Our weak link is........THE CAPTAIN!!!!

[S09Royal]

Maybe that is the case!!

I hope so bcoz he needs to pick his game up especally with big games like Birmingham coming up because they need to be at there best in the Midfield or well get Mauled.

And i think Bikey for Captain because of his Strong Presence at the back.

& his, 'heart in your mouth defensive moments'

[londinium]

Harper 'is' and 'should be' captain.

Ivar marshalls the defence and has a strong, experienced man in Doobs to help him do that, Doyle runs the front line and although not overly experienced does a good job at it.

A captain in my eyes should come from the midfield and Harps is the man. He is at the heart of the game and yes he flaps his arms around a lot but he does a captains role and if anyone thinks we are better off with Bikey or anyone else then they are seriously deluded.

[Dirk Gently]

Harper 'is' and 'should be' captain.

Ivar marshalls the defence and has a strong, experienced man in Doobs to help him do that, Doyle runs the front line and although not overly experienced does a good job at it.

A captain in my eyes should come from the midfield and Harps is the man. He is at the heart of the game and yes he flaps his arms around a lot but he does a captains role and if anyone thinks we are better off with Bikey or anyone else then they are seriously deluded.

Sssssshhh - keep common sense and the blindingly obvious off Hobnob! There's no place for it here.

[facaldaqui]

I've long given up trying to manage Coppell's teams for him. He's smarter than anyone on this board, and I can't imagine another manager replacing him fully. He's got us in third, and Harper's a part of that. The opinions of some Hobnobbers on players are notoriously one-dimensional: they tend to judge each player as an individual rather than as part of a team concept. At the beginning of the season we had people calling out for Karacan and Pearce; now they don't. But they're calling for Henry. Do they know better than Coppell? In the past they've slagged off SHunt and Kebe; now they don't. As a not very smart bloke myself, I've sometimes been swayed by the prognosticating nobs of Hob, but no longer.

And people say that Harper's been playing worse recently, yet we've taken 7 points out of 9 in the last three. Think team. The Barnsley manager has been praising our midfield to high heaven, so stop harping on about Harper, please!

[loyalroyal4life]

I've long given up trying to manage Coppell's teams for him. He's smarter than anyone on this board, and I can't imagine another manager replacing him fully. He's got us in third, and Harper's a part of that. The opinions of some Hobnobbers on players are notoriously one-dimensional: they tend to judge each player as an individual rather than as part of a team concept. At the beginning of the season we had people calling out for Karacan and Pearce; now they don't. But they're calling for Henry. Do they know better than Coppell? In the past they've slagged off SHunt and Kebe; now they don't. As a not very smart bloke myself, I've sometimes been swayed by the prognosticating nobs of Hob, but no longer.

And people say that Harper's been playing worse recently, yet we've taken 7 points out of 9 in the last three. Think team. The Barnsley manager has been praising our midfield to high heaven, so stop harping on about Harper, please!

What was our record this season when harper was out of the starting line up?

[londinium]

I've long given up trying to manage Coppell's teams for him. He's smarter than anyone on this board, and I can't imagine another manager replacing him fully. He's got us in third, and Harper's a part of that. The opinions of some Hobnobbers on players are notoriously one-dimensional: they tend to judge each player as an individual rather than as part of a team concept. At the beginning of the season we had people calling out for Karacan and Pearce; now they don't. But they're calling for Henry. Do they know better than Coppell? In the past they've slagged off SHunt and Kebe; now they don't. As a not very smart bloke myself, I've sometimes been swayed by the prognosticating nobs of Hob, but no longer.

And people say that Harper's been playing worse recently, yet we've taken 7 points out of 9 in the last three. Think team. The Barnsley manager has been praising our midfield to high heaven, so stop harping on about Harper, please!

What was our record this season when harper was out of the starting line up?

Our record this season whether it be with Harps, Cisse, Gunnar or Karajan in the midfield is about the same percentage wise....so your point is????

[facaldaqui]

I thought Karacan was promising, and Gunnarsson was solid; that shows that Coppell has good back up. But did anyone feel that they were the answer? None of our midfielders are perfect, so lets trust Coppell's judgement.

[Captain Lager]

This thread is nonsense really. Harper is captain of a team that is looking well-placed to get into the top two by the turn of the year. He appears to be an important motivator to others in the team. And he has been a loyal and effective team member since League One days.

No this thread is isnt nosense a captain is supposed to be a leader and make the rest of the team follow by example.

in recent games harps hasnt been doing that and has proberbly been the worst player on the field, yes weve still won but we need a captain who is constistantly good.

chris armstrong my vote hasnt put a foot wrong all year.

Spellings getting there Bishbosh! Keep up the good work. If Shunt stays over New Year and is made Captain, we would win by default as all the opposition would be too scared to get involved. That's if everyone followed by example. Current system seems to be working, don't see a need to change anything. Harper must be aware that people are getting on his back so he's probably doing his best to put it right. I think he's made a big improvement the last couple of games and deserves a place in the team. It's unfortunate for Marek but why change a winning formula?

