Adam Johnson V Hatem Ben Arfa

Odd one if you ask me.

Anyway, someone's done the business on t'internet. Probably a Newcastle fan.

Go!

Jinky's "Gazza V Scotland Euro 96" impression at 2.33 did it for me. Hmmmmm

Weird time to make a comparison. Jinky's had a pretty underwhelming season, in and out of the team. And Ben Arfa's been injured since opening day.

More interesting would be Jinky vs Downing. Now last season, I think nearly everyone would say City went got the better Boro winger. But now I'm not so sure we didn't get the better player after all. Think Johnson flatters to deceive a bit, and hasn't yet got the consistency. Downing has not got the dribbling skills to be so direct and take players on but does have a v.good cross & has been much more consistent performer (though this could be argued as an age/experience thing).

What do you say borocoop?

A season long injury for Ben Arfa is worrying to be honest, it's like when Cisse broke his leg, he was never the same player after that.

Adam Johnson should get out of City if he can, he's got great talent but under Mancini he wont get much gametime. I'd quite like to have him here but I'd be amazed if Spurrrrrrrs don't make a cheeky bid for him.

Ben Arfa is technically better but then he is an amazing talent (not an amazing player yet) but Jinky's combination of pace, control and delivery is still very impressive.

Whilst AJ is a great talent, he does drift in and out of games and I dom't think Mancio can be blamed for that.

debaser wrote:Weird time to make a comparison. Jinky's had a pretty underwhelming season, in and out of the team. And Ben Arfa's been injured since opening day.

More interesting would be Jinky vs Downing. Now last season, I think nearly everyone would say City went got the better Boro winger. But now I'm not so sure we didn't get the better player after all. Think Johnson flatters to deceive a bit, and hasn't yet got the consistency. Downing has not got the dribbling skills to be so direct and take players on but does have a v.good cross & has been much more consistent performer (though this could be argued as an age/experience thing).

What do you say borocoop?

They're different types of wingers really...Johnson was always rated as the most naturally gifted with regards to dribbling, flair, pace etc...but his technique when it comes to striking the ball is no where near as good as Downing's, not yet anyway. Downing was also very pacey when he was younger too, but injuries fucked that up, then he bulked up quite a bit.

I do think Johnson will go on to be the most successful as he can work on his striking and crossing technique..and he's more fan friendly, in that fans like to see pace, step overs and what have you. More exciting innit. Unless he gets a bad injury liek Downing and loses the pace..

Downing will always be a solid Premiership player though, and he can still do a job internationally too. Just needs the spastic England fans off his back who like slating people for no real reason(i.e. "he's McClaren's boy"). Would be good in the side when Carroll is in there.



Havent actually seen much of Ben Arfa, but all I know is he's meant to be very skilled. I imagine he will be a bit more refined than Jinky at this stage.

Downing's biggest let down is the surprising lack of faith he has in his weaker foot, he's more two-footed than he himself believes. Lennon suffers from the same thing.

It is odd at times that..because he's spanked in some cracking goals with his right foot over the years..he seems happy to cut in from the left and shoot with his right..but he seems to have little faith in actually hitting a cross with his right..well, its either that or he's convinced that a decent cross with the outside of his left will be better than his best effort on his right.

christmasborocooper wrote:It is odd at times that..because he's spanked in some cracking goals with his right foot over the years..he seems happy to cut in from the left and shoot with his right..but he seems to have little faith in actually hitting a cross with his right..well, its either that or he's convinced that a decent cross with the outside of his left will be better than his best effort on his right.

Yeah he does try that outside of left a bit too often. Puts in the odd peach that way, but not enough to justify not using his right.

Ben Arfa has lots of talent, and he is the most talented of his generation (Benzema, Nasri, Menez...) but unfortunately he's too much of a rebelious mind. Maybe being in England, far from his c**ts' friends, will change his mentality and that will make him a better player. I really like the player but I don't like too much the person. Johnson is a very gifted player, left footed as well and born in 1987 hence the comparison and the point of this video..
I wonder what Ben Arfa will do next year for Newcastle... anyway he cost peanuts.

Ben Arfa is far more inconsistent than Adam Johnson, at least with latter, you know what you're going to get. Hatem could do some magical things, but at times, he could be bothered to only put a 3/10 or 4/10 performance.