Hatem Ben Arfa (now retired?)

[HaydnNUFC]

Remember when he trapped that ball from Tiote in the rain. Against Stoke maybe? was a long crossfield ball

 

'Ben Arfa Control Vs. Stoke' on youtube.

 

Amazing. We were great that day, Cisse, Tiote, Cabaye & Ben Arfa were just excellent.

 

We were world beaters that day. Unbelievably good.

 

Cabaye's pass to Cisse for the first was ridiculous tbh, not sure anyone else in the ground knew that ball was on. Unreal.

That season. Whilst it wasn't short of Pardisms some days were utter magic. Tearing West Brom apart in 45 minutes in their own backyard, Ryan Taylor over the wall, Hatem v Bolton, Hatem v Blackburn, Ba hat trick at Stoke, hammering Fergie under the lights at SJP, the Stoke home game that you've mentioned, the unbeaten run at the start, finally winning at Stamford Bridge from those two goals, Cisse playing like the second coming of Andy Cole. Goddammit, may never see a season like that again in the near future.

[Infinitely Content]

Remember when he trapped that ball from Tiote in the rain. Against Stoke maybe? was a long crossfield ball

 

'Ben Arfa Control Vs. Stoke' on youtube.

 

Amazing. We were great that day, Cisse, Tiote, Cabaye & Ben Arfa were just excellent.

 

We were world beaters that day. Unbelievably good.

 

Cabaye's pass to Cisse for the first was ridiculous tbh, not sure anyone else in the ground knew that ball was on. Unreal.

That season. Whilst it wasn't short of Pardisms some days were utter magic. Tearing West Brom apart in 45 minutes in their own backyard, Ryan Taylor over the wall, Hatem v Bolton, Hatem v Blackburn, Ba hat trick at Stoke, hammering Fergie under the lights at SJP, the Stoke home game that you've mentioned, the unbeaten run at the start, finally winning at Stamford Bridge from those two goals, Cisse playing like the second coming of Andy Cole. Goddammit, may never see a season like that again in the near future.

 

So many good memories in there man. Remember so much of it like it was yesterday too, loved football in general that year mainly due to how excited I was by our play especially in the second half of the season.

[Zero]

Imagine if he'd had a man manager like Rafa during the prime of his career, rather than f***ing Pardew.

 

No more this shit.

[Pata]

Under Keegan or Bobby, my word.

 

I know nothing of Bobby but Keegan was here right before Benny. The universe wanted it and it all fell apart. We're living on that timeline where everything is shit.

 

Fuck me that makes me feel old.

[Chicane]

Is weird to think we've got a generation of fans now that have never known anything but the Ashley Era Newcastle

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Is weird to think we've got a generation of fans now that have never known anything but the Ashley Era Newcastle

 

It's fucking horrible. Imagine genuinely thinking of Newcastle as a bottom half club. Mental.

[Elliottman]

Under Keegan or Bobby, my word.

 

I know nothing of Bobby but Keegan was here right before Benny. The universe wanted it and it all fell apart. We're living on that timeline where everything is shit.

 

Fuck me that makes me feel old.

 

I thought mike was in his 40’s

[Nattfare]

Doesn't matter. Mentally he's still in his early teens.

[Pata]

Under Keegan or Bobby, my word.

 

I know nothing of Bobby but Keegan was here right before Benny. The universe wanted it and it all fell apart. We're living on that timeline where everything is shit.

 

Fuck me that makes me feel old.

 

I thought mike was in his 40’s

 

Yup. He's been here for decades but Bobby was still before his time. 

[John P]

One of the (many) things I loved about Hatem was how he would never dive or go down easily. Players would always try and bring him down but he never would take the option of just going to ground, he would try his hardest to get past them and really fight to stay on his feet.

[steve_69]

One of the (many) things I loved about Hatem was how he would never dive or go down easily. Players would always try and bring him down but he never would take the option of just going to ground, he would try his hardest to get past them and really fight to stay on his feet.

 

It's exactly what Messi does and occasionally Ronaldo as well. You have far more potential for causing the opposition bother if you ride challenges and exploit the space left by overcommitted defenders. With Hatem I think it was just that he loved having the ball at his feet so much and he knew if he went down he wouldn't have it any more 

He was an absolute joy to watch.

