This was written before the Arsenal match and is by a Newcastle fan – ed
As a Newcastle United fan it was painful viewing on Saturday watching Jose Enrique maraud down the left side of Anfield wearing the deep red of Liverpool. It felt like he was cheating on the club that brought him to prominence and gave him the chance display his talents in the biggest and most popular league on the planet
Ever since it became public knowledge that Enrique wanted out of St James’ Park and Liverpool wanted to bring him to Merseyside his departure was a foregone conclusion. Now lets get this straight I don’t hate Enrique and I certainly don’t blame him for having the ambition to challenge for trophies, play in Europe and ultimately represent his national team. His chances of achieving these goals will be greatly enhanced at Anfield. But is he the man to finally fill the left back problem that has existed at Anfield ever since John Arne Riise left the club?
I’m not going to sit on the fence regarding this matter and frankly I don’t think he’s the man to plug that gap. His performances over the last four seasons have definitely endeared Enrique to a lot of Geordie fans, myself included. However a lot of people look at the Spaniard with rose tinted spectacles and disregard his lack of ability to operate in his specialist position. In my Enrique is hugely overrated. The fact is that for a defender he isn’t actually the best at defending. When faced against a winger with tricky feet and the ability to bamboozle then Enrique will get beaten very easily. He doesn’t have the discipline to just stand his ground and force the winger to back track. Too many times he will try and put his foot in or use his body to shield the ball from the winger giving away a free kick in a dangerous area. The Arsenal 4-4 game provides the best example with three of the crosses for the goals coming from Enrique’s side. Theo Walcott had him in his pocket during that first 45 minutes until the famous second half capitulation. Heading is also another weak part of his game and he doesn’t fair well when an aerial challenge comes about.
In fact the only reason Enrique’s defensive frailties are overlooked is because of the work Jonas Gutierrez puts in to help him when he’s under assault. The Argentinian grafts his socks off to get back and help Enrique out and is usually the man to regain possession and alleviate any pressure on the defence. Now that Enrique is at Liverpool this will mean Stewart Downing will have to finely tune his defensive duties although I’m sure the England winger won’t track like Gutierrez does which will put Enrique under pressure he hasn’t experienced for a few years.
haha what a load of rubbish, the performances against Arsenal and Sunderland shows Enrique is second to none and he is one of the best left backs in the world.
haha Rubbish
Although I don’t doubt the Newcastle fans knowledge of Enrique. I doubt his knowledge of Riise who was so frustrating at times. Riise’s weakness was that he’d find himself in the oppositions half and rather than find a team-mate, he’s carry on running and inevitably shoot and most of the time it would be high and wide. He cost us a lot of goals by doing this. I know he scored some crackers and important goals but we could have scored more. And his right foot was non-existent. He did score against Barca with it but it looked as if it just hit him and went in!! And I’ll never ever forgive him for that ridiculous headed own goal against Chelski!! If he’d had more confidence with his right he would have cleared it!!!
Interesting insight. We haven’t seen anything negative at this point (quite the opposite) but it is early days.
Always good to have this kind of opinion from an opposing fan who has had the benefit of watching the player.
Nice one.
I have never left a reply on any website in my life but felt the need to say the person who wrote this does not speak for newcastle fans. I, along with every other fan I know rated Enrique as high as any other left back in the league. A beast of a man who could dribble like a 20mil winger. Sorely missed at the toon will be a top player for Liverpool.
as a nufc season ticket holder and long standing supporter through thick and thin i can say that the aouthor of this pile of dung is talking out his rear end.
It is nuch more simple than all the rubbish he spews out…
1.. jose would have loved to have stayed if the club had shown any sign of ambition.. but fatty ashley will only show ambition in one area…making money for himself.. thats it, end of.
2… with the above in mind, jose had to leave in order to ever progress and obtain euro footy as we will never get there under our regime. As soon as we have a star in the making and his value goes up.. he will be sold. Watch out for Tiote going in January!!
3…Jose is the second best LB in the prem (the best obv ashley cole).
4… this article is let down by one huge issue.. the author has a bad case of sour grapes. i am also naffed off why he left but having said that…. good luck fella and i can see why you had to go. Thank you for sticking with us in the CCC.
ps…Carroll will be a white Elephant i feel and 35 million was stupid ..
What NUFC4EVA said. This article doesn’t reflect what most Newcastle fans think of Enrique.
In my opinion, there’s not a better full-back at sheilding the ball away from an opponent. He’s so strong it’s impossible to shove him off the ball. If he’s ever out of position then his speed normally gets him out of trouble.
He’s not perfect – he can overplay or try to be a bit too clever sometimes but other than that there’s not much to criticise. For 6 mil he is a bargain.
this is written a nu fan before the arsenal match…. n it gave ll the highlights of his so called mistakes during the match.. so i didnt read rubbish any further…
I’m a NUFC fan (obviously) and that article is a load of rubbish. Sour grapes I think more than owt else.
