duo

Madness.

And yet last season he played well and got dropped, came on in later games and gave the few sparks we had in attack, utter bollocks imo. He had 'moments' of brilliance when he came on but it was no where near his potential. Which was the frustrating thing - Imagine what a fit Ben Arfa could have done. I would agree but i don't think he's that unfit, which is really my stance on it. We'll just have to agree to disagree on that. I never thought he looked fit since he came back from his hamstring injury. I agree Pardew has managed him horrendously bad as he clearly is a player who needs to feel wanted. But he has always had full support from the fans and I think he owes us to be in the best shape he can be - yet from what I have seen he has practically hung up his boots. He is without a doubt one of the most gifted players I've seen play for Newcastle and I am annoyed that he is giving Pardew the excuse he needs not to play him. If he was fully fit and looked like he was chomping at the bit the pressure to play him would be enormous. Yet when you read about him coming back from holiday over weight it just takes the pressure off Pardew. And I for one am gutted about that. Therein lies the problem, "what you read" ie what the club and in particular what Pardew is saying about him. No he's not in peak physical form, but he's just come back, I bet he's nowhere near as bad as they're making out. Just another excuse to try and turn us against him and to ostracise him further from the first team. I know what i saw last season and it wasn't a fully fit Ben Arfa. And this season: http://i.imgur.com/rCGgOTo.jpg Come on - enough of the conspiracy theories.

Demba for £4.7 mil would have been worth a punt.

And yet last season he played well and got dropped, came on in later games and gave the few sparks we had in attack, utter bollocks imo. He had 'moments' of brilliance when he came on but it was no where near his potential. Which was the frustrating thing - Imagine what a fit Ben Arfa could have done. I would agree but i don't think he's that unfit, which is really my stance on it. We'll just have to agree to disagree on that. I never thought he looked fit since he came back from his hamstring injury. I agree Pardew has managed him horrendously bad as he clearly is a player who needs to feel wanted. But he has always had full support from the fans and I think he owes us to be in the best shape he can be - yet from what I have seen he has practically hung up his boots. He is without a doubt one of the most gifted players I've seen play for Newcastle and I am annoyed that he is giving Pardew the excuse he needs not to play him. If he was fully fit and looked like he was chomping at the bit the pressure to play him would be enormous. Yet when you read about him coming back from holiday over weight it just takes the pressure off Pardew. And I for one am gutted about that.

Ditto - never fit for a start.

And yet last season he played well and got dropped, came on in later games and gave the few sparks we had in attack, utter bollocks imo. He had 'moments' of brilliance when he came on but it was no where near his potential. Which was the frustrating thing - Imagine what a fit Ben Arfa could have done.

It is a year old picture I found the source from a news article dated Dec 2013 - yet it clearly shows he was out of shape last season. And he's come back this season no slimmer.

Ben Arfa isn't helping himself - I'm annoyed as I so want to see the him play. Yet the lad seems to have just lost interest. I want to see him lean, mean and banging on Pardews door.

No Cabella or Janmatt?

To be fair to Pardew it's not his fault he kept his job. Two wrongs don't make a right. As much as it pains me to say I'm actually with Pardew on this one - just look at the lad: https://twitter.com/samuelJayC/status/490203541991325696/photo/1 If he wanted to prove a point he would have been in top shape for the start of the season - see Cabaye for comparison: https://twitter.com/dembabafoot/status/351764448794521600/photo/1

Really is a depressing state of affairs. I think we all agree that Pardew has grossly mismanaged him but it doesn't excuse him not acting like a professional footballer. He didn't look fit at all last season and as much as I complained about him not playing looking back now if he really wanted to play he'd have got himself fit. Seeing the pictures of him returning this season is an absolute joke - he's taking the biscuit and it's no surprise no one has bid for him. For all his talk it seems he's just happy picking up his pay cheque.

You say competing but he played 30 games last season so I'd argue he should have scored more playing with the likes of Rodriguez. 11 were from the bench like. Had 8 in 11 starts (and 5 from the bench) in Jan before Berbatov joined. Fair dues. I still hope we sign another striker though...

You say competing but he played 30 games last season so I'd argue he should have scored more playing with the likes of Rodriguez.

Hmmm... I seriously hope we buy another striker. I've yet to see a player develop under Pardew so I'm not holding my breath that this lad is going to suddenly become prolific in one of the toughest leagues in the world.

A striker is where the Cabaye money should go. £20 Mil Lukaku - job done. But it's clear Ashley isn't willing to spend the cash to acquire a proven goal scorer.

Who is ITKMysteryAgent?

Pardew

Reasonable read on Riviere - knew nothing about him before. http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/2043913-scouting-report-should-arsenal-sign-monacos-emmanuel-riviere

Ashley will be faxing his offers to clubs as we speak.

LOL - Louis Van Gaal = Genius Shows the difference a World Class Manager makes.

This is surreal lol

Eh? lol

Christ, more spare tyres than the ferrari pit crew! Thought he'd lost the number 10?

Perhaps that's why people aren't right thrilled about selling the one we've got then. ..for Peanuts to one of the most Cash Rich teams in the league.

Hard to get excited about a signing knowing if he's any good he'll be sold.