Where should Newcastle now look to strengthen?
Posted on July 13th, 2010 | 235 Comments |
By that I mean that we know that we won’t be sloshing money that we don’t have around, ala Feddy Shepherd, but after the capture of James Perch and the seemingly imminent arrival of Dan Gosling, it does at least look like Mike Ashley is going to back his manager, a little.
You can also add to that the fact the we are apparently biddong for players from the continent, with strong links to small, pacey forwards like Mevlut Erdinc and Yanick Djalo having surfaced recently. All of these deals are not costing a fortune, but they are adding strength to the squad and kind of loosely fitting in with that now famous statement that Mike Ashley made – It does seem that the team of last season will form the majority of the team for next season. So with that in mind, plus our tight pursestrings, where should be the next focus of our attention?
If we do end up getting Dan Gosling then I would expect that would be it for central midfield. We would have six capable players that could play in various central midfield roles, attacking or defensive, which is more than enough. Mobility could be an issue, but I think they will cope fine next season. Not in every game, but for the majority anyway.
Next up, the signing of James Perch was a strange one for me. One on hand I can see the logic behind it as he is a very versatile squad player, whilst on the other hand it baffles me as I genuinely wouldn’t have said he is good enough for the Premier League. Still, he has his chance to prove me, and a lot of other people, wrong and I am sure he will get support from the Geordie hordes in the crowd.
So where next? Well, i would like the reports of a small, pacey number 10 type striker to be true as I believe that is one position we are short on. We have enough big lumps up front, it’s that bit of pace and guile we desperately need. But hey, that’s my opinion, feel free to rip it to shreds!
My next priority would be a dedicated left-back who can deputise should Jose Enrique fall foul to injury. We have needed one since the dawn of time now, and although James Perch can cover there, the fact he isn’t left-footed worries me a lot. We have gone down the road of round pegs in square holes before, and it didn’t work then so why should it work now? Tamas Kadar is not a left-back, again it’s my opinion and others may disagree, but he drifts inside too often to be considered for that position in my mind. Cover for Jose please Chris!
Finally, how about some cover for Jonas Gutierrez? David Ginola he is not, but he is a bloody hard worker for the team, and is probably one of the reasons that Jose Enrique has been looking so assured at left-back! But what happens if we lose him to injury? We don’t have an abundance of left footed wide midfielders, and playing Joey Barton there is sooooo not the answer, which is why I feel that that is also another priority position that should be strengthened.
Alas, this is just my summisation of it all, and it may well be different to yours, so why not get stuck in and put forward your ideas?
What d’ya think?
Levan kenia can play anywhere in midfield and in the hole, what’s taking so bloody long, sign him up before Jose does.