Obertan & Gutierrez | Faulty Production Line?

http://www.eplindex.com/obertan-gutierrez-faulty-production-line/

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Ask any of the Newcastle United faithful if they would have snatched off the proverbial hand if offered 7th in the table at this stage of the campaign, in early July, and the majority of answers will be the same.

However, falling from the dizzy heights of 2nd (temporarily) and unbeaten to where they lie now, in such a short period of games, has a lot of the barcode followers feeling a little glum as the festive period approaches.

The defensive frailties were apparent to even the most naïve of football fans against Norwich on Saturday; a team totally devoid of any settled centre back was duly taken advantage of by a clever and well organised Norwich team who had one thing, and one thing only in mind; ‘bang it into the box!’.

However, when you cut through the 14 performances so far this season, and when you slide the defensive record to one side, the eyes come across more defects in the current NUFC regime – imperfections linked to their goal-getting play.

NUFC now stand at 10th in the table for conceded goals, mainly down to the impact the last 2 games’ results have had but more worryingly they sit only 8th for number of goals scored this season, just one goal more than bottom club Bolton.

The Toon currently only spend 27% of their lowly possession in games in the oppositions half (the 2nd lowest in the PL), so it is of mass importance that when the ball does reach those areas, good things are done with it. Initiated attacks to get there are very well balanced; 31% originate from the left, 31% centrally and 38% from the right. It would appear though that Newcastle’s problems in attack start here; with their 16th placed 12.6 shots on average per game, 62% them derive from central areas, with 27% coming from the left and only 12% (lowest in PL) coming from the right.

It has to be said, that in Demba Ba, NUFC have one of the buys of the season and his 11 goal return so far has been a dominating shining light for the St. James’ Park outfit. But, adding to that Shola Ameobi and Leon Best, Newcastle’s strike force all appear to be shaped from a similar mould.

Throw pending January signing Modibo Maiga into that mixture and, in the stereotypical 4-4-2 Alan Pardew insists on playing, Newcastle have a bunch of spearheads that thrive on service; service that should come from crucial areas as the wide flanks. Therein, it would seem, lies the main problem. What are Jonas Gutierrez and Gabriel Obertan offering for out talented talisman?

Obertan @ NUFC

New signing Obertan arguably plays the traditional wide role for Newcastle. He has pace in abundance, an athletic frame and razor sharp technique with the ball at his feet, able to cut any fullback from the game.

At NUFC, he plays the 7th average number of passes (just 28.5) a game, which ultimately questions his involvement. With those passes, he is 11th in the squad for their completion rate, only 0.2 of them per game being successful crosses (see from the chalkboards below, he has produced just 1 successful cross in NUFC’s last 6 games). He does though play the 3rd most key passes per game on average but is yet to play a through ball this season in the PL.

He has no goals to his name yet and of his 0.9 shots on average a game, he is yet to register 1 on target! Obertan is the 2nd best dribbler alongside Ben Arfa, with 1 per game, and he gets dispossessed the 4th most frequently, a statistic that may be of surprise to many fans.

Gutierrez @ NUFC

Jonas, on the opposite flank, has 1 goal to his name which he managed from his 4th best 1.6 shots at goal per game average. He is also 4th with his key passes and he is NUFC’s top dribbler, producing 17 successful runs in his 14 games. Gutierrez is the most fouled player in the Premier League alongside Ashley Young and he is the 10th most dispossessed player there (2nd most dispossessed at NUFC after Tiote).

He is 9th at Newcastle in the table for average passes per game, worse than Obertan he plays just 27.6 and he is 13th with that passing accuracy. In terms of crossing, he is the 4th best producer at the black & whites with 0.6 successful per game on average and like Obertan, he is yet to play a through ball (see relevance in chalkboards).

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Against the best

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Obertan & Gutierrez v top 6's wide men

The above table shows that the numbers make pretty dyer reading for Newcastle’s widemen when compared to the best from the top 6. The stand out figures being Obertan’s lack of tackles won, his crossing accuracy and the amount of chances presently being created and taken by the pair.

In a little Christmas nut shell, it doesn’t surprise that Gabriel Obertan is offering very little defensively, but going forward his game needs a very big overhaul also. Whether lacking in confidence or still adapting to the English game, Ober needs to step his game up if Newcastle are going to challenge for places in the top 10 this year. For Jonas, his provision of cover for Ryan Taylor at important times this season has showed his defensive qualities and the numbers reflect that, but again going forward the Argentinian flatters to deceive, especially when you look at what the ‘top’ wingers are doing. Newcastle have strikers ‘made’ for service such as wide deliveries and it seems the production line is a little too rusty at this moment in time. Here’s hoping it’s oiled and ready for a home battle against Swansea at the weekend!

