That's what baffles me, the inconsistency of it. Pardew seems to have no problem with players being s*** on the pitch as long as they run around a bit on the training ground.
he thinks shola is the sort of player who'll respond to praise and an arm round the shoulder, whereas ben arfa will respond to being challenged. it's inconsistent but you can't treat everyone the same, different things work with different people and it's the managers job to find and use the trigger for each of his players.
i think he's got it wrong.
He's played a key role in 2 of our last 3 wins over a 4 game period.
I think he's managing him OK, although I would've loved to see him on the RW instead of Obertan from December onwards.