Hatem Ben Arfa (Newcastle United)

It seems Andy Carroll could be used as a pawn in Liverpool's summer move for Hatem Ben Arfa...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/feb/05/liverpool-newcastle-hatem-ben-arfa

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/sport/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2013/02/05/liverpool-fc-monitoring-hatem-ben-arfa-of-newcastle-united-as-brendan-rodgers-plots-long-term-vision-99623-32752780/

I misread your post at first,I thought you said Andy Carroll would be used as a prawn.

I misread your post at first,I thought you said Andy Carroll would be used as a prawn.

About as useful as one in a deal like this. They'd be bonkers to take Carroll back

I misread your post at first,I thought you said Andy Carroll would be used as a prawn.

 

Very good player.
Would love to have him here.

Lucas Gerrard
Coutinho
Suarez Sturridge Ben Arfa

if this Coutinho comes good, that's scary.

I'm starting to wonder if someone on this forum seriously wronged you, maybe banged your mother & sister and made you watch or is their another reason you're so bitter?

It's not too complicated really: I can't stand that mediocrity is slowly creeping through and being accepted in our club. 

We're F***ing Liverpool FC, not Wigan.  And yet in the last few years we've seen Downing, Carroll, Henderson, Adam, Allen, Borini, and the list goes on, all being wretched on the pitch.  There was a time when supporters would respectfully admit that they're not good enough.  Now they say "just give them time!  remember Lucas!"  as if every single crap player who ever kicked a football eventually becomes a world-beater.

I'm just kind of tired of it.  I wouldn't mind if we would be honest and say "look, that's where we are, we can't get good players right now, so we just have to accept that this is the best we can do."  At least that would be intellectually honest.  But no.  Instead we see Borini unable to control a first touch at all, and yet he moves one step to the left and they say "oooooh, world class movement!!"  Or Jordan Henderson, who at Arsenal misplaced about 10 passes that should have been laid on a platter for Suarez and Sturridge to score, and then scores one good goal and suddenly "oh my god, now he's come good!"

I mean, no one looks at Suarez and says "well, he'll come good, just give him time."  Why?  because it's plain as day what he is.  The others are simply not good enough, IMO.  I say it respectfully and haven't gone after anyone here who disagrees, so I'm not sure why exactly they have such an issue.  It's just my opinion.

It's not too complicated really: I can't stand that mediocrity is slowly creeping through and being accepted in our club. 

We're f**king Liverpool FC, not Wigan.  And yet in the last few years we've seen Downing, Carroll, Henderson, Adam, Allen, Borini, and the list goes on, all being wretched on the pitch.  There was a time when supporters would respectfully admit that they're not good enough.  Now they say "just give them time!  remember Lucas!"  as if every single crap player who ever kicked a football eventually becomes a world-beater.

I'm just kind of tired of it.  I wouldn't mind if we would be honest and say "look, that's where we are, we can't get good players right now, so we just have to accept that this is the best we can do."  At least that would be intellectually honest.  But no.  Instead we see Borini unable to control a first touch at all, and yet he moves one step to the left and they say "oooooh, world class movement!!" Or Jordan Henderson, who at Arsenal misplaced about 10 passes that should have been laid on a platter for Suarez and Sturridge to score, and then scores one good goal and suddenly "oh my god, now he's come good!"

I mean, no one looks at Suarez and says "well, he'll come good, just give him time."  Why?  because it's plain as day what he is.  The others are simply not good enough, IMO.  I say it respectfully and haven't gone after anyone here who disagrees, so I'm not sure why exactly they have such an issue.  It's just my opinion.

To be fair mate, Suarez vs City was much worse than Henderson vs Arsenal (and I'm not the craziest fan of Henderson).

It's not too complicated really: I can't stand that mediocrity is slowly creeping through and being accepted in our club. 

We're F***ing Liverpool FC, not Wigan.  And yet in the last few years we've seen Downing, Carroll, Henderson, Adam, Allen, Borini, and the list goes on, all being wretched on the pitch.  There was a time when supporters would respectfully admit that they're not good enough.  Now they say "just give them time!  remember Lucas!"  as if every single crap player who ever kicked a football eventually becomes a world-beater.

I'm just kind of tired of it.  I wouldn't mind if we would be honest and say "look, that's where we are, we can't get good players right now, so we just have to accept that this is the best we can do."  At least that would be intellectually honest.  But no.  Instead we see Borini unable to control a first touch at all, and yet he moves one step to the left and they say "oooooh, world class movement!!"  Or Jordan Henderson, who at Arsenal misplaced about 10 passes that should have been laid on a platter for Suarez and Sturridge to score, and then scores one good goal and suddenly "oh my god, now he's come good!"

I mean, no one looks at Suarez and says "well, he'll come good, just give him time."  Why?  because it's plain as day what he is.  The others are simply not good enough, IMO.  I say it respectfully and haven't gone after anyone here who disagrees, so I'm not sure why exactly they have such an issue.  It's just my opinion.

We might not have the best team in the world anymore, and yes the likes of Carroll and Downing aren't world beaters but we're SUPPORTERS, that's why everyone's getting on your tits. We're here to SUPPORT the team, not slag them off every time. If Borini or Allen does something magical in a match then yes we should cheer or whatever, it's called SUPPORTING your team. Most people know that half our players aren't good enough, but to keep stating it is ridiculous, and so F***ing negative. The best thing we can do is support the team, whether that's a team full of your Gerrards, Alonsos and Sturridges or a team full of Borinis, Allens and Carrolls. All we can do is support the players on the pitch, and you're constant moaning of our current crop of players won't get rid of them any sooner, it just breeds negativity that Liverpool fans don't wanna hear/see.

