 years to make that prediction? 😯
…I’d like to borrow his time machine anyway if anyone sees him.
Rodzilla(Quote)
…mind you, I don’t know why he didn’t just use his time machine to travel to May 2013. That would’ve been a more logical approach.
Rodzilla(Quote)
Dave@88, yeah ,it seems we ain’t the only deluded ones after all. 😉
kimtoon(Quote)
Geordietwo-Yeah sorry I wasn’t nitpicking in your list just wandering. Be interesting how their new players settle, but it would be nice for them not to buy anyone else and have an unsettled Song, just means they’re a few injuries away from trouble then…and we could really compete against em! 😉
Rodz-Aye, defo in my team. Certainly shows the SPL has some good players…or it did at least… 😛
Newkie(Quote)
🙄
difference between hoping and expecting Dave.
I’m sure pardew wouldn’t see 7th as a “failure.”
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
Kim yep were not the only ones 😆 although I noticed that Solano wasn’t the only one that Basically said it was too much to expect our team to be in the top 6 😆 😆
Newkie stop nitpicking man 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
Speaking of Fantasy Teams, is this Blog doing a league again this year?
Very excited for the start of the season, if not a wee bit nervous. But I am very happy that it’s finally here.
NorCal Toonfan(Quote)
Yes Newkie @93 I think it is a big question how AVB will do with Spurs. I think they may suffer a letdown and have trouble with his system. But it also depends who they bring in after Modric leaves. A real battle this season. I only hope we don’t suffer injuries at the CB position as we are not in the least prepared for it (what else is new?). This is the most frustrating part of our squad by far but we could definitely be in trouble during ACoN again as well. Shola usually has several injuries a season and he is no spring chicken now. Saves his best for Sunderland but there are 18 other teams. I hope Ben Arfa has a breakthrough year but he is already injured even if only a knock. Really interested to see Anita in action.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Solano I can’t see him coming out in the press to say that they were going to push for the CL spots unless he thought they could and not just hoped they could so I dare say if the team doesn’t hit his targets he will see it as failure, after all failing to reach your targets is failure no ?
Big Dave(Quote)
Newkie, I’m off visiting a mate of mine tomorrow in Glasgow, he’s a big Rangers fan so I expect to hear a lot of disgruntled views from him. He gets really political when he rants on about Rangers, a lot of which goes over my head but I guess it’s just like that up there with the ‘old firms’ and all that.
…he actually told me to buy Jelavic for my team last season when Everton signed him, but I didn’t believe him when he said he’d cut it in the PL. 😆
Rodzilla(Quote)
Dave, I think Troy rubbed off on me a bit 😆
I guess I’m in that bracket your referring to. Pards has said the right thing, players wouldn’t really want to be told we’re just aiming for the EL again, they want to hear we can win the PL-like Benny boy said. Does that mean we’ll win it, or even have a slight chance? **** no.
It’s the right thing to say, I’d hate to imagine the fan reaction if he said anything but top 7 wouldn’t be a complete failure.
Newkie(Quote)
Dave i word call man ut fans that “expected” the title deluded as their squad isny significantly better than citys and imo to “expect” something you need to be clear favourites.
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
Norcal@96, I haven’t heard owt mate. I guess Toonsy ain’t had the time with his new arrival. I’d have thought there’d be a sign-up button on the site if there was one.
Rodzilla(Quote)
Geordietwo-Yeah, i’m hoping a bit selfishly they’ll just sell Modric, won’t bring anyone in and Levy will pocket the cash. Can’t quite see it happening, but I can dream 😛
Definitely be an interesting season for AVB, think he’s a decent manager, but it’ll be interesting how he deals with players. VDV is pretty temperamental in regards to how he plays, and AVB does seem to rub a few players up the wrong way…
Newkie(Quote)
Rod- 😆 Yeah, I bet Glasgow is an interesting city right about now…more disgruntled scots than usual, must be a sight to see 😛
Yeah, I think it’s kind of hard to get away from the massive Sky/media EPL bias. Players who score goals in foreign leagues, pah, they’re ***** man! It’s not like Jelavic and Cisse have the best goal per game ratio in the…oh wait. 😀
Newkie(Quote)
well ill go for us to be 6th,and scum to gan doon 😀
icedog(Quote)
Solano Manure or City fans expectations are of no concern to me I was asking you about Pardew expectations ❓
I also meant to ask you, I know you said that the quote you made about me saying 5th would be a failure, was just a simple mistake on your part even though you put the quote in speech brackets to make it look like they were my exact words.
