Newcastle’s 4-0 win over Rotherham United at the weekend highlighted a lot of things. It highlighted the importance of Matt Ritchie and Jonjo Shelvey, it highlighted that Daryl Murphy is very good cover for Dwight Gayle, and it also highlighted that DeAndre Yedlin is a player that is improving at a rapid rate.
The interesting situation that was referenced in the title is that, although he is a defender, he is highly exciting.
This is an unusual trait for a defender. He is quick, energetic and has a clear passion for the game.
However, what is most significant is the improvements that he is making to the defensive side of his game.
Yedlin is only young, and while he may have been playing against the worst team in the division this weekend, he showed that he has the potential to improve his positioning and tacking, which are possibly the weakest aspects of his game.
Vurnon Anita may well be a better option currently, but it is good to know that Yedlin can provide adequate cover, and someday, perhaps displace his Dutch counterpart.
Anita’s contract is up in the summer. Is there any news on a new deal?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Quickest player I have seen in a long, long time. He’s still young and will improve his defensive side under Rafa so I think he’s certainly one with a bright future.
Stuart79(Quote)
Jake – Yedlin had a really good game. For him, the most important thing for him to do whilst Anita is out is to listen to Rafa.
There will be times where we need his attacking threat to get in behind a tight defensive side. But equally there will be times when we are 1 or 2 nil up and Rafa wants him to sit in and defend – he has to show his discipline.
He has ability & talent and he’s forming a good understanding with Ritchie when he plays, as does/has Anita.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Agree, he’s not the full package yet, we know he can get forward but he has to be good defensively too. He had a good game Saturday but it’s not a true test since they were awful. He will hopefully master his defensive qualities under Rafa, but for me defensively at the moment RB is Anita’s .
kimtoon(Quote)
I like Anita there too but the kid’s undoubtedly improving game by game and his pace is amazing. A lot of our players are still improving and you have to put that down somewhat to them maturing as players but I’m betting Rafa’s influence on them is massive.
georgio(Quote)
I don’t get these people on Ed’s and on Chronicle comments saying we shouldn’t go after Townsend because he has been average at Palace, would displace Ritchie or cause us not to buy Atsu or block Aarons’s progress. Well, there is an obvious place for Townsend and that is left wing where we currently play Gouffran who seems to be running out of gas. He is left footed, or even 2 footed and there are often times when wingers switch wings during a game. We have seen him do very well in Rafa’s system so why wouldn’t we want an upgrade on Gouffy?
The reasoning seems off, with Aarons constantly injured, Gouffy is 32 and has Atsu really done enough to say we should buy him ahead of, and instead of Townsend? We could probably do with both if Rafa thinks he is good enough for the PL. Negotiate a loan extension with Chelsea, they have far too many players anyway and he would only be stuck in their reserves.
I read a few blogs and am staggered by the logic of many of the posters sometimes.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And if we can get Townsend for the same or less than Palace paid, Rafa basically had a free look at the end of last season. I would trust his judgement over Pardew’s and Allardyce’s and certainly over the Palace fans’. Of course it may take Andros a few games to get over being Pardewed. We might have to get him hypnotized to erase any memories of the tactics and instructions during his time with Arrogant Alan.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Atsu is nowhere near Townsend’s level. Would be good as a squad player but not as first choice.
Shamrock(Quote)
Townsend is head and shoulders better than Gouffran, Atsu or Aarons on the wing.
But arguably he could well be used as a no.10 where I think he could be as effective as either Perez or Diame.
Townsend for me gives us real options in formations and could be hugely effective in a 4-4-2, 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1.
I don’t see how anyone could question taking him back.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sham – would you make Atsu a permanent switch mate?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
options,you hit the nail on the head mate,never mind all the other patter
icedog(Quote)
Rejecting Townsend would make no sense. He might not have done that well at other clubs but he was very good for us and our best player last season. Would be interesting to see him and Ritchie on the wings. Quite formidable i’d say.
Stuart79(Quote)
horses for coarses as they say
icedog(Quote)
Sharpy, probably yes. He can play either wing and although raw, I do like his direct style. He would be a decent option as a squad player to fill on for Ritchie or Townsend. Especially once Rafa has had time to shape him. Aaron’s is a write off for me. Ameobi will leave and I suspect Gouffy will too.
