Guest bimpy474 Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 He is constantly picking the ball up deep in our half, it might help him being an out and out attacking player if we gave him the ball a bit further up field like. Like the game at Villa. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiresias Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 He's constantly reduced to having to win the ball to get it so deep and then having too much to do. If we're trying to play a more counter attacking team now he needs to be central where Sissoko was with Sissoko wide. He tends to get crowded out when he's played centrally when we're dominating games but on the counter he needs to be available to be passed to straight from a defensive situation and should be able to find space on the break. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
huss9 Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 still occasionally getting himself into decent positions but his shooting boots have gone off a bit. cut inside and got into a great position yesterday but piss poor shot at the end of it. been like that for a while now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexf Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 It's a bit annoying. He shows brilliance to almost always manoeuvre a position to get a shot away but he seems to be lacking the composure with his shooting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 am i right in thinking his off the ball movement is utterly fucking shit? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 am i right in thinking his off the ball movement is utterly fucking shit? Hard to tell, most of our players off the ball movement is backwards. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 am i right in thinking his off the ball movement is utterly fucking shit? Hard to tell, most of our players off the ball movement is backwards. i'm a massive fan of benny like but even at our recent best with cabs pulling the strings i can't recall him ever being the guy looking in behind for the pass, barely recall him doing much in the way of give & go's (the go part)... if he lays a pass off more often than not he's pretty static it was actually watching YT vids of cabella that it struck me i can hardly recall him ever having it in his game seems like it should work both ways, movement around him is woeful when he has the ball, as you say it's maybe even negative movement, but his is shite when others have the ball too, he's very static and always seems to want the ball at his feet before he'll move EDIT: when i say recent best i mean of course since cabs was at the club, rather than this season where benny has been ostracised by knackers for massive parts of it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 am i right in thinking his off the ball movement is utterly fucking shit? Hard to tell, most of our players off the ball movement is backwards. i'm a massive fan of benny like but even at our recent best with cabs pulling the strings i can't recall him ever being the guy looking in behind for the pass, barely recall him doing much in the way of give & go's (the go part)... if he lays a pass off more often than not he's pretty static it was actually watching YT vids of cabella that it struck me i can hardly recall him ever having it in his game seems like it should work both ways, movement around him is woeful when he has the ball, as you say it's maybe even negative movement, but his is shite when others have the ball too, he's very static and always seems to want the ball at his feet before he'll move EDIT: when i say recent best i mean of course since cabs was at the club, rather than this season where benny has been ostracised by knackers for massive parts of it Debuchy and to some extent Remy are the only players in our entire squad that have any form of clever movement in their game. A lot of that comes down to the coaching staff for me as it should be worked on a fair bit these days. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 am i right in thinking his off the ball movement is utterly fucking shit? Hard to tell, most of our players off the ball movement is backwards. i'm a massive fan of benny like but even at our recent best with cabs pulling the strings i can't recall him ever being the guy looking in behind for the pass, barely recall him doing much in the way of give & go's (the go part)... if he lays a pass off more often than not he's pretty static it was actually watching YT vids of cabella that it struck me i can hardly recall him ever having it in his game seems like it should work both ways, movement around him is woeful when he has the ball, as you say it's maybe even negative movement, but his is shite when others have the ball too, he's very static and always seems to want the ball at his feet before he'll move EDIT: when i say recent best i mean of course since cabs was at the club, rather than this season where benny has been ostracised by knackers for massive parts of it He's not really a give and go player, and that's one of the reasons he's not popular with a lot of managers. My view is that he's stopped caring much one way or another anyway. He doesn't look anything like the player that shone in the second half of the season where we finished 5th. He doesn't look fit and he doesn't look bothered. I think we'll see that spread through a lot of the squad as we struggle to finish this season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexf Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Yeah Ben Arfa's movement has always been a problem from the whole time I've watched him with us. It's why it was so surprising when he popped up with that goal away to Villa. Would never normally expect him to be in the box, usually hangs around just outside waiting for the ball to bounce out. I thought, like many, that was the start of a change from him. But then the Hull game happened and it all turned to shit for him, in terms of this season. Annoyingly he is one of our fastest players when he wants to sprint, even in his current bulkier state. So if we had him, Remy, Gouffran and Sissoko all making powerful fast movements we'd have a fantastic, fluid attack. Unfortunately Remy is the only one who seems to make effective runs and I believe AGAIN this is likely down to poor coaching once more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 am i right in thinking his off the ball movement is utterly fucking shit? Hard to tell, most of our players off the ball movement is backwards. i'm a massive fan of benny like but even at our recent best with cabs pulling the strings i can't recall him ever being the guy looking in behind for the pass, barely recall him doing much in the way of give & go's (the go part)... if he lays a pass off more often than not he's pretty static it was actually watching YT vids of cabella that it struck me i can hardly recall him ever having it in his game seems like it should work both ways, movement around him is woeful when he has the ball, as you say it's maybe even negative movement, but his is shite when others have the ball too, he's