Squad players take the strainOver the last few games Newcastle have had to operate without a few of their regular first team players. Namely: Andy Carroll, Cheick Tiote and Steven Taylor – either because of injury or suspension – and there have also been scares about losing Kevin Nolan and Shola Ameobi.
In the meantime, the squad players that have come in have covered manfully with players like Leon Best, Perter Lovenkrands, James Perch, Nile Ranger and Danny Guthrie.
Not so long ago, we were saying: ‘We’ve got no strength in depth‘, ‘The squad ain’t big enough‘, ‘We won’t cope in this league‘. Some may still feel that that’s the case.
So, I’m asking: Has our ‘squad’ improved?
It seems that Danny Guthrie, after a poor showing last time out, has pulled his game around, delivering a perfect cross for Coloccini to fire home v Spurs. James Perch put in a decent shift. Peter Lovenkrands came on and, but for a desperate lunge by the Spurs defender, could’ve put us two up in the same game.
Nile Ranger is showing some good skill and determination to get at teams and was desperately unlucky not to score; maybe he could’ve squared it to Lovenkrands, but hey, he’s getting there. (more…)
What should Pardew do?Should Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew bring in some new Players now? Or wait until the Summer?
As it’s now just a week or so before the transfer window closes again until the end of the season, and getting new players in has seemed as difficult as herding cats for Alan Pardew.
Would it be prudent to splash the cash and risk buying for the sake of it, possibly paying over the odds? Or should he wait until the summer and apply a more thought out approach?
After all, Alan Pardew has only been in the job a few short weeks and is still getting to know the players at his disposal, as well as his new assistant, John Carver, and his staff in general. In amongst all the bedding in, is it wise to spend money that could be better spent with more time taken over the thought process behind who/what we need? (more…)
