Is the game up for Gabriel Obertan?

Give him a chance?
Now I know Gabriel Obertan looks a little bit (ok, maybe more than that) like an alien, but the way some fans are reacting to him it’s almost as though he is from another planet.

He is the target for abuse at the moment and it looks as though it will continue as fans vent their ire in audible form towards the former Manchester United man.

I believe he is never going to get the chance to prove his worth as fans continuously look to berate the poor lad at almost every opportunity. It’s as though they are looking for fault first before seeing anything else that he does.

Now I’m not going to sugar coat it. Yes he has been subdued in his performances to date and has been very very frustrating at times, but he has also done some good stuff. Granted there arguably should be more, but lets not forget that the lad has only featured in a handful of games for us so far and has still played less than 50 games in the Premier League in his entire career.

To top that off he’s only made 14 starts in the black and white stripes which is essentially nothing in football terms is it? Yet it’s Obertan who is getting hounded from a section of the fans who won’t be happy until they run him out of the club. It does happen, ask Scott Parker. Funny how all of a sudden he was homesick after the fans got on his back for pulling out of a tackle.

I would have thought fans had learned after berating current stalwarts like Fabricio Coloccini after his less than impressive debut season. Other recent stalwarts like Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Jose Enrique suffered the same fate. The one thing they all have in common? Given time, they all proved their worth. Obertan may do the same, you never know.

I’m not blindly putting my faith in him and I don’t know if he is going to turn out good enough. However I do think there is a player in there that needs coaxing out. He may be a slow burner and take time to get up to speed, a bit like Tiote does when he recovers from an injury but a bit more extreme.

Obertan is quite clearly a confidence player so how about giving him a bit? Is it any coincidence that his two best performances have come away from St James’ Park? We’ll never see the best of him unless we, collectively, give him a chance.

Unfortunately I can’t see that happening…

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.

94 thoughts on “Is the game up for Gabriel Obertan?

  1. big dave
    100% agree

    for those who insist on thinking youtube proves players are good

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUST7DDvyAo akinbyi looks amazing in this video,, would you have him in your team ?

    on the boing front, i dont get to many games, but i buy shirts cups and things get to a couple of games a year, but watch mostky on tv, now im sure iv heard nearly the whole crowd boo the players off the pitch many times, is that different?? is that allowed?

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  2. NOBF yeah mate youtube can make ordinary players look like superstars.
    As for collective booing at the end of a game I thing that can be caused by a few different things ie not happy with the teams performance, the managers tactics, the ref, its hard to put the cause of the booing to one reason, so for that reason I don’t really have a problem as such, but I don’t agree with individual booing aimed at one of your own players during the game.

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  3. If anyone can cast their mind back to when Man Utd signed Nani, you will remember that a lot of people were saying he had pace but was a waste of time because he tried his tricks and ended up looking stupid and getting nowhere for the team.

    Can anyone remember?

    Look at him now.
    If anyone thinks confidence is handed to a player on a plate, think again. Not all footballers are born full of confidence.

    Some footballers know they’re good and so confidence goes with that.
    Some players are told they’re good and can become better but they have to believe in themselves as well.
    Obertan is a player who clearly has the ability but he is mindful of how he plays.
    He wants to do well, he tries to do what’s needed but he’s a tad shy of pushing the boat out by regularly getting in crosses after beating his man probably because if he continually messed it up, he knows instantly that he’s public enemy number one in the fans eyes.

    Once he gains a few games where he’s actually contributed to a goal as in the Bolton game, then his confidence takes a turn for the better, which means he will be more than happy to have a go at it again and do the things he’s capable of doing.

    Whoever wants him killed off, take a step back and give the lad a chance because Rome wasn’t built in a day and just because he came from Man Utd, doesn’t mean he’s a reject and also it doesn’t mean he’s a superstar because of being at Man Utd, depending on which way some fans look at it.

    Confidence is the key issue with this lad, not ability.

    Any budding darts players out there?
    When you practice in the pub, I bet you knock some great finishes out don;t you and score a few ton 80’s. It’s easy isn’t it to relax and even go for finishes no matter how outrageous they seem.
    When it comes to playing in your pub team against a good pub team, your concentration level goes up and so does your nerves.
    In a match, you will normally have a favourite check out double, mine is double 16 but in practice I’ll go for a bull finish or even double 18 e.t.c because there’s no pressure on me.
    In a match I’d be more inclined to keep looking to checkout on my favourite double because it’s less risky and leaves you less chance of fluffing it up and ending up in the mad house, double one.

