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

[Platypuss]

Vision... you are just being damn right stupid now, talking too much common sense.

All these so call 'supporters' who think they know better than Coppell don't seem to realise the fact that you brought up so clearly in your post. WE PLAY WITH WIDTH AND THAT IS WHERE OUR GOALS ARE CREATED FROM!!!!!!!!!

Our central midfield is basically there to stop the other teams attacking, to get balls out to the wings a.s.a.p. and weigh in with the odd goal now and then.

Steve Coppell >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> manager than anyone on here could ever be.. are we not THIRD.

I trust, therefore, that you fully endorse Coppell's dropping of Harper, then?

[londinium]

I endorse whatever Coppell does as he is our manager.

Coppell gets it right again as we pick up another 3 points and rest Harps for bigger fish.

Thank god he rested him tonight as the replacements seemed to struggle against a bottom half team with 10 men.... good job they werent up against a half decent outfit with 11 men or Harps really would have been missed.

[Ian Royal]

Lets see if he was dropped or just rested.

Lets be fair to Blackpool though. Good away record and a very good fighting performance with 10 men. Could easily have nicked a point, arguably deserved to from the radio commentary IMO.

[working class hero]

Given the petulant swearing from Harper at the end of the Barnsley game [seemed to tell Dillon to **** off and refused to shake hands] I suspect tonight was a punishment.
Interesting to see if he will be back on Saturday.

[rob the royal]

IF we make it back to the prem we need to buy a midfielder to be partnered either by marek or harps depending on the team we're playing. tonight just shows that we may have depth but that doesn't necessarily mean strength...

[Alan Partridge]

Rather ironic that I said playing Marek might help us break down Blackpool, it (Andy Gray voice on) mebbe, just mebbe actually was more of a hindrance. I thought we tried to play too much and din't stick to our strenghts. Although his lovely through ball helped lead to the only goal. I don't think we missed Harper at all, maybe Cisse's extra bit of athleticism (sp) in the middle along with Kebe's pace wide right. We had a few players on a real off day tonight and it all combined to a really dire performance. Marek looked a bit short of match fitness but at times he still produced some rare moments of quality. I hope we persevere with him but we'll see Saturday. I wouldn't be surprised to see Coppell change it some more. In fact I think that's exactly what he'll do.

[rabidbee]

Given the petulant swearing from Harper at the end of the Barnsley game [seemed to tell Dillon to **** off and refused to shake hands] I suspect tonight was a punishment.
Interesting to see if he will be back on Saturday.

That might have been more proabable if he hadn't also rested Cissé. In fact, Cissé didn't even make the bench tonight, unlike Harper. As has been pointed out before, Coppell seems to like maintaining these key partnerships, and has swapped both central members simultaneously several times this season. Also, this was the 2nd of three matches in a week, three days after a game when the central midfield were under a lot of pressure to make up for being a man short. No surprise, then, that a fresher pairing were put in tonight instead. Personally, I think you'll really see his first choice midfielders at St Andrew's.

[Dirk Gently]

I though Cisse had a knee injury. So not rested or dropped.

[Vision]

I though Cisse had a knee injury. So not rested or dropped.

Coppell said he "could have played, no doubt" so my feeling is he was rested as a precaution. Given that and the fact that kebe was absent anyway it seems to me that Coppell took the opportunity to also rest Harper who along with Cisse has run his nuts off in the last 2 away games a man short. Add that to the 3 games in a week scenario and It makes sense.

Also a good opportunity to give Marek a much needed 90 mins and to see if we can fit him into a 2 man central midfield with Gunnar. Partially successful I'd say and unfair to judge based on the one game but he did add something different to the mix although overall i can't but feel it took away from our effectiveness as a whole.

[loyalroyal4life]

Well said Ian.
Some idiots spend too much time on Championship Manager and have this hang-up about assists
How many assists did Claude Makelele get for Chelsea and France?
How many does Mascherano get for Liverpool and Argentina?
Would anybody seriously suggest that these players don't do much?
Just because Hunt takes nearly all the corners (and we get more than anybody else) and free-kicks by the law of averages he will get a number of assists but who got the corner or free-kick and aren't they playing a very big part as well?

As I see it Harper is an integral part of a team that is winning a lot more than it loses and he is the organiser-have a look when Cisse goes walkabout or one of the full-backs gets caught out way up the pitch it is Harper trying to sort things out-he may not succeed every time but he does have spacial awareness.
He may not be playing as well as in the past 3 or 4 seasons but to drop him seems pointless to me.
On the question of captaincy I said on another thread that it has little or no significance in football and I firmly agree with Capello and the Italians that captaincy normally goes to the senior player and as James has been here longer than anyone but Murty he should be captain in Murty's absence.

lol at bringing makelele and mascherano into the equation, if harper was half the player or did half the job they do/did then this debate would not be occuring.

[loyalroyal4life]

I though Cisse had a knee injury. So not rested or dropped.

Hopefully he will go with cisse and marek on saturday and give them a run of games together.

[West Stand Man]

Well said Ian.
Some idiots spend too much time on Championship Manager and have this hang-up about assists
How many assists did Claude Makelele get for Chelsea and France?
How many does Mascherano get for Liverpool and Argentina?
Would anybody seriously suggest that these players don't do much?
Just because Hunt takes nearly all the corners (and we get more than anybody else) and free-kicks by the law of averages he will get a number of assists but who got the corner or free-kick and aren't they playing a very big part as well?

As I see it Harper is an integral part of a team that is winning a lot more than it loses and he is the organiser-have a look when Cisse goes walkabout or one of the full-backs gets caught out way up the pitch it is Harper trying to sort things out-he may not succeed every time but he does have spacial awareness.
He may not be playing as well as in the past 3 or 4 seasons but to drop him seems pointless to me.
On the question of captaincy I said on another thread that it has little or no significance in football and I firmly agree with Capello and the Italians that captaincy normally goes to the senior player and as James has been here longer than anyone but Murty he should be captain in Murty's absence.

lol at bringing makelele and mascherano into the equation, if harper was half the player or did half the job they do/did then this debate would not be occuring.

.. and he wouldn't be playing for Reading, and you wouldn't be biased against him etc,etc.

[loyalroyal4life]

Well said Ian.
Some idiots spend too much time on Championship Manager and have this hang-up about assists
How many assists did Claude Makelele get for Chelsea and France?
How many does Mascherano get for Liverpool and Argentina?
Would anybody seriously suggest that these players don't do much?
Just because Hunt takes nearly all the corners (and we get more than anybody else) and free-kicks by the law of averages he will get a number of assists but who got the corner or free-kick and aren't they playing a very big part as well?

As I see it Harper is an integral part of a team that is winning a lot more than it loses and he is the organiser-have a look when Cisse goes walkabout or one of the full-backs gets caught out way up the pitch it is Harper trying to sort things out-he may not succeed every time but he does have spacial awareness.
He may not be playing as well as in the past 3 or 4 seasons but to drop him seems pointless to me.
On the question of captaincy I said on another thread that it has little or no significance in football and I firmly agree with Capello and the Italians that captaincy normally goes to the senior player and as James has been here longer than anyone but Murty he should be captain in Murty's absence.

lol at bringing makelele and mascherano into the equation, if harper was half the player or did half the job they do/did then this debate would not be occuring.

.. and he wouldn't be playing for Reading, and you wouldn't be biased against him etc,etc.

True, probably saying we should buy him