Cabaye eyes Europe.

Yohan Cabaye on Europe and pretty football.
Yohan Cabaye has been a man of few words since he joined Newcastle from Lille back at the start of July, but today he has spoken about his move, his ambition, and what he is setting out to try and do at Newcastle.

Cabaye has said that he is going to try and help to bring attacking football back to St James’ Park, prove himself in the Premier League and, ultimately, help get the club back into Europe.

Sneer all you like at his aim, but fair play to him I say. At least he is willing to give it a go.

First off Cabaye spoke about aiming for Europe:

“My first ambition is give my best possible performances on the pitch and the second is it should be possible for Newcastle to look at qualifying for the Europa League,” he told The Journal.

“The club has the potential to be at that level. We have to show a fighting spirit, as a collective, if we want to get there.”

Before moving onto discussing why he traded Lille for Newcastle:

“Firstly, I just thought it was the right time to change club.

“Yes, I could have stayed at Lille and played Champions League football, but Newcastle offered me the chance to play in the Premier League, which I believe is the best competition in the world,” said Cabaye.

“I want to prove to myself I can succeed away from Lille, in a different culture and in an environment my family and I can adapt to. I want to go to the next level.”

Of course Cabaye is unproven in the Premier League at the moment although from what I’ve seen of him he is a cracking acquisition. I’m not the only one who thinks that way either although it is early days. Incidentally the 25-year-old added to his international caps last night as he came on a second half substitute for France and, thankfully, escaped injury after being on the end of a rough tackle.

He could be some player for us this season, and he was quick to give us an insight of what he is all about as a player. If he lives up to his own billing he will soon become a fan favourite in the eyes of the Toon Army. Again speaking to The Journal, Cabaye lifted the lid on how he and the team are going to attempt to play this season.

“I love passing the ball, the passing game. I love having the ball at my feet, shooting at goal, defending, tackling and sometimes I score goals, too. Newcastle have a proud history of attacking football and I relate to that. I adore that,” said Cabaye.

“For three years at Lille, we worked hard at playing that kind of football and it brought us the championship. I hope it is the same at Newcastle. Looking after the ball is the best way to play the game, because you have the pressure, the advantage.”

It’s this bit that really interests me as I want to see nice football. Few can deny that we were gritty last season, almost pedestrian in fact, but we now have players who can give us a bit of something different, a bit of pace, and as an added bonus we still have some grit and determination left in the tank with the likes of Cheik Tiote, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Joey Barton (if he stays) and even the new lad, Yohan Cabaye.

It’s about balance, and hopefully we’ve got it right. I want change, but I worry about changing too quickly although I guess only time will tell. I do think it’s unlikely that all of our new signings will hit the ground running but I’m willing to give them time, in much the same way it took Enrique and Coloccini time.

I wonder if people have learned not to write players off so quickly thanks to them?

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.

145 thoughts on “Cabaye eyes Europe.

  1. Enrique and collo got time to come good. IN the championship. Pretty sure and hoping it won’t come to that Haha

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  2. im beeginning to hate liverpool!!! i cant stand andy carroll , hate dalglish and next it will be enrique !!!

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  3. ive got us to come 8th this season..any less and il be dissapointed. ps – who is our left back on saturday? he will only have gervinho, nasri or arshavin to mark 😳

    great planning by our top dogs 🙄

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  4. hopefully cabaye will be a great signing. he reminds me of emre..hopefully he will stay injury free cos emre was better than what we saw

    premier leage can be a killer to those kind of players unfortunately

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  5. goals and not nice pretty techinical football get points in this tough league (ask arsenal fans) – nolan got 12 of them (goals)

    thats all im gonna say on that

    lest we not forget!

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  6. arshavin injury in last nights friendly 😯 ,nee nasri, nee fab,and we think we have probs.
    they still got some canny players like 🙁

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  7. Only way he’ll see europe is if he books a holiday there, nowt wrong with saying what the fans want to hear though.
    Shame about Enrique but can’t say I blame him, any player on a decent wedge will have to leave when contract talks start as Ashley / Llambias won’t pay going rate. Fair enough they don’t want to be held to randsom but we can’t expect to pay average wages (for prem) and come anywhere above mid-table
    Long season ahead

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  8. lee_ryder Lee Ryder
    Shane Ferguson in full training today ahead of #afc clash #nufc
    4 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

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  9. if not Fergy, Paul Dummett is fit, ne experience tho, perhaps STaylor or Rtaylor will be played there.

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  10. Rtaylor at LB makes me cringe just as much as the thought of Perch playing there.

    Gervinho will be rubbing his hands together with glee.

