Mike Ashley approval rating

[Park Life 71]

Pardew like a Klingon warbird remains fully cloaked in enemy space. We won't see any weapons blink till the Jan window.

[PaddockLad 17244]

I do think major criticism of him is a bit premature....what would our season have been like if he'd not splashed out on Cisse in January and how many of us were confident of Ashley actually spending that sort of money on a striker?...trouble this summer has been he wouldn't spend slightly less on a fullback. I think many wouldve said "quite right too!" in May tbh....after last season, its so difficult to predict whats likely to happen.

Edited September 4, 2012 by PaddockLad

[Aeris 0]

GK: Krul, Harper, Elliott

 

RB: Simpson, Ryan Taylor, Perch, Anita, Tavernier

 

CB: Colo, Steven Taylor, Williamson, Perch

 

LB: Santon, Ferguson, Ryan Taylor

 

CM: Cabaye, Tiote, Anita, Bigi, Gosling, Abeid, Gutierrez, Vuckic

 

RM: Ben Arfa, Obertan, Sammy, Marveaux

 

LM: Gutierrez, Sammy, Marveaux

 

ST: Ba, Cisse, Shola

 

 

As far as I'm concerned, we needed a striker and a LB more than a RB, even if they were young players. I don't think our main rivals have much better in the way of depth btw and Spurs and Arsenal lost their best players.

 

The squad looks so big when you include the same players several times...

[ChezGiven 0]

I'd say last season was more than any of us expected. We were generally a solid team, but Barcelona we were certainly not. In at least 10 games we got lucky, the margins between success and failure were tiny last season, we didn't hammer anyone for starters (other than Man Utd), suffered 4 and 5 goal maulings off the likes of Norwich, Tottenham, Fulham and Wigan, I'm not saying we didn't deserve 5th, but we could just have easily come 10th. I believe our attitude got us through rather than being that much better than the sides below us. There's been progress, but again the progress margin is tiny. If we had a scout performing far more poorly than Graham Carr, we'd have been 12th-16th and people would be saying the same things about Ashley we were saying 3 years ago. Little has changed other than he's rolled the dice a few times and got two sixes, we CAN NOT maintain it through stagnation, and Pardew's desperate attempts to get the fans to say well done Mike for consolidating and adding little, rather than consolidating adding to the squad, piss me off no end.

 

Shouldnt you be pleased we didnt sell Tiote to Chelsea for 24m? I think Pardew is well within his rights to be delighted to field this team:

 

Krul, Anita, Colo, Taylor, Santon, Cabaye, Tiote, Ben Arfa, Marveaux, Ba, Cisse.

 

Thats a fucking mint team, capable of beating the top teams in Europe on its day. Its too early to be saying all the stuff people are saying, we need to wait and see if Cisse was just having purple patch, whether Cabaye is just a bit put out that Debuchy didnt come, whether Anita is going to be as good as most of our recent signings, whether Ba is just a slow starter to seasons, whether Tiote has improved over the summer like Pardew reckons, whether Krul can maintain his form, whether Marveaux and Santon can fulfill their promise and become top premiership players. There's a lot to be worked out before judgements can be made, simply remembering how utterly wrong everyone was at this time last year with the exact same patter should be enough to allow some time before we conclude we're fucked.

[ChezGiven 0]

Debuchy didnt move this window, his January price just came down. Lesson learnt from last summer? Possibly...

[Park Life 71]

Think this whole debate is actually wether the descision makers really think that it's critical we need specialist fullbacks or not. The tight percentage football we played for the vast maj of last season doesn't really require fluid and comfortable fullbacks.

 

More oft than not 6 def (4+2 covering) is a system that imo Pards holds faith with and mostly delivered for us last year. The midfield doesn't really go over the half way line much apart from Hatem (you very rarely see Cabaye or Tiote in or around the box). We tend to hit early balls quite quickly in the first posession phase. Summink to think about anyway.

Edited September 4, 2012 by Park Life

[Christmas Tree 4725]

Think this whole debate is actually wether the descision makers really think we need specialist fullbacks or not.

 

Well that has to be a yes given how close we were to getting Debuchy until their chairman pulled the plug. We thought he was coming and so did the player. Guess he'll come in Jan.

