What Santon Can Learn From Obertan's Outing

Watching Gabriel Obertan live up to his talent against Club Brugge Thursday could provide inspiration for a young teammate who has yet to put an amazing skill set to full use at Newcastle United.

Like Obertan, Davide Santon has too often found himself all dressed up with nowhere to go after majestic runs down the Newcastle flank, chickening out on a shot or without an option or idea for a cut, pass or cross. As a defender, Santon has attracted somewhat less lightning from fans than Obertan for the fizzles at the ends of his ball-carrying fireworks. But Santon has attacking skills unlike any other defender - maybe any other player - in the Premier League.

No one should've been surprised to see Hatem Ben Arfa at the top in our look last week at the Premier League's best dribblers. But Santon is right on Ben Arfa's heels in his ability to beat challengers with the ball, and when dispossessions are subtracted from challenges won, only one player in the entire league - Luis Suárez - is better at leaving opponents in his jet stream than Newcastle's Italian back. Only 25 players in the league win challenges more often than they're dispossessed; 12 are defenders. What sets Santon apart is that he has much more of the ball and is facing far more challenges than any other back in the league. Santon is 16th in the Premier League in number of challenges faced while dribbling; only two other defenders are in the league's top 50 on that list, at No. 45 and 46 (Rafael and Glen Johnson). While the best dribblers in the league, at any position, will beat two challengers per match, it's not unusual to see Santon beat two on a single run, and he had one such sequence against Brugge. It's enough to make a Newcastle fan drool at the thought of Santon learning to apply the exclamation point.

Santon is only 21 - two years younger than a still-young Obertan - and he's fully aware of where he stands in his development. "Everyone always tells me 'shoot, just shoot, Davide', but I never shoot," Santon recently told Louise Taylor of the Guardian. "I have chances to shoot three or four times a game but I always pass. Now I have to make myself cut inside on my right foot and shoot because I know I can score." The potential dividends of an inside cut for such a talented ball-carrier are one reason his manager has been reluctant to play Santon on what would appear to be his natural right side. "Left is good because I can go inside or outside and that makes things easier," he said. "At right-back, it's harder to come inside on my left foot."

Left or right, Santon now must do what he knows he should, and that may be a matter of confidence - as it may be with Obertan, on whose behalf Alan Pardew has pleaded for patience from fans. Though his goal came from the right, Obertan seemed to flower against Brugge on what should be his unnatural left side. Perhaps playing on both sides practices the full range of his skills, as might benefit Santon as well. Or perhaps being on the left focuses Obertan on the pitch rather than his manager's and the fans' expectations. Santon hasn't been subject to that level of expectation, at least not yet. Newcastle fans don't seem to have realized how much we might reasonably expect from a player unlike any other in the league.

Comments

[Shabilla]

Totally agree, I think signing Santon was one of Pardew's best moves. He's a great talent and can leave players dead for dead with pace and trickery - just as he did last night against Bruges, I would have actually put him as man of the match. He's players so calmy and never looks like he's in trouble - much like our captain fantasic Collocini. Once he starts to cut in onto his right foot (from LB position) he should shoot - Glen Johnson and more recently Lighten Baines have made a decent career out of bombing forward and scoring form that position, I would argue techincally Santon it better at dribbling than both. Howay Davide - smashin one in against West Brom on Sunday.

[Jaeger]

i know theres a lot of people wanting santon (and in addition jonas and ben arfa) to play on the side of their natural foot... santon/right, jonas/right and hba on the left so they can put crosses in as accurately as shane ferguson did yesterday. it works for that style of play if thats your plan, but i think playing them where they are now allows them to cut in towards the box and shoot with their dominant foot from the angle (as ben arfa did against blackburn in the FA cup and at arsenal last year). santon does it a little too much so its anticipated by the defense.

[rynkidink]

For those of us not a native Geordie... ;-)

http://geordieinexile.com/article/geordie-word-of-the-day-howay