Article: Leon Best and Obertan | Football, Newcastle

Best should be starting ahead of Ameobi. Shola is a useless lump, and how he got a new contract goes beyond all sensible understanding!!

 

Best played 10 games , and looked good in around 5 ..... Why does everyone think he's some goal machine ?


Love how everybody has turned on Ba after one game against one of the best sides in the league with ameobi as a ST partner and no service as we didnt have the ball ?
Also I dont know about anyone else but i show love towards Ba because he is a proven goalscorer in europe and the time he has been here and no matter what you may say IS better than Leon Best

 

i don't really rate best above any of our strikers as they're all pretty mediocre 'can do a job' type players. I'm hoping Ba will prove the exception once he gets his feet under the table.

i'd like to see obertan play just because he'll be the only one stretching the play if jonas has to cover for Raylor again.

but shola MUST play against the mackems regardless. his record speaks for itself. i don't care where the extra 25% in his game comes from on derby days so long as it keeps on coming.

 

Jonas has a bit more hair than Obertan.

But I agree, Best should start until we get a new striker in. Either partner with Ba or with a CAM such as Obertan or maybe even Jonas or Marveaux to add a bit of pace. To think your line-up doesn't include Gosling and Ben Arfa, add them to the mix and Guthrie / Marv as further back up then our midfield is quality!

 

Best and Shola are as bad as each other, the only real difference is Best has age on his side, I watched the 4-4 back the other day and Best was caught off-side at least 7 times in the 1st half and just had that blank look on his face as to why, there was one were he never actually managed to get onside after about 7 passes around the box, the hat trick against a poor West Ham side masked how poor he trully is.

 

I agree with this. baring a hat trick against the worst side in teh league last year i thought he looked every inch a championship striker and i don't understand the whole best is our number 1 movement on here. i'm sure it'll quickly become apparent if he gets a run in the side.

 

I wouldn't dream of picking Ameobi or Ba after Saturday. Regardless of your views on whether they are both ****e or not, neither has earnt the right to start. Best and Obertan achieved a hell of lot more than those two. I'm not a big Best fan, I think he is very average. However he at least showed he could control a football and release it to a black and white shirt. to be honest Ba and Ameobi should be ashamed of their performances against Arsenal. Effort and commitment to the cause are a minimum for me. I like the look of Obertan and I'm already confident after 45mins that he has a role to play this year.

The problem is for this weekend, can you really afford to leave Shola out. We know he turns the dial up to 11 for the mackems.

 

I was amazed it took Shola 11 minutes to get caught offside, mind you he did manage to do it again 50 seconds later, if only i had ten minutes with him.....did nobody in your eleven years as a Pro ever explain the offside rule to you/ You ****ing moron!

 

Like i said , we didnt have the ball while they were on so not much more they can do in terms of attacking and what they do with the ball

Best and Obeertan came on against tiring legs (first game of the season) when we had more of the ball so in turn could show more
Use some logic

 

To be fair you can't use us not having the ball as an excuse for Ba and Shola's performance on Saturday. That is just burying your head. One of the main reasons Arsenal had so much of the ball was because they were so useless we couldn't retain possession and weren't working anywhere near hard enough. If you want the ball as a team you need to defend from the front and put the opposition under pressure to force passing errors etc. Watching those two stroll about boiled my piss. I want to give Ba more time but I can't hide from the fact that he does not look like a footballer and didn't last year for West Ham. We can't go on with these kinds of clowns after we've signed such technical passing players. They are causing every move to break down, and their inability to move makes playing fluid passing football really difficult.

 

I hope Obertan does start. I think he earned a start from his cameo appearance, but it depends on whether Pardew sees him as more of an impact sub for now against tired teams. Best should start though, at least until Ba gets used to everything. Ameobi looks a liability most of the team, but hes going to start. Every manager seams to see something in him that no one else does.

