James Harper

[rabidbee]

It baffles me how many football fans don't get the whole idea of a team being made up of different types of players and personalities and it's that balance that gets the most out of the 11 players on the pitch.

To be fair, there are enough managers who think like that.

[rabidbee]

The Morgan is a murderer chant was stupid and i for one certainly didn't join in. Some fans are just plain idiots!

I'm sure he relished having the last laugh.

[Focher]

Also, unlike Doyle, Kitson, Hunt, and many of our other superstars, he put together a whole season of premiership-quality performances for us.

Doyle was poor most of the relegation season. Hunt was poor for half of each season. Kitson barely played the first season and was poor for the second half of the relegation season.

Harper was not as good as either Kitson or Hunt when they were playing well in our relegation season, but was good all the way through, like Hahnemann. He was also good the previous season.

So it would be reasonable to say that the two players we had who performed the best over the whole of our Premier League adventure (so discounting Sidwell) were Harper and Hahnemann.

Of course everyone has a different opinion, personally i thought on the whole Harper was one of our weak links in the premier league, of course he had some good games, but most of the time i thought he disappeared far too many times, ran around a lot pointlessly, and pointed a lot.

[The whole year inn]

I'm with Focher here

Sidwell is a class player - he carried Harper during his tenure


Once Sidwell leaves.......

[Ian Royal]

I'm with Focher here

Sidwell is a class player - he carried Harper during his tenure


Once Sidwell leaves.......

Harper didn't have a decent partner and was left to carry the likes of Cisse, a man with the passing skill of a paraplegic and virtually no footballing brain... in the Premier League.

Sidwell was definitely more effective, but they were a partnership. It's no real surprise that Sidwell hasn't forced himself into a side since leaving us. Harper allowed him to play at his best.

[Focher]

I'm with Focher here

Sidwell is a class player - he carried Harper during his tenure


Once Sidwell leaves.......

Harper didn't have a decent partner and was left to carry the likes of Cisse, a man with the passing skill of a paraplegic and virtually no footballing brain... in the Premier League.

Sidwell was definitely more effective, but they were a partnership. It's no real surprise that Sidwell hasn't forced himself into a side since leaving us. Harper allowed him to play at his best.

Good payers look good whoever they play with, its no coincidence Harper looked better with Sidwell, because Sidwell was that good for us.

Harper= Average.

[Ian Royal]

well you're obviously entitled to your opinion, which I disagree with.

[zummerset]

Harper was deeply uninspiring in his last season - a good theory about needing partners to work off. Sadly like Marek a luxury we can no longer afford

[Focher]

well you're obviously entitled to your opinion, which I disagree with.

what an incredibly gracious debate.

Personlly i think you're full of shit

[SLAMMED]

[Millsy]

I'm with Focher here

Sidwell is a class player - he carried Harper during his tenure


Once Sidwell leaves.......

Harper didn't have a decent partner and was left to carry the likes of Cisse, a man with the passing skill of a paraplegic and virtually no footballing brain... in the Premier League.

Sidwell was definitely more effective, but they were a partnership. It's no real surprise that Sidwell hasn't forced himself into a side since leaving us. Harper allowed him to play at his best.

Good payers look good whoever they play with, its no coincidence Harper looked better with Sidwell, because Sidwell was that good for us.

Harper= Average.

Couldn't agree more.

Harper, whilst a good player, could only play well in a well-playing team.

Whenever the chips were down he'd produce absolutely nothing. Apart from sideways and backwards passes.

[Rex]

The Morgan is a murderer chant was stupid and i for one certainly didn't join in. Some fans are just plain idiots!

I'm sure he relished having the last laugh.

That made me wince!!

[Ian Royal]

well you're obviously entitled to your opinion, which I disagree with.

what an incredibly gracious debate.

Personlly i think you're full of shit

Well if you want to be like that, you cock munching oxf*rd , that's fine with me, I just left it at that because I couldn't be arsed to argue points I've made a thousand times and rarely seen countered in any meaningful way.

Every team needs work horses, as other posters have more eloquently posted than me, a good team is about a mix of players. Harper is not a player who does anything eyecatching, but is the one who facilitates play and allows everyone else to play well. He can only work with what he has next to him though.

