Jump to content

Cheick Tioté (1986-2017)


madras

Recommended Posts

Guest chicken little

i get the impression that his decline has come hand-in-hand with him trying to (or being expected to try to) do too much; his first season he was proper minimalist - smash someone, get the ball, lay it off. worked superb. if i was being a hyperbolic mentalist i would suggest wiring his bollocks up to a power source that gave him a strong electric shock if he tried to cross the halfway line, or have more than six touches at a time.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Opponents have worked out that he loses the ball under extreme pressure. It's a big challenge for him to get over this limitation.

 

Thing is though in his first season he would often receive the ball when under extreme pressure, but seemed to have the skill and awareness to turn out of those situations and find himself some space which is what made him such a brilliant player. Now, if anything, he does the complete opposite.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't think he's had an overwhelming number of stinkers, but he's played well below what we know he's capable of. He's been pretty average. His consistency or lack of it is one of the most infuriating parts of his game, because when he's on form he's capable of taking the game by the scruff of the neck and stopping the very best teams from playing (Man United at home last season being a perfect example. I don't think Rooney touched the ball once) which turns us into a completely different beast.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I think it's fair to say he hit a bit of a purple patch when he first arrived here. He's probably not ever going to be that player for us again... but i don't believe for a second that if used correctly he can't be a very effective Premiership footballer.

 

A large issue with him is that he gets caught in possession far too much. His first year or so he was tremendous at winning the ball in the middle of the park then twisting and turning his way out of trouble and releasing it to a teammate. Problem is that now teams have gotten wise to him, they know he'll try and hold onto the ball and try and dribble his way out of tight spots. So they press him and far too often he gets caught in possession which is extremely dangerous for a player playing his position. There were glimpses of this even in his early days here, remember that goal Blackburn scored against us at St. James where he dribbled the ball basically into our own box and got dispossessed and they scored?

 

As a pure ball winning midfielder he's still got a lot to offer IMO. We look noticeably softer in the middle when he's absent, he presses players brilliantly and breaks up a lot of passes. But the fact that he's become such a liability in possession is negating this. Teams have changed the way they play against him and he needs to adapt to it.

 

He's a poster boy for the fact that we clearly don't put a lot of time and effort into planning what we'll do as a team when we have the ball. If we did he'd be instructed to release the ball as quickly as possible when he wins possession, play a very simple game and hold his position in the midfield and leave the attacking to the players who actually have some quality on the ball. Then when the other team has the ball that's where he comes into his own.

 

Is he blameless in it all? No, but like a lot of our players right now he'd look a whole lot better if our manager had a clue how to get the best out of him.

 

That's a brilliant analysis. The only thing that's missing from that synopsis is the fact that his attitude is fucking abysmal. He's got it all wrong in his head, which probably hasn't been helped by others championing him as a hard man.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I personally thought our better performances last season was Guthrie-Cabaye rather than Tiote-Cabaye, of course there are exceptions like the 3-0 against Man Yoo but in the main i felt we performed better with Guthrie-Cabaye and he's not as important as some think.

 

He was great in his first season but since then his performances have been inconsistent to say the least and i think some have overstated how good he is because of the garbage we had before hand.

 

If we bought this Sissoko in this window i wouldn't bat an eyelid if we sold him.

 

:thup:

 

A Cabaye-Sissoko-Anita midfield looks quite nice.

 

If we signed Sissoko, I don't think he'd replace Tiote directly as a DM, looks more a true box-to-box than DM.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Ivory Coast leave out Newcastle's Cheick Tiote and Lille's Salomon Kalou for today's Africa Cup of Nations game against Togo. There is live commentary on the BBC website.

 

Ivory Coast: Barry, Eboue, Kolo Toure, Bamba, Tiene, Zokora, Yaya Toure, Gradel, Konan ,Gervinho, Drogba.

 

Togo: Agassa, Nibombe, Akakpo, Bossou, Djene, Gaffar, Amewou, Romao, Gakpe, Adebayor, Ayite.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...