34 hours to go…

Will we see a top striker come in before the deadline passes?
Will we see a top striker come in before the deadline passes?
Well we are in the final stretch of the window having so far signed a pacey winger, a midfielder with an eye for a pass and a French guy that may or may not be any good. So what can we expect in the next 35 hours?

In the last few days there have been numerous reports linking us to both a left back and a striker.

For the left back the initial report was that we had approached Gary Neville’s Valencia with a view to taking their tough tackling twice capped 29-year-old Argentine Lucas Orban on loan. That rumour quickly subsided with the news we were on the verge of securing the services of Brazilian born but Italian and Spanish eligible Guilherme Siqueira from Atletico Madrid. I was concerned about this one because be is described as an attacking full back, better going forward than back. I feel our back line is screaming out for a solid presence and with Townsend able to do the attacking on the left, it makes sense for us to employ a ‘limited’ full back concentrating on protecting our third of the pitch.

Now it transpires Valencia are about to scoop up Siqueira on a permanent deal, so I’d not be suprised if it was just the media putting 2 and 2 together and it was always Orban that we were going to sign. Watch this space. We had a successful Spanish left back in Jose Enrique not so long ago, but he did take a long while to warm up, which is always a concern with overseas purchases…

Up front we have been heavily linked to Loic Remy, Saido Berahino, Seydou Doumbia and Bafetimbi Gomis.

I won’t bore you with the specific stats but in terms of records in the PL, Gomis contributes a goal or assist every 3 games. At 30-years-old I don’t feel he is the man for us. His record this year mirrors Alexander Mitrovic’s almost exactly in terms of direct goal contribution, chances created, attacking moves etc with Gomis winning more one-to-one challenges.We need a significant improvement in our front line and Gomis does not fit the bill.

Seydou is an Ivorian with an impressive record in Russia, who can play up front or as an inside forward on either flank. If he comes in on loan, then we have little to lose – but he is unproven in the best leagues and is somewhat of a journeyman – again I’m not convinced.

So that leaves Remy and Berahino. Both of these players have directly contributed 1 goal every 2 games so far in their time in the English top flight. That makes them by far the better of the prospects currently available and we should move Heaven and Earth to secure one of them if we are serious about doing all we can to avoid the drop.

At 29, Remy would want a long contract as it’s likely to be his last big pay day. We know what he can do from his previous time with us, but with Leicester keen on him, we stand little chance of securing his services given their position in the league. I’d also be cautious about pinning our hopes on a man that has a track record of spurning us.

So that leaves Saido Berahino as the only realistic, available player capable of immediately significantly improving our front line. He is English, proven in the PL and only 22-years-old. It is rumoured we have offered in the region if £25m whilst the Baggies want in excess of £30m. Before I did my thorough homework on him, I though tbat price was steep given his questionable attitude this season. However, his stats are not in question and we don’t know what happened behind the scenes last summer. He might have been promised a move away only for West Brom to change the goalposts at the last minute. Who knows?

Andy Carroll was a young prospect that the Magpies managed to get £35m for several years ago way before this £5b TV deal was on the agenda. When you consider that and what is at stake for us this season, I’d say £30m for Berahino is actually a fair price and our board needs to cough up if they are serious about keeping this great club in the big time where it belongs.

Any of the other options are simply a cheap gamble….

About Shamrock

Like everyone here, support Newcastle United. Not the easiest side to feel good about at times, but it's our side!

563 thoughts on “34 hours to go…

  1. Sham – Basically you’re saying we only have Norwich in our sights. It’s going to be one hell of a hard job to get out of this mess. We could easily get a thumping on Wednesday and then all the positive vibes have dissapeared.

