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

[SCIAG]

Pearce for captain. Any 19 year old (iirc) who tells Duberry what to do deserves the armband.

[SteveRoyal]

Next captain = Liam Rosenier

Nah disagree there

hes a good attackive fullback byt defensively hes not brill.

he didnt have the greatest of games yday

when we needed to hoof the ball up field

he always found a barnsley player.

Liam > Murty.
Sorry Murts, you've lost your chance now unless Rosenior cocks it/injures 'imself.

[S09Royal]

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

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

[chandog]

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

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

he has been playing so well recently and although i do want henry to be given a chance i doubt he is capable of filling the huge void kebe will leave

[S09Royal]

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

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

he has been playing so well recently and although i do want henry to be given a chance i doubt he is capable of filling the huge void kebe will leave

Which could leave our midfield totally open-giving Blackpool a chance/s which could result in our 2nd home defeat of the season. We will miss Kebe's pace and the club should/'ve appealed.

[RG30]

it's quite funny that 8 years after signing Harper still commands these threads. He's been like this for 7 out of the 8 seasons he's been here. The other 1 he got player of the year.

Not sure about that AP, thought last year he had an impressive season. He was the more "advanced" of the central midfield pairing and chipped in with his fair share of goals. This year he's having to do a role more for the team with Cisse being allowed the luxury to bomb forward and support while his game is about closing down and making it difficult for the opposition to pass through our central midfield.

Maybe he hasn't reached the standards of previous seasons, but no one can question his attitude. He's an model professional and a player who wants to improve and just loves to play football. I mention his form last season, he scored at least 3 of those goals with his weaker left foot. That's all those extra hours on the training ground while other members of the squad would be back home playing an X-Box for the afternoon.

I think part of the Harps bashing is for an element of the fans wishing to try and fit Marek into a team that quite frankly doesn't need to be starting games for us yet. With the exception of the Southampton game where we underestimated the opposition and they themselves treated it as a cup final, our overall performance has been pretty good in the past 5-6 weeks.

[bottom left hand corner]

it's quite funny that 8 years after signing Harper still commands these threads. He's been like this for 7 out of the 8 seasons he's been here. The other 1 he got player of the year.

Not sure about that AP, thought last year he had an impressive season. He was the more "advanced" of the central midfield pairing and chipped in with his fair share of goals. This year he's having to do a role more for the team with Cisse being allowed the luxury to bomb forward and support while his game is about closing down and making it difficult for the opposition to pass through our central midfield.

Maybe he hasn't reached the standards of previous seasons, but no one can question his attitude. He's an model professional and a player who wants to improve and just loves to play football. I mention his form last season, he scored at least 3 of those goals with his weaker left foot. That's all those extra hours on the training ground while other members of the squad would be back home playing an X-Box for the afternoon.

I think part of the Harps bashing is for an element of the fans wishing to try and fit Marek into a team that quite frankly doesn't need to be starting games for us yet. With the exception of the Southampton game where we underestimated the opposition and they themselves treated it as a cup final, our overall performance has been pretty good in the past 5-6 weeks.

Couldn't agree more he has been one of my favourite plays over the season because of his work efforts and love for the game but also I have been wondering if it is time for someone new like Karacan or Merek.

But the problem with Merek like I think it was Dillon said we would have to change the way we play and Merek understands that!

[bishbosh92]

it's quite funny that 8 years after signing Harper still commands these threads. He's been like this for 7 out of the 8 seasons he's been here. The other 1 he got player of the year.

Harper has ALWAYS blown hot and cold and when he's cold he's absolutely freezingly awful. I've never been much of a Harper fan, I felt Sidwell was the stronger of the two and carried him for lots of the time. Highlighted that 2 big clubs went after Sidwell and Reading went down the season after he left and Harper was the focal point.

He's one of them playrs that is good enough for this division but if and when Reading go up has to be replaced. He's not alone in that category to be fair.

Harper has it in him to play at prem level, Sidwell wasn't good enough to carry him in our first season, no matter how you rate Sidders. Harper was one of the better performers the year we went down as well. Although that in itself doesn't say a great deal.

He probably isn't quite good enough to consistently play in our system in the prem though. It would take a change of tactics IMO. He is more than good enough to be a squad / bench player there.

I agrre harps has got the ability to play prem level he showed that last season and had a really decent season a thought.

but this year he doesnt look like the player from last year anymore.

not quite sure why tho.

[Ian Royal]

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.

[bishbosh92]

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.

Fair point there, but i liked the attackive harper.

and now kebes suspended at least fot the next few games id like to see him attack more often, as without kebe will have 1 competent winger not 2!

[loyalroyal4life]

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.

[loyalroyal4life]

Happily, Coppell won't drop Harper because some short sighted kids don't think he's very good, so there is no need to get wound up by this waste of space thread.

Why can't you people get your head around the way our central midfield is supposed to play and that Harper fits into this perfectly?

