A lot has been said and written about Newcastle United’s
shambolic transfer window. Despite appointing a Director of Football at
Newcastle, Joe Kinnear, who is supposed to look after the transfer side
of football, the Magpies have only landed a 16-year-old kid and Loic
Remy on loan from QPR in the summer. Certainly, manager Alan Pardew has all but to deal with the existing
bunch he possesses. Yes, the same bunch that managed to avoid
relegation, holding on by the skin of their teeth somehow, and finished
five places from the bottom of the Premier League last season. It was a sharp decline from the standard set by Pardew himself the
year before, where Newcastle finished 5th from the top. Injuries to
several key players, losing star striker Demba Ba to Chelsea
and too many new/foreign (read as French) influx in January transfer
window meant Newcastle never had that stability they enjoyed the
previous season. This was reflected in the performances as well – lack
of cohesion and understanding among new players was clearly visible. The
brand of football has hardly been exciting, while the average pass
distance of 22 metres – the highest figure in the division – only
suggest there was a clear lack of imagination from the middle of the
park. There has been a slight improvement this season, in terms of passing
and creativity. And, a lion share of credit goes to Newcastle’s unsung
hero Sylvain Marveaux for it. The 27-year-old, who
started his senior career with Rennes, found life difficult at St.
James’ Park, after only making seven appearances in his first season
(out through injury, his eternal demon) since joining the club in 2011.
In his second season at the club, he made 22 appearances (far better)
and this season, he has played in two out of three games, though didn’t
last the full 90 minutes in either of the games.
In absence of Jonas Gutierrez, the Frenchman has been deployed on the
left hand side of the pitch in Pardew’s typical old-school 4-4-2
formation. With foraging Ben Arfa operating on the other wing, Anita and
Sissoko dropping deep in the centre, there has been no shortage of
creative outlay in the team. With such intelligent players taking
control of the midfield, naturally the tendency of playing direct
football has been marginalized and emphasis on short passing style has
returned. The average passing length has reduced to 18 metres, with
Marveaux, the most impressive of the lot with an average figure of 17
metres has contributed a great deal.
Red – Missed passed, Deep Blue- successful passes, Light blue – chances created.
If we look at his contribution in the final third against Fulham
(his best performance of the season so far), we can see that he was
directly involved with at least two clear cut chances, and delivered
short, crisp passes from all across the field (right, left or centre).
Possibly a reason why his passing accuracy is comparatively lower than
his fellow midfielders as he has tried to engineer something with every
possible move.
Average pass length of Marveaux Out of 49 passes attempted against Fulham, 21 of them were created in
the attacking third. It’s no surprise that the Frenchman has created 10
chances in the two games he has appeared in, highest in the Premier
League and that too without completing the full game.
If Newcastle can keep him fit, Marveaux could play a key role for
them in coming matches and help them finish in a better position in the
League table than last season.
No comments:
Post a Comment