Team v. QPR

I definitely want the two biguns playing. We will get no where IMO by playing Best or Shola by themselves.

In the cup, the crosses were flying in but Best was just swamped and easily dealt with by Blackburns CB's.

Both Ameobi and Best are a handful, and with Jonas and HBA on the wings, I think we could win reasonably comfortably on sunday.

IMO playing 4-4-1-1 with HBA behind the striker, or 4-3-3 with Jonas and HBA on the wings and one striker, we could see some class football, but I see it being very frustrating and failing to get many goals.

The 4-4-2 with the two biguns IMO is the best route to finding goals. It may be a bit annoying seeing balls being hoofed up the pitch quite often, but Ameobi and Best can hurt defences. Ameobi's presence and Best's good aerial ability and feet could damage QPR.

-----Shola--------Best-------

Jonas-------------------Hatem Ben Arfa

---Guth/Abeid----Cabaye------

Santon---Colo-----Williamson--Simpson

--------------Krul--------------

Jonas will be free to get up the pitch a lot more now we know Santon can deal with heavy pressure and handle things at the back by himself.

We may be playing long balls at times, but we all know we can still play good, passing football with that line up, and see pieces of individual quality from our players.

 

In the 10-11 season Best had 6 goals in 11 games, and ended up continuing that form through the 11-12 season, so at one point he had something like 9 goals in 15 games. Ameobi has never came close to that, ever.

Leon Best can score goals, more than many of us realise, but he needs a proper run of games. The only time he's ever scored goals is when he's had that. Shola scores **** all no matter what he gets.

It's imperative we have someone up front who is going to score as many goals as they can until Ba gets back.

 

lets see if SWP even gets a sniff against santon. i reckon if he can keep nani quiet then SWP will be in the old pocket. SWP was just having one of his 5 mint games a season. the rest of the time hes average (routledge being the same).

I'd like to see vuckic in off best and HBA on the right cutting in. he should f*cking murder QPRs 2nd choice left back whoever that may be. i'd go for guthrie in the middle again and i'd even be tempted to play Raylor at right back.

 

I want a stat to see how many goals involved Ameobi's strength in the build up. He contributes a lot to the team outside of goals, like Heskey. Whether that ended up at more than Best goals to game, I couldn't tell you. Best, however, contributes almost nothing if doesn't score.

 

Best got injured, and has been in and out of the team.

Even when he wasn't scoring, he was still getting assists and doing his bit for the team. I hate it when people just strikers as **** just because they haven't scored recently.

Best can get goals when relied upon, but recently he's just been a back up.

Cut Best some slack.

 

vickic will just be piledriving shots off bests knock downs and jonas and HBA will get plenty joy down the wings cutting inside.

 

Best does the same though. Remember the first goal against Stoke? He won a header, knocked it down for Obertan, who crossed it into the box for Ba to head it in.

Best, even when he wasn't scoring in the season, was still getting assists or playing his part, plus he's a lot more mobile, and works harder than Shola does normally.

 

You can't name one header which wasn't even a direct assist and base an argument around that
I agree with Speedo, if Best isn't scoring, he's doing nothing, which is what makes me favour Shola.

 

Seems to be the team that everyone is expecting and I would go for that too!

I know I shouldn't be with Newcastle, but feeling very confident of us getting the 3 points going into the game. They have key players missing, such as Barton, Faurlin, Taarabt and Traore which means their central midfield will most likely be Derry and Buzsaky who Cabaye and Guthrie/Abeid should dominate!! Also, this means Clint Hill is filling in at LB against a certain Hatem Ben Arfa who really should rip him apart.. well hopefully! SWP is their only danger man in my opinion and I hope because of this that Santon and Simpson are playing.. we need their pace to deal with him down the wings whether he starts RW or LW.

 

I'd like to see

Krul
Simmo-Collo-Willo-Santon
Benny-Abeid-Cabaye-Jonas
Obertan or Gosling
Best​

 

He held the ball up in the box with two defenders on his back and fed Jonas a very nice little return pass at about 94:10 in the blackburn match.

Both he and Shola cause problems, play people in and sometimes score. We looked much much better with them both on against Blackburn. Start them both.

 

What a parcel of ****ing ****.

Best has gotten assists, and works well with a good partner. And just because he didn't get the 2nd last touch on the ball before it went in the net, doesn't mean he didn't play his part in the goal.

How many goals/chances have been created that start with a pass from Cabaye? No he may not get the direct assist, but the goal wouldn't have happened without his contribution.

It's the same with Best, and that example I used about the Stoke goal was 100% a valid point. No Best didn't put the ball in the net but he won the ball in the air and knocked it down for Obertan.

And even though It may have meant to be a shot, Best also assisted the 2nd goal in that game as well. I'm pretty sure Best has helped set up 4/5 Ba goals at least, and even more chances.

You can't just count someones assists tally and say that's how many goals they helped make all season.

What you said was ridiculous.

 

Best's contribution -

1 assist against Blackburn. Put the ball into the box and Ba scored. In the match he also put pressure on Scott Dann so he couldn't stop Ba's header going in the net. It may or may not have been a foul, but Best's presence played a slight part.

Against Wolves, Crossed a good ball into the box, it landed on Jonas's boot and somehow it didn't go into the net. He played a good pass for Ba against Wolves. Ba probably should have scored. So there's two assists that Best could have quite easily had on the day. All Best can do is set up the chance, it's not his fault if the player doesn't score the goal.

In the Stoke game, he played his part by winning a header, knocked it down for Obertan who crossed in for Ba. He assisted the 2nd goal, and technically got an assist when the Stoke defender fouled him in the box. Soft penalty, maybe, but the defender knew Best is a good player in the air, so maybe that's why he had to push him.

Then after that he got injured for a while.

And yes he assisted Jonas for the winner in our game vs Blackburn.

Believe it or not, but Best plays his part in most games. I know people like to argue that Shola's presence helps us win games, but Best can do the same.

 

But we need goals! We don't need strength, or whatever other attributes there are out there. We create opportunities, we need someone to put them in the net. If Ameobi isn't going to be the guy to do that, then he should be replaced by someone who is more likely.

We've lost Ba and lost the goals he provides, so we need to replace him for now. Find the guy who is more likely to score goals and use him. Simple logic.

 

This really. But I think the combined pressure of Best and Shola, is the best we can do for now mate.

 

I think people are overestimating how good QPR are. Yes they outplayed us in the away fixture but that was the day after the new owners signed and everything looked rosy for the season. The honeymoon is well and truly over, and they are missing 4 or 5 starters to injury/ACON.

 

I'd put Ben Arfa or even Vuckic behind Best, and let that duo cause havoc. Keep the AM close behind the striker so he isn't isolated, and just keep cutting that defence open. Vuckic, for example, has a lethal shot on him, and I think he's far more likely to score than Ameobi.

 

Totally agree Smudger. TBH the only reason they raped up really was because of SWP's pace against Raylor.

SWP is still faster than Santon, but the difference isn't huge, and Santon can easily do a good job against him.

Most of their chances came from the the wing with SWP crossing in or shooting. We can deal with them.

I'm going for a 2-0/2-1 win. Maybe if we play well we'll score 3/4.

 

In that case Krul has set up about half of our goals this year by his kicks falling to one of our players, and then us going up the other end and scoring. Any mug can get the ball and find a team mate, he would hardly have become a professional footballer if he couldn't. Shola offers far more invention imo.

 

Well if you'd just said that Shola offers far more, I would have respected your opinion, despite totally disagreeing, but saying that Best does **** all when he isn't scoring is ridiculous mate.