ChocChip

Ginola, forget against who. Comes from a corner or cross, takes it on his knee, across to the othe knee, BANG.... Awesome!

Given - 7 Not much to do but a good one handed save Carr - 7 Not bad for him, couple of interceptions Bramble - 4 Switched off, looked muscled out of it too Moore - 7 Did his job well Ramage - 6 Not a left back, didn't do much wrong at CB considering he's sh*t Duff - 7 Looked good on the right and did well at LB, dribbles for run Emre - 8 Sprayed the ball well, got stuck in Parker - 7 Did well enough Zog - 6 Couple of good balls, runs often went into a dead end Sibbers - 6 Scored, should have scored another, not bad Martins - 5 Didn't to enough for me, i'd want more intelligent play even if not match fit Milner - 6 Started off ok then seemed to wane as an attacking threat Butt - Didn't see him do anythin Luque - Can't give a score as hardly had the ball

After reading GR's comments about not wanting to rush Rossi i'm fairly sure he won't start. Ameobi seems to be struggling still so i think GR might save him for Thursday, he's better against Euro teams anyway. That leaves either Milner/Luque/Duff to partner Oba in a 4-4-2, i'd try Luque (again) but i think GR will play Milner with Duff on the right. We could go for 4-5-1 ------------------------Butt----------------------- --------------Parker---------Emre--------------- Duff-------------------------------------------Zog ------------------------Oba----------------------- That way we'll own the midfield, i think we'll have to play through the middle though, i don't see the point in going down the flanks to cross, no one there to head it and Fulham will play too deep to get behind them, they'll come for a point not a victory. They could get us on the break though but if play the one above i don't think they'll get through us. Us scoring will depend on good movement from Oba and Duff and Zoggy running into the channels between FB and CB and picking up through balls. We might have to be a bit tricky with experimental flicks and dummy's, etc to create a bit of uncertainty in their back line. If we keep our passing sharp and quick we should be able to move them about a bit and create some opportunities.

Anyone think he might play Luque and Martins up front? Not a question regarding your preferences but what GR might do. I know he doesn't like Luque much but if Rossi hasn't even trained with the other players he'd be a bigger gamble imo. Luque in a free (doing f**k all) role i reckon.

It's touch'n'go for me. Carr is soooo bad, going forward and defensively. Baba i think offers a bit more in attack and has more recovery pace than Carr who is the slowest player on the turn EVER! Carr is a better competitor though. I think Baba gets a bit of bad press imo.

................................Given................................. Baba...............Taylor.............Bramble..............Bernard (Is 2 footed and better than Carr, just) Duff......................Parker......Emre..................Zoggy ...........................Ameobi.....Martins.......................... Harper Moore Butt Luque/Milner/Solano/Pattison/O'Brien Rossi

Never seen a burst of pace from Klose actually. I thought he was more of the target man variety.

It will create space for everyone. Without pace in our side the opposition just squeeze up until there is no room for a midf to get his head up and have a look to pick a pass. It will help the likes of Emre and Solano immensley i reckon. The 2 things we lack now imo, are someone who can head the ball and someone who can come deep and link play between the midf and attack. A Beardsley type player, we don't have anyone natural to this role. I don't what Dyer's good tbh nor Luque nor Milner for that matter as i've seen so little and it's not Duff's natural game. Zoggy might have it in him though. In the meantime, we need someone who can head it for a bit of variation or or we will see at SJP is teams sitting deep and leaving no space behind them.

The opposition defences were very poor in those games tbf. Gave him soooo much space. Martins will create space because of his speed but Shola's still got a lot to do to even be described as an average striker imo.

Yet another case of the press highlighting the presence of these fanatics instead of the moderate majority tbh.

I'm not devastated that we haven't signed Kuyt, he never seemed that good to me, but if he was any better we wouldn't have been in with a chance anyway. The signing of Oewn was a pretty unusual set of circumstances and you can't base your transfer policy on chance everytime. We should have been targeting young and cheaper strikers with potential and then have belief in the quality of our coaching to bring them on. I'm sorry to say this but Newcastle are not a big club, no eurpoean pedigree, no trophies, no high profile manager so i believe this is the only way. The spending of £17m on Owen and £9.5m on Luque was just crazy, who ever thought we were paying the true market value on those two?

I think that if you actually play against a team who has a good young striker, then it puts you at advantage as far as judging his abilities. 179676[/snapback] Yeah, I'll be gutted when Real Madrid sign that black lad from Cheltenham. 179681[/snapback]

I think that if you actually play against a team who has a good young striker, then it puts you at advantage as far as judging his abilities.

Apart from left wing and goalie, we're a very average team with a below average striker (singular). Still, you never know...

Don't know if this has already been posted, he moved to Hamburg for £5.5m. Seems cheap considering the prices that were being mentioned. If he's as good as was reported i think we really should have signed him, a big, quick, young CB with loads of potential. Apparently adept at DM as well. Put it into perspective, was the same price Boro agreed for Huth.