Newcastle made the wrong purchase on their Manchester shopping spree
With Manchester United and City aiming to offload some of their players in the summer, Newcastle went sniffing for a bargain. Neighbours Sunderland might have snapped up a couple of defenders, but the Magpies brought in a Red Devil of their own in the form of Gabriel Obertan. However, would Alan Pardew have been better served to do his shopping in the blue half of Manchester? With an England international in the form of Shaun Wright-Phillips available, I would argue that he would have been.
For me, Newcastle’s game against QPR at Loftus Road on Monday showed the Toon Army what they could have had. While Obertan wasn’t particularly poor, he didn’t stamp his mark on the match in the way that SWP most certainly did. Ryan Taylor isn’t a natural left back, but Wright-Phillips ran him ragged and any Newcastle fan would have found it hard to begrudge him a goal. So why did Newcastle turn down an established Premier League player in favour of someone who can realistically only be described as a flop?
The answer comes in the form of Newcastle’s transfer policy. Obertan ticked all the boxes as far as the Newcastle hierarchy were concerned. He’s French, he’s 22 and he cost just £3 million. SWP on the other hand would have commanded much higher wages, probably cost a fair bit more in terms of a transfer fee, and at 29 has little re-sale value. However, I would argue that Newcastle have gone about their business the wrong way.
In principal I support Newcastle’s policy of scouring Europe for the best young players and picking them up on the cheap, rather than paying a premium on English players from the Premier League. However, you do need a core of players with experience of domestic English football in your squad and with Newcastle having lost Kevin Nolan and Joey Barton in the summer, that’s a lot of theirs gone. QPR on the other hand have brought in a load of Premier League players, with more than half having a lot of top flight experience in this country under their belt and it showed on Monday when they were clearly the better team.
Newcastle were very poor going forward on Monday and will need to drastically improve against Aston Villa this weekend. Someone like SWP would have been a great attacking threat, but instead we’ve got Obertan who has plenty to prove. Newcastle might have done their shopping in the Trafford Centre in the summer, but they’d have been better off buying a little gem from the Etihad Stadium.
While SWP isn’t wearing black and white, here’s a Newcastle beauty that is!
Newcastle News 24/7
September 16th, 2011
We have got to stop being so impatient and critical of our players. Are me the most discontented fans around? SWP has not done much in the last 5 years just gone from one club to another picking up a cheque for nothing. He wasnt even played by most of his clubs of late. He was off loaded! I think he flatters to decieve personally. Give Obertans a break hes only played 4 games ffs. ANy of you out there do any better? Yeh hes cheaper so that dosent always make his a bad player. Think of when we had Owen expensive and useless. Obertans has plenty of time to come good, just like enrique did and Barton. Stop knee jerk judging and being jealous sad to say lads QPR has more money than us so let them crack on with SWP who is 29 and who may of just had the best game of the season, and still didnt score. Lets not forget he is pretty injury prone too.
September 16th, 2011
How reactionary and fickle are some of the remarks here?
1) we start by using strong adjectives like “wrong” an over the top remark to sensationalise the content.
2) We make pronouncements based on one game where newcastle were far from there best (as was barton) and understandably so. It was an emotional night for many of us – and emotions cloud our judgement
3) Someone has the gall (pun – get it?) which is their right – to castigate Obertan – who was one of our better midfielders against QPR.
4) New players need time… Ben Arfa scores a brilliant goal and is pronounced a demi-god. He was very poor in the home game after that… the jury’s still out on him IMO
5) Cabaye was one of our best players against Sunderalnd and Fulham but our least effective midfielder against QPR – jury is still out
6) Obertan has many qualities of what it takes to be a ManU player. He has a very good short game and his radar is good. He’s not playing like Nani or young Ryan Giggs yet but remember he’s been sitting on the bench or playing in the reserves – one thing I did notice….
against Fulham he was running diagonaly form left to right with ball and going nowhere or so we thought. THEN he looked up and picked out Ba with an inch perfect pass – a la wayne rooney dare I suggest….
I’ve a background in statistics. Give any new player 15 games before you start pronouncing career limiting judgements
Howay the Lads
September 16th, 2011
WRONG!
SWP is a quick player and thats all! He has little/no crossing ability, his passing is poor and if he wasn’t Ian Wright’s adopted son, he’d be playing in The Conference.
Obertan has pace and the potential that SWP has never realised. His passing has looked neat and he’s got a lot to offer.
It’s early days and he’s just settling in, it makes me sick when people start slagging our players off without giving them a chance!
Oh did I mention we’re 4th in the league?!
September 16th, 2011
SWP COULD NOT CROSS A ROAD , WHY BITCH OBERTAN ALLREADY, HE HAS JUST COME IN TO A TEAM AND PLAYING FULL WHACK CHASING SHADOWS , HE WILL SETTLE IN , LIKE ALL THE OTHER BARGIN BASEMENT BUYS .LETS JUST STAY UP THIS SEASON , AND BY NEXT YEAR WE SHOULD BE A SOLID MID TABLE TEAM, THAT IS ALL WE WILL GET WITH THE FAT TWAT IN CHARGE, MAKE DO AND MEND
September 16th, 2011
i still rate Stephen Ireland