Enrique is a class act and we’re all gutted he’s moved on but you can’t blame him. Your owner is backing your club and shows real ambition.
Our owner is a fat ar*ehole who hates his own fans, knows nowt about football and tries his very best to embarrass us all every single week.
I think Enrique will be a quality buy for you. (Maybe we can buy him back when we qualify for the Champions League next year eh?) lol
As fellow Nufc supporter… had to reply to the article as absolutely don’t agree with it.
Just will say this..
Defensively – a monster. Will rarely get beat one on one on the floor. Very strong at defending.
Offensively, links up well.marauds up and down really well. Final delivery can be so-so.
We loved him for us. Will be missed.
What a nonsence,, i just laugh 999 times when reading this article,,and clearly knews that this boy must have cried a lot when losing enrique to liverpool as he clearly knew that he is one of the best left back in the world
As a Newcastle fan i disagree with this article, he is a great left back he’s a strong dominant left back who hardly ever gets beat, but going forward he’s just ok, he has a decent cross and links up play well, but he’s more of a defensive left back.
The problem i have with this transfer, is he said he wanted to go to team with ambition, that theres unrest in ur dressing room, that everyone wants to leave and that the broad were lairs. Well theres not unrest in the dressing room and no one wants to leave and as for the broad being lairs, he should take a good long look at himself, telling us that he’d wait to were safe before signing a contract, when he’d already made is mind up, that he was going to Liverpool.
As for ambition, you don’t have to spend 35 million to show ambition are 110 million in liverpool case. So far we’ve brought in five players and spend very little true, but there very good players and better than what we got, and no matter how much we spend we’d wouldn’t get much better players. lf he thinks thats not ambition then f**k off. the broad has said many many times that there are going to bring in another striker, if they don’t, then i’ll be as pissed as anyone, but if they do, and of the same quality then Newcastle will have far better team than last season.
Yous have got a top player for a very very ceap price but what you really need is a decent manager who knows how to play them, and not has been.
As a Newcastle supporter had to leave a comment after reading this drivel. Every Newcastle fan I have talked to rates Enrique as the 2nd best left back in the country he has bags of pace, strength, a sweet left foot and is great at shielding the ball against wingers. His one downfall at times is that he can overplay in defence at times and gets caught in possession with the ball but that is on the rare occasion because he normally skins the player/players anyway. Good luck to Liverpool this season gutted to see both Carroll and Enrique leave but it is the only way they will progress with Fat Ashley in charge.
why are toon fans on this blog again¿¿¿
Probably because it showed up on NewsNow Newcastle lol. I was interested to read what was said about Enrique.
I wrote the article and I stand by what I say. I’ve watched Enrique for the last four years as a season ticket holder and formed my own opinions on the player which some of you will disagree with. I DON’T represent every Newcastle United fan, I represent myself and my opinion is that he is extremely overrated. He was very poor for two years, great in the Championship and decent last year. He moved because the club wouldn’t meet his demands just like Carroll and Nolan before him.
But, I will put this to you. If he is the second best left back in the Premier League why has he not yet won a call-up to the Spain squad?
That’s fair enough Jak but the way this article reads is that you are the voice of all Newcastle fans and obviously we are going to state our differing opinions. Sorry about the drivel comment that was bang out of order everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I would say that he is not in the Spain squad because he wasn’t playing Champions League football which is important when you get to Spain’s standard of squad I fully expect him to be in the Spain squad in the future. I will put this question to you who do you think are better left backs in the premier league than Enrique?
How does it read that i’m the ‘voice of Newcastle fans?’ I regularly use I’m or I to cover the fact that these are my opinions and not those of other fans.
If he wanted to get into the Spain squad why didn’t he join a club in the Champions League? Fact is no one at that level wanted him, only Liverpool who seem to be in the market for average players at the moment.
It’s not the way you wrote the article it is the fact that the site have used this article and said it was from a Newcastle fan it implies that this is how Newcastle fans feel. If a Liverpool fan wrote an article on a Newcastle site you would get the impression that the majority of Liverpool fans feel the same way.
“If he wanted to get into the Spain squad why didn’t he join a club in the Champions League? Fact is no one at that level wanted him, only Liverpool who seem to be in the market for average players at the moment.”
Maybes he sees a lot of potential in Liverpool to get in the champions league and win things. Again I post the question to you what LB’s in the premier league are better than Enrique?
I echo everything my fellow Geordies say, apart from the guy who wrote the article. Jose is awesome. His strength, pace, skill and attitude are outstanding. His runs up and down the flank give a new meaning to the term “modern full back.” good luck to him, he’s gone to a proper football club and escaped from our shambolic subsidiary of sp#*ts direct. Enjoy him Liverpool fans. You’ve got one he’ll of a player.