Newcastle Must Buy Defenders - Not Forwards
Newcastle United should have seen off 10 man Birmingham in the second half on Saturday but a defensive lapse four minutes from time cost them dearly - and they must now play again next week for the right to progress to the fourth round. An extra game they could well do without.
Does this defensive frailty sound familiar?
Not that the defense Newcastle put out on Saturday was experienced - with the back four including two nineteen year olds and a twenty year old and Nobby Solano filling in manfully at right back.
The last thing we currently need is to sign a forward for $10M - be it Darren Bent or Shawn Wright-Phillips - so the news that we may be after these players is very worrying.
Defense is where our weaknesses are (and have been for some time - even in the Kevin Keegan era) and that is the area we have to fill - and quickly.
The youngsters coming through show they have Premiership potential but they need an experienced head at the back to steady them and show them the ropes, otherwise we will keep leaking vital goals, through inexperience, as we did on Saturday.
Sylvain Distin, who played a year on loan some five years ago would be an excellent capture. He is available and wouldn’t cost much - as far as a transfer fee - so I’m not sure why we haven’t already snapped him up.
The two older center backs at the club, Craig Moore and Titus Bramble both don’t fit the bill for different reasons. Moore has indicated he wants to play in the newly created Australian league next year and Bramble just isn’t consistent enough. If we could get Moore to stay on for a couple of years that would be good business because he has shown he can stabilize the back four with his calm demeanor and experience.
Matthew Upson may fit the bill but $6M seems an awful lot of money to pay for him. He was at fault on Saturday for the second Newcastle goal and didn’t exactly stand out as a top center back.
Tal Ben Halm of Bolton would fit the bill. He’s a no nonsense defender who has looked good for Bolton these last couple of years.
For the left back position, I assume Wayne Bridge is still available. The fact that he is now at Chelsea with Ashley Cole is ludicrous. We need the two top left backs for England playing regular football and that is not possible in the current situation. So a bid for Bridge would also be good.
It is also alarming that Newcastle have not yet moved for their targets.
With last summer’s disaster in not being able to sign players at the last minute - one would have assumed they would have learned a lesson - and carried out the negotiations before the transfer window opened, and then announced the actual signings in early January.
In retrospect, that needs some organization and longer term planning - something that the Newcastle management - in the form of Freddie Shepherd - cannot be accused of over the last few years.
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Total rubbish. We need BOTH defender (right across the back four but mostly centre and left back) and we need a prolific striker, not discrediting Martins, but we need a big centre forward who can hold the ball up and be a handful to other players. We currently do not have this.
I think Newcastle HAVE moved for their targets, but a) the funds are not available or b) the targets are not willing to come to Newcastle.
I don’t think Chelsea want to sell Bridge. Bolton don’t want Tel Ben Haim to leave either. Upson is probably waiting for an offer from Chelsea or Tottenham.
Thing is, Newcastle’s signings will happen late into January, when the opportunities dry up and players are forced to make choices.
And to Darren - with Ameobi and Owen coming back at the end of the season, you don’t need to buy a striker.
You COULD take on Crouchie on loan, but that would be a supremely stupid move on Liverpool’s part.
This is ridiculous, we’re defending well but not scoring, and that won’t be solved by buying defenders. Yes, we desperately need cover in the back four but Moore, Taylor and Ramage are all putting everything into the game, and are playing well because of this. We need a solid commanding defender, and possibly a left back, but we need a goal scorer that can hit them consistently if we want to get anywhere.
what a load of tripe you do write! If we’d taken the chances that we had against Birmingham then it wouldn’t have mattered about a defensive lapse! What do we do for goals if Martins gets injured?!
We need a CH, a LB AND a striker!
We havent conceded any more goals then any one else in the league - we have just conceeded poor goals. A big intimidating centre half who can tell everyone else what to do and “bring the kids along” would be nice though. Step forward Jonathan Woodgate - you really dont want to play in the championship.
And of course a LB who wants to play football is a definate for january, we havent had one for a couple of years.