 

No we didnt have the ball as we played 4 in midfield instead giving them an extra man, granted they could have worked harder and chased down all defenders. But to be brutaly honest pardew probably told them to let arsenal have the ball at the back as it doesnt harm us
The ball wasnt looked after from the back or the midfield no quality was played into them to hold or do anything with. Dont just think because he didnt run around like an idiot chasing shadows he doesnt look like a footballer
Which on another point how can you look at what he did last year and not call him a footballer ? or what he did in germany ?
So quick to jump on peoples back its unreal , judge him after a few games then say hes awful etc

 

Sorry it should have said natural footballer. I have not said he is awful anywhere so you need to stop adding things in as you please. I watched him a lot last year and although I wasn't overly enthused when we signed him, I thought he'd be decent back up. I still think he can be but he is going to have to learn to work. There is no way way Pardew asked them to let them have the ball. Hence they were both hauled off (one at half time). You just don't do that with a team like Arsenal. Stoke have showed the way, pressure, pressure, pressure. Pardew knew this and looked disappointed with their efforts.

Its all very well looking at stats from Germany and 5 months in England but I prefer to just watch a player. He is pretty agricultural. I'm happy to give him more time but if anyone is expecting 15-20 goals a season I think they're kidding themselves. I don't know if you've played much football, its not about chasing shadows. To a man on a football pitch, you need to work if you want to be successful. Berbatov is a prime example. Surpremely talented but since he went to Man U he has added some workrate to his game. Now Berbatov is ten times as talented as Ba so it does not take a rocket scientist to work out how Ba needs to make up the shortfall in natural talent to perform at this level. Ba does not have the natural ability to get away with performances like Saturday. As I say I'm happy to put it down to a lack of fitness and nerves and give him more backing. But he'll only continue to get that from the fans if he starts to give something back.

 

Youll be suprised how many teams allow aresenal to have the ball at the back, its different to playing chelsea. Aresenal move it around the back and deep midfield to try draw people around the pitch , like barca do then move it quick and cut you open
Chelsea do not do that , they play it wide and look to the ST's feet to work midfielders beyond the STs
Yes i do play football at a decent level and so I know tht when you play top passing teams you cant be dragged around chasing balls that do not damage you, you stay as a unit until they threaten.
Comparing Berbatov to Ba is ridiculous completely different players in all ways completely different sides aswel

There are many players who do not look technically brilliant , but as much as i love good looking players STs are there to get goals
He has got goals everywhere he has been yet you would rather see an average championship player in Best play before him ?

 

Am I the only person who watched Ba play for Hoffenheim then? And don't give me that "Premier League proven" line, everyone seems to pine for premier league proven strikers, but if you look at the stats from the past season or two, there are very few of them. I'm not saying he will be a star here, and I'm on the fence about his first couple performances, BUT I definitely don't make the mistake of only judging him based on a half season at West Ham, and 1 regular season game here

 

So Best deserves to start ahed oh him then ..... ?

 

Why did you have to put it as "****ing Obertan" out of interest, Tash?

 

Sorry strikers are not only there to get goals. They have to take part in the build up play, and if you're not a natural footballer you will struggle in this regard at this level. I have not compared Ba with Berbatov. I have simply pointed out that even the most naturally gifted players have to work. It can dressed up any way you like, he was hauled off at half time for a reason. It was because he was not working hard enough. As I say you have to be willing to give him a chance to find his feet and he will have been nervous. But if he was ****e, you have to say he was ****e and not make excuses. He was garabge as was Shola. With Shola we already knew this having had to endure years of circus act falling over and stolling about. With Ba we have to hope he improves on his initial showing.

I don't rate Best. But we funcitoned better with him on the pitch against Arsenal. Simply because he worked and was able to control the ball and pass to a teammate. It had nothing to do with tiredness or anything else. As I say Ba could rock up this week with a different head on and do alright, and I do think based on what I've seen he is the better striker. But you have to earn the right to play and Best has, Ba hasn't. I agree you need to work as a unit and stay compact against teams. But within that compact unit you have to close people down at some stage, regardless where you are on the pitch. We'll have to agree to disagree because the effort those two put in on Saturday is not acceptable to me regardless of formation, tactics or opposition. You have to work.

 

keep shola in for the mackem game, he is the mackem killer after all!

 

I don't think you can do anything else, he is a different player against them. I'd struggle to justify it based on the Arsenal game but its like horses for courses isn't it!