Can Captain Colo break the language barrier?
Kevin Nolan’s defection to West Ham United left a burning hole in the Newcastle United squad. If you think I’m talking about his midfield slot you’d be mistaken. Nolan’s departure left the captains armband hanging lonely on a peg in the dressing room for over a month. Numerous candidates were thrown to the fore with Joey Barton, Fabricio Coloccini and Steven Taylor the frontrunners to lead the Magpies next season.
The obvious choice was Barton after the season he had and his continuous professing his love for the club via twitter making him the ideal candidate in the eyes of the fans. Taylor was also a popular choice with the Geordie fans with the defender spending his entire career to date at the club. Even long serving goalkeeper Steve Harper was mentioned alongside midfielder Cheick Tiote although both would have proved to be the wrong choice.
In fact the armband went to one of the biggest favourites in St James’ Park and capped a massive turnaround in a career that looked doomed just two short years ago. The man affectionately known as ‘The Love of My Life’ Mr Fabricio Coloccini was chosen by Alan Pardew to sport the cherished armband next season. The Argentinian looked certain to be one of the first to scamper away from Tyneside in the wake of relegation after a disastrous first season. Signed for £10.9 million from Deportivo by the king of cowards Kevin Keegan he looked like yet another expensive flop. He was shown to be frail and incapable of dealing with Premier League forwards week after week.
But a season in the rough and tumble of the Championship was the making of him and his performances last season, manic goal celebrations and wild hair have endeared him to the Geordie faithful. It’s obvious he’s earned the captaincy on merit of performance but there is a sneaking suspicion that he wasn’t Pardew’s first choice.
Whilst I’m a big fan of Coloccini’s and believe we’d be weaker without him at the back I still think Barton was the first choice to replace Nolan as skipper. The problem with Coloccini is that his English isn’t exactly as fluent as it should be for a captain. Being a defender he’ll need to communicate from the back and make his voice heard throughout the team. With a legion of French speakers now joining the team along with the other nationalities in the squad why appoint a man who can’t speak English good enough to communicate with those who were born and bred here. He’ll have no trouble barking orders in Spanish to Jose Enrique and Jonas Gutierrez though.
Especially when the other players will be learning English to try and fit in with the manager and the majority of players who speak the native tongue. If the entire team is going to be speaking English wouldn’t it make sense to have a fluent English speaker as captain. Not only to communicate properly with the English players but to also help out the others who are learning the language and assist them in understanding any mystifying words or phrases.
I’m also not a fan of captains playing in defence. In my opinion a midfielder is the perfect position for a captain and that is why Barton was always going to be my first choice. It’s easier to communicate with the defence and forwards whilst playing in the centre of the park will give a player greater license to exert more influence on games. That’s what we got from Barton last season especially in the Arsenal game at home. He literally dragged us to that 4-4 draw having a hand in all four goals and scoring two himself. Unfortunately his contract situation and constant outbursts on twitter caused him to lose out in the race for the armband.
Don’t get me wrong Coloccini won’t be a bad captain it’s just his communication that will be a major problem. Nolan was such an influence in the dressing room and away from the field and I can’t see the Argentinian doing the same. However what he will give the team is years of experience of playing at the top level, knowing what it means to play for Newcastle United and a consistency that seems to be unwavering at the moment. The way he fought back after his calamitous first season show that he is a player people can look up too. There is no doubt, as captain, he will continue to serve the club with great dignity. I just hope his French is up to scratch!
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as things stand not only do i worry about our opening few fixtures or our captain not speaking english! im now getting seriously depressed at the likeness our squad is looking to that of pardews last season in charge in the top flight and also with the similarities with the west ham squad that got relegated last season ( paper thin squad backfilled with LOTS OF CHEAP FOREIGNERS)
ALSO
we still have the enrique sarga?
we still have simpson at right back????
campbell needs replacing with either a young auxiliary centre half/fullback to boost the number of defenders?
we have about 10 midfielders at the club???
and our new signings are either unproven in the premier league and will need time to bed in or as the norm at sjp there dodgy knees will only alow for a handful of appearances?
and we are still in desperate need of at least one if not two goal scores up front??
the only department we are strong in is goalkeepers and centre half’s!!!!!
dont want to be on a downer and full of doom and gloom but i cant see past any of this and the club only talk about maybe one more signing this summer!!!!
so far im seeing
harper(not my choice but he will be our number 1)
simpson (championship player at best?) and we dont have anyone else!!!!!
enrique/ferguson
colo
taylor
tiote (if chelsea dont sign him as a replacment for essian?)
cabye (fantastic signing on paper but will need time to settle and is unproven in the pl)
jonas/marveraux?
barton?
shola (oh my god!!! even nigeria dont use him as a 8th choice striker)
ba (quality when fit! dodgy knees??)
insert/delete. gosling guthrie smith taylor abied lovenkrands best krul forster williamson perch (haha) routledge xisco sami ameobi vuckic richarson
FFS!!! WAKE UP NUFC!
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We’ll be fine this season. Pardew has the makings of a decent squad at his disposal and it’s a lot stronger and fleshier than last year.
Danny Simpson is maturing into a decent full back and he loves playing for the club which is exactly what we need right now.
Enrique looks likely to stay especially now Colo is captain.
Replace Campbell? He played 5 games and was shocking in every single one.
As for the fixtures I think we have a very good mix at the start of the season and i’m confident of a good start.
As for strikers, who would you bring in?
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geordiedug Reply:
July 14th, 2011 at 1:23 pm
i believe we are at the moment ,with it looking more and more likely enrique is leaving a far weaker team than the one which started last season
so far the clubs recruitment of cheap imports from france smack of half hearting things and i cant see us spending any serious cash on the type of players needed to push us on.
i cant fault Simpson’s commitment but its the premier league and hes woefully short of strength and awareness and gets targeted as a weak link in the defence plus we dont have anyone challenging him for his place so he will play regardless of form
i didnt mean an exact replacement for campbell i mean at least another defender in like an Aron Hughes type of player when we had him. a versatile defender who can cover for injuries and suspensions across the back four as we are sort of cover.
as for strikers id love to see bendtner (yes i know hes a dick but he scores goals) maybe shane long (risky but in our supposed price range) as they seem reasonable targets for us now and we wont go for the likes of berbatov or defoe. i don’t think Ashley’s grand plan at nufc is interested unless they are on and a free!
as it stands i cant see how the hell we are going to move on from last season. its all good and well saying we will be fine but where are our goals going to come from? and we haven’t replaced Carroll or Nolan (maybe cabaye but he needs time to settle but is still unproven in the epl) and when enrique goes thats another top drawer player gone who wont be replaced.(taylor from swansea for a million smacks again of bargain hunting and will not fill the void left if enrique goes)
so i admire your positiveness but i cant share in it im afraid
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