Leon Best

[Yorkie]

Christ, hell of an injury that. Did well to come back so quickly. Love Leon, like; his u-turn really is incredible.

 

How fucking horrendous is that Chronicle website btw? Awful.

[Dr Venkman]

If he's only trained once he's not starting like

[Yorkie]

If he's only trained once he's not starting like

 

Yeah. Shame that, would've loved to see him and Ba up front with HBA down the left.

[QBG]

I'm surely not the only one who thought he was very good on Saturday? Movement was first class, created space by dragging defenders wide and always looked comfortable on the ball. The only explanation for him being subbed for Shola is that he's short of match practice, as the difference between the two in terms of off the ball movement and general workload is staggering.

 

Shows that we really do need another striker in the window, as brining Shola on for Best is detrimental to everyone involved.

[ujpest doza]

I'm surely not the only one who thought he was very good on Saturday? Movement was first class, created space by dragging defenders wide and always looked comfortable on the ball. The only explanation for him being subbed for Shola is that he's short of match practice, as the difference between the two in terms of off the ball movement and general workload is staggering.

 

Shows that we really do need another striker in the window, as brining Shola on for Best is detrimental to everyone involved.

Hurt his shoulder quite badly when he was put through, brought down and inexplicably didn't win a free kick or force a red card for the defender.

 

He won everything in the air, chased and harried and generally made a nuisance of himself.

[Lush Vlad]

I'm surely not the only one who thought he was very good on Saturday? Movement was first class, created space by dragging defenders wide and always looked comfortable on the ball. The only explanation for him being subbed for Shola is that he's short of match practice, as the difference between the two in terms of off the ball movement and general workload is staggering.

 

Shows that we really do need another striker in the window, as brining Shola on for Best is detrimental to everyone involved.

Hurt his shoulder quite badly when he was put through, brought down and inexplicably didn't win a free kick or force a red card for the defender.

 

He won everything in the air, chased and harried and generally made a nuisance of himself.

 

Was that the challenge from Richards, should have been carded, it's an off the ball challeneg and he pushed him over    He got booked later on as well I believe.  Despite the fact it was a yellow, it made the Cabaye booking harder to take.  Mason was so inconsistent and leniant to start with it was unreal.

 

Was very impressed with Besty, still holds on to it a bit too long for my liking and struggles to see things developing as quickly as others.  We went to shit after he went off though. 

 

Were the crowd OTT with their abuse aimed at him?  Stopped sitting with me mate in the Leazes as some of the negative comments about him are ridiculous.  No praise for ten good bits of play, one fuck up and "Oh there's Best again, fucking shite" etc.

[ujpest doza]

I'm surely not the only one who thought he was very good on Saturday? Movement was first class, created space by dragging defenders wide and always looked comfortable on the ball. The only explanation for him being subbed for Shola is that he's short of match practice, as the difference between the two in terms of off the ball movement and general workload is staggering.

 

Shows that we really do need another striker in the window, as brining Shola on for Best is detrimental to everyone involved.

Hurt his shoulder quite badly when he was put through, brought down and inexplicably didn't win a free kick or force a red card for the defender.

 

He won everything in the air, chased and harried and generally made a nuisance of himself.

 

Was that the challenge from Richards, should have been carded, it's an off the ball challeneg and he pushed him over    He got booked later on as well I believe.  Despite the fact it was a yellow, it made the Cabaye booking harder to take.  Mason was so inconsistent and leniant to start with it was unreal.

 

Was very impressed with Besty, still holds on to it a bit too long for my liking and struggles to see things developing as quickly as others.  We went to shit after he went off though. 

 

Were the crowd OTT with their abuse aimed at him?  Stopped sitting with me mate in the Leazes as some of the negative comments about him are ridiculous.  No praise for ten good bits of play, one fuck up and "Oh there's Best again, fucking shite" etc.

No abuse that i heard, ithought he played well and thought that Richards should have walked for that challenge which was similar to Luiz on Ba the other week.

[Lush Vlad]

I'm surely not the only one who thought he was very good on Saturday? Movement was first class, created space by dragging defenders wide and always looked comfortable on the ball. The only explanation for him being subbed for Shola is that he's short of match practice, as the difference between the two in terms of off the ball movement and general workload is staggering.

