Ben Arfa: Not a winger, but is he a singer?Speaking in a rare interview, Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew, has declared that French-Tunisian wonder winger, Hatem Ben Arfa will have to show more “flashes of brilliance in training” before he’ll give him a first team start.
In a somewhat surprising change of tack from his recent gushing about the player’s abilties, Pardew said of his training sessions:
“He likes the group and he trusts us. Now it is a matter of when he is ready. He shows flashes of brilliance in training, but I want him to do it more often in training before I bring him in.
Although Ben Arfa has spent much of his career as a mostly left sided winger, impressing many of the great and the good in football in that role, Pardew is not impressed by the player on the flank, saying that he could only see him in a central role, continuing:
“My view is that he can’t play out wide. He has not got the relish for it and his best football comes through the middle.(more…)
Hatem Ben Arfa: Will he change the team dynamic?Now that the king has returned from injury so to speak, I began wondering (always dangerous for someone like me) how will Ben Arfa slot back into the Newcastle Team?
Let’s clear one thing up, NUFC are not the sort of team the can afford to leave Benny sat on the bench, it’s obvious we are going to use his talent in the first team wherever possible. However I do have concerns over how it changes the team dynamic.
The old sayings “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” rings true for me here, NUFC are quietly getting on with it, picking up points on our travels and generally looking solid. Will Ben Arfa’s return upset the apple cart?
Looking at most people’s team sheet’s with HBA in, they all seem to follow what I class as a football manager type approach: (more…)
Missing piece?Newcastle United’s Hatem Ben Arfa is keen to get started with Premier League football after his appearance against Nottingham Forest in the Carling Cup on Tuesday. Alan Pardew won’t be rushing him back but could it be that the eventual return of Ben Arfa will signal a shift in the way the whole team plays?
Hatem Ben Arfa has played very few minutes of first team football for Newcastle since joining the club, yet an awful lot of expectation seems to surround the lad. It’s as if he’s the missing piece to some puzzle.
After playing against Nottingham Forest in the Carling Cup on Tuesday, Ben Arfa is now keen to get his first Premier League start of the season. Benny said:
“All the year I worked so hard to come back and I’m very happy to be on the pitch now. I’m very happy to see the supporters again and I thank them for all the encouragement last year. I feel very good. I have confidence and I feel I will do very good things now.
“I feel ready to play in every match now, in fact I’m dying to play.” (more…)
Match highlights from yesterday evening’s nailbiting 3-4 thriller against Nottingham Forest in the League Cup.
Features two goals from Peter Lovenkrands. The first featuring an astounding pass from comeback kid, Hatem Ben Arfa, and a pretty tidy assist from his French compadre Sylvain Marveaux too. The third was an almost certain cross which ended up in the goal from Danny Simpson, and finally, the “Coup de grâce” in the dying seconds of extra time from the head of Captain Coloccini.
Also features the three Nottingham Forest goals from Finley, Derbyshire and Tudgay.
Apologies for the slightly wobbly nature of the videocam highlights. As you probably know, TV coverage of this game was none existent so it’s a case of “any port in a storm” this time. I will keep my eyes peeled, and should anyhting better show up, I will replace it. Thanks by the way to ironically named site user, “Free Scoring Smudge” for pointing this out.
Ben Arfa: "Very buoyant" says Pardew.In a rare interview, Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew, has been speaking at length about Hatem Ben Arfa, at times making him sound like a kind of Gallic Joey Barton when he got on to the subject of the players character and temperament.
He also likened him to a brand of well known lager which allegedly reaches the parts other beers cannot reach as he swooned over the “creative”, “elusive” French-Tunisian playmaker.
Starting with the beer analogy, Pardew purred:
“He’s a player that can reach heights that other players can’t reach – that Heineken player if you like.
“He brings a creative force to the team that is different to what we have and he’s different to a lot of players in the Premier League. He’s elusive.”
Of course though, the player has had scant chance to prove this where it counts, on the pitch, since Pardew’s predecessor, Chris Hughton, brought him to the club on loan in August 2010. Speaking on the injuries Ben Arfa has had to endure since he came to Tyneside, Pardew continued: (more…)
