Despite his decreasing mobility there are few players who can match him in his ability to lead the line. Therefore this should be seen as a an opportunity to change the dynamic of our forward line, otherwise any striker would look a poor replacement.
Newcastle will hope that Michael Owen lines up in the black and white at the start of the new season as the prospect of replacing both our strikers just doesn't bare thinking about.
I still hope to see luque prove to the geordie fans what a good player he is, and given how his value has plummeted this season there seems to be little reason to sell him.
Chops has done well in recent weeks but three successive managers have failed to give the young lad a regular starting place so it may be better for him if he were to drop a division in order to play regular football. I wouldn't be concerned if he was to be offered a new short term deal as I do believe he can be a valuable squad member.
Shola has started 25 games this season (further 6 as sub) and has only produced 7 goals, that's a return of aprox 1 in 4 which is just not good enough for a top level striker. In much the same way as chopra I feel he could be useful in a squad system but feel that we may be better off cashing in on a player that isn't strong enough to lead the team.
At the start of this season we had the following forwards:
- Shearer
- Owen
- Luque
- Shola
- Chopra
Of those strikers I expect the following to start the new campaign:
- Owen
- Luque
- Shola / Chopra
If this is the case then we will need to bring in two new strikers, this could be 1 expensive 1 cheap or two mid range. I don't expect the board to sanction another huge outlay given the money spent last season.
Some names to consider:
- Harewood
- D. Bent
- Yakubu
- Beattie
- Trundle
- Kuyt
- Mido
- Zigic
- fowler
- Johnson
- Ronaldo
- Baros
- Defoe
So many of those players wont move, or will move to another side, but if football fans cant speculate at this time of year then life would be much duller....
GWIP
2 comments:
please please take baros off us this summer!am hopign he has an awesome world cup so that we get our money back for him, though sods law says he's awesome for you guys!any money we make will, i'm sure, be used wisely by DOL to try and lure joe cole to villa..no?so thats just my dream is it?what about pedersen at villa?
seems we, that is villa, are unable to have back to back wins this half of the season, am not too fond of being so close to the drop zone. its been a few seasons since we were in this position and i must say something needs to be done. though if DOL went who would replace him (other than me and may housemate matt who would be excellent managers)?answers on a postcard to.......
If you are after a new manager there is always Souness or Bruce (See 'Freddie Options', 09 Feb) for other options. I imagine DOL would try and hold out for Milner in any deal for Baros, so i dont think that would work even if we wanted him.
Anyway, be comforted by the fact that its Brum that are going down this year....
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