GuyP Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 To be honest i was a fan of the Gouff-Cisse-Ben Arfa front 3...provided Ben Arfa is back to full fitness and Cabaye is played further forward in the midfield 3 (or 4-2-3-1 with Cabaye in the 3). Gouffrans work rate is fantastic, and is sharp enough against all but the top level in the league. Cisse has shown flashes of getting back into form and if Cabaye can feed him better from a further forward position, we can score goals. Tiote also needs to "keep it simple" as someone said, and Sissoko needs to settle into his rightful position further back. Problem this year is the amount of "ifs" - Cisse out of form - Ben Arfa injured - Cabaye out of form/injured - Sissoko played in ridiculous positions - Tiote playing suicidal passes/tackles Gouffran is the only player working as he should so far. These are things that generally went right in the 5th place season so hopefully we can tend towards that rather than what we saw this season. Striker backup too! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 There weren't any opportunities, though. You can't have two players up front with little to no creativity, especially in a team severely lacking creativity in the midfield. Depends on the type of creativity you're looking for. One of our best chances last week was when Gouffran got ahead of Mertesacker and put in a first-time cross across the goalmouth, Cisse was inches away from it. That's creative, not in the traditional sense but I think that could work for us. Admittedly, I wouldn't go for it unless we got a significant upgrade on the left wing in. Was that only last week? Fucking hell this is going to be a long summer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sugoinufc Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 i did not have high expectations for Gouffran when we signed him. I also think we signed him: A) we needed a LW badly B) He was cheap He has proved to be a valuable player who easily can perform for us. BUT i do think and hope he will be used as a sub next season. I think we will go for Remy or someone else. Gouffran has done well but an upgrade is needed. Great player for the bench coz he offers a bit of everything! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 my main, probably only, problem with him is that when he's not playing through the middle he doesn't really get into the box (the way he did for his goal v spurs) anywhere near enough, leaving cisse there on his own which has been our biggest problem this season (getting bodies in the box). unlike some i don't see it as purely tactical, more that we don't really have enough players for whiom it's their natural game, hence why sissoko was pushed further forward with little or no defensive responsibilities. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexthegreat Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 He's far better than those two, like. Lovenkrands was abhorrent footballer in the PL. The lack of goal threat is digsuting, though. And although he got the goal that probably kept us up he's hardly a remedy. Criminal that we lost our main goal threat in January and tried to replace him with cheap players while no track record of consistently hitting the back of the net. One of our main issues throughout the season was that we only really had 1 goalscorer in the squad after Ba left That is true. Limited striking options have been a problem before with Ashley, and will continue to be so unless he has a change of attitude. Put simply, he doesn't like to buy them because its difficult to get them cheap, hence we're still slogging away with Shola in 2013. Compare to a previous era: Ashley / various managers spending on strikers 2007 - 2013: Viduka 0 Xisco £5.7m Zamblera 0.5 Ranger 0 Lovenkrands (twice) 0 Best £2m Ba 0 (+various add ons) Cisse £10m Gouffran £2m Total: £20.2m Keegan / Hall spending on strikers 1993 -96 Cole £1.75m Beardsley £1.5m Allen £0.3m Mathie £0.25k Kitson £2.25 Ferdinand £6m Huckerby £0.45m Asprilla £7.5m Shearer £15m Total: £35m Shelling out £7.5m and £15m within the space of a few months on centre forwards is an unlikely prospect with Ashley in charge, despite the fact that we have done it before and its what we desperately need now. We are not as small as Llambias likes to make out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MW Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 His song is all over the place. Had so much potential Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmonkey Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 i did not have high expectations for Gouffran when we signed him. I also think we signed him: A) we needed a LW badly B) He was cheap He has proved to be a valuable player who easily can perform for us. BUT i do think and hope he will be used as a sub next season. I think we will go for Remy or someone else. Gouffran has done well but an upgrade is needed. Great player for the bench coz he offers a bit of everything! Reminds me a bit of us signing Kevin Gallagher (not comparing the actual players) - available at the right time for peanuts, works hard, does a decent job, neat little squad filler, but ultimately shouldn't really be in the first team every week if we have any real ambition. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeletor Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Wonder if he's part of the same tribe as Debuchy? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodneyCisse Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Aye, that french one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenham Mag Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Bulls fan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cajun Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Has he been on the juice? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dyeyzzon Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Always looked like an NBA player to me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest firetotheworks Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Swear down he looks like Rhianna like. Spitting dabs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sifu Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Swear down he looks like Rhianna like. Spitting dabs. Quite a disturbing image in a way...almost as bad as Jenas looking like Kate Moss... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest VanBarduck Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Is he wearing coloured lenses ? Edit: he isn't, now I get that Rihanna comparison. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenham Mag Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 http://www.whatsthefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/boumsong.gif Bald Rihanna tbf. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Been speaking to Sports Direct News: Newcastle United's Yoan Gouffran says the team's new recruits are ready to put last season's disappointment behind them and fire the team to cup glory next year. Gouffran joined Newcastle in January 2013 from French side Bordeaux for an undisclosed fee. Since his arrival in England however, Newcastle's fortunes on the pitch have been disappointing to say the least and the club finished just five points clear of the relegation zone last season. Speaking exclusively to SportsDirect News, Gouffran said: “It's true the club is going through a transition after so many signings in January but it takes some time to gel as a squad." He continued: “Last year we found ourselves down towards the bottom of the table but now we've had that time together we're looking ahead to make a success of next season. “We're hoping to improve on our league performance and with the team we have we should be able to get a much better position than last year and maybe win a cup as well – why not?” When asked why Newcastle underachieved last year, Gouffran pointed the finger at a combination of ill fortune on the pitch and the absence of key players at crucial moments in the campaign. He said: “The first half of last season the team had lots of injuries and bad luck and that kind of thing can spiral into negative momentum. “With the arrival of four or five new players in January we tried to change that and make it more positive”, he continued. “We had some good results, we beat Aston Villa away and Chelsea at home but then we were unlucky again and there were more injuries, which enormously effected the side. “Now though, we're working from a more positive base to bounce back from that as quickly as possible.” http://www.sportsdirectnews.com/premier-league/28224-newcastle-utd-news-we-ll-win-the-cup-gouffran.php Little of note other than the fact he's actually given them an exclusive, which lends a little bit more credence to the website being a genuine source of NUFC news. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 This might be overly cynical (who, me?), but whenever I see little articles like that with basically fuck all in them but positive spin I always wonder if the club just get the player to agree to have his name put to a few sentences that they've prepared. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conjo Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 To back up Daves´ suspicion, the article reads like he was there the whole season, and not one of the january recruits. They obviously picked the name out of a hat and went with it without consideration. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 It's possible, guess it doesn't matter either way since footballers come out with meaningless waffle anyway. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Has it been conveniently forgotten that we were looking like certs to go down before we bought heavily in January? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Pinkman Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Yeah seems like Pardew has even managed to spin the players interviews now. Wouldn't suprise me if there is an exclusive on SportsDirect next week with Sissoko claiming Pardew is the best manager he has worked under, and that Jonas should be the first name on the team sheet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Segun Oluwaniyi Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Has it been conveniently forgotten that we were looking like certs to go down before we bought heavily in January? We never looked "certs" to go down. We never even entered the relegation zone. The situation was quite frightening, especially after the Reading, Liverpool, and Sunderland matches, but this is an exaggeration. In fact, I would say our worst moments came after the purchases. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 After we were beaten by Reading what was your stance on relegation? 'We need players or we're down'? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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