I don't know if this been posted already, if it has, apologies, I just thought it made really interesting reading, regarding a player that many of us are looking forward to seeing play, and it seemingly stems from the period that P45dew had deemed him unworthy of a starting place.
http://forum.magsnews.com/index.php?threads/the-enigma-that-is-ben-arfa.10/
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THE ENIGMA THAT IS BEN ARFA
Over the years I have been fortunate to see some world class players play in a black and white shirt.
Players, like anyone else, have different personalities. Some get low ‘match ratings’ in different tabloids just because their personalities are, to put it kindly, difficult.
One of the reasons I accepted the post at magsnews.com was the fact that they want to remain objective. Their slogan is ‘No hidden agendas, Just news’.
Granted there are players who you wouldn’t be adverse to downgrading scores just because they are personality deficient but I have always been against this.
I have always believed that all players should be rated on their actual performance. Not whether he is your mate or not.
Strangely, Ben Arfa doesn’t have a difficult personality. In fact he is always a pleasure to interview. He is extremely popular with the media. He is extremely popular with the fans. In fact, He was even one of Mike Ashley’s favourite players. Whether he is now or not I just don’t know. Mike is understandably reluctant to give football based interviews.
So why isn’t he playing?
The answer is a lot more difficult than you first might think. It all comes down to football ideology.
Pardews appears to possession, possession and posession followed by defend, defend and if in doubt defend.
In this humble journalists opinion, If Newcastle had ninety percent possession only left their own half once and had one solitary shot on target, scored from it and won the game 1-0 then Newcastle manager Alan Pardew would believe they had played superbly.
Some of you may do too. Others however, like Newcastle supporters in the main, believe that football is about creativity. That you have to attack the ball and the game.
Two very different ideologies. Players like Ginola, Waddle, Robert and Ben arfa have absolutely no place in the first ideology. Possession football is only ever accomplished with workrate and an emphasis on defence.
Why defence you might be thinking? It’s because it is easier to hold onto the ball in your own half than it is to hold it in the oppositions.
To the types of player I mentioned earlier, staying in your own half is almost sacrilege. Their strengths are what they can do in the oppositions half. They are the type of player who the opposition has to put two men on or else.
Those types are wasted continually tracking back and trying to timewaste and defend. Continually asking players like that to play to their weaknesses instead of their strengths would on most occassions cause a falling out.
whether you feel Ben Arfa should play will come down to what your own personal football ideology is. It will be whether you want to see good free flowing attacking football or whether you are happy with the results we got in the last three games.
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For me I think that Brucey is exactly the type of manager that will encourage Benny to attack and frighten the life out of opposition midfields and defences, and I can't wait to see it all play out!
