Hatem Ben Arfa (still a free agent)

[Mike]

1 hour ago, ponsaelius said:

Found it, re-uploaded here:

 

 

 

This has utterly ruined my day.

[Roids]

2 minutes ago, Chris_R said:

 

It's not even just that Ben Arfa didn't play, it's who played in his place whilst he sat on the bench.

 

We had some right shit that could barely trap a bag of cement stinking up his place in the team, whilst he sat warming his arse on the touchline. Utterly rage inducing.

Benched for the likes of Guthrie & Perch. Pardew won't see Heaven.

[TBG]

Might have been a vocal minority, but enough still sided with Pardew. 

 

Imagine having a player like Ben Arfa and complaining he doesn't defend enough. 

 

Games gone. 

[Robbo2]

The clips of that Stoke game at home. Sure he hit the bar twice and maybe the post, won a pen and generally took the piss. Benched next week against Arsenal 

[Erikse]

Just now, Robbo2 said:

The clips of that Stoke game at home. Sure he hit the bar twice and maybe the post, won a pen and generally took the piss. Benched next week against Arsenal 

 

Didn't run back that one time!

[Roids]

1 hour ago, High Five o said:

Indeed!

 

Unfortunately HBA are as far from a Howe player as it gets.

 

 

I don't get this logic, HBA flaws and all walks into a team field Almiron & Murphy. 

We have to let go of this modern notion of prioritising graft over talent, especially generational talents like Ben Arfa

 

Pep of all people is currently retooling Man City with flair players (Doku/Savio). HBA would slot in just fine for us, the interplay alone with Isak & Bruno would sustain families

 

 

[On the Grid]

Ultimately it's a team game and he wasn't a team player. Such a waste

[Shearergol]

25 minutes ago, On the Grid said:

Ultimately it's a team game and he wasn't a team player. Such a waste

 

Nah, not having that.

[Kid Icarus]

Honestly I never get down about him being Pardew'd and let go and all that now. 

 

Frankly it was insane for him to have been here in the first place and I'm forever grateful that he was an absolute nutter.  Everything else is an afterthought, because what might have been could have easily been him never coming here in the first place, rather than him being here and Pardew stopping us from being better. He was an absolute privlege to watch, him and Rafa made a few of the Ashley years much more bearable. 

 

 

Edited September 6 by Kid Icarus

[enthusiast]

9 minutes ago, Shearergol said:

 

Nah, not having that.

Correct.

 

Even within a "systematic" team, a semi-sensible coach would indulge a player like HBA, build the system around them and use the grafters to mitigate any deficiency that comes of it.

 

Was it Beresford who complained about Ginola not tracking back and essentially got told "tough shit, you'll just have to work harder"?

[High Five o]

1 hour ago, Roids said:

I don't get this logic, HBA flaws and all walks into a team field Almiron & Murphy. 

We have to let go of this modern notion of prioritising graft over talent, especially generational talents like Ben Arfa

 

Pep of all people is currently retooling Man City with flair players (Doku/Savio). HBA would slot in just fine for us, the interplay alone with Isak & Bruno would sustain families

 

 

It’s fair that you disagree.

But for all the talent HBA had, generational talent as you said, his career does not reflect that. Why?

 

 

 

 

Edited September 6 by High Five o

[wormy]

On 02/09/2024 at 21:12, wormy said:

What's the harm in a one eight year contract? 

 

[Nine]

2 hours ago, Roids said:

I don't get this logic, HBA flaws and all walks into a team field Almiron & Murphy. 

We have to let go of this modern notion of prioritising graft over talent, especially generational talents like Ben Arfa

 

Pep of all people is currently retooling Man City with flair players (Doku/Savio). HBA would slot in just fine for us, the interplay alone with Isak & Bruno would sustain families

 

 

Sorry but he’s right like, Howe would never start HBA in this side.. for the same reasons ASM didn’t make the cut. 
 

You can have the talent in the world but there can be no passengers in our system and I loved Ben Arfa as much as anyone. Football has evolved since he was here. 

 

 

Edited September 6 by Nine

[Guybrush]

It doesn't necessarily win things, but give me generational talent over a 'system' any day of the week. It's just more entertaining to watch.

 

There's nobody in the Premier League right now that is as entertaining as Ben Arfa.

[Mike]

4 minutes ago, Nine said:

Sorry but he’s right like, Howe would never start HBA in this side.. for the same reasons ASM didn’t make the cut. 
 

You can have the talent in the world but there can be no passengers in our system and I loved Ben Arfa as much as anyone. Football has evolved since he was here. 

 

 

 

 

I don't want to support a team that doesn't alter itself to accommodate genius.

[Nine]

11 minutes ago, Mike said:

 

I don't want to support a team that doesn't alter itself to accommodate genius.

I get it, and I agree to an extent 

 

Howe wouldn’t though 

[SEMTEX]

5 hours ago, ponsaelius said:

 

Think it got taken down. Somebody else reuploaded it somewhere. I'll try and find it mate as I might still have it on computer.

 

 

I don't have it on my PC but....

 

Spoiler

 

[Jaqen]

[NSG]

The most naturally talented player to play for us in my lifetime. Bar none.

 

Don’t care if anyone disagrees.

[Erikse]

1 hour ago, Kid Icarus said:

Honestly I never get down about him being Pardew'd and let go and all that now. 

 

Frankly it was insane for him to have been here in the first place and I'm forever grateful that he was an absolute nutter.  Everything else is an afterthought, because what might have been could have easily been him never coming here in the first place, rather than him being here and Pardew stopping us from being better. He was an absolute privlege to watch, him and Rafa made a few of the Ashley years much more bearable. 

 

 

 

 

The injury against Man City in his third game was extremely frustrating. All I could think was "why can't we ever have nice things??" It's the most Newcastle thing to happen ever. Houghton was manager that season, he might've played him more than what Pardew did if he didn't get injured.

[smootsmack]

26 minutes ago, Nine said:

Sorry but he’s right like, Howe would never start HBA in this side.. for the same reasons ASM didn’t make the cut. 
 

You can have the talent in the world but there can be no passengers in our system and I loved Ben Arfa as much as anyone. Football has evolved since he was here. 

 

 

 

 

I have to imagine he would start HBA or I might think less of him 

 

He won a cup final against Mbappe, Neymar, Di Maria... in 2019, it's not exactly ancient history

[Groundhog63]

3 hours ago, Roids said:

I don't get this logic, HBA flaws and all walks into a team field Almiron & Murphy. 

We have to let go of this modern notion of prioritising graft over talent, especially generational talents like Ben Arfa

 

Pep of all people is currently retooling Man City with flair players (Doku/Savio). HBA would slot in just fine for us, the interplay alone with Isak & Bruno would sustain families

 

 

 

At risk of exposing my limited insight but didn't Pep get a hold of Aston Villa's wild card, Jack Grealish and turn him into Scott Parker

[kingxlnc]

5 hours ago, ponsaelius said:

Found it, re-uploaded here:

 

 

I remember this, it was called At my peak or at his peak or something.

 

We really did have him for his peak years.

 

He would have been a 80-100m player today.

[SEMTEX]

[Pata]

1 hour ago, High Five o said:

It’s fair that you disagree.

But for all the talent HBA had, generational talent as you said, his career does not reflect that. Why?

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously he must have been extremely hard to work with as a coach both tactically and personally but that shouldn’t really matter if you are given a player who has all that talent. You just build your team around him and make sure he’s happy like Nice did for that one season.