Demba Ba was again in good form last night and scored another brace – his third brace of the season, in Newcastle’s vital 3-0 defeat of Wigan, and this lad has been an enormous success since he joined us from West Ham in the summer of last year.
Demba Ba – after scoring penalty last night
With 16 goals in 36 appearances last season in his first season on Tyneside, he is currently top of the charts this season, and is tied on 10 PL goals with Michu of Swansea, Suarez of Liverpool and van Persie of Manchester United.
Ba talked to nufcTV today and is only concentrating on doing his job:
“It’s not too bad so far, 10 goals in I don’t know how many games.” “I will just keep on doing my work and if it comes, it comes; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t matter as long as we win.””All I know is what we proved on the pitch last night, what we did on Wednesday as well.”
“We have shown people that we still have the spirit and we still want to win and go forward.” “It was very good, it was very good to win after these last weeks. Now we just have to keep our heads down and keep working and keep doing what we did last night.”
Note to Demba Ba – you have played 17 times for Newcastle this season for those 10 goals – just fantastic.
Of course there have been many reports about Ba’s release clause becoming active again in January, but we are still hoping Newcastle can do a deal before then.
And of course Ba is doing exactly the right thing by banging in those goals to get a contract along the lines of what Newcastle gave captain Coloccini earlier this year – and that’s what Ba wants.
He’s a great player and a good man is Demba Ba – and we’d love him to stay on Tyneside, and he seems completely unaffected by all the transfer talk in the papers about him.
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200 comments so far
obatoyou
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:17 PM
Comment #41How much is 50K a week more? It’s like 2 million a year, man, if he was gonna leave, he’d be like a new signing
new signing at 2 mil who can score 20 goals a season, boy snap him up
new signing man, can’t wait
Jail for Ashley
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:17 PM
Comment #42Ginger,
I don’t think any body is innocent in this affair,we have put a clause in because of his knee,they (his agents) have put clauses in because of our clauses,he won’t get rid of them because although they’re looking after they’re own interests he (Ba) stands to gain financially if they engineer a move or a pay rise.
wreker16
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:19 PM
Comment #43Lol the rage
Catchy In Straight Jacket
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:22 PM
Comment #44Willamson probably cant believe he’s getting a game in the premiership. He looks like somebody has handcuffed his feet together. Bramble flashbacks everytime i watch him.
Ian Toon
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:24 PM
Comment #45Why wouldn’t Ba and his Agents seek to leverage his position.? His representatives only earn commission when he moves on or the existing contract is renegotiated. The club would gain by removing the release clause or raising the bid release sum above it’s existing level. His Agent’s are testing the interest of other clubs. We need to act sooner rather than later to retain control of negotiations. Ba has fully justified an improved contract. Ba’s declaration of love for the club should also be tested.
Jail for Ashley
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:24 PM
Comment #46I’ve always tried to defend Williamson but that air dive as he tried to clear a cross last night was pitiful and embarrassing to watch.
Ketsbaia9
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:27 PM
Comment #47Williamson should go out on loan to Gateshead. If he continues to make silly errors there, he should consider playing pub league football.
toonarmydownsouth
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:27 PM
Comment #48JFA
No worse than when colo lost his head after about 15 mins and started running in circles before being rescued by simmo!!
Catchy In Straight Jacket
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:29 PM
Comment #49He must be the only centre back in football that causes more problems for his own team, than the other team on corners lol
Ian Toon
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:30 PM
Comment #50Phil Brown on radio 5 last night apparently said Williamson was one of the best defenders in the Premiership. He’s always been a good judge of a player!!!
Agree with positive comments on Simpson. He played well.
Dannyo
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:31 PM
Comment #51@Ian Toon
Tbh, i didn’t notice you had a post that correspondet with what i said, i read through a couple of others here.
Checked yours now tho 😉
Now, i realise that there are risks in the Ba dealings. What do we lose if he goes and what can we gain in return.
Arsenal is a good example indeed.
At the same time, love him or loathe him, Ba has often shown a selfish side in his game.
And things like that usually portray his character off the pitch. Ba is a selfish player, look how he went about it when playing on the left side. Obvious selfish reasons for his attitude at the time imo. Also impacted by his own lack of goals ofc.
