Can Pardew take any credit for Ben Arfa’s renaissance?

toonsy

A blossoming partnership?
This season has been full of plaudits for various different things at Newcastle.

From player form, to results, league placing and even football finances, there are may things that have brought us positive press throughout the season and which give us at least a cautious glimmer of hope for the future.

The latest person to attract the plaudits is Hatem Ben Arfa after a sequence of stunning performances which have seen the former “enfant terrible” hit form at just the right time of the season. How much of that can be attributed to the player though? And how much credit can Alan Pardew take for his treatment of the player as he battled his way back to what we see now?

Ben Arfa has always had the raw ingredients to become a fantastic player. His skill and vision are immense and he can do almost anything with a football at his feet, which is why a lot of fans have been quick to jump up and down with joy about him.

However there have been deficiencies in his game that can cause problems, especially in a team where “team” is the vital word. Admittedly these deficiencies are heightened by a lack of quality in the squad. For instance Danny Simpson has an alarming habit of bombing forward past the attacker in support, only to be found wanting if possession is lost.

To counter that it means that the right-winger has to be able to track back and work with the team, which has been an achilles heel of Ben Arfa’s. Not anymore though, and now we are seeing Hatem Ben Arfa producing magic where it counts in attack combined with a steely determination to track back and help out when the team needs it.

That can play into our hands of course. You only have to look at his goal against West Brom to see that. That goal came from him dropping back to defend and being able to break forward quickly when we won the ball back. A few passes and we were soon up the other end celebrating a goal formed from his willingness to work for the side.

For me a lot of the credit has to go to Alan Pardew. He got a bit of stick from some fans for failing to include Ben Arfa in every game, but now we are starting to reap the rewards of his approach and, to be fair, the players willingness to listen, and long may that continue.

It’s just my opinion of course, but how much credit do you give Alan Pardew for Ben Arfa’s sensational recent form?

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

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149 thoughts on “Can Pardew take any credit for Ben Arfa’s renaissance?”

  3. @Newkie
    Yes but all the opinion are partisan here no?
    It was right to not play him in the start of the season, but I think he could try to introduce Benny before in the season.

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  6. I think the problem for HBA was that earlier in the season we were playing a certain way which did not really suit him, but we were winning the matches so it would have been crazy for Pardew to have changed it. Then more recently, for whatever reason, that style was no longer working so Pardew has been forced to change it. You have to give credit to Pardew for managing the situation quite well, and also to HBA for not getting too frustrated.

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  7. If we beat/draw with Liverpool and Tottenham win then Liverpool will be closer to the relegation zone than the champions league 😆

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  8. M erson reckons Kompany & co run ragged by Sess & co today 😯 . Just imagine what Cisse Ba and Benny will do then .

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  12. Question is HBA a better team player now than he was, answer yes. So who takes credit. HBA for putting in the hard work, and Pardew for the guidance.

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  13. @Nobby 85

    lol nicely put

    Match of the day tonight is going to be amazing and newcastle are not even playing whats that all about.

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  14. Pardew definitely deserves some credit but am I the only one who thinks that the upcoming euros has anything to do with HBAs increasingly committed/hardworking performances?

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  18. Sorry but been googling half an hour and HBA has never had a manager or coach called Hormones. How about a first name for a clue?

    Whatever Pards has done with HBA so far I hope it continues apace tomorrow. Definitely need a fairly rigid back four and a big voice to hold that line, Suarez seems to get caught a lot by a reasonably savvy offside trap

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  21. I don’t think Carroll and Enrique will be the type to enjoy coming back to SJP. Someone who seems to have slipped under the radar however is a certain Mr Bellamy!

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  22. The current form of Everton is worrying, both in the league and the cup they still have the ability to snatch Europa from us.

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  23. Another defeat for West Ham, and if you look at Villa’s next 4 games it’s not improbable that they would slip into the bottom 3 or 4. 🙂

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  25. ‘West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce has defended their recent displays after his own supporters chanted about the side’s style of football.
    The Hammers boss vowed to play “the West Ham way” when he took over in June but fans have voiced their displeasure at what they see as direct tactics.
    Supporters at the 2-0 win at Peterbrough were heard singing, ‘We’re West Ham United, we play on the floor’.
    But Allardyce said: “I’m sick of all that rubbish.”

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  26. I agree DJG, our season is defined by the mersey.
    And the common view atm, i’d count myself in this, is that Everton are once again ending the season with a flourish.

    However…
    Last 10 games:
    Everton – 18 points
    Newcastle – 17 points

    Last 5 games:
    Everton – 9 points
    Newcastle – 8 points

    Us been on poor form? Pfff sign of a great team to still pick up points during a spell of not playing well 😉

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  27. If Wet Spam dont get promotion, I’m assuming Sham Allardyce will get yet another big pay off.
    Its always a win win situation for him, 👿

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  28. Well we know what we’ve gotta do now to stay in touch with the top 5.
    Unfortunately Cesspool will be livid that they have been overtaken in the league by Everton mints. We cant afford to be reckless tomorrow, but I do think we will have one or two oprtunities to catch them out on the break.
    Just need to keep it solid at the back and bide our time.

