Christmas Tree 4672 Posted May 29, 2011 Share Posted May 29, 2011 WICKED whispers that Hatem Ben Arfa may never recover fully from his double leg break have been strenuously denied by Alan Pardew. Ben Arfa’s recovery has been a slow and tortuous one, mostly spent in France at the elite Clairefontaine centre for outstanding young footballers. He returned to Tyneside at the start of April amid talk of appearing before the end of the season, but it soon became clear that he was nowhere near the required rate to be pulling on a black-and-white shirt again. The shout that he would play before mid-May was always an optimistic one, but that hasn’t stopped some pretty rank rumours that the injury has taken its toll and he is not the player he once was. Through the Sunday Sun an angry Pardew blasted back: “I would dismiss that straight away. I don’t see any problem with him coming back just as good as he was. “You’re talking about a really bad break. And I think we were buoyed by his last visit because he was a lot, lot better within himself. “I think anyone who has suffered an injury like that, you’ve got to give him time, you’ve got to understand what is happening. “You don’t rush it and we won’t with Hatem (Ben Arfa).” Admitting that Ben Arfa has been “low” of late, Pardew said he had raised the possibility of a return for the last three games partly to pump up his spirits. He said: “I know we made noises that he might play in those last three games but realistically, I never gave him a chance. “I was trying to keep the boy’s head up to be honest. I don’t want him to see negative press so I said he might play in those three games. “But I thought I was doing the right thing for Hatem, so that he genuinely felt he had a chance because he was quite low about his training, his workrate and everything. “Once he knew he wasn’t going to make the games he probably accepted that and now he is aiming to be ready for July 4.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christmas Tree 4672 Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 Hatem: 'I'm Back To 100 Per Cent' A smiling Hatem Ben Arfa reported back to Benton on Wednesday morning to prepare for the new season, and he insisted that he is now "100 per cent fit" following the double-leg break which has kept him out of action since October. The French flyer has not played since undergoing surgery on a fractured tibia and fibula of his left leg following the injury suffered against Manchester City in only his fourth game for the club. But the 24-year-old, who scored a long-range screamer on his full debut at Everton, resumed light training towards the end of last season and has returned for pre-season training with the rest of his team-mates. He underwent the same tests and exercises as his colleagues at the club's North Tyneside base and afterwards spoke exclusively to nufc.co.uk. "It was a very serious injury, of course, and took a long time to recover from - but I'm 100 per cent fit now," he said. "A lot of my recovery was done at Clairefontaine, the French football centre, where I was under the control of the doctor who did the operation back in October. "I also came back to Newcastle for various updates with the club's medical staff here, then back to Clairefontaine to continue the recovery. And I managed to get a couple of breaks in as well, because you need that to keep the morale going. "And now I'm no longer under the doctor, so all the hard work has paid off." Ben Arfa could now make his first appearance in nine months when The Magpies take on Darlington in their opening pre-season friendly on July 15. And he admitted that he is determined to make up for lost time in the upcoming campaign. "It was a very, very difficult few months and I'm really happy that now it's all over and I can get cracking," he said. "I'm really eager to get back." This summer, Ben Arfa has been joined by compatriots Yohan Cabaye, Sylvain Marveaux and Mehdi Abeid, as well as French-speaking Demba Ba - something which the eight-times capped Les Bleus international is happy about. And he even helped persuade midfielder Marveaux to come to Tyneside after ten years at Rennes as the pair chatted at Clairefontaine. "It's good for my morale that we've signed such good players from France, players that I know and that I've played against," he said. "It's going to be really good. "I spoke to Sylvain Marveaux before he came here and it was a very good conversation. I told him it was the right place for Sylvain to come and I'm very glad he took my advice." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irrelevant Nick KP 0 Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 Henrik Larsson is a prime example, he scored 242 goals for celtic following a double leg fracture. I know it's scottish league but still impressive! And afterwards, he went to Barcelona, and had a fine assist in the 2006 Champions League Final Victory (you can see the fine assist here, on 2.32) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP4mJXDAvK4...feature=related Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 It's those small contributions in low key games that often get forgotten about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deano 0 Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Wearing the number 10 in training. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinofbeans 91 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 one thing that i always used to notice is how often our players that most resembled him in terms of attributes ( the bellamy s and dyers of this world)... always used to break down and we often had some pretty serious injury crises ( in the early 2000's i'm talking about). nowadays our squad seems to be for the most part more healthy, and i'm guesstimating that hughton may well have had something to do with that. i reckon he's been really well treated and is just thankful, also if he is oly 90% of the player that he was, then he'd still be an asset. reckon though that he'd go missing against de jong... i wouldn't fancy playing against him!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj 17 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 one thing that i always used to notice is how often our players that most resembled him in terms of attributes ( the bellamy s and dyers of this world)... always used to break down and we often had some pretty serious injury crises ( in the early 2000's i'm talking about). nowadays our squad seems to be for the most part more healthy, and i'm guesstimating that hughton may well have had something to do with that. i reckon he's been really well treated and is just thankful, also if he is oly 90% of the player that he was, then he'd still be an asset. reckon though that he'd go missing against de jong... i wouldn't fancy playing against him!!! He seems to be quite strong mentally, which is a big part of getting over injuries such as the one he had. Compare that to Eduardo, who fell apart after his injury. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sniffer 0 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 We haven't seen Ben Arfa play yet. In fact, we haven't seen much of him at all and certainly not enough to judge him one way or the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom 14011 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 We haven't seen Ben Arfa play yet. Eh? He's been playing in the champions league for the past 5 years for a start... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin S. Assilleekunt 1 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 He was invisible in those games. Literally. There is no footage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henda11 0 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Anyone looking forward to seeing & hearing the ovation he gets when he steps back onto SJP pitch?. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenL 0 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 To be honest, I couldn't give a fuck. But I am looking forward to seeing him play again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveTheBobby 1 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 To be honest, I couldn't give a fuck. But I am looking forward to seeing him play again. y wanna stick to Harlequins n ya Top Gear dvds you like . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sniffer 0 Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 We haven't seen Ben Arfa play yet. Eh? He's been playing in the champions league for the past 5 years for a start... Eh? You mean you are basing what Ben Arfa can do for Newcastle on what he did in France? I'll start with Guivarch and his prolific goal scoring record in france. Do you want me to go on or do you get the point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sniffer 0 Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 We haven't seen Ben Arfa play yet. Eh? He's been playing in the champions league for the past 5 years for a start... Also, when you quote do it in it's entirety as you clearly lost the context of my post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChezGiven 0 Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 He scored 1 goal in 4 appearances for us too. I think you've got a point there sniffer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom 14011 Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitman 2204 Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohhh_yeah 2930 Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@yourservice 67 Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Freestyle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 10674 Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Freestyle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dell Boi 0 Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 Lads will Ben Arfa definitely be Number 10 next season? I've been holding off on getting the new kits in case for some reason he isn't and I look a right prat! I know he wore 10 at Darlington. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom 14011 Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I'm 99% sure he'll get it but I would bide your time. Perhaps buy the shirt and ask the shop if you can come back and print the shirt when the numbers are out? I think Sports direct/florida print will print your shirt regardless of where you bought it from! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin 1 Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 So do JJB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dell Boi 0 Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I'm 99% sure he'll get it but I would bide your time. Perhaps buy the shirt and ask the shop if you can come back and print the shirt when the numbers are out? I think Sports direct/florida print will print your shirt regardless of where you bought it from! Thanks Tom...I was thinking about just getting the number 10 and adding the name when it's confirmed. I'm sure it happened when I was a younger, I remember having Bellamy 13 on one of the old NTL shirts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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