[McFaul 35]

Shouldnt you be pleased we didnt sell Tiote to Chelsea for 24m? I think Pardew is well within his rights to be delighted to field this team:

 

Krul, Anita, Colo, Taylor, Santon, Cabaye, Tiote, Ben Arfa, Marveaux, Ba, Cisse.

 

Thats a fucking mint team, capable of beating the top teams in Europe on its day. Its too early to be saying all the stuff people are saying, we need to wait and see if Cisse was just having purple patch, whether Cabaye is just a bit put out that Debuchy didnt come, whether Anita is going to be as good as most of our recent signings, whether Ba is just a slow starter to seasons, whether Tiote has improved over the summer like Pardew reckons, whether Krul can maintain his form, whether Marveaux and Santon can fulfill their promise and become top premiership players. There's a lot to be worked out before judgements can be made, simply remembering how utterly wrong everyone was at this time last year with the exact same patter should be enough to allow some time before we conclude we're fucked.

I was more upbeat at this time last season. Being pleased Tiote is still here shouldn't even be a factor, it's like waking up and your cock still being there, "get in it's still here". Being grateful for not selling our best players is something I will never ever class as something I need to be pleased about. Unless we get stupid money for one of them, selling players at a club who claim to be moving forward shouldn't even be a question.

 

The first eleven is alright, but there is literally nothing behind it at all, surely the momentum of 5th place should've seen us go in to the season stronger than we are. The Debuchy thing, to miss out on a top top right back, haggling over a million quid, well it's pathetic. I'm not expecting them to buy two players worth a combined £30m, just modest investment which more than likely we'd get back. This season of all seasons is and was an unbelievable opportunity. Before a ball was kicked I said Spurs would be midtable at best and it will take time for AVB's idea to be implemented, they'll get no where near top 4, Liverpool are so threadbare they could even be nearer 18th than 4th, Arsenal are the worst Arsenal we've seen in living memory. What a chance we've passed up, and you could sense before the Villa game there was a negative air about the place.

[JawD 99]

So if Arsenal drop down and Liverpool do, how come you think we'll finish so far down the table? They both got rid of top players, we havent?

 

Playing devils advocate here.

[Happy Face 29]

Liverpool - £20M

NUFC - £3M

Arsenal - £300K

Everton - (£4.8M)

Spurs - (£5.8M)

 

I think Stevie's point has been around the belief that spending a few quid on new faces can generate. It galvanizes a crowd who are keen to see better players come out onto the pitch each year and it keeps existing players on their toes about the safety of their place, as well as exciting them to be playing with better quality than Danny Simpson.

 

Whether it is funded by player sales, altruistic owners or any other income, our new blood are much more underwhelming than any of our competitors.

 

Reinvested this summer....

 

Spurs - £45M

Arsenal - £39M

Liverpool - £25M

Everton - £10.5M

Fulham - £7m

NUFC - £6M

 

It's a valid argument that those clubs have lost very good players for huge money, and we haven't, but even when we have (Carroll) we have only brought in replacements at less than a third of the price.

 

Any claims that frugality was needed for us to build and that heavier investment could come as we climb the table looks dodgier than a Paul Wyn Tweet at the moment.

[Park Life 71]

Well that has to be a yes given how close we were to getting Debuchy until their chairman pulled the plug. We thought he was coming and so did the player. Guess he'll come in Jan.

 

It's clear now that the price was more important rather than the postion sensitive aspect of the deal. For whatever reason it wasn't deemed mission critical. Perhaps when Kirk and the crew have their Chinese parliament it was decided that as Anita can play both full back positions adequately it wasn't a massive risk. Just conjecture of course.

 

I personally think we were seriously in for him but ONLY at the price we evaluated anything too far from that and Wilson would suffice for now. We've already burned Lille with the Cabaye steal and I think they didn't want to play fluffer again therefore stuck to their valuation around 6.3 to 7m euro. It hasn't been talked about much but I did read a couple of times that they wanted a sell on clause (again with the hindsight of the Cabaye deal - he's clearly now worth 15m +) to cover their backs. Sell on clause would effect our profitability on player turnaround. Obvioulsy this is conjecture but I had the feeling they didn't want to get ripped again.

Edited September 4, 2012 by Park Life

[Park Life 71]

Think Stevie makes a good point that I hadn't considered ie the feel good factor around the squad. As supporters we felt low after the window shut but I hand't considered the implications on the first team (the idea that the club was setting a benchmark to compete after the bridgehead of last year).

