Jem. Good championship player, crap prem player?

[Archie's penalty]

Discuss. Basically I think Jem Karacan has been poor this season and has shown that he doesn't quite have it takes to play at the top level.

What do others think? Can he get better or is he a distinctly limited player?

[Wimb]

Still young but I'm concerned he's not taken significant strides forward in the past 18 months.

Great player to hustle and bustle about but technically he's quite limited.

Could he improve? Of course but he's not shown much to suggest he'll be anything more than a Phil Parkinson and I mean that in the nicest possible way, a fan favourite but not someone who cuts it at the top level.

You also wonder about his temperament off the field. He's certainly one who enjoys the 'footballer's' lifestyle judging by his twitter feed.

[Archie's penalty]

You also wonder about his temperament off the field. He's certainly one who enjoys the 'footballer's' lifestyle judging by his twitter feed.

He seems a bit of a baby really, all this silly 'flames' stuff.

[jd82]

Still young but I'm concerned he's not taken significant strides forward in the past 18 months.

Great player to hustle and bustle about but technically he's quite limited.

Could he improve? Of course but he's not shown much to suggest he'll be anything more than a Phil Parkinson and I mean that in the nicest possible way, a fan favourite but not someone who cuts it at the top level.

You also wonder about his temperament off the field. He's certainly one who enjoys the 'footballer's' lifestyle judging by his twitter feed.

If Woooldy (sic), flames and Nandos is the 'footballers lifestyle' you can keep it.

[Ian Royal]

Chases the ball too much getting sucked out of position. He's like a less aware Harper with far less passing ability, but he can tackle a bit better.

In fairness, he's come back from a nasty injury at the end of last season and had another injury this one. And he's been playing in a team that doesn't really work. I don't think he was particularly good, but he did show what he's capable of in the first 50 - 60 minutes against Utd. He's just rarely managed that.

It's all well and good playing the hassling game in the championship when even limited players can retain the ball not too badly and the opposition will gift it back to you regularly. But if you try it in the PL, you find yourself spending too much of the game chasing and you can't keep it up for 90 minutes, no matter how fit you are.

[USA_Loyal_Royal]

he does get caught out of position quite often, i dont believe he has been the same since his injury though. he could probably have been a decent player in the prem if he hadn't gotten that injury last season.

[Maguire]

Crap Championship player

[sandman]

I don't like Jem! In fact I hate him and all the other players. Except when we win and then I'll think they're all great.

Yours,

F. Fickle

[Archie's penalty]

I don't like Jem! In fact I hate him and all the other players. Except when we win and then I'll think they're all great.

Yours,

F. Fickle

Thanks for the sarcasm Sandman. I actually like him a lot and always have, just worried about his technical ability.

[Z175]

I think hes been improving massively over the past 2 years. Hes had a couple of bad games, not helped by losing his place to Akpan and I think hes lacked confidence lately.

If anything I think hes better suited to the premiership - look at the surge in form we experienced with his return from injury.

[winchester_royal]

I think hes been improving massively over the past 2 years.

Disagree completely, unfortunately like a few of our players who came through at the same time (eg Church and HRK) he's not kicked on from being a very promising 21 year old. Limited technical ability and no awareness, I can't see a future for him at this level.

On a slightly related note, James Henry is starting to put in some excellent performances for Millwall. Another one that got away?

[melonhead]

good player at what he does. is young, and can still improve.
doesnt do enough of the constructive stuff, and cant be included in the team purely for the destructive side right now, imo

[Ian Royal]

I think hes been improving massively over the past 2 years.

Disagree completely, unfortunately like a few of our players who came through at the same time (eg Church and HRK) he's not kicked on from being a very promising 21 year old. Limited technical ability and no awareness, I can't see a future for him at this level.

On a slightly related note, James Henry is starting to put in some excellent performances for Millwall. Another one that got away?

Yeah, but Henry or Kebe? It's a bit of a no brainer really isn't it. There does seem to be a technique and mental side flaw in the players from that generation we've kept though. Pearce excluded.

[Z175]

I think hes been improving massively over the past 2 years.

Disagree completely, unfortunately like a few of our players who came through at the same time (eg Church and HRK) he's not kicked on from being a very promising 21 year old. Limited technical ability and no awareness, I can't see a future for him at this level.

On a slightly related note, James Henry is starting to put in some excellent performances for Millwall. Another one that got away?

Well personally I thought he was awful at 21 years old. Couldn't pass, couldn't tackle, couldn't shoot. How people though he was promising was beyond me.

However I was wrong, hes really matured. Defensively he gives us so much cover on the edge of the box, his fitness means that for the last 10 minutes we generally play like we have 12 men as hes all over the pitch and hes devleoped his passing ability so that he now invariably makes the right pass, whether simply 5 yards square or 25 yards cross field to the other flank. Hes also brilliant on the counter attack, able to drive at the oppositions defense at will when hes on his game. So for me, yeah hes improved a lot on the young lad who seemed to just kick it out everytime he got possession!

In fact, one of the main reasons for our shocker on Saturday was his abjectly poor performance. A few poor games doesn't change the fact that hes become a very good player.

[melonhead]

James Henry is starting to put in some excellent performances for Millwall. Another one that got away?

yeah
like cox, we should have kept hold of him for years, while not playing him as we waited for him to turn into a decent championship player

[andrew1957]

The tendency on here is for a player to be either "great" or "rubbish".

Karacan offers a lot, but has yet to completely prove himself at the top level. He is a midfield dynamo. He gets into people’s faces and breaks up play, but does not yet have a great pass in him. He is also relatively small and this is a disadvantage when you are playing against the giants of Stoke or teams like that. There seems an increasing tendency for PL players to be around 6 feet or more - with a few exceptions for in the box type strikers etc. He will also not score many goals each year and we could do with a lot more goals coming from central midfield.

So truthfully the jury is out at the moment. He might yet step up, but if we go down he will be a very good player in the Championship for us.

[winchester_royal]

James Henry is starting to put in some excellent performances for Millwall. Another one that got away?

yeah
like cox, we should have kept hold of him for years, while not playing him as we waited for him to turn into a decent championship player

He'd have easily played c.20 games last year given Kebe's injury record. We chose to invest our time in Antonio and HRK instead.

[melonhead]

but the point is that we'd have had to have kept a player here against his will for four fukkin years for that. and in that time he wouldnt have grown as much as he has at millwall so probably wouldnt be as good anyway.

[andrew1957]

HRK is much better than James Henry which is why he is still here and Henry is not.

[Archie's penalty]

if we go down he will be a very good player in the Championship for us.

I agree with this ^^^^