Hatem Ben Arfa

[Anderson]

Pards is handing out piggybacks?!

[Mole_Toonfan]

I think AP is playing a dangerous game

 

This 'he's class but effort/attitude not always the best' is only going to rub with HBA for so long

 

I think ultimately, if AP got a £10m + bid for him, he would go

 

Sicko in jumping to conclusions shocker !

[Cajun]

I think AP is playing a dangerous game

 

This 'he's class but effort/attitude not always the best' is only going to rub with HBA for so long

 

I think ultimately, if AP got a £10m + bid for him, he would go

 

Not sure you really read the quotes. Pardew actually said that he has good work rate and the issue is consistency in producing those magical moments which whilst difficult is a fair comment to make

 

 

windowlicker.

[wormy]

Pards is handing out piggybacks?!

 

I'd never get off.

 

Disgusted that sicko would sarcastically claim to be distraught. Makes a mockery of the rest of us who are genuinely distraught when we misguidedly read his posts.

[Penn]

If people expect him to make significant gains on the consistency he showed in the final 3rd of the season, they're going to be disappointed.

[Teasy]

He can hardly be consistent if he's not starting.  In the run up to the end of the season when he started every game he scored 3 and set up 4 in 11 starts, which is a great record.

[Guest Spiria]

I think he will only get better. The fact that Deschamps is French manager will see him make all the effort to be a part of the french team again.

[Deuce]

I think he will only get better. The fact that Deschamps is French manager will see him make all the effort to be a part of the french team again.

 

HBA needs to give himself a break from international duty. He's still only had a year back from injury (to the day actually). Play a few years for NUFC, approach the idea of playing for France later down the road. The guy is only 25.

[Cajun]

If people expect him to make significant gains on the consistency he showed in the final 3rd of the season, they're going to be disappointed.

 

He is an amazingly talented player who has shown in the past to be quite a problem character, Pardew has regularly set him challenges that he has taken on and excelled at. I have complete faith that Pardew knows what he is doing and will get the very best out of Ben Arfa, he also knows how to stick his arm round a player and show they are loved which is something HBA also needs.

 

Imo they are a perfect match for each other which is going to benefit us greatly.

[Tiresias]

Ben Arfa might react badly to being told he should play further out wide and long ball it in, or told he's just an impact sub, being told he should do amazing s*** more consistently is probably music to his ears, it tells him he's going to get more game time than he got last season, he's going to be allowed to be creative and he's not lacking the self belief that he can do it.

[Guest Spiria]

Ben Arfa might react badly to being told he should play further out wide and long ball it in, or told he's just an impact sub, being told he should do amazing s*** more consistently is probably music to his ears, it tells him he's going to get more game time than he got last season, he's going to be allowed to be creative and he's not lacking the self belief that he can do it.

I personaly think that he don't know our to play in our 4-4-2 with long ball which go everywhere.

At Lyon, Ben Arfa plays as a second striker. I think he has the potential to play there if it is needed.

[tmonkey]

If people expect him to make significant gains on the consistency he showed in the final 3rd of the season, they're going to be disappointed.

 

He is an amazingly talented player who has shown in the past to be quite a problem character, Pardew has regularly set him challenges that he has taken on and excelled at. I have complete faith that Pardew knows what he is doing and will get the very best out of Ben Arfa, he also knows how to stick his arm round a player and show they are loved which is something HBA also needs.

 

Imo they are a perfect match for each other which is going to benefit us greatly.

 

I'm still a bit cynical when it comes to Pardew's handling of Ben Arfa. Part of me thinks he did a great job in getting a troublesome solo flair player on the road to recovery and integrated into a hard working team, and that his plan to incite a response from Ben Arfa was one of pure genuis. The other part thinks he was simply lucky that Ben Arfa was at a stage of his career/life where he decided to not throw the toys out of the pram and make the necessary changes (including scoring wonder goals to force his way into the team).

 

Reason being we've had defensive minded managers before who've shown a similar lack of appetite for "flair" players (Dalglish with Ginola, Souness with Robert, JFK with N'Zogbia) and because those players failed to "respond" the club/team lost out on exciting attacking ability that it failed to replace it for some time - the correct/better management was that of Sir Bobby/Keegan, i.e. to work with the flair and bring the best out of it rather than attempt to mould it into something else. Hence, part of me is still a tad uncomfortable with what Pardew has potentially done here, even if the end result is (at this point in time) excellent.

[Dave]

He was dropped after scoring the first of those wonder goals tbf.

