Newcastle’s Hatem Ben Arfa has come in for some criticism for his comments that he can win the Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball in French), which is given annually to the player who has  performed the best in world football the previous year, and it has been won four times running by Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, who just happened to score  scored a hat-trick in Barcelona’s 4-1 win against Ajax last night in the Champions League.

Loic Remy – in action at Villa Park last Saturday

Ben Arfa has received criticism in France especially for making those comments,  since he’s not in the French squad at the moment, but hey – we were never against people dreaming of what can be, rather than what is.

And Loic Remy is quickly showing why Newcastle had been after him since late 2007, and he has looked good so far in a black and white shirt, and certainly Ben Arfa seems a big fan, and he had this to say today in the local papers:

“Loic has produced two assists in two games.” “He’s very important to us.” “He’s so quick and has plenty of skills.” “He is a very good player.” “We now have more talent in our team.”

“Everybody did their job at Villa and now we must do it again.” “I’m just trying to do my best.”  “I did a big pre-season.” “The manager has told me I need to be consistent.”

“I need to do it every  game, not one game on and one game off.” “Villa is out of the way,  and I must do exactly the same against Hull.” “That is my objective, I want to be at that high level.”

Those are good words from Ben Arfa, who is a darling on Tyneside, and obviously what Alan Pardew is telling the lad is starting to sink in, so Ben Arfa can forget the last five games, and go into the game against Hull City on Saturday with a clean sheet, and give the very best he can give.

And if he can do that,  and Remy looks as good again out on the other wing, we could even come out with all 3 points.

That’s exactly what we need.

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