[Hoop Blah]

1) He's sitting back rather than getting forward and he has mostly had someone competant next to him this season.
2) 1 is partly because we have two competant wingers playing so we don't need to attack through the middle.

Why is he the one who sits back when cisse is a better tackler than him???

On top of that both cisse and gunnar have scored more goals than him so what role does he play if he cant tackle or score, yes he gives effort and passes it about keeping the game flowing but look at harpers passing compared to previous seasons, he looks to be lacking confidence he passing range just isnt the same IMO.

Haper plays there because Cisse is too slow in the head to read the game as quickly as Harper does to cover as many of the runs. Cisse also gives possession away too frequently to sit infront of the back four in quite the same way as Harper.

Harper is also used to playing the role in our side.

Agree with both Ian Royal and AP's comments on this thread. Harper does a great job for us most of the time. Occassionally he has a bit of a shocker and it shows up more than it does for most. I the reason it shows up so much is because he is the one gets us playing and so much of our play goes through him. Therefore when he's having an off day it has a big effect.

He's not undropable though.

As for Matejovsky being the more creative, as somebody said earlier in the thread, I think thats a bit of a myth. He makes some great little passes and is a clever little player, but according to Murty it's Harper who always tops the creative passes stats at the club.

[floyd__streete]

"I think Rafa Benitez should drop Gerrard, even for a couple of games. That would be nice. I just have a strong feeling the team would perform a lot better."

LOL @ comparing Harper to Gerrard

[Franchise FC]

I wonder if Marek will partner Harper in midfield on Tuesday night...

I for one, am worried that Kebe won't be playing.

Don't worry - he won't !!

[loyalroyal4life]

I've long given up trying to manage Coppell's teams for him. He's smarter than anyone on this board, and I can't imagine another manager replacing him fully. He's got us in third, and Harper's a part of that. The opinions of some Hobnobbers on players are notoriously one-dimensional: they tend to judge each player as an individual rather than as part of a team concept. At the beginning of the season we had people calling out for Karacan and Pearce; now they don't. But they're calling for Henry. Do they know better than Coppell? In the past they've slagged off SHunt and Kebe; now they don't. As a not very smart bloke myself, I've sometimes been swayed by the prognosticating nobs of Hob, but no longer.

And people say that Harper's been playing worse recently, yet we've taken 7 points out of 9 in the last three. Think team. The Barnsley manager has been praising our midfield to high heaven, so stop harping on about Harper, please!

What was our record this season when harper was out of the starting line up?

Our record this season whether it be with Harps, Cisse, Gunnar or Karajan in the midfield is about the same percentage wise....so your point is????

Point is it is better without him in the team

[rabidbee]

As for Matejovsky being the more creative, as somebody said earlier in the thread, I think thats a bit of a myth. He makes some great little passes and is a clever little player, but according to Murty it's Harper who always tops the creative passes stats at the club.

Although starting every match, he's bound to create more chances than a player who rarely even gets off the bench.

[rabidbee]

Our record this season whether it be with Harps, Cisse, Gunnar or Karajan in the midfield is about the same percentage wise....so your point is????

Point is it is better without him in the team

Excellent use of logic.

[bishbosh92]

Maybe that is the case!!

I hope so bcoz he needs to pick his game up especally with big games like Birmingham coming up because they need to be at there best in the Midfield or well get Mauled.

And i think Bikey for Captain because of his Strong Presence at the back.

& his, 'heart in your mouth defensive moments'

True he does make a panic sometimes.

Yh ill go with you actually iva is very consistent at the back we should give him a shot.

[loyalroyal4life]

Our record this season whether it be with Harps, Cisse, Gunnar or Karajan in the midfield is about the same percentage wise....so your point is????

Point is it is better without him in the team

Excellent use of logic.

whats not logical about going on results based on harper being in/out of the team?

[bishbosh92]

The record may be the same.

But what about the individual players performance, if you compare those harper would be near the bottom!!

[Dirk Gently]

The record may be the same.

But what about the individual players performance, if you compare those harper would be near the bottom!!

Not according to the ProZone statistics.

[bishbosh92]

The record may be the same.

But what about the individual players performance, if you compare those harper would be near the bottom!!

Not according to the ProZone statistics.

Can you send a link through please so i can look.

[Alan Partridge]

The record may be the same.

But what about the individual players performance, if you compare those harper would be near the bottom!!

Not according to the ProZone statistics.

Someone attempting a creative forward pass that doesn't quite come off >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Someone making 10, 5 yard sideways passes a game.

The ProZone doesn't prove anything, if we used these sort of stats then you have to wonder why Bareclona or someone haven't come in for Hahnemann as he's been the best keeper in the Premiership for the last 2 seasons, hasn't he?