My Newcastle United – Why I loved Hatem Ben Arfa | OneFootball

Here at The Mag we have introduced a new feature, asking a number of our regular / irregular contributors to write about a past Newcastle United player that they liked / loved for whatever reason(s), not necessarily the best player they have ever seen.

More the fact that, this player became a big favourite of theirs, no matter what level of ability they had.

This time it is – My Newcastle United – Why I loved Hatem Ben Arfa.

Our thanks to GToon for providing this overview:

Three words you could use to describe this player?

Exciting, unpredictable, hope.

I was sat in the Gallowgate with my family on one of the rare occasions all five of us were at a game together. My lads were next to me and my daughter sat next to them and my wife. Katie was colouring as she was a bit young to pay attention to what had been a bit of a boring game against Bolton.

As the game drifted towards what I thought would be a stalemate there was always the worry Kevin Davies might barge his way into the box and win it for them. Anyway, after a failed Bolton attack the ball ends up with our keeper who plays it forward to about the halfway line. HBA controlled the ball on his instep, turning the Bolton player at the same time and he was away. That electric acceleration drove Hatem Ben Arfa forward and left opposition players in his wake.

The Gallowgate started to roar him forward. We slowly started to rise as HBA drove further forward. There seemed to be nothing on, no options either side but HBA didn’t care, he just kept running. Suddenly he was approaching the 18 yard box. Surely he was going to slow down or be tackled but he just kept going. He drove forward at a pace nobody could cope with and left every defender floundering. And as we all rose, he calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner. It simply was magical. The cheers and celebrations were something to behold. We all knew we’d seen something pretty special. What a player. What a goal.

What were this player’s strengths when at Newcastle United?

His strength was his acceleration whilst running with the ball.

He wasn’t a flat out sprinter but he was almost like Messi in his ability to move so quickly with the ball.

Any weaknesses?

I’m not sure he fitted into the team as much as he could have done. I think he didn’t track back as much as some of his teammates would have liked.

Your favourite memories of this player?

Besides the Bolton goal, there’s the Blackburn goal in the cup where he basically beat half their team with incredible close control.

And I can’t forget his goal against Everton where he just hammered a 25 yard shot in.

However, what I really loved about HBA is that he was unpredictable. He could do stuff that was amazing and he made it look easy.

I loved the flag of him entitled “Hope” in the style of Che Guevara too. My son has that on his phone still and loved his replica shirt 10 Ben Arfa.

Hand on heart, on ability (not just your favouritism) would your player get in this current Newcastle United team that will play in the new season?

He might for certain games as he’s pretty similar to ASM but I think he wouldn’t be a regular starter. However, I’m sure Eddie would have got a lot more out of him than Pardew and co did.

With Sandro Tonali now signed, what would that make your best available NUFC starting eleven?

PopeTrippierScharBotmanTierney

LongstaffToon AliBruno

Joe7IsakWillock

Including your choice of much loved player of the past, please give us a whole team of your much loved Newcastle United players of the past, once again, they don’t have to be the eleven best NUFC players you have ever seen play, just 11 who you really liked down the years (you can include current Newcastle players in this much loved all-time eleven).

Shay GivenTrippierAlbertWoodgateBeresford

LeeBrunoGazza

BeardsleyMacdonaldShearer

SubsFerdinandGinolaASMJoe7Anderson J

Manager K Keegan

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