Bennys not happy

I'm hoping Pardew is just keeping him out so that he'll be fired up for the next month or so when we're missing other players.

 

It's no big deal if the player is ****e, or if the player understands his position within the team (i.e. not that good).

However, Ben Arfa is one of Europes hottest talents and a France international who turned down CL football. He's frankly a level above us and if he was on form he would slot into many top, top teams. It would be akin to constantly keeping Cabaye, Tiote, Coloccini or Ba on the bench. How much do you think they would tolerate it?

I agree it shouldn't be the primary decider, but when you have such good players on your books who you have to A). keep happy and B). maintain confidence, Pardew has to swallow his pride and give the guy more time, especially when his performances deserve it. What other player of HBA's calibre would score a goal and then go through the whole Man Utd match without playing a MINUTE of football despite two attacking players (Obertan and Best) who have done **** all lately but got subbed into the game?

It's simple logic. Ben Arfa is a much better player than Ameobi and frankly would have been up against a sluggish Man Utd side who wouldn't have been able to handle much in the way of pace and agility - two attributes HBA has in abundance.

Yes, we won, but I know what I would have preferred to see. I'm still capable of looking back and suggesting sub choices which I would have preferred to see. I'm not saying the change WOULD have done this or that. And this doesn't even take into account the baffling substitution choices. It's not as if the choices were all out defensive - we put two attacking players on but continued to leave HBA out.

 

I thought he should have at least got some game time in that match. i think the whole reason for an apparently "injured" obertan getting on the pitch was only down to playing him against his old club. even if HBA just got a couple of minutes it is at least something for him to feel some inclusion

 

Arfa will come good and get his chance as Ba is away. It's up to himself to make himself undroppable, he has done ok when he has come on mind and looks sharp. I think Pardew may have been keeping him back for this period.

 

At the risk of going yet another round at something I don't think we will agree on Here goes.

HBA is one of europe's hottest talents yet we secured him as a result of a long drawn out process during which time no other club came in for him. Whilst acknowledging that he has scored a few goals, which we indeed need, he has also put in some mediocre performances, including some recently.

Re the Man U game his inclusion would have been to go against the very tactics and team selection that won the game. We went for a big aerially and physically strong frontline and a hard tackling hard grafting midfield. HBA does not fit those qualities. Pardew got the match winning flair we needed from Ba and Cabaye.

Sorry but criticising Pardew's tactics over this game is taking Benni worship to obsessive levels.

I like him as well and have would like to see him play, but if we can win without him I think it is churlish to criticise the tactics or the manager.

 

Well he's still coming back from injury. However, to get his confidence and ability back, he needs game time. I'd understand avoiding having him play full 90 minute matches every week, but he didn't get a single minute of game time against Man Utd whilst two other attacking players did.

We had physical strength in Ba, whilst Ben Arfa could have been the pace and agility which would have destroyed the team Man Utd put out with players like Giggs and Ferdinand in the side.

Stating Pardew's tactical plan and then claiming I'm wrong because it didn't fit his plan makes no sense. I didn't agree with the team selection and I didn't agree with the tactical choice, either. Yes it did work, but I would have chose another route.

And choosing Ameobi yet again highlighted how much of a lazy bastard he is. Did the guy even use his physical attributes at all in the game which he was put on the pitch for? To me, he did nothing which HBA couldn't have done, and he also, once again, served virtually no goal threat whatsoever.

I'm entitled to my opinion thanks very much. Whether we win, lose or draw, I'm well within my right to say that our tactics or team selections COULD have been improved, and I think they could have been.

I've said this before and I'll say it again. I'll never let a win cloud over judgements or decisions which could have been better and may cost us points in other games. If we had started Perch in a game and won, would you suggest that we should play Perch every game and make him our first choice CB or CM?

 

Normally I'm as frustrated by Shola as the next man, but thats just completely unfair. Must admit I was worried by the lack of HBA in the lineup and Shols playing before the match but he played a key part in the first 2 goals.

1. He flicked the ball on for Ba, beating Jones in the air, which lets be honest, Benni wouldn't have the strength or height to do.
2. He made the gap in the ManU wall for Cabaye to blast the ball through, once again requiring physical strength which I just don't think Benni possesses atm.

I really hope Benni is getting regular starts whilst Ba is away but picking him for the ManU match was not the right thing to do. Pards watch their loss to Blackburn and saw it was powerful forwards who destroyed their defence and thats what he chose. I just hope when it comes to a team which is good in the air (Norwich etc) he has the sense to get the team playing the ball on the ground and using Cabaye and Ben Arfa to slaughter their CBs.

 

Simply picking your best 11 players does not necessarily mean picking your best team. Ba plays better without Ben Arfa it seems.

Anyway, HBA will get his chance now, let's see if he has the drive and determination to make himself undroppable.

 

This.

 

This has become a circular argument and is going nowhere. You don't appear to be able to accept that there is any valid reason for Pardew to not pick HBA and so there is never going to be a resolution.

What do you mean my comment didn't make sense. It was clearly made. HBA does not have the attributes of being either a hard tackling midfielder or a strong forward presence. Those were the tactics that won the game. Your overly confident assertion that you know better and that we would have won by a bigger margin by changing that tactic to include HBA is nothing but wild speculation. Which was my point about obsession and micro-criticising the managers decisions.

If you are honestly suggesting that you had in mind a gameplan that would have secured without fail a 4-0 victory over Man U then i'm worried that you have been playing FM too much. That is afterall what an improvement on the tactics would have entailed.

As for the Perch question. I think you will find if you read past posts that I strongly believe in competition for places and tactics above ego's. If Perch is the right man for the job on a given day then play him. If he isn't then play the person that is. If the player left out doesn't like it, tough ****, you are paid a fortune every week to play when needed not to choose the team or pick the tactics. That is the managers job.

 

I don' think it is unfair to be honest. I don't really need any statistics, I know what I've seen with my own eyes. Tim Krul lumped an awful lot of long balls the other night. We barely tried to play it out from the back at all. I understand why and I'm not complaining because it worked. The fact is it won't most of the time because teams (like Liverpool) will overcome it and have centre backs who can deal with it. We have been playing long ball for four or five games now. Personally I think Pardew has just seen it as a way to get out of a rut. You need a plan B and we didn't change it up much in the first 10 games or so. Teams are cute enough to come up with a plan to stop it.

I'm sure long term Pardew wants to play short passing and movement football. But I always try to be truthful about our play and I have seen an awful of long balls in recent weeks. It worked it against Man U because they have no holding midfielder and struggle to pick up the 2nd ball. Carrick and Giggs will not fight to get that ball. We tried it against Liverpool and Agger/Skrtel won headers while Spearing just mopped everything up and distributed it. We did get it down once in their half the other night and tried to work it around but there is no doubt it began with a long ball most of the time. It just won't work most of the time and is not progressive or nice to watch. A team who keeps the ball on deck and plays out from the back will always be my preference to a team that starts with a long ball and then trys to play football. Its the excuse Fat Sam and Pulis use "we do play football" but they don't really, they play long ball and then football. I always come back to the same thing. Possession wins most modern football matches. If you already have possession, why turn it into a 50/50 by launching it?

 

Right boys.

Demba has gone on off to Africa for a month or so.

It's now time for Pardew to put all his faith in HBA. Have him in the team for every match and choose either Shola or Best to play with him.

No excuses Pard's. Just do it!

..............if it isnt working, he can always bring him off....