Centerbacks - Mbiwa and Saylor

Even though we had a torrid time defending vs City, I really have to say I'm still excited about Mbiwa. The guy has immense pace for a CB. Our defences performances as a whole was ****, but there were times where this lad turned on his turbo boosters and made some fantastic challenges in critical areas. He also shows great strength and aggression. I know his pushing on Dzeko was silly, but I really like to see that from players sometimes. On top of the talent he has, he's also got fire in him, and most of the time it comes out in a good way.

When it comes to Saylor, I like the guy, but It wouldn't really upset me too much if we sold him and got someone better. He's injury prone, he gets his arms in the way of balls in the penalty area far too much, and from the guy who's supposed to be the local hero in our side, his decision to smack Aguero and cost his team was just appalling. That's 3 games on top of the 15+ he will probably miss through injury.

If we can get 3-4m for him and get a talented, strong CB in, I wouldn't be crying to see the back of Saylor.

Anyone agree?

 

Yeah, through all the crap of that game, I watched closely at how impressive Mbiwa was physically. Him and Colo should be the permanent pairing from now on.

 

I totally agree.

Apart from the fact we paid decent money for him Mbiwa's much better than Saylor.
He just needs to take his chance so Pardew doesn't have an excuse to put one of his favourites straight back in when the ban finishes.

Saylor is too wooden for me and I can only see him as a back-up going forward.
3rd choice or possibly 4th if we did manage to get another CB in or one of the youngsters comes through.
He's been a good servant to the club, but, in todays premier league he's simply not good enough.

Mbiwa on the other hand looks as though he's got something about him and given the chance could be massive for us.

 

Taylor is a ****ing liability - always was, always will be.

 

I wouldn't be interested in selling Taylor, we need decent squad players and that's how I would class him.

Mbiwa & Colo would be my first-choice pairing, Santon at RB and Haidaira or Dummet at LB.

 

I think the problem with Saylor is that he just isn't that bright. His clownish falling over, pointless winding up of other players and teams and the inevitable handballs (2 on Monday went unpunished) are all problems. His baiting of the mackems last season was pretty stupid as well, and just got them more fired up.

I much prefer Mbiwa, aside from his physical attributes I think he is a leader, as evidenced by captaining an unfashionable outfit to the French league title at a young age. Keep him here for as long as possible and make him the centre back mainstay. Have Saylor as backup, say what you like but hes better than Willo.

 

He's not really a decent squad player if he's injured though, is he? Plus all these stupid handballs and losing his head at random moments.

 

Indeed not, but if he plays less, then surely he'll stand more chance of staying fit?

 

^^ Those were my thoughts.

The whole "Mr Newcastle" act is starting to get on my tits a bit now like. He's thick as **** and there's no place in the game now (if there ever was) for his particular brand of comical defending.

I'd most certainly prefer to see Mbiwa and Colo at the heart of our defence. Mbiwa looks like he could be the real deal, and playing alongside Colo can only speed up his understanding of the game.

I'd also love to see Santon at RB. Debuchy has flattered to deceive since he came here, and more often than not seems to get very frustrated and pissed off when he gets skinned on a regular basis, and resorts to giving stupid ****ing fouls away, either in or around the penalty area. I recall at least one penalty last season, and the stupid foul on Monday night that Toure scored from the resulting free kick. Chucks his toys out of the pram far too easily for me.

Anyway. The season starts on Saturday for me, Man City is out of the way, we have a home game and its a traditional 3pm Saturday kick off.....woo hoo. You'd think being in Australia wouldn't make that much of a difference to me, but a 3pm sat kick off means, midnight (same night) kick off for me...i.e. I can enjoy a beer whilst watching it ! My boss doesn't really like it when I have beers at 5am on a Tuesday morning when we're kicking off at 8pm Monday night !

 

Can anyone in their right mind explain to me why we sold Perch? One of the few players who displayed passion and grit on the pitch?

 

I certainly wouldn't sell Saylor. I think he may find himself watching a bit this year but he is a good option to have around. Maybe watching and seeing Mbiwa give him some genuine competition will help him through that last stage of maturing and become the centre back he is capable of. We need plenty of good options.

 

Yeah I agree.

We need a settled back four this year to help aid Debuchy (he obviously needs a longer bedding in period) so hopefull Mbwia and Colo stay fit and cement their positions in the middle of the back four. As for Taylor, he obviously made a crazy mistake against City but for a club of our stature/ability he's a very good 3rd choice centre back and we definitely shouldn't be considering selling him.

 

I must admit I'm sticking to the "give foreigners time" theory on Debuchy. I have to say though he is beginning to worry me. Even the missus said he was **** in the Citeh match. She isn't fussed about the footy and barely knows what's going (I made her watch it). He just looks one tackle away from a penalty at all times. He gets skinned with alarming regularity, gets pushed around like a rag doll, doesn't seem to understand stopping crosses coming into the box is quite important, and most surprisingly of all, looks no more an attacking threat or better passer than Simpson! I kind of knew we'd regret Simpson going, he'd be ideal to allow Debuchy time to understand the basics of our game.

However he can't just have become completely crap and ill disciplined overnight. Hopefully they can help him.

 

That's the issue the club don't appear to be able to help on any matter and just seem to make things worse.

We seriously lack any tactical savvy
These days behind the scenes

 

Have to admit Debuchy is a strange one. Every time I saw him for Lille (10-15 games) he looked expectional and that's why I'm in the same boat as you on this one. I simply don't believe he can't adapt to the league and therefore have palced myself in the "give him time" camp.

Having said that he is testing my confidence with every game that passes. As you said other than the reading game last year (2-1 defeat at home) I'm yet to see the lad have a good game. He hasn't really offered much to our attacking game, never seen him over lap our winger other than the above mentioned game and defensively everything from his positioning to his tackling has thus far been alarmingly bad (as mentioned by you).

Have to say I never rated Simpson but it's definitely a case of not realsing what you have until it's gone when it comes to him.

 

even tho Mbwia is 3rd choice CB, by the end of the season he will be 1st over Colo + Saylor. He is going to be class. And after Sylors red card, don't expect him to get his place back any time soon!

 

Perch was similar to Debuchy, giving away needless fouls,looking out of his depth. Yet he became one of my favorite players, so there is hope that a French international can adapt more than a championship player.
The problem is that the disdain fans initially felt for Perch seemed to strengthen his resolve to become better
I'm not sure Debuchy will react in the same way

 

I think that says a lot about James Perch. Never shyed away from it, got his head down and improved greatly. Shame to see him go, especially back to the Championship but fair play to him.
Let's just hope that Debuchy can turn it around - although I personally think Santon would be a much better option on the right hand side, with Haidara on the left.

 

Definitely was a testament to his character. I also notice how, even on his initial bad days, his bad tackles were clumsy whereas Debuchy looks rather petulant in a lot of his fouls
and yes mate why not. Isn't a managers job to pick players on form and ability, not status and ability. Debuchy learns newt if he retains his place,Dummett on the left, Santon on the right for WH game for me

 

Very good point this, it will be down to the player to turn it around. Often these are the sort of things that gets shifted to Pardew in that he is somehow strugglig to get the best from him. Then Pards also gets slated for defending his players in the press instead of telling it how it is. However you look at Perch and the support he got from Pards and Hughton, and the character he showed, you realise why they do it and how much of football is down to the player too.