Simmo heading for the January exit?

So.... do you think Simmo will be on the way out in January?




http://thespectatorsview.com/2012/11/05/newcastle-defender-set-to-leave-in-january/

Newcastle Defender Set to leave in January?


The week began with the news that the contract talks between Newcastle United and Danny Simpson have been put on hold until Christmas. It ended with a fully fit Danny on the bench for a make shift right back Vurnon Anita.

Although Danny did come on against Liverpool and put in a respectable performance, the events leading up to the match would have fuelled the speculation that he may indeed be out of the Newcastle door.

This is what a Newcastle source said ‘Danny will have to wait and see what happens in the window. The club has most players on long-term contracts and Danny is the exception to that.’


That is indeed true; one can also say that about the coaching staff too with Alan Pardew and his assistants recently signing eight year deals at the club that after chief scout Graham Carr also signed a similar deal.

The news is that that club had offered Danny a new deal, which was rejected by him reportedly over the monetary terms offered. One can understand both sides as Danny believes he can earn more money than he is being offered being a full fledged right back who helped Newcastle to a fifth place finish.

The club on their part believe they are not short of options when it comes to playing at right back. Davide Santon, James Perch, James Tavernier and indeed Vurnon Anita can all play at right back, even Steven Taylor and Fabricio Coloccini have previously played in that position. A renewed bid for Lille skipper Mathieu Debuchy cannot be ruled out either. So the arguments for negotiation are not in the players favor.

Danny Simpson is not half as bad as he is made out to be and is a consummate professional and has always given his best for the club.

However the truth is that the club can obviously do better than Danny Simpson and Pardew has shown that he is not averse to dropping him if he does not sign a new contract. Another element in the mix is the business aspect that Mr. Mike Ashley brings to the table.

From what I understand he would rather sell Danny in January than let him leave for free in the summer. There will be no shortage of takers for him either, with Aston Villa, Fulham and Reading all being previously linked with him.

Given all that has happened under Mike Ashley with players who have dug their heels when it has come to contract situations, I can see Danny being sold. I think it would only be a miracle if we saw Danny wearing Black and White come February.

 

Hopefully not. I think some of our fans have learnt a valuable lesson in what different players bring to a squad in recent weeks. We defend better when he is playing. He still has to develop his game and is clearly still improving but we may find it pretty tough to get someone so consistent and dogged. The difference between him against Sterling and Anita against Sterling was as wide as a Sunderland lasses gash.

To me the ideal is to have Santon and Simpson as your right back options, and bring in a top class left back. With Tav, Raylor we'll have enough options and even Ferguson, Anita can do a job.

All that said he does need to be on a contract. He of course does not have to move in January even if the club accept a bid. Indeed I think it unlikely he would as he'd hold a lot more cards in the summer. So either way I think we'll have him for this season. I can't comment on who is right between him and the club because we just don't the figures involved to say if it is him being greedy, or the club cutting their nose off to spite their face.

 

I think we are crammed with right backs, Santon should be the first option then we have R. Taylor, young Tavernier and also Simmo (for now).

At left back we only have Shane Ferguson who is just 21 years old and we need a left back to join him.

At right back I am more than happy with Santon and Taylor vying for a place.

Over at BVB, things haven't been going to well in the Bundesliga and they have been schooled recently by S04 in Gelsenkirchen so I wouldn't mind us bringing in Marcel Schmelzer for left back.

Or maybe even Christian Fuchs from S04, I love watching him play, he can defend and he has a beautiful left foot delivery and would put some balls into the box for Newcastle to get onto.

 

I hope not, unless we get another fullback in, and I mean on top of getting a quality fullback.

We need more depth in that area. Selling one player and buying another doesn't help depth issues.

 

I think 2 in each full back position is depth enough.

 

Statistically a very good RB, one I'm sure would grace a "Moneyball" 11... Would be interesting to see that actually!

If he goes, good luck to him. He's been a solid player for us since he joined and I'm sure he'll continue to be afterwards as well. To me, doing better than him suggests investment in january, or else making Anita play RB for everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

 

Could people stop referring to santon as a RB we bought him to be our LB and he was poor vs man u at RB

 

I think he's mostly been poor at RB (except for one game, which alludes my recall), but he is right-footed, and he has played on the right quite a bit in his career. I think he started as a RW.
No idea what we specifically bought him as like, probably just because he's flexible and good!

Overall, at present I think he works well on the right, even though cutting can be a bit tiresome these days. If we sign a RB in January, we know Santon is meant for LB. If we sign a LB, we know his future is RB. If we sign nobody, he'll remain as LB. The fact we tried to sign Debuchey probably means he's envisaged as a LB, but plans change.

