Would you switch Jonas to the right?

toonsy

Right side for Jonas?
At times I feel that our Argentinian winger (Jonas Gutierrez in case you didn’t guess) gets the rough end of the stick.

He works hard for the team, rarely moans, is rarely injured and has been one of our only players capable of beating a man in the last couple of seasons. None of that seems to be the issue though and the main criticism of Jonas seems to be his lack of a cross or a killer ball.

At times I agree, but I think there is a much better player hidden behind the Jonas that we all know and some love. In fact I think that by moving him to the right we will see a much better Jonas Gutierrez. Why? Well here goes…

Firstly, to the best of my knowledge it’s actually his position. He was signed from Mallorca, where he played on the right and in fact started off playing for us on the right. Even the bible that is Wikipedia says: “Following the departure of Left-sided winger Damien Duff in the transfer window, Gutierrez has switched from his usual right winger to left winger position.” Now it’s only Wiki, but would somebody really take the time to mess with that? Putting him back on the right will lead me nicely on to my next point.

Jonas is right-footed. Very few of us, even professional footballers, have the ability to be equally adept with either foot. It’s just the way it is. Putting him on the right, where he can use his stronger foot, would only be a benefit surely? Maybe then we can see him whipping balls in as he’ll have the confidence to do so.

A good place to look would be at his goals. Now I’m only doing a couple as I don;t want this to read like Michael Owen’s brochure, but take this first effort against Barnsley. That screamer from the season in the Championship.



Notice anything about it? How about this next one against Wolves?



In case you missed it, both goals were scored with his right foot, as were his goals against Bristol City, Blackpool and Manchester City. Even his goal at Chelsea deflected in off his right **** cheek! Does that not say something about his preferred side?

There is of course another benefit to switching Jonas to the right, and that is the fact that it will strengthen our right side in defense aswell as in attack.

Jonas’ work rate is appreciated, as is his defensive work. We see it now where he tracks back and generally maks a nuisance of himself. Now if he could do that with Danny Simpson wouldn’t you agree that it would make us stronger on that side of the park? At times I think Simpson has struggled purely through the lack of support he gets from Joey Barton, but that’s for another day….

So what do you reckon? Is it worth giving Jonas a go on the right? I mean if you look at it there is some pretty compelling evidence to suggest that at least he should be given a shot, and with the players available to cover the left whilst Jonas switches to the right it makes it a no-brainer in my view.

Of course it will mean the end of the Jose/Jonas combo, but that could happen anyway. Why not use him in a more effective position and try and get the best out of him?

Your thoughts please.

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

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217 thoughts on “Would you switch Jonas to the right?”

  11. i would say give him a stint on the bench so he can watch how a winger is supposed to do his job .. its not just about going forward its about busting your ……. to get back and help the defence aswell . and when you lose the ball you graft to get it back not just fall to the floor and complain to the ref

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  13. Liam your a fuking Tool and even Richie will back me up on that one 😉
    Batty thats 2 infront not bad as its only 2 rounds gone 😆

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  16. batty
    Posted June 24, 2011 at 10:39 PM
    we havent signed any 1 and thats always the 1st thing you ask mate

    moaning mug 😆

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  18. Aye indeed i am 😆

    Right nufc4eva thought you saw n zog at the toon training ground yesterday?? 😆 😳 🙄

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  20. we havent signed any 1 😉 and thats always the 1st thing you ask mate 😆 <<<< get it right liar

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  22. nar m8 what i said was .. is that my m8 told me he had seen him getting out a car at the training ground .

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  25. Army he isn’t that sad mate as he won that in all 3 rounds 😆 Batty it’s yours mate 😉
    Army we need to get you in for basic training we have a lot of work to do but with Richie and me we should get you through you BFT but we might struggle with the CFT 😀

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  27. If we lose Enrique, Emilio Izaguirre is the first port of call IMHO. Very good reviews from a plethora of sources.

