The three C's: Cabaye, Cabella and Clément Grenier

The three C's: Cabaye, Cabella and Clément Grenier.

From left: Yohan Cabaye, Rémy Cabella and Clément Grenier

Today's post is all about Newcastle United's most missed player, Yohan Cabaye A.K.A 'The Dreamboat'. Yohan Cabaye is easily better off at Paris Saint-Germain F.C, after departing Newcastle United in the January transfer window of the 2013-2014 season for roughly 19 million pounds, which is reportedly 6 million less than what we wanted for him. Sadly we failed to bring in a replacement, which is one of the reasons why Newcastle struggled to create chances in the second half of the season.

Yohan arrived at Newcastle in 2011 from Lille after they had just won the Ligue 1 title and the Coupe De France, he was described as instrumental to the team's success. Newcastle were able to snatch him for 4.8 million pound's, everyone can agree this was a fantastic bit of business for such a creative talent. We were able to get just under two and a half season's from him, which has left very proud memories within the Geordie faithful, Cabaye brought fantastic passing and stunning goal's, like his brilliant free kick against Manchester United when we beat them 3-0 at home. Also you can't forget his other major contribution to the team, his best-friend Mathieu Debuchy.

Debuchy has been an important player for Newcastle United and without Cabaye's influence I don't think we would have seen him in a Newcastle shirt. So to summarise, today's post is going to be a comparison between Cabaye, and his two possible replacement's that Newcastle United have been linked with. The two players are Rémy Cabella, an attacking midfielder from Montpellier, and Clément Grenier, an attacking midfielder for Olympique Lyonnais. I have compared all three players using statistics from the 2013/2014 season to see where the three players excel, and to pinpoint some similarities and differences.

This is a list of statistics from the 2013/2014 season for the three players:

2013/2014 Season	Yohan Cabaye	Rémy Cabella	Clément Grenier
Appearances	27 ( 11 subs)	36 (1 substitution)	29 (4 subs)
Goals	8	14	5
Assists	5	5	6
Key Passes	45	81	70
Average passes per game	50	42.4	48.1
Pass success - completed	87.63% - 1644/1900	79.8% - 1252/1569	79.15% - 1228/1585
Cross success - completed	21.1% - 23/109	26.1% - 51/195	25.32% - 59/233
Long balls success - completed	66.22% - 147/222	58.44% - 45/77	69.59% - 119/171
Through balls success - completed	33.33% - 8/24	64.29% - 9/14	100% - 1/1
Total shots - per game	89 - 2.34	101 - 2.73	87 - 2.64
Dribbles	9	47	37
Dispossessed by opposition	32	75	55
Total tackles completed	96	73	53
Interceptions	67	34	19

Yohan Cabaye

Yohan Cabaye 'The Dreamboat'

'The Dreamboat'

The statistic's in the table show Cabaye to be the most accurate passer of the ball, with a phenomenal pass success percentage of 87.63%, while Cabella and Grenier struggle to get above 80%. This is why Cabaye has a fantastic reputation as a play-maker, because he has a consistent ability to distribute the ball accurately. Also Cabaye is dispossessed less by the opposition than Grenier and Cabella, showing he not only has the technique to pass the ball in a fantastic manner, but he is efficient at doing so, which allows the team to retain possession and control the game. I think this part of Cabaye's game is also backed up by the fact in 38 games he only dribbled with the ball 9 times in total showing he relies on his passing ability to defeat opposition players while Cabella and Grenier favour dribbling past the opposition to create space and chances.

Although Cabaye is fantastic at picking out passes, it appears he doesn't create enough direct chances, with only 45 key passes, which is 25 less than Grenier, even though Cabaye has been involved in 5 more games than Clément. Also you have to take Cabaye's defensive contribution's into account, because he doesn't take that part of his game lightly either, with 96 tackles completed and 67 interceptions, showing that he is a fighter in the centre of midfield, who can win the ball and then distribute it to team mates very effectively. Furthermore, Cabaye appears to be the more defensive minded of the three, which may explain why his assist tally and key passes made don't appear to be on the same level as the other two midfielder's, because his job is to sit deep and orchestrate the play, thus making him less directly involved in the goals in comparison to Grenier and Cabella.

