Is Demba Ba unhappy?

Posted on April 17th, 2012 | 28 Comments |

Demba Ba indicates he is not particularly unhappy with his role on the left of a front three.
Happy? Reasonably so it seems.
Newcastle United striker Demba Ba was allegedly ‘unhappy’ when he was taken off against Bolton but there was little hint of any unhappiness in Ba’s recent interview.

There has been a bit of speculation about whether or not Demba Ba is happy to play on the left of a front three but the man himself has come out and said that he his. Sort of.

Ba said:

“The coach told me he would put me on the left and, for the team, I thought, ‘Let’s do it’. I know the qualities of Papiss as a finisher.

“As a striker, you like to be in the striking position but now the coach has made the decision – he has decided Papiss will be there.

“I do what I have to do to balance the formation for the good of the team. If I can be in the finishing area, I do everything to be there. If I cannot be there, we do the work for Papiss.”

So it’s obvious he’d prefer to be playing right in front of goal but he seems to be prepared to do a job wherever he has to play, which is what I’d expect of a professional like Ba.

There has been a lot of talk about Ba’s ‘goal drought’ recently but we do have to bear in mind his new role on the left.

As to the future, Ba still appears to hanker after PSG but seems happy enough in the interim:

“It is always a dream for me to play one day for PSG. But I’m really happy where I am. The English league suits me perfectly,” said Ba.

“Since I joined Newcastle, I have rediscovered the feeling I had when I was a young boy playing on the pitches at the bottom of the street.”

I guess if he gets an offer from PSG there’s little we can do to stop him given the buy-out clause in his contract, but if we get a good finish this season and qualify for Europe it will make it a bit harder for other Premier League teams to entice him away, although maybe the lure of big wages and/or a return to his favoured role in front of goal would be tempting for him.

I do hope we hang onto him though. It does seem that Papiss Cisse is preferred as the main striker just now – and with good reason given his astonishing goal-scoring rate – but it’s handy to have someone of the quality of Ba as backup for that role in case of injury. Whether Demba Ba is happy or not with that sort of role in the long term remains to be seen.

NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10). Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.

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Comment on this post

28 Responses

  2. Agreed, I couldn’t imagine Ashley and Co. letting him go without a good price. At the very least his contract should be renegotiated because selling him for less than £20 million would be a disaster.

  3. No one wants him to go. If anything happened to Cisse he would be the front man immediately. That being said he was bought as a stop gap as he was available. No one could have predicted he would do what he has done and I think Alan knows not to base the side around him as he may well be gone soon. If we can keep him and renegotiate his contract then I’d expect him to play a more central role in the future and rotate more with Cisse during our European adventures

  5. .org is depressing says:
    April 17, 2012 at 9:19 am
    This site is awful! You all sound like a load of tools! Every article is about as boring the comments section! You all sound like Mackems judging by the article titles!
    _________________________________________________

    Now lemme see….where is the only other place that refers to here as “.org” – ah yes!!

    How sad is this message? Get a life mate!

  6. Apparently PSG have got some cash these days too!

    I’d like to think he’d stay now that we’re certain to be in Europe, and especially if we make the Champs League :)

  7. The issue with Ba is fitness. IF he stays fit, a new contract with a new clause is brilliant, however IF his knee goes, is it worth it? After all, it is “a ticking time bomb” apparently. Hopefully he’ll stay and stay fit, but I don’t think.him going would be the crisis some people are making out.

  8. If Demba’s home town team PSG come in with a big offer I suspect that he will find it difficult to turn them down.

    I believe he wouldn’t leave if it was another premiership club. It could be PSG or NUFC, as simple as that.

    I don’t know whether he feels indebted to Newcastle in saving and enhancing his footbal career enough to turn down other clubs.

    We wait and see.

  9. Do feel a bit sorry for Demba,surely we can’t start every league game and european game with Papiss as the main striker?
    Pardew will need to shuffle his pack once european games are coming thick and fast and should be trying to keep both strikers happy.
    If Demba goes so be it, not losing any sleep over transfers it is a waste of energy and nothing we can do about it.

  10. I’d love Demba to stay – and from what Alan Pardew has been saying (his appeal to the fans etc) he also wants him to stay.

    There is another worry of course – if he left, would that also unsettle Papiss?

  11. I expect Mike will cash in on some players possibly Krul,Tiote,Demba BA and possibly even Ben Arfa if the offers are decent.
    I don’t worry about that stuff anymore it is pointless as nothing can be done about it-I think if an offer came in for Papiss Cisse and it was huge no doubt we would sell for the right money.

  12. Aye SJT I fear you’re right….but I’m hoping this season has whetted Ashley’s appetite, and he fancies giving it a real go next season, especially if we make the Champions League.