I have also asked you several times but with no answer, if you would be grateful enough to show me where I made the relegation quote from here >
How in the space of a year can you go from thinking we were relegation battlers to “we should be challenging for 4th place”. Do you actually follow football? Or do you just swing wildly on your emotional pendulum ensuring you can never be happy and just enjoy what we’ve actually achieved.
Big Dave(Quote)
True, but I’m also sure he wouldn’t see 7th with some good cup runs a failure.
I bet he hopes Ba and Cisse get 20 goals a piece, if they didn’t would it be a failure? Course not.
As far as league positioning goes there are too many other circumstances affecting it. Who knows how much more Liverpool and Tottenham may splash. If Everton replicate their end of season form they could be a big threat.
Also teams rate us now, I doubt anyone will be coming to St James looking for a win, we have to adopt a whole new style of play for teams that are happy to get draws against us now.
We don’t know the tactic Pardew will take with Europe. Will he play our first team twice a week? Who knows.
Failure is a such strong word for such a difficult target. Perhaps if we didn’t have Europa, but we just don’t know how our we are going to juggle the squad.
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
Ice 105-Nah mate, we need them 6 points each year 😉
Newkie(Quote)
Dave I’m sure many people can vouch to say that you thought you would struggle in the Premiership last year without a “proven striker”
My expectations this year are the same as last year: top 8. And I was labelled a dreamer by you among others.
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
I give you one simple, valid comparison and you just refuse to acknowledge it.
The point was that I don’t like the idea of expecting something that is so tightly contested, as it could easily swing either way.
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
Indeed Newkie 😯 😆 …they are out there I guess, just need to find them. There’s plenty of pap. Reet, I’m off. Bye for noo…
HOWAY THE LADS! 😯
Rodzilla(Quote)
Another pile of ***** from Humpty Dumpty @ 218. You have made this a win an argument at any cost issue, as you do all the time with me and everyone else. It should be about football; observations, relevant points, criticisms, debates.
You’re right; I haven’t got time to follow every debate on this site, and I’m not familiar with the two camps Carroll debate.
I will ignore here your considerable self-serving dross and try to salvage any valid football related points you try to make.
TROY: I set out my stall and stated since Carroll was sold we had made sales IRO £55m and purchases of £25. That was the basis of my argument. We were in profit IRO of £30m over that period. I would find it difficult to understand if anyone couldn’t get that concept.
B&B: I got that concept. That was the easy part, although I admit it was not clear whether you were saying the figure was even more than that. In order to appreciate the point you were making, I invited you to give your figures of the total costs of money spent, not just the headline figures.
TROY: Nothing you had stated at this point that you were correct as I was about to ask you to consider the sales of Nolan, Enrique, Barton, Smith, Carroll, Best, Guthrie would offset contract improvements on others on the saving of wages alone. Top earners gone from the club saving a fortune!
B&B: As you had it all very clear in your head and it was the basis of your point, I wanted you to do the sums about the cost of new contracts, improved contracts, agents fees etc. Your argument was about the figures so spell it out – just give the full picture and not the headline transfers.
TROY: At no time have you disputed we have have a sales surplus of £30m and you ask me to account for contracts. Are you really suggesting intake you seriously at this point that £30m could be spent on reserve and academy set ups?
B&B: I mentioned how it could be argued in the name of financial conservatism that, for example, Cabaye’s costs could be nearer £9M than the headline £5M because of contracts, agents fees, accountancy policies on prudence etc. That is just one player.
I haven’t kept a track of the costs of improved contracts to Colo, Tiote etc, and I don’t know how much the three new young lads have cost in total. I just don’t know how you can know all these costs. I’m not saying you can’t produce something reasonably detailed and persuasive, and I was just asking you to do so.
Clearly, my subsequent questions appeared to you to be me trying to get off your hook. You flatter yourself, fella. You wanted to keep going over the same initial ground about the figures, whilst I was turning to the bigger picture. I could see (1) we were wasting a lot of time trying to meet minds on the calculations (2) the initial route that you had taken us down wasn’t really relevant to the basis of my original post that you pounced upon. It was my post so I should know what I was getting at by it and (3) I could not see where you were going with it all and wanted to find out. It really is easy to win an argument if you insist that a person stays on your ground whatever, and it does not help if you cannot see why they might have legitimate reasons to go down another route. It is not a question of twisting and turning.