    As you get better at the game though and familiar with your regular pub team darts excursions , you become a bit better and a bit more confident , especially if you manage to win your game without struggling then you go into the next game with more confidence.
    The problem is, we also get put under pressure if we are struggling on a checkout and you hear the lads shout, howay Davey, have a look at it, come on. If you miss again, you start to hear , ahhhhh man howay put it to bed.
    By that time, you’re trying too hard and the numpty you’re up against sneaks in and wins.

    How does that equate to the confidence of a footballer you might ask.
    Easy, because all eyes are focused on him when on the ball just as all eyes are focused on you when it’s your throw.

    basically a player that’s encouraged by the fans for doing good, will generally continue doing good for most part.
    If he’s whined at and pressured to do something , the chances are he’s gonna fluff it if his confidence takes a dive.

    In a nutshell , if he plays in the team on any given day, he should be encouraged and supported for the entire time he’s on the pitch because working as a team equates to the fans as well, we all work as a team.
    We encourage and they play. 😀

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  4. There is no booing (booing in terms of saying the word boo).

    There is instinctive reactive groans but IMO no more so than when Tiote holds onto the ball or Jonas fails to cross.

    It doesn’t happen and that’s why this and other threads are misleading.

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  5. ROD@ 60

    Happy christmas mate… i can remember about 20 odd years ago people walking round with a banner ‘Who the f*ck is Mick Quinn’.

    He got them to wind their necks in on his denut though…. 5 goals i believe!

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  6. debut – m y spelling is atrocious – i’ve just woken up from an afternoon nap though 😆 i love being off. :mrgreen:

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  7. By the way… i watched SSN before my nap and Pardew reckons we’re not going for a striker… and that is straight from the horses mouth.

    I don’t think we’ll lose anyone in January and we’ll maybe get a defender in. If we do I’ll consider that a decent january, on the basis that noone effed off

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  8. Well he’s actually the best we’ve had on that side for a while if you consider Routledge, Barton, Guthrie, Pancack ect. Bloody hell how far would you have to go back, probably Solano. 😯 He IS a prem player though, no-way is he championship like Best and Perch ect.

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  9. There will always be players who get slated for one reason or another. Best, Sholla, Oblongheed these are the recent ones. Thing is does it make them any better? No, so why get on their backs fair enough if a player doesn’t put a shift in.

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  10. Wolfie – forget Nani… Christian Ronaldo was dismissed as all set overs and no end product when he first went to Man Utd. I don’t believe for a split second he will be THAT good or even as good as Bale.
    I think it’s fair to say that Alex Ferguson has a good eye for young, talented players. So the fact that Obertan was picked up by Man U suggests there is a talent wanting to come out, but if he were that good, would Fergie have let him go for as little?.. and spent so much replacing him with Ashley Young?
    In answer to the question, No, the game is not up for Oba. As long as Pardew selects him he has a chance. But if he’s a confidence player, then he has to take confidence from the fact he’s playing regularly. It’s down to him to use his game time to prove the doubters wrong, and I’d say over the last few games, he’s certainly starting to do that, but he has to build on that as Ba did at the start of the season.

    He seemed to really enjoy the Bolton game and was celebrating in front of and with the toon fans, which would suggest that he’s not overly affected or frightened of the fans reaction, he’s just got to build on that, get his decision making right, when to beat his man and head to the byline, when to whip it in early and when to shoot himself. He’s young and can do, he doesn’t need us to think that, HE needs to think that!!
    The reality is though Toonsy is that if its not Oba, it’ll be Best or Raylor or Perch or Shola… Those numptys would probably turn on Colo or Tiote or even Ba if they had a couple of poor games. And they’d be allowed, because they pay the players wages or some bollocks like that. The reality is, we aren’t Barca or Madrid, we don’t have Man City’s squad and were not top 4, so we don’t have world class player… shock horror!!! But as long as they are trying, get behind them man!!!!!

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  11. Great article. And 100% correct. I hope becomes good in a few games and all of the ober haters on here admit it. The lad could be class.

    Let’s get the lad a song, it might help him no end. Did with Raylor.

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