Cisse

[gazzer, loyal royal]

the signing for me was a wierd one,

he played the whole of the season at Boavista at centre back and then gets thrust into the middle of the park in the prermiership, not my idea of what i'd want to do first up

[Toby_Jugs]

Cisse, despite one good game at Centre Back, did nothing of any note last season.

Sometimes players need time to adapt bith on and off the pitch, and he will get more games in the Championship, so I am certain he will have more of an impact next season, although thats not really saying much. Hopefully he will find his feat this year....but whether or not he is the next Patrick Viera as muted by the club....I very much doubt it.

[Platypuss]

Didn't take long to nominate the next scapegoat did it?

I'd say nearly every player demonstrated some faults last season, wouldn't you say?

Informed criticism is part and parcel of the game.

[Fezza]

Didn't take long to nominate the next scapegoat did it?

I'd say nearly every player demonstrated some faults last season, wouldn't you say?

Informed criticism is part and parcel of the game.

The tactics and management were cr@p as well but there doesn't seem to be many calling for the person responsible to go????

[Platypuss]

How many are calling for Cisse to go?

[Stooper]

How many are calling for Cisse to go?

I really can't see him getting much of a game next season apart from to fill in when others are missing (or perhaps sold on).

Get rid, along with Fae and Kebe. Better of playing the likes of Pearce, than Cisse.

My feeling is he was another mistake signing and when his contract expires we will let him go.

[Platypuss]

So that's 1 then. I'm convinced.

[Irvinchangeyaname]

For all the debate, I think it's more likely to be Cisse choosing to stay with us rather than the other way round.

[Scarface]

Signed to add more strength to the midfield and he proved he's no better than Gunnarsson. Look at Bikey when he played in midfield, that's what Cisse should be like, but as said in other posts, he's lightweight.

[Southbank Old Boy]

For all the debate, I think it's more likely to be Cisse choosing to stay with us rather than the other way round.

Really?

You think that he's going to have a few clubs in for him this summer then?

[SteveRoyal]

Cisse is 24 years of age - to verify.
He's still young, can improve, and can play in midfield or centre back.
A good player to have no matter what division we're in!

[Ian Royal]

Decent enough for the Championship, don't agree with the levels of stick he gets on here given the performances of other players in the squad. Better option than Harper and Gunnarsson in central midfield and probably within our top four centre backs right now ahead of Sonko.

You've got to laugh really haven't you.

I don't think he has what it takes to play midfield. If we can work on his centreback qualities then he could come good. Regardless of whether he is good enough for midfield in the Championship he is miles off in the prem and so isn't worth holding onto for that position. He'll make a good back up CB IMO. Certainly for now.

[handbags_harris]

Decent enough for the Championship, don't agree with the levels of stick he gets on here given the performances of other players in the squad. Better option than Harper and Gunnarsson in central midfield and probably within our top four centre backs right now ahead of Sonko.

You've got to laugh really haven't you.

I don't think he has what it takes to play midfield. If we can work on his centreback qualities then he could come good. Regardless of whether he is good enough for midfield in the Championship he is miles off in the prem and so isn't worth holding onto for that position. He'll make a good back up CB IMO. Certainly for now.

Agreed to a certain extent. I wouldn't bother with him any more in midfield. Cisse has the ball control of a dog on heat, a crucial element of the game in almost any position but in centre mid it has to be instantaneous. Yes, he tackles (unlike Harper), but his passing is, in my opinion, woeful. His heading is decent at best, but he seemed to be a reasonable centre back option, although he had nightmare games against Villa and Bolton. He'd make adequate defensive backup but he should be no more than an injury/suspension cover player.

[Cookie]

I think he has some pace and sometimes looks the part but i'm not convinced at all by what I have seen. Perhaps another one for the future?

I'm not convinced that a 26-year old has much of a learning curve left.

I think he's 24, he was born Jan 1984.

I'm not sure there's much more to be said about him, he's still got some adjustments to make to his game. But he's not far off being a really good player if you judge him by his performance against Manchester Utd.

Inconsistency is a problem for him, but there are loads of great players who took time to adjust to our game here in the UK. (Drogba, Laursen et al)

I think he'll come good, his attitude is way better than Fae's for a start.

[Cookie]

[Royalee]

Decent enough for the Championship, don't agree with the levels of stick he gets on here given the performances of other players in the squad. Better option than Harper and Gunnarsson in central midfield and probably within our top four centre backs right now ahead of Sonko.

You've got to laugh really haven't you.

Yes, I laugh every time you post to be fair.

[Ian Royal]

Decent enough for the Championship, don't agree with the levels of stick he gets on here given the performances of other players in the squad. Better option than Harper and Gunnarsson in central midfield and probably within our top four centre backs right now ahead of Sonko.

You've got to laugh really haven't you.

I don't think he has what it takes to play midfield. If we can work on his centreback qualities then he could come good. Regardless of whether he is good enough for midfield in the Championship he is miles off in the prem and so isn't worth holding onto for that position. He'll make a good back up CB IMO. Certainly for now.

Agreed to a certain extent. I wouldn't bother with him any more in midfield. Cisse has the ball control of a dog on heat, a crucial element of the game in almost any position but in centre mid it has to be instantaneous. Yes, he tackles (unlike Harper), but his passing is, in my opinion, woeful. His heading is decent at best, but he seemed to be a reasonable centre back option, although he had nightmare games against Villa and Bolton. He'd make adequate defensive backup but he should be no more than an injury/suspension cover player.

Can't say I disagree with that at all. When I've seen him in midfield he's been utterly anonymous bar the odd challenge. At CB he had a blinding couple of games. I can't help but wonder whether his dodgy game game against Villa was caused by the return of calamity Sonko or not. I recall him having just as much of a 'mare if not more than Cisse.

[Arch]

First thing to note is that he was thrown in as an occasional player on a team that played like dogshit all year. It doesn't make it easy to adapt to Premiership football. Every Reading player was constantly under too much pressure in every game because of the tentative way we played.

I actually think he could emerge as a very good defensive midfielder in the Championship, and while he hasn't shown he's the equal of Bryn of circa 2006, I have a suspicion we won't be seeing that Bryn again.

Although Kalifa's not a box-to-box midfielder in the Sidwell mold, it's gratifying how often he was the last line of defence and even occasionally the closest to goal when we were going forward. He gets about, he's reasonably talented and defensively tenacious. I hope he's not first choice unless he undergoes a quick transformation, but I'd be happy to see him on the bench and pushing the starters for a place.

And he's clearly a real club guy. Look how often he shows up on the OS doing school and charity stuff compared to any other recent signing. Gotta love his attitude.

[strap]

Pants. Along with Fae and Kebe a total waste of time and money. RFC would have yielded better results had they spent the £2.5M + £675k + £400k on giving Academy players a chance or on UK based Championship players. £3.575M of utter dross. Along with the £1M spent on Bikey, I'm not surprised in the least that Mr Ego has his wallet firmly locked.

[londinium]

Pants. Along with Fae and Kebe a total waste of time and money. RFC would have yielded better results had they spent the £2.5M + £675k + £400k on giving Academy players a chance or on UK based Championship players. £3.575M of utter dross. Along with the £1M spent on Bikey, I'm not surprised in the least that Mr Ego has his wallet firmly locked.

Are you seriously saying that you think Bikey was a waste of money?