 

[John P]

One of the (many) things I loved about Hatem was how he would never dive or go down easily. Players would always try and bring him down but he never would take the option of just going to ground, he would try his hardest to get past them and really fight to stay on his feet.

 

It's exactly what Messi does and occasionally Ronaldo as well. You have far more potential for causing the opposition bother if you ride challenges and exploit the space left by overcommitted defenders. With Hatem I think it was just that he loved having the ball at his feet so much and he knew if he went down he wouldn't have it any more 

He was an absolute joy to watch.

 

 

I think that is true. It goes back to him being almost childlike in how he played the game. He got such a buzz from going past people and exciting the crowd that the idea of going down to win a free kick or penalty never even entered his mind.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Because he's not so interested in 'gaining an advantage' as he is in just playing. It's much more fun to ride challenges and dribble than it is to fall over.

[Mike]

Is weird to think we've got a generation of fans now that have never known anything but the Ashley Era Newcastle

 

It's fucking horrible. Imagine genuinely thinking of Newcastle as a bottom half club. Mental.

 

I always feel bad when y'all get to reminiscing. The glory days were fucking ages ago.

[steve_69]

Because he's not so interested in 'gaining an advantage' as he is in just playing. It's much more fun to ride challenges and dribble than it is to fall over.

 

It's also much more enjoyable to make the opposition fall over and then rub it in their faces by creating something. It makes the game so much more enjoyable to watch as well.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Is weird to think we've got a generation of fans now that have never known anything but the Ashley Era Newcastle

 

It's fucking horrible. Imagine genuinely thinking of Newcastle as a bottom half club. Mental.

 

I always feel bad when y'all get to reminiscing. The glory days were fucking ages ago.

 

I'm only mid-30s like, it is the main thing that makes me feel older. When I talk about football to people at work (especially in London) I sound like an absolute madman. Spurs fans think they're better than us FFS.

[Mike]

Is weird to think we've got a generation of fans now that have never known anything but the Ashley Era Newcastle

 

It's fucking horrible. Imagine genuinely thinking of Newcastle as a bottom half club. Mental.

 

I always feel bad when y'all get to reminiscing. The glory days were fucking ages ago.

 

I'm only mid-30s like, it is the main thing that makes me feel older. When I talk about football to people at work (especially in London) I sound like an absolute madman. Spurs fans think they're better than us FFS.

 

They are.

[Guest firetotheworks]

Is weird to think we've got a generation of fans now that have never known anything but the Ashley Era Newcastle

 

It's fucking horrible. Imagine genuinely thinking of Newcastle as a bottom half club. Mental.

 

I always feel bad when y'all get to reminiscing. The glory days were fucking ages ago.

 

I'm only mid-30s like, it is the main thing that makes me feel older. When I talk about football to people at work (especially in London) I sound like an absolute madman. Spurs fans think they're better than us FFS.

 

They are.

Ye wha? 11 years isn't that long like. The club's have gone in opposite directions obviously, but it's not forever irredeemable if the right owner came in.

 

You started following us at the worst possible time basically. If you thought you talked about HBA a lot, you'd have been peaking hard over Beardsley and Ginola.

[Mike]

Is weird to think we've got a generation of fans now that have never known anything but the Ashley Era Newcastle

 

It's fucking horrible. Imagine genuinely thinking of Newcastle as a bottom half club. Mental.

 

I always feel bad when y'all get to reminiscing. The glory days were fucking ages ago.

 

I'm only mid-30s like, it is the main thing that makes me feel older. When I talk about football to people at work (especially in London) I sound like an absolute madman. Spurs fans think they're better than us FFS.

 

They are.

Ye wha? 11 years isn't that long like. The club's have gone in opposite directions obviously, but it's not forever irredeemable if the right owner came in.

 

You started following us at the worst possible time basically. If you thought you talked about HBA a lot, you'd have been peaking hard over Beardsley and Ginola.

 

Answer honestly. When was the last time you seriously expected this club to compete for the title? Whenever that was, that's how long it's been since the team was great.

 

The right owner is never coming.

[loki679]

Is weird to think we've got a generation of fans now that have never known anything but the Ashley Era Newcastle

 

It's fucking horrible. Imagine genuinely thinking of Newcastle as a bottom half club. Mental.

 

I always feel bad when y'all get to reminiscing. The glory days were fucking ages ago.

