Alan Pardew was a guest on Radio Newcastle last night. Among several interesting comments, one thing he said is that he thinks the squad is stronger now than last season. I'm not so sure.
If you compare the current squad to the one we had at the end of last season then he's right: we've replaced Nolan, Campbell and Kuqi with Marveaux, Cabaye and Ba. However, this comparison is a bit misleading, and the reason for this is that a much more useful comparison is between the squad now and the squad when it was at its strongest last season.
Without Andy Carroll in the first half of the season, we would have struggled hugely. Whilst Best, Ameobi and Lovenkrands did a reasonable job of filling his boots after January, the harsh reality is that none of them or anywhere near his level. Even with Carroll at the club, we needed another forward, with him gone, we're now desperate. Ba is a promising signing, but he's not going to have the same impact that Carroll would have were he still here. Selling him will only make sense if we're prepared to invest the money, even if that means paying a big fee. Sturridge, anyone?
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