I’m just saying this, if Ba left, it might not make us weaker mate. I’m not saying we’d be stronger, but I personally do not think we’d be weaker.
I think Cisse would come to the fore. And i think we’d add a different striker entirly.
Kris Kross
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:35 PM
Comment #52its a tricky one, once he signs a big price of a contract he may quiet down and fizzle out. the good thing he is playing to be seen at the moment and we cant rush into something, but if a big club comes again exactly like the Carroll situation get him sold. As long as you replace him and more
Ketsbaia9
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:36 PM
Comment #53That’s why Phil Brown hasn’t got a job haha.
ONLINE GUY
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:37 PM
Comment #54Few times against Wigan Ba Had the chance to put Cisse in on goal but decides to go himself and messes up . A few selfish decisions from him ..cant Knock his goals though .
The perfect player to go alongside Cisse if Ba jumps ship is … Shane Long .
He will be tempted by one of the so called bigger clubs / money clubs soon.
BA plays football but he is not a Footballer in the mode of Shane long IE: Great feet ..pace..and an unselfish attitude, Long can also see a pass and create. He is a nightmare to play against ..A real neat complete player .
.Shane long has it all ..
Tsunki
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:38 PM
Comment #55Magpies-till-d3ath – to be fair to wreker mate, technically when you nominate a joint position, the next one no longer exists and you have to iterate to the next number. So your example should have read:-
1/ Ba
2/ Tiote and Ben Arfa
4/ Cabaye
5/ Santon
6/ Bigirimana(just cuz he’s awesome!!)
If you are going to insult someone for an observation, being right helps a lot. 🙂
mackas7
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:39 PM
Comment #56@jail it’s just finished both myself and my dad have had the opportunity to ask 2 questions each.
Ian Toon
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:40 PM
Comment #57Dannyo- sorry mate I think we’re going to have to disagree on this one.
I love selfish strikers. Shearer being the most selfish. By any goal scoring measure Ba has kept his side of the deal. Bringing in any new player is a risk, we have a fully functioning leading top draw striker.
Cisse is a natural goalscorer but the top sides have more than one. Also if you take Ba out of the equation opposition defenders can focus on Cisse. He was lethal on joining in part because of Ba’s presence.
Of course we could restructure if Ba goes but it would not be my preferred option. I suspect it’s not Pards either.
toonLYF
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:41 PM
Comment #58for me…
1. Ben Arfa
2. Tim Krul
3. Yohan Cabaye
4. Papiss Cisse
5. Davide Santon
Bigi and Colo would be next favourites.
MUTINYbyLEMONS
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:42 PM
Comment #59Sure Ba leaving would make us weaker unless we replaced him with an equally good striker. Ba scores lots of goals and that’s hard to find. Ehat happens if Cisse is injured, who would play? Shola Ameobi?
jesperfuglsang - captain of the lemon crew
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:43 PM
Comment #60Do we know who’s leaking info about Ba’s contract situation or is it all just speculations?
…justified that is!
I always thought tapping up players wad illegal and that an agent could loose his licence?
Magpies-till-d3ath
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:43 PM
Comment #61Tsunki- None of them deserve to be moved down a position!:)
jesperfuglsang - captain of the lemon crew
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:43 PM
Comment #62*wad = was
Dannyo
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:45 PM
Comment #63@Online Guy
What we need is a lay up guy. Sort of how Best worked for Ba.
Doesn’t have to be amazingly good really, but i think Shane Long is an excellent type of that kind of player.
It’s difficult to explain the role, but again, an unselfish player, with pace mind, who can score ofc, but is equally good at seizing the right oppertunities infront of goal.
ONLINE GUY
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:45 PM
Comment #64Shane Long, anyone?
mackas7
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:46 PM
Comment #65My questions were directed at brigton away, and the priority of the FA cup about fielding a strong team, to which my reply was nothing would please me more than getting revenge, I’ve been very unlucky as a manager in the FA cup, my other question was, in my opinion we played some of our best football this season last night, however, prior to this performance we have seen a lot of balls lumped forward in an almost hit and hope fashion, from a managers point of view could you tell us what makes the difference in these performances.
toonLYF
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:47 PM
Comment #66If Ba was to go, Remy would be the obvious affordable and realistic replacement for me. Best suited to a LF role, he’d be more than happy to play out wide, and is in somewhat of a similar mold to Ba by means of being a powerful driving striker. His goalscoring record hasn’t been great recently due to a few injuries, but he’s a big talent, and that’s there for everyone to see.