    DJG – I don’t see anybody on here actually writing Doumbia off. Personally I just think it’s a risk that we are putting all our eggs in a basket of someone who hasn’t played PL football and may need time to adjust and we don’t have time. He might hit the ground running – he needs to otherwise we will go down and that’s the biggest worry of all for me. If he doesn’t hit the ground running then absolutely nothing has changed and we won’t be any stronger whatsoever after this window as we will continue to create chances but fail to score. Thing they’re reasonable concerns to be honest.

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  2. so the bed is made, now we have to lie in it.
    Never thought we were truly committed to Berahino.
    when have we EVER gone public on a purchase. Pure Bullshit imho.
    we now live in hope that the Rhino hits the ground running. At least he should get plenty service from the midfield and wings.
    we only need 5 wins and 3 draws from 15 matches. – not impossible –
    but its gonna come down to the wire for another season.
    HOWAY the Lads

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  3. Stu, yeah. Passion and blind optimism for my club aside – if you look at the table and look at balance within squads then it’s between us and Norwich for the final relegation place.

    We are 1 injury away from a crisis across the whole back line – LB, RB, CB. Lose Janmaat, Colo or Mbemba and we are screwed. We were desparate for a LB and failed miserably. Big mistake. Even went in for an unfit, Injury prone and unmotivated Enrique and failed.

    We have sorted CM out and the wing, which is good – but we also need a deadly striker. We early wanted Berahino or Lacazette, but got neither. It seems Douambia could be a good player, but the PL is not the Russian League and in all likelihood he will need time to adjust. Fingers crossed he hits the ground runningw. Either way, he was a secondary consideration up front and they cleary wanted him plus a top draw striker. They failed in that part too.

    I just don’t think we have enough balance or depth in the right areas to easily remove ourselves from the drop zone and it will be a.close battle all the way to end between Norwich and us.

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  4. If we survive, we will lose Sissoko in the.summer..We will need pretty much a whole new back line plus a right winger or two and a striker. There is still a LOT of work to be done on this squad before we can start pushing anywhere near Top 8 again. It’s 50/50 whether we will be in the Championship next season I reckon.

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  5. oh dear sham – top 8 ?
    not on the agenda under this regime.
    The question is, has our summer transfer budget already been blown ?
    who do we need to sell to raise a transfer kitty ?
    17th this season will be a success.
    its deffo us or norwich.
    scum and villa
    the home derby is massive

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  6. Seydou Doumbia…Left foot, right foot, strong as an Ox plus a massive heeed!!!! what can possibly go wrong??????

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  7. our defence is still our achilies heel.
    1 injury or more likely suspension and wor goose is cooked.
    no news on Tiotes move to china then ?

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  8. Beardsley boots I agree. We can’t defend full stop. We got lucky a few times with results this season but it had absolutely nothing to do with great defending.

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  9. Sham – I think McClaren said when he came in that it would take at least 3 windows to address the issues of the playing squad. I think he was obviously looking at the contracts of some of our deadwood – knowing that’s the only way we will get rid when their contracts run out.
    January can be a tough window to do much coz lets be fair, clubs don’t want to part with their top defenders or forwards halfway through the season. If WBA had more points on the board then maybe they’d have let Saido go.
    I think we have got some good players in this window, but yeah we needed a defender & forward too – but it wasn’t for the lack of trying for a change.

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  10. “not for the lack of trying” – lol
    their hand was forced.
    This window has been a desperate attempt at survival, nothing more than that. Had we not been sat in the bottom 3 then I doubt we would have gone for Shelvey, Townsend or Doumbia.

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  11. Boots – we may not have bought those players, but McClaren did say it was going to take at least 3 windows to get the squad right. So I still think they would have brought players in – maybe not as many if we were sat 10 or 11 I agree. But I think the players we’ve brought in are good ones, not desperation signings. I think had we got Gomis & Enrique – they would have been desperation signings.

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  12. one way or another the defence will have to be addressed in the summer.
    Fingers crossed we survive in the EPL first and foremost though.

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  13. I hope some lessons have been learnt about cheap french players that are totally unsuitable to the rigours of the EPL.

