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How many teams actually do that in reality though?

 

It's not easy to just rotate your players around different spots, managers tend to try and find a position that works for a player and leave him there. And rightly so.

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We've already seen something close to that at West Brom last season. Ben Arfa, who was for the most part on the right of the three, played a part in all three goals - setting one up from the left, breaking through the middle with Cisse to score and then again breaking down the middle, linking up with Ba, before moving out to the left to stick a ball into the box which bypassed Ba and was finished by Cisse who was hanging to the right as we broke.

 

Coincidentally that was one of, if not, Ba's best performance since coming back from the ACON; hopefully with a fresh start we can once again see an in-form Ba which should then contribute to a much more fluid front three.

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Guest VaVaVoom

I'll be proper buzzin when we got shot of the best all round forward we've had in about a decade like, cannot wait.

 

Cisse going with Ba like?

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Guest VaVaVoom

People that want shot of Ba need their heads testing.

 

Can't believe how quickly some are ready to underestimate what he did for us last year. Short memories.

 

It's because we have Cisse. That's why.

 

(Not saying I agree with them, btw.)

 

Correct! And Ben Arfa...and Cabaye, Marveaux and Jonas. We have quality in attacking positions.

 

I just think if we lost Ba its not big deal, i'd be hopefull of a good fresh striker coming in with our scouting record.

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People that want shot of Ba need their heads testing.

 

Can't believe how quickly some are ready to underestimate what he did for us last year. Short memories.

 

It's because we have Cisse. That's why.

 

(Not saying I agree with them, btw.)

 

Correct! And Ben Arfa...and Cabaye, Marveaux and Jonas. We have quality in attacking positions.

 

I just think if we lost Ba its not big deal, i'd be hopefull of a good fresh striker coming in with our scouting record.

 

Marveaux is a crock and where the fuck are you getting Cabaye and Jonas in regards to replacing Ba? :lol:

 

Colo is pretty good as well, quite like the look of that Santon and Krul is a pretty good keeper so we can fuck that Ba right off.

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To be quite frank, I still don't get why Ba gets so much praise for his play outside of the box. There's good work rate, granted, and a bit of decent hold-up play pre-ACoN, but that's pretty much it. For me his all-round play outside of the box ranges in between "distinctly average" to "Shola on a bad day". His dribbling is comical, his first touch can often let him down, he doesn't have good passing range, and he isn't remotely creative.

 

As Cronky says, I fear that the team has possibly outgrown his ability levels, and that without the goals to gloss over this he gets exposed and frustrated because he knows he isn't playing well. It needs to be remembered that Ba was at his best for us prior to Ben Arfa's inclusion in the first team, Cisse's arrival, and the emergence of Santon as a pretty classy attacking fullback. On top of that we had a bit of a renaissance for Jonas in central midfield, plus Cabaye being more effective as he was given more freedom to get forward. Ba was playing so poorly in this team imo that even Shola would come on and look a considerably better footballer with the ball at feet.

 

The one hope I have for him in this team is that he's a classic "confidence player", and his all-round play will improve considerably when he's playing with confidence (i.e. scoring goals).

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To be quite frank, I still don't get why Ba gets so much praise for his play outside of the box. There's good work rate, granted, and a bit of decent hold-up play pre-ACoN, but that's pretty much it. For me his all-round play outside of the box ranges in between "distinctly average" to "Shola on a bad day". His dribbling is comical, his first touch can often let him down, he doesn't have good passing range, and he isn't remotely creative.

 

Fucking hell man, go have a long lie down and after that rewatch the Man Utd home game.

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Guest VaVaVoom

People that want shot of Ba need their heads testing.

 

Can't believe how quickly some are ready to underestimate what he did for us last year. Short memories.

 

It's because we have Cisse. That's why.

 

(Not saying I agree with them, btw.)

 

Correct! And Ben Arfa...and Cabaye, Marveaux and Jonas. We have quality in attacking positions.

 

I just think if we lost Ba its not big deal, i'd be hopefull of a good fresh striker coming in with our scouting record.

 

Marveaux is a crock and where the fuck are you getting Cabaye and Jonas in regards to replacing Ba? :lol:

 

Colo is pretty good as well, quite like the look of that Santon and Krul is a pretty good keeper so we can fuck that Ba right off.

 

No i said replace Ba with a young striker or better if possible, someone who can play wide left.

 

The other players were in reference to us having a good amount of quality in "attacking positions". We will get goals. We didnt miss Ba's goals in the run in, we wont miss them now. Why not try and improve?

 

Just my fuckin point of view like...

