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Hatem Ben Arfa (now retired?)


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I do think vast amounts of the affection for Hatem are based on what we hoped and predicted he'd do, as opposed to what he actually did. Lovely player to watch on his day but he's overrated on here, no question, and not necessarily by Kanji either. 'Keegan would turn him into the best player in the league', and 'much more talented than Rooney' spring to mind.

 

I'm not pointing fingers; we all get carried away when discussing things we're passionate about, but enough's enough now.

 

i agree. Hatem on his day looked like he could be among the very best in the world. He have all seen it but only in glimpses.

 

Its all up in his head it goes wrong and he will never be able to turn it to something positive. I come to think of Ibrahimovic...but it seems too late for Hatem.

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The Keegan thing is just fantasy football stuff that's a fun bit of escapism when things are depressing, and not necessarily untrue (or admittedly true for that matter)

 

Isn't the escapism a lot of what football is all about? Isn't the escapism what sort of makes us Newcastle supporters? :lol: Lord knows we never get a sustained bit of joy, something always ruins it. Always.

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I do think vast amounts of the affection for Hatem are based on what we hoped and predicted he'd do, as opposed to what he actually did. Lovely player to watch on his day but he's overrated on here, no question, and not necessarily by Kanji either. 'Keegan would turn him into the best player in the league', and 'much more talented than Rooney' spring to mind.

 

I'm not pointing fingers; we all get carried away when discussing things we're passionate about, but enough's enough now.

 

I don't think we got carried away considering what we witnessed. There's certainly been an element of filling in the gaps for him when he's been missing and always doing so in an exaggerated, positive way, but when I've actually seen him I've loved it, he's been productive and he's still surprised me.

 

The Keegan thing is just fantasy football stuff that's a fun bit of escapism when things are depressing, and not necessarily untrue (or admittedly true for that matter)

 

Haven't heard the Rooney thing, I generally hear 'more technically/naturally gifted than...' which for the most part is true imo. He's the most naturally gifted player I've seen play for us, bar Beardsley. He still has other flaws, but I don't think enough is enough. We've seen him play, he should have played a lot more, we're rightly pissed off to have been denied seeing more of him.

 

Come on, man. Rooney, I think we can all agree, hasn't quite fulfilled his natural talent, yet has won everything in club football and will be top all-time scorer for Man U and England within 18 months. That says everything about how much was expected from his ability.

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Guest firetotheworks

I do think vast amounts of the affection for Hatem are based on what we hoped and predicted he'd do, as opposed to what he actually did. Lovely player to watch on his day but he's overrated on here, no question, and not necessarily by Kanji either. 'Keegan would turn him into the best player in the league', and 'much more talented than Rooney' spring to mind.

 

I'm not pointing fingers; we all get carried away when discussing things we're passionate about, but enough's enough now.

 

I don't think we got carried away considering what we witnessed. There's certainly been an element of filling in the gaps for him when he's been missing and always doing so in an exaggerated, positive way, but when I've actually seen him I've loved it, he's been productive and he's still surprised me.

 

The Keegan thing is just fantasy football stuff that's a fun bit of escapism when things are depressing, and not necessarily untrue (or admittedly true for that matter)

 

Haven't heard the Rooney thing, I generally hear 'more technically/naturally gifted than...' which for the most part is true imo. He's the most naturally gifted player I've seen play for us, bar Beardsley. He still has other flaws, but I don't think enough is enough. We've seen him play, he should have played a lot more, we're rightly pissed off to have been denied seeing more of him.

 

Come on, man. Rooney, I think we can all agree, hasn't quite fulfilled his natural talent, yet has won everything in club football and will be top all-time scorer for Man U and England within 18 months. That says everything about how much was expected from his ability.

 

....in England, with us as people being from England, living in England.

 

the ellipses were supposed to cater for [insert player here] not necessarily Rooney. I've never given it much thought, it's a pointless comparison.

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Ben Arfa isn't more technically gifted than Rooney.  I think people like to think that because he's tricky, jinky and has more flicks.  Ben Arfa has superb ability, but people really underestimate Rooney technically, partly because he looks like a brute and isn't as flamboyant.

 

Rooney has excellent touch, balance, passing range and shooting ability that not many players in world football can top.  He scores all sorts of goals, has great awareness of what is around him during games and a sense of where he needs to be on the pitch at all times.  When you couple all those things with the added mental toughness Rooney has and his ability to be consistent, you have a far superior footballer to Ben Arfa.  Rooney has even scored much better long range goals than  Ben Arfa.  People forget that part of technical ability is the ability to put it together consistently with your mentality.  Even Wanchope had a load of flair and ability to do amazing things, but he just didn't do it often.

 

It's not quite in the same league of ridiculousness, but it seems a bit like the Ryan Taylor and David Beckham comparisons that some people wanted to make between Ben Arfa being more technically gifted than Rooney.  I have to say that I haven't seen many people actually make the comparison till it was brought up today mind.

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:lol: Yeah I guess that's a fair point.

 

I have seen people compare him favourably on here to other top footballers in the world, where the same points would apply.

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Guest firetotheworks

It's an entirely pointless comparison on any level like. Even if I said that he's a better dribbler than Rooney and more skillful than Rooney (which is probably true) it's utterly pointless. You may as well say Andy Carroll is better in the air than Messi, it's true, but who cares?

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Well it's definitely pointless, but then so is everything posted on forums to some extent and I'm sure nobody cares that much.  It's a place for Football discussion and speculation, albeit with some discussions being a bit dafter than others.

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Guest firetotheworks

You've got me wrong, that wasn't directed at you, more clearing up that I wouldn't make that comparison between those two specific players.

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God, Ronaldo and his favourites/hate figures. Total and utter :anguish:

 

Pointing out that Hatem had/has a special talent that's largely gone to waste constitutes hatred now? I think you need to open your eyes to the fact that's a pretty sensible and restrained opinion.

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God, Ronaldo and his favourites/hate figures. Total and utter :anguish:

 

Pointing out that Hatem had/has a special talent that's largely gone to waste constitutes hatred now? I think you need to open your eyes to the fact that's a pretty sensible and restrained opinion.

 

You're all over the board at it with different players man. I don't disagree with you on Hatem either tbh.

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