Demba Ba (now retired)

[Mick]

We've lost five in six with Ba playing up top. Hardly a ringing endorsement.

 

He should have defended better?

It beggars belief? I really can't understand the opinion of Ba on here. Maybe if we paid for him or he scored the goal of the season he would get more credit.

 

I love Ba to bits, it's just obvious to me that he's more suited to the wide role and Cisse is more suited to central. It's completely clear cut IMO.

 

Obviously the alternative is just to drop Cisse completely.

 

Ba was often criticised for his performances out wide last season so it's funny that this season he has suddenly become the natural choice there. Cisse's performances out there haven't been much different on the rare occasion he has played out there.

 

Not sure why Ba is the obvious choice to play there when no-one really rated him out there before, why not play our most in form forward through the middle and the other out wide as it's neither of their natural position?

That's not true, I praised BA last season when he played wide and I would be surprised if others hadn't.

[Tooj]

Aye I can't remember Ba getting much stick at all when he was playing wide left.

[Dr Venkman]

It's Pardews fault all of this, Ba should have been told in the Summer that he'd play where he was told, if that lead to him leaving then so be it. Then it would have been Ashleys fault when he wasnt replaced.

[Cajun]

[Jack Flash]

Would we be playing Carroll on the wing if we'd signed him to placate greedy Demba?

[colinmk]

Aye I can't remember Ba getting much stick at all when he was playing wide left.

 

He missed a few scoring chances but apart from that his overall play was good. It was even working when Cisse would switch with him now and again during the game.

[AlanSkÃrare]

Would we be playing Carroll on the wing if we'd signed him to placate greedy Demba?

 

He'd be more suited to it than Shola so yes, probably.

[steve_69]

Not this "it would be an honour to see him play for one of the big four" crap again.

 

It wouldn't be a honour to see him play for one at all, but you can't begrudge any footballer wanting to try his hand at Champions League football. We might have been able to offer him that had we strengthened this summer but we didn't.

 

Anyone who says it would be an honour to see one of their best players turn out for another team is a fucking moron.  However, anyone who can't appreciate why the player might want to play somewhere else is also a fucking moron.

[Kanji]

- Your comment I was referring to didn't at all explain your feelings as well as you did just now.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

I guess what grinds my gears is that people make it sound like it's Demba Ba himself who decides our formation. He doesn't, that's Pardew's job. Here's a striker who scored 16 goals in the first half of last season and is on course for doing it again, playing in a team without much fluidity and hardly creating many chances. Playing in his best position he's capable of 30 goals a season feeding of scraps. I happen to believe that gives him some leeway when it comes to requesting Pardew to be played in his best position. I think every player is willing to occasionally play elsewhere if circumstances (injuries, suspensions) dictate it, but why is it OK to ask him to sacrifice his best attributes for half a season, and not ask Cisse to play out wide for a bit until he refinds his goalscoring touch?

 

The real problem here is not Ba or Cisse, it's Pardew's preference of a 4-4-2 formation (see for example his attempt to bring in Carroll last summer) combined with the fact that despite Ba and Cisse both being excellent strikers individually, as a front two pairing they're not very effective/complimentary as has been proven in the past couple of months unfortunately. Now I'll give Pardew some credit for insisting with a Ba/Cisse pairing for as long as he has, because in theory they could be brilliant and score 50 between them in a season and for large parts of that brilliant last season we actually played 4-4-2, were fairly solid and got the results through individual brilliance and lethal finishing of mainly the two above mentioned strikers.

 

At this point though, he needs to analyse the situation and come up with a suitable solution. In the last three matches he’s tried Cisse out wide, which has led to somewhat improved team performances, but not results, and to be fair Cisse is not a wide player at all. I can’t see this being the long term solution, although I personally agree that Ba needs to be playing as a central striker at the moment because of his excellent goalscoring form and Cisse’s lack of it. It will be interesting to see what happens in the January transfer window. The Ba contract situation may force Pardew’s hand of course, but I for one hope he stays and we try our hardest to get the best possible forward in to complement our existing options up top. Whether that will be a 4-4-2 type battering ram target man (Carroll type), a pacey forward capable of playing wide (Remy type?) or maybe even nobody at all will tell us a lot about the current level of ambition of the club and the long term type of football Pardew has in stock. I’ll be honest here, I’m 90% about results and 10% about aesthetics, as I can say hand on heart I quite enjoyed our physical, hard working style of Hughton’s group of lads despite not always being the most beautiful to watch. For our sake though, I hope he gets it right as what he’s tried so far this season clearly isn’t working, and that is not Ba OR Cisse’s fault, it’s a matter of lack of gameplan first and foremost.

