Kitman

There's a lot to be depressed about in your answer alone, CT. The bit highlighted for instance

He certainly seems like a sound bloke. And he seems better informed than the local press too.

Certainly one thing that we didn't see from Kinnear were those "gems" from the Football League we were promised when he came on board. I guess they weren't any to be had then......

Well I think everyone can agree we need to concede less and score more. I don't know where you got your second para from Chez but it wasn't a point I was seeking to make. The way I see it, we aren't good enough defensively to let teams play at us, which they will if we lack punch up front. Or to put it in your terms, I'm not sure we're capable of conceding less when it matters; not because our defence is shit, but because we will get injuries, suspensions and loss of form and the back up players aren't good enough. Take out Colo for instance and it's a pipe dream to think of a clean sheet. The point I was trying to make (obviously badly) is that it's not about the shoeings we got off the likes of Arsenal, it's when you lose narrowly against the likes of Reading or Everton because they know they can attack you without fear. Remy will be mint on the counter for instance which we've lacked since Bellamy left but take him out of the team and we're pedestrian. Not sure I'm making my point very well but the bottom line for me is we needed another player to provide pace and goal threat upfront.

Obviously if you concede a lot of goals you lose but that stat doesn't tell the whole story. For instance 20 of those 68 goals were conceded in only 4 games. We conceded 13 goals in 2 fixtures alone vs Arsenal and Liverpool. We had a number of problems including in PL inexperienced players, a poor second string, key players missing or AWOL etc etc. But I don't think many teams were worried about us because we didn't have much goal threat throughout the team. I think Remy is a great signing because he's a goal scorer and he has genuine pace; we looked a different class up front when he came on (along with the other subs). However he seems injury prone and if he's out we're back to the Shola/Cisse axis. Personally I don't think we'll be as bad at the back as last season. But I think it's possible with a couple of injuries upfront we could revert to pedestrian and negative tactics and invite teams to rip us a new arsehole like last time out. I don't think we're good enough to play for clean sheets especially against the better teams.

Sissoko and Gouffran are hardly prolific. iirc we don't score many goals from midfield, none from corners and Cabaye is the only who scores from free kicks. We're very reliant on our strikers to score and it's a worry imo. A lack of goals in the team was the main problem last time out iirc.

It's obvious Pardew was desperate for another striker too. They've fucked him up the arse basically.

Down with this sort of thing!

Since no new striker has been brought in we're massively reliant on the form and fitness of the rapist. Shola is a sub at best and gouffran is a support striker. We can't rely on hba to score wonder goals each week and cisse is also out of form. Myopic transfer policy imo.

SHAM!!!

Fuck me I've started wishing lambeezee was still at the club

Woke up this am hoping to see a signing or two. Disappointed but not surprised to see the fat man's trousered the tv cash and stuck up two fingers in our direction. Wish I could get paid to do fuck all like joe.

Interesting analysis. On the above point, perhaps Santon could cover RB with Haidara coming in at LB?

no go-mis

Very probably

That breakfast looks hideous. The egg and the sausage in particular. A tenner for that is taking the piss.

Yes but spurs don't have joe kinnear. Advantage newcastle I think

I agree, yes please. I'm a bit dubious about him wanting to come back to us however

I expect JFK is already packing the cases for his next holiday. Any transfer business would be a massive inconvenience

Is this the famous "mag at work" they go on about on rtg? You should tell him to stfu !

No worries

I didn't offer an opinion on why he isn't playing.

What absolutely fucks me off is that we won't move on a replacement until cabayes been sold. It must have been abundantly clear that the player wanted to move on. Why the fuck couldn't we have brought in a replacement before selling him? Is the club run on such a shoestring it's impossible to find the money to do this? This brinkmanship may get the best price for cabaye but we may not have any time to get anybody decent in or worse still be left with a depressed cabaye stuck with a team he doesn't want to play for. I get the sense we've done fuck all this summerexcept chase gomis and remy which is incredibly short sighted given cabayes evidently wanted to leave for a year now.

Holloway! Holloway! Holloway!

"Nom nom!"