Cheick Tioté (1986–2017)

[NEEJ]

Get in. Fun times ahead...

[Smal]

Yep.

 

Subjective

[54]

Thought he did well when he came on yesterday.

[Belfast Mags]

He just needs to get back to basics.

And not fucking lunge in so often, but that said I though he did OK when he came on.

[Ste]

I've got zero confidence in him starting games now. Decent as a sub.

[Pilko]

The only games I'd want to see him starting in are against the bigger sides when we could probably do with another body in midfield to generally break things up and 'spoil' if you like. As much as I really rate Anita I could see him maybe being bullied out of those sorts of games, when we won't have much possession.

[Mole_Toonfan]

The only games I'd want to see him starting in are against the bigger sides when we could probably do with another body in midfield to generally break things up and 'spoil' if you like. As much as I really rate Anita I could see him maybe being bullied out of those sorts of games, when we won't have much possession.

 

Worked out grand against City.... plus we didn't have much possession against Villa and he seemed fine.

 

At least Anita has good possession sense and can block passing lanes, something Tiote is horrible at.

 

I thought he was good yesterday but that really is what i'd stick him to, sub who can come in to help us shut up shop.

 

 

[Pilko]

The City game is a shit example because Anita came on and was completely anonymous. Tiote was also poor but we had a collective off-day there really. Only Krul and HBA (and Dummett) played even approaching an acceptable level.

[Tiresias]

I wonder if an extended period of Anita keeping him out may give him the kick up the arse he needs to relearn his game, I hope. Tbh i've largely given up on him ever getting any good again

[Pilko]

He'll still have the odd useful performance, and the very occasional great performance (1 or 2 a season that is), but I don't think he'll ever be a consistently effective force for us anymore. The 7-3 away at Arsenal was the point of no return for me.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I never thought he was a write-off, I still don't. The problem is that opponents have worked him out and he needs to adapt. Mainly be releasing the ball quicker, which he did alright when he came on.

[Segun Oluwaniyi]

He's just not a very good player. I like the boy and he can still be useful for us as cover, imo (not that I am overly enamoured with Anita, either, but he will do for now), but he lacks what is necessary to be a great player in his position. He isn't responsible defensively and doesn't under or hold his position well. He tries to imitate the higher level defensive midfielders by using his strength and technical ability to hold ball in tight spaces but he just isn't technically good enough for this. He also is too erratic with his passing. People can and will take the ball off of him and he will lose of his own volition too often.

 

Still, his sheer aggression and physicality can be a huge asset to the team in certain matches and situations. He should take a cue from Obi Mikel and stop shooting from outside the box at any time, though. It is just wasting position and endangering children.

[Heron]

To be fair to Tiote, I think he has obviously been told (and rightly so) to improve the areas of his game that would see him become a decent international standard player. Unfortunately, that is where he is more limited, i.e. in his passing and attacking game. If he is told to stick to what he does best and be a play-breaker and not a play-maker then he will look decent again. He's the exact sort of player we will need on the pitch against the better sides in my opinion, especially at home when we want to get in their faces and gee the fans up a bit. If he can just make the tackles an knock it 5/10 yards to the likes of Cabaye then everyone wins.

[Ronaldo]

Tiote at home. Aye, right. Stick Jonas in too while we're at it.

[tmonkey]

I hope we move him on. Was an excellent defensive midfielder in his first 1.5 seasons here, but Pardew tried to change his game too much following the Arsenal goal, and now we're left with a midfielder who has absolutely no clue what he's meant to be doing or how to do it. Very similar with Scott Parker and Roeder's attempt to change him into the new Steven Gerrard after a wondergoal against Charlton. Given that we have significantly better options now we just can't afford to attempt to stick it out with him and hope he turns the miserable form around. Just have to hope Pardew sees this and that he's not too stubborn/arrogant to realise his experiment has failed and Tiote needs to be dumped.

[Dinho lad]

I hope we move him on. Was an excellent defensive midfielder in his first 1.5 seasons here, but Pardew tried to change his game too much following the Arsenal goal, and now we're left with a midfielder who has absolutely no clue what he's meant to be doing or how to do it. Very similar with Scott Parker and Roeder's attempt to change him into the new Steven Gerrard after a wondergoal against Charlton. Given that we have significantly better options now we just can't afford to attempt to stick it out with him and hope he turns the miserable form around. Just have to hope Pardew sees this and that he's not too stubborn/arrogant to realise his experiment has failed and Tiote needs to be dumped.

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I don't really believe his problems are to do with being told to change his game. I think it's more to do with opponents working out how to pressure him and make him lose the ball.

[Guest firetotheworks]

That happens, definitely, but he brings it on himself. His passing is shit.

[Heron]

I don't really believe his problems are to do with being told to change his game. I think it's more to do with opponents working out how to pressure him and make him lose the ball.

