Hatem Ben Arfa (still a free agent)

[Ryan]

No one is arguing that he's as good as he could be. We're arguing that it's ridiculous to drop him because he's not doing anything differently to normal. Yes he's a work shy pleb, but he's a class workshy pleb.

 

This is the point really, it's like they thought they were signing James Milner. Either you want to tolerate his messing about or you don't, but if you don't then don't buy him.

 

Partly HBA's fault as well since he must (or should) have talked to the manager before signing.

 

Should have talked to the manager and said, 'Here, you mind if I turn up 3 clem overweight and couldn't give a f***?'

 

Got an understanding of what was expected of him. Their are loads of examples, Ferguson allowing Cantona to do whatever he likes springs to mind.

 

Either way it was a risky move if he didn't have a complete understanding of Emery, and it hasn't paid off.

 

Emery probably had nowt to do with the signing tbh.

 

I'm sorry like but it's all Ben Arfa's doing now. It's been Pardew's fault, it's been Bruce's fault, it's been Deschamps fault. There's only one common denominator.

 

Emery was one of the main reasons he chose PSG. He'd previously tried to take him to Sevilla when it was obvious he was leaving Nice at the end of the season and then when Emery left Sevilla for PSG, he apparently persuaded Ben Arfa PSG would be the best move for him.

 

Seems all the more stranger how quick he's given up on him though. Just want the lad to be playing regular football week in, week out cos he's one of the best players in Europe to watch when on form.

 

 

[Hanshithispantz]

The thing nobody can explain is (a) he looked one of the fittest players in the league last season and (b) how they can possibly have written him off after a month and a bit. However bad his physical stats look you would think it's prudent to give him a chance.

Basically this. I cannot blame Emery for not playing him, he has a ridiculous pool of attacking players to choose from. This is a completely different situation than he's ever been in though, and probably the first time since he was a bairn that he isn't head and shoulders the best player in the squad.

 

There's absolutely no excuse for Pardew or Bruce not picking him and it pains me to read people looking back in hindsight now and acting as if there was any justification what-so-ever

 

 

[Ryan]

[Guest neesy111]

The defence of him is unbelievable tbh.

[Marmoset]

As a manager it's about instilling a group mentality of professionalism and giving 100% though. It's more the impression allowing someone who doesn't take training seriously to suffer no consequences conveys to the rest of the group than the actual impact on their ability to perform.

 

Obviously should have been starting for us, but if those clips are the norm you can't be expecting to get away with that for a team like psg who have very talented but also hard working players fighting for your place.

[Foluwashola]

The thing nobody can explain is (a) he looked one of the fittest players in the league last season and (b) how they can possibly have written him off after a month and a bit. However bad his physical stats look you would think it's prudent to give him a chance.

Basically this. I cannot blame Emery for not playing him, he has a ridiculous pool of attacking players to choose from. This is a completely different situation than he's ever been in though, and probably the first time since he was a bairn that he isn't head and shoulders the best player in the squad.

 

There's absolutely no excuse for Pardew or Bruce not picking him and it pains me to read people looking back in hindsight now and acting as if there was any justification what-so-ever

 

This isn't a hindsight thing. Pardew's treatment of him was shite at the time and he should have tried harder to find a way to make it work. What he never was was some beacon of light fighting against the evil force of Pardew, as was the general consensus on here.

 

My views on Ben Arfa have never had anything to do with Pardew. He has all the talent in the world but lacks the professionalism to cut it at the highest level, as we're seeing now.

[Geordie Ahmed]

I can see why he p*ssed off a few at some clubs - Roy Keane would have eaten him alive if HBA was a player under his captaincy at Man Utd.

Who cares what Roy Keane would have done, he is a bellend

[Guest firetotheworks]

The thing nobody can explain is (a) he looked one of the fittest players in the league last season and (b) how they can possibly have written him off after a month and a bit. However bad his physical stats look you would think it's prudent to give him a chance.

Basically this. I cannot blame Emery for not playing him, he has a ridiculous pool of attacking players to choose from. This is a completely different situation than he's ever been in though, and probably the first time since he was a bairn that he isn't head and shoulders the best player in the squad.

 

There's absolutely no excuse for Pardew or Bruce not picking him and it pains me to read people looking back in hindsight now and acting as if there was any justification what-so-ever

Spot on.

[Hanshithispantz]

The thing nobody can explain is (a) he looked one of the fittest players in the league last season and (b) how they can possibly have written him off after a month and a bit. However bad his physical stats look you would think it's prudent to give him a chance.

Basically this. I cannot blame Emery for not playing him, he has a ridiculous pool of attacking players to choose from. This is a completely different situation than he's ever been in though, and probably the first time since he was a bairn that he isn't head and shoulders the best player in the squad.