 

Kind of harsh to compare them to the top 6 wingers in the league, that's above where we are competing. And our strength is no longer crosses into the box (Barton and Enrique out), it's pace on the counter attack (Obertan and Jonas vital) and more technical build up play (Cabaye and Ben Arfa).

Also we are starting to use just Ba with Ben Arfa, which is just one big striker.

 

For all Gutierrez's faults, think the Chelsea game showed just how important he is. As for Obertan meh, has potential and Pards will continue to work with him would just prefer he wasn't our first choice right winger at the moment.

 

Two reasons for this:

1). Obertan is just ****e. It's as simple as that.

2). Jonas has spent every game having to help Raylor out defensively. The great attacking ability he had towards the end of last season with Enrique behind him has been missing this season because he simply hasn't had any opportunities. Once we get a proper left back, I suspect that we will see Jonas pushing forward a lot more.

 

I'm pretty sure Ba's been better linking with the midfield than as a target man, like the article suggests. Still, the stats don't lie, especially in Obertan's case, he's been atrocious! Jonas' stats are understandable what with having to be a 2nd LB all season.

 

This.

 

We wouldn't have beaten stoke without Obertan. However he's not kicked on since, and this is the problem with him, against Norwich he was indecisive and never beat his man, then he skips past three with some fantastic skill, and instead of building on this he goes back into his shell.

I think this is why Pardew is sticking with him, he's really not a bad player, he shows glimpses, but he's so lacking in confidence that dropping him could spoil any progress he's made. He isn't as bad as people make out, but he is so frustrating, he can't have many chances left but another good performance, particularly at home will be invaluable.

 

He has actually had 3 or 4 good games (Arsenal, Fulham, Blackburn, Man U, Stoke off the top of my head), the talent's there but maybe he needs some private coaching or something to help him use it properly.

 

I think the utter ****e comments are a bit harsh. I mean, he's not Perch ****e.

He's only 22 as well, people need to cut him some slack. Yeah he can be bad at times but who else do we actually have?

 

stats are bollocks.

these are skewed to make us look bad.

stats can be used to prove anything, 60% of people know that.

 

54% of statistics are made up off the top of somebody's head.

 

Chappaz hit the nail on the head.

Obertan is the worst player we've had in my lifetime.

 

Lets be honest Obertan is shocking, I really don't see how he is going to improve!!!

Hate to say it but we are missing someone like Barton, with quality delivery.

 

Obertan is not that bad man .. I agree he is very frustrating and needs to improve his deliveries but when he actually gets his head up and realises how fast and skillful he is he can go past a few players with ease .. he proved that at Norwich .. But i agree he needs some one-to-one coaching.

 

Obertan desperately needs to get down to basics training.... I ask you guys, have you noticed he can't even get a basic pass to his target?

 

I have not. I do not think he gives the ball away that much, which is part of the problem because he seems to be too afraid of losing the ball by trying to beat his man or cross the ball into the box, instead he usually just passes it square.

 

Now don't get me wrong I'm not Obertan's biggest fan but there's some pretty unfair criticism in this thread IMO.

I think he gets a lot of stick because he's so unbelievably frustrating a lot of the time. How many times he's had the ball at his feet with a massive gap down the side of the defender to run into and he just stands there dithering with it, has me absolutely screaming at him. He's rapid, he could just smash it fifteen feet ahead of himself and sprint onto it.

This capacity to frustrate is why so many people are just outright tearing him to shreds and why he makes a convenient scapegoat, that he clearly has some talent and skill in his locker but is almost looking afraid to use it. In actual fact though a lot of people on this very board found themselves missing him when he was out injured. I still wouldn't be averse to getting in some real competition - a generally more consistent player - down that right hand side but that's not realistically going to happen until summer. We're stuck with him for better or worse so we might as well not give up on him yet. He just really needs to work on his consistency at this level and in fairness he barely played a single game in two years for Man United so hopefully there's more to come from him.

 

I think I'll read this just before bed tonight. Stats help me get off to sleep and its all they are good for.

 

3 years ago or sumit, everyone said about Jonas the exact same thing they are now sayin about Obertan. He was **** etc, now he's a vital part of the team...ffs

 

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