    Would I switch Jonas to the right? Er probably not unless we were desperate, not out of choice. The whole point of Jonas playing on the left is his ability to dribble and take the ball inside the fullback who is proficient at stopping left-footed players. Basically it’s very hard to explain to people (very hard) but his dribbling proficiency and effectiveness would not be the same on the right wing. Yes he is right footed but he is a left winger!

    Foot doesn’t equal wing 100% of the time. 😉
    Class dissmissed till next time.

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  32. JFK used to play Jonas on the right wing, I remember him playing there against Villa and West Brom and he kept drifting out to the left, Seems bit of a pointless excercise considering Barton kept drifting inside and left simpson 2 on 1 a fair bit last season…

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  37. DJG your class was the same as Bobby’s train EMPTY 😕
    Batty thats 2 in a week we are going to have to cut it down abit as we dont want to burn you out, but then again they were easy ones ❓ come to think of it it was more like sparring

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  42. CC Toonsy seems to be a bit of a champion of Jonas playing on the right wing, he’s mentioned it before to me and now a thread on it.

    It won’t work, I won’t go into the complicated reasons but it won’t. Goodnight everyone. 😉

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  43. Big Dave
    Posted June 24, 2011 at 11:20 PM
    DJG your class was the same as Bobby’s train EMPTY

    Aye but thats because theres nobody here they’re out on the lash. Bobby’s train is empty 24/7 and he’s gonna be showing his **** in Fenwicks soon by his own admission. 😆

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  49. I was there when he cut in and scored the goal aganst Barnsley. I had been to Barnsley away earlier in the season where we conceded a late goal to draw 2-2. The home game was a real barnstormer of a game. I think the keeper got sent off and a mackem! sub keeper came on in the second half with 10 men. We scored about 4 goals in 20 minutes. Look at the angle Jonas hits the ball with his foot for the goal. He cannot lace it! Playing on the right would make his scoring chances worse. Like a lot of Spanish/South American players he seems to hit the ball with the side of his foot. He doesn’t hit his foot through a ball with laces so unless he was gonna start scoring with his left foot I can’t see him scoring many from the right wing.

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  50. @DJG, if you connect correctly you you can get a fair bit of power hitting it off the side or your foot.

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  51. Spencer

    Aye but thats okay if you can cut inside. He can’t cut inside and hit it on his right foot from the right wing can he?

    Its not just that there are reasons to do with his dribbling and link up play that Jonas is played on the left wing. If he was put on the right wing people would see why but I feel like I’m floggin a dead horse so I will just shutup now and let people see for themselves!

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  52. DJG, I must have miss read what you were saying, I thought you we’re saying that you will find it very hard to score if you hit it with the side of the foot. 😆

    But know he cant cut in side 😆

    He can beat a man though.

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  53. DJG you bring up an interesting point, as does the article pointing out his scores all coming off the right foot…as he comes from the left.
    But, that begs the question (this is not directed at you DJG), is his job as a winger to provide support to front man/men, or to score goals? Perhaps scoring goals is a bonus. People keep saying he has no end product playing on the left…my guess is the end product being the cross that gets the goal. If that is his end product than surely his primary goal should be to provide service and it seems he’s more adept at doing that with his right foot.
    I’d say any scoring he can do (either foot) is merely a bonus.

    I’d like to see him play out on the right for a few games and see what he can do. He’s one of my favorite players, so by no means do I want to see him gone.

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  54. I totally understand what you mean but I don’t think he can beat a LB in the same way because a LB is good at stopping people on their Left foot (and Jonas’s right foot) yes he crossing might be better on his right foot but I just don’t think he would get past the LB as much as he gets past the RB. Basically getting past a Rb is like Jonas’s party piece and that is it. With left wingers like Robert (perhaps less so with Marveux or Benny who dribble and drift towards goal) Robert migh get past a Rb half as much as Jonas, but once he’s there he could deliver a dangerous cross into the CF’s. Jonas can hardly ever do this, his main strength is hold up play/time wasting.

