Would this be totally wide of the mark?

We failed to get hardly any crosses into the box v Swansea and failed to get in behind them at any stage of the match. The reason for this is quite simple:

a) Jonas just doesnt have a left foot and has cut back onto his right. Very, very annoying after 3 years.
b) Obertan must be a little ******ed to have all his pace and a little bit of skill...but chooses not to use it. Instead he likes to cut inside into a cul-de-sac and either lay it off to Cabaye or just lose the ball. Very annoying.
c) Simpson got forward once. That is all. Not once did he ever, ever overlap Obertan. Anyone who thinks he is a marauding full back is wrong. He just doesn't do it.
d) Santon like Jonas, doesnt have a left foot. He played well, but it seems obvious to me he will be our right back for years to come. Hopefully.

So what can we do about it? Here's an idea. Is it totally insane?

Hatem Ben Arfa on the left wing and Jonas on the right wing.

What this will give us before we have even kicked a ball is a better balance to our midfield. It will also allow us to stretch teams as both wingers will naturally go on the outside of full backs and 'get chalk on their boots'.

We will also get a hell of a load of whipped in crosses into the box alternative to the diagonal floated balls our front 2 have to make the best out of, due to our wingers insisitance on cutting back onto their favoured foot. It just doesn't work.

If we are insisting on playing with 2 big lads up front then only a total mad man would not take advantage of this by playing with 2 wingers with the strategy of whipping crosses into the box on a constant basis.

No? Is this totally mad?

People will no doubt argue, Ben Arfa cant play on the wing.....our full backs will be exposed....Jonas doesnt like the right wing....etc.

But where's the harm in at least trying it? What is their to lose? What we did against Swansea in the wide areas was quite honestly pathetic. Its the only reason we didn't win.

Do you all remember the days of Sellars flying down the left? Ginola guile? Robert's dangerous delivery? Gillespie marauding down the right at will? Solano's class service from the right?

I certainly do.

So I don't understand why we cant have Ben Arfa's pace, skill, delivery, class coming from the left wing as he stretches defences and makes a mockery of right backs up and down the league. Added to Jonas's work rate, doggedness, enthusiasm, and an actual 'final ball' to go with it as he is allowed to use his right foot without having to cut back.

The fact we haven't even tried this is insane. The fact Ben Arfa cant even get off the bench is illogical and ridiculous.

Sort it out Pardew, your in danger of throwing away our great start to the season.

 

a) Jonas just doesnt have a left foot and has cut back onto his right. Very, very annoying after 3 years.

Harsh , since last season he's really improved his left foot and he has a decent delivery in him.

b) Obertan must be a little ******ed to have all his pace and a little bit of skill...but chooses not to use it. Instead he likes to cut inside into a cul-de-sac and either lay it off to Cabaye or just lose the ball. Very annoying.

He needs to stop trying to beat his man and just whip in the cross , bit of a headless chicken at times running against walls.

c) Simpson got forward once. That is all. Not once did he ever, ever overlap Obertan. Anyone who thinks he is a marauding full back is wrong. He just doesn't do it.

It's a bit risky for Simpson to attack because Obertan isn't the player that will track back and try and win the ball back. Santon could afford to do that because Jonas does track back and often wins the ball back for us.

d) Santon like Jonas, doesnt have a left foot. He played well, but it seems obvious to me he will be our right back for years to come. Hopefully.

He was on of our best players yesterday and looked very comfortable at LB.

 

The only problem I have with Pardew is that his selection is sometimes mind boggling and he doesn't know how to make an effective substitution and the only problem I have with the players is that some are not Premier League level and still get picked over the likes of David Santon and Hatem Ben Arfa.

 

Was the title an errant crossing pun?

 

Of course.

 

Don't really agree.

Obertan put in two successful crosses, Jonas put in 3, Simpson put in 4, and Santon put in 1. Not to mention both Obertan and Santon also put good crosses into the box but Ba and Best both went to the near post and missed them. On another day Obertan, Jonas, Simpson and Santon all could of got assists.

 

I got as far as this and gave up...........

 

Guti can make decent crosses, his assist to Ba vs Tottenham is one that springs to mind and that was on his left.

 

Defo more inclined to agree with the original poster. we were awful on the wings, but I think everyone is forgetting to compliment Swansea's defending. They have only conceded something like two from crosses all season (which implies Pardew is an idiot for not knowing his stats and shoving Ben Arfa up the middle).
Still, our wing-play was poor yesterday. Jonas has improved massively in recent seasons at crossing, but there's no foundation for saying his left foot is decent... It's barely passable for youth football, nevermind the premier league. He's much more comfortable on his right, and his crossing with that foot has improved 100 fold.
Obertan is a shocking player. Jonas' ability is in dribbling, tracking back and pace. Obertan is supposed to have all of those, but he's actually useless. The only time I've seen him use pace is when he runs onto a ball, but then he can't find space to cross because he's too inexperienced/dumb to see opportunities... He needs to be played in reserves and pushed to iron out the wastefulness. We have 5 years to turn him into a decent winger.
Simpson did well for me yesterday, but I thought he looked best when he got forward to support Obertan, shame it happened infrequently.
Totally agree with the OP about Santon being one-footed, and think the quoted post is a bit off-topic in truth. He played really well, but it's obvious he should be playing right-back in future. Get a left-back in and we'll have a really good defence!

 

Santon put one of the best balls of the day in with his left foot

 

Sorry mate, that's simply untrue. I was sitting in the Leazes End, for about 20 minutes Simpson was in front of Obertan - Obertan looked like he was playing right back at times.

 

Simpson put in a few really good crosses yesterday. Obertan takes too long to cross it and Gutierrez floats crosses too much, he needs to drill them more.

 

For what its worth, on FIFA I play a diamond formation with Ben Arfa LW and Gutierrez RW (Tiote CDM, Cabaye CAM) - works a treat!

 

seem people are forgetting we dominated the game yesterday. Swansea was very very solid defensively. that wasnt our fault

 

spot on.

 

Absolutely right, Obertan gives Simpson a lot of support, and I think that rather than it just being 'Jonas covering Raylor' its more just the way Pardew likes to play, and is probably a good of the reason behind our decent goals conceded column. That's why he doesn't want to play Ben Arfa there, and having watched him briefly last season he doesn't have the defensive discipline for the position.

Otherwise mainly good points, I'd have Santon to right back as soon as we get a lefty signed.

 

The problem I see with this is that neither Ben Arfa nor Jonas are good crossers, even on their stronger feet.

 

I have to say as much as I love Jonas his crossing is still dire. We have a lot of big guys up top however have two of the worst crossers of a ball (for wingers) in the league in Jonas and Obertan. Their legs seem to have no power in them, when they cross it's like throwing an elastic band at a concrete boulder.

 

Swansea defended really well and totally reduced our clearcut chances. Any moves which could have broken through the middle and they just fouled our players to give 30 yard free kicks. Referee could have given a couple of yellows to stop that but really we should have been able to punish them more with better quality kicks.
I think Pardews substitutions cost us the three points as much as the wingers' performances. He should have brought HBA on for Obertan and put more pressure through the middle.

 

Ben Arfa doesn't want to play LW apparantly... so that's one of your points out of the window