Pardew backs Ba to rediscover his scoring touch

Ba will be back amongst the goals - Pardew
It’s been nine games since Demba Ba found the back of the net in the 2-1 victory against Aston Villa, but is it a real problem?

Not for Alan Pardew, who has backed our leading scorer to get in amongst the goals once more as the season reaches its climax.

Ba has found the back of the net 16 times since he joined the club – not bad when you consider that total was reached by the first week of February, and that there has been an African Cup of Nations in there somewhere. However they have dried up in recent weeks, which is partly due to the fact that Ba has been moved to the left of a fluid 4-3-3 system and isn’t in the same central positions he was in when he was on his hot streak earlier on in the season.

“The first goal at West Brom, Demba must have been a centimetre away from scoring, and when Cisse scored the second goal, he was actually fouled as he was going to score and it fell to Cisse, so he has been a little bit unlucky,” said Pardew.

He continued: “But he is on penalties, he will be in and around the free-kicks and he is working as hard as he has always worked.”

“He is in great form, there’s no lack of confidence. His goal will come and then this will all be forgotten,” Pardew concluded.

I would argue that it’s only Ba’s goalscoring that we’ve been missing in recent weeks, but even then we’ve had Papiss Cisse picking up where Ba left off. In general though Ba’s play and workrate have been fine and, as Pardew hinted at above, Ba has been unlucky on occasion.

The only time I’ve thought he had a poor game was last time out against Bolton, and maybe the game before that against Swansea to a lesser extent. He got subbed in both games and people made a lot of it, especially against Bolton when he reacted poorly to being subbed, but yet again Pardew is unconcerned by events.

Speaking about the substitution against Bolton, Pardew said: “One of those two was definitely coming off and on this occasion, it was Demba.”

“But on another occasion, it will be Papiss, and Demba is big enough and strong enough and bold enough to deal with that. Hopefully against Stoke, he gets the winning goal.”

Personally I think too much is being made of it all. Pretty much every striker goes through a lean spell at some point and right now it is Demba Ba’s time. However his work for the team, both in attack and in defence, has been key to us even if his goals have dried up, so for that reason he stays in the team.

Do you agree?

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.

56 thoughts on “Pardew backs Ba to rediscover his scoring touch

  1. nowt to worry about!!! 😉 😉
    i would expect this sort of article to be in one of the national tabloids, trying to stir things up 👿
    Demba’s proved he is a goal machine, so expect more to follow 😉 😉

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  2. Ba ba ba ba Demba Ba
    You got me rockin’ and a rollin’
    Rockin’ and a reelin’ Demba  Ba
    Ba ba ba ba Demba Ba 😯

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  3. Rooney’s meant to be one of the best footballers on the plant and he goes through loads of dry spells.

    Agree with Batty @1

    We haven’t had a cricket score against anyone this season… we had 2 or 3 last season!

    5-0 please!

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  4. Any talk of Ba’s ‘lean spell’ is absolute rubbish! 👿 If the media makes a big deal about it, it will only affect Ba’s confidence.

    Cisse has been put in Ba’s position at the start of the season, and Cisse has been free-scoring since then. When before Ba put them away, now arguably its Cisse’s job. Ba’s a hard a worker as anyone.

    Arguably, without Ba’s and Barfa’s support, Cisse wouldn’t have it THAT good. Arguably again, Ba could be even more of a monster than his countryman, considering that he did not have the Ba/Barfa’s support that Cisse is currently enjoying.

    Regards from Malaysia!

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  5. I said afew days ago that all of this is being blown out of proportion. I get that he hasn’t scored in a little while and that he’s not completely chuffed over on the left. But you can’t fault the lads workrate and his tweets all seem to be in good spirit.
    As I said the other day, our league position is largely thanks to Ba and all we can do as fans is to keep singing his songs and showing him he’s still loved by us.

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  6. Pards is right he was just centimetres from scoring, and as Toonsy says up till the last 2 games he has been doing everything except find the net.

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  7. Danger Dom-exactly, and so the media will focus upon it unfortunately.

    Ba should definitely be played imo, although he did seem to lose his touch against Bolton and against Swansea I’ve always maintained that in general he’s probably got a better pass, dribble and touch than Cisse, although Cisse is proving to me that he’s much more than just the finisher I thought he was.

    Keep Ba on, it gives the opposition three quality finishers to worry about rather than just the one we’re used to having! If the supply isn’t there and one is playing poor, sub the poorer one and get the ball into the other imo. One thing I will say is that I do think Ba should be on the wing for the most part and whilst changing formations in a fluid 3 up front is expected and indeed very useful I wouldn’t like to see Cisse out on the wing too much..

    Anyway Ba come on mate, don’t let Yakubu outscore you! 😎

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  8. I’m not too bothered about his goals drying up, or his overall effort and he has been absolutely fantastic as a centre forward but if truth were told he hasn’t got a great first touch and especially in the last two games has lost possession far too many times. Sounds almost sacriligious but I think Shola’s much better at the job he’s doing.

