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Hatem Ben Arfa

Rich

by Rich
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Guest Spiria

Guest Spiria

Posted
Posted

I remember Pardew saying Hatty's "stats weren't good enough" or some such nonsense as the reason why he wasn't getting picked.

 

"bloody hell hatty, Fifa says you're crap! Obertan starts!"

 

:mike:

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Guest VanBarduck

Guest VanBarduck

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His recent comments suggest that he didn't feel physically ready and Pardew allowed him more time out to recover to me, which are a stark contradiction to what he was saying at the time, I wouldn't take any of them at face value personally.

 

Type "hatem ben arfa come back" into Youtube and it has a little bit of his Man City from MOTD (I think there might be a better video but I cannot find it), physically he looked brilliant in that game, that was over a month before he made those comments.

 

I remember the game against Sunderland when he came off the bench and changed the game with his run and dribbling , in the post-match thread , everyone agreed that he finally recovered his pace and acceleration , the week after we was simply amazing against West brom and he never left the starting XI since that game. So , pardew was right , he wasn't ready physically. Compare that game you're talking about (Man City) and games from this year , there's a huge difference. Also ,at that times Ben Arfa was constantly obsessed by the size of his left tight , asking everyone in the dressing room if it matched his right tight  :D he mentionned it several times in itw . That is a another proof that he didn't fully gain is muscle power back.

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Interpolic

Interpolic

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He played 608 minutes in the League over the course of us having 21 games from his first match back (Blackburn at home) to the mackems game.

 

Seemed excessively under-used at the time, and I still believe he was excessively under-used.

 

Pardew also flat-out refused to play him on the wing until he swallowed his pride and realised he was being a tit about the whole thing.

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Guest Spiria

Guest Spiria

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He played 608 minutes in the League over the course of us having 21 games from his first match back (Blackburn at home) to the mackems game.

 

Seemed excessively under-used at the time, and I still believe he was excessively under-used.

 

Pardew also flat-out refused to play him on the wing until he swallowed his pride and realised he was being a tit about the whole thing.

I agree on this but at the same time, Pardew is the first to have play him on the right, he was always playing on the left before.

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pi_D

pi_D

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How was it not good man management? I don't think it can be denied if the player himself says it was.

 

If you're arguing that it wasn't good 'tactical' management, then there'll be a bit more to that.

Surely there was more ways to go about it that dropping him though? And it wasn't just 1 or 2 games either. I doubt Bobby Robson would have had to have dropped Ben Arfa put it that way.

 

Well, I'm making an assumption that he wasn't just 'dropped'. I would imagine he was left out after being given reasons why by Pardew. While he was out of the team, he would have been working to improve the sides of his game he needed too. I'm making this assumption based on what Hatem has said since, coupled with the fact he didn't spit his dummy out about inferior players being played ahead of him.

 

Once an improvement was evident, he was eased back into the team. I don't think anyone can argue that he came back in absolutely explosive form and contributed to our best run of the season. So to an extent; it worked perfectly. He's now rightly recognised as our best player and, according to the man himself, an all round better player. Yes, Bobby may have done things differently, but I don't think that's really relevant. That's why I don't think the 'man management' aspect of this can be questioned at all.

 

Spot on. An excellent post.

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Interpolic

Interpolic

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If Pardew plays a shit team against rubbish opposition and we win the game 1-0 when we could have won 4-0, did he play it perfectly?  It's a similar argument in that we'll never know, I just know what my opinion is.  I think we could have picked up even more points before Christmas last season if we'd used him now and then when we needed him. 

 

His quotes in the article Jack Flash linked to are a perfect example, he bottled playing Ben Arfa away to Norwich because we were weak at the back (Pardew's words, not mine) when he could have lifted the pressure with some attacking impetus.  I was at that game and we were crying out for it.  People claiming Pardew's a football Einstein aren't talking about the fact he played him central for so long either, which in my opinion was part of the reason he was ineffective as he looked lost.

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Mick

Mick

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Can we all just enjoy him?  He's one of a hand full of players at Newcastle in my lifetime that can get the crowd buzzing every time he gets the ball, just enjoy what we have.  Life as a Newcastle fan really is too short, we don’t win things so this is as good as it gets.  :lol:

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NEEJ

NEEJ

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Can we all just enjoy him?  He's one of a hand full of players at Newcastle in my lifetime that can get the crowd buzzing every time he gets the ball, just enjoy what we have.  Life as a Newcastle fan really is too short, we don’t win things so this is as good as it gets.  :lol:

:thup:

Looking forward to Sunday's game so much now. So much so that I actually kind of hope he doesn't play on Thursday because I'm at work and will miss the match. :lol:

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Cajun

Cajun

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In my opinion, and this will never be proven along with the opposing opinions. Pardew played it spot on last season, there is always 'that game' that we could have won but I am sure Man U fans say the same with the greatest manager this country has ever seen (again, imo).

