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The Cabaye and Ba rivalry heats up!

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Yohan Cabaye and Demba BaNewcastle United are being lauded right now for their success in the transfer market, but just as important as the quality of players that they have brought in is the type of player too, how they fit into the dressing room and their effect on team morale. Graham Carr might be responsible for getting a good player, but Alan Pardew then has to bed them into the dressing room and ensure that Newcastle remain united.

I don’t think there’s any doubting that the spirit at Newcastle at the moment is fantastic and that will always be easier to create and maintain when you have a winning team. Sometimes the hardest job for a manager is to ensure that the players who aren’t in the starting eleven every week remain upbeat and that their heads don’t drop.

While Demba Ba is a regular fixture in the Newcastle team, he isn’t playing in his favoured position and not being able to find the back of the net for a while and being upstaged by compatriot Papiss Cisse will have been difficult for him. However, all the quotes coming from Ba are very positive and he has even developed a friendly rivalry with French midfielder Yohan Cabaye!

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Ba has regularly stated that he’d like to play for PSG one day and again this week told Canal Plus 2 that: “It’s still a dream of mine to play for PSG but for now I’m happy where I am and the Premier League suits me.” So Ba is a northern French lad, but Yohan Cabaye’s wife is from the south of France and the two enjoy a bit of banter.

Demba further said: “I’ve always loved PSG. I watched them beat Marseille at Cabaye’s house. Cabaye’s wife is from the south of France so there was a bit of rivalry there.” It’s all very friendly between the two families though, as Ba also stated: “I have a special bond with Yohan Cabaye. He’s someone I appreciate a lot. We’re always round each other’s houses. I have a lot in common with Hatem as well and I adore the guy.”

It cannot be overstated how important it is that the players in Newcastle United’s squad get along, as that will make them more willing to fight for each other on the pitch. If there’s an understanding off the pitch then that will translate on it and Ba, Cabaye and Ben Arfa all link up pretty well. So, Newcastle’s biggest challenge this summer is to ensure that whoever else they bring in can slot straight in and buy into the positive ethos on Tyneside right now.

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Here’s a rare interview with Yohan Cabaye…

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