We are SCARY good. But all of our wins have been against lack-luster competition. As we have shown in the past, against the bigger clubs, we seem to have some sort of inferority complex. no matter, next season is going to be AWESOME! CL for sure.
If we just would have taken care of business against the "lackluster" competition in the 1st half of the season we would be in the CL next year!!!
So...what did you guys think of Matty Pattison's debut peformance? My friend and I were watching the game, and said, "Who the hell is that?", and we soon found out he is South African aswell! I don't know if we were focussng on him because of his nationality, but he REALLY impressed us. I really want to see more of him play, because he really caught my attention.
Best home performance in a long time. Such a gulf in the teams you could tell there was only going to be one winner. Player Ratings Given - Nothing to do and did it well, good game for the captain Carr - Did well, looked good going forward with Solano nothing to do in defence Moore - MoM and deserved it, did nothing wrong all match like a CB should Bramble - Same as Moore and made some crunching tackles. Also made some blinding passes Babyaro - Same as Carr Faye - Clearly not NUFC quality but he was ok, he'll be gone in the summer Pattison - Has been tipped for good things since about 15 and he proved he can play well against the lower teams, whether he can against the bigger teams only time will tell. He's only 19 so he has plenty of time to get better. Good stuff! Solano - Should have scored with his shot but got one anyway. Good performance but he was in the shadow of a young man named Charles N'Zogbia - Ruled the pitch, by far and away the best player on the field. He's only just turned 19 but he's better than players in their prime. After Rooney this is the best U-23 player in the League, no questions. Forget about all the hype about players like Lennon because he isn't good enough to clean his boots. The next Zidane. Rocky - Another good game and should have got a goal, I'd keep him on for another year. Shola - Same old Shola, always scoring. More goals than Peter "England quality" Crouch and just a better player. If England want a big man up front with Rooney or Owen....pick Shola. Just watch him compared to Crouch, he has so much more skill on the ball, more pace, better shots, better movement and more goals in a poorer team. BUT, thanks to the endemic hypocracy in the English team and media this will never happen.
Pattison had a great pass to set up the goal by shola. 100% true on charles!!! the best thing that happend to shola this year was owen being out. he really grew up. his last goal was a great dip on the defender to a great finish. i dont think that he could have done that during the begingin this season. we should by far keep him, and he is way better than crouch as a striker
Shola is an AMAZING talent. Zoggy is just...well Zoggy. I think we have to keep Zoggy, I don't want to lose him to Chelsea or Manchester or Arsenal or anybody like that. Stay in newcastle. Pattison impressed me lots, I think he's a keeper. Chopra is good, Luque is good...our strike force is set with Ameobi and Owen upfront. Yeah, Owen going out is the best thing that could of EVER happened to Ameobi. I just hope he doesn't get star struck again when he comes back.
Shola????? = Fools GOLD I want some insurance before I buy that New Mexican beachfront property. Don't be fooled we need upgrades upfront and in the back. Bring back Milner and let Butt take Faye's place and we should be ok in the middle.
We do need upgrades but shola has erned a place up front. good idea's for the mid and a radical change for the back are nessisary for uefa for sure but, CL?
Owen, Shola, Luque, and Chops are our first team forwards who's ready to go into the 2006/2007 season with that strikeforce?
I'm not buying it. If reports are true, and Roeder is getting the job, you have to figure Luque is done. He didn't play him last week vs. WBA, and he never woulda scored vs mackems if Shearer didn't get hurt. We must sign a top shelf striker to knock down balls for Owen to run onto. Shola has done well the last few weeks, but he still misses 2 sitters for every one he scores. As Jaypro said, he is a perfect #3 striker. And he has certainly had plenty of games to show what he can/can't do. (28 premiership app this year)
Agreed, agreed, agreed! I'm still torn as to if we should buy international like Kuyt or Martins, or stay within the English leagues. I don't know if there're enough elite strikers for us to prise one from another team, though. AJ? Maybe. I was high on Earnshaw, but now I'm not so sure. Bellamy would look pretty good right now, were it not for him blowtorching all his bridges. Viduka doesn't count. As I said in another thread he's a #3 striker and we already have two of those. I don't even know if James Beattie, who I personally rate as a good #2 'something out of nothing' striker, would ever be available from Everton.
Maybe we can scout around during the world cup and get a good striker from one of the lesser known countries.