As usual I’m just looking at how many points each player has contributed to, and comparing that to the average.
So far we have used a smallish pool of players. Only 19 players have started games and several have only got a few starts.
In goal Tim Krul has started all bar one game where Rob Elliot stood in. No real surprises there then. Quickly moving on to central defence, both Fabricio Coloccini and Mike Williamson have started 14 games, with Mapou Yanga-M’biwa starting 10, Steven Taylor four and Paul Dummett just one. When Coloccini has started we have gained 23 points with 16 goals conceded, whereas with Williamson it has also been 23 points but with only 14 goal conceded. M’biwa helped us to 14 points from his 10 games with 12 goals conceded. Neither Steven Taylor (three points from four games with nine goals conceded) nor Dummett have really contributed enough to be analysed. Even looking at combinations shows that whichever combination of the three central defender starting has little difference. Each gaining about 1.5 points per game and conceding one goal per game.
Our Fullbacks have been equally consistent. Mathieu Debuchy with 29 points from 19 starts and Davide Santon with 36 points from 21 starts. Neither M’biwa nor Haidara have been as effective or had a large amount of playing time in these positions.
In midfield Yohan Cabaye has been our stand out performer with 31 points accrued from 16 starts and one substitute appearance including six goals. Next up Moussa Sissoko who has started every game and has amassed 36 points from 22 appearances with one goal. Vurnon Anita just edges Cheik Tiote with 19 points from 13 starts against 26 points from 19 starts with neither having had a goal allowed. Other than that Hatem Ben Aarfa has started 10 and gained 11 points. He has also scored three goals – one when coming on a sub which seems to be his main role now. Sylvain Marveaux has started two and Jonas Gutierrez, now with Norwich, just the one.
Up front we have tried two strikers, normally Yoan Gouffran and Loic Remy or three with Shola Ameobi. Strangely, even though he has not found the net, when Shola has started we have gained 14 points from eight games, whilst without him we’ve racked up 22 points from 14 games – ratio of 1.75 points per game with him and 1.57 points per game without. This tends to suggest that we are better playing 4-3-3. If so a goal scoring target man would maybe improve things. Unsurprisingly Remy with 32 points from 19 games and 11 goals is our best striker with Yoan Gouffran (29 points from 19 starts and one sub appearance with six goals scored) is also not to be sneezed at. Papiss Cisse, who is way off form, has only started seven games scoring only twice, one a penalty and the other as a substitute. His points per game is also below par.
So where does that leave us? Well first off it tells us that pretty much all of our core players are all contributing. In theory our best XI would be Krul; Debuchy, Colo, Willo, Santon; Cabaye; Sissoko, Anita; Remy, Shola, Gouffran, playing in a 4-3-3 formation.
How Cheik Tiote fails to get in defeats me, but Anita edges him out. Never mind. M’biwa and Ben Arfa deserve a mention as well.
Outside of those 14 players others have been peripheral to our cause this year and either need replacing or bringing on. Colo is still our best central defender and Cabaye our standout player. Yet both are potentially moving on in the summer. Colo would need replacing although Yanga-M’biwa and Williamson make a decent pairing. Cabaye whilst not irreplaceable is vital to our team. We need cover for right-back, a replacement for Shola and a far stronger bench would not go amiss.
Lets sort it now so that we can get players adapted for next season.
JJ i agree mate@524,but its the est we can expect under jabba so we have to grin and bear it ime afraid mate 👿 👿 👿
icedog(Quote)
in truth it does not matter who we sign if any,it wont be long before hes pardewed 😉
icedog(Quote)
JJ you say we’ll never be more than mediocre with Pards
I say we’ll never be more than mediocre while Jabba owns us .
So for me Jabba is more responsible than Pards
Big Dave(Quote)
Kim – I rate Grenier higher than Cabella to be honest. Very good at corners n freekicks and links up really well with Gomis at Lyon.
I also think he’s a better no. 10 than Cabaye or Ben Arfa.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy is he worth £14m in your opinion.
KIMTOON(Quote)
First it’s Cabella rumours now it’s Grenier rumours. And how do they know the bid will be increased to 14M? Sounds like more bollocks to me. And will anyone pay enough to get Cabaye? I still have my doubts about that as well.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I’m just saying this level of mediocrity is a lot better than most of our history.
Premandup(Quote)
JJ
Bobby didnt really get it right straight away we lost more than we won in his first season and Finished 11th which was acceptable enough considering where Gullit left us; But he did inherit a stronger side than Pardew with Shearer, Speed, Lee, Dyer, Solano, Ferguson, Given, Howey, Goma, Barton all more than useful players at the time.
His second season was awful for the majority thanks to Mick Wadsworths input, We made some of the wankest signings in recent memory and finished 11th again. He also blew his top at fans half way through when they were getting on his back during a ten game winless streak.