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  14. actually, not so cheap even.
    we was robbed blind in both the cabella and thauvin deals.

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  15. Boots – sod waiting til the summer. There are some good defenders who will be available to talk to now & brought in on a free in the summer – Matip, N’Koulou at CB and Marcos Alonso for LB.

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  16. My big worry is Elliot, hasn’t he been playing injured, if he gets crocked bad we are truly screwed, cause with Krul out there’s not really anyone with the steel for the job. Forget Darlow he won’t save us should the worst happen.

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  17. It’s really not nice having this sick feeling throughout the entire season, cannot believe they let us get in such a fix. We were turned down for 4 attempts for a left back apparently.

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  18. Really forget Darlow already??

    I seem to remember Elliot having a very ropey debut & I definately remember the reaction when people found out he had been given a new contract.

    Now he’s apparantly like billy the fish and should be no 1 when Krul comes back…

    The only reason Elliot is playing right now is Darlow picking up at the same time as Krul, Otherwise KD would have settled down in the no1 spot & RE would still be getting pelters for being fat & Pardews pet

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  19. Thing is when it comes to having a solid defence, it is not all about strengthen the back 4. We need midfielders that can hold the ball up whenneeded, we need forwards that can do the same. We need mmidfielders that are willing to work hard to close space and press hard when not in possession. You could have two of the worlds best centre halfs playing in your back line and they would not be able to cope if there is no pressure relief offered by the players further up the park. Our defensive issues run deeper than the players we have as our back four. Still it is easier for some fans to point fingers at certain individuals. ?…

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  20. Good points Aussie@397. I think we actually are tighter in midfield now. The Colback/Anita partnership was too lightweight and there was no forward momentum from them. That’s changed and barring injuries the defence has been tighter too.

    On 5Live last night they had an Italian discussing Doumbia at Roma. Fans didn’t like him from day 1 (possible racism) and he reacted badly. Journo said he’s not brilliant at anything but pretty good at everything. 7/10. Needs to be loved and get credit.

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  21. I see no way we stay up unless someone other than Wijnaldum starts scoring.

    We’ve got a situation where we have about 10 first team attackers that we have to rotate or make angry and about 4 first team defenders.

    Shambles.

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  22. CC, if you would be content with Darlow in goal for the rest of the season then more fool you. Elliot has proven to be a good deputy in Kruls absence and as yet I have seen nothing to suggest Darlow is up to the job. Even Stuart Pearce said him and Lascelles weren’t ready for the premier league yet.

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  23. Georgio, the other issue with Colback and Anita is that they only every play about 10ft in front of the defence for most of the bloody games.. neither are ever in any position to try and hold the ball up if required.. hopefully we can have some joy in that area of the park going forward.

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  24. CC
    darlows a champship goalie at best bud i watched forest a good bit last season after we signed them 2

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  25. TAE, I’ll happily eat humble pie if Darlow comes good but I haven’t seen anything yet to suggest he will, though only seen him a few times here and there. He played in that behind closed doors Derby last week when they put 6 past us.

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  26. KIMTOON
    me 2 but hes way off the lvl of a prem goalie they toted him as a future england keeper englands in deep **** if thats true 😯

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  27. Aussie – I agree with you but I think we need a big, no nonsense CB. A defender who organises the back 4 and holds that line together. A John Terry, Ryan Shawcross, Ashley Williams or Robert Huth type defender.
    We don’t need a ball playing defender, we need a bit of steel in there IMO.

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  28. Kim – I can see what CC is saying though, Elliot was roundly slated for his poor initial performance and for being a Pardew buy. Turns out he’s been one of the best transfers we’ve made under Ashley 😆

    Are we really expecting to get a quality third choice keeper in, ahead of Darlow? Elliot is definitely one of the better keepers in the league and has kept us in plenty of the games where we’ve been dominated so far. Then we have a highly rated young keeper coming through the ranks as well, where do we expect all five of them to get game time 😕 .