Shamrock(Quote)
agree 100%
icedog(Quote)
I am going to restate what I said on the previous thread. If another team comes in and offers Palace installment payments for Townsend how is that any better than us forgiving the next 3 million as part of the fee and paying the balance in the summer? Allardyce would have about the same money on hand and the same he could take an overdraft against to buy his own players. And I don’t see other teams queuing up either. Think about it, he has failed more than he has succeeded being sent to the reserves at Spurs and the bench at Palace. He had a short period of success with us but we could see his potential under a good manager. I think Pochetino might be good but not every player is suited to the high pressure/high press.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I have not seen enough of Atsu to judge but there comes a time when potential has to be fulfilled or just accepted that it will never be realised. He turned 25 on January 10 so is not a young pup anymore and is the same age as Townsend.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sham – I agree too mate. Gouffrans contract is up and I’d be replacing him with Atsu – Sammy & Aarons can just leave and we should get another wide man as back up to replace them. Ritchie, Townsend, Atsu and another would be plenty cover.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Aarons isn’t leaving. I think they gave him a 3 or 4 year deal. He did his cruciate so I expect him back in pre-season at the earliest and nobody is going to take a chance on him with that injury on top of a torn hamstring last year. 25 years ago he would probably have been finished in the game with those injuries but now he still has a shot. He gets one more chance as he does have a lot of talent, but let’s see if the injuries impact his pace which was one of his main assets.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric I see Aaron’s being loaned to a Championship or league 1 side next season. He won’t be counted on in the PL. He needs to prove his fitness and ability first. It’s pointless counting him in the squad strength for next season.
Shamrock(Quote)
Just looked and Aarons is only 21 (thought he was a few years older than that to be honest).
So yeah, maybe too soon to get rid of him just yet. But he certainly wouldn’t be in my plans.
He’d have to go and prove himself in the same way Armstrong is being made to for me.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Ice I am surprised at Lee Ryder, copy and paste someone elses article and pull it off as his own.
Still think it’s a load of bull. In the summer possibly but now I can’t see it. I’m more than happy with 2nd place.
Stem(Quote)
Not sure I’m that keen on Atsu. Bit of a flatterer to me. And yeah Aarons deserves a final shot if he can claw his way back to full fitness. But that’s it. Final shot because in the end despite the talent he just may not have the physique to be a pro footballer.
georgio(Quote)
i would be happy with 2nd as well,but Rafa will not be,hes a winner ime pleased to say
icedog(Quote)
Ice very true mate. There’s no shame in finishing 2nd for Rafa or Chris. Got a lot of respect for both of them but I’m routing for Rafa. Same as I wanted Robson to beat Keegan’s Manchester City side. It’s going to be close.
Stem(Quote)
I do miss the Robson day’s.
Stem(Quote)
Simon Jordan ✔ @Sjopinion10
How quickly football changes leaves because #nufc in descent within months perceived role reversal with #cpfc . Lightweight play anyway
He has an internal view of the club, so for me this confirms Townsend is coming back.
Shamrock(Quote)
Sham – hope so. Partly because it’ll get Ritchie off the wing. I fancy he’ll be a decent No10!
georgio(Quote)
Sham – well if not Jordan has made it very awkward for Townsend to stay ?.
Football does change very quickly though **** hair. Last season you & fat Sam dodged the bullet – this season though ….?!
Sharpy17(Quote)
Apparently we’re interested in Swansea winger called Barrow? Never heard of him and if he can’t get in that dyer team I’m not too sure I’d want him! Is this the alternative (cheap) to Townsend I wonder?
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart – it’s just another Chron space filler like the links to those two Croatian kids that every top club in Europe would like. Phillips who went from QPR to WBA is the one we should have went for.
georgio(Quote)
I think Gouffy has been a faithful servant to the club. He turns 31 in May by the way. Considering he was played out of position and nearly ruined by Pardew, (who nearly ruined several players), he has recovered well and scored some important goals for us. He has six for us this season. Whatever happens I hope the club treat him fairly.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I sincerely hope you are right!
funrafa(Quote)
Stu – to be fair he’s played quite a bit for Swansea this season – but then if you look at where they are, you couldn’t really say that’s a good thing like ?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Can’t agree more. I think he deserves another year.
funrafa(Quote)
G2 – Shola was a faithful servant mate, need I say more?! ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Gouffy has scored 6 goals in the fizzy pop league and has been ***** in the PL for years. He can leave. We are not going to survive by carrying players like him in the PL.
Shamrock(Quote)
well I like Goofy, he’s done well this season considering he got pardewed 😉
kimtoon(Quote)
Well I don’t really think they are after Swansea kid,just a ploy to get the Townsend deal moving quicker just letting C/P know he not the only they are looking at
Icedog(Quote)
I think the test for our players going forward in the PL is would you buy them now. I don’t think we would buy Gouffy or Sammy even for say 1 million so I wouldn’t renew their contracts. I probably would buy Anita as a right back at the right price of say 3 million and we won’t get that for him so I would renew his contract.
Aarons is a long term injury. So I would put him in a special category.
If Atsu has a buyout of 5 million as has been suggested I think I would pass. Even in today’s crazy transfer market that is a lot for someone who has shown not much. He would probably tear up the French league but the PL may be a bridge too far.