TROY: You ask me to tell me why the accounts are wrong which I keep relying cos they swallow up the cash by taking into account previous debts and commitments. No one, not even the club, suggested that the Carroll money was ever going to be used for that. In fact, though I quoted Llambias, it was Ashley who stated all the Carroll cash would be used in the summer for the team.
Does that not tell you that the finances, which you used to justify your point are not relevant. You even state that the money was swallowed on previous debts and contract commitments leaving a surplus of £5m.
B&B: I have accused you of not being able to follow someone else’s argument, but I confess to being unable to follow this. I hear what you’re saying but, as much as I try, I don’t understand how it suits you or where you’re going with it.
I have never disputed that the club initially gave everyone the strongest impression that all the money would be spent on new players. However, we all know that they tried to slither out of this. Llambias was using a different method of calculation of costs etc. What you were wanting us to concentrate on solely was whether he was right or justified in his calculations of hidden (i.e not headline transfer fees) costs etc. He may have a fairly good argument, he may not. Llambias may have had a valid point, but my original point had nothing to do with this.
But where were you going? If you were criticizing the regime for broken promises, I wanted to know whether you wanted it all spent and you were not concerned about paying down debt. No good criticising the regime for broken promises if you don’t want all the money spent anyway. Basically, I didn’t understand (a) what was behind your onslaught, and (b) what exactly you were calling for. I still don’t because you seem to want to keep me on the hook that you think you have me on.
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
Norcal @ 96 Toonsy was looking at one but thats the last I heard.
Ice 😆 what about 4th and Scum stay up
Newkie @ 100 in that case then would it not have been better for Pards to have lowered his predictions rather than raise the fans expectations, it seems a bit of a silly thing to do because he has just raised the fans expectations so if we don’t get top 6th more fans will say we failed to reach our targets ? the targets set by our manager 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
Troy, my original post that there was no point waiting for the Carroll cash to be spent was based on the following (1) the Carroll profit combined with everything else for the year showed an overall profit of £5M (2) the transfer pot is what Ashley and Llambias say it is.
I ask you how you can spend a profit of £35M when you have only made a profit of £5M. You say that is irrelevant because you are only looking at the position from the sale of Carroll onwards and that shows a massive surplus. I say I can’t understand why you are drawing an arbitrary line from the time of the Carroll sale? As far as I can see, your only basis for doing this is that, according to you, Mikey or Llambias, or Pards quoting Llambias, has said the money will be re-invested in the team. However, it is those very same people who have back-tracked and said, when we said the team, we meant the academy, new contracts, improved contracts, agents’ fees, first year’s wages, etc. They also said they inherited massive outstanding debts still owing on previous transfers.
Thus, I ask you
(1)To be clear on your figures of the true (as opposed to the headline) costs (Llambias does have some sort of argument about “hidden” costs, even if he was highly misleading to say the least about how much would be re-invested). It is not the basis of my original point, but it is the ground you have hitherto insisted we stick to.
(2) Why you draw an arbitrary line following the Carroll sale in your calculations of what you are waiting to be spent. Is it on the basis of the “promise”?
(3) If you know that the regime’s “promise” on the Carroll money was clearly back tracked upon shortly after it was made, why are you still (18 months on) waiting for it to be spent?
(4) If you’re not waiting for the Carroll money to be spent, and are just wanting Pards to get the centre back that you say Pards says he requires, what relevance is any of this? Pards has had the money but he has spent it on a midfielder.
(5) Why are you so pleased with the Anita signing when (a) you’re normally so cautious and wait to see a player perform first and (b) the money that is available has been used on a midfielder and not a centre back, the absence of which which you appear to have hung your argument around.
(6) You say at no time do you expect all of the cash to be “spent”, but “made available when required”. Is this not what is happening? Do you believe Pards now when he says getting another player now would be just icing on the cake?
In summation, I don’t know what you’re trying to say or prove. I will reply to the dross in a separate post.
