New Club Captain - Jem Karacan

[West Stand Man]

[quote="St. Brynjar"]Wow. Pleased for him but he has never struck me as a leader. For me, Pearce > Guthrie > Gunter > Morrison > Karacan in the leadership stakes.[
/quote]

Other than watching them from the stands, what other knowledge do you have to base this judgement on?

[Ian Royal]

Hmmm. Jem's obviously popular and his workrate sets a good example. But he doesn't strike me as captain material. In the past his game has been a bit too directionless... that's not quite the right word.

Hope he does well and plays regularly. Not my preferred choice though.

[paultheroyal]

Wow. Pleased for him but he has never struck me as a leader. For me, Pearce > Guthrie > Gunter > Morrison > Karacan in the leadership stakes. Hopefully Jem will rise to it, but I'm baffled by this decision. Who will be captain for the 30 games he isn't fit for?

Pearce won't be playing
Guthrie after Sunderland debacle never
Gunter...the quiet Mann - not a chance
Morrisson....Been there not done it
Karacan step forward

[paultheroyal]

Karacan, Guthrie, Williams in a 3 - that's the midfield sorted.

[AthleticoSpizz]

(Karacan) Back in his youth team days...on and off of the pitch, he seemed to be the jack-in-the-box magnet that his playmates followed.

Stood out, and if his captaincy comes to fruition....it will be another successful RFC investment and an asset potentially worth £illions

[P!ssed Off]

Karacan a good choice for captaincy.

[Millsy]

Should've been Pearce. Articulate, passionate, Reading boy. Comes across brilliantly on radio but I don't know how well he leads others.

Concern with Jem is he's injury prone.

[edinburghroyal]

I guess he'll hold the captain's armband until Kebe or Gylfi will come back!

[Stevie G]

He's a Turk by blood, resolute, committed and loads other good qualities. Perhaps now he'll calm down on the 50/50s and place more emphasis on mobility, recognising the need to stay on the pitch to lead. The only alternative for me would be Morro.

[Handsome Man]

Isn't club captain more of a symbolic gesture than anything?

... sometimes given to an old pro who doesn't make the first team anymore or a crock?

[peterroyal76]

Isn't club captain more of a symbolic gesture than anything?

... sometimes given to an old pro who doesn't make the first team anymore or a crock?

Usually!

[Elm Park Kid]

Karacan, Guthrie, Williams in a 3 - that's the midfield sorted.

Unfortunately I don't think Karacan works in that set up. We need a proper defensive midfielder in there who can break up play and protect our one-paced center backs. Both Guthrie and Williams are too much of a liability to play that role and frankly would be wasted just sitting back.

I suppose it depends on our ambition, but ultimately we'll have to acknowledge that we need players with more than just heart, we need quality and proven ability to play at the higher levels.

IMHO, out of our squad only the below would be good enough for a Premier League team:

McCarthy
Williams
Guthrie
McCleary
HRK (on his day)
Pog

[pea]

He'll complement Adkins well because he's got charisma and passion to get the whole team up for big games and getting them firing on all cylinders when they need to on the pitch. It helps that he's a likeable person and looked up to by all the young players who are hoping to follow in his footsteps. Think having the added responsibility will help him grow too and step up now the older players have left.

[West Stand Man]

Should've been Pearce. Articulate, passionate, Reading boy. Comes across brilliantly on radio but I don't know how well he leads others.

You have answered the question there.

[sandman]

Karacan, Guthrie, Williams in a 3 - that's the midfield sorted.

Unfortunately I don't think Karacan works in that set up. We need a proper defensive midfielder in there who can break up play and protect our one-paced center backs. Both Guthrie and Williams are too much of a liability to play that role and frankly would be wasted just sitting back.

I suppose it depends on our ambition, but ultimately we'll have to acknowledge that we need players with more than just heart, we need quality and proven ability to play at the higher levels.

IMHO, out of our squad only the below would be good enough for a Premier League team:

McCarthy
Williams
Guthrie
McCleary
HRK (on his day)
Pog

Let's concentrate on the level we are at currently rather than the one above shall we?

[Westwood52]

I like Jem-always works for the team-but that early potential as a real top class ball playing midfielder has never materialised.

[Snowball]

Karacan, Guthrie, Williams in a 3 - that's the midfield sorted.

Unfortunately I don't think Karacan works in that set up. We need a proper defensive midfielder in there who can break up play and protect our one-paced center backs. Both Guthrie and Williams are too much of a liability to play that role and frankly would be wasted just sitting back.

I suppose it depends on our ambition, but ultimately we'll have to acknowledge that we need players with more than just heart, we need quality and proven ability to play at the higher levels.

You don't think Karacan is a good defensive midfielder?

[Snowball]

I like Jem-always works for the team-but that early potential as a real top class ball playing midfielder has never materialised.

Personally I think that's more to do with how he was asked to play

[ZacNaloen]

I like Jem-always works for the team-but that early potential as a real top class ball playing midfielder has never materialised.

Not his fault, he was was not expected to be a ball-playing midfilder for the majority of his Reading career, but rather a spoiler, and he did as he was told without fuss.

He started to show that ball-playing ability ever since Adkins came in, and even started looking like he'd contribute more goals from midfield as well... but the fearless way he plays also means he risks injury everytime he steps on the pitch and that certainly is the reason he got injured last year. He shouldn't have tried that tackle, from that position.

Hopefully he's learned his lesson on that one at least, and hopefully it hasn't affected his game.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

He's a Turk by blood, resolute, committed and loads other good qualities. Perhaps now he'll calm down on the 50/50s and place more emphasis on mobility, recognising the need to stay on the pitch to lead. The only alternative for me would be Morro.

He's a Turk by blood? WTF does that have to do with it?! What an odd thing to say...