The Ivory Coast international has recently signed a new contract on Tyneside and has stated how happy he is at the club. He has even rebuffed interest from Chelsea and Real Madrid as well apparently, although I have some doubts on that as the story comes from the Sunday Sun.
Yesterday I made a rather rare trip back home and took in the match at St James’ Park. Generally I attend away games, but whilst I was up there I thought I may as well take in the match, especially as it was Mrs. Toonsy’s idea. How could I possibly refuse? I mean it was her birthday after all….
Anyway, I could have a moan about the ref, I can moan about some basic errors, some poor finishing or some poor defending if I choose to, but I’m not going to do that. Instead I am going to focus on Cheik Tiote.
Yesterday wasn’t the first time that I have seen him action, but I did notice that there was something extra about him against Bolton. Tiote seemed to carry a bit of extra authority and seemed to get involved in in the attack more often than I have seen in the past.
He took set pieces and even grabbed himself an assist when he chased down another one of Ryan Taylor’s **** crosses (those who say that Taylor is a good set-piece taker really, REALLY need to get their eyes checked) and showed him how it should be done by planting the ball straight on Kevin Nolan’s head for the opening goal of the game.
Tiote was everywhere, again, yesterday. He misplaced a couple of passes and was partly at fault for the Bolton goal, but overall he was excellent again. I would suggest that Tiote is more important to our team right now than any other individual is at the moment.
The way he conducted himself and the way he carried the team at times did make me think though. As I sat there watching him I thought that he would make a fantastic captain for our club. Think about it. The lad shows commitment, passion, drive, leads by example, says he loves the club etc etc. Isn’t that what you want from a captain?
I’m not saying that Kevin Nolan should be deposed as captain immediately, as to honest he is the main man and does a fantastic job at geeing the team up, but perhaps there is a space for vice-captain in the absence of Kevin Nolan in the offing?
Do you think Tiote would have it in him? Is he big enough to carry the responsibility? Would his penchant for a yellow card be a problem?
What do you think?
dave 149 did fatty let ya oot for 5 mins 😆 😆
batty(Quote)
funkyjesus, only player is SPL I would consider is Fraser Forster….lol.
Nah seriously, only player in SPL i rate is Stephen Naismith.
Moreno(Quote)
Will they shyte. Arsenal these days are actually very beatable indeed; as we and West Brom have proven at the Emirates. I think Barca will take them at the Nou Camp and that will be the end of 2 cups in quick succession. 🙂
DJG(Quote)
Yeah, Naismith is about 24 too. Fraser Fyvie is only 17 and already a first teamer for Aberdeen. Gary Hooper was better than Andy Carroll last season while in a worse team and is scoring for fun for Celtic.
Emilio Izaguirre and Beram Kayal would be good back up for Enrique/Tiote (esp. if Smith does a bunk). James Forrest is a fast, direct winger who is only 19 and a regular for Celtic. John Fleck is another 19 year old for Rangers who is on the brink of the first team, along with Jamie Ness.
Plenty of young players and decent squad players in the SPL that would fill our numbers greatly while not costing us a bomb and leaving enough for one or two key players for every game action.
funkyjesus(Quote)
Reet Lads thats me outta here take it easy and be good
Big Dave(Quote)
True, all good arguments, I always think that yes they may be in the first team or on the fringe of it, but this is a league with Michael Duberry being a first team regular and our last buy from North of the border (boumsong) need I say more?
Moreno(Quote)
I remember watching Celtic vs. Dundee United not so long ago and it was 1st vs 6th in the SPL, something like that. It was a very low standard of football. I would say mid to low championship or even high League 1 level. There are many better English/Welsh championship teams.
DJG(Quote)
Fleck and Ness (especially now he has scored in old firm) would cost a few quid and are the sort of lads who want to play week in week out and want to do it now. Couldn’t see them wanting to be squad players to be honest!
Moreno(Quote)
nite dave 😉 nite lads
batty(Quote)
My previous comment
“Best player in the SPL this season was Connor Sammon and he went to Wigan for a million quid, they havent played him yet.
Big lad and very very quick, was leading scorer in the league when he went.”
says it all really
Moreno(Quote)
Don’t get me wrong, the SPL as a division is not good these days. Compared to even 10 years ago, it’s dropped drastically to a level that we are worried most teams may have to turn semi-pro. The TV deals have killed finances – but there are still very good players in the division if the time is taken to look for them. Scotland also has a good batch of players in the national team at the moment. I’ll do a quick list to show there is likely more Scots than English in the Premiership now
Craig Gordon, Darren Ferguson, Alan Hutton, James McFadden, Barry Ferguson, Graham Dorrens, Barry Bannan, Gary Caldwell, Steven Caldwell, Steven Fletcher, Christophe Berra, Charlie Adam, James McArthur, James McCarthy, Connor Sammon and Danny Wilson.