 

There's absolutely no excuse for Pardew or Bruce not picking him and it pains me to read people looking back in hindsight now and acting as if there was any justification what-so-ever

 

This isn't a hindsight thing. Pardew's treatment of him was shite at the time and he should have tried harder to find a way to make it work. What he never was was some beacon of light fighting against the evil force of Pardew, as was the general consensus on here.

That was obviously a tongue in cheek reaction to people still backing Pardew when he was destroying the club. He was used as the 'anti-Pards' and it was hilarious when he was pictured holding up a Sack Pardew sheet, but before all that it was just the case of the best player in our squad sitting on the bench for no reason, it was beyond infuriating and I'm sure you could go back to posts from that time with the same arguments as gets used today. 'He's lazy, look what happened at Lyon and Marseilles' etc, most people never cared about that then and it only really matters now because he's no longer the best player at his club.

 

I'm not in any way saying his attitude is ideal like, it's obviously a mental issue he has (not a mental health issue) and he seems to have had massive issues with motivation for whatever reason. It's pretty hard to get over that as we've seen time and time again. I doubt he wilfully destroyed his career for a laugh.

[Disco]

The thing nobody can explain is (a) he looked one of the fittest players in the league last season and (b) how they can possibly have written him off after a month and a bit. However bad his physical stats look you would think it's prudent to give him a chance.

Basically this. I cannot blame Emery for not playing him, he has a ridiculous pool of attacking players to choose from. This is a completely different situation than he's ever been in though, and probably the first time since he was a bairn that he isn't head and shoulders the best player in the squad.

 

There's absolutely no excuse for Pardew or Bruce not picking him and it pains me to read people looking back in hindsight now and acting as if there was any justification what-so-ever

 

This isn't a hindsight thing. Pardew's treatment of him was shite at the time and he should have tried harder to find a way to make it work. What he never was was some beacon of light fighting against the evil force of Pardew, as was the general consensus on here.

 

My views on Ben Arfa have never had anything to do with Pardew. He has all the talent in the world but lacks the professionalism to cut it at the highest level, as we're seeing now.

 

Bloody NO, hounding our your English PFM hero.

[Dinho lad]

I can see why he p*ssed off a few at some clubs - Roy Keane would have eaten him alive if HBA was a player under his captaincy at Man Utd.

Who cares what Roy Keane would have done, he is a bellend

 

True - but there's no denying that he was one of the best captains around ( baring couple of incidents) and that the culture at Man Utd was something he helped maintain.

[Foluwashola]

The thing nobody can explain is (a) he looked one of the fittest players in the league last season and (b) how they can possibly have written him off after a month and a bit. However bad his physical stats look you would think it's prudent to give him a chance.

Basically this. I cannot blame Emery for not playing him, he has a ridiculous pool of attacking players to choose from. This is a completely different situation than he's ever been in though, and probably the first time since he was a bairn that he isn't head and shoulders the best player in the squad.

 

There's absolutely no excuse for Pardew or Bruce not picking him and it pains me to read people looking back in hindsight now and acting as if there was any justification what-so-ever

 

This isn't a hindsight thing. Pardew's treatment of him was shite at the time and he should have tried harder to find a way to make it work. What he never was was some beacon of light fighting against the evil force of Pardew, as was the general consensus on here.

 

My views on Ben Arfa have never had anything to do with Pardew. He has all the talent in the world but lacks the professionalism to cut it at the highest level, as we're seeing now.

 

Bloody NO, hounding our your English PFM hero.

 

Do you never tire of this sort of patter?

[Dinho lad]

New page wanker three pages running.

[Disco]

The thing nobody can explain is (a) he looked one of the fittest players in the league last season and (b) how they can possibly have written him off after a month and a bit. However bad his physical stats look you would think it's prudent to give him a chance.

Basically this. I cannot blame Emery for not playing him, he has a ridiculous pool of attacking players to choose from. This is a completely different situation than he's ever been in though, and probably the first time since he was a bairn that he isn't head and shoulders the best player in the squad.

 

There's absolutely no excuse for Pardew or Bruce not picking him and it pains me to read people looking back in hindsight now and acting as if there was any justification what-so-ever

 

This isn't a hindsight thing. Pardew's treatment of him was shite at the time and he should have tried harder to find a way to make it work. What he never was was some beacon of light fighting against the evil force of Pardew, as was the general consensus on here.

 

My views on Ben Arfa have never had anything to do with Pardew. He has all the talent in the world but lacks the professionalism to cut it at the highest level, as we're seeing now.

 

Bloody NO, hounding our your English PFM hero.

