Newcastle captain Alan Smith has been interviewed in the Newcastle Journal today, and says the squad needs strengthening before the end of January – Mike Ashley – are you listening?
Alan Smith – our squad is still too small
Alan said today:
“Obviously in this league there are a lot of games and if you have a good run in the FA Cup there are a lot more games,”
“There has been well documented stuff in the Press about the players he was trying to get in and as a group of lads, we want Chris to bring in who we can get along with and welcome into the group, because it is going to be a difficult time.”
“In February we have a lot of games in a short period of time. The lads will keep battling on and working hard but we are a tight squad and we haven’t got many.”
“We have lost three who we have had on loan and it would be nice if we could get them all back but we have a good enough squad – it is just the numbers.”
“If we could add to the squad it would be nice because when games are coming thick and fast to freshen it up with quality is a good thing to have.”
“Our squad is definitely good enough but if you can add quality to a squad you would always do it because you have always got to progress, and you have always got to cover for injuries,”
“Chris knows who he wants to bring in but he will want to add the quality. That is the key.” “He hasn’t got the players in he has targeted – yet. I don’t think he will panic, but quality will be the operative word. He won’t bring in people just for the sake of it. It’s as simple as that.”
And Smith talked about the recent deeds of Peter Lovenkrands, whose father died last Friday, yet Peter played on Monday night, scored a goal, and put in a committed performance in honor of his late father.
Lovenkrands – showed his complete commitment to Newcastle cause
That’s a thing that doesn’t go unnoticed at Newcastle, and the fans will ensure that Peter gets all the support he needs from the Geordie faithful in the next days and weeks.
Indeed Alan says that the players will go out of their way to ensure Peter gets all the support he needs, as he continued:
“We will put an arm round him and give him all the help he needs to help him get through what is bound to be a very difficult time for him,” Smith said.
“It says a lot about his strength of character that he was able to play, especially in a game of this intensity and magnitude. It is something you never expect and we can’t praise him enough for his performance, especially in these circumstances.”
There was late breaking news last night that Newcastle had made an offer for Nottingtham Forest midfielder James Perch, so that’s something that we’ll follow today – we need a breakthrough, and bringing in a player – a good player – is what most Newcastle fans would like to see.
At the end of January we can always go to loan signings, but it would be good to bolster the permanent squad in numbers now – before the summer comes around.
Comments welcome.
8 comments so far
spiderpig
Jan 20, 2010 at 12:00 PM
Comment #1we have 4 strikers plus nolan who i dont think has the legs or pace for a midfield berth.in my opinion our centre mid should be guthrie and smith.we need an out and out winger on the right ,cover for left back and maybe a decent centre half so that taylor can move to right back which i reckon is his best position.we dont need beckford or harewood.
Spitfire
Jan 20, 2010 at 12:12 PM
Comment #2We need pace, creativity, imagination and commitment. But not necessarily in that order.
hayward223
Jan 20, 2010 at 12:14 PM
Comment #3Well if you look at our team now how many players would get in your prem team?
For me it would be.
Harper
…… – Colo – Taylor – Enrique
…… – Guthrie – ……. – Jonas
……. – …….
I think simpson is a good back up, i dont think any of our strikers are of premiership class and we need some creativity in midfield. Smith and Nolan were completely outplayed and out of the depth against west brom, how they going to do against Fabregas or Gerrard. Guthrie is a more energetic player but we still need another player in there
ziad
Jan 20, 2010 at 2:11 PM
Comment #4We cover at the back we do not need strikers …
ziad
Jan 20, 2010 at 2:17 PM
Comment #5we need cover*
Whumpie
Jan 20, 2010 at 2:58 PM
Comment #6Who cares whether our team will do ok in the Prem? That’s what the summer is about.
Right now, I’m more or less in agreement with Spiderpig. We need a PROPER right-winger, not someone who ‘can play out wide’. We need cover for LB, because even Jose gets broken sometimes.
I’d like to see Simpson signed, and Harewood as cover – perhaps a CB too… but keeping what we’ve got is the priority; the rest is just risk mitigation.
A right winger, however – that’ll actually improve our results.
Thump
Jan 20, 2010 at 3:55 PM
Comment #7Aye, our right wing is definitely our weakest point at the minute. It doesn’t take much to exploit it because we’re all over the left flank. A bit of creativity would be nice, too but maybe Barton can inject a bit of creativity when he comes back later this month (I think, anyway).
hayward223
Jan 20, 2010 at 7:48 PM
Comment #8Whumpie, surely we need to be buying players for a long term view. You cant just rely on the summer to buy 10players cause it wont happen. I dont see the point in buying players for 2million who arent good enough for the prem. Thats what Liverpool have done, spent loads of mediocre players rather then saving the money to be a couple of top players