    We’ve got a fair few injuries right now, bu Dummett is back fit and Mbabu is set to come back in Feb if i’m not mistaken? Steven Taylor is back, and Janmaat played left back for the Netherlands in the World Cup so I don’t think things are as bad as some are making out.

    Our issue isn’t dropping down the league due to injuries – it’s actually managing to get a string of wins together with sides which are almost our first XI, something which we’ve failed miserably at under McClaren.

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  29. Elliot has proved himself finally after signing in 2011 and playing dozens of matches for the club

    Darlow has played once in the premier league & a couple of times in the league cup

    As for judging him on the behind closed door Christ look at the amount of goals weve conceded with Krul & Elliot in goal, Maybe something to do with what’s in front of them ?

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  30. CC – Exactly, can;t understand writing him off already. As for judging Darlow at Forest, who exactly was calling for Elliot to be brought in from Charlton, an even worse side? No way can you judge a player off a couple of matches, and even less so for other sides. Surely at Newcastle United we’ve learned that with both sides of the coin, signing world beaters who turned out to be ***** and signing supposed nobodies who turned it around quite well – Perch went from our most hated player to one of our better perforners…

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  31. CC, He doesn’t look ready when I have seen him, Stu Pearce said the same thing, but then you know better than him I suppose. I’m not writing him off merely saying he is not ready imo, there is a difference you know. Let me ask you and others this question, if we lost Elliot next game for the season, would you be confident Darlow would block enough shots to keep us up?

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  32. CC, If the problem is what’s in front of the keepers then even more reason for a safe pair of hands isn’t it?

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  33. Newkie, I’m not suggesting we buy a keeper, but we should of got a pl experienced loan in if possible.

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  34. Very immature insult especially considering youve spent gods knows how long moaning about Pardew rating Williamson & Dummett over Yanga Mbiwa & Santon

    Yo know better than Pardew do you ?

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  35. CC, you are being a total **** now, how about you answer my question@413 before asking one of me. As for Mbiwa and santon yes I believe both were better than Willo and Dummett. Dummett should play at CB not Lb that’s just my opinion of course.

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  36. CC – nee need for that mate. But out of character as well, you normally arguing your points better than that. You having a bad day like?!

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  37. Interesting to get the neutral view…

    Which club did the best business in the January transfer window?
    Posted at 13:14

    The vote results are in and a huge 42% of you feel that Newcastle did the best business of any Premier League club during the January transfer window.

    The other results were…

    15% Southampton, 9% Stoke, 7% Norwich, 6% Leicester, 5% Watford, Bournemouth, Everton, 3% West Ham, 2% Sunderland.

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  38. Kim – I think our biggest worry is in front of the oppositions goal.
    Yes our defence is shaky and we are pinning things on Elliott a bit, but at the moment we need to score goals – that’s what wins games.
    We have 15 games left so not too worried about Elliott getting injured for those.
    What I am worried about is that Elliott or not, we will concede. So in those 15 games we need 30-45 goals (2-3 per game) and we’ve scored 25 so far.

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  39. Sharpy

    “Stu Pearce said the same thing, but then you know better than him I suppose”

    You dont think thats sarky and uncalled for ?

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  40. Kim – but that would mean having to take up another squad place with a keeper. Would you be comfortable with that, given we still don’t seem to have a settled team or system to get wins? I’m going to assume the squad actually wanted another striker nad possibly a left back in, which would have meant knocking two off, but a third just for a keeper, I’m not sure I agree. And getting a PL experienced keeper on the last day when the other deals didn’t go through would be a tough ask…

    PL experience doesn’t even mean that much all the time – just look at where Shay Given is these days – I’d take elliot over him like 😆

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  41. CC there is no bloody need for that sort of response,you wouldn’t like it aimed at you,KIM is one of our better bloggers and has also written some great threads for this blog,she has done more for this blog than many.
    I offten debate things with her and yes she knows her footy more than a lot,either way her view is as valid as anyone else

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  42. chairman not squad* doh.

