Remy Cabella – The New (And Improved) Hatem Ben Arfa?
Now there is no doubting that Cabella still has a lot to prove to the fans, but after his opening debut against Manchester City and a good pre season performance, is he the new improved version of the much loved but ultimately disappointing Hatem Ben Arfa?
To me Hatem Ben Arfa has everything going forward; pace, skill, flair, creativity and his ability to make something from nothing, but as we all know from Ben Arfa these performances don’t come as often as they should from a player with such undoubted talent.
We often find him slacking in matches, forgetting it’s a team game and trying to be a one man show, not tracking back and looking lost in games is also a big concern and very frustrating to watch.
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Seeing Cabella in action reminds me a lot of Ben Arfa in the fact he has pace, skill, eagerness to attack, but also he looks a lot more committed off the ball.
Constantly providing support, tracking back, tackling, all of which are key for a player in Cabella’s position. By the looks of things he can pretty much play anywhere along the midfield as well as more attacking positions, he certainly looks more to pick out a key pass than to beat 2 or 3 players before passing the ball.
I love Ben Arfa, I enjoy watching him play but the frustration from his poor performances doesn’t equal out the 1 in 6-7 good games he has and proves to be more of a liability than an addition to the starting 11 at times.
If Cabella carries on performances like this and improves in adapting to the English game, I think Ben Arfa’s time is surplus to requirements at Newcastle, with him having no place in the side over someone who looks just as good but more consisten,t and offers more to the team on the whole.
It will be also be interesting to see how Cabella plays with Tiote and De jong in the team alongside Colback, establishing a strong starting 11 for the season if performances continue.
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