Does Harper play badly when everyone else does because they carry him? Or does everyone else play badly when Harper does because he's the engine room?

By keeping the ball moving and retaining possession he allows the more attacking players to do damage. He passes to them in areas where they have space and can get momentum and time on the ball. He's reliant on others showing good movement and using what he gives them.

His defensive game allows the defence and those better at tackling time by slowing down attacks and hassling the opposition into making mistakes and loose passes.

He also provides quality pace and intelligence to break forward on rare occasions finding space and eluding defenders or midfielders who aren't expecting him.

It's easy to appreciate Sidwell, his game was all about tackles, breaking forward and shooting. Harper gave Sidwell the freedom to excel. Put Sidwell next to Cisse and he'd have struggled and we'd not have done a great deal better if any.

It's easy to judge Harper as shit because we went downhill when Sidwell left. But we never saw Harper with a quality experienced partner that pulled their weight other than Sidwell.

Harper was easily one of our better players when we went down and spent large periods of the season carrying a midfield without a Premier League quality partner or right winger with his workrat. Scored winning goals vs Wigan & M'boro, started us off against Derby and made Liverpool secure. He started numerous breaks from defensive positions.

[The whole year inn]

well you're obviously entitled to your opinion, which I disagree with.

So Sidwell leaves and all of a sudden Harper looks average

[Focher]

well you're obviously entitled to your opinion, which I disagree with.

what an incredibly gracious debate.

Personlly i think you're full of shit

Well if you want to be like that, you cock munching oxf*rd-wit , that's fine with me, I just left it at that because I couldn't be arsed to argue points I've made a thousand times and rarely seen countered in any meaningful way.

Every team needs work horses, as other posters have more eloquently posted than me, a good team is about a mix of players. Harper is not a player who does anything eyecatching, but is the one who facilitates play and allows everyone else to play well. He can only work with what he has next to him though.

Does Harper play badly when everyone else does because they carry him? Or does everyone else play badly when Harper does because he's the engine room?

By keeping the ball moving and retaining possession he allows the more attacking players to do damage. He passes to them in areas where they have space and can get momentum and time on the ball. He's reliant on others showing good movement and using what he gives them.

His defensive game allows the defence and those better at tackling time by slowing down attacks and hassling the opposition into making mistakes and loose passes.

He also provides quality pace and intelligence to break forward on rare occasions finding space and eluding defenders or midfielders who aren't expecting him.

It's easy to appreciate Sidwell, his game was all about tackles, breaking forward and shooting. Harper gave Sidwell the freedom to excel. Put Sidwell next to Cisse and he'd have struggled and we'd not have done a great deal better if any.

It's easy to judge Harper as shit because we went downhill when Sidwell left. But we never saw Harper with a quality experienced partner that pulled their weight other than Sidwell.

Harper was easily one of our better players when we went down and spent large periods of the season carrying a midfield without a Premier League quality partner or right winger with his workrat. Scored winning goals vs Wigan & M'boro, started us off against Derby and made Liverpool secure. He started numerous breaks from defensive positions.

i will hand it to you Ian you put forward a good argument.

Fair play.

[Ian Royal]

well you're obviously entitled to your opinion, which I disagree with.

So Sidwell leaves and all of a sudden Harper looks average

Not in my opinion. And a player like Harper can't do much, with no decent options to pass to.

[Millsy]

Tosh.

If an "engine room" stops functioning for months on end I'd rather have no "engine room" thank you very much.

[Focher]

i will not admit defeat though i still think he's nothing more than average

[Ian Royal]

Tosh.

If an "engine room" stops functioning for months on end I'd rather have no "engine room" thank you very much.

It's nice to see you aren't actually saying very much to try and get your point across, just sticking to just repeating your entrenched view. Well done.

I have no illusions about being able to persuade you of something you have no interest in even considering.

[brendywendy]

well you're obviously entitled to your opinion, which I disagree with.

So Sidwell leaves and all of a sudden Harper looks average

selective memory- sidwell looked shit until this season since he left harps
incluiding getting dragged off at half time cos khaLOLOLiffa cisse had him in his pocket.

it was as a finely tuned perfect pairing that ticked away like an aston martin engine. FACT