 

Fantastic post and good all-round analysis.

 

Btw the £ thing in the title is bad taste, there is no way Ba is greedy or a mercenary. A mercenary is someone like Michael Owen.

[Parky]

I guess what grinds my gears is that people make it sound like it's Demba Ba himself who decides our formation. He doesn't, that's Pardew's job. Here's a striker who scored 16 goals in the first half of last season and is on course for doing it again, playing in a team without much fluidity and hardly creating many chances. Playing in his best position he's capable of 30 goals a season feeding of scraps. I happen to believe that gives him some leeway when it comes to requesting Pardew to be played in his best position. I think every player is willing to occasionally play elsewhere if circumstances (injuries, suspensions) dictate it, but why is it OK to ask him to sacrifice his best attributes for half a season, and not ask Cisse to play out wide for a bit until he refinds his goalscoring touch?

 

The real problem here is not Ba or Cisse, it's Pardew's preference of a 4-4-2 formation (see for example his attempt to bring in Carroll last summer) combined with the fact that despite Ba and Cisse both being excellent strikers individually, as a front two pairing they're not very effective/complimentary as has been proven in the past couple of months unfortunately. Now I'll give Pardew some credit for insisting with a Ba/Cisse pairing for as long as he has, because in theory they could be brilliant and score 50 between them in a season and for large parts of that brilliant last season we actually played 4-4-2, were fairly solid and got the results through individual brilliance and lethal finishing of mainly the two above mentioned strikers.

 

At this point though, he needs to analyse the situation and come up with a suitable solution. In the last three matches he’s tried Cisse out wide, which has led to somewhat improved team performances, but not results, and to be fair Cisse is not a wide player at all. I can’t see this being the long term solution, although I personally agree that Ba needs to be playing as a central striker at the moment because of his excellent goalscoring form and Cisse’s lack of it. It will be interesting to see what happens in the January transfer window. The Ba contract situation may force Pardew’s hand of course, but I for one hope he stays and we try our hardest to get the best possible forward in to complement our existing options up top. Whether that will be a 4-4-2 type battering ram target man (Carroll type), a pacey forward capable of playing wide (Remy type?) or maybe even nobody at all will tell us a lot about the current level of ambition of the club and the long term type of football Pardew has in stock. I’ll be honest here, I’m 90% about results and 10% about aesthetics, as I can say hand on heart I quite enjoyed our physical, hard working style of Hughton’s group of lads despite not always being the most beautiful to watch. For our sake though, I hope he gets it right as what he’s tried so far this season clearly isn’t working, and that is not Ba OR Cisse’s fault, it’s a matter of lack of gameplan first and foremost.

 

Fantastic post and good all-round analysis.

 

Btw the £ thing in the title is bad taste, there is no way Ba is greedy or a mercenary. A mercenary is someone like Michael Owen.

 

So, what do you make of him getting £3m of any transfer?

 

Even a cursory perusal of his anitics shows he inteded to stay a very short time at Newcastle and is probably dissapointed he heasn't already been snapped up. The one game he was benched all hell broke lose from here to Africa (agents, relatives, friends all jumped up and down with outrage). Orchestrated? Clearly.

[Cajun]

Tbf he didn't give himself that contract.

 

I will be calling him a mercenary cunt if he rocks up at QPR by the way, just so I can't be called a backtracker if it happens

[Jack Flash]

Tbf he didn't give himself that contract.

 

No, it's definitely Ba fault. Not the clowns who gave in to his stupid "half the fee" demand and put that horrendous transfer clause in the contract.

 

Not the first time media spin has been used to turn our players against us either.

[Parky]

Tbf he didn't give himself that contract.

 

No, it's definitely Ba fault. Not the clowns who gave in to his stupid "half the fee" demand and put that horrendous transfer clause in the contract.

 

Not the first time media spin has been used to turn our players against us either.

 

Think at the time they were thinking they were getting him on the cheap and he was a bit of a gamble (the knee). It's also clear that part of his wages is on a pay and play basis. This is the bit he wants taken out and of course the doubling of wages.

For us at the time it was a good deal (and turned out to be a great one) if a little short term in the thinking. He was definitely thinking short term anyway.

Can't wait to see who's gonna offer him 80k.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I don't really understand this 'turn our players against us' argument at all. Ashley is no angel, but neither are most footballers either. And their agents are even worse.

 

My view on his contract was that someone would have already activated his clause if it was such a great deal. There must be all sorts of dodgy elements to it (and his fitness) that is putting people off.

