During the summer transfer window, unpredictable Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew declared out of favour winger Gabriel Obertan would be better finding first team football away from St James’ Park.
Fast forward a few weeks and after an impressive pre-season, Obertan has come in from the cold and is enjoying an Indian summer back in the Toon side.
The French winger looked re-energised and up for the fight on Saturday as he capped another impressive performance with his first goal for two years, and only his third ever for the Toon.
Who knows what the odds were on Obertan to score the winning goal, but it’s unlikely many people would have taken a punt on him to find the net or for the Toon take the three points against their relegation battling rivals.
Clairefontain academy graduate Obertan has been on Tyneside since August 2011 and is now into his fourth season, but tellingly is still to make his half century of games for the club.
His time at United has been frustrated by poor form, niggling injuries and the club strengthening the squad, pushing the unfortunate former France U21 player further to the fringes of the first team.
Already this season, 25-year-old Obertan has played more games than in the whole of last year’s campaign.
The winger was a failure at Old Trafford and was signed by Pardew as a purported upgrade for the outgoing Wayne Routledge. On current form, United would have been better keeping hold of the Swansea winger who has become one of the first names on the team sheet for the Welsh side.
It still doesn’t say much for Pardew’s player management if multi-million pound signing Remy Cabella, who scored 14 goals for Montepellier last season and played his way into the France team, has been dropped to the bench in favour of Obertan.
Away from Obertan, Saturday’s game – played in front of the Toon’s largest attendance this season – was the club’s first win at the eight time of asking and left Pardew able to celebrate his 700th game in management.
Desperate United claimed the performance was irrelevant and it’s just as well as the Toon still had to rely on returning goalkeeper Tim Krul to retain their narrow lead.
Despite their first three points, the unconvincing Magpies’ remain in the relegation zone and behind North East rivals Sunderland, even though the Black Cats suffered a humiliating 8-0 defeat at high-flying Southampton.
The Toon, and Obertan, can and should celebrate a rare success but it’s clear there’s still a lot of hard work to do this season for everyone within Newcastle United.
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