Currently we have the following players all fighting for a first-team place in midfield:

Robert
Speed
Dyer
Solano
Bowyer
Ambrose
Kerr
Viana
Jenas

and there are only 4 slots available.

Who do you think will be our first-team midfield next season, who will be on the bench, and who won't feature at all?

I think Robert and Speed are vital, Solano is our only proven right-winger so that leaves Viana, Bowyer and Dyer fighting for a space on the right mid with the other two probably on the bench. Viana should compete, I think he has great potential but we need to try him in centre mid not left-wing.

I think we have decent cover for injuries except for Speed. I think Speed is absolutely crucial, he is the only experienced defensive midfielder we have in the squad and look how we struggled when he was injured last season. The rest of our players are all attack-minded, they don't have the discipline to drop back.

Newcastle are lacking in two positions in my opinion - a quality right back and a defensive midfield replacement for Speed (he's getting on a bit and might get injured). Basically we need another Gary Speed or Rob Lee. People often talk about our centre back weakness as well, but now Woody has had time to settle in I think that will offer us a bit more protection, also Bramble will have the benefit of another year's experience. I also think Caldwell deserves a chance to prove himself, Woody and Caldwell with Speed providing cover in the midfield would be quite a disciplined defence I think.

Last edited by evil_bastard on Jul-15-2003 at 20:01

what about jenas?

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Tune of the moment

I forgot to add him, it was 3am

I think Jenas will struggle for a place though unless he improves his game. Fortunately he has years ahead of him, but next season he's got to compete with 3 or 4 quality players for one position. Looking at our midfield it's going to be a fight for the bench as well. There'll only be space for two midfield subs, so basically several quality players won't feature at all unless we suffer some serious injuries.

I'm not sure what SBR has planned for the midfield, I'd have a hard time dropping Dyer, Bowyer and Viana just to accommodate Jenas.

well in my opinion i would choose Jenas over viana. but your the newcastle fan soo i guess your right.


i atleast think jenas should play as much as he possibly can. that way he will improve his game at a much quicker pace...

i would do Robert(left) Speed & Jenas (middle) and Dyer (right)

maybe rotate speed, jenas and bowyer.

Robert and Dyer are vital so i dont see them loosing out on matches next year for newcastle...


BTW your care too comment on liverpools midfield?

we got Riise, Murphey, Heskey(dont see this one happening this year) and Kewell on left

Hamann, Murphey, Gerrard and John welsh(if he gets the chance) on center

right is Murphey, Gerrard, Kewell and Diouf.

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Tune of the moment

i read in the news paper the other day that blackburn might put in a £1 million bid for Speed. But if that does happen, i cant see newcastle selling him for that.

As it stands I would put Jenas above Viana, but Jenas will have to compete for his place with Dyer and Bowyer. If Bowyer brings back his Leeds form it will be difficult to leave him out of the squad. Really this is Bowyer's last chance to right his wrongs, I think he knows that if he messes up here his career can ony go downhill. Similarly Robert and Dyer at their best are top class players who are difficult to leave out. Dyer is flexible and puts in plenty of effort wherever he plays, but I don't think he could make it on the right wing. At his best I really enjoy Solano's football but he is inconsistent and sometimes too lazy to drop back. I don't think I would rotate Speed, he is the ballwinner who gels the team IMO, he can take the sting out of an opponent's attack, positions himself well and occasionally makes that killer pass, we really need someone like him regularly. When Speed isn't present sides just go straight through our midfield, against Man U, Jenas just wasn't holding back to take care of Scholes. Our defence isn't as good as it should be, but the reason it looks worse than it is is because our attacking midfield leaves our defence with a lot of work to do. Speed offers a compromise and he and Robert on the left of midfield seem to partner well.

I have to say I like the traditional:

Robert, Speed, Dyer, Solano

I would try swapping Bowyer with Solano occasionally to see how he copes (Bowyer played well on the right for Leeds during their Champions League campaign) and leave Jenas to cover for Dyer. Viana would make a good utility player to come on as a sub once in a while, he's a creative playmaker with excellent passing skills so as a late substitute he's the sort of player who can wrongfoot the opposition. I think most Newcastle fans want to see a bit more of Viana this year, I believe he can go very far but he needs the Premiership experience. I'd give him the odd game in centre mid now and then and see he proves himself.

Alternatively I'd leave Solano out and have: Robert, Speed, Bowyer, Dyer and let Jenas and Viana compete for Bowyer or Dyer's position.

Last edited by evil_bastard on Jul-15-2003 at 20:07

quote:

Originally posted by AlphaZonE i read in the news paper the other day that blackburn might put in a £1 million bid for Speed. But if that does happen, i cant see newcastle selling him for that.

Yeah I heard the same thing, I don't think it will happen though. It would be a massive mistake to sell Speed. If we do we'd better get a defensive mid before the end of the transfer window. But I'd rather we keep him than bring in someone new who then has to adjust to the team, the tactics etc.

I think we can get another year, maybe 2 out of Speed but we need to look for a future replacement. We have loads of new players coming through who look promising but I can't see a single ballwinning defensive mid capable of replacing Speed.

The latest from the BBC is that Freddy Shepherd rejects the rumours:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/3065693.stm

Btw, Leicester seem to be trying to buy Newcastle's old squad! So far they've bought Les Ferdinand, Keith Gillespie and Steve Howie, and rumours are they're after Dabizas now.

Last edited by evil_bastard on Jul-15-2003 at 10:01

quote:

Originally posted by evil_bastard Btw, Leicester seem to be trying to buy Newcastle's old squad! So far they've bought Les Ferdinand, Keith Gillespie and Steve Howie, and rumours are they're after Dabizas now.

Then they could call themselves newcastle old skool.

Can you remember when newcastle tried to start building a liverpool squad, ian rush, john barnes

quote:

Originally posted by evil_bastard Yeah I heard the same thing, I don't think it will happen though. It would be a massive mistake to sell Speed. If we do we'd better get a defensive mid before the end of the transfer window. But I'd rather we keep him than bring in someone new who then has to adjust to the team, the tactics etc. I think we can get another year, maybe 2 out of Speed but we need to look for a future replacement. We have loads of new players coming through who look promising but I can't see a single ballwinning defensive mid capable of replacing Speed. The latest from the BBC is that Freddy Shepherd rejects the rumours: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foo...ted/3065693.stm Btw, Leicester seem to be trying to buy Newcastle's old squad! So far they've bought Les Ferdinand, Keith Gillespie and Steve Howie, and rumours are they're after Dabizas now.

Could you not play Robert just off shearer & let Viana play left wing ?

I'm looking forward to bolton this year, our greek winger is meant to be good, Jay Jay is magical to watch, Youri gives 150% and Nolan/Frandsen compete for the other birth, campo is good, we just need a right back tho we got a polish guy on trial, and sum1 to score 15-20 a year & we're ok

Ive just seen on sky sports news this morning, that Man Utd are supposedly going to put a £20 million bid in for Dyer.

ive just seen o nthe back of a paper that chelsea are going to try and put a bid in for jenas and Dyer.

Chelsea seem to be mad at the moment and have far too much money to play with. I personally don't see them being sucessful as getting their future team of superstars to gel is going to be a tough task.

I wouldn't be surprised if Man Utd did put in a bid for Dyer though, he is young and has a lot of potential and would give Newcastle more money to strengthen their weakest areas and buy a replacement for Speed.