Ben Arfa's best position...What is it?

I know Pardew has said that Ben Arfa will ONLY play in the hole for him, but did anyone else notice the couple of runs he made on the left wing?

They were freaking awesome! Running at such pace and with such close dribbling ability. The defender did not know what to do! I'm worried we are going to suffocate him into a role that may not be his best.

 

That's what I thought. Pardew will either have to go back on his words or not take advantage of a brilliant winger because whenever I've seen him excel it's been on (mostly) the right wing

 

In the hole. Having him AND two wingers on the pitch is fantastic going forward, his link up with Jonas is very clever.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing him on the right to be honest, cutting in and shooting

 

True. But I would love him to start drifting out to the wing more and doubling up on the opposition.

 

Either wing. It was clear yesterday he's not great running through the centre. Lost the ball numerous times, but still needs game time to get up to speed i suppose.

 

Dont forget the centre is where he wants to play, he joined on the promise of being given a central playmaking role. He has more ability than most wingers, we should use it as best we can, which I think is central - heavily involved in linking play.

 

If he plays in the number 10/in the hole/free role position there's nothing stopping him from drifting to either wing when required. Playing him on the wing so that he can cut inside to the middle is just silly and cuts down the number of directions he can go in. Add to the fact he's not defensively minded enough to track back his full back, and the fact he doesn't stay on the wing when he does play there means he's a definite number ten for me.

 

2 words - Laurent Robert

 

I think his talent would be wasted on the wings. To be a good winger (at least good enough for us) you just need to be able to beat a man and put a decent cross in. Ben Arfa is capable of a lot more, and should end up being a class second striker once he's back up to speed again and settles down.

PS: I would agree that it should be a 'in the hole' slash free role. Put him behind the striker, but also give him more freedom to do what he needs to do. These awesome mazy runs down the wings can still be something he can do often if he's permitted, and he doesn't have to be a winger to do it.

 

4 more words - Olly Bernards knackered hip.

I wouldn't wish that on anyone, be it Ryan Taylor, Santon, Fergie, whoever. A Robert winger was a luxury we could barely afford then, let alone now.

 

He's playing more of a free role, i'd expect him to make diagonal runs out to either flank, hopefully these will drag players out of position and create room for other players to run into. Just because he's playing in behind the striker doesnt mean he's got to stay there

 

I'll post my comment from another thread on here as it kind of applies to this to.

Right now he wont get a place in our 11 because Pardew is reluctant to change it, so I can't see how we're going to keep a player like him happy just sitting on the bench.

 

He will definitely start against Blackburn, so let's hope he can get somewhere near 90 minutes for the first time in a long while. I have a feeling Pardew will make some changes soon. Marveaux will start against Blackburn and then hopefully Stoke if he isn't tired. I don't get why people say he can't track back. He has played full back before so he has the defensive capabilities and he works harder than Obertan. Definite starter for me.

 

I think Ben Arfa's going to start the Stoke game for Best.

 

Free role, behind the striker/ rotating with the wingers. imo.

 

This, His ''free-role'' should include all of this. Linking play, rotating with wingers, using his pace out wide at times and obviously his technique through the middle of the pitch.

 

But Obertan is ace, right?

 

Nope!

 

Come on now let's be serious. Obertan is not the best at tracking back but to compare him to Robert is silly. Robert was terrible at tracking back!