Are our wings strong enough?

First off, I would like to say I am not planning on writing loads of articles, but I have been thinking, and I just feel that the wingers that we have just are not good enough.

Some of you may agree some may disagree, but hey that’s the whole point of a website like this.

I am going to start by taking a look at the wingers we have, looking at what their game brings, and having a look at the stats, which some people say don’t really mean a lot but personally I believe that stats can tell a massive story.

Jonas Gutiérrez - Well a lot of Newcastle fans love this guy and I am exactly the same, but is he really good enough to play week in week out for Newcastle? Well I am not too sure. His work rate is second to none and he is probably the hardest working player in the squad, he will always work back to help out the full back but will also have a run at players.

However since the signing of Davide Santon I don’t feel that we need a player who is so willing to help out the full back position, although of course it is always an advantage. But this is where the next problem begins. He is more than willing to have a run at players but then once he gets into a position the cross the ball 80% of the time he either puts it into the keepers hands, out for a goal kick or nowhere near the keeper. Sometimes he does however produce that little bit of magic and either gets a goal or whips in a beautiful cross.

Since joining Newcastle Jonas has had 25 assists, personally from a winger I would expect better, but with Jonas he is very often the player who assists the assists. Also Jonas wins a lot of free kicks. Personally I think he has been slightly poor lately, but I believe if his play picks up to the standard and plays to the ability I have seen where he is not afraid to run at any full back then he is safe in the team.

Gabriel Obertan - Now he is a controversial one, I have been the centre of a lot of arguments due to Obertan, usually me saying how bad I thought he was. However I thought about him, what he brings to the team and his age and maybe I was being slightly harsh. He is still a very young player and has been sat behind the likes of Ryan Giggs and Nani at Manchester United, with a almost impossible chance of getting in the Manchester United team, it can’t have done his confidence any good and that is where I feel Obertan is struggling.

Since joining Newcastle, Obertan has had two assists, the low cross against Stoke and the magnificent outside of the foot cross against Nottingham Forest, and has scored one goal against Blackburn, which showed the quality that he can produce. I am still 50/50 with Obertan, but if he can add a final ball to his game which may only be a case of getting some confidence, I think Obertan can become a good player for Newcastle to have.

Hatem Ben Arfa - At the start of the season Alan Pardew was going on about how he would be the number 10 type player behind the striker. But as of recently this looks like it may not be the case with him playing on the wing. This worries me a bit. Not because I don’t think the wing suits him, but because I feel that he does not give Danny Simpson the help that he needs. Even when Ben Arfa is willing to get back his tackles are very week.

Recently Ben Arfa has shown his quality on the wings, with a great goal against Blackburn then another one against Bolton. Now these aren’t the two best teams in the world but never the less they are both in the Premier League. I personally prefer it when Ben Arfa plays out wide but I think he needs to improve his work rate which I think is what Pardew is working on and is the reason why we have not seen him play too often this season.

Sylvain Marveaux - I can’t make much of a comment on Sylvain Marveaux as I have not really seen him play. He does however look like he could be a very good player and I cant wait to see him come back from injury, which I believe will be in March/April time. I also believe that they have fixed the whole groin area and not just the injured part, so hopefully he will be able to push on next season.

Then we have a few other players who can play on the wing in Dan Gosling and Ryan Taylor, both of whom are very versatile players, but for me they are not wingers and I would much rather see someone else play there when the other lads are injured.

Then we also have the youth players with Sammy Ameobi who is currently injured and I personally don’t believe will be good enough, but that may be a bit harsh as he is only young, and Shane Ferguson who looks like he could be a good player and personally I believe that will be on the left wing not at left back.

I don’t believe that we should be to bothered about getting a winger this window, but I do think it should be a position we should look at strengthening in the summer. I am not going to throw names around of possibly players because I get fed up of hearing rumours. I do think however that Junior Hoilett of Blackburn is available on a free this summer and he could be a good signing, with Demba Ba already proving that you don’t need to pay big bucks for a good player.

Thanks for reading.

Spencerthetoon