Yohan Cabaye

[SteveMc]

I like him - bit of an unwarranted backlash from some quarters.  Sure he'll assimilate more into our league next year but we're lucky to have him.

[James]

No denying he is a good player. However he has struggled for form since November and has become reckless or alternatively hasnt imposed himself well enough. talk of playing 5 in midfield isn't really valid with Ba and Cisse therefore he needs to find his previous form, working with Pardew if it is a tactical issue.

[Interpolic]

Think he'll come into his own next season if all goes well, have always had a feeling this would be the case with him.  His anonymous performances haven't been exclusive to the last few months at all, he's been inconsistent all season.

[Guest Craig-NUFC]

Such a waste of a player giving our current tactics in which the central midfielders are completely bypassed and essentially used as a defence for the defence. He works better when higher up the pitch and is able to play his passing game. This would also let him arrive late in to the box and pick up loose balls for shots and through balls.

[Cajun]

Such a waste of a player giving our current tactics in which the central midfielders are completely bypassed and essentially used as a defence for the defence. He works better when higher up the pitch and is able to play his passing game. This would also let him arrive late in to the box and pick up loose balls for shots and through balls.

 

He has always played fairly deep/reserved for us

[Guest Craig-NUFC]

I seem to remember a couple of games early in the season where he was given more freedom to push a little bit higher. I don't mean HBA type higher, but he wasn't so reserved. He also played a bit higher for France in the two games I've seen him play in and he did at Lille by all accounts.

[Interpolic]

He ran the show against Villa away and was unlucky not to get a couple of goals.  Was his best game for us off the top of my head but haven't seen him as an attacking threat in that many other games tbh.  Still think he's done well, to clarify.  And agree that our game's not really geared towards him at present.

[Hanshithispantz]

We probably aren't seeing him to his full potential, however at current his work-rate and his ability to nick the ball and give it to a black and white shirt is outstanding (multiple times in a game he seems to litterally nick the ball from an opposing player's toe during a 50/50 and NEVER lose out), the fact we see the odd flash of brilliance is a bonus.

[Dave]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/dday-for-yohan-cabaye-7499431.html

D-Day for Yohan Cabaye

 

Newcastle's cultured French midfielder is no stranger to the tribal passions of a derby and tells Martin Hardy his winner's pedigree can be crucial against Sunderland tomorrow

Martin Hardy

 

Saturday 03 March 2012

 

 

In a dressing room at Newcastle's training ground yesterday morning, Alan Pardew held court with his entire first-team squad. It was a call to arms, a reminder, in case any one of them did not quite grasp, or indeed had forgotten, of the enormity of the next game of football they would play. Everything had to be given, he told them. A city's pride was on the line. Sunderland were on the horizon. It was derby time.

 

In a corner of the room sat Yohan Cabaye. Cabaye was 12 years old when he was scouted by Lille Olympic Sporting Club. He spent six years in the club's academy. By his final season he had progressed to the first team. The following year, 2005, he had played in the Champions League, helping to defeat Manchester United. By the time he left, last summer, when Newcastle came calling, activating a clause in his contract that allowed him to go for just under £5m, Cabaye had helped Lille to win Ligue 1 for the first time since 1955. They had also defeated Paris Saint-Germain to win the French Cup, completing their first Double since 1946.

 

He was so embedded in Lille's history by then, so part of its fabric, that he still calls those team-mates "brothers". His eyes light up when a date, 10 May 2008, is mentioned. The Derby du Nord (the Northern Derby) is the geographical equivalent of Newcastle and Sunderland in France. It is a game that crosses social and economic boundaries. Lille – middle class and modern – against Lens, working class and industrial. It is also a game in which Cabaye scored as Lens were defeated and then, later that season, relegated. Such goals live forever.

 

"You are never allowed to forget them," he says. "It is so special to score in a derby. The fans in the stadium, when you score, are so happy, you become closer to them, you are almost as one. The crowd is bigger than the other games, the noise greater, it is special and I scored. My parents were in the stadium, my little brother and my big friends were there too, it was very, very special.

 

"When you walk out of the dressing room after scoring in a derby you feel so good, life is good. You just smile, you enjoy it, it is why you play, the crowd sing your name during the match, you leave the ground a hero and it is so good.

 

"Now Lille is bigger than Lens because we won the French League and the Cup. Lens were bigger than Lille then, but not now, Lille is a bigger club than Lens. The Derby du Nord is a very, very big game, maybe not quite like Newcastle-Sunderland but it is a game with a big rivalry. I won more than I lost at Lille. It is very important."

 

There were tears when he left Lille last year. At a poignant team meeting he addressed those he had grown up with and told them why he was going to Newcastle, to further his career at 25. "It was difficult to tell them I was leaving," he adds. "I told the manager: 'Boss, I am leaving Lille to go to Newcastle. Thank you for everything.' He asked 'Why? Do you not want to play Champions League?' I told him that no, it was time to move on. I think it is better to progress and he said, 'OK, all the best to you.' I told the lads. I thanked them and said, 'Good luck for next season, good luck for the Champions League, I will follow you for life.'

 

"It was an emotional time. We were a very close team at Lille. We won the league and the French Cup so we became even closer in that season. We are brothers for life because, in 20 or 30 years, they will still be talking about 2011 and what we managed to do."