 

Shows that we really do need another striker in the window, as brining Shola on for Best is detrimental to everyone involved.

Hurt his shoulder quite badly when he was put through, brought down and inexplicably didn't win a free kick or force a red card for the defender.

 

He won everything in the air, chased and harried and generally made a nuisance of himself.

 

Was that the challenge from Richards, should have been carded, it's an off the ball challeneg and he pushed him over    He got booked later on as well I believe.  Despite the fact it was a yellow, it made the Cabaye booking harder to take.  Mason was so inconsistent and leniant to start with it was unreal.

 

Was very impressed with Besty, still holds on to it a bit too long for my liking and struggles to see things developing as quickly as others.  We went to s*** after he went off though. 

 

Were the crowd OTT with their abuse aimed at him?  Stopped sitting with me mate in the Leazes as some of the negative comments about him are ridiculous.  No praise for ten good bits of play, one f*** up and "Oh there's Best again, f***ing s****" etc.

No abuse that i heard, ithought he played well and thought that Richards should have walked for that challenge which was similar to Luiz on Ba the other week.

 

Thought he was possibly going to challenge for the ball in the air, there was also another defender in the vicinity.  He got bundled over before he got a chance to jump, might be the wrong challenge but I thought it was never a red, yellow at most. 

 

If it is the same one, all I remember watching it was the ridiculous jock commentator saying "nothing wrong with that, it's a contact sport"  that's all very well, but pushing people over off the ball is still a foul 

[QBG]

I'm surely not the only one who thought he was very good on Saturday? Movement was first class, created space by dragging defenders wide and always looked comfortable on the ball. The only explanation for him being subbed for Shola is that he's short of match practice, as the difference between the two in terms of off the ball movement and general workload is staggering.

 

Shows that we really do need another striker in the window, as brining Shola on for Best is detrimental to everyone involved.

Hurt his shoulder quite badly when he was put through, brought down and inexplicably didn't win a free kick or force a red card for the defender.

 

He won everything in the air, chased and harried and generally made a nuisance of himself.

 

Ahh, wasn't aware he hurt himself in that challenge, awful decision by the ref not to punish that 'tackle'.

[Dinho lad]

He really needs a goal soon. 

[Sifu]

He really needs a goal soon. 

 

Definitely. He did alright on Saturday, guess he was just short of match practice really but his lack of goals must be a bit concerning. If he starts on Wednesday, then I reckon he'll score.

 

He's due a hat trick

[littlelunchbox]

as long he plays well and the team scores, it really wouldn't bother me much if he dont score.

[Mick]

I don't know what people see in him.

[littlelunchbox]

I don't know what people see in him.

 

You didn't see his contribution last game,  he is an outlet,  quite possibly our only outlet if we need to be direct with the ball.  That's just one part of his game.  He works hard, fantastic first touch, can hold the ball, can direct ball in the air, he completely changes the complexion of our play when he's on the field.  Numerous times we have seen how our game changes for the worse once he leaves the field.

 

my only complaint bout him, is that sometimes we can be too direct with Best playing upfront, as we can rely on him too much and play too many long balls. he does get caught offside too often. but he does give us a variety that neither shola or demba can.

[Tooj]

I must admit, I didn't really see his contribution either.

[Mick]

I don't know what people see in him.

 

You didn't see his contribution last game,  he is an outlet,  quite possibly our only outlet if we need to be direct with the ball.  That's just one part of his game.  He works hard, fantastic first touch, can hold the ball, can direct ball in the air, he completely changes the complexion of our play when he's on the field.  Numerous times we have seen how our game changes for the worse once he leaves the field.

 

my only complaint bout him, is that sometimes we can be too direct with Best playing upfront, as we can rely on him too much and play too many long balls. he does get caught offside too often. but he does give us a variety that neither shola or demba can.

 

I've just watched the first half again and his highlight was a really good chest down for Ba but even then the ball was behind Ba who does really well to get a shot off which hits a post.  Other than that he won 6 headers and 6 times the next person to touch the ball was a Swansea player.  6 times no Newcastle player got near the 2nd ball and watching the randomness of where the balls drop it's easy to see why we don't get on the end of them, it's a lottery.

 

Around 30 minutes he's about 2 or 3 yards offside and seems to be the only person in the ground who didn't know he was offside.