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
Solano yes I admitted to you already that I did say we could struggle without a proven striker, and you can give me as many valid comparison as you want, but imo its a simple question and easy to prove, you stated that I said we were going to be relegation battlers last yr, to which I asked you to prove it because if you can’t prove that I said something will then don’t say it simple.
I don’t bs about anything that you have said, and while you might think that it’s not that important I do ❗
I am not going to let you or anyone else get away with trying to make me look like a bit of a **** that bullshits and tells Lies when I know I didn;t say them
Saying we could struggle without a striker is completely different than saying we would be relegation battlers ❓
Big Dave(Quote)
Big Dave this expectations game is a tricky one. I prefer it when we lie low and say little about where we will finish. Pardew can make his expectations clear to the squad without telling the press even if it leaks out afterwards. My big question marks lie around strengthening the defense and whether or not Ba and Cisse can play together in a way that brings out the best in both of them. I think our midfield will be excellent. Maybe this is the season something special happens.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
i agree with dave because he agrees with me,simples 😆 😆 😆
icedog(Quote)
Humpty (this is what you are in my phone list now), I respond to your points, which really are scraping the bottom of the barrel, and only serve to confirm exactly what I’m saying.
TROY: Reflecting at this stage in the debate, do you consider you have come across well. Within a few posts you accuse me of talking piles of ***** and next you are reeling me in?
B&B: Are you under some illusion that “you” have come across well?
You have clearly missed the whole point of my criticism, which doesn’t surprise me. Indeed, it simply demonstrates that you miss the point all too frequently and/or side track an argument, often putting your words in others mouths to shoot them down.
It is quite remarkable how often you ignore the main, difficult questions and never return to them. I invite anyone who hasn’t slashed their wrists by now to trawl through any of the previous posts and see this happening all of time.
The “reeling you in” was a light hearted remark. I don’t understand what you can take from it. Such remarks go backwards and forwards all the time. I don’t have problems with them from you or anyone else, although they do get wearing when they’re wrapped in a crusade by the Sweeping Statement police against sweeping statements.
TROY: At this point, I’m in a discussion with another about wage caps. A separate discussion not involving you. Instead of concentrating on our debate which you appeared to be struggling with, hurling abuse, reeling me in, you then try and get involved in my wage cap debate.
Talk about muddying the waters. This is the start of you continuously goading me into talking about the wage cap. It comes across that you are trying to get away from the debate we were having and moving onto another subject.
B&B: Oh so you refer to your discussion on a public forum as a “separate discussion not involving you”. You say, “You then tried to get involved in my wage cap debate.” “Your” wage cap debate, eh?
This is a good example of the sort of frustration I have with you. There is no hope if you cannot see how lame that is as a defence. Even now when it is pointed out, you won’t get it.
How do you think it sounds when you do not think I or anyone else can hold down two separately running threads? Why do you think I would be running scared from you? Sheer conceit and hubris, which I just let ride, but it’s not a good tone. You’ve still avoided the “wages cap” issue by the way.
TROY: At post 160 13/8/12 you changed the whole tone by stating, “I DON’T NEED A NIT PICK WHEN TROY DELIVERS A SKIP LOAD OF *****, AS HE OFTEN DOES. I NEED A BLOODY SHOVEL”.
B&B: As you know, that was a light hearted response to Jon R talking about you in general, after Jon R was referring to our nit picking. That is fair game all round. If you had said that I wouldn’t have a problem.
TROY: You accuse me of pouncing. I queried your opinion which is what a forum is about. I would suggest pouncing is a more accurate word to describe your actions. Any ridicule on my behalf after that is justified.
B&B: You pounced as you always do. Everyone on here knows exactly what you’re like, so who are you trying to kid? People find themselves up to their neck defending themselves in an argument before they can figure out how they got there.
TROY: At post 169, under less than 10 posts each, we formed the foundations of our points.
B&B: No, you formed yours; as usual you didn’t want to listen to mine, accusing me of twisting and turning. I spent the rest of the time trying to understand where you were coming from; defend a comment that I didn’t even think was controversial; and establish an opportunity to explain myself.
I’m only holding up the mirror to you for your own good, bro. Well mine too, because I’m always in line for repeats of it, which are ten times as bad when you’ve had a drink.
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
Dave @ 113: well, if a league does start, we won’t have to rebuild the team, right? I’ve got mine all set and ready to go…using the site we all did last year.
