Hatem Ben Arfa (now retired?)

[Tachikoma]

On 13/10/2025 at 05:29, gbandit said:

Eurgh, makes me feel genuinely sick

To this day I still wish Pardew would spontaneously combust over what he did to Ben Arfa.

[Roids]

On 12/10/2025 at 13:18, LiquidAK said:

The "Howe would've hated Hatem" takes are almost as boring as the PSR noncery. Just dream a little you beige fucks 

It's the laziest and most reductive of takes, footballer's should be able to ace bleep tests apparently, talent/ability be damned.

Same people will naturally bemoan Murphy, Gordon & Elanga's mediocre performances without irony. 

 

The more rational take would be to imagine how much better HBA would have been for us under a competent manager and functional team instead of playing for a dinosaur who preferred the likes of Perch, Taylor & Guthrie to him.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 14, 2025 by Roids

[kingxlnc]

Ben Arfa performed when he respected the coach. 
 

Under Bruce he could see it was pointless and so didn’t make effort

With Emery he could see he didn’t rate HBA so he downed tools and just picked up the paycheque. 
With Pardew to be fair in the early days of the 5th season with a good team in Ba Cisse Cabaye etc the environment and momentum was set up for him to perform plus Pardew was in his lucky phase when things go well before the inevitable downturn. 
 

The Nice manager was the best for him. I wish he’d stayed there tbh as instead of those wasted PSG years we’d have two years worth of crazy highlights to enjoy

 

Whatever the case is Howe is someone who commands respect. I can see HBA absolutely kill it at Howes Bournemouth side in the Josh King role behind Callum Wilson

[Cronky]

Eddie would probably have stood a better chance than anyone, but I doubt whether he'd have taken the risk.

 

Ben Arfa's record of problems with managers and team-mates extends over many years and many different clubs. Nice seems to be an exception, but he was only there a year.

 

 

Edited October 14, 2025 by Cronky

[Kid Icarus]

 

Haven't watched it all yet, but so far it's worth watching just for the footage 

 

 

[Kid Icarus]

I was watching on mute. I'd recommend doing the same. 

[Rich]

Wor Hatem features heavily in this. Game recognise game.

[Lush Vlad]

20 minutes ago, Rich said:

Wor Hatem features heavily in this. Game recognise game.

The interviewer just about stopped short of having a tantrum for him daring to say HBA was better at dribbling than Ronaldo. 

[Abacus]

Went to see a charity veterans game at Kingston Park, maybe, where the likes of Ginola came back to play.

 

I would definitely be up for something like that again if Ben Arfa came back for it, he'd be worth the ticket alone.

[gbandit]

Sign Ndiaye on the first of January. We have the spiritual successor to Hatem right there but with more work ethic

[Elliottman]

Hate those videos mind. But he was right about HBA. 

[Kid Icarus]

I'd only put Messi above him in terms of dribbling. Definitely understand having Hazard above him because of how efficient and direct he was, but in terms of pure x-factor and regularly making the impossible look everyday, it's HBA.

[duo]

1 hour ago, Rich said:

Wor Hatem features heavily in this. Game recognise game.

Didn't get enough recognition when he was still playing 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

4 hours ago, duo said:

Didn't get enough recognition when he was still playing 

I honestly don’t think people realised we were witnessing like one of the most gifted ever footballers. Like if Messi rocked up for a bit but wasn’t really feeling the job so decided to not bother. 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2025 by AyeDubbleYoo

[joeyt]

Would start him tomorrow

[duo]

Right player wrong time - Hatem under Eddie 

[Ronaldo]

He couldn’t even function with Unai Emery who perhaps puts marginally less stock in team-oriented players he can ‘trust’. HBA and Eddie wouldn’t last days man.

[TheBrownBottle]

15 hours ago, Ronaldo said:

He couldn’t even function with Unai Emery who perhaps puts marginally less stock in team-oriented players he can ‘trust’. HBA and Eddie wouldn’t last days man.

Agreed - there’s fuck all chance Howe puts up with his attitude.  There’s a reason he signed for us and not Barcelona; and Alan Pardew had fuck all to do with that.

 

For all the Messi comparisons, the closest I’ve seen in B&W is Beardsley.  HBA was nothing like Messi.

 

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

The Messi comparisons are more about talent level than anything stylistic. 

[Rich]

My little ‘un is 7 and is just starting to get into footy properly, playing for a team, playing FIFA, etc. He’s always asking me to rank players and stuff, and asked who the most exciting player to ever play for us was.

 

Naturally, I said HBA, and he’d never heard of him, so I showed him a couple of highlight reels and he was mesmerised. Now he won’t stop talking about him and wants him on a shirt, etc.

 

I’ve never been prouder. It’s such a shame there aren’t many/any like him in modern football, as that’s a perfect example of how one player can captivate a youngster.

 

He can’t get his head around him retiring so early and never really making it big, but neither can I really.

[Kaizero]

On 04/01/2026 at 13:23, Rich said:

My little ‘un is 7 and is just starting to get into footy properly, playing for a team, playing FIFA, etc. He’s always asking me to rank players and stuff, and asked who the most exciting player to ever play for us was.

 

Naturally, I said HBA, and he’d never heard of him, so I showed him a couple of highlight reels and he was mesmerised. Now he won’t stop talking about him and wants him on a shirt, etc.

 

I’ve never been prouder. It’s such a shame there aren’t many/any like him in modern football, as that’s a perfect example of how one player can captivate a youngster.

 

He can’t get his head around him retiring so early and never really making it big, but neither can I really.

 

   

 

 

 

Edited January 5 by Kaizero

[Kid Icarus]

On 04/01/2026 at 12:23, Rich said:

My little ‘un is 7 and is just starting to get into footy properly, playing for a team, playing FIFA, etc. He’s always asking me to rank players and stuff, and asked who the most exciting player to ever play for us was.

 

Naturally, I said HBA, and he’d never heard of him, so I showed him a couple of highlight reels and he was mesmerised. Now he won’t stop talking about him and wants him on a shirt, etc.

 

I’ve never been prouder. It’s such a shame there aren’t many/any like him in modern football, as that’s a perfect example of how one player can captivate a youngster.

 

He can’t get his head around him retiring so early and never really making it big, but neither can I really.

Love it. You showed him Beardsley as well?

[Rich]

Beardo’s definitely next, aye.

[Unlucky Luque]

Then show him this: https://streamable.com/9azyl 

[timeEd32]

10 minutes ago, Unlucky Luque said:

Then show him this: https://streamable.com/9azyl