Alan Pardew has now been in charge of Newcastle United for almost 15 months and his time at the helm at St James’ Park so far has been littered with successes. However, there are a few challenges he still needs to overcome and the one that’s staring him in the face right now is getting the best out of Hatem Ben Arfa. This is something that managers before him have failed to do, but can Pardew find a role that allows Ben Arfa to shine?
You can’t help but feel that Hatem Ben Arfa’s Newcastle career could be slipping away. The 24-year-old is clearly unhappy on the bench and his temperamental past would indicate that he’s not willing to sit on the side lines for too much longer. 20 minutes here and there is not enough for a player of his talent or with his level of confidence in himself, or arrogance if you like. It is now almost a decade ago that Ben Arfa was labelled as a wonderkid, a star of the future, and while injury has hampered his development at Newcastle, he will expect to be in the first team week-in, week-out.
If Hatem is putting pressure on himself to deliver, then Pardew is trying to do the opposite. The Newcastle manager told the Evening Chronicle that: “When Hatem goes in-field, he can’t take people on in front of our back four. I don’t want to criticise him, as I think he’s had enough of that. I think he’s trying his hardest to do it in the right areas. He is still working to get into those areas. And he’s trying his best.” It could even be a case of Ben Arfa trying too hard, as was the case at St James’ Park on Saturday.
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When the Frenchman came on against Wolves at the weekend, you could see just how hard Ben Arfa was trying. However, he was trying so hard to make an impact and be the match-winner, that he possibly hampered the chances of the team. Instead of putting the ball into the box for Demba Ba and Shola Ameobi to feed on, he was taking players on and took a couple of speculative shots from outside of the box. While Ben Arfa should be applauded for trying to make things happen, sometimes you have to play the percentages and bring your teammates into play.
There is no doubting that Hatem Ben Arfa has plenty of talent – his goals against Blackburn and Bolton showed that. He is arguably the most exciting player to watch at Newcastle right now, but still can’t find his way into the Magpies’ strongest starting eleven. With Ba and Papiss Cisse up top, Ben Arfa will have to claim one of the four midfield berths and for that he’ll have to work harder defensively. For Newcastle to go to the next level players like Ben Arfa are key, but one man is not bigger than the team.
Newcastle’s best eleven players include Hatem Ben Arfa, but right now their strongest starting eleven doesn’t. Changing the latter is the biggest challenge Alan Pardew has to overcome.
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