NorCal Toonfan(Quote)
i think we will struggle;; to keep goals oot without another c/h as i cannot see taylor staying fit all season or colo come to that yes we have players to step in for the odd game but over more than 3/4 games i would worry 🙁
icedog(Quote)
Ice I know your not in to squabbling etc so im sorry to go over old ground with Solano but I need to get it sorted because as I said imo it makes me look like a bit of a ******** and it’s been pissing me off so bare with me 😉
Geordietwo yeah I agree that they can be tricky but IMO if we fail to get 6th its a failure to me, thats my opinion and I should be able to express that without Solano or anyone else call me utterly ridiculous, deluded and question if im a real supporter because of that, I don’t agree with a few peoples opinions on here but I have never abused them and called them childish name because of it.
Simply because everyone is entitled to their own opinion without me trying to make them look like dicks because I respect others opinions, so its not much to ask to be respected the same way
Big Dave(Quote)
Dave-No not really, because fans already jump on everything else he says in regards to transfers, or losing players, or how people are doing and take it in a negative light, he’s probably a bit tired of it himself.
Also, what he said is something I agree with completely. We should aim for CL, why not? If you asked Pards would he expect to finish in the top 4 I imagine he’d give you a slightly different answer though, namely he wouldn’t expect it. No reason not to try though.
If we won the EL but finished 8th, or 9th, or even 10th really, that would be a brilliant achievement in my eyes, and a quality season of achievement and football. If we get knocked out of all the cups early. I hardly think he’s raised anyones expectations-you already had your expectation for the season did you not? So do I, and basically everyone else, although it may vary with players ins and out. Pards is just voicing his opinion, I don’t think anyone is getting carried away by it are they?
Newkie(Quote)
Anyone else think that Arsene Wenger did well to get 20 mill for a 29 year old in the last year of his contract ?….. 😯
We tend to lose our lot for nowt…
Munich Mag(Quote)
Newkie you just answered it ” fans already jump on everything else he says” exactly so why would he make it harder for himsel if he doesn’t really believe that we can do it and be up there fighting 😉
As for ” I hardly think he’s raised anyones expectations-you already had your expectation for the season did you not? So do I,” Newkie yes I had mine and expressed them but there is a lot of younger fans that would maybe have been thinking that we could be in the top 8 but after reading that it would raise theirs, I have seen it on here with my own eyes when we get linked with certain players some of the younguns get all excited thinking that its nearly a done deal
Big Dave(Quote)
Hmm…what bothers Big Dave more: being misquoted or being told to get behind the lads? 😆
Ice @120. Agreed, but we survived last year with Willo starting most of the season, as scary as that was at times. 😯
MDS(Quote)
DAVE let it gan owr your heed mate your a bigger man than that,everyone has a view and anyone that is toon fan should respect that, weather they agree or not,bloody bore if everyone thought the same why have a blog then?,but anyway i do see your point never thought you had joined jabba gang (lier) 😉 😆 😆
icedog(Quote)
So you admit you said we’d struggle. Well others said we would “struggle to survive”, what were you saying we would struggle to… what?
You don’t need to prove anything to me, if you didn’t say it you didn’t say it, just let me know and move on.
And the “dreamers” tag last year was brought about so how you can say you never belittle anyone’s opinion I don’t know.
@Newkie – bang on, I want us to challenge for top 4, I don’t expect us to finish 4/5/6th and I certainly wouldn’t label anything lower a failure.
Proud of how we are progressing as a club and a squad and even if we don’t adapt to juggling Europe and the league this year I am convinced we are heading in the right direction.
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
MM I was talking about this to a client today, manure came 2nd last yr so lets say that RVP scores 20 + this yr and helps them win the prem would £20 mil be dear 😕 So I think for RVP that wasn’t bad money and if Manure hadn’t have came in for him some other big team would have. in one way Wenger done alright but it might prove a costly mistake because he got them into the CL last yr
Big Dave(Quote)
MM remind me,when did we lose out money wise dont think we had a player of rvp class to lose out on 😉 😀 😀
icedog(Quote)
@123- MM I think both sides did well inthat deal. Wegner got himslef 20M to spend for a player that was gone of ther season, and Man U is suddenly very dangerous in attack.
