Premier League: Pardew revises history with claims he could ‘handle’ Adebayor.

In the wake of Crystal Palace’s 3-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, Alan Pardew bemoaned his lack of attacking depth. “I’d like to do a bit of transfer business this week if we can,” he said. “Give us a boost.”

That potential business may involve a move for Emmanuel Adebayor. The striker has been a free agent since mutually terminating his deal with Tottenham in September. Now eager to return to the Premier League, reports have linked him with a move to Selhurst Park. “For me, whenever Adebayor’s played against my teams, he’s been totally committed and he’s been dangerous,” Pardew said last week.

When questioned over whether he could handle Adebayor, he referenced one specific example from his time at Newcastle United. “I have had difficulty with players before, none more than Hatem Ben Arfa at Newcastle,” he said. “If I can deal with him, I can deal with Adebayor, sure.”

Mention of his association with Ben Arfa will no doubt have irked Newcastle fans, as few will agree with Pardew’s assessment that he ‘handled’ the Frenchman. The 27 year old arrived on Tyneside from Olympique Marseille in August 2010, and instantly won fans over with his exceptional dribbling abilities. Pardew arrived in December of that year but was forced to be patient with Ben Arfa as he recovered from a nasty leg break suffered in October.

When he finally returned to the first-team fold, Pardew used him sparingly. Criticising Ben Arfa’s lack of defensive effort, Newcastle fans raged as their most talented technician sat on the bench. Handed substitute opportunities, he began to pick up momentum and netted in a 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers. Before long he had become a vital component of the team again, making it impossible for Pardew to drop him. Replacing an injured Yohan Cabaye during a January clash with Queens Park Rangers, he ran the attack for the Magpies as they squeezed out a 1-0 win.

Handed a steady run in the starting XI he helped push the club up into the top 6. By April, Ben Arfa was at the peak of his powers as he once again scored against Bolton, this time skipping by four players to produce a memorable solo goal. “With Hatem, you’ve got to let him have his world,” Pardew said after his goal against Bolton, before adding, “It’s his world when he has the ball, my world is when he hasn’t.”

Yet even with his stellar form it seemed that Pardew had not fully grasped the freedom a player like Ben Arfa required. Finding success for Ben Arfa with a 4-3-3 formation, he ditched the idea after a 4-0 loss to Wigan Athletic. He then attempted to shoe-horn Ben Arfa into a more conventional wide right role. A bad fit for a player that needed freedom to attack, his lack of defensive consideration was not due to laziness. “Everyday in training [Ben Arfa] works really hard,” Demba Ba told Canal+ at the time.

It was there that the seeds of frustration were sewn. While perhaps not the most humble of characters, Ben Arfa does not shy away from his overt self confidence. Openly admitting he sees it as a good thing, he once told an interviewer that it had saved him from joining a cult after he refused to acknowledge the leader as a superior being.

Regardless of his religious associations, Newcastle fans were delighted with Ben Arfa’s contributions. A strong finish to the season suggested bright times ahead for the club, only for Mike Ashley to sanction few incoming transfers. The club signed Vurnon Anita from Ajax and Loic Remy on loan - a meagre return for a club that now had Europa League participation to contend with.

It was during those winter months that the cracks between Pardew and Ben Arfa became apparent. Yohan Cabaye had long been the team’s talisman in midfield, but shared creative responsibility with Ben Arfa. Cabaye’s eagerness to move on from St James’ Park meant Pardew had to shift the focus of the team. Instead he placed it all on Ben Arfa and the weight of expectation proved too great for him to carry alone.

Collecting a handful of niggling injuries, the club’s eagerness to rush him back produced a vicious cycle of injury and rushed return which lead to more injury. When he did play, he was handed the ball and expected to change the game single-handedly, which in turn produced a visible frustration. Consequently he would often escape into his own world, holding onto the ball for too long, attempting to beat numerous opponents, all before losing the ball.

Able to produce enough spark for Newcastle to avoid relegation, he had been reduced to the role of impact sub by the end of the campaign. Clearly exasperated, stories emerged that Ben Arfa had criticised Pardew’s direct style of play in front of his teammates. Sent to train with the U21s, the fans remained firmly on his side. Viewed as the antithesis of Pardew’s long ball style, an online poll ran by the Newcastle Evening Chronicle last year had 74% of fans believing Ben Arfa was mis-treated by Newcastle.

Packed off to Hull City on loan in late August of 2014, he would fall out with Steve Bruce for similar reasons. Officially released by the Magpies in January last year, it brought a sad end to what had once seemed a promising career on Tyneside. Certainly it would be naive to absolve the Frenchman of any blame. His attitude has often been his downfall during his playing career, with his bad behaviour causing him to leave both Lyon and Marseille under a cloud.

However to say Pardew ‘handled’ Ben Arfa is also misleading. “He is a top-quality player who needs to be approached differently to others,” former Newcastle defender Olivier Bernard said last year. “A lot of managers understand that, but I do not believe Pardew did with Ben Arfa.”

A lack of adaptability and flexibility was often Pardew’s downfall while at St James’ Park, be it with flair players like Ben Arfa or on the pitch with his tactics. Currently undergoing a bad run of form with Crystal Palace, (they have scored just once in their last six Barclays Premier League games) he may wish to stay clear of reported targets such as Adebayor and Nicklas Bendtner.

The two represent similar, (at times difficult) characters to that of Ben Arfa. Thus if he expects a different result, he must not seek to change the player in question, but perhaps change himself. Otherwise like the majority of those who refuse to acknowledge the past, he will be forced to repeat it.

Follow Kristan Heneage on Twitter: @Kheneage