Fixing The Mismatched Midfield

Even with the departure of James Perch (and Danny Guthrie last summer), Newcastle's midfield may be the only relatively deep area of the squad. Yet it may still have a serious flaw, one put on display in this week's friendly against Paços de Ferreira. Do all the talented pieces in the midfield puzzle actually fit together?

To the horror of many fans who watched Tuesday's match, Alan Pardew started with his customary 4-2-3-1 formation, except with Moussa Sissoko on the right wing and Hatem Ben Arfa in a central role behind Shola Ameobi. The melodrama was unnecessary, seeing as it was a match that didn't count, which was rendered even more meaningless after it became 10-on-10 late in the first half. But Pardew's experiment showed that he is not quite convinced that any plausible combinations of his central midfielders work.

Toward the end of last season, as Sissoko faltered in his number 10 role, many supporters suggested moving him back to one of the holding midfield positions, where he spent most of his time at Toulouse. But Sissoko's Premier League statistics show a potential problem there. Despite his obvious physical gifts, he's hasn't been particularly stout, winning ground duels at only a 39% clip, second-worst in the entire squad. Pairing Sissoko with either Yohan Cabaye or Vurnon Anita could leave Newcastle's back four with very little midfield protection. The alternative is giving Cheick Tioté a virtually guaranteed starting role, which seems worrisome on the back of a shaky 2012-13 campaign.

With Tioté cemented in the starting lineup, Cabaye, Sissoko, and Sylvain Marveaux are fighting for two midfield positions. Marveaux is the most natural attacking midfielder at the club, and it would be intriguing to see him get an extended look in the number 10 role. But would Pardew leave Sissoko or Cabaye on the bench several weeks in a row? It seems unlikely, and given Marveaux's injury history, we may never find out anyway.

And if Sissoko doesn't work as a number 10, neither does Cabaye. Though he was briefly successful in the role at the end of 2011-12, for about as long as Sissoko worked in the role last season, his instinct is to play very deep. One of the biggest issues Newcastle struggled with last year when Cabaye and Tioté played together is that Cabaye always set up closest to the back four, leaving his Ivorian teammate as a very unnatural creative outlet. Cabaye can also be marked out of existence in an attacking midfield role, as any defender worth his paycheck is capable of staying close enough to nullify his influence.

So if the 4-2-3-1 doesn't seem to click with this set of players, what other choices could Pardew have? I'd personally like to see him resurrect the 4-3-1-2 formation he randomly tried out in one of last year's friendlies, with whatever two strikers he can muster - assuming the dispute gets sorted out, Papiss Cissé and Yoan Gouffran are the obvious choices. Ben Arfa or Marveaux could play behind those two, with some combination of Cabaye, Sissoko, Tioté, and Anita in the line of three. It's probably the best balance of attack, defense, and the natural tendencies of all the players involved, especially given the ability of Mathieu Debuchy to widen what can be a narrow formation.

Or maybe Pardew would prefer a similar narrow look with one striker and two free-floating attacking players behind - probably Ben Arfa and Marveaux in combination. You may recognize it as the approach Carlo Ancelotti has used in many of his managerial stops, including recently at PSG.

Formations are only as good as the players in them. Although the 4-2-3-1 is currently in vogue, it's difficult to see how Newcastle's midfielders can fit neatly into the system. Experimenting with Sissoko on the wing is a sign that Pardew recognizes the problem. But the fix requires more than just shuffling players around an unsuitable style. Even if nothing gets accomplished on the transfer front, a system that better fits the squad should produce much improved results.

Comments

[BeeGuy]

Nice post, I'd like to add some perspective to this. Sissoko is only a problem in that does not stay inside his game. He wanders off, gets to his spot too early and ends up running himself out of the play, or standing flatfooted with his face to the Newcastle goal. Both of those flaws are correctable with some stern coaching and revealing video sessions. Properly coached, Sissoko can outplay Tiote by a wide margin. Getting Sissoko in harness would allow a 4-1-4-1 formation with HBA, Goufron out wide and Cabaye and Vuckic dominating the middle.

[Karol]

I really want to see Newcastle utilize a 4-3-2-1 formation with HBA and Marrveaux/Gouffran (depending on who the striker is) playing the attacking mid/wing roles and Sissoko (box-to-box) Cabaye (CM/deep lying playmaker role) Tiote (CDM) forming the '3'.

[Uday]

Nice article with lot of practical concerns. Adding more perspective is the Jonas 'I can't cross' Guttierez conundrum. It seems like Pardew really likes to play Jonas for his ability to just aimlessly run along the line into the opposition half. This play, more defensive in mindset, helps getting the ball out of our half and allows an opportunity to link up with Santon, who I think will be found out in attack this season due to his continued tendency to always go right on the dribble. Interestingly, the Jonas+Santon combination seems good to look at until they conjure up a cross which is bad.

Hence, Pardew will keep playing Jonas for his tireless work rate and ability to get the ball out of danger. We need some pacy midfielders or strikers who can link onto Jonas in central mid, or CAM position and set up one of our strikers. Here's where Marveaux, Gouffran, Ben Arfa and Sissoko fit in for their pace. If we do have Jonas on left wing, our best midfield in the case is Jonas, Cabaye, Sissoko and Marveaux with Ben Arfa in a No. 10 role behind a striker. Tiote, Anita and Gouffran are decent bench strength then. Oh yeah and then there's Obertan who's like Jonas again!

[Jaeger]

i like the 4-3-2-1 idea but not sure if we'd have enough width in the final third or on counters. glad pardew is testing different lineups in the frendlies though.

hopefully we can sign gomis in the next week and good idea about the loan for remy... i could live with those two signings only...maybe a defender but not neccessary.

[Rob]

That's a very good analysis.

Basically, I don't think we can play Tiote and Cabaye together in the centre if we mean to improve. A playmaker and a defensive midfielder are different animals, but they both occupy the same territory on the pitch. They end up playing side by side, and we don't get forward.

I like the idea of a 4-3-1-2, as it would give Ben Arfa a free role. To make it work though, we need a better anchorman in midfield than Tiote, and a more versatile striker than Cisse is proving to be.

[Punter]

I finally cut through all the hype about NBC's Premier League coverage and it appears that if your cable provider doesn't carry the Premier League Extra Time package, you'll be limited to two or three televised games a week. For example, my provider is Charter Cable and they won't carry PLET this season. This means that the Toon will only be televised here on those rare occasions when they are one of the featured games of the week. For an NUFC fan with the wrong cable provider, this is actually a worse setup than Fox, because there is no equivalent to Fox Soccer to Go in which you can pay a fee to get a more comprehensive package. I hated Fox's low def broadcast, but at least there were more chances to see the Mags.

[JeffC]

Agree Punter! I have Time Warner and even as one of the "larger" cable companies they don't provide the NBC option either. All the 'a la carte' online options being offered by networks is being cut off by the cable companies so you don't drop them and their outrageously overpriced service and one channel you actually want on their highest tier! It's shite!