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  11. Good assessment Toonsy! He’s as exciting an acquisition as we have, but you do have to worry a bit about speed of adaptation and the number of changes we’re seeing.

    But Pardew did make it pretty clear which way he wanted to go with the team and playing style, and this guy is a clear cornerstone of that plan.

    I love the fact that he puts the league above cup competitions – even the CL – in his priorities. It makes so much more sense than Jose’s obsession with the CL (er.. except he’s still not in it) when it’s the league that earns you your wages week to week.

    Is be being over-optimistic about Europa league? Possibly, but we came within a goal of 9th last season, so why not set that target?

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  12. On the plus side Pardew has said on a number of occasions that they have plans in place for when Enrique goes. Guess we just have to wait and see if this was bull **** or not.

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  13. have to say im gutted enrique has gone. marvelled at his left back play last two seasons.

    its easy for us now as fans to hate and say he isnt as good as he thinks bla bla because hes gone. but we were there cheering him, singing his name when he did extremely well for us.

    theres one reason and one reason alone why he has left and i dont blame him

    the truth hurts some fans i guess…

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  14. Anyone else see the handshake thing Pardew was doing at training?
    Skysports news were awfully interested in it… I have a suspicion that it was just a little prank on the media to make them think something big and elaborate is happening

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  15. Whumpie – Do you think it’s wise that our entire playing style is moulded round one player? What happens when he misses a game?

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  16. doitforsirbobby what was the one reason then? Lack of ambition?
    To you ambition means spending sh!tloads of money, to many of us it is signing international strikers with a better goal/game ratio than Carroll.
    Signing a current French international with CL experience, having just been a vice captain of a league winning team.
    Signing two other players with youth international experience and bucket loads of potential.

    Yeah we need a striker. Not one person in the world disputes that. Tottenham also need a striker. Arsenal need a centre back. West Brom need a defence. Stop going on about it, if it comes to the 31st and noone has been brought in then fair enough.

    Ideally we would have had one by the start of the season. but the transfer window isn’t an ideal situation, you have to wait for clubs to make their moves and then buy unless you are willing to pay ridic prices.

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  17. Stuart – I don’t think it’s that way around. I think Pards and co knew what kind of system and style they wanted and sent the scouts out to fill the positions where needed. That’s the only way to do it, I think.

    As Toonsy says, that doesn’t mean it’ll work straight off, mind. The worry is – what if it takes until Christmas to kick in?

    I don’t think it will, though. Because if I do think that I’ll be very sad and worried…

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  18. Also is there anyway we can have Nolan’s name flagged like a swear word ❓

    I loved him when he was here and thought he had real coach/manager potential. But i cant be arsed seeing posts blaming the board for him leaving. He went to WEST HAM. Surely that proves that all he was after was a lovely retirement pay packet. Otherwise he wouldve moved elsewhere in the prem.

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  19. Well said, Solano’s trumpet. The doom-sayers are rapidly running out of space to make their preditions of disaster in. Many started off saying we’d lose more players than we bought, or only sign a couple. Yet here we are just one (about to become two, admittedly) away from a cracking squad.

    Doesn’t mean we can’t be a bit squeaky-*** about it, but to be honest, even if we lose Jose and sign nobody else we’re still good enough to maintain a mid-table position IMHO.

    Great news about Fergie BTW – he was amazing last season and I’ll be fairly comfortable with him at LB.

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  20. Stuart – He was going round all of the players while they were stretching, and he shook the hands with quite a few of them but seemed to purposely miss out others such as Smith. He was possibly shaking the hands of players playing on Saturday but I somehow doubt it

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  21. Solano’s Trumpet – also, you now have to try pretty hard to find a place for him in our staring 11. We’re spoiled rotten for options in his position and he was awfully expensive as a benchwarmer.

    I think he went because he fell out with the bosses; and I can’t blame him on that front. Good luck to the fella and ta for all the chicken-dance moments, but nuff said; move on. Bring on Benny, Gosling, Vukic et al.

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  22. LST – Erm well new players like Obertan, Ba etc. He also shook hands with Tiote, Taylor, The Taylors, Colo etc.
    He missed out Smith, Simpson, Barton and Perch… Probably nothing but odd nonetheless

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  23. Whumpie, are you raving bonkers or what, 1 or 2 players away from a cracking squad? how do you work that one out then

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  24. I think its a little harsh to call Doitforbobby a doommonger, he speaks the truth, we do lack ambition to a certain degree, hence Pards asking us to buy into it and be patient.

    I’m happy we’ve took this stance, I lol at L’pool spending ridiculous amounts on good but not superb players.

