Vurnon Anita and Cheick Tiote made for a staunch tandem in the Newcastle United midfield.
Continuing our look at Newcastle United Duos, we revisit the midfield tandem of Vurnon Anita and Cheick Tiote.
From the early to mid-2010s, Anita and Tiote served as two of Newcastle’s most utilized midfielders. Tiote arrived first, back in August of 2010, from Twente. A couple of years later, Anita joined the Magpies from Ajax.
Their first season together, 2012-13, saw Newcastle United play in both the Premier League and Europa League. In the latter competition, Anita played in 11 matches and scored the club’s first goal in a 2-2 comeback draw vs. Club Brugge. Tiote started in five matches and came off the bench in one more. They didn’t lose any of the six matches that the Ivory Coast international appeared in.
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The Magpies finished 16th in the EPL that season with the duo combining for 49 appearances and two assists. The following season, each player would make over 30 appearances in the league. In a match that was notorious due to an incident with Alan Pardew, Anita knocked home his first goal for the club against Hull City.
Neither player started a majority of the matches during the 2014-15 season, combining for just 30 league appearances. Tiote did manage to register two assists in the Premier League.
During the 2015-16 campaign, both players got back into the rotation. Despite battling an injury, Anita played in 28 matches and tallied three assists to go with a goal, an equalizer in a 1-1 draw vs. Manchester City. Tiote featured in 20 league matches in the relegation-bound season. That would be the final season of the tandem playing significant minutes together.
Playing in the Championship, Tiote only featured in three matches while Anita played 27 times in the second division for Rafa Benitez. In 2017, both players left the club with Tiote joining Beijing Enterprises and Anita signed with Leeds United. Tragically, Tiote would die in June of that year after going into cardiac arrest.