    Also, just putting it out there, but Stuart Pearce is a terrible manager. He was a total legend for Forest fans and they’d had enough of him after a few months, so not too fussed what he thinks personally. He’s not had any success anywhere.

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  43. Wow…ongoing negativity still astounds me. We had probably the best transfer window of all 20 PL clubs in a window that is traditionally difficult.

    FUNKY JESUS – 4 first team defenders?? We have Colo, Mbemba, Janmaat, Dummett, Haidara (due back March), Taylor and Lascelles. That’s 7. We also have Mbabu who has played for us plus Anita and Colback who can fill in at full back.

    Shame we didn’t get a top left back. Nobody else seems to have been able to nail down that position. Seems like we were nearly going to get the guy from Spain but he decided to go to Valencia late on.

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  44. CC – perhaps, but you’ve had worse than that on here and not reacted that way before – or I’ve never seen it if you have. For the record, I agree with you and defended Darlow when he got slaughtered on here.
    Just saying you are usually cooled than that and argue your points better normally mate.
    I’m not sure Kim was trying to be overly sarky or push your buttons as she went on to ask you a valid question.

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  45. Pearce said Darlow and Lascelles weren’t ready for the PL when they signed for us…fine…they stayed at Forest for a season. Since then they’ve had another 6 months training with us and some good experience.

    If anyone says that Darlow or Lascelles should be starters for us, they’re insane. But I’ve never heard anyone say that seriously. They’re young players there to provide depth and hopefully grow into becoming first team players with us. We can only have 1 goalkeeper and 2 centre halves…

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  46. Name me one club who has a 4th choice centre back who is as good as the 1st choice centre back…

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  47. Sharpy – exactly, we’ve not seen much of the lad but certainly not enough to write him off. Personally I think it was sour grapes from Pearce who’d just lost two players, and with those comments he knew they’d have been useful.

    We didn’t have many stand outs against Watford, but he was one of the best on the pitch and got the goal, so yeah, probably our best player… 😕

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  48. Both right .darlow shouldn’t be written off, he’s hardly played… On the other hand. I’d be less confident with survival if Elliott got injured. 😕

    How many clubs have 3 excellent keepers?

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  49. The thing with Stuart Pearce is he worked with the guys and he would be more than aware of what they were capable of and at what stage. Was it sour grapes, not sure, I really don’t think the guy is that spiteful.

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  50. TDS – Yeah, I’m a bit disappointed that some fans still seem hugely disappointed with the window, it’s a huge success by NUFC standards 😆

    While centre mid wasn’t exactly the area we needed to strengthen, we haven’t had a long range goal threat/playmaker since Cabaye left, so Shelvey is key. And we’ve been stuck playing central midfielders out wide, so Townsend was also a good purchase. As Aussie said earlier, defending isn’t just about two blokes at the back, it’s about the whole team. With more of a goal threat and more pace out wide, we will worry sides who won’t be able to press us as much without being exposed to the counter, etc etc etc. I’d have liked a striker to secure safety, but after making Colo captain we were never going to get a first choice starter CB to replace him like…

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  51. Gashley, I never wrote him off, merely said he wouldn’t save us if we had to rely on him as he’s not quite ready yet imo.

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  52. Kim – wouldn’t say it was spiteful, but people say those things when they are frustrated. We all know how easy it is to rile him, seems perfectly in character with him to say something like that. All managers get frustrated and you can see it in the way that they will downplay how well the opposition did, or how a ref changed the game, or how the players they sold weren’t that good etc etc.

