rogerbarton

They paid £7m and are selling him for 2m though!

Check this Liverpool fan's defence of the King out:

Mind you, Tiote's probably scored the best goal in an Arsenal game in the last two seasons

Ha ha, I never actually saw him play. Looked it up and he's on loan there (just come back after a six month lay off) with an option to buy for €2m. They clearly decided he was nowhere near good enough...

Arsenal are a good example, because they play in a similar way as to how we've set up in the last couple of games - a midfield destroyer would work well in behind two creative types. That said, Song's actually a great all round player in my opinion. I'm just not sure I'd buy into the idea that, say, a Tiote - Sneijder central midfield pairing wouldn't work well.

Reading back over this, what the hell happened to that Bebe lad?!

(Which is why I'm convinced Dalglish must have been responsible.)

I just cannot see how anyone who knew what they were doing would pay what they did for the likes of Downing, Henderson, Adam. I don't blame them as much for Carroll though they should surely have waited til the summer to identify a better replacement for Torres, but it seems unforgivable to spend about £40m on two at best 'decent' players in Downing and Henderson with the time they had to find players.

He is knocking on a bit and is clearly happy at his hometown team, afterall he's forever praising Ashley and Llambias.

Djemba Djemba probably put him off. To be honest, apart from Scholes, and maybe the injured Fletcher, I don't think they have a particularly gifted central midfielder there at all.

Very well reasoned post, Mcfaul. I'm in your camp - I'll never ever forgive them for the Kevin Keegan debacle and the manner in which we got relegated. They treated another legend, Alan Shearer, appallingly and then they screwed over a true gentleman who the fans adored in Chris Hughton. None of that is forgivable in my eyes but the astuteness that the staff at the club are showing now is going some way to softening my feelings towards the upper echelons. And while I see the likes of Ben Arfa, Cisse, Ba, Cabaye and Gutierrez linking up in the final third, playing some of the most beautiful football at Newcastle in years, and thoroughly likeable chaps at that, I will be happy.

Never seen Douglas but I'm glad that we're looking to strengthen in that area. I think we need a strong, tall stopper alongside Coloccini but it's a bonus if he is good on the ball too. With regards Tiote, none of the other CMs we have are in the same vein as him. He's a midfield destroyer - a tough tackling ball winner who shields the defence. Guthrie doesn't offer anywhere near the same defensively, he's more useful with the ball at his feet. Gosling to me seems to fancy himself as a Nolan or Lampard type who arrives late to the box and, to be fair, he's chipped in with a couple of goals in his brief time on the pitch and come close to another couple. I'm not sure what his strengths are really though. Abeid too doesn't seem to be a defensive minded player from the limited times I've seen him / what I've heard about him.

I think he'd be a good fit at Manchester United who have struggled to have a top quality central midfield in recent years. I'd love to see him stay though, and I know that if he does leave we'll be pocketing an over the odds amount of money.

I remember when he was briefly in charge of Bolton and he was asked what he thought of the job Avram Grant was doing at Chelsea on the radio. There was a pause for a good five seconds and then, "er, well 'e's a manager." In all seriousness, Dalglish is going to get as much time as anyone to turn things around there so I reckon they maise well give him another season. They should never have let him have any control over transfers tbh and I'd suggest their recruitment policy is what really needs to change. We're a shining example to them of how to recruit skilfully from the continent and there's no way Dalglish is going to have the knowledge to be in charge of that. The problem is, if they're really going to improve they'll need to clear out some of the deadwood that he's brought in to make room for some quality players.

I'm shocked you'd even get a kiss on the cheek after following someone home. Also, I hope there wasn't anything sharp in the sink

Tiote was a squad player for Twente? I s'pose it was Mad Mac in charge at the time

Four in a row is it? They've not even been that dominant overall the last few years like. The Ronaldo thing is shocking, what a knob. Nani's just daft

I think you're right to mention the Man Utd game where hoofball worked effectively with Ba and Ameobi winning a lot of headers against a gifted side on the floor. After Ba and Cisse got back, and then still when Cabaye and Tiote returned, we were still playing hoofball and Ben Arfa was on the bench. That was what puzzled me, 'cos he seemed loathed to change things until we were heading for defeat in the derby. Anyway, all is forgiven now - it just seemed odd at the time since we'd had success playing decent football earlier in the season and clearly did not have the players suited to long ball Stoke tactics anyway.

We're virtually in Europe if the bin dippers beat, well, the other bin dippers. (Liverpool beat Everton.) If they don't, we need to finish 5th or higher. As I understand it. HOWEVER, after Swansea, we have three eminently winnable games ahead of a potentially huge game at Stamford Bridge, Citeh at home and Everton away. You've got to feel that if we get three points on Friday we are right in the mix for a Champions League spot, particularly if you look at the fixtures of Chelski, l'Arse and Spuds. Even this weekend, Arsenal face Man City, Tottenham go to the mackems and Chelsea still have to visit Arsenal and Tottenham! We have a shot at it, for sure.

The whole thing could well be a curveball. I've got the utmost faith in the scouting team to bring in top quality players and it's only really the centre back and full back positions where I think we need strengthening (if only for strength in depth at CB).

I still don't understand what was going through his mind a few weeks ago with the hoofball, even when we had all these players back at our disposal vs. Wolves (what an appalling result that seems in hindsight) and first half vs mackems, but clearly Ben Arfa's introduction in that game showed up how much better we are with the ball on the floor and he seems to have found something that really works.

That doesn't sound great, but we all know how fickle football fans can be I haven't seen enough of him to form a decent judgement if I'm honest, we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

I'm really struggling with that stat...we did well while Williamson was out of the team at the beginning of the year. I'd hazard that there'd be similar stats with Saylor, and to a lesser extent Colo, tbh because our only real dip in form this season was when Willo was already out and Saylor and Colo got crocked as well.

This'll be a good challenge for us. They've just lost two and look safe - job done, if you like. We have momentum behind us and look rather fine going forward at the moment. I think the Everton defeat they had at home is a case in point at how to defeat them, cos they're always going to have a lot of good possession.

The difference between us and Bolton under Allardyce is that we are a profit making business as it stands, with a better scouting network in place than the last hurrah club Big Sam was bringing in and much bigger foundations to compete at a higher level, ie. 52 000 fans every week!