Jonjo Shelvey (now playing for Burnley)

[Gallowgate Toon]

His short passing is also good, like. And you can't teach the vision he has. The ball for Perez against Bournemouth being a prime example. His close-range dribbling is also good, as are his set pieces. He's poor defensively and not the most mobile (but I don't think he's as bad as being made out to be, on that front) but he's still a very decent technical footballer who will piss the Champ. With the right state of mind and in a system that suits him, he'll perform in the PL. 

[Gallowgate Toon]

The Swansea improvement is also a bit unfair to cite. He hadn't been playing for them that much when they were doing poorly. Their better results came with a new manager, iirc.

[Thomson Mouse]

His short passing is also good, like. And you can't teach the vision he has. The ball for Perez against Bournemouth being a prime example. His close-range dribbling is also good, as are his set pieces. He's poor defensively and not the most mobile (but I don't think he's as bad as being made out to be, on that front) but he's still a very decent technical footballer who will p*ss the Champ. With the right state of mind and in a system that suits him, he'll perform in the PL. 

 

Agreed he'd do well in the champ but he needs to massively improve for the prem, which won't happen on recent evidence

[tmonkey]

I think it's clear he's a bit of a luxury player at this point in his career, and the fact that he's not a goalscoring luxury player means he's even more of a luxury player given how pivotal a hard working CM is to being a good side.

 

However, I think there's scope for significantly improving his output by simply improving those around him. With our current crop of strikers pinging perfect balls over the top isn't as useful a weapon as it ought to be given the general lack of pace in our frontline (Cisse always offside and has no pace anyway, Mitrovic is slow and thick, Perez has decent movement but that's about it). Our wingers don't really make runs in behind either. At the same time, his defensive flaws are exacerbated by us having as porous a defense as you can get (until the last few games anyway). Improve in these areas, as we need to naturally irrespective of Shelvey, and Jonjo becomes a more useful midfielder.

 

Although he's not worth £12m, if we got back into the Premiership he's the sort of central midfielder you'd want on paper as an immediate backup to a first team pairing or in rotation (discounting the possible poor attitude of course). At home against weaker teams where we're likely to dominate he'll be able to provide the passes that will win games, although again that's only if the players on the receiving end are able to make use of those balls. With respect to his attitude problems, whilst I won't deny that they may exist I do think in this sport many fans are quick to come out with this kind of nonsense about perfectly good players on the basis of very little (e.g. the "Fatem" tag), especially once a reputation has developed (e.g. Anelka - this club would be in an entirely different state of we had signed that "poisonous" Frenchman instead of "great guy" Owen). I don't think writing him off on the basis of very little evidence of said attitude problems is entirely fair right now. On top of that there's always the possibility that under the right management he could change, or his ego be managed appropriately. It could also be that he simply hasn't been fit enough since joining NUFC, and that a better training regime over the summer might produce a more well-rounded central midfielder.

 

The bottom line for me is that the guy can pick a pass, especially a forward/through pass. Not many CM's in the Premiership can (let's forget the Championship), and we've had ample CM's over the past decade or two who were garbage on the ball and only good at passing it sideways. I'd say since joining the Premiership only Lee and Cabaye were genuinely good forward passers we've had capable of splitting a defense with a great pass, and to a lesser extent Speed (and at a stretch Emre too). On the basis of this talent alone I'd want us to try whatever we can to get the best out of him, give him time, adopt a glass half full approach instead of a glass half empty. If it doesn't work out because he's an egotistical prick who can't change his ways then so be it, but at least we'll have tried to nurture troubled talent instead of dumping it at the first opportunity.

[Groo]

He's a talented footballer. His attitude f***ing stinks.

 

If only there was some sort of evidence of this before we bought him.

 

Like refusing to sit on the bench or visibly not trying and passing to opposition when under no pressure having a strop because he was dropped for a few games.

[Groo]

 

He's not s*** like, it's just you have to build your side around him. Which we never really had the chance to do given the predicament we were in.

 

That's what Monk tried to do, build the team around Shelvey

[Guest neesy111]

You build a team around very good players, shelvey on his day is a good player but you can't be building teams around him.

[Groo]

The Swansea improvement is also a bit unfair to cite. He hadn't been playing for them that much when they were doing poorly. Their better results came with a new manager, iirc.

 

Actually you are wrong, he was ever present until the end of November when he picked up a knock, the next game he was supposed to be on the bench but refused, the next game he played was against Palace where he strolled about and clearly didn't want to be there and after that was the Oxford debacle when he was pulling up his socks watching a 4th division player run past and score.

