by Bashmachkin Mon Apr 16, 2007 11:00 am
For Newcastle, Solano is the obvious choice. Hes always been exceptional at passing the ball and making our team flow better, moves well off the ball as is shown by the number of goals hes scored for us in his time, and he has been good at right back since his move there because he does understand the game so well. He also links well with the players around him.
Its probably somewhat the case that Newcastle have a lot of talented players, players with a lot of ability, but not that many that are really intelligent. People like Milner, Parker, Duff all have talent but theyre not really intelligent players. Emre and N'Zogbia are a bit better, but Emre isnt dynamic or consistent enough for it to show. Dyer can make clever runs when hes in the mood. And for people like Milner, Zogbia and Martins, theyll improve as time passes. Taylor is starting to read the game well in defence.
I actually think Hugo Viana was one of the last players Newcastle had who really could work the game through his passing. You could see from the limited time he got on the pitch, at least when he first arrived and hadnt lost confidence. His passes would be simple, he wouldnt hit long balls, but they would be in to peoples feet, often to players who had little space, then hed move off the ball once he had passed it and create the space. He would constantly want the ball and look to play one-twos and things. I always liked him as a player.
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