 

There's a difference between changing your game and trying to add to your game though, and everyone should be trying to add to their game. I think that's what's happened here, Tiote is limited and what they are trying to add to his game he cannot consistently do.

[Ronaldo]

He can't even consistently get the ball from his defenders without cocking up, man. Stop trying to make a sub from Twente into some sort of footballing riddle.

[Newcastle Fan]

He can't even consistently get the ball from his defenders without cocking up, man. Stop trying to make a sub from Twente into some sort of footballing riddle.

 

Harsh like as he was immense for us at times, but definitely is starting to scare me every time he gets the ball, especially when we're only 2-1 up away from home.

[tmonkey]

I don't really believe his problems are to do with being told to change his game. I think it's more to do with opponents working out how to pressure him and make him lose the ball.

 

It's a fair point, but I personally don't see it - at best it's just one of a number of factors that have led to Tiote's massive slump in performance standards.

 

For example, for the most part he was a great DM during his first 1.5 seasons here, prior to leaving for the ACoN along with Ba. If teams had wanted to figure him out, they'd have done it within a season, because in his first season here there were plenty of nail-biting moments where he was pressured in front of the back four and took major risks, sometimes getting caught out. Just prior to leaving for the ACoN he had a MOTM standard performance against ManU where he bossed the game - when he came back from the ACoN he was absolutely dire and looked (to me) overweight and slow. He hasn't recovered any kind of form since then, and I severely doubt club managers had all gotten together whilst Tiote was in Africa for a month or two and shared dossiers on him, all agreeing that pressuring him was the way to go. No, his form dipped, it has remained at the trough, and it has little to do with opposition teams doing anything different - much like Cisse being unable to do anything right now, it's more about confidence, fitness and mentality. If Tiote today was to play the same ManU side from December 2011, he'd be absolutely atrocious imo, because that's the kind of form he's in and the way he's playing.

 

And that's where I think Pardew needs to accept a big part of the blame, along with the other factors (fitness, confidence, the downwards spiraling standard of football in the team as a whole, and possibly teams pressuring him more). We know for a fact he wanted more from Tiote on the ball because he said so in the media - I specifically remember an interview where he says there's more to come from Cheik because he has the ability to have more of an impact on the ball, and that Cheik needed to take on more responsibility in this department (one that didn't involve an Essien quote, so a different quote but not one that I can easily find). On top of this, he's filled Tiote's head with this notion that he's some kind of warrior tank when the one thing Tiote didn't need was encouragement to be even more reckless. Maybe I'm letting my dislike of Pardew cloud things, but as with the Scott Parker example where an attempt to change the player on the basis of a one-off goal is made, if it's the manager who prompts the change then the manager needs to accept a big chunk of the blame.

 

As a side note (and a relevant analogy to Tiote), I think it's also a fact that players can forget to play the way they should be playing given their abilities. Aan Shearer was a prime example of this - under Gullitt he was absolutely gash by his own standards, and that would have continued under Sir Bobby had Sir Bobby not reminded Shearer to stop playing with his back to goal and start playing on the half-turn again (something both player and manager openly discussed, with a massive turnaround in form being the clear result of that change). If something as simple as that needed to be pointed out to the best Premiership striker of his generation then naturally the same can happen to anyone, and clearly guidance may be needed from the manager to turn things around again. Tiote needs to play a more simple game, to focus entirely on sitting, intercepting, and passing it away to the nearest teammate, in short playing exactly how Anita is playing right now or how he himself was playing in his first season here. The problem is that we have a manager who doesn't want to him play this way - Pardew wants Shearer to play with his back to goal so to speak.

[The College Dropout]

Excellent post Tmonkey. I also agreed that perhaps teams had figured him out but tbh.. for the majority of his first two seasons he was good. Even after the AFCON he was pretty solid.

 

It's just last year he looked a headless chicken.

 

 

Excellent. Excellent post.

[mrmojorisin75]

Tiote needs to play a more simple game, to focus entirely on sitting, intercepting, and passing it away to the nearest teammate, in short playing exactly how Anita is playing right now or how he himself was playing in his first season here. The problem is that we have a manager who doesn't want to him play this way - Pardew wants Shearer to play with his back to goal so to speak.

 

did this against villa tbf, very noticeable when i was watching him...got the ball and moved it quickly and short...that site someone posted showed he made 20 passes with 90% accuracy after he came on

 

he can be effective if he keeps it simple, i've always believed this

 

one thing you didn't touch on in your post i felt was the moments of outright idiocy he has on a far too regular basis...if he cuts them down and plays the ball fast and short when he wins it he'll be ok again for us

 

anita should start every home game without question, can see how pardew might want tiote performing the same role away but with more strength (albeit it's not what i would do)

[Ronaldo]

He can't retain the ball under pressure. It's nothing to do with Pardew or Essien or anything but Tiote being a pretty poor footballer.