Cheick Tioté (1986–2017)

[Ronaldo]

Isn't that what I said?

 

When he was at his best for us his passing accuracy was one of the highest in the league. A player who can sit, break up play and be trusted to play it simple would be a good compliment to a side with a lot of attack minded players (Say Cisse, Cabaye, Sissoko, Ben Arfa and Gouffran). Especially in games against better opposition.

 

At his best he can't handle being pressured on the ball. He's been totally figured out.

 

He shouldn't have the ball long enough to be pressured.

 

You're right, because he shouldn't be in the team with such a limited ability.

[Jordan]

A DM who can't be trusted to receive the ball from the defence is not an asset to anyone.

This. Don't understand how anyone can see something in him atm. He's a liability.

[huss9]

pardew is so rigid, negative and unimaginative that he always plays a purely defensive midfielder such as tiote.

[Sifu]

He just needs to be told to keep it simple. It just comes to show that bigging him up was the worst thing to do, more great management techniques from the Pardew Book of Management.

[Ronaldo]

More excuses. Great.

[littlelunchbox]

he was piss poor today even when arsenal gave him freedom,  i was actually shocked at how much space arsene wenger's players gave him.

 

one thing that every opposition manager knows now is if you put pressure on tiote i.e close him down, he revert to type and do his usual macho man bullshit, step on the ball holding on to it twist and turn and then lose the ball or give it away.

 

i still think he has that certain quality in him he does have that capability but is not showing for whatever reasons.  Same goes for Cabaye for most of this season.

 

 

[Dave]

On the ball far too fucking much.

[Guest bimpy474]

God, those passes straight to the oppo

[huss9]

God, those passes straight to the oppo

 

and that simple 10 yard pass that ended up in row z of the east stand

[Dr Venkman]

Ferguson wanted him last summer for £20m.

 

Or so someone on here said.

 

Lee Ryder?

[Guest bimpy474]

God, those passes straight to the oppo

 

and that simple 10 yard pass that ended up in row z of the east stand

 

Oh god yeah, i thought he was wellies at one stage.

[alexf]

I actually thought he was ok in the first half. Seemed to do his job far better than he has in most games.

[Ishmael]

He had more composure, seemed to win a higher percentage of 50/50s and made far fewer passing errors.  I think.

[Ronaldo]

Ferguson wanted him last summer for £20m.

 

Or so someone on here said.

 

 

 

Lee Ryder?

 

Nope.

[bowlingcrofty]

Time to get rid.

[sparkzter]

Would be happy to see him go. Been terrible.

[NEEJ]

I'd fucking give him away. Disgusting footballer.

[nufc4eva]

Don't think he played to bad yesterday, bad decisions for some passes, but brought on by such a lack of options and movement. He is good when allowed to play the simple game and players around him make the space

[Elliottman]

Had a decent first half, went to shit in the 2nd.

[ExiledGeordie]

Had a decent first half, went to s*** in the 2nd.

 

Which is a common theme for a lot of our players isn't. Deflated and insipid are words to describe many of our second half performances and its all so predictable.

[Jordan]

Just seen it was his pass that set Walcott up for that near goal. He's useless.

[Guest firetotheworks]

There used to be a case for him needing to return to 'breaking up play and keeping it simple' but that was when he wasn't being utilised properly. Now he isn't being utilised properly, can't pass 6 yards, makes Alan Smith tackles, loses the ball when he's last man and tries stupid Cruyff turns on the edge of our box. He's beyond the lows of his incorrect usage.

[alexthegreat]

Sissokho - 23 years old capped for France at every level including 8 caps at senior level.

Cabaye - 27 years old, 20 caps for France

Anita - 24 years old, played for Holland, won the league with Ajax starting most games as a defensive midfielder

 

Tiote - 26 years old, Ivory Coast international won the league with Twente as a defensive midfielder when he was 23, however struggled to start matches under Steve McClaren who said this about him:

 

"With Checkkie in the team it was all a bit unpredictable, capricious.

 

"Although he is on the bench, I've always told him that he was ready for the top. I also think that the English game is better for him. The pace in the Premier League is so high that it is less noticeable when he has lost the ball.

 

"The game is up and down, up and down, so you always get the ball back quickly."

 

Never as simple as just looking at stats, but I really think its time Pardew started looking at using him in the role he is supposed to have had at Twente under McClaren - squad player coming off the bench in the 2nd half.

 

I'd far rather see what Sissokho can do for us next to Cabaye next season, and Anita is supposed to have excelled at taking the ball off the back 4 in Holland, which is something Tiote has struggled more and more with in England, and judging by McClaren's comments I expect it was also a problem at Twente.

[toontownman]

Well we as fans identified the problem and called for it over a year ago now..maybe Pardew will pick up on it.. he won't change anything but maybe he will pick up on it.

 

He is at his best as a DM, he can't shoot, he can't make forays forwards particularly well and is not the box to box player he has been pushed into being this year. If he keeps it simple and does what he is best at he could once again be very valuable to us. However right now it looks like his head is all over the place on the pitch and we haven't seen half the player that we did in his first year. Maybe that's because of the positional changes and mentality swap, or maybe he just really wasn't as good as he showed in his first year for us.

 

On paper we should have a bloody beast of a midfield, especially if we add a decent right winger.

[Guest Nixon]

It's difficult not to feel sorry for him. He's not to know why his form has nosedived so dramatically.

 

I think it's a mixture of reasons all touched on by others, bar one (I think anyway I may have just missed it). During the past two seasons he's seen the ball come through him more than this year. During that period he was quickly shuffling it out to the flanks and as a consequence it made him seem more important to the side than he was.

 

I did a brief stat check and the Stoke home games from this and last season do highlight the point. According to Opta, he received the ball 50 times this season, 79 the year before. He attempted almost twice as many passes in the latter than he did a few months ago. I think when you couple that with the increased responsibilities he's been given in terms of trying to play it forward, creating chances and he was always going to struggle.

 

As many have said he's nothing like Michael Essien, he's not nearly as explosive as Essien or technically proficient. He's an enforcer that works best patrolling infront of the defence and trying to isolate the opponent into a 1 on 1 battle in a tight area.

 

I would also say playing alongside Cabaye hasn't helped. For all his technical gifts, Cabaye is not the most mobile of midfielders. He doesn't skip past players and so it falls to the third midfielder to try and provide the movement and energy. It might be fixed with some focused work in training but I think really you need to work on a style that suits the players but that is a digression for another time.