The No. 10.

[Alex 30337]

He's enjoying himself with us at last, and he wanted to join the club. Who knows what will happen if one of the big clubs come in for him but I'm sure we'll have another season of Barfa in the team. He'll definitely feel like he has a point to prove after taking quite a while to settle.

 

Magnificent player who we're lucky to have. Talent like his doesn't come along all too often.

 

If only he tracked back.

he does...now

Massive oversimplification this notion he wasn't grafting and now he is (purely because of Pardew's input) and he's a changed player. I don't think his work rate was ever that much of a problem. It was more giving the ball away in dangerous areas. I put this down to trying too hard whilst still not being fully recovered from his injury. Even prior to West Brom away (the first game where he looked like he'd finally got that yard of pace back) he was still often our most dangerous player during our relatively poor spell. When Pardew would play him that is. He was often the sacrificial scapegoat during those poor performances, getting hauled off at half-time etc. I know he was shit away to Brighton but so was the whole team. I think Pardew has done very well overall but I think Ben Arfa could've been integrated into the side a bit earlier. He seems happy and playing well now though so that's the main thing. It would've been a hell of a shame if he'd just faded away and left this summer because talent like his doesn't come along very often. I think our season might well have petered out too.

Edited April 18, 2012 by Hank

[The Fish 8978]

Massive oversimplification this notion he wasn't grafting and now he is (purely because of Pardew's input) and he's a changed player. I don't think his work rate was ever that much of a problem. It was more giving the ball away in dangerous areas. I put this down to trying too hard whilst still not being fully recovered from his injury. Even prior to West Brom away (the first game where he looked like he'd finally got that yard of pace back) he was still often our most dangerous player during our relatively poor spell. When Pardew would play him that is. He was often the sacrificial scapegoat during those poor performances, getting hauled off at half-time etc. I know he was shit away to Brighton but so was the whole team. I think Pardew has done very well overall but I think Ben Arfa could've been integrated into the side a bit earlier. He seems happy and playing well now though so that's the main thing. It would've been a hell of a shame if he'd just faded away and left this summer because talent like his doesn't come along very often. I think our season might well have petered out too.

 

I'd agree with that

[JonTheMag 4]

What a talent.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-mrQiZzYAY

[OTF 6134]

Great compilation, hard to believe that it's all from his limited season thus far.

 

Amazing. LOVE that assist against Liverpool, made them look ridiculous then pings in the perfect ball to the back post.

[DragonFilet 0]

holy shit:

 

http://www.twitvid.com/CB89P

[Aeris 0]

he has the most beautiful movement and technique i can remember ever seeing, even if it's a bit selfish I would just love to see him have the ball all the fuckin time. you dont see that when ronaldo does it, all you see is "what a fuckin prick, give that ball away now, oooh, I want to punch that faggot so badly".

 

his crosses are ridiculously good aswell...

Edited April 23, 2012 by Aeris

[Christmas Tree 3997]

Be nice for the lad if he could get back in the national side now. Be interesting to know from our French posters what the latest coverage he's getting over there re this.

Edited April 23, 2012 by Christmas Tree

[Kid Dynamite 5899]

That video is class. Shame its all filmed off a camera phone pointed at his telly like

[Happy Face 29]

Be nice for the lad if he could get back in the national side now. Be interesting to know from our French posters what the latest coverage he's getting over there re this.

 

l'equipe said...

 

"hoh-hee-hoh-hee-hoh, Ben Arfa, sacre bleu, Laurent Blanc, l'escargot"

Edited April 23, 2012 by Happy Face

[Lake Bells tits 1]

Ashley doesnt deserve a player of this quality. I hope he realises this and never sells him.

[The Fish 8978]

l'equipe said...

 

"hoh-hee-hoh-hee-hoh, Ben Arfa, sacre bleu, Laurent Blanc, l'escargot"

Funny Merde!

[Brock Manson 0]

Funny Merde!

