Jack Colback (now a free agent)

[Foluwashola]

Have sat through dozens of performances from the likes of Amdy Faye, Nicky Butt & Alan Smith, KI. Not sure why Colback continues to be singled out as if he represents a blight on NUFC's proud history of central midfielders.

 

He's been a lot more effective than Anita in the first couple of games tbf. If Colback had came through the Ajax youth system and wasn't a dorty mackem I suspect opinions would be slightly different.

[Hanshithispantz]

They would be aye, as people would probably assume that there was more to his game.

[Mole_Toonfan]

Have sat through dozens of performances from the likes of Amdy Faye, Nicky Butt & Alan Smith, KI. Not sure why Colback continues to be singled out as if he represents a blight on NUFC's proud history of central midfielders.

 

He's been a lot more effective than Anita in the first couple of games tbf. If Colback had came through the Ajax youth system and wasn't a dorty mackem I suspect opinions would be slightly different.

 

Disagree that he's been more effective tbh, two weeks in a row Anita has come off and we have struggled to keep the ball in both games.

 

Besides their roles are drastically different, at the end of the day Colback will continue to catch the eye while running around like a headless chicken.

 

Meanwhile Tiote will come in and do what Anita's doing albeit less effectively.

[ponsaelius]

He's not even a bad player, just a fucking dull and average one.

[Guest firetotheworks]

Have sat through dozens of performances from the likes of Amdy Faye, Nicky Butt & Alan Smith, KI. Not sure why Colback continues to be singled out as if he represents a blight on NUFC's proud history of central midfielders.

 

He's been a lot more effective than Anita in the first couple of games tbf. If Colback had came through the Ajax youth system and wasn't a dorty mackem I suspect opinions would be slightly different.

 

We've also just sat through having Yohan Cabaye. You look for progress sequentially, not over a period of time. Doing it that way allows anyone to mention Rob Lee, Peter Beardsley, David Batty, Gary Speed and indeed, Yohan Cabaye.

[mozy]

He's not even a bad player, just a fucking dull and average one.

 

He's capable and willing to make runs into the box, just we don't have any plan to take advantage of it. So yeah after about 3 months he'll not bother making them anymore and turn into Glenn Whelan.

[Guest neesy111]

We lost our momentum yesterday after Anita went off.

[Segun Oluwaniyi]

We lost our momentum yesterday after Anita went off.

We had momentum?

[Revolution Number 9]

People have said he'll do well because he's a Pardew player but I think even he would benefit a lot more from a manager who played better football and actually used our creative players. His main quality seems to be that he's good at retaining possession for us, if we played a system actually capable of doing something with that possession then I think he could be a fairly useful option to have around.

 

Of course, under Pardew all he's capable of is to help keep the ball with no eventual effect. Once again, IMO, the problem at it's root is actually with that slimy fucking prick.

[timeEd32]

 

He had a good game yesterday in that his game suits Pardewball to a tee, lots of comfortable and safe passing in midfield. Perfect for a side with no movement or dynamism going forward like our lot. No surprise to see fans creaming themselves over his displays while the players entrusted to try to break the slow, tentative, static style of play on their own like Cabella and sometimes Sissoko are coming out with criticism for their obviously poor displays. 

 

Pretty sure it was the same when he was at Sunderland; lots of praise for him playing well then realising at the end of the game they'd scored no goals.

 

His set pieces are an improvement on what we had though, so that's a plus.

 

[TRon]

The problem is, he performed better than all other players, e.g. Moussa and Anita ytd.

 

Performing safer isn't performing better. What did he actually do that was going to lead to a goal? At least with Sissoko he will drive forward with the ball, which is usually the best route to getting the ball in the opposition net. Maybe that's not Colback's job but if it isn't his job is obviously going to be a lot easier.

[Ronaldo]

 

He had a good game yesterday in that his game suits Pardewball to a tee, lots of comfortable and safe passing in midfield. Perfect for a side with no movement or dynamism going forward like our lot. No surprise to see fans creaming themselves over his displays while the players entrusted to try to break the slow, tentative, static style of play on their own like Cabella and sometimes Sissoko are coming out with criticism for their obviously poor displays. 

 

Pretty sure it was the same when he was at Sunderland; lots of praise for him playing well then realising at the end of the game they'd scored no goals.

 

His set pieces are an improvement on what we had though, so that's a plus.

 

 

Incredibly rich statement to be made about an NUFC player given all the midfielders we have who seldom contribute to goals.

[themanupstairs]

We lost our momentum yesterday after Anita went off.

