Gallowgate Toon

Anyone watched the 4 minute video of him against Norway? Not quite as explosive as Everton overall but he scores a fantastic goal and displays such an awesome mix of skills and passing. Definitely worth a watch.

I think atm it's us but he's waiting on other offers to come in before our supposed 'deadline', so it could change. If a Champions League club had been in for him, he'd have announced it by now imo.

Didn't Blanc want Ben Arfa to come to us? I'm sure I remember some quotes from him or from a source close to him, saying he was going to monitor HBA closely and was very interested to see how he'd cope in the PL. Don't see why it'd be any different for Cabaye tbh.

Will he get a game for Valenica? They have Soldado, who is an excellent player with a consistently good scoring record and Aduriz as back up. Emery seems to prefer 4-5-1, I just can't see where he'll fit in.

It hasn't got either accent on the last 'e', so going by basic French rules, it's going to be 'Cab-aye'.

He sounds like a younger, cheaper and potentially better version of Barton. I'm impressed with our activity so far, I wasn't dreading this window and thought we might do some decent business but this is a lot more pro-active than I expected.

I've never seen him play. I'm canny s*** tbh. Can't be any worse than Shola.

I've never seen him play.

I think Gervinho sees himself as too good for us and tbh, he is. Gameiro though, I think we've got a real shot of getting him. I'm not quite sure why he seems to be so set on Valencia mind, I'm not sure he'd get in their team. Emery tends to play 4-5-1 and has Soldado and Aduriz to choose from at the moment (unless they've agreed deals elsewhere) and they are both very good players with decent scoring records, I don't think he's a step up on either of them.

@ Wearside - So your excuses come out for your own player (unsurprisingly), yet for ours it's a different story? Ben Arfa's preferred position (in his own words) is attacking midfielder, not a winger, hence why he may have made a more limited impact in that game. I agree, it wasn't a special performance but it wasn't a bad one and he still actually created our best chances. You're right in one instance, Ben Arfa's injury could affect him but claiming, well bragging, Sessegnon will have a better season despite getting virtually the same stats as HBA, throughout his career, with far more playing time, shows how ignorant you are, as well as arrogant. You say the argument is null and void at the moment, but you were the one making the bold statements.

Wearside, did you watch the Stoke game? Did you think Ben Arfa had a bad game? From what I remember he created our best chance, didn't lose possession and looked a threat without having the explosiveness of his Everton performance. It wasn't an outstanding appearance from the lad, but it was about the same level as Sessegnon's best games for your lot (quality in glimpses, consistently tidy but ultimately lacked influence). Now, the Everton game, has Sessegnon even put in half an eye catching performance as that? Where he single handedly destroyed a defensively solid side and the national media were raving about the lad? He raised more eyebrows in 85 minutes than Sessegnon has in 5 months, that should tell you all you need to know about next season.

Despite HBA being an inconsistent starter for his teams, he's still produced similar amounts of goals and assists to Sessegnon, who was the main man for PSG. Perhaps a goals/assist to minutes ratio will show you who the superior player has been, Wearside.

This lad seems to have a very solid scoring and assist record (scoring wasn't quite as high last season) he doesn't sound particularly defensive.

A team of N'Zogbias might not get you a magnificent fightback to gain a point against Arsenal but they'd do a lot to get 3 points against the like of Stoke and Bolton. I know which one I'd pick.

Exactly. It just stinks of complete bullshit. I mean, who would honestly think we'd ask him to return to training, if his leg hadn't even straightened out properly.

The rumour started on RTG and it looks to have been relayed by Wraith via Twitter. The rumour 'quotes' suggest that his leg hasn't fused properly and his leg is now bent, so going by the rumours, his problem would be nowt to do with playing, as he's just 'crippled' and couldn't play a match anyway. Doesn't seem quite right though, this type of problem would've been flagged ages ago imo and if his leg wasn't straight, surely he wouldn't have returned to train at all, as it's a pretty serious problem.

How many other times have you seen Ben Arfa play? I'd say a good 25-30 times now, watched various games when he was at Lyon and Marseille both league and European competition. Put in some great performances but some average ones as well, hopefully we can get that consistency out of him. Ability wise, i'd say that he's a step up on Sessegnon, who's a good attacking player but doesn't have the stand out attacking qualities HBA possesses. Where did he play positionally when you saw him the most? Winger, either right or left. Sometimes as a sub, sometimes as a starter.

How many other times have you seen Ben Arfa play? I'd say a good 25-30 times now, watched various games when he was at Lyon and Marseille both league and European competition. Put in some great performances but some average ones as well, hopefully we can get that consistency out of him. Ability wise, i'd say that he's a step up on Sessegnon, who's a good attacking player but doesn't have the stand out attacking qualities HBA possesses. I agree with most of what you are saying, but in terms of end product (in Ligue 1 anyway) there isn't a lot between them. Sessegnon is a very underrated player. In terms of end product, you're spot on, there isn't. I just feel that in terms of ability, in its rawest sense, HBA is in that league above.

How many other times have you seen Ben Arfa play? I'd say a good 25-30 times now, watched various games when he was at Lyon and Marseille both league and European competition. Put in some great performances but some average ones as well, hopefully we can get that consistency out of him. Ability wise, i'd say that he's a step up on Sessegnon, who's a good attacking player but doesn't have the stand out attacking qualities HBA possesses.

I agree that Zog's a better player overall but they're in that same bracket/level of ability. Both good with the ball at their feet, decent passers and crossers and can get a couple of goals (this is where Zog's better). HBA on the other hand, is a complete step above, he has the potential to be a top, top player. His acceleration, ball control and passing were just outstanding against Everton, I still watch that video quite a lot.

Sessegnon's a good player, I'd put him in the Zog level but he's in the league below HBA and could only dream of putting in the kind of performance we saw against Everton.

They're not a very good side at all, don't deserve to be anywhere near 3-0.

Aye, he's in Viduka's old house if i'm not mistaken?

It's a strange comment to make, considering he's supposedly fitter now than when he first arrived here.

Can't believe Shola lasted that long, he looked knacked for the majority of the second half and was giving the ball away virtually every time he touched it. Sloppy performance in general, we didn't look particularly organised defensively and lacked retention and ideas offensively. Pards will probably say the game against Man U will have fatigued some of our players, i couldn't tell if they looked half-arsed or tired, it just wasn't good enough. Krul played well though, decisive performance.