mostly good points from supermac , a couple of things the local press have been too spineless to mention themselves. but shola staying??
Malcolm Macdonald: Don’t use Reds as a benchmark
25 May 2013 16:01
Malcolm Macdonald wonders why Newcastle United should be looking to follow in Liverpool’s footsteps
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Jonas Gutierrez lies on the ground in pain during the game against Liverpool Jonas Gutierrez lies on the ground in pain during the game against Liverpool
Alan Pardew, it would seem, wants us to look to Liverpool as Newcastle’s blueprint.
Well, Liverpool have just finished seventh in the Premier League and the Magpies were fifth a year ago, so who wants to be who?
Liverpool, by the way, are desperate to get into Europe, while Newcastle pin a lot of the blame for a catastrophic season on the tiredness brought about by traipsing around the Continent.
When they were fifth-top, United played some scintillating football but the same players were a pale imitation in the campaign just ended. The fall from grace was shocking.
And none more so than Jonas Gutierrez, who did well a year ago but was dreadful last time around. He didn’t contribute a thing, yet was played repeatedly. At times it looked as though the manager would play him anywhere rather than drop him.
It’s hard to tell what will come next from players who have gone up and down like yo-yos.
For example, in 2011-12 everything Papiss Cisse hit flew into the back of the net. He could do no wrong. It was all typified at Chelsea when he scored that wonderful goal from way out on the touchline.
However, what a different tale it has been since. Cisse couldn’t reach double figures in the Premier League.
No, he’s not as good a footballer as Demba Ba, which means he has to be scoring goals to make a significant contribution. Of course he would point out that he’s suffered from a lack of support and he has a point.
Even United’s better players, Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa, have laboured at times.
Cabaye has often been reduced to hitting long balls up to Cisse, who has been isolated, and so everything broke down.
As for Ben Arfa, he has to be careful he doesn’t become just a trick player. He has to get more consistency in his game and learn when to do certain things and when not.
At his very, very best I have always thought that he would fit perfectly into Arsenal’s footballing side. However, I think Arsene Wenger will have gone off him last weekend. An old coach of mine used to say that beating one man was good, beating two was great, but trying to beat three was a droppable offence. In other words, don’t overdo it.
Yet Ben Arfa repeatedly ran down cul-de-sacs against the Gunners, got the ball taken off him, and sat dejected on his backside.
There is much restoration work to be done this summer, but while the question on every Toon Army fan’s tongue has been about who should be bought, I believe Pardew must decide who to sell first. There is plenty of dead wood and that only clogs up a club.
Danny Simpson and Steve Harper have already gone, their contracts having run out, but who else should go?
Gabriel Obertan for a start. He’s been a real waste of money. I don’t even know if he’s interested. There then is Dan Gosling, way back in the pecking order, and kids who must also be judged.
For example, I would let Shane Ferguson and Sammy Ameobi leave. They won’t be Newcastle class.
Ferguson tries hard and Sammy has ability to go with being as tall as a house, but neither looks like becoming top-class.
I would keep Shola merely as a back-up striker, but I would let Sammy get away. The lad scored a good goal at Middlesbrough but then disappeared and they were awful.
I believe that unless he is careful Yoan Gouffran will also become expendable in a couple of seasons unless he has more that he has not yet shown us.
Pardew has so much work to do, the club having not done it a year ago. What happens in the close season will shape the immediate future of Newcastle United without question.
In an interview with JOHN GIBSON