[The College Dropout]

Would you work at a shite company for double your wages? I would. But I am a mercenary.

[Dave]

Wonder if he's been watching tonight?

[LFEE]

Hard to make out the print but he's speaking out against the current tactics in this morning's Journal...

[Elliottman]

DEMBA Ba has revealed his frustration at Newcastle United’s style of play this season as the sense of uncertainty surrounding the striker’s future builds.

United’s top scorer has scored 11 times this season but, despite his fine form, the spectre of the upcoming transfer window looms large over both the striker and the club.

The Journal can reveal Newcastle have made their “best and final” offer to Ba who gave a revealing interview to French TV station Canal+ in which he talked candidly about interest from Arsenal and admitted to concern at a lack of creativity in the team.

That is unlikely to go down particularly well with Alan Pardew or the board, who privately admit the uncertainty over the striker is their biggest concern as they plan for January.

They have made an offer which would bring Ba parity with the club’s other big earners, but his advisers are not willing to agree a deal.

The Journal understands the player has expressed a desire to play in the Champions League while at the peak of his game and, although he said leaving is “not on his mind”, he also praised Arsenal in his interview, which was broadcast on Sunday night.

There is a conviction, however, the demands around the deal – any buying club may have to shell out almost double the £7.5million release clause to complete a deal – make it far from certain he will leave.

The uncertainty is not helpful, and it was surprising Ba spoke publicly over the weekend after maintaining a silence for much of the summer on his future.

He was speaking to the channel’s flagship football TV programme L’Equipe du Dimanche, who had journeyed to Newcastle after the striker agreed to their request for an interview.

Whether Pardew will welcome his intervention just before the January transfer window is another matter, although the striker did strike an optimistic note in the run-up to the crucial QPR clash on Saturday. Ba’s comments strike at the heart of many supporters concerns this season, with Newcastle clearly suffering because of injuries to two of their creative sparks Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa.

Ba said: “I’m not happy when the team does not create anything

 

“Fans come to see beautiful games with beautiful actions and not long balls from the goalkeeper to the striker.”

On the prickly issue of his future, Ba admitted the Gunners are “very attractive” but made it clear there had been no contact from North London.

The Journal understands the player would only leave for Champions League football, with the wage demands not the only consideration of his agents as they try to resolve his future.

Ba himself said the links were a case of people putting two and two together, especially because of the clause inserted in his contract, and refused to be drawn in any depth on his intentions in the New Year.

He added: “Journalists just do their job.

“They know Arsenal need strikers, they know a release clause is inserted in my contract, so they make speculations.

“I don’t really want to comment on that, because there hasn’t been any contact, clearly, but it is true Arsenal are a very attractive club.”

In another segment on the TV programme, Ba was pictured taking a delivery of gym equipment – which the interviewer said was not exactly the actions of someone who was about to move.

That drew an interesting response from the Senegal striker.

He said: “I’ll do what I have to do in Newcastle and if I have to leave I will move all this stuff out.

“For now, though, it’s not in my mind.”

Newcastle need no distractions this weekend, especially with a game against QPR on the horizon. Harry Redknapp’s team won their first game of the season on Saturday and have not lost since the former Spurs boss took over – but. even so, Ba reckons they should be beaten at St James’ Park.

Taking heart from Newcastle’s display against Manchester City, Ba said Newcastle could handle the pressure of the must-win game.

He added: “Next Saturday against QPR, if we make mistakes the fans will become more demanding.

“If we play like we did against City, we should win.

“Don’t forget it was the champions we played last Saturday.”

[Dr Venkman]

I wouldn't mind a few beautiful actions.

[AlanSkÃrare]

I think he wants to go. It's pretty obvious from those quotes.

 

And if that's the case, we'd probably be better off without him.

[Skeletor]

@MsiDouglas: Ba interview is not helpful, is it? Unsanctioned too. Not good in time of crisis. Remy (OM) is on #nufc list for Jan but is it coincidence..

 

@MsiDouglas: ..that story emerges while Ba is playing games with #nufc?! Welcome back transfer window, we've (not) missed you....

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Those quotes are fairly standard foreign-player-in-foreign-press stuff aren't they?

 

No doubt Ba would leave if he got a brilliant offer, but then so would most people. If his clause was that attractive someone would have activated it already.

[alexf]

Used to love demba, but it's becoming increasingly clear that he is a bit of a pain. The clause, the apparent resentment for playing out wide to help the team, all the drama over him being benched against Everton and now this.

[Minhosa]

Douglas has got the hump because him and his useless cronies didn't get the interview.