Personally I had few doubts over the ability of the Frenchman and always believed that he would turn out to be an important player for us although I understood that for some fans they would need to see him in action before making such judgements.
Well nine games into the season and I think it’s fair to say that on the whole Cabaye is leaving a positive impression on the vast majority of fans, and impression that will have been boosted after he smashed home a superb winning goal against Wigan at the weekend. It was his first goal for the club although the talented Frenchman admitted that it wasn’t one of his best.
“It was not my best goal but it is in the top five. It was a good goal, and I like to shoot like this, so I am very happy,” Cabaye told the Chronicle.
“After I scored, the crowd and the players celebrated. It was amazing. I am always very happy – it is my first goal and it was a winning goal.”
That goal will hopefully set the standard for Cabaye on Tyneside. At times he has been subdued although it’s worth pointing out that a lot of the time now, especially against the so called weaker teams, we are outnumbered in the middle as the opposition look to stifle our central midfield. However we’ve also seen some fantastic performances from Cabaye, such as at Aston Villa,but most importantly, whether he’s played good or bad, every game has included effort and a willingness to work his socks off for the team.
It’s very early days for Cabaye, but I firmly believe he is Captain material for the future. It’s just his ethic and the things that he says that makes me think like that. Obviously the ideal scenario is for Coloccini to sign on for the long term, but should the unthinkable happen I believe Cabaye has the attributes needed to take over. In fact the one thing I think he lacks is time served in the North East, but that will come with, erm, time?! That is something that Cabaye seems happy enough to give as he told the Chronicle:
“My move here has been a dream and I do not want the dream to finish! I will give everything for Newcastle. It is my mentality – I want to work hard and be strong on the pitch. I am happy to be here and everything is very, very good.”
Anther thing that Cabaye seems to have is respect from his peers in the dressing room. Quite often the other players comment about him and compliment him on various parts of his game. I like that. I like Cabaye, although not in that way. I am, after all, a married man. Sorry ladies!
More of the same from Cabaye? Yes please! This lad has the potential to be up there with our best foreign imports over the years as long as he keeps on doing what he is doing.
Future captain for sure. He is just a model professional in every way the type of player Newcastle have lacked in some time.
And if he attracts interest from BIGGER clubs so what we will have him for at least 2 seasons and will have gotten the best out of him and still get atleast triple what we paid for him. All looking good either way.
I bet you will see alot more Cabayes on back of shirts the longer he is here aswell fast becoming a fan favourite and i bet there is still alot more to come on a football side of things.
Icke(Quote)
Hopefully this goal is only top five in all his newcastle goals to come… he is class.
Anyone noticed how we have a lot of winners in the team now?
HBA – French title
Cabaye – French title/cup
Tiote – Dutch League
Santon – Italian League
Obertan – Even didnt play much lots of medals
Ba – Hoffenheim (albeit 2nd div)
SUre there are more but good standard of players?
Liam Southern Toon(Quote)
let’s calm doon a bit – he didn’t actually play well on Sat, cracking goal aside. he didn’t do too well against Spurs either. He was also pretty nondescript against Arsenal, the mackems and at QPR.
He’s starting to get just a touch overrated….. though i do hold out hope that he’ll match the building hype with more consistent performances over the remainder of the season
M(Quote)
M – As I said in the article, it’s all well and good pointing out his poorer performances, but to do it without looking at why it was like that is as pointless as building him up.
For most of the games this season him and Tiote have been outnumbered in the middle of the park as teams play a more 4-5-1 or 4-4-1-1 or whatever.
I also believe this is part of the reason why our defence looks so good. Ie the oppo have few attacking options as they flood the midfield which allows us to mop up.
toonsy(Quote)
fair play Toons, ur article is balanced enough and u mention his inconsistency. Just sensing a general trend to overrate him a tad
Loving his attitude tho… and his shooting technique!
M(Quote)
also by my reckoning Tiote’s been playing rather well from the Villa game onwards. Do take your point re certain teams playing 5-man mids, not sure if it directly correlates with his iffy performances tho
M(Quote)
M lets be honest a lot of players cant hit the ball that sweetly thats a hard shot to score.
He is no doubt very very good but not yet still adjusting IMO.
Would really love to see him and HBA let loose in the middle with tiote behind would be something altogether diff i reckon
Liam Southern Toon(Quote)
Hmm I dunno. Discount the first one against Arsenal and the Mackems game game as one was his very first game and one was a local derby where anything can happen (apart from a Sunderland win lol) and I think it matches up pretty well. Not directly maybe, but I’d bet most of his subdued performances have come against 5 man midfields. Wigan and Spuds are two off the top of my head.
toonsy(Quote)
Don’t get me wrong peeps – i rate him as a player. His shooting technique reminds me of Scholes, very exciting for us!
M(Quote)
M is right. As has seemingly happened without Ben Arfa even playing, Cabaye is now running the risk of being someone who starts hot and then when he has lean spell, is gonna be hounded constantly.
Let’s not forget Jonas destroying teams when he first arrived, and after he went quiet, he has only just now started to get the majority of fans on his side about about 3 years.
There is a long line of fan’s going overboard and creating their own disappointment.
funkyjesus(Quote)
actually on reflection u do have a point. we can think of **** and the mackems as teething probs . QPR, Wigan and Spurs all played 5-man mids
It actually does kinda match up, haha
M(Quote)
Just because Cabaye isn’t beating 5 players and curling the ball into the top corner every 10 minutes doesn’t mean he isn’t playing well.
His stats are immense – the ground he covers, the tackles he makes, the number of successful passes… I could go on.
I think him and Tiote have played a massive role in ensuring our defense is the tightest in the league.
