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Opinion

Scraping bottom of the barrel – Today Yoan Gouffran

8 years ago
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Yoan Gouffran is up today.

It isn’t often the local north east press get much sympathy but surely the tail end of this week should have changed that.

Yesterday the sports journalists were given quotes from Rob Elliot to work with, today it is Yoan Gouffran that the club have chosen.

The former Bordeaux player was abysmal on Saturday at Manchester City, making his first Premier League start of the season Yoan Gouffran playing centre of midfield with Vurnon Anita proved a disaster.

As the goals smashed into the net in that humiliating twenty minute period, Gouffran and Anita were totally anonymous.

Steve McClaren hasn’t even been including the Frenchman on his bench, with Gouffran only included in the Premier League match day 18 once this season before Saturday.

In our player ratings by Newcastle fans, Yoan Gouffran was given a rock bottom mark by supporters of 1.9 out of 10, yet despite his performance and failure yet again to show anything of any use, the player himself appears oblivious.

Yoan Gouffran is yet another sad example of Newcastle’s failed transfer strategy of buying ‘bargains’ from abroad, yet another player we can’t shift but who ends up in the squad and back in the team because we have nobody else and he is taking up a valuable space in that squad.

At least with Rob Elliot he will leave next summer when his contract ends, with Yoan Gouffran we are stuck with him until summer 2017.

This is what Yoan Gouffran has had to say today:

“It was difficult for me because sometimes I was not in the squad but I just worked in training and when Jack (Colback) was injured, the manager told me I would play.

“I have to wait for opportunities. I am 29 and I know I can play (Premier League football) but you have to respect the choice of the manager.”

“It would have been better to play again quickly but it is the international break, we now have two weeks to work to try to get the first win.”

Difficult to explain:

“We played very well in the first half (at Man City) and we had chances to score more goals but we didn’t score, I don’t know what changed in the second half. We didn’t defend together.

“Aguero is a very good player but if we had played like we did in the first half he wouldn’t have scored those goals, it is really difficult to explain why we lost.”

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