 

HF now bullying the french and all the so-called survey WUM forum policeman does is let it slide.

 

You complete shambles of a man.

[The Fish 8978]

HF now bullying the french and all the so-called survey WUM forum policeman does is let it slide.

 

You complete shambles of a man.

Go make a music video, chinfluff

[Christmas Tree 3997]

Just watched the match again and it is beautiful control. Must also add though that on 38 minutes and 33 seconds Simpson shows virtually the same control from a very similar cross field pass.

 

Also looks as though he waves to say thanks for the pass as he traps it!

[Christmas Tree 3997]

Hatem Ben Arfa is fulfilling his promise

 

 

Hatem Ben Arfa was a super-starlet long before he was a star. A decade ago, when the France of Zinedine Zidane, Didier Deschamps and Marcel Desailly were reigning world and European champions, a documentary crew followed the fortunes of the supposed next generation of Bleus, the young teenagers enrolled at the Clairefontaine academy outside Paris.

 

Abou Diaby, now of Arsenal and frequently of their injury list, was among the talents closely followed. So was Ben Arfa.

 

The film's director was enchanted by his dribbling skills, his brimming self-confidence on the ball.

 

Being the junior star of "A la Clairefontaine", as the film was titled, gave Ben Arfa an unusually high profile for a 15 year old.

 

In his first match for the Olympique Lyonnais Under 16s after the documentary had aired, the crowd swelled well beyond the few dozen who normally watch junior games, because Lyon fans wanted to see this prodigy up close.

 

"There were 200 teenagers calling out his name during the warm-up," said Robert Valette, the Lyon youth coach. "They all wanted his autograph. He needed a bit of protecting from all that."

 

In the years since, Ben Arfa has not been entirely helped, or protected, from some of the side effects of his prodigious, youthful fame.

 

The Newcastle United winger, on a fine run of form in the Premier League, has acquired reputation as a difficult individual in France.

 

His out-of-the-ordinary skill is appreciated but his temperament suspected. Both will be factors weighed up carefully by Laurent Blanc, France's national head coach, ahead of this summer's European championship.

 

Ben Arfa turned 25 last month. He would be entitled to regard that as an important frontier to a maturity he acknowledges to having struggled to attain.

 

"I always thought Hatem was a couple of years behind in some respects," Armand Garrido, another youth coach at Lyon, told France Football magazine recently. "and I said that, by 25, he will really start to thrive."

 

A bad injury suffered early in his Newcastle career partially explains why the promise of Clairfontaine has not been realised in the form of world-class status and glittering prizes at senior level, but it is far from the only explanation.

 

Diaby, despite his series of injuries, has won nearly twice as many caps for Les Bleus as his more talented contemporary.

 

Real Madrid's Karim Benzema, a year younger, and a striker with whom Ben Arfa played in the youth and senior teams at Lyon, is a far more established world star.

 

Benzema and Ben Arfa were close as boys. They fell out as men. Their famously frosty relationship at Lyon may have contributed to Ben Arfa's departure from the club he grew up at and where he won four league titles, to Olympique Marseille, where he won another league crown, but so did a number of incidents, including a practice ground bust up with his Lyon teammate Sebastian Squillaci.

 

His two seasons at Marseille would include similar fracas, with colleagues Djibril Cisse and Modeste Mbami. There, he also fell out with his coach, Eric Gerets.

 

Incorrigibly difficult? A French version of Mario Balotelli? No so, Ben Arfa would reply.

 

Last month, in a rare and revealing interview with L'Equipe, the French sports newspaper, he conceded to an "arrogance" that had made him unpopular as a younger man. He also spoke emotionally about his relationship with his father.

 

Kamel Ben Arfa was a footballer, good enough to have represented his native Tunisia internationally. He then moved to Paris, where Hatem was born, and by his son's account, pushed him hard into a potential career as a professional footballer.

 

At school, Hatem struggled with discipline, and was at one stage excluded. He later became estranged from Kamel.