 

As I say Pardew remains cloaked deep in federation space.

[sweetleftpeg 0]

I know I joked about deja vu in a previous thread, but we have been here before. When we got the CL qualification we should have pushed on, not talking about spending stupid money, but if you're flying high and going places then you've got more chance of attracting a great standard of players without paying stupid money. I'm more disheartened with the fact we should be pushing on yet instead we're in danger of going backwards. Again.

[Christmas Tree 4725]

Swings and roundabouts.

 

Some players / fans will feel inspired by new signings. Equally same players fans can be depressed by losing a few blue chip players.

 

And as for Stevie now saying that not losing Tiote is nothing having told and reminded us all that the deal was agreed pre season, beggars belief

[Park Life 71]

So if Arsenal drop down and Liverpool do, how come you think we'll finish so far down the table? They both got rid of top players, we havent?

 

Playing devils advocate here.

 

Don't think Arsenal will struggle once they start gelling. Spurs and Liv are there for the taking this year. Both managers could be out by Xmas and I'm serious. The right forward side of all those sides are still wildly inconsistant - Lennon, Wallcott, Gervinho, Borini are all essentially 1 in 4 game merchants. Gervinho as many noticed last year is total poop.

Edited September 4, 2012 by Park Life

[Happy Face 29]

As for centre back cover we managed just fine for half the year with Williamson and Perch did well when he played there as well. Not great, but we are hardly going to get great CB' to come in as cover.

 

Coloccini missed 3 games in total last year. In those games we managed a clean sheet at home to Liverpool as they imploded hilariously, and a clean sheet away at Swansea with a 9-0-1 fomation.....but we conceded 4 at Norwich in an awful defensive display against their big men.

 

If he was to suffer the injury that Steve Taylor did last year, it would be a disaster given our lack of cover. That's not to say you need to have another Coloccinin to sit on the bench, but we should be able to find someone better than Taylor and make him the sub. choosing your FBs from Taylor, Perch & Williamson is frightening.

 

For a year or 2 it's been annoying, going into ANOTHER season like this is a piss take.

[ChezGiven 0]

I was more upbeat at this time last season. Being pleased Tiote is still here shouldn't even be a factor, it's like waking up and your cock still being there, "get in it's still here". Being grateful for not selling our best players is something I will never ever class as something I need to be pleased about. Unless we get stupid money for one of them, selling players at a club who claim to be moving forward shouldn't even be a question.

 

The first eleven is alright, but there is literally nothing behind it at all, surely the momentum of 5th place should've seen us go in to the season stronger than we are. The Debuchy thing, to miss out on a top top right back, haggling over a million quid, well it's pathetic. I'm not expecting them to buy two players worth a combined £30m, just modest investment which more than likely we'd get back. This season of all seasons is and was an unbelievable opportunity. Before a ball was kicked I said Spurs would be midtable at best and it will take time for AVB's idea to be implemented, they'll get no where near top 4, Liverpool are so threadbare they could even be nearer 18th than 4th, Arsenal are the worst Arsenal we've seen in living memory. What a chance we've passed up, and you could sense before the Villa game there was a negative air about the place.

We got Anita instead of Debuchy, a more flexible option. I dont really remember anyone but me and CT being positive last summer, i was annoyed about not getting a striker but then ridiculed for saying wait till christmas. Dont really remember anything else but people pissing and whingeing.

 

I dont understand why you think Arsenal can sell Van Persie, Spurs can sell Modric and Van der Vaart , Liverpool offload their 35m striker, Everton sell one of their best players and we sell one fringe player of note. We were happy with what we had and we have kept it, others had to spend again out of neccessity (spurs), to try and claw back the gap (Liverpool) and because a player just wanted to leave (Arsenal). How you can write "selling players at a club who claim to be moving forward shouldn't even be a question" and keep a straight face is beyond me. I dont care where you think these teams will be this season, what matters is where they are financially relative to us and how that shapes our respective strategies.

 

You might not be able to be pleased that Tiote is still here but all the pissing and whingeing that went on which was justified on the basis that we would sell him anyway demands as re-assessment of previously held views. "He's a cunt because he sells all our best players" citing Carroll and definitively stating it will happen to Tiote now followed by "i'm not giving him any credit for not selling Tiote / our best players" is churlish to say the least.

