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Hatem Ben Arfa


Guest sicko2ndbest

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Is Marveaux going to be a regular starter for you guys? I was under the impression he would've been ahead of Obertan in the pecking order.

 

I thought so as well, but it's certainly not as clear at the moment. I was beginning to think that Jonas would be phased out, but he's just been given a new 4 year contract.

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Is Marveaux going to be a regular starter for you guys? I was under the impression he would've been ahead of Obertan in the pecking order.

 

Think his fitness was the only thing stopping him really, he was apparently well behind everyone else in pre-season. Like Ben Arfa I think he'll get his chance when things start going badly/people get injuries and from there I'd expect him to keep his place if he stays fit.

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Is Marveaux going to be a regular starter for you guys? I was under the impression he would've been ahead of Obertan in the pecking order.

 

Wouldn't mind Marv starting, and then having Obertan and Sammy as the energy guys.

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Is Marveaux going to be a regular starter for you guys? I was under the impression he would've been ahead of Obertan in the pecking order.

 

I think our best 11 will be our starting 11 from Saturday with Santon for Ryan Taylor, Marveaux for Obertan and Ben Arfa for Best.

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Is Marveaux going to be a regular starter for you guys? I was under the impression he would've been ahead of Obertan in the pecking order.

 

Can't believe i forgot about him, so much choice. :kasper:

 

Indeed, it's good that we have so many options!

 

I'm liking the look of Marveaux but atm Obertan is looking as if he's improving game by game so to drop him now would hinder his progress so to speak. So for the time being, I'd keep Obertan in the team.

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Is Marveaux going to be a regular starter for you guys? I was under the impression he would've been ahead of Obertan in the pecking order.

 

Can't believe i forgot about him, so much choice. :kasper:

 

Indeed, it's good that we have so many options!

 

I'm liking the look of Marveaux but atm Obertan is looking as if he's improving game by game so to drop him now would hinder his progress so to speak. So for the time being, I'd keep Obertan in the team.

 

Obertan has started ok, and has had some really good moments, from what we've heard from other clubs who've had him he's very much a confidence player, so the right thing to do is keep him in there while improving/performing. Of course like any other team we cannot afford passengers, though Pardew still hasn't clicked on that thought with Ameobi unfortunately.

 

His and Jonas' pace down the wings pins teams down and lets our mid play, throw in HBA as well and we have a right selection headache. Like the sound of Marveaux, yet to see him play so can't really comment too much, but have no doubt he'll be a good signing, they all are...Tiote, HBA, Cabaye, Jonas, Obertan, Marveaux, Abeid & Gosling, that's some choice to pick from, got to say poor Guthrie should be sold in the next window as he's a decent enough player and deserves game time. Smith can boil his head.

 

 

 

 

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Really interesting to know where the new striker was supposed to fit in, if the intention was to play Ben Arfa as a second striker all along.

 

Up front, probably.

Up front, at the expense of Best and Ba.

And Ameobi. :troll:

 

 

So you both think Ba was brought in as backup? Interesting. I don't think so myself.

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I don't Best or Ameobi were ever considered as starters. If you'll notice the strikers we were linked with were mostly pacy, smaller players. I think the club were interested in pursuing a different type of striker as the three relevant ones are very similar in style. Ideally, we would eliminate one of them in January or next summer.

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Well it's many theories. But given that Tiote, Cabaye and HBA are definite starters, it means that if our formation is 4-4-2, HBA has to play left midfield (offensive). Then there are two free spots up front, Ba taking up one of them, and the one we never got taking up the other. If our formation is 4-5-1, HBA takes the one CM place alongside Cabaye with Tiote behind them, given a free role to distribute all night. Accordingly there are 1 forward spot, which the mystery forward would have taken at the expense of Ba (not Best imo). I say this because it was obvious we were looking for a class striker (Carroll replacement), and Ba was brought in very early (as a 80/20 starter I presume). Seems Pardew is prefering 4-4-2 though, ergo Ba ain't having the backup shit.

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Ba was bought because he was going, available on a pay as you play so the injury risk wasn't going to hurt too much. He was not bought as a primary striker as he's too injury prone, he's unlikely to play whole season, but while on form is invaluable.

 

While Ben Arfa isn't fit to play full 90 I'm happy to play in the current 4-4-2, normally i'd prefer a 4-2-3-1 to operate between lines fluidly, but we've got a team that play that fluid anyway, though against another strong midfield would prefer HBA in the hole and 1 striker (last season lack of connection front to back did mean some hoofing). Choosing between Ba and Best is a nightmare atm, but it's the kind of dilemma a manager secretly relishes.

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Should play 4-4-2 this week. But think in the long term we'll win more with 4-5-1 with HBA behind Ba than playing Ba and Best upfront.

 

Pardew has been pretty clear of giving Ben Arfa the number 10 role behind a striker, and that's what I expect to see when Ben Arfa is 100%. On the wings we'll rotate between the three, and if we ever get two injuries to our wingers I can see us going back to 4-4-2 with Ben Arfa playing out wide.

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Really interesting to know where the new striker was supposed to fit in, if the intention was to play Ben Arfa as a second striker all along.

 

Up front, probably.

Up front, at the expense of Best and Ba.

And Ameobi. :troll:

 

 

So you both think Ba was brought in as backup? Interesting. I don't think so myself.

 

The striker we didn't end up bringing in for whatever reason would likely have been our most expensive signing of the summer. I doubt he'd have been coming to sit on the bench. Whilst I appreciate transfer fees aren't the be-all and end-all of judging ability, some of the players we apparently made bids for/were interested in would have quite comfortably been our best striker.

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A big money striker would have started ahead of Ben Arfa in a 4-4-1-1, I would imagine.

 

It'd have given us options to do other things though, such as play Ben Arfa on the wing and play the new guy up front alongside Ba.

 

Best being in some sort of form has meant that's still something we can do, though Ba and Best as a duo still doesn't excite me at all. After that the next option is Shola, meaning we pretty much have to play Ben Arfa just off the lone striker because there aren't enough good options up front to do anything else.

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A big money striker would have started ahead of Ben Arfa in a 4-4-1-1, I would imagine.

It'd have given us options to do other things though, such as play Ben Arfa on the wing and play the new guy up front alongside Ba.

 

Best being in some sort of form has meant that's still something we can do, though Ba and Best as a duo still doesn't excite me at all. After that the next option is Shola, meaning we pretty much have to play Ben Arfa just off the lone striker because there aren't enough good options up front to do anything else.

exactly, the better teams have options and are very fluid in their formations, we can afford to do this to a lesser degree.
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Guest BlacknWhiteArmy

Probably not the thread for it but when Tiote is away at the ACN , Cabaye and Abeid in the centre? I do really love a centre midfield who can keep possession.

 

Guthrie and Gosling will be ahead of Abeid though. More realistic to expect Cabaye and Marveaux?

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