I would also apply this test to players like Hanley, Lazaar and Gamez and would move them on for whatever we could get if Rafa hasn’t seen enough in training to back them.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
BTW, I don’t think Hanley, Gamez or Lazaar have been busts. We needed squad depth as we saw last year and especially under Ugly John where we were playing people out of position every week. This was not Carver’s fault as we didn’t have the bodies.
We have seen with Murphy and Yedlin that some of our summer buys were not necessarily bad buys they were just kept out by players in form like Anita and Gayle.
The main thing that should be remembered is that this team was built to get us out of The Championship and not for the PL. There was always going to be a bit of a clearout in the summer and new additions if we had any hope of staying in the PL. I hear all the time that this team would not cut it in the PL, but we all know that so it is a meaningless statement because we wont have the same team next year.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Don’t see us signing Townsend and in my humble opinion it’s down to Jabba putting the squeeze on the money. Palace want a permanent deal, we want a loan. Why would Palace loan him? Would we lose money on him if we bought him? Questions that make the deal seem ridiculously simple yet we’re in for a Gambian from Swansea.
This has Ashley all over it imo.
Stuart79(Quote)
That arsehole Carr will have been putting poison in jabba ear for sure,Rafa should have kicked him into touch when he moved but I suppose jabba didn’t want to pay his contract up on top of Rafa wages,still trying to run the club on the cheap
Icedog(Quote)
That Swansea kid is no better than Sammy 51 games 1 goal he’s that good it’s only 5mil to buy his contract out
Icedog(Quote)
Stuart: I am not certain that we will get Townsend but as I have written above I don’t think the economics of a loan deal preclude it. What I do know is that Palace just spent 12 million quid on Jeffrey Schlupp who plays as a full back AND a winger. They have Zaha as well who is probably first on their teamsheet along with Cabaye. They have bought competition for Andros if not his direct replacement. He got 2 minutes on Saturday and that was with Zaha off to ACON. I would certainly not rule out a loan for Townsend.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Had to slip away for a bit. Wow, that’s harsh Shamrock mate. 😀 You’ve got a hate on for Gouffy. Ah well. He’s been steady in my mind and had a nice run of form in the Prem where he scored five or six. Then Pardew started seeing him as a defensive midfielder or something and totally destroyed his form. As for Shola Sharpy mate, also a good servant. I wouldn’t keep Sammy around personally. He’s had plenty of time to develop and just hasn’t done it. We will need to replace several in the squad if we get promoted, no doubt about it. I would say Gamez has been a total bust. Not sure about Hanley as he hasn’t had much playing time. And we don’t need 3 senior keepers so surely Sels will leave? I’m not keen on keeping Colback now either but he does have considerable Prem experience. I would sell Mitro as well. Not sure what to do about Perez either. Lots of puzzles to work out lads.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Palace are very close to signing Van Anholt for 12 million. He is a leftback and that frees up Schlupp to play as a winger. So that’s 24 million spent on the left side and Zaha on the right when he returns. Where does that leave Townsend, one of their higher earners? He might not come to us but it is clear that Palace do not rate him, especially if you factor in the Simon Jordan comments.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I hope we go for Townsend. It’s frustrating having Ashley around. Does he want us to succeed or not? I know players tend to be more expensive in January but one player? Surely we can afford that. Then you have another dependable body in the Prem. We aren’t deep at all for going back up, just for playing in the Championship. Come on Ashley, free up some money!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I hate to say it but I think Big Sam has far more football vision than Pardew will or has ever had. He’ll keep Palace up, just as he kept the mackems up. Moyes just looks to be feeling sorry for himself now. He’ll be gone when they go down and then who would hire him?
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Townsend has had a very strange career. He was on loan about 8 times at Spurs until he makes his breakthrough and then plays for England. Then falls out with a trainer and gets sent to the reserves. Finally plays 10-15 decent games for us and now almost in the wilderness at Palace. He is not really a safe bet but we have seen him play well for us and you have to trust Rafa’s judgement on this one because he has seen him in training every day.
BTW: Rafa puts a lot of stock in training. In every single press conference when asked about a player he invariably says “he is training very well”.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
G2: they should sack Moyes. He has given up and has virtually said as much. This, and his body language, say to the Sunderland players that they have no chance. I think they have the worst squad in the PL and no one they can get will save them but Moyes is transmitting negativity to the whole team and confidence is worth quite a few points at the end of the day.