——Cabaye—Tiote—Anita——
Ben Arfa——-Cisse———Remy
looks so exciting.
toonarmydownsouth
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:48 PM
Comment #67Online guy
Demba linked up with midfield and cisse well last night and was clever about when he passed it the times he didnt pass 9/10 was because cisse was offside
Dannyo we already have that in arfa and marv if ba goes we need a goal scorer and shane long is hardly prolific
wreker16
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:49 PM
Comment #68Tsunki
Thank you, also it was a casual remark not a full out attack, calm down dear 😉
On another note, Ba deserves a contract, he’s scored goals which is the job of a striker, he is selfish but as someone pointed out, shearer was selfish and its a trait found in most strikers and also the most glaringly obvious chance he ha to pass to cisse… HE DID!! Only to find out cisse was offside (muppet). Shane long would be a great addition though 🙂
mackas7
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:49 PM
Comment #69To which my reply was, sometimes teams set up to make others look bad eg west ham, pardew explained that someone had in fact been at the training ground and informed alladyce of their team, he said there is no excuse however for lack of perfomamces but that confidence plays a massive factor
Dannyo
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:49 PM
Comment #70@Ian Toon
Ba is a top player, i don’t think anyone in their right mind can argue that, and i’m not either.
I’m just saying, do you please the best striker in your squad for the sake of the team or do you please the team for the sake of the striker?
I’m not saying that this is the case, but one cannot avoid the signals being sent from the players and the camp on this matter.
Why does AP go from a 4-3-3 that works to a 4-4-2 that doesn’t? The players AP brings in, the way he wants to control the midfield, it all contradicts how our season is going. Or am i wrong?
I think AP wants to keep Ba too, no doubt, but how far will they go to accomodate him? I think there’s a balance here, one we might not get right.
ONLINE GUY
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:49 PM
Comment #71Dannyo
Shane Long seems perfect In every aspect ..I imagined the way the play was going last night against Wigan that Long could hold the ball up but also release that telling pass at exactly the right time into the box ..That’s what we are lacking, that final killer pass that cut’s a defence
in 2 ..Shane Long ..Perfect for all occasions.. Methinks, Danny.
Ian Toon
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:50 PM
Comment #72Kets- How are you ? What do Phil Brown and Ibiza have in common? A. Perma tan. He also said the ref had ruined the game by sending Figueroa off. 43,000 Geordies thought differently.
mackas7
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:51 PM
Comment #73I’ll be back on tomorrow for more crack cheers.
toonarmydownsouth
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:53 PM
Comment #74Mackas
Cheers for the updates
Jail for Ashley
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:53 PM
Comment #75tads,
I can’t remember that,well pleased with the result though,wasn’t the best performance but hopefully it will have provided a much needed needed confidence boost,as for January transfers hopefully the 44K attendance last night will have shown Mashley that we expect him to spend a few quid as well.
Dannyo
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:54 PM
Comment #76@tads
No, i wasn’t thinking of him as a replacement for Ba, far from it.
More like the 3rd/4th striker.
Cisse and Ba, does not work, but there are plenty of games through a season for them to play.
I just want one that works with Ba, and i think Shane is that type of player. Marveux and HBA are not strikers.
Ian Toon
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:55 PM
Comment #77Dannyo- We spoilt Shearer rotten. And he was well worth it. Arsenal offered Van Persie a fortune to stay( apparently) but he wanted to win things. What is Ba’s motivation? Remember he’s a Muslim .
ONLINE GUY
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:58 PM
Comment #78Toonarmydoonsouth
Your right ..A few times Ba held the play up and could not release to Cisse..Wonder does Cisse know the offside rule ! hhaha He was off loads of times ..Suppose that’s the way he plays Just level with the defender ..but gets caught out when they step up. It’s a hard game
NO easy games at all in the prem.. more so than ever now.
Jail for Ashley
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:58 PM
Comment #79I think Demba Ba’s religious faith is irrelevant in any discussion on why or woouldn’t he stay with us !
tequilamag
Dec 4, 2012 at 6:58 PM
Comment #80Mackas7 thanks for the updates