Rémy Cabella

Rémy Cabella. Price estimated at £15,000,000

He looks like a great player.

Remy Cabella is a 24 year old attacking midfielder who play's for Montpellier in the French Ligue 1, he is different to Grenier and Cabaye, because they are both centre-midfielder's while Cabella is a quick footed, skilful attacking midfielder, he seems more like a replacement for Ben Arfa, with the ability to play all across the midfield, but his favoured position is playing behind the striker, in a number 10 role. To me, this says he isn't a perfect replacement for Cabaye, but depending on how we set the team out next season, he could really be an important player for us, if we build the team around him. Now, immediately when you look at the statistic's the first thing that stand's out has to be goals, 14 goals from a midfielder is excellent and something we've lacked severely since Kevin Nolan left. But not only has he scored plenty for Montpellier, he has made 81 key chances, and that is great when you compare it to Cabaye, who only created 45, but this is because Cabaye played a deeper role in the midfield, in comparison to Cabella. For me, Cabella is the most exciting looking player out of him and Grenier, and this is probably why Montpellier want 15 million for him because the lad just oozes quality.

Through balls are another strength of Cabella's, with a success percentage of 64.29%, and succeeding with 9 out of 14, it may not be many but striker's require service and Cabella look's like a player who is very capable of being a big player for us, as he doesn't just create chances, he puts them away too. Dribbling is another strong part of Cabella's game, with the midfielder completing 47 dribbles last season, making him a very dangerous player to the opposition. He's capable of passing,scoring and dribbling, and not only is he a player that looks very dangerous attacking, but he's also not afraid to get his hands dirty, with the midfielder completing 73 tackles and 34 interceptions, meaning we won't have to suffer any post match interview's of blame from Pardew, saying that he doesn't contribute enough attacking or defending. Anyway he's my pick out of the two and I hope we get him as he seems to be a quality player, but quality players require quality payments so I don't think we will sadly.

Clément Grenier

Clément Grenier valued at 7 - 8 million pounds.

This video will show you what the statistics don't!

Clement Grenier is a 23 year old attacking-midfielder who plays for Olympique Lyonnais. Grenier can play centre-midfield or attacking midfield, one of his main strength's is that he is a good set piece taker, which is something our team has lacked since Joey Barton. Not to say Cabaye's free kicks weren't great but his corner's were one of my main criticism's of the player, because they were just awful. Grenier is also quite versatile, being able to play centre-midfield, attacking midfield and on either wing making him a very useful player to have in the squad, especially with how thin our squad has been over the past few seasons. Now Grenier doesn't stand out in comparison to the other two players when you look at the statistics, but he does have good aspects in his game comparable to the Cabella and Cabaye. He is a healthy mixture of the two with a good range of passing, the technique to dribble and the ability to create chances, this is shown by Grenier's ability of quality passes, also contributing to 70 key passes in the 2013/2014 season.

Furthermore, Grenier is a much better crosser of the ball than Cabaye, with roughly 1 in 4 succeeding, while current Newcastle player's struggle to hit 1 in 10, this could add something to the team that we desperately lack. Also Grenier has a reputation as a good long shot taker and free kick taker which are two qualities Cabaye brought to the team which need replaced also. To sum Grenier up I think he would be a good addition but I don't think he would be as effective as Cabella, but if trained properly could be as good as Cabaye in a more deep-lying role.

Conclusion

Finally, to sum things up we have missed Cabaye dearly, the team has struggled to create and score chances without him in the second half of the season,  so a replacement need's to be picked. Although Grenier and Cabella aren't like for like replacements for Cabaye, there is no doubt of the two player's quality. I would personally have Cabella over Grenier, he just looks like a better player, who can only improve if coached properly. But I think Grenier would be a quality signing too who could also hopefully try and fill the void left by Cabaye's sale. In an ideal world I would love to get both, because having one creative outlet isn't enough, especially with player's such as Marveaux and Ben Arfa being linked with moves away, even though Marveaux barely makes it onto the bench, so we are truly desperate for creative players that the manager can work with. In conclusion, they are both quality players in different ways, but I would favour Cabella as he just seems to stand out in comparison to Grenier.

Statistics provided by: www.Whoscored.com