Sidwell Replacement - Who would you go for?

[ScottishRoyal]

Kris Commons

A left winger for central midfield. And you criticise my suggestions? At least I am naming players who are central midfielders.

Plays across the midfield and my mate who is a Forest fan reckons central midfield is his best position.

Well then your mate is an idiot to put things bluntly. He is a winger that is carrying too much weight and hasn't got anywhere near achieving the huge levels of hype that surrounded him in his days at Stoke. As a replacement to Sidwell this is laughable!

[Wycombe Royal]

Kris Commons

A left winger for central midfield. And you criticise my suggestions? At least I am naming players who are central midfielders.

Plays across the midfield and my mate who is a Forest fan reckons central midfield is his best position.

Well then your mate is an idiot to put things bluntly. He is a winger that is carrying too much weight and hasn't got anywhere near achieving the huge levels of hype that surrounded him in his days at Stoke. As a replacement to Sidwell this is laughable!

But to put it in context, this is also the same person who thinks we should re-sign Cureton.

[aaronrfc]

id love to see a starting c. mid next season of Bryn and harps. i think harps would thrive in a more attacking role, and anybody who says he cant shoot or is not technically gifted clearly either has a selective memory, or just doesnt go to many games. and nobody deserves a run in the team more than bryn. my only concern would be that obviously age isnt on his side and i dont think he could be a 90 min man for the whole of next season. outside of that, we've got some potential C. midfielders at the club, BK, Halford, Oster, Karacan, and even possibly James Henry, but i dont think any of those could become regular starters in C. Mid next season, except maybe an outside shot on Halford.

if SSC felt the need to look out side of RFC for a replacement, my first choice, bearing in mind value for money, would be Steven Davis from Villa. anyhting under £3.5mil would be good value. hes still young and growing and is in a similar mould to sids. can do a little bit of everything.

if we could get G. O'neill, it would be a great signing, but i think he wouldnt want to come/pompey wont want to let him go/hed want more wages/he'd cost more.

Jagileka would be a great signing if sheff u went down. anything under £5mil would be good value, and wouldnt be on ridiculous wages. dont know if he'd want to move here, but if he did, great.

Barnes would be an excellent signing, but wouldnt be ready to be thrust into the 1st team, and also has been used more as a right winger. may want a move to somewhere else, and i fear he'd cost at least £5mil, and we could well be priced out of him

bullard would be a good shot, but not as young as some other options. not sure what price range he'd be in. great ability but not sure he'd want to move and not sure fulham would want to let him go (unless they got relagated, which in IMO they wont).

Flamini wouldnt be a bad buy, solid performer, with a bit of versatility and at anything less than £3 mil would be decent money. not sure whether he's fit into the Reading system though.

D. francis wouldnt be bad. reasonably cheap wages and cost, but again, not the youngest option. i was calling for his signiture last summer, but maybe not in the same class bracket (certainly in terms of potential) as other options.

Watson or Soares wouldnt be bad, but maybe not as good as other options and C Pal are likely to charge extortionate amounts of money. but then again watson would keep the ginger count going in the squad.

Fae. didnt want to join in the summer. so i dont want him now. would jump ship at the first sign of trouble.

Koumas. looked a little out of his depth in the prem, also would have attitude problems, and likely to cost more than hes worth.

Reo coker. WCAP, price tag being touted is just ridiculous, and again, potential 'im too big for this club' problem. also the fact that he's is a little bit over-rated and not had the best of seasons.

[Z-Head]

If the legend goes........Personaly I would be looking at Prutton and Soares(C.Palace).




Koumas worth looking at too.

[ScottishRoyal]

id love to see a starting c. mid next season of Bryn and harps. i think harps would thrive in a more attacking role, and anybody who says he cant shoot or is not technically gifted clearly either has a selective memory, or just doesnt go to many games. and nobody deserves a run in the team more than bryn. my only concern would be that obviously age isnt on his side and i dont think he could be a 90 min man for the whole of next season. outside of that, we've got some potential C. midfielders at the club, BK, Halford, Oster, Karacan, and even possibly James Henry, but i dont think any of those could become regular starters in C. Mid next season, except maybe an outside shot on Halford.

At Prem level you just can't settle for players who could cover, ie, BK, Halford and Oster becuase they will be found to be lacking. I'm also concerned that Bryn is getting to an age where his performance will start to tail off, so with this in mind i'd hope we sign a hungry and hard tackling centre midfielder who knows the position well. As part of the teams spine you just can't carry anyone there and their importance means that their performance often dictates the teams success.

[Stranded]

id love to see a starting c. mid next season of Bryn and harps. i think harps would thrive in a more attacking role, and anybody who says he cant shoot or is not technically gifted clearly either has a selective memory, or just doesnt go to many games. and nobody deserves a run in the team more than bryn. my only concern would be that obviously age isnt on his side and i dont think he could be a 90 min man for the whole of next season. outside of that, we've got some potential C. midfielders at the club, BK, Halford, Oster, Karacan, and even possibly James Henry, but i dont think any of those could become regular starters in C. Mid next season, except maybe an outside shot on Halford.