20M for Man U is like 7M to us
MDS(Quote)
Dave-Because he does believe it-to an extent, as do I. Because you never know. I don’t expect us to be top 4. I doubt Pardew does. However, football is unpredictable. The reason I wanted decent strengthening this season and why its exciting is because of what we could accomplish whilst our rivals-spurs, arsenal, liverpool (possibly chelsea), may fail to perform/are in transitional periods-if this is the case then we can really push on and give ourselves a great chance. We have a first 11 that imo can compete right up there, bar city and manure and if all goes well we could be in the champions league.
That being said I would completely understand if that didn’t happen-we had our luck last year, we may have bad luck this year, and other clubs may be far more fortunate. If that’s the case and we miss out on the Cl or even EL qualification I don’t see how it’s a failure solely due to the positions. There are so many variables its unbelieveable. If we get a number of serious injuries then we were unlucky, and if our squad managed to keep on battling despite poor luck and players tried hard-well I wouldn’t call them failures.
Newkie(Quote)
Also Dave @124-Ahh well what do they say about the young, ignorance is bliss? 😉
Newkie(Quote)
Solano @ 127 so do you admit that you were wrong when you stated I said we would be relegation battlers.
1st when I said struggle I was talking about struggle for a top 10 spot not survive.
2nd I know I don’t need to prove nowt because I never accused you of owt ? it was you that accused me so it was up to you to prove what you were acusing me off or don’t use it against me ?
3rd I never made the dreamers tag and never used it against anyone ask Troy he’ll back me up on that, so what are you on about ????
4th even if I did use the “dreamer” tag its hardly the same as calling someone Childish, utterly ridiculous, deluded and asking are they a real fan.
As for moving on yeah if you had of admitted that you got it wrong and apologised for accusing me in the wrong yeah we could have moved on, but instead you tried to change the subject or ignore it or ask me to answer more questions. Do you have a problem with admitting when your in the wrong
Big Dave(Quote)
I admitted I made a mistake for the quote at the time!
Jesus christ.
So I’ve admitted it.
Quicker than it took you and all the dreamer tag users of admitting that you were wrong about your season predictions.
Bored of this now man, you’re dragging along a meaningless issue and I honestly don’t care.
Also, stating that you never used dreamers, but “even if you did” 🙄
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
@Dumpty
Woo hoo hoo hoo 😆 😆 😆
I have never heard a poster talking about someone else sounding just like himself. 😆 😆
You should have addressed that to yourself. 😆
I honestly read through your response wondering whether you have been to the nearest mirror yet and repeated those important words
” TROY HAS DONE ME BIG STYLE”
Clearly not long enough for it to have sunk in. 😛
I love the way you grasp in desperation for support. It’s almost cringeworthy. 😆
Look everyone what Troy is saying. 😳
I am at work at the mo and don’t finish til 3am.
I’m off tomoz so I will have a suitable response for you. 😉
Grandad Les once told me on his death bed.
” TROY, YOURE A FINE MAN AND A THINKER. BROWNLIE IS ROTTER AND A STINKER” 😆
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Newkie @ 132 tbh I always feel sorry for them as I hate to see younguns getting all excited just to be left disappointed I never forget the look on my wee lads face when his Idol Carroll went just a few months after he got his name and number on his home and away kit, then when Joey B went 😕 I asked him lastweek did he want a name on his new kit and he said Dad whats the point when my fav players just leave 🙁 but in the end I got him DEDE 9 on his kit because he’ll never leave 😀
Big Dave(Quote)
Dave-Aye it’s a shame that really, I think most of us grew up taking that kind of thing for granted…I mean obviously players have always come and gone, but there was never the insults and dummy spitting that seems to come from players a lot of the time now. The Carroll thing shook a lot of people really, after saying what he said and living the dream, I don’t think many expected him to leave, I know I didn’t.
You sure you don’t want Shola on the back? 😀
Newkie(Quote)
Dave @136 ,I always get the lads name on his shirts the only time I didn’t was when I had Shearer on it .That little shirt is still hung up on his wall in the Toon section alongside the portrait sketch of famous no.9’s . 😎 The rest of his room is a space theme. 😉
kimtoon(Quote)
Dave-tell you what you should do, I remember when I moved to Wales from Australia when i was like 9 and obviously I was fucking pissed off 😉 So my mum asked me what colour I wanted my room and all that so I said black and white stripes, managed to get at least one wall (the long one) in black and white, she hated it but it was class 😛
Newkie(Quote)
Dave,
You should have got Ameobi on the back of his shirt…
There’ll be one here forever.
