What Yohan Cabaye’s Game will Give to Newcastle United
Lille’s hopes for a successful defence of Ligue 1 and Champions League run next season were dealt a significant blow with the news that Yohan Cabaye has agreed terms with Premier League Newcastle United. Cabaye was an integral part of Rudi Garcia’s side last term and his loss will undoubtedly hurt the French champions in the middle of the park. Newcastle, on the other hand, will be delighted to have picked up a player who offers plenty both defensively and going forward.
With Eden Hazard and Gervinho excelling out wide, Cabaye’s energy and combative nature in midfield was as fundamental to the success of Lille’s 4-3-3 formation as the headline-grabbing wingers. A look at his stats last season shows just what Cabaye had to offer to the title winners:
Yohan Cabaye 34 games, 2 Goals, 9 Assists
Defensively, Cabaye was superb; 3.0 Tackles was the second highest for Lille, just behind right-back Mathieu Debuchy‘s 3.1, and his 3.0 Interceptions was better than any team mate. Rio Mavuba, another of the side’s tenacious central midfielders, made 2.3 Tackles and 2.1 Interceptions in comparison. Cabaye also won 52% of Aerial Duels and lost possession just 1.6 times per game.
Cabaye has a tendency to rack up the Yellow Cards, though; he picked up 10 last term, averaging 1.9 Fouls per game and will need to adjust his game to the quicker pace of the Premier League.
Going forward, he grabbed 2 Goals and made 9 Assists, 1 more than Eden Hazard. He also had double the number of Shots per game than Hazard, with 1.8 to 0.9. Cabaye’s eye for a killer ball is highlighted by his 1.61 Key Passes per game, an amount bettered only by Hazard‘s 2.55, with Gervinho back on 1.3. Comfortable in possession, he averaged 83% Pass Accuracy, again bettering both Hazard and Gervinho.
Newcastle
Having taken over midway through last season, Alan Pardew now has the summer to mould the Newcastle squad to his own liking and the money available from Andy Carroll’s January transfer to Liverpool should see more new faces following Cabaye into St James’ Park.
Unless Pardew has plans to change his side’s formation, Cabaye will have a new system to adapt to; the Newcastle boss was in charge for 22 games last season and started with 4-4-2 on 15 occasions, with a 4-5-1 the next favoured shape, used in four games. How will his style fit in with his new team mates? We looked at the stats of Newcastle’s four main midfielders to find out:
Newcastle Midfield (Tiote, Barton, Nolan, Gutierrez) average
Defensive stats - 2.37 Tackles, 1.77 Interceptions, 1.67 Fouls per game. Season average- 9.5 Yellow Cards
What’s noticeable here is how hard-working the Newcastle midfield is. Johan Gutierrez had the lowest Tackles per game (1.9), yet his average is superior to the likes of Chelsea’s Michael Essien (1.5). Cheik Tiote leads the way with 3.3 Tackles, with Barton second best on 2.5. With an average of 3.0 Tackles and 3.0 Interceptions (Tiote is top of the Newcastle four with 2.5 Interceptions), Cabaye’s stats suggest he will clearly fit into Pardew’s hard-working ethos without problem.
What could be worrying for Pardew is the Foul count- Tiot’s average of 3 per game saw him pick up 14 Yellow cards, and his main midfield four averaged 9.5 Yellow Cards over the season. Cabaye’s 10 Yellows last term suggest the caution count could rise amongst the Newcastle midfielders next season.
Newcastle Midfield (Tiote, Barton, Nolan, Gutierrez) average
Attacking stats: 1 Shot, 1.3 Key Passes, 0.92 Successful Dribbles, Pass Accuracy 82.2% per game. Season average- 5 Goals, 6 Assists.
Nolan’s 1.6 Shots per game is the highest of the Newcastle four, with Gutierrez -perhaps surprisingly- the lowest with 0.6. Cabaye, with an average 1.8 per game, should boost their goal attempts, though with only 2 Goals, he’ll need to improve his accuracy. Nolan’s 12 Goals lead the way for the Newcastle quartet, with Tiote only scoring 1 Goal all season.
Cabaye’s 1.61 Key Passes (with 9 Assists as a result) is second only to Barton (2.53), suggesting he’ll also add an extra creative spark in the middle of the park- with Tiote and Nolan making just 0.58 and 0.87 Key Passes respectively- it’ll be much-needed. His Pass Accuracy of 83% is almost identical to the foursome’s average of 82.2% -Tiote was best here with 87%- indicating his distribution is at Premier League level already. Cabaye averaged a mere 0.3 Successful Dribbles per game- he isn’t the type to take on players and go on mazy runs- that can be left to Gutierrez, who made 1.9 per match on the Newcastle left.
