general discussion The Real Home Dressing Room - Page 21

Season ended with Newcastle and in all honesty, I was glad it was over. It was such a painful season as we couldn't get any momentum going and we finished way below where we should've been at the end of the season. We wasn't able to bring in any class players either. Victor Wanyama came in for £7M + James Perch whilst the likes of Shinji Okazaki, Nathan Dyer, Wellington Nem and Nicklas Helenius also arrived before the start of the season. Going out were Sylvain Marveaux, Xisco, Danny Simpson and Ryan Taylor for a combined fee of £16.3M.

Spoiler:Results Part 1


Being knocked out of the Europa League at the first hurdle was a huge failure for us as a team and the form in the League wasn't good enough either, even if this saw us go ten games unbeaten into the new year. Demba was the standout performer for us upto Christmas but we knew that we had to replace him and Cisse with them going off to the ACON in January/February. The C1C was a poor performance too as we fielded a youth side as Wigan romped past us with experience. Ben Arfa and Cabaye had not performed as well as hoped and they almost found themselves being shipped away in January as both attracted attention from multiple top clubs. With the transfer window reopening we strengthen the squad without seling any players. Patrick Farkas joined to add a bit of competition for the right back spot with Vurnon Anita whilst Jose Callejon and Mario Suarez both came to Newcastle from Real Madrid and Atheltico Madrid on loan till the end of the season. The last signing of the transfer window was that of Robert Vittek who was signed to ease the worries of a striker crisis. 

Spoiler:Results Part 2


The results in the second half of the season was no better than the first, infact, it was possibly worse. With Ba and Cisse away in Africa, Shinji Okazaki stepped up to the plate with some fantastic performances in Jan/Feb as he went on an insanse run of scoring. 7 goals in 3 games saw the Jap ease our worries and with that gave us improved form which included a 4-2 victory over Chelsea which marked the return of Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse from Africa. 4 goals in just 7 games saw us slip down the table but relegation was never really on the cards as we made 15th, 14th and 13th our own during the entire season. An okay end to the campaign has given us raised hopes for the coming season but that will rely entirely on whether players like Ba, Cisse, Tiote, Wanyama and Cabaye will keep their faith with us.

Spoiler:League Table


Key Players

Spoiler:Demba Ba


Demba Ba finished as our top scorer and there was no doubt form the first few games that he would be. Always the first name on the teamsheet when fit and it was agony not having him when he was in the ACON despite having Okazaki scoring for fun, 

Spoiler:Fabricio Coloccini


Fab was just that in defence for us this season with a great average rating, although it does seem that defender ratings are broken to hell. However, Coloccini was our captain for the season and played great, his performances didn't warrant us to be so far down the table come the end of the season.

Spoiler:Victor Wanyama


Victor sure did earn the £7M + James Perch that we paid. The Kenyan chipped in with a few goals, assists and POTM a few times too. Preferred later on in the season to MC due to Steven Taylor's form at CB, it's clear this guy will have a bright future at the club. 

quote constantplanck

Shockingly good stuff, Stu, what sort of tactic are you trotting out?

I was inspired by my chat with Modiga a few days ago to start in Mato Grosso...took over Luverdense or, as I will call them from now on, Lucas Gaucho and some chavs. That Lucas Gaucho is immense for this level though, he should bag 75 before I have to sell him to Flamengo.

Edit: Just signed this regen named Cris who is, well, either fantastic or crap...it's really difficult to say which.