Still scraping by

I write this article with the caveat that just as our game kicked off last night, my degenerate mate arrived unannounced at my door having been ejected from the pub he’d been in since lunchtime and his nonsense meant my focus on the game was very much impaired. To that end, I’ll keep it to the main talking points.

First things first – Chiesa!! To all you previous doubting Thomases, I TOLD YOU!! #Jock’sAlwaysRight… I’ve always had faith that if given the opportunity, he could become a really important player for us. His quality has never been in doubt, it wasn’t that long ago that he was Europe’s hottest prospect, winning player of the tournament as he lifted the Euros trophy with Italy. What WAS in doubt was his initial fitness and subsequent ability to remain fit. Was he still the same player as before the ACL injury? Could he adapt to the PL, where so many Italians have struggled? Also, last season a real hurdle for him was that Slot didn’t seem to fancy him at all and used him very sparingly, even when he was part of the squad. Once I saw him on the pitch though, I was even more sure he could be a player for us. I was looking to see if his legs had gone after the injury, or for other signs of physical decline and I didn’t see any, outwith understandable rustiness. When I didn’t see a physical decline I believed in him because he has proven quality but more importantly, his attitude is first class and should be a lesson to others, youngsters in particular. When you combine talent with a perfect attitude and work ethic, your chance of success is extremely high. Dropped from the CL squad? I’m not happy but ok, I’ll just work twice as hard to prove you’re wrong to overlook me. Can you imagine what some past talents we’ve had (Balotelli spring immediately to mind) could have achieved and levels they could have reached if they’d had Chiesa’s attitude?

I felt he was quite harshly treated at times last season. The little game time he did get was sporadic and often weeks apart, so he never got the chance to build any kind of rhythm and when he did have an impact, he wasn’t rewarded with more game time and it looked almost a certainty that he’d move on this summer but Slot did say after his winning goal on the opening day of the season that he was a completely different player to the one that arrived the previous summer and the amount he’s been used so far this season, it may genuinely have just been a case of him not being physically up to the challenge last season after so long out. That being the case, the PL is the toughest and most unforgiving place to try to adapt you at the best of times but without being at peak fitness, it’s almost impossible.

So far this season though, he’s been everything I hoped he would be. A genuine quality squad option, capable of stepping in for rotation purposes, as well as making an impact off the bench. We saw the latter on day one and we saw the former last night. Isak and Ekitike scored the goals but both of them were all about Chiesa and both assists encapsulated his character in their own way. The first showed that dogged determination to work hard and never give up on a perceived lost cause, while the second showed his quality, with a world class first touch to instantly control the ball and then unselfishly passing to Ekitike for a simple finish. It was the personality of the man in two assists. If he keeps this form up, he’ll be a hugely important part of any success we have this season. Well done Federico – McMOTM!!

Speaking of Ekitike… Idiot!! I’ve loved what I’ve seen from him up to now and a huge part of that has been his calm head and composed manner. It’s been refreshing after the madness of Darwin and obviously as our top scorer, he’s been delivering from day one as well and then he goes and does that. The first booking for punching the ball away was stupid enough but to then get himself sent off for his goal celebration was nothing short of madness and I hope he’s fined a week’s wages, given he can’t perform his duties this week, through his own stupidity. I was glad Slot didn’t pull his punches either and told it as it was. You could see he was annoyed, probably more because the suspension will mess up his plan of carefully managed minutes for Isak, while still having Ekitike’s quality to rotate with.

I liked Slot’s comments about how he could understand it in a CL final, if he beats four players and sticks it in the top corner but in a league cup game against Southampton, he should’ve just acknowledged Chiesa because the goal was all about him. It really was inexplicable from Ekitike and the only real thing I can think of is that it’s perhaps the uncertainty he’s feeling with Isak coming into the team and getting off the mark himself last night. The taking off of his shirt and holding up his name, kind of felt like a statement saying look what I’m doing, never mind Isak. It had crossed my mind that Ekitike like the rest of us, probably thought he was our alternative to Isak. Would he have signed if he knew we would still sign Isak before the end of the window? This is conjecture of course, the club may have made him well aware that they still fully intended on pursuing Isak but the stance at the time was Newcastle’s stance had led to us moving on.
If that is what made Ekitike’s emotions get the better of him last night, the ironic thing is he just sabotaged himself. His performances and goal return was going to make it very difficult for Slot to justify dropping him in favour of Isak, whereas now he can simply say he needs to mature a bit. Anyway, it’s not the end of the world. He’ll he on Slot’s shit-list for a week or two but his services will soon be needed once again and another last minute winner and all will be forgiven.

Lastly we should all spare a thought for poor Leoni. You get a big move, probably younger than you expected, to one of the biggest clubs in the world. Settle in to your new surroundings, patiently waiting for the first round of the league cup, which you know is the game you’ll be making your first appearance and then you do your ACL on your debut. It’s absolutely devastating for the lad and the kind of thing that can derail a promising young career, as we’ve seen with Bajcetic. It’s imperative the leaders like Robbo make sure to involve him in the squad every opportunity they get because the lad will be spending a lot of time on his own in his recovery and at 18, he’s likely to get depressed and homesick, so he needs his new teammates to rally round and forge friendships with him.

Anyway that became a lot more long winded than I’d intended and it’s kind of been lost in the various subplots of last night that we did actually win the game. It would be nice to just put a team to the sword now and again though. These last minute goals are a nightmare. The thing is, I have such belief in this team that I somehow have felt confident in every game this season that we WOULD get that late winner but it doesn’t make it any less stressful. There’s no let up though, as a tougher task than last night awaits us on Saturday. Until then, walk on!