Cisse

[Ian Royal]

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?

He's been delusional half the season.

[seahawk10]

Bikey's insertion into the starting XI helped solidify our defence. He is just a beast back there. A physical presence that we lacked previous to that. Not sure what else you would want from him. He is strong on the ball, can score from set pieces and won't back down from anyone. His passing is not that great, but should improve with a steady run in of games. One of the few bright spots of the season was his emergence as a starter post-African Nations.

[hiro]

One of the few bright spots of the season was Bikey's emergence as a starter post-African Nations.

Indeed!

[brendywendy]

he and marek were the only bright spots
and should be the spine of our team for next season

[Old Biscuitman]

he and marek were the only bright spots
and should be the spine of our team for next season

I would go along with that - Marek because he's the most technically skilled player we have, Bikey because he's our most physical presence (particularly important in the Championship).

[rhroyal]

Bikey's insertion into the starting XI helped solidify our defence. He is just a beast back there. A physical presence that we lacked previous to that. Not sure what else you would want from him. He is strong on the ball, can score from set pieces and won't back down from anyone. His passing is not that great, but should improve with a steady run in of games. One of the few bright spots of the season was his emergence as a starter post-African Nations.

We also need to get rid of that streak that made him headbutt that guy in Sweden on our pre-season tour and push over that Ghanaian stretcher bearer. In all fairness he's been controlled enough since that incident, maybe missing the biggest game of his life because of stupidity was a wake up call.

[1960]

My brother who lives in Portugal actually supports Boavista. When he found that we were signing Cisse he was very complimentary about him. A good strong player, one of the best in the side. Of course the step up from the Portuguese league to the Premier League was a big one, but this was not helped by being in and out of a struggling team and then being chopped and changed in position.

I think the CCC should be pretty much on a par with the Portuguese league and, now that he has been here a season and if he is given a consistent run, I am sure that he could become a successful fixture.

[rhroyal]

I think the Portuguese league is considerably better than the Championship so if he can cut it over there he'll be great in the Championship. In my view most teams in Portugal are of similar ability to the Championship but then you have sides like Porto, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon who play Champions League football and have players like Lucho Gonzalez and Quaresma. If I remember properly Boavista used to be in that company too, so if Cisse impressed there then I imagine he'll dominate the Championship, especially now he's had a season in England to adjust.

[seahawk10]

I liked what I saw of Cisse as a centre back, not so much in midfield. Would it make sense to pair Cisse and Bikey? Or are they too similar in their style of play? I don't remember seeing that pairing at centre back in any games this season.

[rg6royal]

I liked what I saw of Cisse as a centre back, not so much in midfield. Would it make sense to pair Cisse and Bikey? Or are they too similar in their style of play? I don't remember seeing that pairing at centre back in any games this season.

Will be interesting to see whether Coppell gives them two a go together at the back...Judging from what i have seen from them seperately, they should be quite solid together...

[g]

Cisse is the next Vieira ROFLeading

[rg6royal]

Cisse is the next Vieira ROFLeading

Looks a tad like him.......

[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.

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

He's been delusional half the season.

Laughable!!!!!! Correctly called relegation in, oh ... about February, the nonsense of the foreign transfer policy AND the impOSTER that was our welsh right winger. And I'M delusional!? Oh that I were chap, oh that I were.

Oh, and I didn't say that Bikey was dross, (a la Fae, Cisse and Kebe), merely implied that £1M for a head-butting, one-paced tank was never going to help our cause in the Premiership, and as such was a total waste of money compared with the squad as it was when he joined. Apologies for any confusion on that one!!

How about this one then for delusional, (and I so hope I'm wrong) .... we will not make the play-offs next season with the squad we have now. (and no, before you ask, i don;t think we will go up automatically either!)

(As most of my other football predictions have been pants, this of course means we will walk next season with 110 points and 110 goals, with Oster re-signing and top scoring with 35 goals in a season )

[Ian Royal]

I liked what I saw of Cisse as a centre back, not so much in midfield. Would it make sense to pair Cisse and Bikey? Or are they too similar in their style of play? I don't remember seeing that pairing at centre back in any games this season.

Think thats an excellent suggestion

[Pool and Darts]

I liked what I saw of Cisse as a centre back, not so much in midfield. Would it make sense to pair Cisse and Bikey? Or are they too similar in their style of play? I don't remember seeing that pairing at centre back in any games this season.

Think thats an excellent suggestion

'greed.

Worth a go at CB I reckon. With Ingi and Doobs as backup.

[Ian Royal]

We look strong at Centreback IMO which stands us in very good stead.

Strong at right back, 'keeper, Strong up front and strong with our primary central midfield pairing. But other than that we don't look great, depending on fitness of Convey and Little.

[Royalee]

Our primary central midfield pairing is strong? If that was the case then why did teams run through us so many times last season? Matejovsky aside, our midfield is absolutely crap, which is why anyone deluding themselves we're going up with the current squad needs to take a step back and look at the full picture.

[londinium]

Our primary central midfield pairing is strong? If that was the case then why did teams run through us so many times last season? Matejovsky aside, our midfield is absolutely crap, which is why anyone deluding themselves we're going up with the current squad needs to take a step back and look at the full picture.

You forget that we are dropping down a division and the teams in the championship do not possess the ability to run through us as often as top flight teams. I dont remember them doing so last time we was in the championship..did they?

[Royalee]

Our primary central midfield pairing is strong? If that was the case then why did teams run through us so many times last season? Matejovsky aside, our midfield is absolutely crap, which is why anyone deluding themselves we're going up with the current squad needs to take a step back and look at the full picture.

You forget that we are dropping down a division and the teams in the championship do not possess the ability to run through us as often as top flight teams. I dont remember them doing so last time we was in the championship..did they?

Perhaps that was because we had Sidwell in our midfield, who was actually capable of making a tackle, along with Convey and Little who actually have positional sense and don't chase around like headless chickens (Hunt).

I'd forgotten Championship midfielders can't dribble, because that really is all you need to be able to do to take it past Harper - dribble straight at him and he'll back off.

[londinium]

Our primary central midfield pairing is strong? If that was the case then why did teams run through us so many times last season? Matejovsky aside, our midfield is absolutely crap, which is why anyone deluding themselves we're going up with the current squad needs to take a step back and look at the full picture.

You forget that we are dropping down a division and the teams in the championship do not possess the ability to run through us as often as top flight teams. I dont remember them doing so last time we was in the championship..did they?

Perhaps that was because we had Sidwell in our midfield, who was actually capable of making a tackle, along with Convey and Little who actually have positional sense and don't chase around like headless chickens (Hunt).

I'd forgotten Championship midfielders can't dribble, because that really is all you need to be able to do to take it past Harper - dribble straight at him and he'll back off.

Have Convey and Little left then??? or will we still have them next season??
You praise Marek as being the only decent central midfielder we have, so if you swap him like for like with sidders then we are in the same boat as we were last time we were in the champ...we did okish then did we not.

By the way more goals were created by Hunt crosses from coming of the bench in our champ winning season than were scored from Convey crossses (who started the majority of games) FACT.

You dont become bad players overnight and one bad season can easily be turned round if you keep the nucleus of the squad. Didnt Everton really struggle a few years back and finish 4th bottom only to finish 4th the next season?