 

I also think that Ben Arfa is a better player through Pardew installing a bit of workrate in him, despite some class players I don't think we were/are strong enough to have 3 players effectively ignoring the defensive side of the games so seeing HBA running back and taking the ball of the opposing player with ease, which he does through his immense reading of the game is really good to see.

 

I have said many times that Pardew is too cautious and I do think HBA does his best work in the oppositions half but the thought of Ben Arfa and Gouffran working as hard as they do both ends of the pitch alongside Cisse is ejaculation worthy.

 

Maybe we might have got the odd point more last season if we introduced Ben Arfa earlier but we weren't exactly doing bad and long term I think the lad will be a better player for us.

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duo

duo

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Recently, you’ve been announced perhaps everywhere during the transfer market?

 

Last summer, we really had a great season and I needed to settle myself even more in a team where felt great. I still had lot to learn and give back, because they gave so much. I simply couldn’t leave last summer, even If I had several propositions. And this winter I wasn’t willing to leave either. Of course, I want the club to be ambitious, and sometimes in our minds we think we could go for the title with the squad and the prestige we’ve got.

Still not committing long term.... :scared:

 

Come on Ashley give this lad new contract.

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Interpolic

Interpolic

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In my opinion, and this will never be proven along with the opposing opinions. Pardew played it spot on last season, there is always 'that game' that we could have won but I am sure Man U fans say the same with the greatest manager this country has ever seen (again, imo).

 

I also think that Ben Arfa is a better player through Pardew installing a bit of workrate in him, despite some class players I don't think we were/are strong enough to have 3 players effectively ignoring the defensive side of the games so seeing HBA running back and taking the ball of the opposing player with ease, which he does through his immense reading of the game is really good to see.

 

I have said many times that Pardew is too cautious and I do think HBA does his best work in the oppositions half but the thought of Ben Arfa and Gouffran working as hard as they do both ends of the pitch alongside Cisse is ejaculation worthy.

 

Maybe we might have got the odd point more last season if we introduced Ben Arfa earlier but we weren't exactly doing bad and long term I think the lad will be a better player for us.

 

It's not really about being greedy and thinking we should have picked up more points before Christmas, it's about remembering how incredulous I was when watching games where we were clearly struggling and that cretin in the dugout refusing to bring him on whatsoever.  Or when he did first give him a chance from the start (Man City and Man Utd away in November) he was our best player.  One dodgy first half against Chelsea and he was dragged off at half time and back on 20 minute cameo duty (if he got on at all) for the next month and a half.  I remember the period vividly and I thought he was wrong then and I think he was wrong now.

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Ikon

Ikon

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When Ben Arfa played centrally he wasn't fit or up to speed. Some people say that he didn't do well there and that is correct, but you can't compare that position then with when he played out on the right later when he was much fitter.

 

Im not saying that we should play him centrally, but every now and then this comes up, that he looked lost there.

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mrmojorisin75

mrmojorisin75

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In my opinion, and this will never be proven along with the opposing opinions. Pardew played it spot on last season, there is always 'that game' that we could have won but I am sure Man U fans say the same with the greatest manager this country has ever seen (again, imo).

 

I also think that Ben Arfa is a better player through Pardew installing a bit of workrate in him, despite some class players I don't think we were/are strong enough to have 3 players effectively ignoring the defensive side of the games so seeing HBA running back and taking the ball of the opposing player with ease, which he does through his immense reading of the game is really good to see.

 

I have said many times that Pardew is too cautious and I do think HBA does his best work in the oppositions half but the thought of Ben Arfa and Gouffran working as hard as they do both ends of the pitch alongside Cisse is ejaculation worthy.

 

Maybe we might have got the odd point more last season if we introduced Ben Arfa earlier but we weren't exactly doing bad and long term I think the lad will be a better player for us.

 

It's not really about being greedy and thinking we should have picked up more points before Christmas, it's about remembering how incredulous I was when watching games where we were clearly struggling and that cretin in the dugout refusing to bring him on whatsoever.  Or when he did first give him a chance from the start (Man City and Man Utd away in November) he was our best player.  One dodgy first half against Chelsea and he was dragged off at half time and back on 20 minute cameo duty (if he got on at all) for the next month and a half.  I remember the period vividly and I thought he was wrong then and I think he was wrong now.

 

what IP said, HBA forced pardew to play him with the mackems game basically

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