 

I became happy with the business we did when Anita went to FB at the weekend. I was like, ah aye of course.

[Happy Face 29]

Thought we did a poll last year where the majority agreed that the squad had been strengthened following the summer activity.

[ChezGiven 0]

Responders to the poll were obviously won over by my well thought through and constructed arguments developed trying to keep some perspective on here

[Christmas Tree 4725]

 

[McFaul 35]

We got Anita instead of Debuchy, a more flexible option. I dont really remember anyone but me and CT being positive last summer, i was annoyed about not getting a striker but then ridiculed for saying wait till christmas. Dont really remember anything else but people pissing and whingeing.

 

I dont understand why you think Arsenal can sell Van Persie, Spurs can sell Modric and Van der Vaart , Liverpool offload their 35m striker, Everton sell one of their best players and we sell one fringe player of note. We were happy with what we had and we have kept it, others had to spend again out of neccessity (spurs), to try and claw back the gap (Liverpool) and because a player just wanted to leave (Arsenal). How you can write "selling players at a club who claim to be moving forward shouldn't even be a question" and keep a straight face is beyond me. I dont care where you think these teams will be this season, what matters is where they are financially relative to us and how that shapes our respective strategies.

 

You might not be able to be pleased that Tiote is still here but all the pissing and whingeing that went on which was justified on the basis that we would sell him anyway demands as re-assessment of previously held views. "He's a cunt because he sells all our best players" citing Carroll and definitively stating it will happen to Tiote now followed by "i'm not giving him any credit for not selling Tiote / our best players" is churlish to say the least.

 

I became happy with the business we did when Anita went to FB at the weekend. I was like, ah aye of course.

I'm not too sure about Anita being signed RATHER than Debuchy, considering the second half against Villa was the first time he's played right back in his career. He's filled in at left back at Ajax before though, and we needed proper cover for Tiote anyway.

 

You may not remember anyone being positive but there's a thread of people predicting where we'd come last season, and I said 6th. This season for my own reasons I've said 12th.

 

Arsenal sold van Persie because he made it patently clear he wouldn't sign a new contract and in a short space of time would move for nothing rather than an astonishing £22m, no other reason. Everton are destitute, and Liverpool were so desperate to get rid of Carroll for footballing reasons they were prepared to write off £20m.

 

Lastly, keeping not being particularly grateful for keeping Tiote is churlish? I couldn't disagree more. It's not even a bare bones requirement of a progressive football club to at least try to retain your best players.

[McFaul 35]

I think Stevie's point has been around the belief that spending a few quid on new faces can generate. It galvanizes a crowd who are keen to see better players come out onto the pitch each year and it keeps existing players on their toes about the safety of their place, as well as exciting them to be playing with better quality than Danny Simpson.

 

Whether it is funded by player sales, altruistic owners or any other income, our new blood are much more underwhelming than any of our competitors.

 

Reinvested this summer....

 

Spurs - £45M

Arsenal - £39M

Liverpool - £25M

Everton - £10.5M

Fulham - £7m

NUFC - £6M

 

It's a valid argument that those clubs have lost very good players for huge money, and we haven't, but even when we have (Carroll) we have only brought in replacements at less than a third of the price.

 

Any claims that frugality was needed for us to build and that heavier investment could come as we climb the table looks dodgier than a Paul Wyn Tweet at the moment.

You've made a few good posts in this thread statto and this is another one, as is the one below.

[PaddockLad 17244]

So the "Ashley Amnesty" is over then Stevie?

 

With the naming of the ground after his tin pot shops I thought it was a load of shite anyway.

 

Think you're being too hasty in criticising him in the first week in September....am gonna wait till we're 4th bottom at christmas and out of Europe in the group stages before I slaughter him

[McFaul 35]

So the "Ashley Amnesty" is over then Stevie?

 

With the naming of the ground after his tin pot shops I thought it was a load of shite anyway.

 

Think you're being too hasty in criticising him in the first week in September....am gonna wait till we're 4th bottom at christmas and out of Europe in the group stages before I slaughter him

Aye. You know what irritates the life out of me, when people go on about keeping players, from a financial point of view nothing changes, most of the players retain their value, and with this 5 year contract policy when we sign them, they're unlikely to lose their value anyway. It's not like say £10m on two players is throwing money away.

[ChezGiven 0]

The reinvested stat is HF bullshit at its finest.