Looking at some of the best sides we've had in the Premiership over the years, we've seen central midfield pairings of:
Batty and Lee
Speed and Lee
Speed and Dyer/Jenas
The Batty-Lee, Speed-Lee and Speed-Jenas all had the primary objective to win the ball from the opposition or receive the ball from defence, and give the ball to a player who is able to craft something, and during our good spells, they pretty much did just that. Of course Jenas wasn't as good as he twisted and turned to often, slowing us down.
Of course one of the central midfielders was expected to help the attack, Lee did this well, getting forward where possible and receiving the ball further up the field from target men holding the ball up and from some ingenius wingers, and then getting a shot in on goal or playing a short cross/pass to the strikers when space became available as a consequence of the work done by our strikers and wingers. Meanwhile, Batty and Speed had rare attacking licence in open play.
In that sense Batty and Spped were very much the watercarriers of our team - receive the ball and then give it to someone else who can do more with the ball.
You never saw Batty, Lee or Speed turn the opposition midfielder, before playing an inch perfect pass through a compact defensive line, directly on to the end of a darting diagonal run by Alan Shearer. Yet that is what some people seem want to see from Newcastle's central midfielders these days.
Of course, we get treated to the brilliance of Xabi Alonso, Cesc Fabregas, Arteta and Scholes every week on Match of the Day. However what isn't noticed is that for most of these players, winning and retaining the ball come first. Alonso and Arteta aren't brilliant ball winners, but that is compensated for them by the rest of the midfield being built around them.
Lets face it, there are few central midfielders in the world who can combine the duties expected in the Premier League with consistent killer instinct.
We couldn't afford or attract a player with such capabilities. Of course, there are players out there who do offer consistent creativity in central midfield, but these are lightweights, and we would have had to revolve all our other players around him, and with a new manager, several new players needed etc, that was never a viable option. Hugo Viana is an example of when the thirst for extra creativity may not work out.
In the end, past Newcastle teams have shown that we can have a good season with two uncreative but solid and effective central midfielders with one of these players becoming an extra player in the final third at times. We need to use the ingenuity of James Milner and Charles N'Zogbia on the wings, and we need to keep the only player who can properly hold the ball up in Mark Viduka fit, as he is needed to delay the play so our attacking midfielder can join the play.
So do we have solid and central midfielders? In the water carrier role, we have Geremi. There are already comments from some quarters that he has been rubbish. However, my own observation of the game coupled with the statistics would suggest otherwise, and that he is a very good water carrier. Before Derby, he had been successfully retrieving the ball from our defence, our intercepting the opposition and delivering the ball consistently to players with better attacking ability. Furthermore, he does this quickly and efficiently without twisting and turning and playing down blind alleys like Scott Parker did. Because there is no attacking aspect though, and because he doesn't make Hollywood tackles, he will get unnoticed by many unfortunately, just like what happenned to Gary Speed during his time here. Geremi is just as good as Gary Speed was.
Nicky Butt has also generally been passing the ball around well, and winning the ball back, but perhaps hasn't been doing as well as Geremi. Suprisingly, he has been given licence to join our attacks, and unfortunately his end product isn't very good, but he certainly had been pretty handy for us until yesterday. When Barton comes back, he should be able to replace Butt and offer greater attacking threat.
Yesterday wasn't the best game for either player, but in defence of Geremi, our defenders were not getting the ball to him yesterday, with Steve Howard completely destroying the composure of our centre back partnership. Meanwhile Ameobi is a big strong player, but he plays like a pinball bumper, he doesn't hold the ball up. Thus Butt couldn't join the attack.
What is clear, in particular from the past Speed-Lee partnership, is that the same central midfield can finish 13th and 4th. The performance depends on the players around them. Our existing central midfielders all have the attributes of a central midfielder that can win games and do well in the league, we just need to sort out the players that surround them.
Looking at some of the best sides we've had in the Premiership over the years, we've seen central midfield pairings of: Batty and Lee Speed and Lee Speed and Dyer/Jenas The Batty-Lee, Speed-Lee and Speed-Jenas all had the primary objective to win the ball from the opposition or receive the ball from defence, and give the ball to a player who is able to craft something, and during our good spells, they pretty much did just that. Of course Jenas wasn't as good as he twisted and turned to often, slowing us down. Of course one of the central midfielders was expected to help the attack, Lee did this well, getting forward where possible and receiving the ball further up the field from target men holding the ball up and from some ingenius wingers, and then getting a shot in on goal or playing a short cross/pass to the strikers when space became available as a consequence of the work done by our strikers and wingers. Meanwhile, Batty and Speed had rare attacking licence in open play. In that sense Batty and Spped were very much the watercarriers of our team - receive the ball and then give it to someone else who can do more with the ball. You never saw Batty, Lee or Speed turn the opposition midfielder, before playing an inch perfect pass through a compact defensive line, directly on to the end of a darting diagonal run by Alan Shearer. Yet that is what some people seem want to see from Newcastle's central midfielders these days. Of course, we get treated to the brilliance of Xabi Alonso, Cesc Fabregas, Arteta and Scholes every week on Match of the Day. However what isn't noticed is that for most of these players, winning and retaining the ball come first. Alonso and Arteta aren't brilliant ball winners, but that is compensated for them by the rest of the midfield being built around them. Lets face it, there are few central midfielders in the world who can combine the duties expected in the Premier League with consistent killer instinct. We couldn't afford or attract a player with such capabilities. Of course, there are players out there who do offer consistent creativity in central midfield, but these are lightweights, and we would have had to revolve all our other players around him, and with a new manager, several new players needed etc, that was never a viable option. Hugo Viana is an example of when the thirst for extra creativity may not work out. In the end, past Newcastle teams have shown that we can have a good season with two uncreative but solid and effective central midfielders with one of these players becoming an extra player in the final third at times. We need to use the ingenuity of James Milner and Charles N'Zogbia on the wings, and we need to keep the only player who can properly hold the ball up in Mark Viduka fit, as he is needed to delay the play so our attacking midfielder can join the play. So do we have solid and central midfielders? In the water carrier role, we have Geremi. There are already comments from some quarters that he has been rubbish. However, my own observation of the game coupled with the statistics would suggest otherwise, and that he is a very good water carrier. Before Derby, he had been successfully retrieving the ball from our defence, our intercepting the opposition and delivering the ball consistently to players with better attacking ability. Furthermore, he does this quickly and efficiently without twisting and turning and playing down blind alleys like Scott Parker did. Because there is no attacking aspect though, and because he doesn't make Hollywood tackles, he will get unnoticed by many unfortunately, just like what happenned to Gary Speed during his time here. Geremi is just as good as Gary Speed was. Nicky Butt has also generally been passing the ball around well, and winning the ball back, but perhaps hasn't been doing as well as Geremi. Suprisingly, he has been given licence to join our attacks, and unfortunately his end product isn't very good, but he certainly had been pretty handy for us until yesterday. When Barton comes back, he should be able to replace Butt and offer greater attacking threat. Yesterday wasn't the best game for either player, but in defence of Geremi, our defenders were not getting the ball to him yesterday, with Steve Howard completely destroying the composure of our centre back partnership. Meanwhile Ameobi is a big strong player, but he plays like a pinball bumper, he doesn't hold the ball up. Thus Butt couldn't join the attack. What is clear, in particular from the past Speed-Lee partnership, is that the same central midfield can finish 13th and 4th. The performance depends on the players around them. Our existing central midfielders all have the attributes of a central midfielder that can win games and do well in the league, we just need to sort out the players that surround them.