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  29. I think we should concentrate on our remaining 10 games and not worry about other teams around us and the fa cup. If we could go on a bit of a run between now and the season and remain unbeaten it would be a great achievement and it would prob leave us there or thereabouts for a European spot regardless of the fa cup. Let other teams worry about us. We have nothing to lose. All the pressure is on them

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  30. BB I would love to see the Hammers not making auto promotion, and to make it into the playoffs and getting beat there would be the best.
    I would feel a bit for the fans but would be over the moon for BSA and Tugboat

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  31. Johno spot on don’t worry about others because there is nowt we can do about them. The only thing we can do is go out and do it ourselves, our destiny is in our hands 😉

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  32. A win for Newcastle and Swansea tomorrow would make things really intersting. 😛
    HTL

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  33. If Swansea beats Spurs tmr,with us beating liverpool, the 4th spot will be left open real big. 😯

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  34. DJG – Bellamy has been out injured for weeks and is unlikely to play tomorrow. Only unlikely mind so you never know 😆

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  35. Exactly Big Dave. Our destiny is in OUR hands.
    Its bloody exciting n all. I cant wait for tomorrow, its gonna be a cracker, I can just feel it. Haven’t felt so good pre match for a canny while.
    And if we win, the Toon is gonna be rocking tomorrow night.
    Coooooome onnnnn !!!
    😆

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  36. AoD – not bothered about 4th spot. Tho I’m sure it would be nice.
    But I really want us to get 5th tied up and for one of the BIG 5 ( 😕 ) to epic fail.
    Can yous just imagine if Chelski/spurs dont even make any euro matches next season. ROFL. 😆

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  37. Big Dave I was chuffed when Swansea beat Cardiff to promotion. They will go from being the second team in wales to the first because of it and they play better football anyway. I hope we beat them in the next game but I am glad they are staying up.

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  38. Has Pardew got another 3 yrs to go on his contract?
    **** me, but he will be a legend if he is still here by the end of that.
    Not sure if he is punching well above his weight, or if he is genuinely turning into a great manager, that can take us forward to conquer Europe once again.
    This match v the racists will go a long way to answering that for me.
    Cant imagine NUFC going 5 years without changing their manager, but am enjoying the stability so far and long may it continue.

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  39. BB I think Pardew has always been a decent manager, he has just been at **** clubs with no potential….until now 😈

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  42. Anyhoo, I’m off as we may have some baby action here. Equally it could be nothing but we’ll see… 😕

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  45. Good luck Toonsy and Mrs Toonsy – fingers crossed the baby action is the real thing

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  51. No doubt, Pardeux has handled him just right.

    On another note, them fckin Mackems getting on my tits!

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  56. Hmm

    “Check me out in three or four years. I can see myself being at the very top then, maybe winning the World Cup in Brazil or the Ballon d’Or. I still have lots of dreams.”

    From Ben Arfa…can’t see him doing that at Newcastle…unless we have a really mental 4 years. Be a shame if we sort him out mentally and he fulfills his potential only to lose him in a year or two 😕

    Still, if he pulls a Santiago Munez and goes to Real for say, 150 mil, I guess I can accept that :mrgreen:

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  57. Pardew can stick his fucking players up his ****.

    I, personally couldn’t give a **** about the ****.

    haha,

    ..oh yes, I am the Toon ovreseer, lol

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  59. hansen on motd when linker mentioned everton above bin dippers – “till tomorrow” for presume he thinks they’ll get at least a point – hope we stuff the fookers

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  61. “Get the signings right and it causes the snowball effect. Get them wrong and you have what we’ve seen this season – a team set to finish below Newcastle and struggling to hold off Everton, Stoke, Norwich, Swansea, Sunderland etc.”

    From one of Liverpools fans writers. Its that kind of fucking arrogance that does my head in

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  62. Newkie – same here. tbf their fans are more knowledgeable than most but that they think they have this god given right to be at the top kills me. You have to earn it every season from first to last

    Toonsy – hopefully congratulations are in order now, hope its a healthy birth 😀 😀

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  64. Noooooooo!!
    Unlucky matey.
    Was expecting some good news from you this morning Toonsy.
    The first ones always take the longest tho. (After that they just come shooting out, ‘cus its like a welly top 😯 Ha Ha. )
    Carry on carrying on fella 😕
    3 points this afternoon should ease ya pain 😆
    HTL

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  65. Tip for ya Toonsy: you’ll know when its not a false alarm, when the waters break and make a reet smelly mess everywhere for YOU to clean up.
    😯
    You’ll probably be down the road somewhere miles away tho when it happens 👿

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  73. Batty…beat me to the April fools…..so I can say that was very childish 😉 😆

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