There are probably more youngsters that I don’t know of but all of those (outside Sammon I believe) have played in the Premiership this season. Not to mention 6 of the 20 managers are from Glasgow alone, lol.
funkyjesus(Quote)
funkyjesus, all valid points
they’re still ***** though.
😛
Moreno(Quote)
I am pretty sure the vast majority of that list got “I’d sign him” comments over the past 12 months when transfer windows came up
Dorrens especially last season while Hutton was one we were linked with during summer.
If Cardiff and Leeds get promoted this season, you can add another 5 odd players to that list too. There are probably more Scots in England now than ever, just none that compare to the likes of Dalglish, etc.
Only doing these rants because it’s a poor piece of research from the major media outlets who say there are no Scottish players in the English top division anymore. More than the English players of Chelsea, Arsenal and Man City combined at the very least.
Outside Blackpool and Newcastle, I can barely think of a mainly English based team in the division anymore. Newcastle’s entire playing group from first team to youth has to be over 85% English now. It’s quite a feat in today’s era.
funkyjesus(Quote)
On a more serious note fj,
Scotland do have a talented starting 11, the likes of which you previously mentioned. So why is the national team so awful and under perform all the time? (you could say same about England but we at least qualify for major tournaments)
Moreno(Quote)
We have had woeful managers. We have this thing about sticking with Scottish managers – which considering the success of Scottish managers would seem a great idea. Problem is the likes of Fergie, Moyes, Dalglish, etc. will not manage the national team, so we end up with the likes of George Burley, etc.
Our current manager gets our team to beat the current Spain team as bad as any time I’ve ever seen at Hampden (lost 3-2 but we hammered them during the match) yet we go to Czech and play with no striker out of fear. The same Czech team we beat the year previously with the same squad.
Our manager choices have been woeful. If we had Owen Coyle managing our team, we’d have a hope of qualifying. Our players are small, speedy wingers/midfielders now and we need someone who deals with them – Coyle’s style is perfect.
We play hoof-ball tactics with a squad the physical size of Arsenal. It will always fail.
funkyjesus(Quote)
What about Bertie Vogts? And scraping a draw against Liechenstein?
Moreno(Quote)
Bertie was our last foreign manager.
I think the SFA have even said that Bertie killed the idea of foreign national team managers for life with his dismal job. We will forever look “inward” for our managers, we just have to hope one of the good ones get tired of dealing with agents, etc. at club level and feel like doing national service, lol.
The likes of Ian Holloway seems to hate club management with all the rubbish of player transfers, etc. I can really see him being in line for England manager when Postman Pat leaves the England job.
Our current set up is decent though. We’ve had two 3-0 wins in a row and that has happened since Levein played the younger, most attack minded players in an attacking formation. We may have turned a corner, who knows.
funkyjesus(Quote)
It’s easy to manage the Scotland national team. Every team talk would be the same…
“just pretend it’s against England”
They’d win most games by playing out their skin!
Anyway I’m away to kip. Night all
Moreno(Quote)
We aren’t all that simple and narrow minded, you know…… well, not all of us
Night dude.
funkyjesus(Quote)
Guthrie to Forest on loan apparently.
AndrewNUFC(Quote)
Good deal as I assume it will have a recall clause since Championship loan deals at this time can only be for a month or two at most, aren’t they?
Probably similar to Ramsey at Cardiff.
funkyjesus(Quote)
I’m guessing they will have an option to buy him in the summer.
He’s been a good servant for us, did well last season, I wish him well.
AndrewNUFC(Quote)
Interesting thought…think it’ll still be a few years yet like but assuming we can keep him for the contract length then why not? Its hard to see Nolan being stripped any time soon like, he’ll still be in there next season even if we sign up Ireland and have ben arfa playing in an attacking central role, Nolan was vital last year and he’s been vital this year, I know his all round game isn’t that impressive but he’s a good captain. Reckon Barton would be a solid shout for a future captain but he’s not much younger than Nolan..although he’ll be around the team much more…assuming he actually stays? Still, Tiote deputising in the near future wouldn’t be a massive surprise.
NewkieBrown(Quote)
Sticking with the Scottish theme. Word is Hutton is on the way out of WHL. I’d like to see him in Toon.
miike(Quote)
Don’t agree with the shouts for Barton as captain. He doesn’t really come across as someone who would give constructive criticism. Nolan was captain for many years before joining us so you can’t really compare the two.
Joey is one of our good leaders on the pitch but don’t think he is responsible enough to be captain.
Wouldn’t surprise me if it’s Taylor. I reckon him and Pards are going to become *** chums and Taylor will get Carvers vote no doubt. Now he is fit I can see him replacing willo as he is the type of person Pards will like. Not what I want to happen but how I see it going.
Moreno(Quote)