Get the latest NUFC transfer and takeover news straight to your inbox for FREE by signing up to our newsletter Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

He was unplayable, on fire.

So said Alan Pardew, of Hatem Ben Arfa, after Newcastle United’s 2-1 Premier League win at Aston Villa in mid-September.

According to YOUR ratings, it has been downhill for the Frenchman ever since.

Ben Arfa is the Magpies’ great mystery, a blessed talent too often unable to prove it.

He started the season, like most at Manchester City, slowly.

We ask you to rate the Toon stars’ individual performances on our ChronicleLive website during and after every game.

From the collated results, Newcastle scored a team average of 4.4 out of 10 at the Etihad.

Ben Arfa averaged 5.8.

Then, as the team got better, so too did the player.

In fact, for the following four games against West Ham, Morecambe, Fulham and Villa, he was markedly United’s most above-average player – that’s to say his mark always topped his team’s – and by increasing margins.

Over 90 minutes of stagnant stalemate with the Hammers, Newcastle averaged 5.7 as a team, Ben Arfa 6.3 himself.

At Morecambe in the Capital One Cup, a late cameo helped win the game and Ben Arfa a rating of 7.6, 1.5 marks better than his team.

Then came the real high.

Though Pardew was thereafter sparing and selective in his praise of the player, a full 90 against Fulham saw the French flyer score a late winner and 8.2 in your ratings, against United’s 6.5.

And at Villa Park, the opener and a hand in Yoan Gouffran’s winner left the Toon on an average of 7 out of 10 but Ben Arfa on 9.3.

Only Tim Krul’s 9.8 for his near-miraculous defiance at Tottenham has bettered that this campaign.

Unplayable, remember, Pardew said.

But perhaps he took himself too literally, for the stats suggest that resting the former Marseille man from Newcastle’s next match against Leeds United, back in the cup, has changed his season.

Ever since, he’s gone from above average to below-par.

Hauled off at half-time at Everton, his mark of 4 fell under his team’s 4.3.

A late sub at Cardiff City, he rated 5.9 to Newcastle’s 6.7.

Against Liverpool his 6.2 was bettered by the team’s 6.9, at Sunderland he registered 3.4 to United’s 4 and, again, as a late replacement against Manchester City, in the Capital One Cup, he averaged 5.5 and the team 5.8.

A little context?

That is only fair since, more than most, Ben Arfa has fallen victim as much to his own frustrating inconsistency as to Pardew’s tactical search for his most suitable and effective team shape, and its best fit personnel-wise.

Remember the ‘false nine’ role, against Liverpool and Sunderland?

He cannot have thanked his boss for that.

And consider that, since starting the season on strike, Yohan Cabaye has subsequently re-emerged as Newcastle’s most influential creative force, overshadowing his countryman.

Check his stats.

Since his initial omission and subsequent introduction at Everton, Cabaye’s personal average has only once – against Man City in the cup – dipped below his team’s.

He has picked up Ben Arfa’s baton, and run . . .

Into third place in the list of players’ average ratings.

Ben Arfa? He is 11th.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given these trends, he failed to appear in the victories over Chelsea and Spurs, and as a late sub against Norwich City on Saturday scored a 6.4, against the Toon’s 6.7.

All told, he averages 6.2 for the season.

Newcastle?

They’re a 5.8 with him, but factor in their scores from the games he has missed – Leeds, Chelsea and Spurs – and they improve to 6.

So what does that mean? That he is a better player than his team, but it is a better team without him?

Now you see Pardew’s problem.