The year after Carver became assistant we signed Robert, Bellamy, Bernard, Jenas etc. and really kicked on but he took longer than Pardew to get us up the table
CC(Quote)
I just hate accepting mediocrity Premand mate. We should always strive for the top. I know we compete pound for pound with the big boys but we can give it an honest effort. I don’t think Joe and Mike are doing that.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Kim – what’s any players true value these days?!.
It’s mental this site sometimes though. If we sign someone on a free or a couple of million then the club have no ambition. But if we look to sign a player for £10-15m then we are paying too much – or that was some people’s views on our pursuit of Cabella.
I think he’s a very talented player and only time would tell if he’s worth £14m.
Let’s be honest £9-10m for Cisse looked a steal in his first 6 months, but maybe not so much now. Whereas £10m for Colo looked terrible based on his first season – but fair to say money well spent in the long run.
I would say that if they get Grenier then they should also get Gomis as well coz he’d be a good replacement for Shola and Grenier already understand how to play with him infront of him.
Sharpy17(Quote)
JJ @524, SBR was a world class manager, but even he didn’t get “almost instant results” – he got two 11th place finishes in his first two seasons, with a ‘solid’ playing style that had lots of fans moaning. Since 1969, we have only given three managers more than 2 seasons – KK, SBR and now Pardew. They are also the only managers since then to get us top-5 finishes. There are issues with Pardew, but he’s going about the job of building a strong midfield and solid defensive style, like a good manager should be, and just like SBR did between 2000 and 2002.
Gallowgate Terrace West(Quote)
The wage is the main reason we can’t hang on to Cabaye. Ashley won’t raise the club maximum. In fact I would wager he will try to lower it once Colo leaves. One of the many reasons we can’t compete for top 6 consistently. Joe being another reason. Paul the octopus would do a better job (and he’s dead I think).
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Grenier seems to be a free kick and corner taker as well, which is an area we are quite weak at IMO, even more so if Cabaye leaves. Ben Arfa can take a corner but has been hopeless at freekicks, Cabaye has scored from freekicks but is inconsistent from corners. I would be good to have a left footed option from someone like Hiadara long term.
DJG(Quote)
This has to be destabilizing the club again with Pardew saying he isn’t sure we can hang on to Cabaye. If they had shown some decent concern and given him a wage raise (didn’t we do that with Tiote?) then things might be different. We are grossly underpaying him as well as giving him virtually no chance of Champs League with our lack of ambition.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
That’s a crazy stat when you think about it isn’t it – in 45yrs only 3 managers have been given longer than TWO season! 😯
It’s nee wonder we’ve found success hard to come by 🙄
Sharpy17(Quote)
G2 – I don’t think a pay rise would make a blind bit of difference to be honest. I think Cabaye and his advisors see him at a big club than NUFC and they aren’t bothered which one it is. He’s played well this season, but don’t forget he went on strike at the start of the season. I think he was promised a move in the summer, but this move suits us more as its £20m plus he isn’t going to a PL club.
Sharpy17(Quote)
It is crackers – I forgot Arthur Cox, but he got the sack as soon as he got us promoted to the top division! Pre-Sky the pundits always used to say that any manager needed at least three seasons to build a team. I reckon that logic still holds. In other words we might be able to start assessing how good Pardew is about now and over the next couple of seasons.
Gallowgate Terrace West(Quote)
Well let’s see if it comes off Sharpy mate. And will we spend or sit on the dosh as usual. It’s coming down to the last few days and this smells like transfer windows from the past to me. 👿
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I’m not convinced they are either Geordie Two. I think they have done a good job, a solid base and established us in the top 10. Do they want to push on? I don’t know. I think Ashley wanted to, but I think the bedsheet brigade scuppered any chance of that. Now that we are establishing ourselves and we have seen the mistakes it would not surprise me if he pushed on, but I’m not expecting it.
Premandup(Quote)
GTW – do you think we can accurately judge him though as he’s clearly not being fully backed to bring the players he wants in.
I think it’s harder again since the introduction of the transfer windows as well.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sir Bobby got us 11th place but didn’t we have 1 point from seven?
Also Barton wasn’t here. Lee was 33 going on 34. We had a terrible defence.
I think of Bobby Robson had a scout like Graham Carr we’d have won something for sure.
JJ(Quote)
There are rumours going about that Joe is having his own DoF of the Year award made. Mike will present it to him in a small private ceremony at the end of the season.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Adam Armstrong in the squad for Norwich? Via his official Twitter account:
AdamArma @AdamArma9 7m
Buzzing!! Travelling to Norwich to meet up with the first team for the game tomorrow!! Good luck to the England lads tomorrow!! ⚽️
blip(Quote)
G2 – I can’t say I’d be overly surprised if we sit on the money until the summer either like. We shouldn’t!, we should be working on having deals in place so that once the Cabs deal is done we can crack on with ours. But I don’t think they will.