 

In a Tyneside eaterie three weeks ago, Cabaye and his family (wife Fiona and young daughter Myla) were about to be served their food. "People were coming up to me and saying, 'We can't lose'," he recalls. "It was three weeks ago! It was all people were thinking about. The staff said, 'Be ready.'

 

"I like it here. I like the life here. My family life is nice. I can play football without worrying about my family. I like my house, I like the training ground, I like St James' Park. I like my team-mates, they are very nice with me. I hope we finish well this season to prepare for next season. At Lille, the players were my brothers. Are they my cousins here? Ha ha, yes. We meet outside the training ground. My English is not good enough yet to joke with the English players."

 

It is very good for just eight months of lessons and the entire interview is done without an interpreter. "I can speak with them and that is important for me but I think the next season it will be better for the jokes. I will be better at the banter then, I like that in a dressing room, I will get them all back."

 

There feels a longevity to Cabaye's move to Newcastle. He met Pardew before he signed and talked about the new, more expansive game that would be adopted by the side this season. He has come to England to be a more rounded central midfielder. He felt the benefit this week when he returned to play for France. He delights in Paul Scholes, a player he was compared to before he moved here.

 

"I am very happy because I love Paul Scholes. For me, he came out of retirement and he is still very good in every game he plays. He scores against Norwich, he is how old? 37, he can pass, he can move and he can score, he is fantastic, for me, I am very happy to be compared to Paul Scholes and I hope to do the same kind of things he does in games.

 

"Maybe he was a little undervalued in England. People should copy Paul Scholes and for me Steven Gerrard as well. These are English midfielders that everybody has to copy. They feel football. It is very pleasant to watch their game and to play against them but I hope, yes, I become like them.

 

"I think it helps me playing in England. You have to do everything. In France we have a big part of the game with the ball. We can kill the ball and pass it. Now we have to defend, pass and get the ball. I felt the benefit with the French team last week."

 

For now, however, it is about one game. Cabaye had, technically at least, been a Newcastle player for just 90 minutes when he walked out at the Stadium of Light on 20 August. He had played just once in this country when he was dropped into a Tyne-Wear derby.

 

"The intensity was...phew! It was my second game, it was like, yes, welcome to England! We won [1-0], it was good. The day was amazing, the stadium, when we came out on to the pitch before the start of the game, wow! Oh yes, I love that kind of noise. It's good.

 

"This week has felt different. The manager called in the first team this morning and told us it was a very special game, for us, for the fans, for the city. At the end you can get only three points but it is not a normal game. It will be very, very special and I hope and I think we are ready for this game. Every team-mate is very focused in his mind.

 

"The players are very focused and I am looking forward to Sunday to see what St James' Park is like. I think the stadium will be fantastic.

 

"Even if we get tired, we are not tired. You cannot be. You can run, you can fight, you can get the ball, you can score when you attack. You can do everything when the crowd is in that mood. They are like a 12th man for us. You are not allowed to stop. They demand that. This is a derby."

 

This is the language of a derby. The universal language of such a fixture.

 

[Ketsbaia]

Love the guy. He'll rise to the occasion on Sunday.

[Cajun]

It is impressive how some players pick up a language, would you expect to be fluent in a language in a year?

[madras]

It is impressive how some players pick up a language, would you expect to be fluent in a language in a year?

for 30k pw playing football, i'm sure i could

[Cajun]

I don't think I could (I am a bit thick mind), fair enough footballers don't struggle for free time but a couple of years at school learning a language ended up with me being able to say my sister had brown hair and eyes and asking how much something cost in German and I still got a C!

[Wilson]

"It is so special to score in a derby. The fans in the stadium, when you score, are so happy, you become closer to them, you are almost as one. The crowd is bigger than the other games, the noise greater, it is special and I scored."

 

 

imagine the handsome little fucker scores a man u-esque free kick...

 

 

[Shak]

Like him a lot, wish he'd play a bit further forward though. He's being wasted playing so deep, especially when he has a colossus like Tiote playing in midfield which should allow him a lot of freedom to get forward.

[Dr Colossus]

For some reason I misread "winner's pedigree" as "winner's eyebrows"

 

[Dr Colossus]

Also, Cabaye's hometown is twinned with Rochdale. Fancy that.

[Heron]

[Kanji]

 

this fella man. You can feel him and Tiote and the rest of the lads are going to be ready on Sunday and rise to the occasion.

[Heron]

 

this fella man. You can feel him and Tiote and the rest of the lads are going to be ready on Sunday and rise to the occasion.

 

Definitely. I feel as though our lads will revel in the atmosphere and theirs will shit their pants.

[themanupstairs]

Wasn't as bad as is being made out. An unsung hero's performance imo in the 2nd half. Turboshit the first.

 

Kept pressing and harrying, moved it quickly and attacked the ball ferociously a few times. You could tell he wasn't on his game (or didn't have the space to play it), but his heart was fully in it.

[Guest Craig-NUFC]

Think he does better with Ben Arfa on the pitch. It's as if he has a partner who is on the same wavelength as him who he can link with. Couple of instances where they played some neat football between each other.

[Skirge]

I thought he was bery poor today, he needs to play higher up the pitch and leave Tiote to do what Tiote does best.

[The College Dropout]

Plays right infront of the CB's alongside Tiote. Don't like it at all.

[Guest Craig-NUFC]

I thought he was bery poor today, he needs to play higher up the pitch and leave Tiote to do what Tiote does best.

 

Yep, but this requires a tactic in which the midfield aren't used as a defence for the defence.