Two of the reasons why Newcastle United can be great again!
Posted on March 29th, 2010 | 114 Comments |
We ran a poll recently (on the right) for .org readers and contributors to vote on their ‘player of the season’ so far. Of course there may be yet more defining moments to come but even though there were some decent candidates, there are two clear front-runners at the moment. Which is perhaps not surprising, given the vocal support for these two players, with chants aimed at them being two of the loudest you’re likely to hear at games lately.
I always held out hope for Jose Enrique when there were doubts about him, and I’d been impressed with his contributions, though I concurred with the idea that he needed to slim down. But as for Fabricio Coloccini, there can’t have been many supporters who genuinely believed he would have such an impact in his second season. ‘Hoped’ is maybe the right word but certainly there was little in his first season to suggest he would be able to compete with the physical nature of the Championship. I don’t mind admitting I was one of those doubters.
Coloccini seems stronger this season and far more able to cope with the physicality of the English game. Easy to say that it was always going to take time to settle, that’s a given. But this season he just seemed so much more determined and hungrier for the fight. Perhaps like many, he has a point to prove. Probably lacking the pace and strength of other defenders, what Coloccini has to his advantage is to be miles ahead of the strikers in his head. He is often fare more aware of what they are about to do, than they are. And he knows where the ball is going be and more often than not picks off loose balls for fun.
Enrique does not possess the same ability to read ahead of the play although he is still quite switched on. His strength is, well actually his strength is his strength, in the physical sense. And his pace, both of which he has in abundance. And he has a great left and the natural ability that many left-footers have of being clever on the ball.
And that’s perhaps the only pitfall that these two potentially face, trying to be too clever on the ball. At this level, they have not been punished where the strikers are not quite so polished and will not always capitalise on mistakes. In the Premiership, strikers will be more switched on and far more capable of taking advantage of errors if they overplay things. But even with that in mind, the fact that we can consider what these two will be like in the Premiership is largely down to them making themselves available (other than Jose’s recent injuries) and playing a huge part in getting us to where we are today.
So perhaps the time to judge their ability to play at a higher level will be if and when they finally get us there. For now, just admire the brilliance, because at times the way they play football from the back is outstanding and sometimes embarrassing for the opposition. While both lead the poll by almost double the next contender, Peter Lovenkrands, Colo is slightly ahead at the moment on 244 votes (22% of the total number of votes). Being part of a defence we can suddenly be proud of, if one of these two wins the ‘player of the season’ on here, then I’m sure there won’t be too many arguments?
NUFCBlog Author: bowburnmag
bowburnmag has written 234 articles on this blog.
Which female journalist are you referring to?