Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has hailed the quality of star midfielder http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Hatem-Ben-Arfa-c15884, who impressed and stood out in an overall lazy and disarrayed Newcastle side in yesterday’s 1-1 draw with Aston Villa.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alan-c4244 Pardew said in an interview that he believes Ben Arfa is the strongest player at Newcastle so far this season, and went on to admit that most members of his squad have still not hit proper form. He also claimed that they need to work on getting 100%
fit and ready.
Newcastle had been disappointing in yesterday’s game against Aston Villa. The team looked to be a shadow of last season’s expectation defying squad which finished fifth in the league.
The Magpies showed just how badly they missed midfield enforcer Cheick Tiote in the centre as they were outplayed and outmuscled by Aston Villa, who dominated for the greater part of the 90 minutes.
Had it not been for Ben Arfa, Newcastle would have probably lost the game. Some individual brilliance was on display as Ben Arfa fired an explosive shot with his weaker right foot and helped Newcastle grab an equalizer.
The player was instrumental throughout the game, dribbling past players and attacking the Villa defenders. Pardew believes that the Frenchman should be an example for the rest of his squad players and they should aim to emulate his quality and form if they
wish to finish in the top four this season.
"Hatem is a wonderfully gifted footballer," he told news reporters. "I didn't realise it was his right foot [as he scored] until I watched the replay because I didn't expect him to hit it with that power. He has exceptional power in amongst all his technique.”
"He's been our best player from the start of the season. In training he's our best player and on the pitch he's our best player at the minute."
Pardew went on to say that he wished he had more players like Ben Arfa, and added:
“When we get three or four like that we're a really good side, but unfortunately we haven't at the moment - we've got one or two below that."
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