It seems unusually pointless to be discussing the manager's decisions when some of them - we can't know which - were out of his hands.Originally Posted by Diggs246
Collins and Omobamidele seem like very good prospects, and it's nice to see players coming through, but Clark is a strange omission.
https://www.premierleague.com/news/2194724
Clark getting jab last month.
Haha, goad job, that's what I call evidence
Clark should be in the eleven. With egan and duffy now. Oshea as center mid. He will flourish there
I've always liked Clark, and to the best of my knowledge he's always shown up for us when able. Hard to see what's up here with his omission. Even in terms of style of play, he's good technically for a centre back and can run the ball up into midfield -- I just don't get this.
as a newcastle fan he's a bit of an enigma. he doesn't seem to do anything particularly wrong in a game and is usually a 6 or 7 out of ten. at the same time when he's not playing you don't miss him. i know very little about him but he's seems a quiet lad, rather than a captain type.
he used to be a threat from set pieces but that seems to have waned. i'd like to see him at a club where he's the main centre back and plays 30+ games a season. norwich could do worse than looking at clark.
Interesting perspective. He's certainly not top notch but he's a solid EPL defender. I'd guesstimate he's the Irish CB who's faced most Premiership strikers in recent years. Yet Kenny doesn't rate him among our top five CBs! He also captained Ireland (under MON) in Paris. I've already opined he's probably the most undervalued Irish player in recent history. Clark was rated 8/10 against Burnley in his last game (admittedly, he didn't start first two). I reckon he'll be about the EPL for another two years - as zero indicates - during which time he'll probably accumulate more appearances than the bulk of our current squad will over their careers. I'd also wager, if he doesn't retire following this ridiculous squad omission - he'll still be around after Kenny is gone.
Last edited by Snapshot; 28/08/2021 at 2:04 AM. Reason: a bit of a clean up
He can also play left back.
Its a strange one definitely.
Stephen Kenny may not be keen on him since the Serbia away game, and the Newcastle Evening Chronicle soccer writers have recently been suggesting that he and Hendrick will be on their way out of St James' Park soon, but -- average goals conceded by The Toon this season when Clark starts (including the recent one where he was sent off after 9 mins) = 1.91. Average goals conceded when he doesn't = 2.50 I wonder what he would look like in a team with a midfield and any kind of threat up front.
hes very poor with the ball, dont think he'll be in again unless theres an injury crisis
Can you support that? Or is it just another heavily-discounted line about Clark? No one will ever claim he's a top EPL defender but his record and stats suggest he's a good one. He's 31 and likely to be swept out (alongside the vast majority of his teammates) by the disturbing takeover at Newcastle. I don't believe any of our extensive crop of CBs, finding themselves in a similar situation, wouldn't suffer a similar fate.
There is going to be some clear out at Newcastle as time goes by. They just seem to have a lot of players who are either not good enough / don’t try. When you look at it down through the years Newcastle seem to be forced ( because a lot of Players / their wives / girlfriends don’t want to go to Newcastle ) to buy these sort of players i.e. Players that are Not wanted by clubs in the kind of places ( the above would like to go ) / successful clubs.
Perhaps the Saudi Money can get better Players and Players with better attitudes ~ Time will tell.
This is an absurd statement. Clark has his limitations but is probably one of our better centre halfs when it comes to carrying the ball out from the back.
Perhaps the fact he’s taking those risks sometimes leads to mistakes but it’s part of any team playing a possession game.
My main issue with him over the years has been not being tight enough to his marker/questionable positioning, that type of thing.
Yeah look at his numbers, hes a poor passer/progressor albeit in a team that is poor anyway. He was poor v lux in that 0-1 game and he struggled big time in build up. Not someone Id be keen on seeing in a starting line up again
Absurd? Really? Hes like 6th choice, dont get the clamouring for him. Hes not suited to how kenny wants us to build up from the back and he was really poor in those 2 qualifiers he started in , especially Lux at home,.
Which numbers in particular?
He’s better on the ball than Duffy, and is probably better suited to the Kenny style in that respect. We’ve got younger players coming through to cover the CB positions, but until the last couple of weeks was one of the few players we have who was playing regularly in the PL. I suspect given Newcastle’s result yesterday, he may get a recall before too long.
His figures against Luxembourg (tetsujin, post#1352) suggest he was far from the worst against Luxembourg. What was the build-up in which he struggled big-time?
Pass completion figures from infogol.net and refer to all domestic games this season, not internationals: Duffy 87%; Keogh 87%; Egan 85%; Clark 77%; Lenihan 65%; O'Shea 47%.
For comparison: Stevens 78%; Coleman 76%; Knight 80%; Browne 79%
Presumably style of play at club level will play a big part in those figures?
He's also playing at a higher level than all of those bar Duffy and Coleman, which should be considered as well. 80% pass completion in the top flight is, ceteris paribus, better than 80% pass completion in the second tier.
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