Lineups Vs. Fulham: Return For Cabaye?

Alan Pardew's team selection against West Ham was baffling. Instead of using pace, movement, and passing to undo the Hammers' defense, he tried to batter it into submission. It didn't work, as Newcastle fired 16 shots at goal, 9 of them from outside the 18-yard-box, without forcing Jussi Jääskeläinen to make a single save. I tried to warn Pardew this would happen, and he didn't listen. Perhaps I've got his attention now.

As before, I've selected my starting eleven for tomorrow's match. But this week, I suspect Pardew will have an identical lineup to the one I chose, so there's no need for a separate prediction.

Back five: Tim Krul; Mathieu Debuchy, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon

Why mess with a good thing? Barring a couple lapses, Newcastle was solid enough on Saturday. However, by all accounts, Yanga-Mbiwa was disappointing in the Capital One Cup match against Morecambe. The one frustrating thing about his brief tenure at the club has been his dependence on his center back partner. When playing next to Steven Taylor, or Curtis Good on Wednesday, he's struggled. With a more mature partner in Coloccini, he has been able to show the ability that made him such a sought-after defender in France. Eventually, Yanga-Mbiwa needs to be able to fill Coloccini's role as a leader and organizer in the back line. For now, let's hope he continues to learn from him.

Midfield: Yohan Cabaye, Vurnon Anita, Moussa Sissoko

I really did not want to put Cabaye in my lineup for this match. It's not right for him to go straight back into the team after making it clear he'd rather be elsewhere. If Sylvain Marveaux had not played almost the entire match on Wednesday night, he'd be starting instead. But with his injury situation, it seems pretty clear that he can't play two full matches in a week. So Cabaye, unjustly, gets to start as if nothing happened. At the very least, the wantaway Frenchman should be motivated. He didn't make the French squad for September's World Cup qualifiers because he hasn't been playing. Now he knows he'll have to perform to earn his national team spot back.

While I thought Pardew largely got the team selection correct against Morecambe, Marveaux would be my one quibble. He has demonstrated repeatedly that he's good in a number 10 role, but a poor winger. Sticking him on the wing against a physical opponent virtually guarantees a disappearing act, and that seems to be what happened on Wednesday. Even if Gabriel Obertan is not great, perhaps his pure speed would have caused some problems for the League Two side. He would have offered at least as much as Marveaux did as a winger, and freed him up to start against Fulham. Sadly, Pardew didn't seem to be thinking ahead.

Forwards: Yoan Gouffran, Papiss Cissé, Hatem Ben Arfa

It's the proverbial last chance saloon for Cissé, who I thought should have been benched against West Ham, then did himself no favors with his performance. Where has his movement off the ball gone? Watch the run he makes for this goal at Freiburg: have you seen anything like that from Cissé in the last year or so? 

It's difficult to coach all of the selfishness out of Ben Arfa's game, but he needs to do a better job of spotting the runs that Cissé does make. There was a point early in the West Ham match that Cissé ran himself offside down the left channel. There wasn't a defender within 10 feet of him. He didn't end up getting the ball, but it completely stalled the Newcastle counterattack. The real culprit in that sequence was Ben Arfa, who held onto the ball for too long instead of putting his striker in on goal. Those are the sorts of opportunities that can lead to Newcastle's first goal in the Premier League this season...or at least a shot on target.

Comments

[sidekick]

Pardew has been praising Shola for the last few days so I am expecting him to start up front with Cisse.
I have never ever rated Shola and I've many a time said that he is not even good enough to play in division 2 , which is the fourth tier in our leagues. However . after his performance against Morecambe he possibly can play at that level.
I have gone for Fulham to win 2-0.