    I can’t imagine Lascelles/Darlow were that fussed, if you let one comment by a former manager like that knock you then you’re in trouble when you bump into oppo fans in the street. Or with our fan base, even our own fans 😆

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  53. Newks, aye your not wrong there like 😀

    Thing is with Keepers they can take time to mature into the role in some cases. It’s such a pity we don’t have the luxury of being on say 30/35 points already. If we did then we could try Darlow out a lot more to get him the game time he needs. If we had stayed in the cups maybe we could of played him in them games, after all it’s horrible going out the cups but it doesn’t cost you your PL status .

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  54. Kim – yeah exactly, Krul being injured hasn’t cost us so the keeper position hasn;t had the chance to cost us as it were. If we doing better or as expected then I think he may well have been loaned out for game time, but it’s all hands on deck atm. Cups were our only real shot at giving him a look in – and as usual, we crumbled at the first hurdle 🙄 but I don’t think it would be panic stations if he had to come in, not like he’s going to be worse than Jak Alnwick last season…

    And as I said, we need the squad places so we can score some goals! I’m feeling quite happy with Doumbia now the more I hear about him – they’re not sure whether he’ll be ready for Everton but worth a shot on the bench surely!?

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  55. Newks, So long as he shoots down West Brom I’m happy, would love us to thrash that lot. Like you I’m pretty happy with the window, just wish we’d got some more defenders in .

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  56. KIM

    It takes a pretty negative mind to truly believe that Stuart Pearce is a better judge of these players than the guys at NUFC who signed them and play them. He hasn’t exactly had lots of success…

    I don’t believe he would be spiteful either but nobody is perfect in judging a player’s potential. Just think of the players that we let slip through our fingers when they were young…

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  57. NEWKIE

    Yep. Totally agree that replacing Cabaye with a playmaker was crucial for us. We haven’t had a real ball playing midfielder since him. Someone who looks to move the ball forward and spots a pass. Brilliant! I reckon Gini or Sissoko could do that too, but they’ve been needed further up.

    Surprised that Saivet has said he’s taking a more defensive role. Everything I read on him made out that he was more of an attacking player, but maybe he’s evolved a bit more recently and found a better position for himself.

    We now have options which is fantastic! If we do get relegated, then McClaren should be thrown off the Tyne Bridge!

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  58. TDS, O.k I’m negative, been called worse 😀 You say we will be better judges of them then go on to point out that we have let good players slip through our fingers. Bit confused mate to be honest. I do believe we should be able to get the best out of them but we have to give Stuart a bit of respect he has worked with them. He was a good player and surely he is able to spot when a player is ready or not. like I said I’m not writing Darlow off just pointing out that I do not think he is ready to take on the heavy responsibility of keeper every week should the worst happen. In the end it’s just my opinion, I’m not forcing anyone to agree.

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  59. Kim – them and the Mackems like, we need a new derby hero because we have been seriously lacking in them recently, and I think he might just fit the bill. I’m tired of their dog **** players scoring wonder goals against us as well, surely we’re due a few worldies!

    TDS – Not sure either of them offer the same threat from distance though, so Shelvey is defo suited to that role, and as you say Sissoko is much better as our outlet to create space and Gini to cap the move with his finishing instincts. Saviet is another everyman, but it gives me hope that we will get rid of Anita iin the summer who has been a poor aquisition really. Agree on Schteve, if he manages to get this squad relegated and on top of all the new signings then he will go down as the worst toon manager I’ve seen imo. He’s on a par with Kinnear for me now…

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  60. I think most fans are happy ish with the window. But let’s be fair, before the window opened we had a bad defence and a bad goal scoring record and a reasonable midfield. What we’ve actually done is strengthened our midfield further, left our defence as it was and added another body in attack whole we hope will score goals and improve us there. So nobody can say we’ve had a great window as we’ve added quality to the strongest part of the team and left the weakest part of the team alone.

    So it’s been a ok window when looked at in depth and without he sound bites of Townsend and Shelvey.

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  61. Newks, yep it’s a real issue for me, that last game in particular, they were dog **** up until the ref joined their side and then once ahead they grew in confidence. Payback needs to be a real ***** this time.

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