Well it has tonight been confirmed that 24-year-old Shane Ferguson has been released and signed a n 18-month deal with Millwall, where be has featured over 25 times this season, scoring twice. A hard working player with a very good cross on him, his stamina is what seemed to let him down at the top level, which is a shame. On the bright side, our squad is carrying a lot of players that offer little to the squad – either in terms of ability, consistency or being injury prone – so it’s good to see spaces beginning to be freed up in order to allow players to come in that can offer Newcastle United genuine depth of quality and tactical flexibility.
Marveaux, Gouffran, Obertan, Williamson, Cisse, Heidara, Taylor and a few others fit that catagory – and most of them can be expected to be moved on either in the remainder of this window or during the summer. What we can expect during the next week is for the tough tackling, talented but not often available Cheick Tiote to complete his £5m move to China, whilst French Flop Florian Thauvin should go back to Marseille on loan – hopefully with a compulsory buy back clause…
Fans are split on whether Townsend is value for the quoted £12m fee being paid for him by virtue of his lack of recent first team football and tendency to cut in and shoot at goal – usually missing the target. That said, he is a natural left footed winger with searing pace and something to prove – who has Premier League experience, so he should definitely add quality and threat to our play, especially if deployed from the left wing in his stronger foot as opposed to the right like he was at Spurs. See an example of what he could bring below;
To round off this window and give ourselves a solid chance of survival, we need to sign a striker. With Pato said to have finalised his Chelsea move and Adebayor now a Crystal Palace player, our chances of re-signing Loic Remy have increased. He is proven in the Premiership and proven whilstcwearing our colours. He is keen to secure a move this January because he knows he won’t make the France squad for the Euro’s if he’s not playing regularly. Fingers crossed for this one because signing Remy is a no-brainer if we want a goalscorer capable of making an immediate impact. Here’s a reminder of what he could bring us;
There has been talk of Lacazette , which as impressive as it would be – would still be a gamble as he has not played inbtbis league before. Meanwhile, the £25m being quoted for Berahino is far too steep. Whilst Mitrovic has stuttered somewhat in front of goal this season, Berahino’s general stats this season are no better than Mitro’s. With a heavy price tag and questionable attitude, I’m not sure he is the right man for us. But you never know…
DAVE @149 the thing is Klopp has a different set of players at L/P than he had at Germany and play a different type of game in the PL maybe he thinks he goes not fit now I think if Sturrage had stayed fit he would sell him,he keeps playing a couple of kids in front of Benteke,don’t think he’s 😆 😆 😆 played a handful games,maybe it’s my wishful thinking 😆
Icedog(Quote)
Hope Everton win it maybe it will take there mind off the lge 😆
Icedog(Quote)
Just read that Cahill wants out of Chelsea because he fears he Will miss the Euros . So how about we give them the money they want for Rémy so long as they agree too loan us Cahill till the summer . Now that would make this a brilliant window.
AXEL(Quote)
AXEL,that would be a real treat mate,pity it won’t happen
Icedog(Quote)
Ice – I think the board have accepted that the policy of buying foreign is flawed. They might even accept that only buying under 24’s doesn’t offer the side enough experience. But I don’t believe they would go as high as 29 or 30 mate.
I can’t see them shelling out money on Gomis. I don’t see them looking to buy Remy either mate. I think they will want to loan him til the summer then buy a younger CF – either Berahino, Lacazette or Dost if they haven’t been bought before then.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Dave – I really hope so mate, coz there’s a few on here that wrote him off when he was just a transfer rumour.
Sharpy17(Quote)
SHARPY I love players with pace they win you games in PL it scares defenders I also think SM will guide him into supplying a end product which at times he hasn’t done
Icedog(Quote)
I see scum have signed another c/b in Kone 5mil don’t know much about him but big Sam should know what makes a good c/b
Report toon after Leeds c/b cannot see it hes31
Icedog(Quote)
Ice @151 yeah I get where your coming from, I was just making the point that over the last few weeks I was reading ones saying Klopp didnt like him etc.
Sharpy @ 156 there was a few on here making such a fuss about the price , It made me think they were having to pay for him.