 

Not long after that a lot of Swansea fans were celebrating, not believing the luck.

 

I honestly thought he would help save your season as he can do it if he really tries, I wasn't so confident he would remain mentally with it past the end of the season though.

[afar]

His first few games were brilliant, I forget who it was we were playing, could have been West Ham, where he made his home debut. He was pinging the ball around like crazy, with pinpoint accuracy. I didn't think much of the signing when we made it for the price we did but those early performances had me second guessing myself.

 

Something happened though that made that early promise look like a mirage, you still saw the ability to pick out a pass on the odd occasion but it was clear Rafa saw the Tiote/Colback pairing as the only option open to him to help protect that back four.

 

Bearing in mind that Rafa seems to favour that two holding type CMs to protect, what is currently a very youthful backline, you have to wonder if there is a role for Shlevey in a Rafa team (if he is our manager of course next season). Didn't he have Xabi Alonso at Liverpool though, Shelvey is nowhere near that quality but he plays a similar role as a "Quaterback". I don't know maybe it takes more than a pressure filled 10 game stint to instill a system that can be utilized to make the most of Shelvey's talent.

[Gallowgate Toon]

The Swansea improvement is also a bit unfair to cite. He hadn't been playing for them that much when they were doing poorly. Their better results came with a new manager, iirc.

 

Actually you are wrong, he was ever present until the end of November when he picked up a knock, the next game he was supposed to be on the bench but refused, the next game he played was against Palace where he strolled about and clearly didn't want to be there and after that was the Oxford debacle when he was pulling up his socks watching a 4th division player run past and score.

 

Not long after that a lot of Swansea fans were celebrating, not believing the luck.

 

I honestly thought he would help save your season as he can do it if he really tries, I wasn't so confident he would remain mentally with it past the end of the season though.

 

 

I thought he'd been dropped in early November.

[Mick]

Shelvey would be one of the first out of the door for me, he's useless most of the time and offers very little. 

[Marmoset]

You can change a young persons mentality like, it's not easy, especially when whatever he does he's set for life, but if Rafa can get into his head and convince him there's so much more he could achieve then maybe he'll  get his head down.

 

If an offer above 5m with his 80k wages comes in though it would be hard not to just look at other options.

[loki679]

Not the player we need imo.  Its fine launching Hollywood balls if you can do the basics as well but he doesn't seem to be able to.  Coupled with a pretty bad attitude so far I think we're better off rid of him.

[ujpest doza]

More money than sense.

Paid £15K for a watch in Switzerland and failed to declare it at customs at Newcastle Airport and after a tip off was pulled over and had to pay £3K import duty to HMRC.

 

[Guest]

£15k on a watch? Bloody hell, different world

[ujpest doza]

£15k on a watch? Bloody hell, different world

I know, mine cost £40 from M&S!

 

[r0cafella]

£15k on a watch? Bloody hell, different world

Watches can run in to millions, he probably bought a gold rolex.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Paying good money on a watch is a good investment like. Stupid footballer though

[sbnufc]

Sell him.  Some Prem mugs will think he's good.  Mackems maybe

[Guest chopey]

Don't mind me jonjo just testing something

[joeyt]

Couldn't care less if he leaves, he's been utter shite

[toontownman]

Harsh tbh. He looked fantastic in a couple of games and glimpes but lost in several games , them not used to the rest really

Talent is there consistency wasn't though which wasnt a surprise I'm the team of bottlers and culture we had. If be more worried about Rafa not rating him tbh. If he leaves it's more because he doesn't fit into the system Rafa likes.

[Stifler]

More money than sense.

Paid £15K for a watch in Switzerland and failed to declare it at customs at Newcastle Airport and after a tip off was pulled over and had to pay £3K import duty to HMRC.

What sad cunt tips of HMRC that someone is coming in with a watch that they haven't paid tax on?

[Mag_in_NZ]

More money than sense.

Paid £15K for a watch in Switzerland and failed to declare it at customs at Newcastle Sunderland Airport and after a tip off was pulled over and had to pay £3K import duty to HMRC.

What sad c*** tips of HMRC that someone is coming in with a watch that they haven't paid tax on?  a watch on on the way out

 

Makem, must probably noticed he did have watch on on the way out......

[Disco]

First time customs at Newcastle Airport has ever been manned.