Gabriel Obertan signs for Anzhi

[Fenham Mag]

You can't learn work rate? What?

I mean you can't really learn to be a hard worker, you either do it or you don't.

 

Well sometimes is just clicks with a footballer that he must work harder if you know what i mean.

[Sifu]

You can't learn work rate? What?

I mean you can't really learn to be a hard worker, you either do it or you don't.

 

A kick up the arse usually helps.....

[SiLvOR]

I know it's very early days but at the moment I'm not sure what he offers what Routledge couldn't?

[Ronaldo]

I know it's very early days but at the moment I'm not sure what he offers what Routledge couldn't?

 

There's certainly not a lot between them, but Obertan is 5 years younger and can become a top player if he wants it and has the talent. The jury is out on both aspects.

[Guest Heneage]

I know it's very early days but at the moment I'm not sure what he offers what Routledge couldn't?

He at least tries to take on his man.

[Ronaldo]

I know it's very early days but at the moment I'm not sure what he offers what Routledge couldn't?

He at least tries to take on his man.

 

Aye, not as if Routledge won a penalty doing that just yesterday.

[Guest Heneage]

I know it's very early days but at the moment I'm not sure what he offers what Routledge couldn't?

He at least tries to take on his man.

 

Aye, not as if Routledge won a penalty doing that just yesterday.

Mate I'm aware of that, I had to doublecheck it was the same guy.

 

I liked Routledge in his first six months, I really thought he'd make it here, but he was just too scared to run at fullbacks even though most of the time he was faster.

[TherealnorthernTOON]

To me he really looks knackered around 60 minute mark. He usually does quite well tracking back at start of games etc. But as the game goes on he stops. Think pardew had him on the pitch because of the pace he has on the counter and actually swapped loven and obertan at one point during the wolves game because of this. It't quite clear that Pardew cherish his pace. And imo he's getting better at using it as the games goes by. But his fitness levels aren't top notch yet. Dunno if he'll ever be a hardworker for 90 minutes ever. But seemingly he hasn't played first team footie for a couple of years and might need some time to get back in it again.

 

Once he really gets going I do bet we'll see even more direct play with a little trickery and goodies. Bet his crossing ability will be worked at alot aswell. He got all the tools to be a top notch winger pissing on right backs in the league getting us alot of goals in the comming years. And he came here for a pittance. It's a good signing, we just need to get his fitness and confidence levels up imo.

[Norseman]

He seems to me to lack football intelligence. He has bags of potential though. Very pacy and sometimes dribbles one or two defenders with ease. Could be a great player in there somewhere, but would prefer he dont play 90 minutes yet. We have better options (Marv, Benny).

[Gallowgate Toon]

He's far more incisive than Routledge. He's set up some glorious opportunities for us this season and he has flashes of really high quality end product. Still a lot to work on for him, but he has shown he's got it in his locker.

[Lush Vlad]

I know it's very early days but at the moment I'm not sure what he offers what Routledge couldn't?

 

Faster, better touch, more skillful and as Ronaldo says, he's younger with the potential to be a far better player than Routledge.  Similar to Routledge though, confidence seems an issue, although he has started taking his man on a bit more, consistency is also an issue, although in his premier league games for us Routledge was consistent, just consistently awful.

[ChezGiven]

Much prefer Obertan to Routledge, not much between them in attacking output but a right wing of Simpson and Routledge is too small and lacking physical strength. Obertan has shown he can defend and challenge for the ball in the air and has good physical attributes which means (when making the effort) he can get stuck in. Routledge used to get bounced out of any sort of physical battle and is only useful with the ball at his foot (if at all). Obertan will get better too.

[Cronky]

Skill on the ball is the main difference between him and Routledge, and there's a huge difference there.

 

Routledge's control of the ball when moving forward in possession was extremely dodgy. I'd see him as a player who is always going to be found wanting at Premiership level.

 

I'd like to see Obertan play with more aggression. When he's put under pressure, he almost seems to lose interest.

[TRon]

It's easy to overlook Obertan's quality when he's on the ball in general because of his lack of killer instinct. He moves the ball nicely in the middle third of the pitch and does some lovely quick passes first time. He just needs to be a bit more aggressive in the final third, and when he's defending he gets back ok but is a bit half-hearted in the tackle. He hasn't been that bad, people are over-blowing it to justify bringing Marveaux and HBA back into the fold. Tbf, I agree they should come in but that's just because they are better players, not because Obertan's done a bad job. He's far better than Routledge.

[toptoon]

It's easy to overlook Obertan's quality when he's on the ball in general because of his lack of killer instinct. He moves the ball nicely in the middle third of the pitch and does some lovely quick passes first time. He just needs to be a bit more aggressive in the final third, and when he's defending he gets back ok but is a bit half-hearted in the tackle. He hasn't been that bad, people are over-blowing it to justify bringing Marveaux and HBA back into the fold. Tbf, I agree they should come in but that's just because they are better players, not because Obertan's done a bad job. He's far better than Routledge.

 

Can't disagree with any of the above. This seems to be a very fair summary.

 

Fullbacks are the weakest part of our team so bringing in Santon for one of them for the Spurs Match is a no brainer decision for me. Which one though i'm not 100% sure as we can either put Santon on Bale or let him attack more up the left.  Both Ben arfa and Marveaux look better, far more effective players than Obertan. So he should make way for one of them. Obertan could be a decent, very effective Sub with his pace and is at the very least far better cover than Routledge when inevitable injuries etc occur. The hardest decision for me is whether to drop Best or not as he has been impressing and playing well.