Big Dave(Quote)
I think Townsend will do well but may take some time to settle in. He gives us the option of playing Wijnaldum in the centre, although I think he may be played as an attacking outlet in a five man midfield, or even a wing forward. As his strength is definitely attacking, he is more of a forward than a midfielder. He has scored thee goals at full international level so he must have something about him as that can not be a fluke.
DJG(Quote)
Phillipe Senderos has been released by Villa – could he be to us what Huth was to Leicester last season?.
I know he’s not a top class defender, is he any better than Willo?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
SHARPY no he’s no better than Willo if fact he’s worse,just shows how bad he is Villa are in deep **** and still don’t need him that tells you
Icedog(Quote)
Ice – they are clearing their decks of older, highly paid players ready for the drop. I think you saw from that post though, that from the first to second sentence I immediately doubted it 😆
I was just thinking that Huth played a big part in Leicesters change in fortunes last Jan – but then I remembered that Huth is a decent player & Senderos isn’t 😆
Sharpy17(Quote)
SHARPY C/B is so important ( good one) to a team I was just looking at Stokes record with Shawcross in the team they go on great runs,he’s been out two games lately and they have been beaten easy,there’s a C/B I would love at the toon
Icedog(Quote)
Ice – I agree. I really like Shawcross & I’m a big fan of Cahill who was mentioned earlier – but I don’t see either of those coming to the toon sadly.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Not sure I’m that upset about Tiote not going, it shouldn’t affexr whether we got a striker in or not really – surely there are less useful players (Marv for one!) we could ship out in order to make space for a striker. I’m sure Saviet has potential but he was so weak against Deeney for the first Watford goal, he was just put on his **** and to be honest even though Tiote has barely played recently, I’d rather have him as a defensive mid for now over Saviet or Anita because we know what he can do.
Then again it’s not great if his head is elsewhere as it probably is now..
Newkie(Quote)
We have about 13 midfielders now! We should be ok in that dept… 😐
Stuart79(Quote)
we are not talking about midfielders anymore Stuart! Keep up…. 😉
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Newkie, Marvs going nowhere this window mate, he went off injured in that stupid friendly yesterday. 🙄
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim – it must have been Mareauxs job to get the ball from the back of the net then was it?!.
He’s another one we’re stuck with thanks to crazy wages.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kim – oh aye I forgot. Fucking brainwave of an idea that’s turning out to be 😆
Would still be tempted to just drop him from 25 man squad anyway. We’re already throwing money around like nobody’s business (relative to being paupers for years). Get Remy signed and let the players save us.
Newkie(Quote)
Newkie: all the new signings will give Troy an excuse whatever happens. If we go down he will say he told everybody Steve should have been sacked. If we survive it will be that anybody would have been able to do it with our squad. Including Lee Clark.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Newkie – there’s some we should just cancel their contracts for not being actual footballers at all. The misrepresentation list’s too long.
georgio(Quote)
What does everybody think of Saivet anyway? Hard to tell from what we’ve seen but first impression of mine is very ordinary.
He’ll do a job and cover Colback and Anita I suppose. Maybe there’s more to come.
georgio(Quote)
Thought he looked alright Georgio… then again I was looking for positives while he played.. you were more than likely purely accessing how **** he is going to be! 😛
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Georgio, Aussie, He seems ok to me, not seen anything especially special yet but it is early doors.
kimtoon(Quote)
Aussie – you should know better than that!
Kim – yeah but first impressions and all that . . .
georgio(Quote)
Saivet at least got his head up and struck some nice long balls…had good energy and tried to press his opponent.. still has to come to grips with the pl but I think he will be a good one for us.. you can see he has a bit of desire which is more than you can say for a number of our periphery players..
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
You could well be right Aussie. I guess in our position we’re looking for someone extraordinary. We’ve made so many poor signings . . .
georgio(Quote)
Agree mate..too many players not up for the fight..happy to let the game drift on around them and not get stuck in… the work ethic of some of our players is pathetic.. take Gini…been one of our best but I swear he didn’t touch the ball in the second half last week.. too much of that nonsense flowing through the team..bit harsh to single him out but he is supposed to captain material…
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Saivet, Gini, Shelvey, Townsend and even Thauvin for that matter. They are all new players at the club. But they are also forming a new look midfield – so despite how strong it might look on paper, it’s probably all going to take a bit of time.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Georgio – he largely passed unnoticed, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing in his position….but if you watch Watford’s goal and how easily he is bossed off the ball by Deeney then it is a bit of a worry. He’s not a big lad, and neither was Tiote, but it was rare to ever see Tiote knocked aside so easily. We can blame the poor call of the ref, or the organisation of our centre backs, but he let Deeney get that pass away far too easily for me.
