Teasy

Last season the entire team struggled, he was out of the side for a while and there was also the whole controversy of him wantng to leave. I just cant agree to assuming age was the reason for a lesser performance from him last season. Hope you're joking about his mental quickness going BTW, you're making him sound like a grandad here, he's 31

Have they? I don't think so at all. I do..down to his pace going I reckon. Got caught too far up the pitch at Spurs and Liverpool just off the top of my head...he's still a very good centre half just not as good as he was 2 or 3 seasons ago. He's never been remotely quick on the ground since he's been here. The way he plays is about being quick mentally rather than physically. Reading the game and cutting an attack off early and using his skill on the ball to smuggle it away and keep possession. His lack of pace usually doesnt cause a problem because of his intelligence, but of course its inevitable that it'll get exploited sometimes. Because of the way he plays I dont see why he cant play well into his 30's either, at least he now has pace next to him in Yanga Mbiwa as well.

He put out a positive lineup and went for the win, hope this is the start of some long awaited positivity from Pardew. More importantly I hope he doesn't revert back to negativity after a few bad results.

Its not dropping at the moment so no point. If he starts taking his initial investment back I'm sure people will keep track and update every year.

It was Sissoko.

Ben Arfa > Hull.

Tonight we saw Ben Arfa in a side with some pace and movement around him, and predicably he upped his game even more. The lads unreal!

He played very well in quite a few games, usually looked on another level to most players around him. Definitely agree he had this aura of class about him as well, as soon as he got the ball it was obvious and he very rarely wasted possession.

This is the first full game this season I'll be able to see live (every match has somehow fallen on a work day for me until now). I know it won't be easy and we're more likely to lose than win but I still can't fucking wait, I mean Ben Arfa's playing for fuck sake!

MYM can defo match him for pace. Think Taylor would be more likely to get to a header tbh. When people in the media talk about our front line, they always go on about how much pace they have. I don't get it. Agbonlahor, yes, obviously, but Benteke and Weimann aren't particularly pacy. Weimann is pretty rapid... Benteke less so but no slouch... Never noticed Weimann looking particularly quick at all

We have TBH, it just could have been better. It's still a side that was almost relegated. And really it's not good enough when others have strengthened To be fair the side changed quite a bit in January and if we'd had the current team the whole season I don't believe we'd have been fighting relegation. Of course I think everyone admits that if we lose certain key players we could be in trouble, especially with Pardew running scared every time he sees another teams shadow.

We could offer him the same wages and top them up with a €3m signing on fee to sign a pre-contract for next summer and still save €7m from what we offered a few weeks ago.

Ah but those arent videos, they're animated gifs

Yeah fair enough Robert contributed more than Ben Arfa has so far no doubt, but I think injuries are the main reason for that. Certainly per game their goal ratio is very similar, lets just hope he gets enough games here to hit as many goals as Robert did Wait, you didn't make the Robert video with clocks playing over it did you??

Robert played for us for 4 years, not 5. I love Hatem, our best player by a distance but Laurent Robert in terms of substance was magic, and on a different level. Fair enough he was on loan at Portsmouth for the last year, I was basing my opinion on goals/assists to games ratio though so it doesn't change my opinion. I loved Robert here and was often the one supporting him against idiots asking for him to be substituted, usually before he scored the winner, brilliant player But on a different level to Ben Arfa?, fuck off

Robert did more then Ben Arfa has for Newcastle so far. Though Ben Arfa does contribute more in general play and his goal scoring record per game is as good. Really the problem so far has been injuries and being in a side where him saving us means us scraping through a game to help us avoid relegation or at best get into the top 6. Rather than being in a position to put us top of the league like Robert did.

Robert and Ben Arfa's Premier League goal ratios for Newcastle are actually very similar (goal every 4.7 games for Ben Arfa vs a goal every 4.3 games for Robert). Of course so far Ben Arfa's been playing less games than Robert did, which is why he only has 10 Premier League goals in his 3 years so far compared to Roberts 30 Premier League goals in 5 years.

Amazing isn't it? I mean the logic behind it is unfathomable.

£50m spent on him in fees alone over the last 2 and a half years or so In that time he's scored 18 goals.

How do you get that from the quotes? Newcastle United asked me to take a pay cut to join them, reveals ... Mirror.co.uk-37 minutes agoShare Lyon forward Bafetimbi Gomis has admitted that his proposed move to Newcastle United broke down because he refused to take a wage cut. The French ... http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/newcastle-united-transfer-news-magpies-2262408 Instead he'll stay at Lyon and wonder what the fuck happened to his wage when the 75% tax comes into affect Claims he spoke to Pardew and agreed wages with him before hand btw

Ben Arfa with movement around him and options like Dyer, Bellamy, Ferdinand and Shearer to pass to would be a different player. Some people seem to have this view of him that he's greedy and won't pass or waits to long to pass. But the fact is if you watch him his heads always going up looking for movement and if he eventually decides not to pass its usually because he sees no decent options. Often the only pass available to him is a short ball to someone who 99% of the time does fuck all with it. Definitely think with good movement around him he'd pass more and quicker. He does make some mistakes obviously, nobody's perfect but personally I'd have him in any of our sides through the years.

Yeah I'm sure plenty of clubs have better negotiators. Don't think any negotiator is going to get a Footballer to drop his wage demands significantly if he's just not that bothered about signing for the club though.

Depends on the club I suppose. Some have higher revenue, some have lower wage bills prior to increased wages and some are simply willing to spend a higher percentage of their revenue on wages. For reference we spend 69% of our revenue on wages, a total of £64.1m, up 20% from the previous year (or did as of the last published accounts). Of course that should drop significantly soon with the new TV deal and Wonga contract.

13 players is the number to beat from the previous thread, one player every 76.92 pages. Come on Joe you can do it!