Newcastle must have their priorities right this summer
Posted by JamesB in Alan Shearer, Freddy Shepherd, Newcastle, Premiership, Tottenham | 25 June 2006
It is well known that our defence is generally in the spotlight for the wrong reasons, and many fans I speak to are all for the idea of rebuilding our defence once more. However, the stats from last season show quite clearly that scoring goals was actually the problem; not defending. Our lack of goals at the right end certainly added pressure to the defence, who are already under their fair share.
If I remember rightly we had a similar amount of clean sheets to Spurs, who's defence was constantly praised throughout the season! Of course some of that is down to the genius that is Shay Given, but it is not a crime to have a good 'keeper, plus he isn't going anywhere fast after signing a new deal recently.
The first priority has to be strikers. With Alan leaving, there is a massive hole to fill, even if his strike rate did slightly decrease towards the end of the season. There is of course plenty of speculation linking us to Dirk Kuyt, but I leave the rumours to the papers.
Not only does Shearer need replacing, we will also need a temporary goalscorer until Christmas to fill the gap Owen will leave while he recovers from the injury he picked up with England. The best thing to do in this scenario, especially if the budget is fairly low, is to buy an old-ish striker who can still do a job. We don't need to pay a bucketload for a player that probably won't make the team when Owen returns. Despite some people turning their noses up at the idea, Hasselbaink wouldn't be such a bad player to sign given the circumstances.
It would be nice if we could rely on Luque to step up to the plate in the absence of Owen, but so far there is very little evidence to show that he is cut out for the Premiership; hopefully he will prove his critics wrong next season. Solano is certainly confident that Luque will shine in his second season, so all we can do is be patient and hope that he justifies the amount we blew on him.
I get the impression that this summer the money will not be flowing from Shepherd's wallet quite so freely; it would not be surprising given last seasons spending spree and lack of success. Shepherd knows though that if he does not spend big on a new centre forward he will face a backlash from the fans, especially after the amount of time he has spent talking about having to replace Shearer.
If indeed the case is that we can only afford to strengthen certain areas of the team, centre back is in my opinion a little way down the list. Two strikers, and certainly a more consistent left back should both come before a new centre half. If Steven Taylor can pick up the form he was in before his injury and form a good partnership with Craig Moore, who in my opinion is comfortably our second best defender, we should have a fairly solid spine. Making Boumsong and Bramble work for their places will not do their concentration and effort levels any harm either.
The bottom line is that, although its far from perfect, we could cope with the defence we have at the moment next season. This is not the case for the strikeforce we have. Ameobi and Luque for 4 months is not a proposition that excites me - strikers must be top of the list.