I think their attitude will be that Pard should be able to get another 15-20 points without Cabaye so there’s no rush 🙄
Which if they work on deals and free transfers between now and the end of the season wouldn’t be too bad, but I don’t suppose they will do that either 🙄
In fact, Joe will be due a holiday I think
Sharpy17(Quote)
Doesn’t mean he’ll make the bench, of course…
blip(Quote)
Sharpy – I think we can start to judge how he operates within the limits set by the owner. My own sense is that he’s a decent manager, who knows how to set up a side and has good man-management skills, but that he needs to show that he can rotate a squad through a season, and that isn’t helped by the evidence that he doesn’t fancy several players who have been bought for him (Marveaux, even Cisse) or who have disappointed but who he can’t ship out because we can’t take a loss on player trading (Obertan, Ben Arfa).
Gallowgate Terrace West(Quote)
GTW this is where a decent DoF would come in and recommend which dead wood should be cleared out to Ashley. Instead we get endless waffling and nothing done mate. We should have cleared Obertan out last summer. He only cost 2M or so and he’s just hanging about collecting a wage. Ridiculous.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Well off I go to exercise mates.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
G2 – sadly, I reckon that’s spot-on. Joe might surprise us, right?
This may be more controversial, but I do think that the Ashey plan is to finish 6th to 10th every year – not spend to compete any higher than that, but also he’s reacted angrily twice now when a top10 finish has been missed. Our record over decades says that stability in the 6-10 range would be a good outcome. Our club finances also suggest the same range.
I wish we had kicked on under KK or SBR as well, before the Chelsea and Citeh competition made it even more difficult. But we didn’t. Over my 35 years of enslavement to all things Newcastle, I’d take stable top 6-10 and (crucially) a cup.
If we stick with Pardew and we win the League Cup with a ricochet off Shola’s backside there’ll be another statue put up outside Gallowgate.
Gallowgate Terrace West(Quote)
GTW – spot on mate, that’s exactly me thoughts on the man as well. The owner won’t throw money at it the way the last lot did for KK or SBR, but I think Pardew will provide consistency.
I also agree with G2 though that if Pardew is going to get the best out of what he’s been give, he needs a better DOF.
Blip – that’s interesting mate. I’m pleased for Armstrong coz he’s been doing great. Could he be taking Cisses place on the bench to avoid him getting injured ahead of a move, or could it be Bennys place coz he’s playing instead of Cabaye to keep him fit ahead of his move?
Sharpy17(Quote)
GTW@553, I don’t wish to pee on your fireworks mate but I don’t ever see us winning a cup while Ashley owns us. It’s quite clear the cups aren’t the clubs priority, they have admitted as much to us . That is what irks me more than anything really as realistically the cups are our only shot at glory as we’ll never really stand a chance at top 4 and always find it difficult to achieve Europe too. It leaves you wondering what is the point if there is zero ambition to win a cup and simply be content with 10th or higher place finish. Look at Everton today , no money to speak of yet they tie down Baines to a new 4 year deal rather than cash in on him, that’s ambition right there imo.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Sharpy, Pards said Cisse has a bad back and won’t be leaving this window.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Lee Ryder @lee_ryder · 2 hrs
Phil Dowd is the ref for #nufc v #safc
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KIMTOON(Quote)
I think when the football starts again tomorrow we can enjoy talking about the match. This transfer window has been so dull and boring. There isn’t that excitement about signing a new player but the worries of losing the best one’s we have. I would like Cabaye and Remy to stay but they can easily find a champions league side that offer more wages. I really hope we beat Norwich and Sunderland because the fan’s need that lift. Ashley will have everyone feeling like doom and gloom, jumping off the tyne bridge if he had his way.
stem(Quote)
Full credit to Pardew this season and the player’s. **** Ashley and **** Kinnear they’ve done jack ****. I’m off
stem(Quote)
Kim – pity, I was kinda hoping the De Jong/Cisse swap might have come off. I know you like Cisse, but I reckon De Jong would do a better job personally.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kim, you’re probably right, and none of us can expect a cup – not what supporting Newcastle’s about, expectation – but 40-odd clubs have done it since we last did, and our best shout is being a top-half team every season. No dreaming, just don’t see what else has any chance.
Gallowgate Terrace West(Quote)
Have a feeling it will be Cabaye out and nobody in.
“We didn’t have time to buy a replacement”
Stuart79(Quote)
Pardew is now saying we are built around Cabaye and we will be vulnerable if he goes because of that.
This is why you do not build a team around a player unless he is a freak talent with Ronaldo and Messi. Especially at a club that sells anyone if the right offer comes in.
San Lorenzo wouldn’t allow this to happen.
funkyjesus(Quote)
FJ, he is getting his excuses in early in case we lose to Norwich and god forbid the Scum. 😉
KIMTOON(Quote)
**** the French guys, sell Cabaye and do a swap with Norwich – Shola for Robert Snodgrass.
You may laugh but he is a threat at set pieces and he gets stuck in with a bit too much pleasure at times. Boosts British players number too.
funkyjesus(Quote)
Well lets see who arrives the morn now cabs has left the building ,i bet we get 1 in and it will be someone we were not expecting for about half the fee we got for Cabs. I have a feeling it could be Finbogasson
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