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  25. just been confirmed all games will go ahead on the weekend!!!! cant wait fir 5.30 sat!!! TOON TOON

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  26. bye bye Jose.

    cant wait for the game on saturday. i would play Staylor at RB and Simpson at left back (assuming Pieters doesnt sign)

    think we’re in with a shout 🙂

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  27. Lads, Xisco has been shipped off to Deportivo. Was disappointed when they got relegated but I’m delighted they’ve taken him on board now.

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  28. CC cheers mate for that,just wish guys would put where imfo comes from when they make comments 😡

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  29. Robert: I mean a LB and a striker. Are you saying that if we don’t get those we have any serious problems in the squad?

    I suppose it depends on your expectations. Mine is what the club’s said, which is top half, with an eye on a Europa spot at a big stretch. With Jose replaced and a reasonable striker of the right type, I think we’ll do that.

    Just an opinion, but I think you’d be hard pushed to point 10 weaker squads in the prem.

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  30. out:
    Nolan – slow, replaced
    Barton – mental, replaced even before he bursts into small pieces of texts in anger
    Xisco – finally gone. I’ll miss cribbing about him
    Enrique – not much the club could have done. hopefully replaced soon

    in:
    Cabaye
    Marveux
    Ba – I’m sceptical, he probably needs someone really good to play with. With xisco gone, squad place freed up for someone coming?
    Ben Arfa – like a new signing
    Gosling – like a new signing
    Vuckic – like a new signing

    I refuse to be dragged into this mire of pessimism right before the season starts. 2 days to go. I can’t f*cking wait!!!!!!

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  31. im no doomonger

    bloody hell – i just said im sad that enrique has gone. i was sad when cole went, when shearer retired, wen keegan left (both times) but il get over it..nufc remains 4 eva

    my point is that how many times are we gonna say “ah, f**k that player. he wasnt that good anyway”, or (and heres a good one) “forget about player x, he just went for the money!”

    might surprise you guys that these players are PROFFESIONALS and they generally do move for money – same way we do in our own careers

    look at the players that have gone or might go – barton, enrique, carroll, nolan. what do they all have in common? they excelled for the toon in one way or another last two seasons..

    where are they now? gone or going

    we have to ask why

    or dont we?

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  32. Whumpie, we only have 3 centre halves, 1 right back and various inferior and junior back ups who have all played and been pants.
    Midfield and goalkeeper are ok, up front we have Demba Ba and again a load of dross as back up.
    The squad has been weakened by sales of £46m this year alone and prior to that Pardew said himself that it wasnt strong enough and needed strengthening.
    Yes, we have brought some decent looking players in but if we get a couple of injuries at the back or up front, we are looking sick and you know it will happen.
    And then we have Pardew constantly contradicting himself, today he has said we will spend the Enrique 100% on a replacement, think i have heard that load of bollocks before from him, last week it was a striker before the start of the season, now its before the window shuts.
    No wonder we are a national laughing stock, the whole club is a shambles so its no good pretending that the squad is ok, its not!

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  33. oh, and Obertoon – like a new signi..oh wait. A new signing. I really rate this guy! If we could score so many last season with hopeless routledge and jonas not delivering anything into the box, this season shouldn’t be so bad, should it?

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  34. Got to say though I think it was inevitable that we lost Enrique, I am pissed off about how long it has dragged out. Liverpool wanted him, Ashley wanted to cash in and he wanted to leave. Why then has it taken until the Thursday before the season starts for him to leave? It’s hardly like we’ve rinsed any more money out of them as 6m has been the quoted price throughout the summer.

    We need a LB and striker in desperately.

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  35. robert lad calm down! feel ya pain i do..lets see what shape squad is in sept 1st…

    if not im gonna wanna know what im spending over 2 grand a year on if we divven even have a bleeding lb

    i wait with baited breath

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  36. Good luck to Jose and hopes he enjoys the rest of career , he deserves a Spainish call up and I genuinly hope he does well for himself. Thanks for the championship.

    Hopefully we bring in pieters asap. But Im really looking forward to this season. I think we are going to have a good season and I cant wait for it. Already have my bottles of heinken cooling in my fridge for sat evening 🙂

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  37. I hope theres room for Harris Vuckic, he’s looked great pre-season. Out of all the players Cabaye, Vuckic and gosling get me more excited than any.

    I reckon we’ll beat Arsenal 1-0

    Toon Toon!

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  38. peter walton ref for sat >>>Walton reffed 2 Arsenal games last season – One with a Squillaci goal – 1-0 win over Stoke and the New Years day win over Brum.

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