Ben Arfa mixes good with bad

Newcastle United 1 Fulham 0

The Fulham manager might like to pass on the information gleaned to his defenders, who seemed at a loss as to how to stop the Frenchman, who for all his faults remains a talent who simply can’t be ignored.

The contest appeared destined for the kind of stalemate guest of honour Franco Baresi, the Italian defensive legend on Tyneside to plug Steve Harper’s upcoming 20-year testimonial, would approve of — both goals intact and back fours on top.

Ben Arfa had other ideas, delivering the kind of sublime finish of which is often capable, one to gloss over the previous 86 minutes from the Frenchman that Pardew admitted had him pulling out his hair in frustration.

“Hatem made some poor decisions,” the manager reflected after a first home league win since Fulham were beaten here in April. Ben Arfa, according to Pardew, owed Newcastle a goal, so his unerring late strike from 15 yards was the ultimate payback.

He added: “At half-time I said to Hatem, ‘You need to seriously think about what you’re doing here because you’re slowing us down. You’re making poor decisions with the ball’.”

Advice absorbed, Ben Arfa exerted an increasingly greater influence as the contest wore on. “There are some players in the Premier League you need to put four players on,” Jol confessed.

Not that he was unstinting in his praise of the match-winner.

The manager added: “Ben Arfa is a talented player, I’ll Google him to see how many goals he scored last season. If he scored 10, then we’d have to admit he’s a fantastic player, but it wasn’t that many.”

As Pardew euphemistically described, having ‘not brought his shooting boots’ in the previous game, Ben Arfa’s winning goal came courtesy of hard graft on the training ground.

“Against West Ham all my shots ended up in the sky,” Ben Arfa confessed. “I’ve been working in training all week, repeating situations like the one that came about with the goal, so it paid off.”

The second-half introduction of Yohan Cabaye, whose reception from supporters was at best luke-warm, quite a result given the Frenchman’s scandalous strike action, along with that of debutant Loic Remy proved to be the catalyst for a victory that would have been more emphatic but for David Stockdale in Fulham’s goal.

“It was important to get Yohan out there,” Pardew, braced for the uncertainty over the midfielder’s future to go down to the final minutes of tonight’s transfer deadline, added. “It’ll make it easier to move on, although there is a lot of talking to be done. We need to speak with Yohan and his representatives to make sure that we go forward hand-in-hand.”

NEWCASTLE (4-4-2): Krul 8; Debuchy 7, Coloccini 7, Yanga-Mbiwa 7, Santon 8; Ben Arfa 8, Anita 6 (Cabaye 65, 6), Sissoko 6, Marveaux 5 (Remy 74, 6); Shola Ameobi 5 (Gouffran 65, 5), Cisse 6.

FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Stockdale 8; Riether 7 (Briggs 73, 5), Hughes 8, Hangeland 8, Riise 6; Sidwell 6 (Boateng 88, 5), Parker 6; Ruiz 4, Berbatov 4, Kacaniklic 4; Bent 5 (Taarabt 83, 5).

Referee: Chris Foy 7.