Yoan Gouffran will be part of a Newcastle United side that takes on Wigan in the Premier League this afternoon. The Frenchman features in our pre-game stats, but how would you rate the start he’s made to his Newcastle careeer?
– Wigan’s last effort in the league was a 0-4 defeat at home to Liverpool, a result they will be keen to banish from memory with the arrival of another dangerous outfit in Newcastle this weekend.
– Maynor Figueroa continues to be a bastion of strength in defence for Roberto Martinez’s side this season. He now leads the Wigan squad for defensive contributions with 261.
– Scottish midfielder James McCarthy’s influence on Wigan’s performances this season has been enormous, as evidenced by the fact that he has completed more passes in the opponent’s half than any other Wigan player (702) at an average rate of one every 3.8 minutes.
– Franco di Santo may not have been at his most accurate in front of goal at times this season, but it has not diminished his willingness to let fly when he finds himself in promising positions. He has had 54 attempts on goal this season (55% of which have been on target), second only to Arouna Kone with 56.
– Newcastle showed good grit to overcome Stoke 2-1 at St James Park last weekend, with goals from Yohan Cabaye and Papiss Cisse helping them to come from behind and deservedly claim all three points.
– Yoan Gouffran has showed some promising touches in the early stages of his Newcastle career, another in a line of talented Frenchmen to join the Magpies’ squad. He’s already registered 2 assists and 12 efforts on goal since arriving on Tyneside.
– Senegalese striker Papiss Cisse continues to fill the sizeable void left by Demba Ba’s departure. His well-taken goal last time out in the league is something we all know him to be capable of and he is steadily improving his general shot accuracy, now sitting at 51.9% from 52 attempts.
– Despite struggling to nail down a regular place in the starting XI at times this season, it has proven difficult for any other Newcastle player to replicate Hatem Ben Arfa’s ability to take the game to opposition defences. The gifted midfielder still leads the Newcastle squad for dribbles with 27.
Data courtesy of the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, the official player rating index of the Barclays Premier League.
Yoan Gouffran – How would I rate him?
Nowhere near good enough. He’s just another version of Obertan . Goes on runs that dont go anywhere.
Yes – he has an assist and a goal to his name, but one went in off the defenders head, wrongfooting the keeper while the other bounced off the keepers arm to a fortunate Sissoko.
Personally I rate Marveaux well above him and would even consider Abeid before him.
He may develop as time goes by but let him do that somewhere else – on loan or in the reserves.
A bit harsh I think. Goufran links play and uses the ball well to help keep possession. Similarly to Obertan he has super pace which means the opposition can’t play too high a back line or crowd cisse out as it take a couple of players to stop him. Add his willingness to shoot / eye for goal and arial ability and I think you have to say he is a quality addition. I do agree however that marveaux has done enough in his games this season to warrant a start on one of the wings / outside forward positions.
Gouffran has much more awareness than Obertan, works harder and is generally of much more use to the team. You’d put Abeid before him? Oh well, each to their own.
Archie brand you obviously na nowt aboot football, you cant play abied over gouffran. gouffran has tons of ability and never gives up inlike obertan. Please pardew u have to put jonas on the bench and play marveaux, he’s mint.
I agree with Yohan cabaye
Would love to see Marv on one side and goufrann on the other, his pace scares defenders to death. I think Spider-Man should give up being a winger and should start on the bench, ready to come on in the second half before tiote gets his red