Gabriel Obertan signs for Anzhi

[John P]

Still think he gets far too much stick from the crowd. People expect him to get the ball and just knock it 10yards and beat people because he has pace, but top level football doesn't work like that, full backs know how to play against pace. Obertan was no more hesitant on the ball on Saturday than Jonas was. There was one point in the second half where Jonas dummied to cross about 5 times in a row and still didn't get past his man, but there were no groans from the crowd. When Obertan got the ball, people were audibly groaning when his second touch wasn't a knock past his man, and if he'd have done what Jonas did the groans would have been ridiculous. I still think there's a good player waiting to come out in Obertan, but only if people stop getting on his back when he doesn't skin his full back every time he gets the ball.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

People definitely expect Obertan to use his pace much more than is ever feasible in an actual football game. And they would rip into him if he kept making runs and losing the ball.

 

Sometimes our fans can be a double-edged sword, and Obertan is the target for that at the moment. He hasn't been brilliant yet, but he has ability and intelligence and I don't mind seeing him played (given our other options especially). I think now we have Santon in at FB, Jonas should attack more, and with the two on the wings the team should be nicely balanced.

[Colocho]

would drop Jonas on Wed, he looked seriously shattered at the weekend, didn't do half as much running as usual

 

And replace him with who? Lovenkrands?

 

Ben Arfa.

[Mick]

I think sometimes he overthinks things a bit... he's an intelligent lad but sometimes intelligent people don't make the best footballers. He needs to operate more on instinct.

What if his instinct is to think.

[Guest BlacknWhiteArmy]

would drop Jonas on Wed, he looked seriously shattered at the weekend, didn't do half as much running as usual

 

And replace him with who? Lovenkrands?

 

Ben Arfa.

 

Won't happen though, the only other wide competition is in the form of Lovenkrands and Sammy- neither are good enough (Sammy not yet, anyway).

[Interpolic]

People definitely expect Obertan to use his pace much more than is ever feasible in an actual football game. And they would rip into him if he kept making runs and losing the ball.

 

Sometimes our fans can be a double-edged sword, and Obertan is the target for that at the moment. He hasn't been brilliant yet, but he has ability and intelligence and I don't mind seeing him played (given our other options especially). I think now we have Santon in at FB, Jonas should attack more, and with the two on the wings the team should be nicely balanced.

 

He has zero football intelligence imo, that's the problem with him.  Far too often makes the wrong choice.

[Ronaldo]

Clever people don't always make clever footballers, and vice versa. Shola and Shearer support both ends of the argument.

[abertoon]

Anfield, 30th Dec... Obertan vs Jose... 

[Sifu]

Anfield, 30th Dec... Obertan vs Jose... 

 

 

Or how about Ben Arfa vs Jose?

 

Can see Enrique handling anyone we put on the right wing but can really see Ben Arfa giving him problems

[Dave]

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Newcastle-Demba-Ba-is-proving-so-good-he-is-worthy-of-legendary-No9-shirt-says-Alan-Pardew-article844909.html

Pardew says he will persevere with winger Gabriel Obertan, who has frustrated at times down the right side.

 

The boss admitted: “I don’t think he has been as good as he was before he came out of the side with an injury. He hasn’t come back as good. He was good on Saturday in the first half and created a few dangerous moments for us.

 

“Because he is so quick, the crowd think he can just beat the full-back by racing him on the outside all the time, but he can’t do that, he’d be too one-dimensional.

 

"I think he’s only young and he’s still learning. He’s very young in term of his time playing, he’s hardly played. Our fans need to be patient with him as I and the staff need to be at times because we know what he can do.

 

“Scoring goals is the next step for him, he’s got to look like he’s going to score a goal, getting in on the far post, cutting inside and releasing shots like Jonas does for us on the other side. He actually has to threaten the goal.”

[gbandit]

Goal machine Jonas obviously needs to have a word with him, give him some tips

[Sifu]

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Newcastle-Demba-Ba-is-proving-so-good-he-is-worthy-of-legendary-No9-shirt-says-Alan-Pardew-article844909.html

Pardew says he will persevere with winger Gabriel Obertan, who has frustrated at times down the right side.

 

The boss admitted: “I don’t think he has been as good as he was before he came out of the side with an injury. He hasn’t come back as good. He was good on Saturday in the first half and created a few dangerous moments for us.

 

“Because he is so quick, the crowd think he can just beat the full-back by racing him on the outside all the time, but he can’t do that, he’d be too one-dimensional.

 

"I think he’s only young and he’s still learning. He’s very young in term of his time playing, he’s hardly played. Our fans need to be patient with him as I and the staff need to be at times because we know what he can do.

 

“Scoring goals is the next step for him, he’s got to look like he’s going to score a goal, getting in on the far post, cutting inside and releasing shots like Jonas does for us on the other side. He actually has to threaten the goal.”

 

I guess it's a good sign that Pardew isn't blind and has actually seen that Obertan has been frustrating as fuck recently. Pards also actually raises a good point (the bit I highlighted in bold) about how now is really the only time he's started games regularly. Using this reasoning, yeah he is still pretty much learning about the game.