On topic, I think Ben Arfa would be a class addition, but as others have stated let's just leave the talk until the summer cause he can't move until then anyway

To be fair mate, Suarez vs City was much worse than Henderson vs Arsenal (and I'm not the craziest fan of Henderson).

Suarez's bad games are the exception to the rule.  Henderson's bad games are his standard.  He has been nothing more than average in the last few matches.  He's only getting praise because before that he was absolutely dreadful since he signed in 2011.  When you lower people's standards that much, it's easy to impress.  Unfortunately, average still isn't good enough for our club.

Suarez's bad games are the exception to the rule.  Henderson's bad games are his standard.  He has been nothing more than average in the last few matches.  He's only getting praise because before that he was absolutely dreadful since he signed in 2011.  When you lower people's standards that much, it's easy to impress.  Unfortunately, average still isn't good enough for our club.

Henderson has been great the last few games. Get your head out of your arse and actually praise a player that you may not necessarily like much.

Henderson has been great the last few games. Get your head out of your arse and actually praise a player that you may not necessarily like much.

Again, this just shows how low standards have dropped.  Henderson's performances the last few games have not been "great."  They've been okay.  Unless you're comparing them to the games he's played thus far, then yes, he's been great.  But that's kind of like saying my piss smells better than my sh*te.  I mean yea, I guess it does...

I've praised poor players before.  Downing has stepped up a lot in the last few games.  And Jose Enrique, who was dreadful last season, is like a new player this year. 

So you will praise Downing, but not Henderson who has outshone him all season.

How do you live inside your head?

We're F***ing Liverpool FC, not Wigan.  And yet in the last few years we've seen Downing, Carroll, Henderson, Adam, Allen, Borini, and the list goes on, all being wretched on the pitch.  There was a time when supporters would respectfully admit that they're not good enough.  Now they say "just give them time!  remember Lucas!"  as if every single crap player who ever kicked a football eventually becomes a world-beater.

I'm just kind of tired of it.  I wouldn't mind if we would be honest and say "look, that's where we are, we can't get good players right now, so we just have to accept that this is the best we can do."  At least that would be intellectually honest.  But no.  Instead we see Borini unable to control a first touch at all, and yet he moves one step to the left and they say "oooooh, world class movement!!"  Or Jordan Henderson, who at Arsenal misplaced about 10 passes that should have been laid on a platter for Suarez and Sturridge to score, and then scores one good goal and suddenly "oh my god, now he's come good!"

I mean, no one looks at Suarez and says "well, he'll come good, just give him time."  Why?  because it's plain as day what he is.  The others are simply not good enough, IMO.  I say it respectfully and haven't gone after anyone here who disagrees, so I'm not sure why exactly they have such an issue.  It's just my opinion.

But not every player is as good as Suarez and I feel very few in the world are, at present.  I also have some faith in some of the players you have written off already.  Been a fair few players in our glorious history that didn't hit the floor running,  taking 6 months, a year or longer in the case of coming through the ranks/young players to find their feet.  Are their better players at present, yes, but just because they are better individually, doesn't mean they would be better for the whole, the team. 

We don't need eleven great players (judging by teams, including us, that have won the league, we need a great team and that will include a mix of average, good, very good and excellent players. 

Henderson has been great the last few games. Get your head out of your arse and actually praise a player that you may not necessarily like much.

Great? Yeah not sure about "great" but he hasn't been awful.

But not every player is as good as Suarez and I feel very few in the world are, at present.  I also have some faith in some of the players you have written off already.  Been a fair few players in our glorious history that didn't hit the floor running,  taking 6 months, a year or longer in the case of coming through the ranks/young players to find their feet.  Are their better players at present, yes, but just because they are better individually, doesn't mean they would be better for the whole, the team.   

Take Lucas for example...

Oh hey there...

Hatem Ben Arfa? He's pretty good.

Oh hey there...

Hatem Ben Arfa? He's pretty good.

Tommo seems to think hes quality , he spoke about it on soccer saturday

If we sign him, then the signs are there that we're definitely going somewhere good.

Would be a fantastic player to have here.

You're Rodgers.  Which would you pick?

A) Carroll to West Ham for £15m.

B) Carroll to Newcastle, straight swap for Ben Arfa.

You're Rodgers.  Which would you pick?

A) Carroll to West Ham for £15m.

B) Carroll to Newcastle, straight swap for Ben Arfa.

According to Sky Sources, Newcastle have no interest in signing Carroll.

You're Rodgers.  Which would you pick?

A) Carroll to West Ham for £15m.

B) Carroll to Newcastle, straight swap for Ben Arfa.

A. because I don't think Ben Arfa's injury record warrants that price tag. I also don't think though that Carroll is worth £15m though either. If Ben Arfa was able to remain fit then I would opt for a straight swap because we need more creative people in the team. Can't rely on the same people. In 2.5 seasons he has only managed 49 league games.

You're Rodgers.  Which would you pick?

A) Carroll to West Ham for £15m.

B) Carroll to Newcastle, straight swap for Ben Arfa.

Not convinced by Ben Arfa, so I would probably go for option A and use the money on someone else.

You're Rodgers.  Which would you pick?

A) Carroll to West Ham for £15m.

B) Carroll to Newcastle, straight swap for Ben Arfa.

A without a doubt. Ben Arfa's good but far too injury prone.