JJ(Quote)
Big D…… DEDE9 was a smart move mate, well done…. 🙂
Munich Mag(Quote)
Solano @ 134 you admitted you made a mistake for the anything less than 5th quote incase your too angry to see it I said that you admitted that already. but you never admitted that you lied or made a mistake when you stated I said we were relegation battlers.
Yeah I agree it is boring and its slightly irritating and pisses me off that your not man enough to just simply admit and move on never mind apologise for making me out to be a liar.
But that tells me more about you.
as for the dreamers tag I don’t give a **** what you believe I have never used the dreamers tag to hurt anyone and have only ever used it as a way of defining the so called 2 groups last year “the Dreamers” and ” the Neggers” when I was talking to someone. But if you can find where I have used it to try to hurt or use it against someone i’ll apologise for it and admit your right 😉
I just can’t believe that you are that self righteous and arrogant that you can’t simply admit when your wrong even when it means that everyone else can see you for what you are 😳
Big Dave(Quote)
The signing of Van Persie at 29 for so much money shows short termism from Ferguson. (I don’t call him Sir until he acts like one). I think he is just putting his eggs in one basket that RVP and Rooney will fire him to the title next season and he doesn’t care much about the future. And why would he at his stage of management.
DJG(Quote)
Boys and girls, this is the way it is with the toon….get used to it.
We should try and enjoy every game and every season as long as the toon are on the ascendency, and we were that last season. However, and I may be looked on as a negger, or as playing things down a bit, but I really do believe it. We are our own biggest enemies at the end of the day. Enjoy it while we can, cos we know that the rot may set in at any moment, sell Tiote, Cabaye, Pardew leaves etc etc and we take a downward spiral.
I am still ecstatically happy what we achieved last season. If we get anywhere near that again this season, I’ll be well happy. The sad bit is that there are clubs at the top end of the league who have SO MUCH money to play with, that it is dificult to compete, even if we DID have an owner who wanted to mix it with the “big boys”.
I consider Man City, Man United and Chelsea as the rich clubs. Arsenal are trying hard under the astute Arsene Wenger, Liverpool are just a basket case when it comes to splashing cash around…
Munich Mag(Quote)
Right thats my rant over 😀
JJ are you for real 😆 😆
Kim the problem was that for long enough most places over here would only print the players names and not others because there is a lot of names and letters over here that can mean totally different things to other places 😯
Newkie he already had a black and white stripe room but it hurt his eyes so now its just covered in Toon and call of duty posters and a massive big toon flag that covers one wall
Big Dave(Quote)
DJG I think you are dissin SAF a bit man, the bloke has put in brilliant service to English football man, say what you like… 😕 .
I reckon Manure are looking at the wrong end of the team, they need to get the defence sorted out imo. Wor African lad Demba gave them a real hard time at SJP last season 🙂
Everyone seems to have forgotten that Manure have also signed Kagawa from Borussia Dortmund. I read a few weeks ago on a NATIONAL web site that they were kind of intimating that they signed the bloke to sell shirts in Asia…. 🙄 🙄 🙄 What a pompous statement, the bloke was immense for Bundesliga Champions Dortmund last year, and will prove to be a real handful in the EPL. Man U have got some real firepower up front… 😯
Munich Mag(Quote)
MM I always thought you were a glass half full man 😆 😆 where as Ice’s glass is always empty, and Richie doesn’t have a glass and drinks from the bottle cause he’s a greedy c@nt 😆 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
Munich-Yeah pretty much agree with you. But that doesn’t make you a negger, that’s positive stuff! I think? right? 😕
Dave-Fair enough man, I can see how it would probably do that if the whole room was like it 😆
Newkie(Quote)
Big D…do you sleep in Dede’s bedroom now and then to remenisce ? Or do you have Toon stuff on your bedroom walls an’all ? 😆 😆 😆
Munich Mag(Quote)
Big D….Ice’s glass is always empty cos he’s got 12 of them… 😆
Looking forward to welcoming Richietoon back…. 😉
Munich Mag(Quote)