They should be OK with this many reinfrocements plus Cabaye and Ben Arfa coming back. But it's obviously difficult to predict how their French Battalion will do. It's not rare to see players flop in their new team having excelled at their previous club.

The question about team spirit is an intriguing one. So many French and foreign players that no English players seem to fit the XI. You get easily groups of players within the team who might get a little unhappy with each other. Will there be fans at St James' Park who don't like this situation? On the other hand Newcastle will probably attract some new French followers...

Anyway, it will be very interesting to see the results of Newcastle's raiding of the French market. Could be anything between a glittering success or an embarassing failure.

I really don't think it will be a problem tbh.... for one we actually have more english speaking players than french speaking players and about 7 of our french speaking players speak english anyway.

I actually think it will be a positive because the likes of Mbiwa, Sissoko etc etc can come in straight away and adapt pretty quickly because Cabaye, Ben Arfa and Debuchy etc etc already being there.

Also one more myth i really want to dispel.....


Our team vs Villa when we went down

Harper
Edgar
Duff
Nolan
Coloccini
Steven Taylor
Guthrie
Butt
Lovenkrands
Viduka
Martins

Some British players there with no heart. The whole "you need British players for relegation battle" is total bull.

It hasn't exactly worked this season with the likes of Shola, Perch, Williamson, Simpson etc etc running up a total wrecktrain of shit.

I don't think there are mental differences on the pitch between British and foreign players, but just saying that many of your English players are now in a situation where they are seeing all these French guys coming in, competing for their places in the squad. There could be some friction.

There was 6 french players before this window even opened and 2 or 3 more french speaking players like Bigirimana, Cisse and Tiote....

Really think too much is being made of this.

Guardian sport @guardian_sport

Newcastle striker Nile Ranger reportedly arrested on suspicion of rape



I can't believe Newcastle haven't sacked this c*nt yet. Vile human being, and a massively shit footballer

Problem is he has a 5 year contract we have tried to get rid of him many times.

I wish we would sack him tbh, we have better, younger and more talented strikers who deserve chances.

Ranger is a complete waste of space, he's so immature it's untrue. He had so much potential when he was younger but chose acting like a thug and thinking he's a gangster over being a professional footballer.

11th place

Dont let me down Pards

First was f*cking outstanding with Sissoko being the best player on the pitch by an absolute mile.

Was impressed with Gouffran too, mainly because of his movement.

But at half time Pards got his hands on them and from 65% possession to absolute turgid defensive crap.

If we play like we did in the first half consistently then i think we will get top half but if not i think around 14th-16th none the less i don't think we will go down now.

Pardew is a f*cking moron but there's too many good players now to f*ck this up.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

aford92 wrote:
Alas, even when Newcastle solve a problem there's always another one in the way.

Should be our club motto tbh.

As for strikers my hope is that we would sign a striker where Gouffran is in your line up but better than Gouffran and Gouffran would be apart of the rotation.

But anyway as you say Pardew is a moron and we will probably go nowhere fast with him at the helm.

Signings looked to be a masterstroke for the first half of the match against Villa. Unfortunately, the squad mailed it in in the second half and were lucky to escape with three points.

On the positive side, it looked like Monsieur Pardieu went with the 4-3-3:

The line-up (especially with Tiote and Ben Arfa included) is good enough to be in the top-ten. however, they've dug themselves such a big whole, comfortable mid-table security should be the goal for the remainder of the season.

On a different note, can anyone tell me why Taylor was picked over Yanga-M'Biwa? Wasn't this Taylor's first game back from injury? The only thing I can think of is his tenure and familiarity with the setup... that and Pardieu's stubbornness. I have a hard time NUFC bought him in order to sit him behind Taylor.

I think Pardew told Ashley to sign Yoann Gourcuff, and he mistakenly signed Yoan Gouffran.

That team with Tiote/Anita instead of Perch, Mbiwa instead of Taylor and Ben Arfa instead of Jonas would be soo good.

I have no worries about the players, its Pardew where my concerns lie.... he's such a bottler every time we get a lead he instructs to sit on it and hoof.

We'll still probably stay up but he really needs to grow a set.

Messiah "Aggerswagger" wrote:I think Pardew told Ashley to sign Yoann Gourcuff, and he mistakenly signed Yoan Gouffran.

Its funny you say that because a lot of fans thought we did

But seriously we have no use for Gourcuff and Gouffran was exactly what we needed so i'm happy with that.

Bump.

Only 1 defeat in our 6 games since the new signings and now 3 points from 10th.

Scored 10 goals in 4 league games in that time.

Ben Arfa missing too... should be back soon, no?

He is back just not match fit, Pardew said he will play in some way next week.

Newcastle must be the best 14th placed team in the world.

urbaNRoots wrote:Newcastle must be the best 14th placed team in the world.

13th if Spurs beat West Ham tomorrow

The fight for top 10!

Current places

9th: West Brom 40 pts
10th: Stoke 33 pts
11th: Fulham 32 pts
12th: Newcastle 30 pts

FORM

West Brom: WWLLD
Stoke: LWLDLL
Fulham: WDLWL
Newcastle: WLWWL

Fixtures (5 matches)

West Brom: Chelsea(A), Swansea(H), Stoke(A), West Ham (A), Arsenal(H)
Stoke: West Ham(H), Newcastle(A), West Brom(H), Everton(A), Villa(H)
Fulham: Sunderland(A), Chelsea(H), Tottenham(A), QPR(H), Newcastle(A)
Newcastle: Swansea(A), Stoke(H), Wigan(A), City(A), Fulham(H)

My prediction;
West Brom take 9th
Fulham take 10th
Newcastle take 11th
Stoke slip to 12th

Would love to see Newcastle make it though as I like their squad.

Also I didnt forget West Ham. I looked into their fixtures and have decided they have no chance. In fact they should be wary of relegation.
Out of their remaining home games they have Tottenham, West Brom, Wigan (who are battling relegation and have strong away form looking set to make their miracle come back) and Newcastle. They are too weak away from home to come good I think.

Instead of looking for a top 10 finish ,i'd like it if they focus on the EL more.Its not like they're gonna gain much with a top 10 finish anyway apart from a few million dollars.

You know it's still very much possible to finish up to 7th-8th.

Surag wrote:Instead of looking for a top 10 finish ,i'd like it if they focus on the EL more.Its not like they're gonna gain much with a top 10 finish anyway apart from a few million dollars.

I think we have the squad to do both, although i agree.

Messiah "Aggerswagger" wrote:You know it's still very much possible to finish up to 7th-8th.

Difficult considering the points difference but not impossible considering the improvement and the fixtures list being very favourable till the end of the season. ( City away aside)

Looking at the table, Newcastle are a few victories away from the Europa league spot. I think it's possible for them to finish in the top 8 at least.

Top 8 doesn't give you Europa in PL. Heck only the 5th spot gets Europa. The rest depend on the cups.

Two of City/Chelsea/United need to reach the FA Cup final for the 6th spot in the league to open. And If Swansea finish 6th or higher, 7th will open.

And we won't be getting 7th unless we go on a ridiculous run and Everton/Liverpool completely fall apart.

So that ain't happening, i just want to end the season well and to go into next season with some momentum and hopefully we won't ever be in a position like this again any time soon.

Everton are inconsistent away from home and Liverpool are inconsistent overall. Newcastle just need to keep winning.