 

They seem likely to play Bale on the left and van de vart on the right drifting in. With Bale in particular in mind perhaps we should go:

 

                    Krul

 

Santon  Taylor  Colo  Raylor 

 

              Cabaye  Tiote

Jonas                            Marveaux

                          Ben Arfa

                    Ba

 

Subs: Harper, Williamson?/Simpson, Mehdi, Guthrie/Gosling, Obertan, Sammy, Best

 

Hopefully Santon and Jonas can nulify Bales threat. Jonas with his tremendous engine can still brake forward and take players on when we have the ball. Hopefully our defence and midfield will pick up Van de Vart i know he's quality but i don't fear him quite so much as i would say Lennon running at Raylor (like SWP did very sucessfully QPR). I quite fancy Tiote and Cabaye to get the better of Sandro and Parker athough it will be an interesting battle. Ben Arfa in particular and Marveaux should be able to create all sorts of problems for Spurs and provide themselves, Ba and possibly Jonas too with good scoring oppourtunities.

 

I have a horrible feeling that these changes will  not occur though and Lovenkrands may even be ahead of Ben Arfa and Marveaux in the pecking order  !! Which will boil my p*ss. The only good thing is that hopefully pardew will keep his team selection under his hat and just as we are not sure if Pardew will make the changes neither does Harry Redknapp which makes us a little harder to plan against.

 

To think in that wonderful thing hindsight we could have had a back 4 of:  Santon    Taylor  Colo    Enrique  with the rest of the team and possibly another Striker we should finish in the top 6 this season and could perhaps give the likes of Spurs a run for their money for fourth place with Arsenal and to a lesser extent Liverpool looking so out of sorts.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

There must be more subtle reasons why Marveaux and Ben Arfa haven't started yet, Pardew can't actually believe that Lovenkrands is better than them.

[Lush Vlad]

There must be more subtle reasons why Marveaux and Ben Arfa haven't started yet, Pardew can't actually believe that Lovenkrands is better than them.

 

I am impatient TBH, but he's probably doing the right thing.  Luckily, for once we're not desperate for players to return from injury so they don't have to be rushed.  Bringing them back slowly and making sure there are not further setbacks at a guess?

[JH]

It's easy to overlook Obertan's quality when he's on the ball in general because of his lack of killer instinct. He moves the ball nicely in the middle third of the pitch and does some lovely quick passes first time. He just needs to be a bit more aggressive in the final third, and when he's defending he gets back ok but is a bit half-hearted in the tackle. He hasn't been that bad, people are over-blowing it to justify bringing Marveaux and HBA back into the fold. Tbf, I agree they should come in but that's just because they are better players, not because Obertan's done a bad job. He's far better than Routledge.

 

[Sifu]

It's easy to overlook Obertan's quality when he's on the ball in general because of his lack of killer instinct. He moves the ball nicely in the middle third of the pitch and does some lovely quick passes first time. He just needs to be a bit more aggressive in the final third, and when he's defending he gets back ok but is a bit half-hearted in the tackle. He hasn't been that bad, people are over-blowing it to justify bringing Marveaux and HBA back into the fold. Tbf, I agree they should come in but that's just because they are better players, not because Obertan's done a bad job. He's far better than Routledge.

 

[Cajun]

It's easy to overlook Obertan's quality when he's on the ball in general because of his lack of killer instinct. He moves the ball nicely in the middle third of the pitch and does some lovely quick passes first time. He just needs to be a bit more aggressive in the final third, and when he's defending he gets back ok but is a bit half-hearted in the tackle. He hasn't been that bad, people are over-blowing it to justify bringing Marveaux and HBA back into the fold. Tbf, I agree they should come in but that's just because they are better players, not because Obertan's done a bad job. He's far better than Routledge.

 

[AliGupter]

It's easy to overlook Obertan's quality when he's on the ball in general because of his lack of killer instinct. He moves the ball nicely in the middle third of the pitch and does some lovely quick passes first time. He just needs to be a bit more aggressive in the final third, and when he's defending he gets back ok but is a bit half-hearted in the tackle. He hasn't been that bad, people are over-blowing it to justify bringing Marveaux and HBA back into the fold. Tbf, I agree they should come in but that's just because they are better players, not because Obertan's done a bad job. He's far better than Routledge.

 

[Froggy]

It's easy to overlook Obertan's quality when he's on the ball in general because of his lack of killer instinct. He moves the ball nicely in the middle third of the pitch and does some lovely quick passes first time. He just needs to be a bit more aggressive in the final third, and when he's defending he gets back ok but is a bit half-hearted in the tackle. He hasn't been that bad, people are over-blowing it to justify bringing Marveaux and HBA back into the fold. Tbf, I agree they should come in but that's just because they are better players, not because Obertan's done a bad job. He's far better than Routledge.

 

 

[Guest Dontooner]

It's easy to overlook Obertan's quality when he's on the ball in general because of his lack of killer instinct. He moves the ball nicely in the middle third of the pitch and does some lovely quick passes first time. He just needs to be a bit more aggressive in the final third, and when he's defending he gets back ok but is a bit half-hearted in the tackle. He hasn't been that bad, people are over-blowing it to justify bringing Marveaux and HBA back into the fold. Tbf, I agree they should come in but that's just because they are better players, not because Obertan's done a bad job. He's far better than Routledge.

[buzza]

He's deffo a step up from Routledge and his main weaknesses are lame defensive tackles and covering, we maybe expect too much from him, he is what he is... Fast but limited winger...

Marveaux seems to have more goals and better technique albeit only playing in second string games. Perhaps it's time to give him a chance whilst giving Obertan a kick up the backside also....

[Keefaz]

Seems most fine, just a bit shite and workshy away from home.