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  9. Its team game ffs… BA is taking a strong defender or two away from the hot spots and Cisse is near on one on one every time. Never underestimate what Ba’s presence on the pitch allows.. Troy it is nice to see you supporting BA, you were one of his biggest detractors when we first signed him.

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  10. Its when not if he will score a lot again and he keeps defenders worried.

    What wih him & Ben Arfa taking the Papiss we are a right handful Toonsy don’t you think?

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  11. Batty – is that good news? Worries me that if he has a great Euros, some very big fish will come calling including PSG!

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  12. Batty-I can see why you might be worried about injury, but to be fair Benny is definitely better than Malouda and Benny has ambitions to fill, if he can get into the squad and indeed the first 11 by playing here then all the better I say, should convince him he can fulfill his club ambitions here, alongside his international team mate. Good for both of them, good for us, obviously negating any injury!

    Just hope they don’t play against Holland and De Jong… 👿

    Strange days indeed. I may support France for the European championships. What a strange time to be an Englishman. 🙄

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  13. Georgio-I’m not so sure mate, Benny’s reputation in France will probably take more than two years to forget over there…not sure Benny will ever forget it himself. Even Cabaye has said how French clubs often treat their players as children off the field…they both enjoy the independence they get here at Newcastle…hopefully 😉

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  14. Hang on lads – that link that batty posted wasn’t the official French squad selection for the Euros – it was just a couple of journos at French Football Weekly saying who they personally would select if they were the manager.

    The article states:

    “It is important to reiterate the fact that these selections, from myself, Andrew and Jonathan, are who we would select for the trip to Poland and Ukraine if we were the manager of the French national side. This is not who Laurent Blanc will necessarily select for his final group of players.”

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  15. …and Cabaye in there too Batty. Great news for Barfa anyway, yeah it puts him in the shop window and increases the likelihood of injury, but got to be good for him, and us in the long run. We get either a better Barfa, brimming with confidence or a massively over-inflated price for him.

    On Demba, I’m not arsed in the slightest he hasn’t scored for ages (since dirty ‘arry blurted out the infamous ‘contract clause’… 😕 ).

    Ba doesn’t strike me as a player that loses confidence. He’s very much a ‘head down, go out there and do the business’ type of player. Yeah he was upset the other day because he only wants to do his best and felt he had more to offer. He backed it up on Twitter saying basically, no big deal, we won so he’s happy.

    I totally expect him to score in our next game, in fact I’m gona have a cheeky punt on it (when the bookies bother themselves to put the odds up).

    Shitty bollocks weekend of **** football to look forward to anyway. 😐

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  16. Alright scumbags………. Its obviously a figure of speech (turst the aussie to stick his oar in) 😆 😆 😆

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  17. Rodz-Yeah saw that article, looks a right good players.

    This scouting malarchy seems pretty simple, look at the European leagues for some top scorers that aren’t at a massive club and apparently they come from nowhere with all these pundits saying “Frybug? Cisse who?”

    :mrgreen:

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  18. See the Chronicle linking us with Zaha again too, Newkie. Can’t see that happening.

    …yeah, find them abroad. Can’t see us bringing many more players in from the UK like. Easier just to nip on the ferry and get it cheaper in France, bit like fags and booze, although I can’t see Carr bringing any fags back. 😕 😛

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  19. I thought he was just about to rediscover his form. That’s a shame..

    Sorry about dipping the oar in Nobby 🙂

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  20. A good read, I 100% agree about every striker going through a goal drought at some point and Ba is no exception. A contributing factor is that Ba has been moved out to the left, but lets not forget that the front 3 often switch positions to confuse the opposition defense. It’s only a matter of time until Ba gets that elusive goal again and I really hope he stays in the summer. It would be fantastic to go into next season with our 3 pronged attack still intact but we’ll have to wait, see and hope. In the mean time, it would be a brilliant achievement if this potent strike force could get us into Europe this season, here’s hoping for a Liverpool win at the weekend (never thought I’d say that!)

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  21. Rodz- 😆
    You never know, he might find the perfect dreamboat for his less than handsome son…. :mrgreen:

    So true though, I really don’t rate Zaha much at all. That Scannel or whoever they have seems a better prospect even if he’s older. I can see the point in us getting a young forward, especially if we get Europe because it would be great development, but 10mil or whatever for Zaha? Ask Sunderland about Wickham and whether they would have preferred him of Gyan up front 😆

    I would say we need another striker though in case of Europe….Cisse and Ba will both want starts, but they’ll get tired and there will be injuries, we need another to lead the line. Big fan of Bestie and he could do a job along the front three, and I’ve always said Shola as an impact player is decent, but could either of them truly “lead the line” if we’re aiming to progress properly? No, not really…

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  22. Aussie, nobody said he was leaving, it’s just the usual speculation lark. I’m sure we will have players lined up in case a bid comes in though, as the article suggests.