 

We lose our momentum every single time Anita gets taken off. He's not a flashy forward so doesn't get recognized as a "match-winner", but he's every bit a match winner when on the pitch due to his exceptional technical ability and reading of the game. The guy just "knows" football. We don't have too many of them in our squad let alone our first team.

[TRon]

 

He had a good game yesterday in that his game suits Pardewball to a tee, lots of comfortable and safe passing in midfield. Perfect for a side with no movement or dynamism going forward like our lot. No surprise to see fans creaming themselves over his displays while the players entrusted to try to break the slow, tentative, static style of play on their own like Cabella and sometimes Sissoko are coming out with criticism for their obviously poor displays. 

 

Pretty sure it was the same when he was at Sunderland; lots of praise for him playing well then realising at the end of the game they'd scored no goals.

 

His set pieces are an improvement on what we had though, so that's a plus.

 

 

Incredibly rich statement to be made about an NUFC player given all the midfielders we have who seldom contribute to goals.

 

Colback is the definition of a water carrier as Cantona would say, and he's a pretty good one by our standards. The real problem is he is playing alongside two other water carriers in Anita and Gouffran. You could justify playing two at a time at most, and really one is probably enough.

[Ronaldo]

Anita and Gouffran aren't water carriers. Gouffran can't run with the ball to save his life and Anita's far more effective passing and then moving without the ball. Colback's nothing at all special but he's a CM with no real weaknesses, and arguably the only typically well rounded PL style midfielder we have. He's a bit of a breath of fresh air in spite of the what happened when he was in red and white.

[Ryan_Taylor]

 

Anita and Gouffran aren't water carries. Gouffran can't run with the ball to save his life and Anita's far more effective passing and then moving without the ball. Colback's nothing at all special but he's a CM with no real weaknesses, and arguably the only typically well rounded PL style midfielder we have. He's a bit of a breath of fresh air in spite of the what happened when he was in red and white.

 

Basically this. If he had movement around Colback he'd look superb IMO

[Pata]

We lost our momentum yesterday after Anita went off.

 

We lose our momentum every single time Anita gets taken off. He's not a flashy forward so doesn't get recognized as a "match-winner", but he's every bit a match winner when on the pitch due to his exceptional technical ability and reading of the game. The guy just "knows" football. We don't have too many of them in our squad let alone our first team.

 

Where was he in the first half then?

[TRon]

Anita and Gouffran aren't water carries. Gouffran can't run with the ball to save his life and Anita's far more effective passing and then moving without the ball. Colback's nothing at all special but he's a CM with no real weaknesses, and arguably the only typically well rounded PL style midfielder we have. He's a bit of a breath of fresh air in spite of the what happened when he was in red and white.

 

You say Anita's far more effective at moving and passing without the ball, but what's the difference with Colback? I haven't seen him moving with the ball much either, he tends to get it and give it to someone else almost immediately.

[ponsaelius]

No real weaknesses? I'd argue he doesn't score goals, doesn't create goals, struggles to drive forward with the ball and can't play incisive passes. That's based on his SAFC career and mackems I know agree. He's neat and tidy with his passing but that's about it.

[TRon]

No real weaknesses? I'd argue he doesn't score goals, doesn't create goals, struggles to drive forward with the ball and can't play incisive passes. That's based on his SAFC career and mackems I know agree. He's neat and tidy with his passing but that's about it.

 

His biggest weakness is his lack of pace which means he's not going to be able to cover ground quickly enough in an open game. Anita also suffers from this with not having much of a stride, but he is a lot quicker.

[ponsaelius]

By the way is it going to become a thing that anybody criticising him is doing it because of his history and not because they don't rate him? Gonna get pretty tiring if that's the case.

 

We had Tiote and Cabaye when we finished 5th, and although they never quite functioned as a pair its worlds away from Colback and Anita at the moment because you felt they both had a purpose. That progress we made after shipping Nolan out for Yohan been reversed. Pretty disappointing but par for the course with the way the club is ran I guess.

[Ronaldo]

If being unable to consistently score and create goals constitutes a weakness it's one 90% of midfielders have.

 

Anyway he generally does everything right, but lacks special qualities. That makes him a starter within our squad.

[Astroblack]

Think he'll get a few goals but only when we're up a couple goals already. I see him trying to get forward a bit here and there.

 

His job is to feed Moussa and Cabella and he's doing a good job at it.

[loki679]

Think he'll get a few goals but only when we're up a couple goals already. I see him trying to get forward a bit here and there.

 

His job is to feed Moussa and Cabella and he's doing a good job at it.

 

[Zero]

I have no problem starting him alongside with Anita, but not replacing Anita. Tiote is the one that should be benched.