 

In the first half he did less than Obertan.

[Unbelievable]

To me, he's been a pleasant surprise as he has contributed more at this level than I ever thought him capable of. However, he is not good enough for the first team if we have any ambition of breaking the top 7 on a regular basis. Good squad player to have though.

[Sifu]

Best's contribution in terms of his hold up play, strength and sheer determination (always giving his all) has proved to be very important for us in the past, most notably our unbeaten run/start this season.

 

Best has been able to bring others into play via his hold up play and flicking on headers and he has proven to be decent partner for Ba really. Whether he's a long term solution remains to be seen tbh. If we want to "go places", guess Best isn't one player we should rely on too heavily. I wouldn't by any means let him go to another club - he's great for the squad and seems to be a good lad. 

 

As it stands though, I would continue to start Best upfront alongside Ba (with Ben Arfa preferably on the wing).

[Dokko]

I don't know what people see in him.

 

Goals.

[Ronaldo]

I don't think he had a great game on Sat, but I didn't completely expect that on his first game back

 

It's good that most on here have come to appreciate his contribution, though.

[Matt]

I've just watched the first half again and his highlight was a really good chest down for Ba but even then the ball was behind Ba who does really well to get a shot off which hits a post.  Other than that he won 6 headers and 6 times the next person to touch the ball was a Swansea player.  6 times no Newcastle player got near the 2nd ball and watching the randomness of where the balls drop it's easy to see why we don't get on the end of them, it's a lottery.

 

Around 30 minutes he's about 2 or 3 yards offside and seems to be the only person in the ground who didn't know he was offside.

 

I'm with you on that, Mick. Best had some good games earlier in the season against some of the league's lesser lights and I thought his selection on Saturday was a bit of a no-brainer. But I didn't think he had a huge impact on the game compared to Ba who was a real handful. Just goes to show it's a game of opinions.

 

I'd love to know how Pardew really sees his strikerforce lining up in the longer-term. If another striker arrives in January it's most likely Best closest to the exit as his early season form will ensure interested parties. Ba is the only nailed on starter, no-one seems to have his full confidence as the second striker.

[Wullie]

He's done well all season, been fairly consistent at what he's good at but my only concern would be that he seems to be getting less and less likely to score every week. I'd be interested to know how many chances he's had since his goal at Villa, I bet it's less than 5, very different to the back end of last season and start of this where he was finding it very easy getting on the end of stuff.

 

Interestingly the Villa game was the one before Ba got off the mark with his hat trick against Blackburn, Best may see himself as more useful trying to create chances and space for Ba than himself. He is good at that but I'd like to see him looking a greater threat. We don't have enough goals from elsewhere to accommodate a striker who's not getting goals or even chances and we can't depend on Ba entirely.

[Ronaldo]

True enough. There's nowhere near enough goals in the midfield for us to be playing a striker who doesn't get too many, which is one of the reasons I wanted Best up there instead of Ben Arfa to begin with. I'm sure Best will get one and he'll go on a run again, but we do need a new striker in January.

[Guest bimpy474]

He's done well all season, been fairly consistent at what he's good at but my only concern would be that he seems to be getting less and less likely to score every week. I'd be interested to know how many chances he's had since his goal at Villa, I bet it's less than 5, very different to the back end of last season and start of this where he was finding it very easy getting on the end of stuff.

 

Interestingly the Villa game was the one before Ba got off the mark with his hat trick against Blackburn, Best may see himself as more useful trying to create chances and space for Ba than himself. He is good at that but I'd like to see him looking a greater threat. We don't have enough goals from elsewhere to accommodate a striker who's not getting goals or even chances and we can't depend on Ba entirely.

 

Funnily enough i watched the Swansea game again and Besty was making runs that go unnoticed, creating space for others, vital part of team play that but one worry was when we had the ball out wide he kept moving into the same spaces as Ba, if and when the cross came in.

[johnnypd]

yes Best did a pretty important job vs Swansea, one he's gradually moved into since Ba has upped his game, but he didn't look a goal threat at all, and didn't seem particularly creative either. it might be an uncharitable comparison but it was a bit of a Heskey type role. i appreciate that it helped out Ba and to an extent the wider team but i wouldn't want a player like that to be first XI.