Ex scout Paul Montgomery appraises recent Newcastle signings.

[James]

Ex scout Paul Montgomery has been through most of the recent Newcastle signings with John Gibson in a Chronicle interview.

 

Here are his thoughts:

 

Marveaux - most talented of the bunch, but very injury prone.

Haidara - a real gem, tried signing him for Villa.

Sissoko - only a good player. Poor end product. There is a reason why no one else signed him.

Cisse - great striker, in the right team. Can only play up front on his own. Newcastl. Central midfield not good enough for him, he would bang them in for Spurs.

Ben Arfa -  huge talent. Needs a free role. Had the chance to sign him for half a million but Roeder turned him down.

Cabaye - great player in France. Not mobile enough for the Premier league. Completely unsuitable player to play in a central midfield behind Cisse.

 

Thoughts?

[Shays Given Tim Flowers]

Cabaye not mobile enough? In the 5th place season Tiote and Cabaye were meant to have covered the most distance per match IIRC.

[David Icke - Son of God]

I'd need to know who he was responsible for bringing to the club first.

[Unbelievable]

What a load of nonsense..

[James]

I'd need to know who he was responsible for bringing to the club first.

 

Was a scout for Jim Smith, Bobby Robson, Roeder.

 

Bernard, Nzogbia, Srnicek

[WarrenBartonCentrePartin]

I'd need to know who he was responsible for bringing to the club first.

 

Was a scout for Jim Smith, Bobby Robson, Roeder.

 

Bernard, Nzogbia, Srnicek

 

Relative mediocrity, then.

[Hanshithispantz]

Strange, I was just thinking "boy, I wonder what ex-scout Paul Montgomery's opinion is on our French recruits", and here we have it, ex-scout Paul Montgomery's opinion on our French recruits.

[Guest icemanblue]

Is this the start of a series, where ex-scout Paul Montgomery gives his opinion on all manner of football and social issues?

 

Will ex-scout Paul Montgomery give his thoughts on the current economical climate, or the tensions across the Arab region?

[Guest neesy111]

Fair assessments.

[mrmojorisin75]

he might well be right about cisse & spurs like

[colinmk]

I think Cisse would be banging them in for any of the top side.

[Village Idiot]

Hello, ex-scout Paul Montgomery, do you think I should have sausage or veggie cream for lunch?

[Disco]

On a more serious note - what is the crack with John Gibson's barnet?

[Cronky]

Interesting set of views. I'd agree about Marveaux, Haidara (what I've seen), and Ben Arfa - esp the bit about him needing a free role down the middle.

 

Sissoko - good but not great because of technical limitations is fair enough. However, he's the only real box to box midfielder we have so he's an important squad member IMO. When he played well, the team played well and vice versa.

 

Cabaye - I fear he's right. He struggles a bit with the physical demands of the Premiership.

 

Cisse - I agree that he doesn't work well with a single strike partner. But I'd say his poor link up play also creates a problem when he's a lone striker. Yes, he'd score more in a better side, but you could say that about every striker.

 

 

[Guest reefatoon]

On a more serious note . . . What the fuck is veggie cream?

[Jack Flash]

Defoe would work far better in our team than Cisse but I wouldn't want to swap them.

[colinmk]

Think it's bollocks abou Cabaye and Sissoko myself. If they were playing in a suitable team/system there is no reason they shouldn't shine in the premiership.

[Guest neesy111]

Cabaye is one of our more mobile players.

 

In Sissoko's 12 games in a relegation threatened team he got 3 goals 2 assists

 

Ben Arfa is the most talented of that group.

 

In other words he's talking shite.

 

[Village Idiot]

In Sissoko's 12 games in a relegation threatened team he got 3 goals 2 assists

 

 

That was the puzzler for me, as I said in another thread his numbers are pretty much in line with say, Yaya Touré's, even a bit better. He's not going to be Frank Lampard but his end product is just fine.

[Village Idiot]

On a more serious note . . . What the f*** is veggie cream?

 

[mrmojorisin75]

really when you look at that for sissoko, cisse, benny & cabaye i'd say all of his criticisms (so to speak) are all things that could be fixed by a better manager

[Ronaldo]

Cabaye not mobile enough? In the 5th place season Tiote and Cabaye were meant to have covered the most distance per match IIRC.

 

I said Cabaye wasn't mobile enough a year and got exactly this reponse. He may cover very good distance but he's static on the ball, can't dribble, rarely makes the type of Sissoko runs we need to support the striker and is generally all used up by 70 minutes.

 

Lovely footballer in a sense but I do think the PL isn't the least suited to him out of the big 4 leagues.

[Guest reefatoon]

On a more serious note . . . What the f*** is veggie cream?

 

 

Aaahhh baby food, gotcha

[Ronaldo]

In Sissoko's 12 games in a relegation threatened team he got 3 goals 2 assists

 

 

That was the puzzler for me, as I said in another thread his numbers are pretty much in line with say, Yaya Touré's, even a bit better. He's not going to be Frank Lampard but his end product is just fine.

 

He isn't really creative is what the scout is getting at. Obviously he makes thinks happen because of his running and presence.

[Village Idiot]

In Sissoko's 12 games in a relegation threatened team he got 3 goals 2 assists

 

 

That was the puzzler for me, as I said in another thread his numbers are pretty much in line with say, Yaya Touré's, even a bit better. He's not going to be Frank Lampard but his end product is just fine.

 

He isn't really creative is what the scout is getting at. Obviously he makes thinks happen because of his running and presence.

 

Hence why I am drawing the Touré comparison. I think the problem comes when you play, say, Tiote-Cabaye-Sissoko which is a good mix of styles for a 3-man midfield, but don't supplement it with a creative player in one of the wings.