[tmonkey]

On a slightly seperate note, I'm also a tad worried that Pardew might actually coach the flair out of Ben Arfa. Although that seems unthinkable right now given the season he's just had and his natural ability, it has happened to players in the past - I think a prime example of this was Damien Duff under Jose Mourinho. The Duff Chelsea signed from Blackburn was a completely different animal to the one we signed from Chelsea, and the change was entirely due to him being moulded into an "ideal" team player who played it safe rather than took risks. Whilst it's good to have a solid team where players fulfill their responsibilities and opposition fullbacks don't have free reign to maraud forward, I hope Pardew doesn't over-do it and accepts that there are limits to the amount of energy Ben Arfa has and where he's most useful, as there were quite a few games at the back end of last season where Ben Arfa didn't do anything other than fulfill his defensive obligations as a right winger (and looked like he didn't have the energy to burst past players as a result of all that backtracking - though maybe that was down to fitness/not being used to playing this type of role before).

 

The underlying point to this is whether Pardew can really expect the best of both worlds, especially in a flat 4-4-2 where Ben Arfa will be forced to do a considerable amount of back-tracking. Jonas for example looks useless going forward on the wings these days because he's doing so much going the other way. Truth be told I'm not confident that Hatem has the physical strength of say a Messi/C.Ronaldo to do what Pardew wants and be insanely amazing going forward every game. Though laying the challenge publicly is a good thing.

[tmonkey]

He was dropped after scoring the first of those wonder goals tbf.

 

Aye, but the Blackburn one started the ball rolling in terms of being viewed as genuine first team material in Pardew's eyes (or so it seemed).

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I don't think there's any evidence that Pards will coach the flair out of HBA - he just wants him to work out of possession. Didn't he say "it's his world when he has the ball, and mine when he hasn't got it".

 

I think Pards is shaping up to be exactly the manager Ben Arfa needs.

[gbandit]

Don't think HBA is the kind of person who would ever sacrifice his style of play totally. He'd leave and play somewhere else than be changed too much. I hope pards lets him have a free role on the right and doesn't make him track back every single time but that's asking too much. As tmonkey mentioned above, whilst I am a big fan of Pardew now, I think his HBA stuff for about three-four months was frustrating, hopefully it'll be much smoother this year

[Cajun]

Sounds the opposite to me tbh, Ben Arfa was challenged with putting in more work rate and he exceeded expectation (imo), now Pardew seems to be acknowledging that and pushing him to do more of the special stuff, not coach it out of him.

 

I have no problem with us constantly pushing someone like HBA to give us more because he is capably of it. Again imo Pardew has done the opposite with some of the 'lesser' players, put and arm round them and other emphasised their importance to the team to get them believing in themselves and playing to the best of their (limited) ability. It won't always be a success but it seems to be doing the job so far.

 

Basically I heart Pardew IDST! But seriously I think he puts real effort into his man management on a player by player basis and that was a big part in our success last season.

[gbandit]

I agree that he acts in different ways towards different players and it's a massive plus point. Essentially, I think everything's fine now. I just got frustrated when he was asking for more from HBA but not giving him time on the pitch. Forget that though, this season'll be the best we've seen from HBA

 

In other news, my mate had tickets for Bruce Springsteen yesterday in Hyde park and your man Silvio was there on guitar. The guy's a hero

[Dr Venkman]

Miami Steve Van Zandt. Legend.

[Lush Vlad]

On the consistency thing, I'm not fussed.

 

You'll often see top class players have shitters.  It's only really players like Messi and Ronaldo that seem to play well almost every week.

 

Inconsistency seems to go with the territory for flair players like HBA.  I've seen the likes of Mata and Silva have poor games and look ineffective, does it mean they're not top players?  They're high risk, low percentage players, that can be nullified with the right tactics.

 

I also think our own tactics hindered Ben Arfa at times.  Would spend so long watching the ball sail over his head and working up and down.  That when he did finally get the chance with the ball, he seemed knackered and like he was still feeling his way into the game.  Led to him trpipping over the ball, over-running it and not having the legs to glide past players like he normally does.  I doubt his lack of pre season, the amount of gametime he missed out on in the first half of the season and him still regaining form after the leg break helped his cause either!

 

I think the only gripe I have with HBA, is the fact he sometimes tries to do too much on his own, even when he's at the top of his game.  Skin 3 or 4 players by all means, but in a lot of those highlight reels, the end product/final ball is missing.

 

The fact he's a bit inconsistent with his form doesn't worry me too much TBH.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

All his problems here are over, we've got a brilliant season to look forward to from him.

[Guest Spiria]

The only problem is Barfa as a winger in the static 4-4-2 we seen the last games of the season.

[Tiresias]

I honestly dreamt last night I was working as a shelf stacker at a tescos with Ben Arfa. He turned up late a lot, was all nonchalant  but by god he was the best damn shelf stacker in the store...

[Elliottman]

Whens he back?