Alto

https://twitter.com/i/status/1335611095625687048

Good luck to you with Saint-Max, or how we call him, the "headless chicken", from a Nice fan. His high speed and undeniable dribbling abilities have led us, and many, to believe that if we provide him with the right conditions, he could be a fantastic offensive weapon. No one never managed to find what these conditions really were, though. Maybe you guys will. I would not bet too much, as some of you have, on his capacity to deliver good passes. More generally, he has been a player who never knew how to deal with his teammates on the pitch. I do believe that he made some improvements over the last years on this sector, but his football IQ still does not score very high (btw, he pretends that his real IQ is one of an extremely gifted person, I'll let you judge on that). He would often end up running everywhere, fast, but like if he had no clear purpose or vision of where we was going, and why he would in such a place, hence his nickname. But every now and then, he would show some incredible move, amaze us, and feed us with hope. Eventually, he seemed to be as good at running and dribbling, as he was bad at almost everything else that matters in football. But if he was good technically, good at dribbling, had pace, could make good passes, had a good vision of game, had a good shot, and scored many great goals, he would not play for Newcastle. Unless he's Ben Arfa, and then you'll give up on him for free, but that's another matter.

PSG has denied Hatem the right to park his car in the training center's parking for the pros. His locker has been emptied, and he has no longer access to the changing room.

The Ben Arfa effect: There was a rumor yesterday that Ben Arfa was coming back to Nice. He was actually supposed to be on the plane, so we can sign him up before midnight for the CL playoff. Everybody lost their minds and dozens of Nice fans waited for hours at the airport for every flights from Paris, to welcome the hero, who, obviously, never showed up.

PSG played against Nice yesterday night, at Nice. From the beginning of the season, Ben Arfa said he was looking forward to playing this match above any other. But he did not, he was not even a sub, even though he's not injured. Time goes by so fast. The best player of the history of one club not even in the squad of his next. It would have been so great to see him play at Nice one more (last?) time, on the very field that made him a legend. At least Nice fans did not forget. https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Les-supporters-nicois-chantent-pour-hatem-ben-arfa-psg-a-l-allianz-riviera/797578

Hatem has always been a PSG Fan. He grew up in Paris, had posters of the club in his room when he was a kid, and he is still one. His aims were to reach the top, to play the Champions league with a big club, and become (one of) teh best player(s) in the world. You got a offer from PSG, you take it. Especially when they tell you they want to win the Champions league with you. You believe in yourself, that's why you refused offers from China when they gave you 10 times more money than Nice. It would have made no sense to stay in Nice if you thought you could reach the top, which was his idea from the begining. And the lad's 29, not 20. He wasted enough time. He's sometimes lazy in traing, and absent minded. It's no secret. If this is the reason why you don't make him play, you just don't sign the man at the first place. When he played for PSG, at an unusal place for him, he did not do that bad. I blame PSG for the situation, not him.

As a Frenchman I can say that this lad's opinion is not representative of what French people think in general. Rightly or wrongly (I think wrongly), Ben Arfa's fate at Newcastle is not seen as a failure from your club, nor from Pardew, but more as the predictable outcome regarding Ben Arfa's bad temper, and his record of unkept promises at Marseille, with the the French Squad, and then with Hull City. The anomaly is what he's done with Nice, and people still expect him to fail at PSG.

The last time a club paid a fee for Ben Arfa was indeed when Newcastle gave money for him...to leave...

That sucks! There is no beauty in that move. Sevilla was so much sexier. I'm sure he can succeed there though.

Nice finished 4th 3 years ago. But this is it. Sevilla is a big leap forward, and I am a Nice fan. Our biggest achievement these last 20 years has been to play the EL. Sevilla won the last three editions...

The one against Caen deserves to be in the rankning more than the one against PSG.

Well. May I therefore ask: Is Pardew a racist?

Emmanuel Petit : "If France was a racist country, there wouldn't be so many foreigners in our country".

Are you French, my friend? I am interested that there is a distinction between "Arabs" and others. If they grew up in France, are they not French too? Both French and Arabs. And yes I am French (and also a Nice fan). Zidane is technically a Berber, isn't he? Zidane is technically a genius.