Sifu

It's certainly been that way recently (reaction to Derry's shite tackle; Brighton's physicality) but in time, Cabaye will adapt/be fine with the physical side of the PL. But in general (for his first season in the PL anyway), think he's handled it quite well actually.

Done Name, Sifu? @wanman10 I'm thinking Raylor may reply tomorrow morning..... He didn't reply

Only just seen the news, absolute joke tbh. Like some have said, if it was just your average person, they would have been sent down.

Yeah, I think he's sound. After we signed Cissé, he did go a bit crazy on RTG yeah, think he went on a mag kernt rant

We've still got a few tbf. brummie's still around, Neil, leffe, KD, 1878, jukebox, wacko, Mike. It'd be good to get a mackem that didn't revert to type but what are you going to do? What happened to that one that appeared for a bit after Wireside? Randy Savage? He came back briefly last month but hasn't been seen since.

Done Name, Sifu? @wanman10 I'm thinking Raylor may reply tomorrow morning..... done. I''m the obvious one

Done Name, Sifu? @wanman10 I'm thinking Raylor may reply tomorrow morning.....

Raylor randomly in the background, Pardew's facial expressions :lol:

Done

Looks like it. Nah, don't think he has... nothing in the Ban list, and this... Last Active: Today at 10:31:45 PM Just keeping a lower profile I guess, after being outed today. Ah. Well I tried searching for him before in the member list and he doesn't exist there......

Looks like it.

As in one that "doesn't track back/work hard enough?" (Marveaux is definitely an option for the left wing like, it is his preferred position after all).

Hopefully his injury problems are now properly behind him. Looking forward to seeing him in action again, showed glimpses of a really good, intelligent player there when he did play.

Who could forget this training session from Allardyce-era:

Nah, that story was more Fergie thinking Twitter was pointless rather than him banning it altogether (iirc).

Raylor Loving his tweets like!

Allardyce a better manager than Pardew? Bloody hell, I've heard it all now :lol:

Clear photoshop like. (whoosh?)

FWIW, really don't think Ben Arfa will be off this summer whatever the situation. For one thing, he'll finally have a chance of having a proper pre-season behind him and that will be a time when we can hopefully find/cement the lad's proper position in the team.

:lol: (On a related note, anyone else remember Luque being photoshopped into the squad photo from years ago?)

I do trust Pardew so I'm hoping he's actually handling the situation the way he sees fit (despite how he's managed it in the past/present). Not every player is the same, so for certain players, you just have to handle them differently.

I remember reading about it ages ago. Think it's definitely true like

Didn't actually watch the clip before but just watched it now. Woah

Fuck's sake.

Pardew's management of Ben Arfa is a weird and puzzling one. Hopefully, in the end, it'll be just be the case of "brilliant man management" and that he's only saying these things in the press to get some sort of positive reaction from Hatem in training (Pardew could have said these things in private too though). What I'm thinking is that Pardew knows that Ben Arfa is our most talented player in the squad and wants to play him in the team but it could be the case that Ben Arfa needs to be constantly reminded (be it in private or public) that he needs to play a "team game" and not try and do everything by himself. Of course, there will be times when the lad feels he has to do something by himself if things aren't going so well on the pitch (it has been his nature for most of his career) but isn't that the case with a lot of top players? I think it's the case that Pardew wants Ben Arfa to do the more "simpler things" (as in a simple pass/cross into the box from time to time instead of constantly trying to waltz into the box) - if the lad can do that, he's a certain starter. I think Hatem's defensive work has been alright, he's certainly been tracking back a lot more these days so don't think that should be too much of an issue anymore. Ultimately, I think Ben Arfa has to adapt his game, as in not to overthink things and just play it simple (think Hatem knows this, he does actually question himself from time to time). I'm not saying that he should stop doing his Messi-type runs but what I am saying is that he should learn that more often than not, a simple pass will lead to a goalscoring opportunity. Think having Cabaye and Tiote back will benefit Ben Arfa a lot, they can encourage this "playing it simple style" I reckons.