He's gotten some stick, but I think we should be fair to him. All of his goals have helped us secure points this season. He was in a crap team for a long time and had to basically get points by himself, so was in the habit of needing to skin the entire team by himself. Because of this, enemy teams would just triple mark him, and win the ball back. Now when they do this, ASM is passing a lot more and creating space for others, so whether he scores/assists or is just making space for others, he's having impact regardless, and will be humbled realising he doesn't need to win the game by himself. He played a big part in 2 of our goals in the last two games, assisting wilson, and slotting through big joe. For all those who wanted us to sell him, give him more time. Remember how bad Joelinton was at one point... ASM carried us in previous times, he deserves more time. I still think he's probably our best winger. He's only big weakness is he doesn't defend well, but maybe that could improve. He's only 25, he's a few years away from his prime. Same as Joelinton.
And his progress as a player has been hampered by the idiot Bruce and his so called coaching team. Now we have a proper coach and coaching team his general game will improve I have no doubts about that. It's simply a question as to how much and will that be good enough. I agree, he deserves time.
He just needs a good striker to play off..look at the difference since Wilson came back..Wood wouldn't have been in that position for the second at Burnley. Good players look better with other good players.
He has been horrific in the latter part of this season save for his contribution in the last couple of games as you quite rightly point out. I'm prepared to give him the benefit of next season and to have a full season under Howe with hopefully some more better players around him and even some stiff competition for his place. For me the biggest problem I have with him is his constant whinging, limping and lying around hoping that if he lies on the ground long enough the referee might suddenly change his mind and give him a free kick. He cuts a very frustrated figure at times but he just needs to take a leaf out of big joe's book, give his heed a wobble....knuckle down and put himself about and get the fans up off their seats. He's unplayable at times, we just need more of those times but for him to be a bit more accepting of the fact that he's a marked man, he will get a lot of attention and he needs to use that to his advantage rather than sitting on his arse and limping back up the pitch fiddling about with his ****ing gucci headband !
How come he gets more stick than Fraser even though he scores more and gets more assists, and is just generally miles better than Fraser. We need to be getting rid of Murphy, Almiron etc and getting better replacements for them before we start worrying about Maxi.
Newcastle have for years been an incredibly soft touch, very predictable side, under Ashley's penny pinching. We've typically had one dangerous player on the pitch at a time and a defence that sits on the 'keepers knee. This makes it very, very hard to create an identity or score goals. If we get Trippier fit, bring in a commanding CB, a better LB (Lodi) plus better coaching to immediately get us 30 yards higher up the pitch, then add in some real quality in attack ahead of a well-drilled midfield unit, ASM will transform. There's still a concern for me, though, about his overall movement. IIRC when watching him this season, he doesn't seem very adept at give and go's, triangles, incisive passing and clever movement. He frequently seems to me like a guy who - like Ben Arfa - can do wonderful things with a ball at his feet, just very little else. Does he have the ability to be coached in this way, to play like those at the very top of the game (Vinicius, for example)? We'll see. It'll be an interesting watch - next season is pretty much sink or swim for him.
ASM I think got stick because he, at one point, was a lot like Jonas when he first arrived. Tried to skin everyone and never passed, lost the ball frequently in dangerous positions, and was inconsistent. ASM could improve though and is already starting to look like a better player. As for getting rid of miggy and muprhy, they're decent back up options, and whether or not we should get rid is based on how much money we actually have to spend.
I don't think the comparison between ASM and HBA is completely unfair, but Ben Arfa was basically a lost cause in terms of his personality, but ASM was bought when he was 22, he's now 25 and has already showed signs of being improved, under a fantastic man manager. ASM is more mature than HBA. He wont contribute well to a defence, but I think you'll see more desire to pass the ball and make space for others. ASM is still 2/3 years from being in his prime.
I don't like comparing ASM and HBA because ASM is a winger and HBA was a central attacking midfielder primarily. Well that was his best position but bloody Pardew either had him on the bench or wing.
HBA wasn't a CAM. He was a RW who enjoyed cutting in on his left, who came to life in a 4-3-3, and was crap in a 4-4-2.
Hmm i don't think he was tbh..look at his goal on debut against Everton, that was from CAM. He could play wing but was better at 10, hence why we never got the best of him cos he hardly played there.
We didn't get the best of him because he had a crap work ethic, was under Pardew, and was often played as a RM in 4-4-2. But look at his best season, the season we finished 5th. We played a 4-3-3 formation Ba-----Cisse-----Ben Arfa ---------Cabaye----- ----Tiote------Perch---------- Raylor-Colo--Saylor--Simpson -------------Krul--------------- Ben Arfa was lethal for the final part of that season and we went on a 8-10 game winning spree I think.
Robert had a crap work ethic but Bobby Robson got the best out of him. Only crap managers use the lazy term as an excuse, the best managers can get it to work. That's why i think ASM still has a future, i think Howe can make it work. It's no coincedence that Robert all of a sudden didn't look as good under Souness, a **** manager, and Ben Arfa under Pardew. We never saw the best of HBA because he never played under a good manager, Hughton was the best he had.
I agree Pardew had something to do with it, but we're not the only ones who had issues with HBA. It quite clear at times he didn't bother training or keeping himself in shape. So you cannot just blame Pardew, HBA didn't have a good attitude. Players need to take responsibility especially when the greedy kernts earn more in a week than me or you do in a year!!!
