Hatem Ben Arfa - Even better than I thought at first

When we were first linked with him, I was really excited. I watched a load of matches with him playing and a load of clips and he looked like a cracking player.

BUT - I never expected him to be a consistent goal scorer and I never rated his finishing as good as I do now.

He looked like a bloke that would skin a load of players, try a load of clever ****e, and score a wonder goal every now and then, but mostly be a player that would assist goals or open up defenses, not score too often.

I thought his long shots were good but finishing inconsistent and average.

Since he's calmed himself down, settled and got into form, his finishing has been great. He's remaining composed on the ball, not losing his head and slotting them into the back of the net.

I'm not saying his finishing is on the same level of Cisse and Ba's, but I reckon after these two players, his finishing is probably the best in the squad.

It's not just his finishing that's coming as a surprise. I always knew he was quick agility wise and he had the ability to accelerate past players, but I never knew he had great sprinting speed as well.

Maybe he's always had the ability to do this, but he's just now sorting his head out and becoming part of a team.

HOWAY HATEM!

 

I hate to say it but I knew he was one of the best players in the world potentially. The fact is we only have him on a perm because he broke his leg. A bad thing led to a good thing in the end. I'd be surprised if we have him for more than another season at the most.

 

He seemed to contribute next to nothing to our attacking line today until that stunning goal. But goal showed our front line how it can be done.

He's a class act.

 

Today yes, but we cannot criticise certain players. The whole team, apart from the back line, was off the pace for 50-60 mins.

 

Love HBA

 

Agreed

 

Just an awesome talent. World at his feet now he is back to peak fitness. Hopefully his last experiences at massive clubs will make him think twice about the grass being greener

 

Oh how the mackems said he'd never be the same player, Sess is better blah blah. Sess, or anyone else in the PL at the moment will never do what he did!

 

Sess has no doubt had the better season, but HBA on form, as I said months ago, is a class above Sessegnon.

The fact that HBA has recovered as quickly as he has from a double leg break and is back to playing his best is just mind blowing.

 

I don't care about Sausage gone because there is very little end product.

9/10 times it comes to nothing,

 

HBA is something else. He feints to go one way, then turns to make it look as if he's going the other way and then goes the way he was originally going. He pulls the defenders out of position and has them pulling their hair out. It always looks as if the ball is glued to his foot. Worth the price of the ticket to see him alone.

 

The rumour mill will be horrid this summer.

 

[video=youtube;yAipvfzh4IA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAipvfzh4IA&feature=related[/video]

 

Really, really showing his potential now with an added team ethic. He is starting to mature in his decision-making and knows when to pass it and when to keep it. He really does just ghost past players, he's a master of taking that unexpected early touch to take it past a defender (like the one to take him between the two defenders for the Bolton goal), also amazing at making them think they can get to the ball and then they get nowhere near it. Another thing that impressed me about the goal is that he didn't go down under Mark Davies' challenge and stayed on his feet. If he stays with us and stays in this form he is a Newcastle legend for sure - we'll see what happens.

Best thing about the match yesterday, he was absolutely grinning like a cheshire cat when Pardew brought him off, just sitting on the bench beaming. Great to see such a talent that had been troubled in the past really enjoying his football.

 

Best player in world football. Messi and Ronaldo are not fit to polish his boots.

<bait set, now wait>

 

Have you changed his fifa stats yet?

 

Yep and there won't be too many opportunities to see him play for us I suspect.

 

Nobody could have did what he did yesterday who currently plays in the Premier League, he is easily the best dribbler in the league

 

Agree with every word of this!