Senegal’s striker saturated 23-man squad for Equatorial Guinea and Gabon’s Africa Cup of Nations was destined for greatness and it could’ve served Newcastle United well – breaking in a Demba synergy partnership: The Toon have the strike force of a re-emerging nation, from a continent predicted to win the World Cup soon rather than later – and that still might be the case – but Senegal’s performances certainly wouldn’t have befitted that prediction of Brazilian legend Pele.
The Demba duo form a potent strike force that is the beacon of a fledging Senegal side inspired by youth, vibrancy and most importantly, attack: yet the fledging side failed and flopped, proving the Teranga Lions are yet to restore their roar – despite all three of their main strikers being linked with, or in fact completing big money moves this window – Copper Bullets can kill, monetary bonuses from the President’s son can inspire Nzalang to qualify past the group stages and political unrest and a successive revolution can unite 23 men to the extent of 4-points greater than a side with a £30m strike force.
Ba left Tyneside on his most productive run of form: 15 goals in his last 15 appearances for The Magpies and a December that earned the former fellow Bundesliga striker the Premier League’s Player of the Month Award. His parting gift was an assist and a goal for Newcastle that earned them their first three points of 2012 at the first attempt and their 4th, 5th and 6th point out of the past nine. His returning gift is a partnership that has previously only lived on the international stage and could prove to be the formidable catalyst for the maintenance of Newcastle’s impressive season so far. However, for Cisse and Ba, the Africa Cup of Nations was as dry as the savannahs and summed up neatly, as pointless.
In the absence of Demba Ba, who signed for The Toon on a free transfer having activated a clause in his West Ham contract, Newcastle won one of their two Premier League games and did the same in the F.A. Cup, going out to second-tier Brighton and Hove Albion, despite Pardew stating that he was willing to rest players in the league for the benefit of the cup: “I just think it is the second biggest competition we can win, the biggest is the league and the chances of us winning that with the funds we have against some of the top clubs makes if very very difficult,” before justifying his ambition for the Budweiser sponsored cup, “the Cup levels the playing field and gives us an opportunity of winning a trophy and getting into Europe. If players from whatever country, cannot grasp that, then it is my job that they do.”
Yet, his Senegalese strike force, which combined only has one game’s worth of experience in the competition, now won’t get the opportunity to understand this most historic cup competition. The pointless absence of Demba Ba must now be made up for in the closing months if Newcastle are to qualify for Europe.
Without him, Newcastle stagnated: in their two Premier League games – the 1-0 victory against a Q.P.R side in the acquaintance of a new manager cannot mask Newcastle’s lack of penetration – Alan Pardew’s men have looked disorganised and disorientated in lacking the 6’2 Ba leading the front line and Cheick Tiote underpinning the midfield. In his absence, Newcastle recorded 24 shots in the Premier League, scoring just three. With Ba present – using the 2-game period prior to his departure, which recorded the same amount of points – The Toon’s shot conversion rate doubled and more to 27%.