After covering the game on Gillette Soccer Saturday, Sky pundit Charlie Nicholas has praised Mo Diame for what he described as a ‘very, very impressive’ performance – saying he was the standout player for us on Saturday.
Considering the general consensus was that big Mo had a bit of a stinker in the first half, there’ll be quite a few NUFC fans scratching their heads at these comments.
In his defence, Diame improved in the second half and did pick up his game as we battled to hold onto our 1-0 lead, but to say he was out standout performer was quite a surprise.
Here’s what he’s had to say:
Mo Diame was the player impressed Charlie Nicholas the most in yesterday's win. Quite surprising that one. #NUFC pic.twitter.com/X4l2GYJMsD
— Newcastle Fans TV (@NewcastleFansTV) November 4, 2018
I do agree with his praise for Dubravka and Schar – with the latter being particularly impressive for me – but I’m struggling to see how he saw Diame as our best player on the day, especially when you saw the impact Ki had from the bench.
On the subject of Ki, his performance in the final 40 minutes was outstanding for me.
Ironically, there’s plenty people calling for him to take Diame’s starting spot next time out if Shelvey does recover in time – but whether Benitez will go with it is another thing.
Would you start Diame against Bournemouth – or does Ki deserve his chance from the start after changing the game against Watford?
Leave Shelvey out and Play Diame and Ki, when Shelvey was left out last season we went on a good run, Diame is tied down when Shelvey plays because every thing has to go through him and he plays the same long balls every time and other teams know this and our front players are running after the wind most of the time, Diame and KI brought others into the game with there running and passing, when Shelvey was left out last season Diame became our best player and the team played a lot better too.
James Bush(Quote)
Champagne Charlie must have been out with Merse the night before 😯
Toontaff(Quote)