Don’t want to write the lad off though, it’s a physical league and it will take him time, but I don’t have huge hopes. Tiote was a revelation when he came into our first 11 and was a class apart from most of the promoted side, Saviet won’t have that impact imo. He should do better than Anita though.
Newkie(Quote)
Don’t understand why we didn’t make a move for Kona at5mil big Sam know what makes a c/b and we need a c/b badly seems cheap if he makes the grade
Icedog(Quote)
Newkie – I don’t disagree mate, but better players than him have been out muscled by Deeney this season.
I don’t think he’s been signed as a replacement for Tiote and he’s certainly not the big powerful DCM that we needed. I think they are hoping he’ll be similar to Kante at Leicester.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy – For sure, but usually it’s after a bit of a tussle, Saviet just got put on his **** straight up 😆
He’s a lot more mobile than Tiote and hopefully will allow other players to drift about a bit more rather than just being a lynchpin. But even so, a forgettable day for him – and when he went off we hardly missed him, we actually gained more control of the midfield with Perez on…
Shock.
Newkie(Quote)
So according to SSN we are only interested in a loan for Remy not a buy. Oh and Gomis is on our radar too 🙄
kimtoon(Quote)
KIM I knew jabba would not pay 8/10 mil for a 29yr old yes that fee could keep us up but that’s jabba always looking for a sell on value
same applies for Gomis I would not want him anyway his scoring record is awful he won’t help at all,I do think ew are looking for a short term deal,the have their eyes fixed on the Lyon c/f in the summer,but we won’t get if we are in ccc
Icedog(Quote)
Ice, It’s nuts isn’t it and yes I don’t want Gomis either mate, not really better than what we have. I know we’ve made signings but I can’t see them making a huge difference when both ends haven’t been addressed. All we’re doing is shaking up the midfield yet again. When are they going to address the really pressing problems properly.
kimtoon(Quote)
KIM as I said Kono for five mill would have helped in defence,the latest report is worse,we are looking at Gayle from C/P he cannot even get in their team just paper talk imo pay the 8 mil for Remy and get it over with for gods sake
Icedog(Quote)
AReport toon have bid for Ross McCormack (Fulham)
Icedog(Quote)
Ice, I truly despair mate at times. Spend a ton on MF players but stay cheap on the positions that need that extra touch of class.
kimtoon(Quote)
The midfield play a huge part in our problems at either end. The lack of cover the back four gets is laughable & the strikers until the last 3 or 4 matches have barely touched the ball in the opposition area.
CC(Quote)
So here’s a question – WBA won’t sell Berahino, Lacazette doesn’t want to leave Lyon til the summer and Chelsea would rather sell Remy than loan him.
If we don’t want to sign Remy long term, do we hold out for the loan or do we go buy what would probably be 3rd choice or do we stick with what we have til the summer?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy, I don’t think we have much choice tbh. I would be buying Remy, it’s peanuts compared to what we’ll lose if we drop.
kimtoon(Quote)
CC, I don’t see our goal tally increasing significantly without a quality striker in place, we may well improve service, but we likely will still miss the target, we’ll just create more chances .
kimtoon(Quote)
Remy aint the same player we had on loan before
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Kim – what if Remy doesn’t want a long term move to us? 3 years of relegation battles might well put him off – whether we want him or not.
I agree if it was between money on Remy, Gomis or McCormack (all roughly the same age) then it’s a no brainer.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I have to be honest and say I can understand if the board don’t want to fill out all that money on a 29yr old Remy. Short term fix yes but if Chelsea are wanting in the region of £12m for him & he’d be on a big wage, it’s not building for the future.