The whole purpose of our central midfield is to keep the ball moving when we have it and spread it out to the full backs and the wingers to get forward. They sit fairly deep protecting the back 4 because our full backs bomb forward so much. Occasionally one of them is supposed to get forward to support the attack by arriving late at the edge of the box unmarked.

When we don't have the ball they hassle the build up play of the other team and flood the defensive areas around our 18 yard box. We squeeze the other team so they make errors and give away the ball. If we could get hold of fit players who could pass and tackle we would be playing them, but we will be very very lucky to find anyone better at the central midfield role in our team than Harper. Certainly outside the Premier League and without paying several million pounds.

Matejovsky is an excellent player IMO, though he has shown very little to get people excited in his few cameos. He has shown flashes of brilliance with his passing, but has also shown that his tackling is even worse than Harper's (Harper at least knows not to make one if he can't time it properly) and he is sluggish to go with it. Gunnarsson would be an ideal player, if he wasn't in his mid thirties. He simply doesn't have the legs to play 90 minutes for several games. Karacan is inexperienced and Cisse is still improving from being worthless as a midfielder at the start of the season.

Cisse is currently undroppable because he is scoring and showing a lot of improvement. Harper is currently undroppable because the team is winning and he is central to the way we play. Matejovksy is in the sticky situation of not being capable of replacing Harper in the system we play, but not really being capable of playing alongside him either.

For Marek to play, we need to change our system to have 3 in central midfield. This won't happen because Coppell is a 4-4-2 man and sees 4-3-3/4-5-1 as a primarily defensive formation. I completely disagree with this. But it's not exactly a problem whilst we're keeping touch with the top 2.

Maybe with Kebe now suspended, now is the time to go 3 in midfield.....

[Focher]

ive never had a huge problem with Harper he can score a goal, has quality on the ball, and will run all day. You cannot doubt his commitment.

However, he is lightweight, disappears from games, and for some reason this season, worse than ever, he has aquired 'pointing syndrome'. He spent the whole game pointing against Coventry. i know this needs to be done from time to time, but not the whole game when he could be concentrating on doing something worthwhile himself.

[bishbosh92]

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.

Agrred there, Cisse is a strong tackleing defensive midfielder so harps should push up and attack, same goes for when Gunnarson is in the midfeild.

[Dirk Gently]

Maybe with Kebe now suspended, now is the time to go 3 in midfield.....

The majority of teams in this league are playing 5 in midfield, so we'd be more likely to get swamped that way.

[bishbosh92]

Maybe with Kebe now suspended, now is the time to go 3 in midfield.....

The majority of teams in this league are playing 5 in midfield, so we'd be more likely to get swamped that way.

Yh the last few teams that have come to Mad Stad have Played 5 in the Midfield.

So only having 3 in our Midfield would be a risk

[loyalroyal4life]

ive never had a huge problem with Harper he can score a goal, has quality on the ball, and will run all day. You cannot doubt his commitment.

However, he is lightweight, disappears from games, and for some reason this season, worse than ever, he has aquired 'pointing syndrome'. He spent the whole game pointing against Coventry. i know this needs to be done from time to time, but not the whole game when he could be concentrating on doing something worthwhile himself.

Agree with you here, he looks lost in many of the games not just a few!! I think the pointing comes with the fact that he feels it is required as his role as captain but also as he doesnt seem to do much more in games.

[bishbosh92]

ive never had a huge problem with Harper he can score a goal, has quality on the ball, and will run all day. You cannot doubt his commitment.

However, he is lightweight, disappears from games, and for some reason this season, worse than ever, he has aquired 'pointing syndrome'. He spent the whole game pointing against Coventry. i know this needs to be done from time to time, but not the whole game when he could be concentrating on doing something worthwhile himself.

Agree with you here, he looks lost in many of the games not just a few!! I think the pointing comes with the fact that he feels it is required as his role as captain but also as he doesnt seem to do much more in games.

Deffinatly agree in recent matches hes been pointing and shouting orders, but when it comes to him doing his job he seems to be lost, For example this weekend when he was put on the wing when noel was subbed, he kept drifting inside and was done by his man many times.

[loyalroyal4life]

ive never had a huge problem with Harper he can score a goal, has quality on the ball, and will run all day. You cannot doubt his commitment.

However, he is lightweight, disappears from games, and for some reason this season, worse than ever, he has aquired 'pointing syndrome'. He spent the whole game pointing against Coventry. i know this needs to be done from time to time, but not the whole game when he could be concentrating on doing something worthwhile himself.

Agree with you here, he looks lost in many of the games not just a few!! I think the pointing comes with the fact that he feels it is required as his role as captain but also as he doesnt seem to do much more in games.

Deffinatly agree in recent matches hes been pointing and shouting orders, but when it comes to him doing his job he seems to be lost, For example this weekend when he was put on the wing when noel was subbed, he kept drifting inside and was done by his man many times.

Think him being made captain has caused his performances to drop, it should be passed on to Ivar

[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.