Kevin S. Assilleekunt 1 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Am I the only one who noticed his sullen, lethargic attitude? The type of attitude that screams, "I am leaving you: au revoir, you piece of human excrement." This is the worst I have seen him play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PUGATRON1000 0 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Played like he doesn't expect to be here past the summer today, and on that performance he shouldn't be. Walking around with hunched shoulders, hands on hips. Think he'll be back in Ligue Un come next season. Played like he was rusty - short of match time and confidence and had no fludity with the rest of the team - mind you the rest of the team were appalling bad during the period he was on the pitch. Aye, he seemed to spend a fraction too long looking up at what was going on when he had the ball, instead of driving on instinctively like he probably would if he was "match sharp". Frustrated me when he got the ball one on one with the left back in the last two minutes, and he was waiting for the fullback to commit, fullback didnt, ended up having three wolves players on him before he made his move, rather than going at the full back whilst one-on-one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duo 0 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 We should be building our team around him, simple as. He is by far our most gifted player and is the type of player we are lacking on the pitch, someone with a creative spark. Our best form of defence is attack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anorthernsoul 1221 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 We should be building our team around him, simple as. He is by far our most gifted player and is the type of player we are lacking on the pitch, someone with a creative spark. Our best form of defence is attack. He's a confidence player. You do not gain confidence by sitting on the bench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monroe Transfer 0 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Doesn't matter, he keeps on losing the ball, or kicking it out of touch. I'd rather he passed it back to Simpson than did that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Dynamite 5908 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 So Ben Arfa starts and is shit and it's because we don't play to his strengths or he's rusty. Here comes on as a sub and plays shit and it's because he should have started. Better teams would have punished him losing the ball so much today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monroe Transfer 0 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 (edited) Ben Arfa gets away with his non-performances because he "adds spark" to the team, it's other player's faults for not moving around him enough, and he keeps the ball on the ground. Shame he actually doesn't do much with it. Really needs to up his game. Definitely lacking confidence and could do with a full 90, but if he's not worthy of a start according to his manager then that is what it is. Edited February 25, 2012 by Monroe Transfer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OTF 6148 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 I don't think anyone's suggesting he had anything other than a poor cameo performance, just trying to add some context to it. I wouldn't play HBA over either of our front men and yet he seems to struggle when out wide for us, like he needs space all around him in which to operate. With two up top such a lighweight defender can't be afforded through the middle.... Echo the sentiment of whoever else said it - if he's not going to get meaningful time in the first team then give him a run in the reserves to get some match fitness and cohesion as well as confidence going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 He was fucking shite and no mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duo 0 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Had the ONLY two decent shots in the second half. Yes he gave the ball away today but I think pretty much the whole team was guilty of that today. The lad is a massive talent - we just need to take a leaf out of City's book, they have built their team around Silva, and we need to do the same with Ben Arfa. Minutes on the pitch this season Ben Arfa has done pretty well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewerk 26345 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Not suited to the PL/More confidence than talent. It's one or the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 can anyone tell me how many passes he attempted? I'd be amazed if he managed more than 2, but can't get into the chalkboards to check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 70 Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 Hit Ba! Hit Ba! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyff 0 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Had one of the two shots he had gone in (and they weren't far out) then things would be a lot different here. I admit it was frustrating to see him losing the ball so often, but apart from maybe one occasion when he should have crossed instead of running it out of play, it was rare that there was anything on for him except the Obertan style back pass to Simpson. It was an awkward time for anyone to come on, regardless of who it was. The players' heads were down after letting a two goal lead slip, and Ba was hardly at his best. It is just because we have such high expectations of Ben Arfa. In my view, he needs a decent run out of a few games before we actually decide whether or not he is worth it. On yesterdays performance we would have never wanted to see Guthrie in a black and white shirt again, yet we have seen how much good a run in the team can do for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene_Clark 12 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 He reminded me of Martins yesterday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveTheBobby 1 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 For me I'm still got him filed under 'promising 'but unsure he'll make it here . A few home games ago Pardew could be heard bawling at him "head up Hatem, head up" as he went by the dugout . Obviously something they're working on . I think all his "my troubled upbringing/nobody understands me" shit manifests itself on the pitch with a 'i'll show them, i am an island' kind of approach - head down and try and dribble past the whole team . It obviously doesn't work like that and I'm of the opinion it's the kids' attitude that is pretty central to this. Pardew publically commenting (rightly or wrongly) earlier in the season that he "needs to understand what we're about as a team" was pretty telling . He's meant to be an awkward punter off the pitch too . Like has been said earlier, his body language looks all wrong. When he was being briefed before goin on he was very nonchalant and all that was missing was a cartoon speech bubble saying "aye whatever" . He's faulty . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 70 Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 He's hardly played any football for a month you muppets. [/facepalm] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toonpack 6860 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 He's hardly played any football for a month you muppets. [/facepalm] His display amply illustrated why tbh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewerk 26345 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 can anyone tell me how many passes he attempted? I'd be amazed if he managed more than 2, but can't get into the chalkboards to check. Looks like the chalkboard service has been discontinued. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddockLad 14585 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 He's hardly played any football for a month you muppets. [/facepalm] For him to get games, Pardew has to feel as if he can trust him.Less of his "best player in the playground" bullshit and more actual team play (i.e. passing instead of losing the ball when in possesion) and he'd be in the team. At the moment, he's a liability. The balls in his court as it were, do as Pardew asks and do it properly and we may even have won yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneColdStephenIreland 74 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 There were much worse players on the pitch for us yesterday, why not have a look at the others performances instead of keep blaming the same players over and over again ffs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toonpack 6860 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 There were much worse players on the pitch for us yesterday, why not have a look at the others performances instead of keep blaming the same players over and over again ffs? I don't think anyone has "singled him out" it's just he does not merit the blind man-love he get's from way to many. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneColdStephenIreland 74 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 There were much worse players on the pitch for us yesterday, why not have a look at the others performances instead of keep blaming the same players over and over again ffs? I don't think anyone has "singled him out" it's just he does not merit the blind man-love he get's from way to many. It's the logic behind everyones reasoning for why we lose that gets to me. If we lose and Obertan plays it's Obertans fault. if we lose and Ben Arfa doesnt play its Pardew's fault. If Ben Arfa plays and doesnt live up to his almighty expectations its reason for him not to play whilst others have poor games and none of them get mentioned. Look at Cabaye yesterday, he done nothing, Ba was poor aswell. People are scapegoating the same players over and over again without looking further afield Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christmas Tree 3997 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 I think most people with any sense realise we are not doing better because we are creating very few opportunities. This has been the way of our season and as Happy face says we have in a lot of cases managed to grind out results. I blame anyone whose job it is to create chances for the strikers whether that be the wingers or Cabaye. The players we have should be able to create bag fulls of opportunities against teams like Wolves. Why we seem unable to do it is a mystery. If I had to try and put my finger on why I would suggest Pardew is too over cautious, however that does not excuse the calibre of players we have, playing like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneColdStephenIreland 74 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 There was only one team yesterday who wanted to win the game and it certainly wasnt us, Wolves were hungry for it but our players were way to complacent throughout the 90 minutes, as if they thought they had the win in the bag from the kick off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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