Jack Colback (now a free agent)

[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.

[SEMTEX]

He is exactly as expected. He is fine. He will never really produce anything, but at times there is a place for him in the side. Though probably not beside Anita. And please god not in front of Anita.

 

I also hope to hell that he never plays in a 442.

[Taylor Swift]

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.

Yup.

[Cronky]

Basically, his touch on the ball and his passing is better than many people realised.

 

So many on here go with the idea that poor results and performances are a good thing, because that way we'll be rid of Pardew. Very naive, but we're all entitled to a view. The trouble is that anything that's positive tends to get dismissed, often with rather contrived lines of reasoning.

[Stray Mackem]

It's only two games into the season but I think you've already seen what you're going to get with Colback. He's a decent, efficient midfielder, who doesn't make many mistakes but rarely does anything that stands out. I'm still not convinced he's better than what you already had, and if Pardew thinks he's a replacement for Cabaye then he's delusional.

 

Saying that, the ginger **** will probably score against us in December 

[Ryan_Taylor]

He's infinitely better than Gosling

[Optimistic Nut]

Recent midfielders.

 

Cabaye

 

 

 

 

 

Tiote

 

Anita

 

 

Colback

 

Guthrie

 

 

Perch

 

 

 

Gosling

[Guest firetotheworks]

He's infinitely better than Gosling

 

Is that a compliment?

[HawK]

Makes you shake your head in disbelief that we get Colback and the Mackems get Rodwell.

[Guest ElCid]

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

 

I have a massive problem with starting each of them together and/or either one with Tiote as none of the 3 will create or score goals - Tiote or Anita would be in my first choice alongside a creative midfielder who will notch some goals. Our best midfield in recent years has been Tiote and Cabaye by a long shot.

[SEMTEX]

Recent midfielders.

 

Cabaye

 

 

 

 

 

Tiote

 

Anita

 

 

Colback

 

Guthrie

 

 

Perch

 

 

 

Gosling

 

I'm concur.

[Guest firetotheworks]

Colback ahead of Guthrie and even Perch? Are you fucking high?

[Optimistic Nut]

It's hardly controversial to call him better than three Championship midfielders.

[SEMTEX]

Never much cared for Guthrie tbh. And Perch had about 6 months of being decent and 2 years of shite. Had he stayed longer he could move up the charts, but I'm not forgetting the shit he served up for a long time.