    Newkie, yeah I was pissed off when they got Whickam and we didn’t, probably why I’m not a football scout. 🙂 …I’d forgotten all about him anyway. Shane Long was another similar buy. I’d like to keep Best, and I think Shola is doing what he does best now – playing for the last 20mins. I think we’ve got enough up front really, providing everyone stays. Of course I’d like 6 or 7 players in, but it ain’t gona happen. Really hope we hit Europe, as it gives Fatty no excuse to not expand in numbers, at the same time making us more attractive to players, and of course I’ll probably get an excuse for a **** up in Spain. 😎

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  23. Hey Rod, yeah I know mate 🙂 … I’m hoping for Europe so it will give us a better chance of hanging on to our better players. That way we won’t need 6 or 7 player, just a few weeks here and there.

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  24. Yeah don’t get me wrong I think Wickham will be a decent player, just can’t see him ever being an England centre forward like people were predicting, he’ll just be a more mobile version of Carroll probably.

    Long was decent value for whatever it was, 2mil?Would have been happy with him, but he’s not far and above Shola and Bestie imo-yes he’s definitely faster and probably a better finisher, but the way we played earlier on in the season and what got us here in the first place was feeding Ba by utilising the strength of bestie/Shola. If there’s one thing about Long its that he’s a right weak ******* 😉 He’d have scored more than those two, but would Ba have profited so much? Doubt it.

    Another striker would be nice if we’re in Europe and we lose Loven/Ranger but they can’t be top notch if we keep Ba because they’ll both want starts along with Cisse-three centre forwards up front would be madness 😆 Hence the need for a young energetic forward who won’t mind being an impact sub or starting the “lesser” matches….like Hoilet, but french 😀

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  25. …I thought that’s what you meant Aussie, a few tweeks over a few weeks would be nice. 😎 Exciting times ahead!

    Feel robbed not getting any football this weekend 😡 …suppose we’ve been spoilt over the last couple of months anyway with 6 televised games on the trot!

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  26. Know how you feel Rodz.. My local team here is playing in the A League semi final so I have something to watch..2 games in 4 days has left us a little spoilt tho!

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  27. Newkie, I think Long was nearer the 6 or 7 mark, but that still looked like decent business. When you compare him to Cisse though with regards to potential buys there’s no contest. Carr does a bloody good job. At the time I wanted a little pacy forward to compliment Ba, but I’m more than happy with what we’ve ended up with. It’ll be interesting to see how France fit Barfa in too, on that respect.

    Regards to Ranger, I honestly can’t see us keeping him, that’s if anyone else will have him.

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  28. …so you live in Australia then, Aussie? It must be about beer o’ clock on a Friday night there now then? 😛

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  29. hahaha 😯 😎

    ….reet, sun’s just come out here so I’m off out on the bike for a bit.

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  30. Ba has contributed as much to our five on-the-bouce wins as anyone else. Without him that 4-3-3 just wouldn’t be as effective, and hopefully he knows it. His finishing accuracy may have gone off a bit recently but his overall contribution has remained outstanding. I just hope he knows we all realise that. His tweets recently suggest that he does.

    I’m actually tempted to tweet a link to this discussion to him. Pretty consistent support for wor Demba 1 on here, which is great to see.

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  31. As for the substitution argument, there’s a simple answer that Pards alluded to: would you rather take Cisse or Benny off?

    Shola coming on for the last 20 mins obviously works wonders – he’s been brilliant – so whoever is replaced must know it’s not any fault of theirs, just the need to lose one of the three. Usually it’ll be the one who’s the big bruiser that knackers himself out grinding down defenders for an hour. That’ll usually be Ba. No shame in it; the guy’s incredible at it.

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  32. Just been reading the article in the Chronicle that suggests the crack on the training ground is that Ba is off to PSG and were looking at Das Boot and a couple of others from the Dutch league.

    I he does go I would sooner we signed a player that is naturally comfortable in that left channel. Maybe the likes of Matt Phillips, Matt Jarvis or Adam Johnson.
    At 6’5ft, Das Boot would be better suited though the middle. I would sooner see us get Rhodes or another young English/British CF to develop.

    In terms of defenders, I would like to see Pieters for LB/CB and I quite like the look of that Steven Caulker who is on loan at Swansea at the mo from Spurs.

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  33. @Troy
    I definitely reckon that should be played when he scored, as much as think Give it up is a good chant barbara anne would top it!

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  34. I’M not the least bit worried about Ba, he’s a class act .Even Big Al had lean spells ,it happens to all strikers .

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  35. 😆 …I think he had a few against the bar when there were no stools available, Richie.

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  36. ba will get back to scoring when we play to his strengths, 2 wingers who can put crosses into the box,shane ferguson to start against stoke,then we will see the goals start again

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  37. Oh cringe

    “Barfa”
    /////////

    I don’t care who scores the goals, once the team benefits from it

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