At Prem level you just can't settle for players who could cover, ie, BK, Halford and Oster becuase they will be found to be lacking. I'm also concerned that Bryn is getting to an age where his performance will start to tail off, so with this in mind i'd hope we sign a hungry and hard tackling centre midfielder who knows the position well. As part of the teams spine you just can't carry anyone there and their importance means that their performance often dictates the teams success.

Exactly, if you are losing your first choice at this level you can't simply promote the 2nd choice esp when that 2nd choice is a utility player like Gunna.

The minute you settle is the minute you start moving backwards.

[ScottishRoyal]

id love to see a starting c. mid next season of Bryn and harps. i think harps would thrive in a more attacking role, and anybody who says he cant shoot or is not technically gifted clearly either has a selective memory, or just doesnt go to many games. and nobody deserves a run in the team more than bryn. my only concern would be that obviously age isnt on his side and i dont think he could be a 90 min man for the whole of next season. outside of that, we've got some potential C. midfielders at the club, BK, Halford, Oster, Karacan, and even possibly James Henry, but i dont think any of those could become regular starters in C. Mid next season, except maybe an outside shot on Halford.

At Prem level you just can't settle for players who could cover, ie, BK, Halford and Oster becuase they will be found to be lacking. I'm also concerned that Bryn is getting to an age where his performance will start to tail off, so with this in mind i'd hope we sign a hungry and hard tackling centre midfielder who knows the position well. As part of the teams spine you just can't carry anyone there and their importance means that their performance often dictates the teams success.

Exactly, if you are losing your first choice at this level you can't simply promote the 2nd choice esp when that 2nd choice is a utility player like Gunna.

The minute you settle is the minute you start moving backwards.

Yep, my sentiments exactly. The teams that are happy to settle with what they have and stop striving to improve are the teams that slip back as the quality of sides in the Premiership is continuing to improve.

[Once were Biscuitmen]

Part of the reason Sidwell is leaving is our wage structure- which also rules out about a third of the players mentioned in this thread!

[RIP ELM Park]

Koumas for me he's can play across the midfield and offers the creativity and flair that only little has managed to produce on a regular basis.

As for his attitude, he had a problem with Robson but that is all. If Sir Steve would be happy with him then so would I.

Any bargin midfielders to be had in Ireland?

[Mr Brightside]

A big NO NO NO to Koumas

[Barry the bird boggler]

who's playing for cork at the moment?

and brentford

[RoyalBird]

I reckon we should go for Jimmy Crawford. No one will ever be able to get passed him, his passing is top notch, reads the game so well, shots are powerful and accurate, and he is exactly the perfect fit for Sidwell, except without Ginger Hair.

[Forbury Lion]

who's playing for cork at the moment?

Re-sign Joe Gamble!

[earley_royals]

I was saying the other day that this is Coppell's biggest signing he's had to make and most probably the biggest signing he will ever have to make as Reading manager.

Personally I would like to see Gary O'Neil although Giles Barnes looks a fantastic talent.

[soggy biscuit]

Phil Jagielka please......though I reckon we would have to stump up at least £6M for him

[Alan Partridge]

Phil Jagielka please......though I reckon we would have to stump up at least £6M for him

soggy usually you post a lot of sense that i agree with but

you say Sidwell is overrated and not half as good as he thinks he is yet you want to sign Sheffield United's equivalent to him? Jagielka is even more overrated than Sidwell! ask the Blades fans!

[soggy biscuit]

Phil Jagielka please......though I reckon we would have to stump up at least £6M for him

soggy usually you post a lot of sense that i agree with but

you say Sidwell is overrated and not half as good as he thinks he is yet you want to sign Sheffield United's equivalent to him? Jagielka is even more overrated than Sidwell! ask the Blades fans!

fair enough, I should have pointed out that £6M was far too much for him but I do rate him.

[floyd__streete]

How will we cope without greedy bollox.......................

You've really got to stop this hate campaign, it's showing you up to be rather narrow-minded.

I do rate Gunnarsson's versatility but if he proves to be the answer in centre-mid over 38 Premiership matches I'll eat my hat. Unless we bring in a good replacement I think we are going to miss Sidwell far more than you believe next season, Woodcote.

[glass half full]

Bryn and Harps partnership and bring on the younger players steadily.

We must not forget how young Sidwell was when he came to Reading.

By the way, was it coincidence that Beeb Radio Berkshire played "You can go your own way" immediately after today's sports news bulletin that said that Steve Coppell would leave Sids out to see how we might cope if he weren't in the team? :

[The Quiet Man]

Gavin Mahon Watford - fits the bill ex Brentford player with SC