Shola

As someone who reads on here a lot but rarely posts, I've noticed that a lot of people have faith in Shola Ameobi because he is loyal to the club and a Newcastle player through and through who'd do anything for the team he loves.
I'm seriously starting to doubt even this, he can say what he wants, the last few times I've seen him play he's looked lazy and disinterested. At the Birmingham match I got more and more frustrated as there were a number of times where Jonas or someone else would have made a break and be looking to play it into the box and every time Shola would seem to be casually jogging, causing us to hold up play and forcing us to pass it back to the defence/goalkeeper to keep possession. I know he's not naturally the fastest, but you can still tell when someones actually sprinting and when someone's giving it a half-hearted attempt.
The youngsters yesterday showed what real passion and desire looks like, and I'm afraid it's entirely different to anything I see in Shola. Ok, he had a slightly better game yesterday, but he's plagued this club with his 'will he/won't he finally come good' for too long and I think we've long gone past the time where he needs to be offloaded.

Rant over.

 

He will never be good- he will be consistently average
At the moment he is the best we have
His game doesn't suit looking active! and yes its frustrating but i never believed the bloke doesn't try
Everyone fails to mention how many headers he wins in general
I think he's scored 8 goals this season and throughout his time with us he has stepped in admirably when better players have been injured or sold!
He's not the answer but he is definitely not the problem!

 

I think he loves the club and has mates around here, and we'll always love him because he scores against the Mackems, but i agree he's completely bone idle, and only tries on the derby days and when his first place spot is in jepordy.

Best and Lover both deserve places over him because they have better goals/games ratio and both link up with the team and each other. Ameobi has had chances to set up Lover for goals, but he cannot ****ing pass.

 

Best we have? He isn't as good as Best or Lover.

And even though Ranger doesn't score, he has more impact on the game than Shola does.

 

He is better than Lover imo, he's just a passenger that sometimes runs around like a headless chicken.

 

Best is injured mate
Him and Lover are the best we have!

 

IMO second best striker at the moment.
He will probly be playing through the pain again as he is something of a walking sicknote and has been for a long time.
I like the lad but if we are to progress at the club he can't be relied upon the way he has been this season because he simply cannot deliver.

 

Lover doesn't just run around, he closes players down and puts in a shift, he also passes the ball well and did create chances for others yesterday.

He usually plays poor if Ameobi plays poor, because he's relying on Ameobi for flick ons which rarely come because he either doesn't win the ball or the ball goes 20 yards in the opposition direction.

Lover plays well with a good partner, which is why Lover and Best are our best pair.

We could have had another 3 points against Blackpool but Shola couldn't make a simple pass to Lover who would have had a tap in.

Shola lets the team down in those sort of chances.

Lover is better, Best is also better. The "ariel presence" argument is stupid really, because any decent CB with a bit of height beats him in the air. For his height, Shola is actually pretty ****e in the air.

 

I said earlier best/2nd best
Best is injured and always seems to have a little niggle (or is that just me)
Actually thinking about it thats one of the best arguements for Shola
I cannot think of many injuries the bloke has had?

 

Fair point, but you say about Shola's goals, Best has 3 goals against West Ham's defense who was one of the worst I have ever seen. Surely that takes the gloss off of his record?

Also Shola may not be the best in the air, but he gives people something to think about, whereas with Love & Best all you need is a quick defender and you're done with the both of them.

Shola also gives us help at the back for corners etc where we would be fairly small otherwise and could have conceded a few more goals from set pieces.

 

I just don't understand this attitude of oh he's inconsistent and average but he's still our best option and he'll be a good back up next season. No he won't! Inconsistency is exactly what this club doesn't need, the exact thing that has pulled us through this season is work rate and consistency from players like Enrique, Collo etc.
Ameobi will be as good an impact sub next season as Mike Ashley himself would be. I'm sorry but Ameobi epitomizes everything that this club needs to rid itself of in order to become a real threat in the premiership.

 

Well if you mean he's our 2nd best option now Best is injured, then yes i agree with you.

 

Yes he is our second best and with our injury problems I want 5 strikers next year
I want two new ones
and I want Best, Lover and Shola
With the young'uns as backup to these
Best I don't think has been fully fit since he came here and that worries me a little!
All i'm saying is Shola has a half decent goalscoring record for how much he plays
and for a team in our situation is "good" backup

 

sneaky!!
what I should of said is when everyone is fit

 

Actually 27 apps and 6 goals isn't a decent record. He'll only score that amount if you play him often, and hopefully we wont be.

We need someone that will get much more than that.

 

This, 5senior strikers with our youngsters would stand us in good stead.

 

For nufc a mid table side (realistically)
shola is good back up

 

Well he's our 3rd best when everyone's fit. Lover is miles better and could have had more goals if Ameobi was able to pass.

 

I think Ameobi is better but each to their own.

 

You're entitled to your opinion, but it's fact that if Ameobi was any good Lover would have more goals as sometimes all he needs is a simple pass from his fellow upfront man.