 

Do you never tire of this sort of patter?

 

No, no I do not.

[Hanshithispantz]

I can see why he p*ssed off a few at some clubs - Roy Keane would have eaten him alive if HBA was a player under his captaincy at Man Utd.

Who cares what Roy Keane would have done, he is a bellend

 

True - but there's no denying that he was one of the best captains around ( baring couple of incidents) and that the culture at Man Utd was something he helped maintain.

Aye he just wouldn't have survived there like

 

It's obviously for the benefit of the club in the longrun (having that kind of mentality amongst strong players in the dressing room). Our problem was that our Roy Keane was fucking Shola Ameobi

[Geordie Ahmed]

I can see why he p*ssed off a few at some clubs - Roy Keane would have eaten him alive if HBA was a player under his captaincy at Man Utd.

Who cares what Roy Keane would have done, he is a bellend

 

True - but there's no denying that he was one of the best captains around ( baring couple of incidents) and that the culture at Man Utd was something he helped maintain.

Ginola wouldn't have survived then under Roy Keane yet he flourished for us, just as I think Ben Arfa would have done even better under Keegan or Sir Bobby Robson rather than the arsehole

[SEMTEX]

No one is arguing that he's as good as he could be. We're arguing that it's ridiculous to drop him because he's not doing anything differently to normal. Yes he's a work shy pleb, but he's a class workshy pleb.

 

This is the point really, it's like they thought they were signing James Milner. Either you want to tolerate his messing about or you don't, but if you don't then don't buy him.

 

Partly HBA's fault as well since he must (or should) have talked to the manager before signing.

 

Should have talked to the manager and said, 'Here, you mind if I turn up 3 clem overweight and couldn't give a f***?'

 

Got an understanding of what was expected of him. Their are loads of examples, Ferguson allowing Cantona to do whatever he likes springs to mind.

 

Either way it was a risky move if he didn't have a complete understanding of Emery, and it hasn't paid off.

 

Emery probably had nowt to do with the signing tbh.

 

I'm sorry like but it's all Ben Arfa's doing now. It's been Pardew's fault, it's been Bruce's fault, it's been Deschamps fault. There's only one common denominator.

 

Emery was one of the main reasons he chose PSG. He'd previously tried to take him to Sevilla when it was obvious he was leaving Nice at the end of the season and then when Emery left Sevilla for PSG, he apparently persuaded Ben Arfa PSG would be the best move for him.

 

Seems all the more stranger how quick he's given up on him though. Just want the lad to be playing regular football week in, week out cos he's one of the best players in Europe to watch when on form.

 

[Dinho lad]

I can see why he p*ssed off a few at some clubs - Roy Keane would have eaten him alive if HBA was a player under his captaincy at Man Utd.

Who cares what Roy Keane would have done, he is a bellend

 

True - but there's no denying that he was one of the best captains around ( baring couple of incidents) and that the culture at Man Utd was something he helped maintain.

Ginola wouldn't have survived then under Roy Keane yet he flourished for us, just as I think Ben Arfa would have done even better under Keegan or Sir Bobby Robson rather than the arsehole

 

I know that he, probably, would have performed better under better setups, but is that enough to allay him of any blame?

 

Not for me, it's not.

[Cronky]

The thing nobody can explain is (a) he looked one of the fittest players in the league last season and (b) how they can possibly have written him off after a month and a bit. However bad his physical stats look you would think it's prudent to give him a chance.

 

The lad hasn't given himself a chance though, has he? After several false starts, he finally gets a move to a club of the size that his talent deserves. But right at the start he behaves in a way that he must know, deep down, is going to lead to him getting the push. That's what needs explaining here.

 

[Guest]

Aye, he can get by like that at someone like Nice where he's head and shoulders above his team mates, or probably here with most people other than Pardew as manager, but at a club where they have other top class players in his position you'd think he'd step up.

[Tiresias]

Yeah he's probably only going to succeed where he alone is the special talent of the team and gets the special treatment from manager. He should not have gone to PSG, but really as much as people blame the player, do the clubs not do any research? It's like that frog and the scorpion parable.

[mrmojorisin75]

the stars align, rots on the bench all season, we get promoted and get him on a 4 year loan from PSG

[Guest]

Get him back here in January like.

[Dinho lad]

Actually... he's better off at a club like Southampton, not at a club managed by Rafa.

[Mattoon]

I've always maintained he's his own worst enemy, I've also always maintained that he needs the right manager to keep him on the right path. Some players just need that extra special attention and when they are as talented as HBA they are worth it. Stick him in a team and treat him the same as everyone else and you're never going to get the best out of him. The people that say he's a waste of space are the ones that would never see the best of him if they were managers.