Today is Gabriel Obertan’s 27th birthday, so lets put aside our frustrations with the man and wish him all the best! Whilst he has our attention, lets take a little stroll down memory lane with the Frenchman.
Born in Pantin, France – a young Obertan would become a product of the much celebrtaed Clairefontaine academy – which has produced the likes of former Toon players Hatem Ben Arfa, Sabasten Bassong, Louis Saha and Thierry Henry. Yeah we wish… He continued his schooling of excellence within the Paris-Saint Germain set up before making his mark at Bordeaux from 2006 to 2009. This period included a short loan at Lorient before his searing pace caught the attention of none other than Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United, whom Gabby turned out for between 2009 and 2011. His career did not take off at the higher echelon of football and that is when he found his way to us.
Alan Pardew’s Newcastle United saw something in Obertan at Premier League level that Manchester United did not – and promptly shelled out somewhere in the region of £3m for the French flyer. It took him 5 months to register his first Toon goal – in February 2012 – latching onto a Peter Lovenkrands ball and firing home during a 2-o victory over Blackburn Rovers. It would take Obertan 3 years in total to register a goal at St. James’ Park – scoring on October 18, 2014 with the winner against Leicester City F.C.
Gabby represented France at all youth levels, but could never make the jump to the senior side. This will be explained by a number of factors – such as an extensive history of injuries involving his hamstrings and more importantly his lack of footballing intelligence. It has been a frustrating time for Gabby here at the Toon. He has such raw pace whilst his work ethic and professionalism has never been in doubt. The sad truth is, he is just not cut out for it at this level. His indecisiveness means he appears to get himself into good positions when running with the ball – but when it comes to releasing it – the ball will find itself more often than than not flying wide of the target or failing to reach a teammate in goal scoring position.
Here is an example of one of Obertan’s best moments for Newcastle United;
Unfortunately, this example from his Manchester United days should have been all Alan Pardew needed to know before deciding whether to sign him or not;
Gabriel Obertan has represented out club 77 times, scoring 3 goals and registering 10 assists in about 4-and-a-half years. That’s roughly 17 appearances a season, mostly from the bench – in which he has directly contributed just shy of 3 goals a season. It’s fair to say it’s not worked out here at the Toon and with his contract running down this summer – we will be waving ‘Au Revoir’. In the meantime though, lets just simply wish the man best wishes on his birthday.
Nah mate, names sound familiar,,,but then I’m terrible with names.
richietoon(Quote)
Thanks everyone. I’m ok now and went through bowel cancer with my dad about 6yrs ago. My mate lost his mam to breast cancer last month so it did hit hard initially but based on my comments on here I think you know I’m Mr optimistic and ready for what lies ahead. But I’m grateful 😉
Sharpy17(Quote)
Other teams like Norwich and Bournemouth have these type of away performance in them and so far we haven’t really. This is why I think we are more Likely to go down than not.
Stuart79(Quote)
Richietoon: next time I am back I will see you at the Hot-el if it is still there. My Nephew can buy us a couple of pints – yeh, right. I will buy us a couple of pints 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
The nearest you can get to Tony Green would be Beardsley type player,was great at Blackpool their fans saying he was the best player they ever had imo would have went on to be a toon great had he not been injured,Harvey played him more as a right winger but he kept moving inside,top player
Icedog(Quote)
Let’s see how we do against Leicester away in the next few weeks. With our rival making a good fist of it I doubt we will. Bournemouth also doing so much better than we did against Watford.
Turning out to be a problem weekend for us this.
Stuart79(Quote)
Eric 😉 It was under new management last time I went back. I’m back next month for 9 days then after that won’t be back until October. Usually once a year is enough for me.
richietoon(Quote)
Seaton Burn used to have 4 pubs and now the only one that is left is the shittest one.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Now that is a great goal for us!!
Stuart79(Quote)
Phew Leicester winning
richietoon(Quote)
Eric…Aye, Burry had 4 and the club, now 3 and no club, the award for the shittiest one is a tough call.
richietoon(Quote)
Norwich have got Chelsea on Tuesday too. What a chance we could have to get 6 points ahead of them if they as likely lose on Tuesday. Can we win away?!!!
Stuart79(Quote)
End of the day it’s what ” we” do in games not others
Icedog(Quote)
Stuart…recent (and not so recent too) would say no chance but it’s a funny old game so here’s hoping.
richietoon(Quote)
We will not be six points ahead of them though will we? We will just have two games in hand, which is a very different thing to having six points on them. We will just know our fate. If they had won those two games it would just mean we are in even bigger trouble than we already are.
DJG(Quote)
Ice..only partially true cos if the teams above us win then it wouldn’t matter what we do.
richietoon(Quote)
Stoke I think are a bit like West Brom. West Brom, when they beat us 1-0, I think they targeted that as one of their wins, they are realistic enough to pick certain games for the win. Stoke will have picked our game as winnable. They are both safe(ish). Maybe instead of upping their game against Man U & West Ham, our players should realise their limitations and do the same. I mean, the clubs who target us, we go asleep against and give points to direct rivals for the bottom half. Stoke are nothing special, definitely beatable, but also could beat a team if they don’t have enough respect. The Brittania is like a wind tunnel though so I hope the weather is okay, nice damp, mild conditions with low pressure and no wind would suit us on Wednesday night. 😉
DJG(Quote)
The last game for us, Spurs at home, is not good. They could still be going for the title. We need to be safe after the Villa game. How lust would it be if we guaranteed survival on that game. 😆
DJG(Quote)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35679001
…another game bites the dust…
DJG(Quote)
DJG – I said we will have a great chance of getting six points clear of them if, as expected they lose against Chelsea on Tuesday. But with the caveat, can we win away?
Stuart79(Quote)
One thing is for sure, next weeks home game with Bournemouth is going to be a huge game! Absolutely huge! If they win they will be quite a bit clear of us and if we win they’re right back in it providing they don’t beat Southampton on Tuesday. If they win and then beat us they’re gone, never to be caught. It simply is a must win game for us. They have a pretty good away record too!
Stuart79(Quote)
Pardew’s losing 2-0 to West Brom 😎 The player’s must be on there holidays ❓
Terry(Quote)
Pardew’s losing 3-0 now 😎 Palace’s player’s are playing with out a heart beat.
Terry(Quote)