 

 

He did a lot for me and put me on the path to being a footballer, but he couldn't show his feelings. In that way he was not a good father to me," Ben Arfa told L'Equipe.

 

According to Ben Arfa, he realised he needed to change his ways, grow up, in his second season at Marseille, when Gerets had left and Deschamps had taken over as the head coach.

 

He was still regularly used as an impact substitute, as he had been under Gerets, but he made decisive contributions to Marseille's first league triumph for 18 years.

 

But the relationship with club, and Deschamps, soured, when, pushing for a transfer to Newcastle, he failed to turn up for practice.

 

He suffered some very bad luck soon after his move to England, his leg broken by Manchester City's Nigel de Jong. The challenge had been crude, De Jong widely condemned for it and broad sympathy was extended to Ben Arfa.

 

Newcastle had glimpsed enough of his talent to make permanent three months later the deal with Marseille, which had started as a loan agreement. He had scored on his first start for the English club.

 

Because of the seriousness of the injury, and a further, ankle problem sustained late last summer, Ben Arfa did not play again, in a competitive match, until last September.

 

It was after the turn of the year that Ben Arfa began to truly flourish in a team who had gained confidence throughout the autumn.

 

He scored a very fine goal against Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup, and a brilliant virtuoso one, having taken the ball from within his own half and accelerated past several opponents, against Bolton Wanderers earlier this month.

 

Alan Pardew, the Newcastle head coach, still criticises Ben Arfa from time to time as being too much of an "individualist". Moments like that compensate.

 

http://www.thenational.ae/sport/football/hatem-ben-arfa-is-fulfilling-his-promise#page2

[The Fish 8978]

Some more about l'Enfant Terrible here

 

Ben Arfa finally adopts team ethic

 

Hatem Ben Arfa's mesmerizing talent has never been in question, but his attitude has.

Graham Stuart/Getty Images

There was a philosophical feel to Alan Pardew's postmatch news conference on a recent Monday afternoon. In the wake of his side's 2-0 victory over Bolton on April 9 he fielded the obvious questions about his side's opener -- a wonderful solo effort from Hatem Ben Arfa.

In among the superlatives and compliments Pardew gave telling insight into how you handle someone with a heavy backlog of misdemeanors -- which included going on strike to force through his move to Newcastle, and even visiting Tyneside without Marseille's permission.

 

"With Hatem, you've got to let him have his world," said Pardew, before adding, "It's his world when he has the ball, my world is when he hasn't." It's compromise, Ben Arfa is an individual, his desire to wear the No. 10 is a clear indication of how he views himself -- the creator. Newcastle's success is built on a hard working cohesive unit, admittedly more prominent during the tenure of Chris Hughton, but the team spirit and work effort remains a healthy part of the current success.

 

Those were not traits readily associated with Ben Arfa. The attacking flair he displayed on his debut at Everton in the 2010-11 after joining Newcastle on loan had ignited fans passions, but the leg break he suffered at Manchester City dampened the fires of excitement. At a considerably low ebb, many believe his year in rehabilitation is where the bond between player and club was formed and the man began to change.

 

Newcastle fans posted cards and well wishes in their droves to Ben Arfa and owner Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias paid him personal visits to check on his recovery (he was still a Marseille player at this point). He was even allowed leave to France and Tunisia for his recovery, provided he occasionally returned to Newcastle to be looked over by the club's medical staff.

 

It was give and take, and for once Ben Arfa wasn't just taking. Having given a number of interviews back in his native France recently, Ben Arfa has spoken openly and honestly about his situation. His leg break appears to have served as an epiphany for the man many feel is the most talented member of the '1987 generation' that included Karim Benzema, Samir Nasri, and Jeremy Menez.

 

Of course the transformation was far from complete. An injury in preseason against Sporting Kansas City ruled him out for the opening few months of the season and left cynics questioning whether he would ever consistently stave off fitness issues. Pardew was careful in his approach- Ben Arfa had played less than a dozen Premier League games by August of 2011, and as a consequence was still grasping the nuances of the more physical English Premier League.

