We brought in two new central defenders in Fabian Schar from Swansea who was the replacement for the departed Chancel Mbemba and then on the final day of the window Rafa brought in Federico Fernandez who was the replacement for the injured Florian Lejeune.
It looks like Florian will be out until January, and he played well last season after he had recovered from the ankle injury he picked up in the very first game against Tottenham last year.
At the end of last season, Florian could have been our best center-back, as he worked so well with captain Jamaal Lascelles at the back.
Florian Lejeune in action – a big miss for Newcastle
This is what Rafa has said in Chronicle Live about his missing center-back:
“Florian was someone that was coming to a new country last year, and he needed to settle down.”
“He could pass the ball from center-back, and he needed time to cope with the pace and physicality of the Premier League.”
“He needed this time, he was injured – believe me, I was talking with him and asking, and he was never injured when he was in Spain. He was always playing.”
“He came here and in the first game, boom, injured. A little time out, then another long-term injury, and that is hard to deal with psychologically.”
“Then, in the months after he came back, he settled down because he is strong mentally, and then he was passing the ball and giving confidence to the team and all the players around.”
“He became a very important player for us.”
“And then during pre-season, he got another long-term injury which will take a bit of time to get back from. That was a blow.”
“We lost him just before the start of the season, so it didn’t give us too much time to get someone else in.”
“Before Florian was injured, we had an idea to bring in another center-back to replace Mbemba.”
“We were talking with Schar already but, once Florian was injured, we had to bring in another one to be sure we had enough numbers there.”
“Florian has been a big miss for us in terms of what he means for us as a crucial member of the team.”
“The style of football he brings and helps us to adapt to is something we have lost. Now we need to see how we can cope without him.”
“Federico is an important signing, Schar will take a little time to adapt, but we need to see what they can give us now Florian is out for a while.”
“We have to change our style without him.”
Florian is a good player, and it looks like he hasn’t been injured much at all until during his career until he arrived at Newcastle.
And he picked up his serious ACL injury in training, which is strange.
We have to hope that when he does return he has a long spell in the side without injuries.
But in the summer Rafa will have five center-backs in Lascelles, Fernandez, Schar, Clark, and Lejeune – so we wonder if he will sell one of them?
That’s always assuming Rafa is still manager of Newcastle next July.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
12 comments so far
lesh
Sep 7, 2018 at 8:57 AM
Comment #1Repost
Roblernio
I think the deeper problem Rafa has with the Ashley regime isn’t the lack of signings but the way they go about things. I suspect that Rafa, being an honest broker, would prefer that Ashley and his acolytes adopted honesty as a normal behavioural trait. They seem unable to do that. If he new where he was at with Ashley and understood and agreed with the reasons why, Rafa’d be willing to work under whatever constraints are necessary.
However, honesty appears to be anathema to Ashley because he’s a man lacking the strength to manage his affairs face on, eye to eye.
lesh
Sep 7, 2018 at 9:00 AM
Comment #2Optimistic P
Why do things go quiet when there’s nowt to moan about? There you have the answer, the moaners end up moaning to themselves and see no point in posting.
Jib
Sep 7, 2018 at 9:05 AM
Comment #3lesh
The moaners end up moaning to themselves and see no point in posting.
So why are you here ?
RobLeenio
Sep 7, 2018 at 9:11 AM
Comment #4lesh, spot on. Or at least I assume so as Rafa has never said what his specific gripes are with the regime. I can imagine transparency, control and honesty are right up there, however, all of which issues translate to Rafa not being able to achieve what he wants, whether in the transfer market, around the club and ultimately on the pitch.
There are deep lying issues to solve. Only Rafa knows if he thinks he can solve them in conjunction with Ashley or if his long-term future at the club depends on Ashley leaving. Time will tell.
I do feel we as supporters are sometimes guilty of translating our own frustrations onto Rafa himself. Who knows if Rafa was seriously narked because we missed out on a specific player or not? It looks bad from the outside, whereas the reality from a perspective inside the club may be less severe.
Jib
Sep 7, 2018 at 9:20 AM
Comment #5Strangely Justin Barnes comes in for much
flak from certain parties
However the last time Ashley had a legal type
(Barnes trained as barrister) as a head honcho,
namely Chris Mort (now of Freshfields ) ,
the ship ran fairly smoothly.
It was only when the tool Llambias got between
Keegan and Ashley that everything went pear – shaped
lochinvar
Sep 7, 2018 at 9:25 AM
Comment #6Dicky Keys – is he a Has Bein ?
Jib
Sep 7, 2018 at 9:26 AM
Comment #7very much a has beIN
RobLeenio
Sep 7, 2018 at 9:29 AM
Comment #8Jib, I think the biggest issue with Barnes is that he’s not acknowledged anywhere as a significant member of the club’s executive. The perception is that he is Ashley’s hatchet man with no accountability to any interested party connected to NUFC.
If he was given a seat on the board, responsibility and a public profile and could therefore be placed on the public record including exposing himself to questions from fans, journos and such, then he wouldn’t be seen as such a Sith-like character lurking in the shadows.
He recently took a role in one of Ashley’s US-based concerns, which should keep him at least part time away from the club. The biggest concern is that he will not be absent come January.
Just on Chris Mort, he was actually acting for PCP Capital last Winter as far as I remember.
hibbit
Sep 7, 2018 at 9:35 AM
Comment #9re Barnes
he’s not been to any home games so far this season, i don’t know if that means anything ????
Ron Knee
Sep 7, 2018 at 9:38 AM
Comment #10Is Bishop still going to matches, hibbit?
hibbit
Sep 7, 2018 at 9:39 AM
Comment #11Ashley had a falling out with Freshfields, that’s how they were able to act for PCP
hibbit
Sep 7, 2018 at 9:45 AM
Comment #12Ron Knee
he is very rarely misses a home game,often wonder who pays for his long weekends in the north east ????