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  55. Could be the case.
    I’d still like to see him tried out over there. One thing I would have loved to see against Liverpool (away), was that kid he was causing all kinds of trouble for was moved to the LB position to get away from Jonas. I still wish Pardew sent Jonas over there to see if he could have beaten the kid and maybe even force the 2nd yellow.
    I do think that his speed would be tough for LBs to handle and he may surprise a few people with his ability…but until it’s tried a few times we’ll have to ponder.

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  56. NorCal Toonfan

    Yes That was a tactical error on our part. Or at least a wasted opportunity.

    You see I’m not knocking Jonas because our left flank has been our most creative area over the last two seasons. But I just wish we had options through the middle and the right and the left! Then Flannigan wouldn’t have been able to escape. Foe all people worship Barton, he ain’t a Right winger and he couldn’t have punished Flannigan.

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  59. Wingers now are like athletes, sprinters, endurance runners. But they have to also be good footballers, both with their first touch and control and their passing shooting.

    And now the fullbacks have to keep up with them, they are no longer defenders; the best fullbacks, they are now wingers who can tackle. Look at Evra, Danny Alves ect.

    It is getting extremely hard to find good fullbacks! People come on here and talk like Enrique will be easliy replaced. Think back to Babayaro! Enrique will not be easily replaced! It will be very difficult and this is why he is so attractive to the top clubs in the world!

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  61. ‘Chef Jason Varley of Wellington’s Green Man Pub is topping his dish of seared Asian duck and paua spring rolls with a shot of Hoihoi tatea, better known in laymen’s terms as horse semen.’

    The duck and spring rolls would have enough variety for most people you would have thought. 😛

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  62. no harm in trying espesically if arfa is going to be on the left. i would like him to stay as he has immense pace and can beat most people with his pace and quick feet,

    “Even his goal at Chelsea deflected in off his right **** cheek!” ha ha love it 😆

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  63. I think one of jonas biggest positives is his confidence. when he runs at a LB he will go straight at them. ya he is pacey and can cut inside and all but we have become too one dimensial in attack on the left. we know it and so does the other teams. with arfa or marveau on the left it will draw other teams attention. this might allow jonas a little room on the right and with that confidence it might just work out.

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  64. * without confidence we would have another Routledge. people are all the time saying he can’t make it in this league , but i haven’t heard it about spidy man not making it

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  66. Because he prefers playing on the left! Even at Mallorca he was always on the left wing,he prefers it because it adds unpredictability to his game where he can either cut in or go on the outside of opposition RB’s. Jonas has pace,but not that electrifying Lennon,Walcott kinda pace which you need as a right footed RW to get you to the byline for a cross. Jonas’ style is more mazy,in and out dribbling which is only effective when he plays on the LW.If you think he’s one-dimensional now then you’ll hate him at RW because his only option will be to go on the outside of the LB’s which is too predictable (because he lacks that rapid acceleration). At the end of the day,all prem RB’s find him a nightmare because you can never know what he’ll do at LW and that is his biggest asset

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  67. I saw Jonas a number of times for Mallorca and he played on the left for them, albeit in a 4-5-1 formation – I’m pretty sure left wing is his natural position. The fact that he’s right footed is irrelevant – Robben plays on the right, Ginola played on the left, plenty of other wingers are most comfortable on the opposite side of the pitch to their natural foot. It enables them to face the play and causes defenders the problem of not knowing whether he will go inside or outside. Jonas likes to get the ball down and pass it around, whereas more traditional wingers – the type who tend to be most comfortable on the side of the pitch that corresponds to their stronger foot – play a different way, bombing past the full-back and whipping in crosses from the by-line. That said, I still think Jonas can do a job on the right wing – just not as good a job as he does on the left.

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