 

His eventual return as a substitute against Blackburn in September garnered a standing ovation from the home fans -- further building of the relationship between player and club.

 

Pardew still had reservations. Ben Arfa wanted a central role, but the rigid 4-4-2 Newcastle deployed simply didn't allow for it- -- as a consequence he often found his name among the list of substitutes. As fans clamored for him to replace the melancholic Gabriel Obertan out wide, the manager remained defiant.

 

Tensions grew. When Ben Arfa did play he was able to display his threat, an assist in a defeat to West Brom on Dec. 21, 2011 and a goal against Bolton a few days later that changed the game seemed to vindicate fan opinion -- and yet Pardew still confined him to the bench -- citing a lack of defensive discipline.

 

January's home game against QPR was the turning point. Replacing an injured Yohan Cabaye, Ben Arfa was a constant threat for the home side ,but more importantly he was chasing back. No longer the individual he was part of a cohesive unit that restricted QPR to few chances as the Magpies eked out a narrow win.

 

His work had not gone unnoticed, Pardew was keen to acknowledge his effort in his postmatch interview: "He's starting to maneuver into the first team. I think he's taken on board the team ethos that we've got here and in terms of tracking back and doing everything you need to do to play in our team."

 

More than just running backward, there has been a definitive change in mentality -- something teammate Demba Ba has duly noted. Speaking on French television Sunday he said: "Everyday in training [ben Arfa] works really hard." More surprising however was Ba's claim that Ben Arfa does not like people seeing him working hard -- preferring to exude an attitude of nonchalance, something Ba says is not the case.

 

Ben Arfa is not entirely unrepentant about his former self. Now willing to admit that his reputation of arrogance was justified -- he explains that his overconfidence also saved him at one point. Mixing in questionable circles, Ben Arfa was close to joining what he describes as a cult -- his reluctance to acknowledge the leader as a superior being putting an end to his potential membership.

 

With Newcastle's formation changing in recent weeks to 4-3-3, Pardew has also found a way to finally accommodate his best players -- in particular Ben Arfa. His standout game against West Brom on March 25 highlighted his strengths with two assists and a well taken goal. His form of late has even seen him enter contention for France's Euro 2012 squad, something Pardew has championed him for via the media.

 

Yet just as the bandwagon begins to gather momentum Pardew cautions that ability and focus are what Ben Arfa requires. Talent has never been the issue for Ben Arfa. As a consequence Pardew has forbidden any more interviews for the rest of the season, a wise move from a man who seems to have learned a great deal in man management after his time with Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez at West Ham.

 

Now 25, Ben Arfa still has some way to go to prove all of his critics that he is a truly changed man, but with the potential stage of Euro 2012 just around the corner -- he may be able to prove that calling him "l'enfant terrible" should be just a thing of the past.

[Happy Face 29]

 

Hatem enjoys doing a Donald Duck impression while on the ball.

[Park Life 70]

Will be in France squad.

[NYD 0]

I've got nothing to say that hasn't already been said on this thread.

I just wanted to be on this thread.

 

HWTL

[Tooj 17]

Watching this tonight makes me realise how much of a joy it is having this lad playing for us, as he'd quite easily get into either side playing tonight.

[Lake Bells tits 1]

 

 

 

Hatem enjoys doing a Donald Duck impression while on the ball.

 

That face is trending on facebook too. Seen millions of bird do that face. Pout pout.

[aimaad22 3442]

Watching this tonight makes me realise how much of a joy it is having this lad playing for us, as he'd quite easily get into either side playing tonight.

 

His type of player running down the middle behind Rooney is exactly what Man Utd need. They've been lacking spark in midfield for quite a while now.

[Kid Dynamite 5899]

Even more now if the rumours are to be believed. Darren Fletcher has retired apparently

[Gemmill 34338]

What happened to him again? Perma-shits or something?

[Brock Manson 0]

He was just perma shit full stop.