    He’s a gambler after all! Keep the players and gamble on raking in CL megamoney….he can still sell the players next year!

  13. Mike is totally unpredictable and whatever he does will be done on his terms in his time regardless of how fans will react-I used to spend my spare time bitching about MA alot but it was just a waste of time-similar to transfers we just have to sit back and enjoy the football and not get bogged down emotionally with all the other stuff in my opinion.

    Can’t wait to be in Europe again and hope we retain our best players,add more quality and really crack on next season and give the so called “big clubs” a run for their money!

  14. with Europe just on the horizon i reckon ba will stay, if he goes we do have plan B in some good strikers luuke de jong who is young and has an eye for goal so at least we can look forward to that if it comes to the worse. Could also sign up de jong with ba still at the club be knocking goals for fun then :)

  15. Why assume Ashley will sell if (when) we are in europe?
    OK – if big money is offered any (if not all) clubs may sell any players – its part of the game, and wise buying & selling can build a stronger club.

    Ashley has a reputation for selling – but he also buys but does not get the credit for it. And much of that reputation is based on the “fire sale” on relegation then the AC saga which now can be seen as a great bit of business.

    But think back to Ashley’s arguement with KK over whether or not we had a good enough team for europe. Ashley was keen on europe and wanted to add a couple of players to the squad – but KK peed him off publicaly saying that we were more than 2 players short (probably correctly) which was the start of their falling out.

    I see no evidence that Ashley will not give Pardew a decent crack at europe and that any sales will be different in scale to that for any comparitive club – its just that we will probably shout lounder & longer about them.

  16. Like I said Ashley will do what he likes when he likes on his terms.
    Pointless even discussing it to be honest.
    zzzzz

  17. Naw!! SJT – it’s not pointless at all!

    Who knows, Mikey-Boy might even read this blog and be influenced by the sensible, logical discussions which take place here!! :) 8)

  18. Haha Mike and Decca don’t care what the fans think as long as they club is sustainable and they can make money that is all that matters.
    No bitching or protests will phase this pair they are very thick skinned so no point getting bothered by what happens off the pitch these days.
    I rarely read anything on newsnow and I think I have read one Pardew interview in the last 12 months-I am enjoying just focusing on the team and football and not getting upset or angry about anything outside of that.
    Mike could erect a huge bronze Llambias Owl Statue outside the ground and I wouldn’t give a HOOT. :lol:

  20. sirjasontoon says:
    April 17, 2012 at 1:30 pm

    Mike could erect a huge bronze Llambias Owl Statue outside the ground and I wouldn’t give a HOOT.
    __________________________________________

    :) :) :)

    At least in bronze it wouldn’t ruffle any feathers LOL!

    Who knows? In years to come they might erect a statue of Mike as “the owner who won us the Champions League”

    No, me neither!!!

  21. This pre season is going to be HUGE for us. With Europe now reality and a strong team ready to push, anything other than consolidating the team and adding a couple of new players would be the last straw regarding our owners. Time now to finally see whether they have been using us as a cash cow or a genuine footballing business model.

  23. Clint Magnum says:
    April 17, 2012 at 4:25 pm

    “This pre season is going to be HUGE for us. With Europe now reality and a strong team ready to push, anything other than consolidating the team and adding a couple of new players would be the last straw regarding our owners.”

    Well, it depends which European competition it is, Clint, Europa or Champions League. Even if we won the Europa League, Ashley wouldn’t get much return on any additional investment and it wouldn’t fund two extra players, one perhaps. League form can also suffer, as it did with Chris Hughton at Birmingham earlier in the season. He’ll have managed over 60 games for Birmingham by this season is over. Any decline in Premiership form would mean less Premiership prize money to deduct from the Europa money too.

  24. Slightly off topic, but I was reading somewhere recently that the reason the Mackems have gone off the boil recently is that half the team have been told they’ll be leaving in the summer!

    I can believe that with MON in charge!

  25. Away goal!

    Bayern should fire the kit man. He’s given Robben a shirt that is two sizes too small.

  26. UTD111

    i heard differently…. I heard half the team said they wanted to leave apparently its brighter up North….

    O’Niel said to them all “theres plenty of more fish in the sea”

    to which half the team said ” Not in the f*cking river theres not, it stinks of shit”

  28. “Is Demba Ba unhappy?”

    Let’s not hold on to players with their own agendas. If Ba doesnt like the fact that Cisse is No. 9 and scoring all the goals then let him head off to PSG and struggle with Ancelotti’s mercenaries to overcome the “also rans” of Montpelier. Money doesnt necessarily buy you silverware Mr Ba.

    Reminds me of those days when NUFC signed anything with two legs and got SSN’s Jim White to turn up on a light news day just to report it :( . Keep players who want to be here, jettison those who dont !