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Newcastle squad 2017/18


The Fish
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  • 3 weeks later...

First instinct is that it isn't good enough, albeit with a better balance than the last squad that went down since I'd say the only place we're threadbare is left back. I think it'll struggle to score goals and you're basically relying on the manager to do a much harder job than he should have been asked to do in the first place. From the opening games, you'll see that we're going to be ridiculously well-organised and players are going to run themselves into the ground for Rafa but is that enough? Sometimes, it is, especially against poorer sides where you can just unsettle them by pressing high up but there's a real worry that better sides will pick us apart. Basically, you're wanting Joselu and Gayle to have brief purple patches, Atsu, Murphy and Aarons to develop across the season so we can hit teams on the break/be dangerous down the wings and you need Shelvey to stop being a fucking knacker for 5 minutes and have the effect on games that Merino did on Saturday. 

 

There's a lot of ifs and buts in there that didn't have to be there and that's yet another failure of Ashley and his insistence on "gambling"

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The squad doesn't look much better than bottom 6 to me. The main issue for me is who is will score and create the goals? No proven top flight forwards in there and we're massively relying on shelvey for creativity, who I'm not convinced by at this level, even before you consider his dodgy temperament.

 

We're in for another long slog of a season. But at least the balance sheet is in good shape, so every cloud...

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All this chit-chat about no back-up at left back with Dummett out injured,  playing Mbemba and Clark out of position,  makes me wonder where Rafa's head is?

Reason I say that is because...........Jesus Gamez.

Gamez is a right-back,  true,  however when he signed for Athletico Madrid,  in the 2014-2015 season Diego Simeone played him at left-back for most of his first season with them.   He played a total of 21 games in that first season and apparently at left-back in most of them.

That being so, why play central defenders out of position when you have someone with some experience in that position.  Being a well experienced full-back, albeit on the right, makes more sense he could adjust to the left side a lot easier than central-defenders who had not played full-back before.

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1 hour ago, Noelie said:

All this chit-chat about no back-up at left back with Dummett out injured,  playing Mbemba and Clark out of position,  makes me wonder where Rafa's head is?

Reason I say that is because...........Jesus Gamez.

Gamez is a right-back,  true,  however when he signed for Athletico Madrid,  in the 2014-2015 season Diego Simeone played him at left-back for most of his first season with them.   He played a total of 21 games in that first season and apparently at left-back in most of them.

That being so, why play central defenders out of position when you have someone with some experience in that position.  Being a well experienced full-back, albeit on the right, makes more sense he could adjust to the left side a lot easier than central-defenders who had not played full-back before.

 

him being in the coaches photos with the title last year spoke volumes about his role at the club IMO. Seems to be there as someone to teach the kids.

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1 hour ago, wykikitoon said:

Relegation material.

 

Agreed. 

 

Rafa built a squad to win promotion from the championship. He achieved the goal first time of asking. But it's plain to see that this squad needed significant number of players with top flight experience adding to it. 5-6 capable of improving the first team was my estimate. Instead we got zero. The only thing that wills keep us up is the manager's skills as a coach because on paper it looks pretty shit. 

 

If they were never in for a number 10, why sell de Jong?

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And why let Armstrong go on loan? How shit is our depth up front? We could have done with another body to make up the numbers if we weren't going to sign a new forward other than Murphy's replacement Joselu.

 

It would have given a rare product of our youth system a chance to develop in the top flight too. 

Edited by Dr Gloom
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