 

We need him

 

Simmo at RB bit of a disaster at times, and Anita won't do well there either. Against top teams he falls short as a defender IMO. You'd need a new RB to cover that position propperly now that Fulham, Everton, WBA and West Ham all have improved their team over the summer. And it clearly showing on the table. Heck, you might even have to worry about Swansea, they got a really nice team and might even end up above NUFC in May.

 

No I'm afraid not as right back is his natural role. The myth about him being a left back stems from a successful spell there under Mourinho at Inter when they had problems at left back (Chivu). He is a right back and captains the U21 side there. he also played there for both Inter and Cesena. Pardew himself acknowledges its his natural role and commented pre season about him moving over.

The beauty is he is also an excellent left back. He brings something different attacking wise to each side although he'll always be better on the right obviously. A few times he has looked dangerous playing left and cutting in. Long term he'll end up playing right back for us or somewhere else as this is where his international future lies, and the Italian bosses will wnat him playing there for his club.

We're lucky just to have him in my opinion as he is top bracket.

 

Personally, I've thought Santon looked better defensively at LB rather than RB. He seems to want to tackle with he left foot, which is fine for left back but a liability at RB. Maybe he just needs to get used to playing that side though

 

Santon is defo better at LB. He is our Lahm (a right footed left back).

As for Simmo, he's a good squad player but not good enough for where we want to be. Debuchy is the standard we should be targeting for that position.

 

Santon was a RB, but is better use for us at LB. He defends very well now, and all he needs to do is learn to shoot more often.

 

No way on Gods earth we should let Simpson go. He missed two games last season, he must be doing something right. £28k a week he's asking for won't break the bank ffs. We'd be stupid to let him go.

 

Certainly Santon is more useful to us at present playing left back. But having watched him on the right he is certainly better on that side. He is equally effective defensively, but obviously offers a lot more in the attacking sense when he plays right back. He will almost certainly end up there because that is where his international future is likely to lie (unless of course Italy have the same problem we do in finding suitable left backs - there are not that many good ones). I think its a credit to him that he looked very uncomfortable at times defensively playing left last season and he has worked hard to eradicate those problems.

It would be massively unfair to judge him on the Man U game (although I do think he wasn't as bad as suggested). I think people really need to see him at his flying best on the right before judging him. He is normally the ebst player on the pitch in every U21 game he plays. The fact he is also captain tells you what the Italians think of him.

It would be madness to let Simpson go. I find it staggering that some still can't get a handle on his value, but each to their own I suppose. I know one thing, he is having a very very good season. He already has two assists which shows his attacking is improving. He'll never be as good as a Debuchy in that respect but I doubt Debuchy will ever be as good defensively. Simpson at one point had a problem closing down the ball but he has now put that right (part of it is down to how Pardew asks his teams to defend, with a narrow defensive line). Been one of our better players so far and Benni looks a lot better when he is behind him because he gets the defensive cover to allow him some freedom.

I'd like to see a youngish (18-24) left back who likes to get forward. It'll balance out the squad better than a Debuchy who I can't see happening. That said and although it is always nice to have a few left pegs and balance, I have no problem at all with Santon at left back. The lad is just a quality footballer. The only concern I see long term will be the national teams desire for him to be playing regularly at right back.

 

Make sure you remember that when you're doing your match ratings,.................just saying like

 

Aye he does need to learn to pull the trigger a bit earlier. there are numerous times he's shifted inside and shifted it again. Someone mentioned Lahm, and the one thing he does particularly well is has a pop. The likes of Cisse and Ba don't get enough tap ins from rebounds etc.

 

I think Simpson is a good RB but fully agree any player trying to take us for a ride needs shot. The days of us pandering to egos is over and we did well to get rid of the 'player power' ring we had with the likes of Barton and Nolan.

I think the club has learned from its mistakes of not having replacements lined up so I'd only be happy to see Simmo go if we sign Debuchy or similar otherwise we'd be cutting off our nose to spite our face.

I agree a LB is more important though, even instead of a potential RB if needs must.

 

True enough but in truth it is always hard to know if he is being greedy or the club is, short changing him. With contracts it could be any number of things these days with the way football is. We, the fans, never get to find out, only hearing what the papers have been told by a players or clubs advisors or just decided to make up! Hopefully they'll resolve it, I think they will if he keeps playing aswell as he is now.

He is sitting pretty with a free transfer move at the end of the season, obviously able to pick up a pay day at another PL club. No doubt there would be plenty takers. He seems the type who wants to progress though and I don't think he'd chuck away a career at our club lightly. He can see we're going places and I think that is possibly why he hasn't jumped ship when the opportunity has arisen (the club/manager seeming none too fussed if he goes).