[taxfree]

Not surprising. Urgh.

[Pilko]

He can still persevere with Obertan by 'resting' him for a few games and then putting him back in at some point over the busy winter fixture schedule.

[Guest VaVaVoom]

Next step scoring goals?

 

How about creating some fuckin goals like wingers should do?

[Tiresias]

I don't disagree he could come good down the line, so could some of our reserve team players, whom unlike him aren't automatic first team players.

 

I think I've seen him being good in flashes, but he's a sub to come on against tired legged opposition right now, not automatic winger.

[Interpolic]

Goal machine Jonas obviously needs to have a word with him, give him some tips

 

Exactly, what the fuck is Pardew on about man?

[Skeletor]

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Newcastle-Demba-Ba-is-proving-so-good-he-is-worthy-of-legendary-No9-shirt-says-Alan-Pardew-article844909.html

Pardew says he will persevere with winger Gabriel Obertan, who has frustrated at times down the right side.

 

The boss admitted: “I don’t think he has been as good as he was before he came out of the side with an injury. He hasn’t come back as good. He was good on Saturday in the first half and created a few dangerous moments for us.

 

“Because he is so quick, the crowd think he can just beat the full-back by racing him on the outside all the time, but he can’t do that, he’d be too one-dimensional.

 

"I think he’s only young and he’s still learning. He’s very young in term of his time playing, he’s hardly played. Our fans need to be patient with him as I and the staff need to be at times because we know what he can do.

 

“Scoring goals is the next step for him, he’s got to look like he’s going to score a goal, getting in on the far post, cutting inside and releasing shots like Jonas does for us on the other side. He actually has to threaten the goal.”

 

 

'Our fans need to be patient with him whilst he learns the basics of being a winger such as attacking'

[Ash]

I appreciate what he's saying about him not just doing a fullback on the outside with his pace but when does he actually ever try it?! That's what frustrates me the most about him, that he doesn't back himself to go around somebody, especially when a good opportunity arises.

[JH]

“Because he is so quick, the crowd think he can just beat the full-back by racing him on the outside all the time, but he can’t do that, he’d be too one-dimensional.

 

Except at the minute, he's too one dimensional in the sense that he never races the fullback on the outside

[KaKa]

Man of the match performance today, and will score. Put cash money on it.

[Geordie Ahmed]

Man of the match performance today, and will score. Put cash money on it.

 

Obertan score?

[tmonkey]

I appreciate what he's saying about him not just doing a fullback on the outside with his pace but when does he actually ever try it?! That's what frustrates me the most about him, that he doesn't back himself to go around somebody, especially when a good opportunity arises.

 

It's the most frustrating sight in football. If he's somehow managed to get past his man (usually off the ball) and has acres of space to exploit, he actually slows down and waits for his man to catch up so that he can try dribbling past him. As though it's some sort of retarded mind game he's playing - "I have pace and you think I'm going to use it, but muahahahaha I won't". Needs to be shown a few videos of Keith Gillespie in his (short) prime. Just leg it down the flank and whip it into the box ffs.

 

Also think his wingplay when he's supposedly playing "alright" flatters to deceive, and hence he hasn't put in a single good performance this season since becoming a starter. Reminds me of some of the issues with Milner back when he was a winger for us, namely the constant checking in and out before getting an aimless cross in that did nothing other than make himself look good. Delaying putting in a cross like that makes it all the more difficult for his teammates to score should the ball "luck" it's way towards them, as the opposition defenders are all in position and our strikers are standing around having already made their run. It doesn't help that on top of this delay Obertan's crossing technique/ability is abysmal - no accuracy, floated in as opposed to being whipped/bent in with pace, played behind instead of in front, etc etc.

 

Without having seen much of him play in France, and trying to be fair to Gabriel, he's clearly not a winger, so if Fergie's scouts had spotted something in him beyond mere pace I'd guess that he might have looked decent in France as one of those "continental wide forwards" in a 4-3-3 system in a team where crosses into the box aren't a significant part of the gameplan and a league where players back off a bit more. That might explain the inability to cross, the shiite wingplay, the lack of tracking back, looking like he's a fish out of water, etc etc. Slightly similar to Albert Luque at Deportivo, who never really seemed suitable for a standard 4-4-2 system in this country.

 

The simple solution should be to drop him, play Jonas down the right and Ben Arfa down the left, with both players swapping flanks. But with Pardew being so stubborn, our only hope is that Obertan is smart enough to learn from his mistakes.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Sensible words from Pards in general, Obertan is still pretty inexperienced and will hopefully learn the balance of going outside and cutting in. I hope Pardew isn't just telling him to go wide less though, because as people have said he does it very rarely at the moment.

[Jordan]

Sick of him now, does fuck all, most infuriating player i've seen in a long time. Couldn't be arsed to out pace Nicky fucking Shorey man, Pardew's biggest mistake is persevereing with him.