 

I'm only mid-30s like, it is the main thing that makes me feel older. When I talk about football to people at work (especially in London) I sound like an absolute madman. Spurs fans think they're better than us FFS.

 

They are.

Ye wha? 11 years isn't that long like. The club's have gone in opposite directions obviously, but it's not forever irredeemable if the right owner came in.

 

You started following us at the worst possible time basically. If you thought you talked about HBA a lot, you'd have been peaking hard over Beardsley and Ginola.

 

Answer honestly. When was the last time you seriously expected this club to compete for the title? Whenever that was, that's how long it's been since the team was great.

 

The right owner is never coming.

 

We came 3rd in 2003, that's not that long ago for us.

[Guest firetotheworks]

Is weird to think we've got a generation of fans now that have never known anything but the Ashley Era Newcastle

 

It's fucking horrible. Imagine genuinely thinking of Newcastle as a bottom half club. Mental.

 

I always feel bad when y'all get to reminiscing. The glory days were fucking ages ago.

 

I'm only mid-30s like, it is the main thing that makes me feel older. When I talk about football to people at work (especially in London) I sound like an absolute madman. Spurs fans think they're better than us FFS.

 

They are.

Ye wha? 11 years isn't that long like. The club's have gone in opposite directions obviously, but it's not forever irredeemable if the right owner came in.

 

You started following us at the worst possible time basically. If you thought you talked about HBA a lot, you'd have been peaking hard over Beardsley and Ginola.

 

Answer honestly. When was the last time you seriously expected this club to compete for the title? Whenever that was, that's how long it's been since the team was great.

 

The right owner is never coming.

 

The last time I thought we'd be going for the title was probably 2003 but it's not 'the last time we were great' imo - there was always the potential for us to push on, get the right manager, and attempt to go for the title right up until Ashley bought the club. Even then we had a very good group of players from '11-14 imo - a strongest XI that I'd put slightly below the XI that SBR had. Certainly one that would have been consistently top 5-10 under a manager that knew what he was doing.

 

If we hadn't sold our best players we could have been looking at a starting XI of the one below at one time or another:

 

Krul

 

Debuchy

Williamson

Coloccini

Enrique

 

Tiote

Jonas

Cabaye

 

Ben Arfa

Ba

Remy

[geordiedean]

Is weird to think we've got a generation of fans now that have never known anything but the Ashley Era Newcastle

 

It's fucking horrible. Imagine genuinely thinking of Newcastle as a bottom half club. Mental.

 

I always feel bad when y'all get to reminiscing. The glory days were fucking ages ago.

 

I'm only mid-30s like, it is the main thing that makes me feel older. When I talk about football to people at work (especially in London) I sound like an absolute madman. Spurs fans think they're better than us FFS.

 

They are.

Ye wha? 11 years isn't that long like. The club's have gone in opposite directions obviously, but it's not forever irredeemable if the right owner came in.

 

You started following us at the worst possible time basically. If you thought you talked about HBA a lot, you'd have been peaking hard over Beardsley and Ginola.

 

Answer honestly. When was the last time you seriously expected this club to compete for the title? Whenever that was, that's how long it's been since the team was great.

 

The right owner is never coming.

 

The last time I thought we'd be going for the title was probably 2003 but it's not 'the last time we were great' imo - there was always the potential for us to push on, get the right manager, and attempt to go for the title right up until Ashley bought the club. Even then we had a very good group of players from '11-14 imo - a strongest XI that I'd put slightly below the XI that SBR had. Certainly one that would have been consistently top 5-10 under a manager that knew what he was doing.

 

If we hadn't sold our best players we could have been looking at a starting XI of the one below at one time or another:

 

Krul

 

Debuchy

Williamson

Coloccini

Enrique

 

Tiote

Jonas

Cabaye

 

Ben Arfa

Ba

Remy

 

That defence has more holes than a lump of swiss cheese, no wonder we shipped goals for fun its crap

[Tooj]

Apart from Williamson it doesn't really.

[geordiedean]

Apart from Williamson it doesn't really.

 

Overall Coloccini was both hopeless and infuriating, he had 1 possibly 2 good seasons but as a captain and a leader the guy was an embarrasment

[joeyt]

A better manager might have got something better out of Yanga Mbiwa