very static and always seems to want the ball at his feet before he'll move EDIT: when i say recent best i mean of course since cabs was at the club, rather than this season where benny has been ostracised by knackers for massive parts of it He's not really a give and go player, and that's one of the reasons he's not popular with a lot of managers. My view is that he's stopped caring much one way or another anyway. He doesn't look anything like the player that shone in the second half of the season where we finished 5th. He doesn't look fit and he doesn't look bothered. I think we'll see that spread through a lot of the squad as we struggle to finish this season. Agree yeah. Was just something that had been on my mind about him, don't think it's anything pardew has coached out of him for once, just something he's not natural at and needs coaching and encouragement with Very limiting feature not to have for someone like him tbh, probs goes part way to explaining him never really becoming a top class player as opposed to someone who can be top class on his day. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Hatem looks the ball into feet.Often from a standing position. He likes to weigh up his defender and beat him with acceleration and skill. Maybe it's because of fitness and injuries but he's not the fastest over longer distances. But he has a great burst of acceleration and he's very skilful still which accounts partly why he likes a standing start. It does slow down play. Which doesn't encourage movement from team mates. Add into the fact he's likely to lose the ball too. When he was playing as a #10 I was very critical of Sissoko's passing. It was too quick, too direct and he would lose possession too much as a result. But when it works (mostly on the counter) it's rapid and devastating play. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Anita likes a give and go. He's always on the move. Tiote always shows for the ball. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
juniatmoko Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 we break into pieces... he was poor! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chizzletooth Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Maybe instead of blaming the coaching staff or the failure of players around him for his no-mark performances, Ben Arfa could take some personal responsibility and grab the game by the scruff of the neck. Radical idea, I know. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hughesy Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 What is his role exactly in this team? He holds onto the ball far too long, but when there is no forward movement either side it's difficult to work out what else he would do. Can we say that for all our players then? No movement around each other therefore all our players are all s*** like hba. Well yes that would generally apply to all attacking players, lack of movement affect their performance. The difference is most of our attacking players just pass it backwards or sideways which is why we have little attacking threat. HBA tries to do something, sees no movement, goes on a dribble of 2-3 players, and gets blame when it doesn't work out. There was a lot of that at the match yesterday. I can't quite get my head round it - there's never any movement around him and no-one offers for the ball. What's he meant to do? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Let's be honest, the passing and moving isn't in his game. When he gets the ball he often slows down himself and looks to beat an opponent. He doesn't look up for a pass then look to move. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlelunchbox Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Let's be honest, the passing and moving isn't in his game. When he gets the ball he often slows down himself and looks to beat an opponent. He doesn't look up for a pass then look to move. The most frustrating thing is he doesn't even need to look up because he really is that gifted, the thing with HBA is not that he doesn't see the pass where there's actually a team mate free and unmarked. His problem is he sees the pass, but he does not want to pass. The boy is like 27? Yet he still plays football like an egotistical 18 year old child. Until he miraculously become more humble he will never fulfil his potential. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotus Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Against Norwich he played some tasty balls. He's got the vision and the execution. Just doesn't seem to be the way he likes to play football. Shame because if the oppostion weren't sure if was going to pass or dribble he could really exploit that indecision. As it, you know he's gonna go for it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Season before last we scored quite a lot of goals with Hatem playing one-twos and little through balls etc. I think he can do it fine when he's confident and the players around him are playing well too. Everyone just seems to be playing beneath themselves at the moment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Might be his last start in a while tomorrow with Remy & Gouffran back in after this, plus Tiote's return meaning Sissoko will be back on the right. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parky Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Against Norwich he played some tasty balls. He's got the vision and the execution. Just doesn't seem to be the way he likes to play football. Shame because if the oppostion weren't sure if was going to pass or dribble he could really exploit that indecision. As it, you know he's gonna go for it! He needs people with movement and pitch sense t pass to, not Shola. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledGeordie Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 His attitude might be in question at times but imagine what a decent coach could do with this player. Unfortunately we don't have any at the club at the moment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattoon Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Against Norwich he played some tasty balls. He's got the vision and the execution. Just doesn't seem to be the way he likes to play football. Shame because if the oppostion weren't sure if was going to pass or dribble he could really exploit that indecision. As it, you know he's gonna go for it! He needs people with movement and pitch sense t pass to, not Shola. Exactly what I was going to post, our movement off the ball is non-existent at the best of times, we're in a vicious circle now where the other players see him with the ball and stay static, watching what he's going to do and expecting him to run rather than pass. While at the same time he sees there's no move my for the pass and thinks fuck it I'll take it on iyam. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 It's like when you have someone really brilliant in your 5 a-side team, everyone else just waits for them to do something. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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