Your Southern neighbours now have a King ruling by Executive Order.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Townsend deal is not going to happen,it’s off
Icedog(Quote)
Cheers Ice. If that’s the case I have spent far too much time thinking about it 🙂 If he is on the bench for the rest of the year maybe we can get him for 5 mil in the summer.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Spot on Eric mate. Where did you hear that ice mate? As for King Trump, he’s the worst possible President. I have never been so anxious. We could be on the way to real trouble all over the place. Tension with China could lead to a showdown of some kind. Europe is already bracing itself, as is Canada. I would rather scrap the NAFTA agreement than give in to Trump and I think Mexico probably feels the same. How will protectionism create more jobs in the States? Scary times indeed. 👿
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Moyes is a disaster now. He should have stepped down a few weeks ago. They need somebody like Chris Hughton to take over next season. He has a magic touch in the Championship. I really admire the man.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Dominic Toner at 8.15 he’s a reporter normally he’s not bad
Icedog(Quote)
Luke Edwards on his personal twitter says Townsend deal is probably off. Not sure if that is enough to say the deal is definitely dead. He probably still has contacts but wasn’t he trained at The Chronicle under the great Lee Ryder? Maybe it was one of the other NE papers?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Maybe C/P will cave in by Tues,but I think Carrs word in jabba ear has sunk the deal,Rafa will “not”happy,enjoy him while we can as imo he will walk come summer
Icedog(Quote)
Well if the journos are saying it’s off I’m not exactly surprised. I am just really quite pissed off that we haven’t just bought him and get on with getting promoted. It’s funny that Ashley is only a gambler when it comes to saving money, not when it comes to spending it!
I really cannot believe we have a player like Townsend who wants to come and we won’t buy him. It was nice while it lasted but Ashley is BACK!
Stuart79(Quote)
I hate to say I knew it.
Anyway, I think we will be back to PL next season, even with Townsend. But don’t put too much hope on cup competition, as our bench is not thick enough to go all the way.
funrafa(Quote)
I mean even without Townsend.
As to next season, I don’t know. I just feel sad.
funrafa(Quote)
Bollocks. Looks like all our players will be through to the QF of ACON on Jan 28 and 29. Senegal and Ghana have qualified and Congo likely to join them.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I might upset Premandup but I find it annoying that it is every 2 years in the middle of the European season when they could quite easily make it our summer because it is held on odd years and the Euros and World Cup are even years.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I don’t think we need Townsend, but I do think Allardyce needs money. 🙂 I would rather wait till the end of the season. If they are relegated then Andros will want to leave, for sure and we could get him then (if Rafa wants him). I think we should explore our options and be relaxed about taking him back, see what else is out there as well. Having said that, I would welcome him back, I think he looked good in the PL for us and I don’t blame him for putting his England career first.
DJG(Quote)
Think I’ll just wait u til the end of the window before judging how well or not the club has done. Still reckon Townsend will happen.
2 days ago Sky Sports were saying Marseille have ended their pursuit in Payet. Today they have made a new bid.
Could just be the Toon biding it’s time to get Palace nervy about not getting g the funds to secure their own targets. Make them sweat for a clue of days then go back in…
Shamrock(Quote)
I was having a think about that and to be honest it’s only really Diame who has been a regular, (until recently when Atsu has had a few more games, Mbemba has barely played at all). I think Diame has had all his best games away from home also, they will only miss the home games against QPR and Derby and then they will all be back. Then after that we will hopefully have Gayle, Shelvey, Diame & Atsu to pick from, so happy days.
Dare I suggest we’ve actually played better with this change of formation and personnel, we were starting to get a bit predictable and teams were starting to frustrate us. I think it’s done us good to not play with a conservative Diame at home.
DJG(Quote)
I’m not overly impressed with Diame yet to be honest. Fingers crossed he has a strong second half of the season.
Shamrock(Quote)
Could also say that Mbemba is getting some games at a reasonable standard, whereas he’d just be sitting on the bench if he was still here.
DJG(Quote)
Eric
Of course it’s stupid, what isn’t
Premandup(Quote)
???
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sod giving Palace funds to secure targets, I wouldn’t give them a penny piece. They owe us £3m still.
Townsend can stay there for me. Big Scam down with the mackems.
DJG(Quote)
Love your optimism, Sham. Unfounded but admirable.
Stuart79(Quote)
Agree with DJG . Not fussed by Townsend at all. We are on track to get promotion and all he would be is some icing on the cake. Fuk Palace, why should we do them any favours?
This **** happens every transfer window. We get linked with a player that excites and then the doom and gloom starts when we look like missing out on said player.. life will go on and we will get promoted. When that happens then we will need to strengthen. At this point in time, it would be nice bit it is not critical..
Aussie(Quote)
I’m not convinced Luke Edwards knows any more about the clubs actual transfer intentions than you or I Stu. He’ll what only know whatever line his ‘source’ wants fed out. Maybe it’s a tactic, maybe it’s the truth…
What I do know is, clubs announce the end of a persuit all the time, only to go back in later on. I would not be surprised if that’s what we did. If we dont, so be it. A missed opportunity and more risk taking to MA.
Shamrock(Quote)
Couple of Krul to Chelsea rumours going around.
Shamrock(Quote)