Mark's Column - SEPTEMBER 2003

By Mark Deeks
November 23 2003

Hi there again folks, time for the second instalment in my view of the season 2003-4.Only a few weeks into the season, and things have certainly been kicking off in more ways than one. Let’s face it, most of us probably assumed that by this stage we’d be safely through to the Champions League proper

MARK’S COLUMNS
September 2003

Hi there again folks, time for the second instalment in my view of the season 2003-4. Only a few weeks into the season, and things have certainly been kicking off in more ways than one. Let’s face it, most of us probably assumed that by this stage we’d be safely through to the Champions League proper, and have at least4-6 points from our opening 3 games. As things stand, we’ve lost 3 games in a week at SJP, have one point, and have been demoted to the UEFA cup already.

Now there has certainly been a lot written / said / emailed over the course of the last 7 days about just what on earth is going on at our beloved club and who or what is to blame. Obviously I can only give you my take on it, but that’s my job. I am not jumping on the bandwagon of the merchants of doom surrounding SJP at the mo. I still believe in these players, but my thoughts may not make for pretty reading!

I have several gripes with our current situation, and honestly it’s difficult to know where to start. Many fans are currently questioning the wisdom of “hawking ourselves” over to Asia pre-season, seeing it mainly as a marketing ploy first, with footballing matters very much playing second fiddle. Personally, I’m not sure that this is a problem. Fat Fred is obviously very keen to try and maximise any potential income into the club’s coffers and that’s fine by me. Certainly I don’t think this has necessarily hampered our fitness or anything like that. And Chelsea and Birmingham don’t seem to be having any problems….

No, the gripe for me remains that as the summer progressed, Newcastle weren’t even getting linked with any players, let alone being seen to be trying to buy any of them (once the Emerton and Kleberson deals had been resolved elsewhere). And this worried me. Newspapers weren’t even bothering to try and convince their readers that the Toon were even in the market for anyone, and this strikes me as a little unusual. Why weren’t we in the market? Common consensus seems to be that Bobby wanted Emerton to play right back and he wanted to be in midfield. Fair enough, but if we were willing to pay £7.5 million for him less than a year ago, surely we were willing to pay more than the £2.75 million he went to Blackburn for even TO play right side midfield. After all, Nobby was hardly setting the world alight last season, never mind this. And Bowyer allegedly prefers playing in the centre anyway.

As regular readers will know, I have been banging on for some time that our main problem at the back is full backs, not centre halves. The second best centre half at the club, for me, remains Aaron Hughes. Wayne Bridge went to Chelsea without a sniff from us, Stephen Carr was left at Spurs despite hinting he wanted Champions League football (ironic now, but you see my point). So is it simply a case that our lack of spending has led to our poor start? Well partly, yes. If we had spent a (not a Chelsea sized) portion of cash like everyone else seemed to be doing on a couple of decent players, then we would surely not have been done by a merely average team like Belgrade.

But let’s assume just for a moment that for some bizarre reason, we don’t actually have any spare cash (although where that £11.5 million in prize money from last season’s Champions League adventure has gone, that we received in July, along with 42,000 season ticket holders’ cash I don’t know!). Should we be in the state we are? Well let’s face it guys, the answer would remain “NO”.

THESE ARE ESSENTIALLY THE SAME PLAYERS AS LAST SEASON! How is it that they have gone from being one of the most feared attacking forces, perhaps in Europe, to being unable to fashion a single decent chance in 2 and a half games of football, at home, against (alright half a game against the champions), Belgrade and Birmingham chuffing City?!? Some of our players are turning in performances that beggar belief!

There isn’t time here to go through the catalogue of ineptitude that has occurred so far this season. The Leeds away 2-2 draw I can live with. Patches of good football, great counter attack that led to our penalty, two strikes Super Al, two costly individual errors, typical hustle of an opening fixture, not a disastrous result. The first half against Man Ure: great workrate, not too many chances created, but vital lead secured and held to half time. Then something happened.