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As said before Ba had about 3 maybe 4 games where his touch was just perplexing but other than those he is very good and clever on the ball. IIRC and ignoring his goals he got 5 assists last season which isn't bad for a forward.

 

The second half of his season and his performances have been massively downplayed due to the amount he scored the first half and the expectation that built.

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People that want shot of Ba need their heads testing.

 

Can't believe how quickly some are ready to underestimate what he did for us last year. Short memories.

 

It's because we have Cisse. That's why.

 

(Not saying I agree with them, btw.)

 

Correct! And Ben Arfa...and Cabaye, Marveaux and Jonas. We have quality in attacking positions.

 

I just think if we lost Ba its not big deal, i'd be hopefull of a good fresh striker coming in with our scouting record.

 

Marveaux is a crock and where the fuck are you getting Cabaye and Jonas in regards to replacing Ba? :lol:

 

Colo is pretty good as well, quite like the look of that Santon and Krul is a pretty good keeper so we can fuck that Ba right off.

 

No i said replace Ba with a young striker or better if possible, someone who can play wide left.

 

The other players were in reference to us having a good amount of quality in "attacking positions". We will get goals. We didnt miss Ba's goals in the run in, we wont miss them now. Why not try and improve?

 

Just my fuckin point of view like...

 

If we want to improve we need to improve as a SQUAD, not just replace one (of two) forwards with another who MIGHT perform better in a certain position.

 

You actually suggested putting Sammy there ahead of Ba which is fucking mental, if you ask me anyway...

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f***ing mental being so Blasé about Demba leaving.

 

No you're right, we should all have a massive brain aneurysm if he leaves. Wtf can we do about it if he decides to exercise the clause? Shouldn't we as fans be prepared for any eventuality? Ba leaving NUFC wouldn't be as much of a problem, if he is replaced adequately. Goes without saying that if he goes and we're left with just Cisse as the top and only quality hitman, we're absolutely fucked.

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I don't think anyone (nobody worthwhile anyway) is suggesting just getting rid of the guy and expecting Sammy or Marveaux to replace him.

 

The big concern I have over the Carroll/De Jong interest combined with Pardew's comments that Ba wants to play centrally is that to me it implies we're looking for another central striker and thus going back towards a 4-4-2. I don't want that. We looked so much better in a 4-3-3 and to me we should be looking to build on that rather than toss it aside and go back to a 4-4-2, a system I don't like in general anyway.

 

Ba's been great here, last year we were pretty much entirely reliant on him for large parts of the season. But the team is the most important thing, and while I think tmonkey was a bit OTT in his comments the point that we may have to move on to keep improving is a valid one. Barton, Nolan and Carroll were massive for us our first year back, but we've improved since they moved on. Just because Ba has been good for us so far it doesn't mean that people should be ridiculed for thinking we might be able to improve on him.

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Put it this way, look at the teams around us:

 

Arsenal - Giroud, Podolski, Bendtner, Chamakh, Gervinho, Van Perise, Park Chu-Young

 

Would only take Van-Persie over him given the rest of their ability/the fact Ba has already shown he can make it in this league and even then RVP is likely to be off.

 

Spurs - Defoe, dos Santos and IF they sign Adebayor.

 

Wouldn't take any of those over him.

 

Chelsea - Sturridge, Lakuku, Torres

 

Wouldn't take any of thise over him.

 

Liverpool - Bellamy, Borini, Carroll, Suarez

 

Don't know enough about Borini but again unproven, Suarez is an undoubted talent but an even bigger c*nt  and I would have much more faith in Ba to take over the main forward role and score goals if required.

 

Everton - Anichebe, Vellios, Gueye, Jelavic

 

Jelavic has looked very impressive so that's a tough call but the rest don't even come close.

 

 

Basically out of all the sides around us Ba looks head and shoulders above most of the players in their respective squads, admittedly being a little biased to my argument with the new players to the league but it's going to be a hell of a task for them to replicate his performances since he arrived in England.

 

To think some aren't bothered if he goes  :undecided:

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He's clearly a good player, but that's not really the issue for me.

 

It's similar to the Carroll bid. I think Carroll in the right situation will become a good player again, but I don't think he'll necessarily fit in well here so I'd rather we look elsewhere.

 

If Ba was happy to play either out wide or up front then absolutely I'd be desperate to keep him, no doubt. Pardew's made it clear enough that this isn't the case though, which more or less means that we'll be forced to go 4-4-2 if Ba's to play. That's the bit that concerns me.

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Just seen this on ssn

 

So has Ba given any indication he wants to leave?  Even if they do trigger the clause surely he must actually want to go there.

?

 

Galatasaray preparing to trigger the clause in Ba's contract

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