Let’s not forget that Remy & Samba were unable to save QPR from going down.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kim @ 194 your right Remy is peanuts compared to what we would risk if we go down, or even on the extra money we could get for a higher finish. I am certain Remy would thrive on the chances our better players would provide, that wern’t here the last time Remy was here and he still scored feeding of scraps
Big Dave(Quote)
Sharpy, Very true, but one thing is for sure we need someone prolific up front if we are not gonna address our defensive problems.
kimtoon(Quote)
Dave, I can see him doing well with our recent additions on board
kimtoon(Quote)
I would love to think Mitro would but still think he needs more time.
kimtoon(Quote)
Tough to get a striker who knows where the net is in January. Why would any club let them go? Remy for £12m is crazy money for a guy who has barely started for Chelsea.
I reckon Mitrovic will be very good for us, maybe alongside either Perez or Armstrong. But who is going to score the goals this season? I do get confused how a player like Cisse can go so far off the boil…
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
CC – Know what you mean, because there have been some games where we’ve made literally nowt, and whilst our goals conceded is gigantic we actually have some solid players back there – and a keeper who is in great form at the moment.
Colback’s had a poor season protecting the defence and we have been ultra reliant on Sissoko for any creativity because Gini has been played out of position pretty much all season. I do think a striker is the most necessary, but if we can’t sign a good one I’m not sure how worth it it will be. Dropping down to McCormack…I actually think the lad scores some good goals but he is also 29, and surely Perez and Mitro have potential to be far better than he’s ever been?
Newkie(Quote)
Remy would also take 6 weeks to 2 months to get proper match fit been warming that bench nearly 2 years now
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/galleries/2686/Huge-US-study-predicts-final-Premier-League-table-sportgalleries/Where-does-the-simulation-predict-your-club-will-finish-408818
kimtoon(Quote)
Still convinced Berahino will leave for as little as £19m this window, TAE?
We will end up with Remy or Gomis imo and Gomis will be a complete waste of time
Stuart79(Quote)
don’t want Gomis
kimtoon(Quote)
STUART79
19 mil will be top dollar and he will leave before the window closes
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Did Moe expect signs of genius from the other two Stooges? No he did not. Well the same goes for Mike. He realizes Larry Charnley and Curly Carr are doing their best.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Also I must point out that we need to show more respect to Steve McCarver! This man has a 23.1 winning percentage after all! That’s 3.1% higher than John McLaren…..or….wait….. is it Steve McCarver? I’m getting a bit confused about who’s who now……
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Moe Ashley has all the answers…..nyuck nyuck nyuck.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Don’t want Gomis either. Would far rather we spent £20m on Berahino than £12m on Remy too.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
Neither Gomis or Remy would be permanent deals, just loans. They are both too old to appeal to Ashley now. I would go for Remy on loan, then a good signing in summer. Not Gomis. He’s 30 and really no better than what we have, and he’s older. Very difficult time now with our remit being what it is.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
How many goals has Gomis scored for Swansea since he’s been there? Has he got double figures in a season and half? We need better than that.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu, I think I read 16 in 57 apps or something
kimtoon(Quote)
Steve McCarver quotes:
“We’re a top 8 side. No doubt about it.” (But in which universe Steve?).
“We’ve struggled a bit for consistency.” (A bit?).
“**** the torpedoes. Sign me another midfielder!” 😯
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I have a feeling we are going too end up with a signing that untill now has not been mentioned in the press . The fact is every Premiership and Championship Chairman knows how badly we need a goalscorer and will hold Ashley too ransom and everyone knows he will not give in too that. My guess is its going too be a Dutch , Belgian or German coming in, i reckon Ashley Will give the french a miss unless its Lacazette
AXEL(Quote)
There’s a certain Polish striker I quite like the look of….
Shamrock(Quote)
Is his name Smolarek by any chance Shamrock mate? We might be able to afford him now. 🙁
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Yes that’s right G2. Smolarek will be our saviour! Provided we can afford his wages of course.. convincing Freedom to release him from his contract could be difficult though…
Shamrock(Quote)
Imo it looks like toon will go all out for Remy,report they had meeting today,it’s all they are left with as WBA will not shift till summer
Icedog(Quote)
Miroslav Klose still hasn’t retired. I’d take him over Cisse and Rivi for sure 😛
Newkie(Quote)
We haven’t won a game comfortably this season under McClaren. Do us all a favor and resign you muppet.
Terry(Quote)
NEWKIE,you will be asking for Ba next lol
Icedog(Quote)