Suddenly we turned abysmal. Not wishing to single any one player out, but I have been getting increasingly frustrated by the performances of Kieron Dyer. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think he’s suddenly turned rubbish or anything, just that I have become more and more aware that, well, what does he do? For me, there are essentially two types of central midfielders. Firstly, you have your “holding” type. Your Keanes, Vieras, Gerrards, Speeds of the world, who sit there, hold things together, take the ball from the defence, and generally brake up opposition moves. Then, you have your traditional “attacking” midfielder, who’s job it is to create goals, play defence splitting passes, make late runs into the box, and most importantly to get about 10-12 goals a season.

Which one of these is Kieron Dyer? That’s right, neither. Obviously, the Dyer we all know and love SHOULD be the second of these. The bloke has an incredible engine, loads of ability, and lightning pace. But what does he actually achieve? Whenever he gets to the edge of the box, he ALWAYS passes. He never shoots. He regularly runs into trouble, often gets shoved off the ball, shoots weekly, and his killer pass doesn’t kill. If you’d have asked me a month ago would I take £20 million for him I’d have laughed at you. I’d take £15 million now. In fact I’d take £10 million if I thought he was going abroad! (Cos you know that if we sold him to Man Ure he’d turn into a world beater don’t you?…) I desperately want him to start using his obvious immense talent. But he’s not at the moment.

But is Bobby watching the same player? After the Belgrade game he said, “But I thought Kieron was absolutely magnificent. He gave a complete midfielder's performance. He defended, he passed well, he tried to become an extra forward whenever possible and was all over the pitch. It was an outstanding display from him. We have been edged out by a very good team and I have to give them credit for the way they have played over the two games.” What? And a “very good team”?

This may seem harsh, but our season rests on the shoulders of Dyer and others. And they need to start generating performances FAST. He’s not the only one. Bowyer hasn’t done anything yet (alright he’s only had a couple of games, and some would say out of position, but Bobby has obviously signed him to play right side and the lad must have agreed), Jenas is certainly having a lull in his previously rapid rise to stardom, Speed’s distribution is getting poorer, and we must be the only club to have wingers who can’t cross. Solano and Robert are determined to never ever try to go outside their man, always cutting inside. And corners are often a waste of time as they either come down with snow on or hit the first man.

You see, yes we are losing games. But the defence isn’t really playing any worse than it has done for years. It’s just that as an attacking force we have dried up. Shearer isn’t getting a sniff of goal, Ameobi certainly hasn’t got on his skipper’s wavelength, Bellamy is still having knee trouble, and Lua Lua can’t stay out of trouble with the gaffer long enough to get a run in the side. By the way, wasn’t Lua Lua a winger at Colchester? Why not try him out on the right side and bring Bowyer into the middle with Viana or JJ? I would leave Speed at left back for a bit. His foul for the penalty aside against Birmingham, I thought he did alright. And his positional sense was better than Bernard’s, who’s fragile confidence has been devastated by his cock up at Leeds. I’m pleased to see the kid Chopra getting a bit of first team experience but he’s not ready to be a regular first team striker yet.

All in all, as the transfer window closes, it would appear that we have to rally round, stick together and hope things improve after the international break. Changes are needed in the team selection I feel, even if it is only to ruffle a few expensively assembled feathers. The players must realise the importance of the season that now lies in front of them. They owe this club and these fans some very big performances over the coming months. A cup at the end of it really is bordering on essential. The Carling cup would be fine. I really don’t mind.

The support level at SJP yesterday wasn’t bad. In fact for the first half at least, I was pleasantly surprised after what happened on Wednesday night. I certainly sang with my usual enthusiasm. After all, that’s what we’re there for. But the chorus of boos that rang out at the final whistle, should not be lambasted. It was an understandable reaction to a week of immense frustration for all. The players need to realise that the fans are hurting. We feel like we’re owed. Let’s hope that with a couple of weeks break, Bobby can reunite the troops and we can get things turned around. After all, Arsenal away is looming, and I wouldn’t fancy it at the moment!

All the best
Keep the faith

Mark

Did you enjoy this column?
PLEASE E-Mail Mark Deeks with your views! (deekazoid@yahoo.co.uk!)

---