Raylor and Saylor were on the box the other day and they were asked which of the new players has impressed the most and they both straight away said Yohan without hesitating.
Pardew was also purring about him after the Wigan game and rightly so. The lad oozes class, even if it might not be obvious to the untrained eye.
Toon Chicken(Quote)
Some good points on here. other than xavi, how many CMs look great every match. Not all matches are played down the midle of the pitch- in fact, in several of our matches Pardew’s sems to have made it a point to attack form width.
Really like this guy’s attitude and very happy for him to have bagged his first. Here’s hoping for many more
MDS(Quote)
An interesting stat, courtesy of Garth Crooks on the bbc:
Did you know? Only three Premier League players (Rooney, Defoe and Taarabt) have managed more shots on target from outside the box this season than Cabaye’s six.
😆
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Cabeye is awesome. Did not even need a beeding in period – a sure sign of a top player. Already got a goal and 2 or 3 assists, which shows his attacking prowess. Defensively he is one of the top tacklers in the league – Top 5 according to Sky Sports. So what if he has the odd quiet game, his all round game is top notch and his attitude is a breath of fresh air compared to the bloke we shipped of to QPR … LOVING HAVING THIS LAD AT OUR CLUB!!! 😛
Shamrock(Quote)
Loving the french players really cannot wait for HBA, cabaye and Marv to play together.
HBA’s agent said that they all know each others game so well and is 90mph stuff ever since then cannot wait to see all three combine for a full game 😀
Liam Southern Toon(Quote)
The thing is that when he doesn’t ‘star’ in a game, he is constantly grafting away in the background doing the messy stuff.
I really do think he is class. Cabaye and Tiote must be a some pair to play against. I wouldn’t fancy it 😉
NorthernPaul(Quote)
NorthernPaul
October 24, 2011 at 15:04
“The thing is that when he doesn’t ‘star’ in a game, he is constantly grafting away in the background doing the messy stuff.”
This is exactly my point 🙂
toonsy(Quote)
I do have one critcism tho, and that is his corners, which are more often than not very weak and rarely make it to the 6 yrd box.
Reminds me of that fuggin Geremi 👿
But I’m sure he can and will improve on this.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
“Reminds me of that fuggin Geremi”….well below the belt that one like 😉
richietoon(Quote)
BB – You are right. Personally, I’d prefer to see somebody else taking the corners (Raylor whilst he is in the team for example) with Cabaye sat loitering on the edge of the box for stray balls. His long range shooting is so good I can see him putting a few in the back of the net from that position…
Shamrock(Quote)
@19. T think that is a fair criticism
@ 21. Agreed
MDS(Quote)
I knew he was going to be a good signing but I had doubts that he would be this successful this early.
Exciting bit is that he’s still going to get better!
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
i think hes a top player,and when marv get his feet under the table so to speak i have no doubts he will be just as good as cabye all be it in a diff roll this guy will make some goals and score a few himself
icedog(Quote)
I think the corners are going short on purpose. Like Ba first goal. We attack the front post to avoid dealing with the big cb’s in the middle.
Think his corners have been good. Good pace and accuracy.
When Shola came it was a corner and he started off at the near post and was in a lot of space but just as cabaye hit it Shola turned around and ran towards the middle. The ball ended up going right to the spot that Shola would’ve been and maybe would’ve got a free header but he was not there and left Tiote to head it with 2 defenders on his back.
Cant remember Tiote being targeted too many times on corners lol.
Miscommunication but the ball was played perfectly.
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
Toonsy- I think Ben arfa is the answer to these 3 cm formations and pardew knows it.
He brought him on at half time and we soon saw alot more progress up the pitch. He links up better with the mid-field than the other strikers and once he gets back to form, teams won’t be able to rely on that tactic as much.
JerseyGeordie(Quote)
Cabaye is an all round class act, he can sit and defend and he has the ability to get forward and be a goal threat. Against Wigan he was average, as were most of our players, but to play poor and come up with a finish like he did says a lot about him. His attitude is first class as well.
AndrewNUFC(Quote)
Marveaux, Cabaye, Tiote, Jonas across the middle with Ben Arfa in behind Ba I think would work well for us if Ben Arfa will track back a little when playing against 5 man midfields. Obertan provides pace but not much more going forward, but is getting better at helping Simpson out on defense. Still think we need a striker or even 2. Shola is out 4-6 weeks now so what do we have on the bench? I think many teams have sussed Best’s quick first move now so his scoring will continue to drop off. Peter, and Sammy are not enough in reserve. It will be very interesting to play Man City but scary as well. Such a powerful group of strikers and now their midfield is looking fantastic as well.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
cabaye really impressed me with how calmly he took that goal. Most players would have gotten excited and pounded it into the 20th row
MDS(Quote)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15432447.stm
Harper officially a Brighton player.
funkyjesus(Quote)
@JerseyGeordie
Spot on about HBA countering the 3 man midfields. Granted, he didn’t exactly dribble past 5 players and curl it into the top corner like he should on Saturday but what he did really well was to draw the midfield/defensive players to him (had 2 or even 3 on him each time) to free up the space for the other players.
He’s going to add a different dimension to our attack once he beds into the team. Plus we’re going to see more from Cabaye as the amount of space and movement increases.
Thad(Quote)
Cabaye, as soon as I saw him against Sunderland, thought he will do well. I think he has a lot more to give, need to get the team working better though. Less weak links like the full backs and Obertan should give him more freedom. Put BA, santon and marveaux in and I think we can vary the play more too. More intelligence on the ball with those in, will work to cabayes advantage.
Getting really frustrated with marv’s lack of action. Every time is see him in reserves or 1st team he’s making things happen more than anyone. Pace, passing, vision, touch, he looks immense, why is he not playing?
EP(Quote)