Harper the most wonderful assist man in the world ever!

[brendywendy]

The obvious solution is to play a 5 and have Marek in the side with no defensive role whatsoever! Might certainly be a tactic to use away from home where HArper and Cisse could do their stuff in the middle and have Marek just behind Doyle or Lita or Noel Hunt?

It is a difficult one, I agree that he does give it away that bit too much, i agree he's not the worlds best tackler but he's still a very good footballer. He's got the quality and more importantly the vision and confidence to look and play the ball forwards at every opportunity. Certainly at the minute the mdifield 4 for me isn't working and Marek must come into consideration for a run in the first team soon.

hes clearly a great player-in twenty mins he opened them up a couple of times
and ive never had that much problem with his tackling, just a case of coaching him to stop dangling that leg out!
id love to see a 5 in the middle though,away from home, or Vs teams that play that formation themselves
(and think thats how we aim to play alot more WHEN we go up) its just that alot of the teams down here arent good enough to merit us changing to a more defensive lineup

[Ian Royal]

Every game I've seen this season (TV or live) Harper has made at least an acceptable, if not extremely positive contribution to the games. I refuse to believe that this only happens when I watch. Especially seeing as the same people who say he is shit, say it when I have clearly seen him contribute and play well.

For the record we're talking about 8+ games. And some of them have been awful.

Clearly people just don't like the role he is playing. If so take it up with Coppell for wanting him to play that way in our system.

[Ian Royal]

The obvious solution is to play a 5 and have Marek in the side with no defensive role whatsoever! Might certainly be a tactic to use away from home where HArper and Cisse could do their stuff in the middle and have Marek just behind Doyle or Lita or Noel Hunt?

It is a difficult one, I agree that he does give it away that bit too much, i agree he's not the worlds best tackler but he's still a very good footballer. He's got the quality and more importantly the vision and confidence to look and play the ball forwards at every opportunity. Certainly at the minute the mdifield 4 for me isn't working and Marek must come into consideration for a run in the first team soon.

I've been wanting to see Marek in a 5, or at least central 3 all season. It's the only way he can play for us IMO. No ability to time a tackle and not very athletic = can't play in a Reading central midfield of 2 players.

[JC]

Was listening to Mick Gooding on the way home after the game and he was making exactly the same points about Harper. He described it as always taking the low risk option with a pass backwards or sideways, but rarely looking for the forward pass to set up an attack.

[Rex]

Was listening to Mick Gooding on the way home after the game and he was making exactly the same points about Harper. He described it as always taking the low risk option with a pass backwards or sideways, but rarely looking for the forward pass to set up an attack.

And Mick Gooding stated Harper should use all his tricks in his locker. The discussion was about Harps being more assertive.

[West Stand Man]

Was listening to Mick Gooding on the way home after the game and he was making exactly the same points about Harper. He described it as always taking the low risk option with a pass backwards or sideways, but rarely looking for the forward pass to set up an attack.

And Mick Gooding stated Harper should use all his tricks in his locker. The discussion was about Harps being more assertive.

Absolutely. What Gooding actually said was that he was disappointed that a player who clearly has the talent to unlick defences is taking the low risk option more often than he used to. His desire was to see Harper playing to his full repertoire and giving the team what he is capable of. He did not imply that Harper was a liability or that he was not good enough for this role.

So far as MM is concerned, I cannot see him having a long run in the team without a switch to a 5 man midfield. He needs to be allowed to run free and pick his pass knowing that if he mucks up there is a strong back up squad to cover for him. He is a liability in a 4 man midfield, as witnessed by the number of times that he lost the ball on Saturday. Sure he picked out a couple of defence splitting passes, but that was balanced by the unnecessary pressure created by his weakness in defending his own ball when pressurised.

[boy1985]

I wouldn't mind seeing us play MM behind Doyle as a 2nd striker and have the wingers push on a bit with Cisse and Harper doing what they have been doing

[SteveRoyal]

You'll miss him when he leaves.
Our midfield will leave gaps all over the place, as will the defence.
Oh, and the wingers wouldn't get the ball.

[Rex]

Now if Mick Gooding see's this potential and it is displayed when training then the question with Harps is does he lack the confidence to be assertive enough in the field of play when it counts. Admittedly he has shown this on occasion recently. He has shown he can take players on (Liverpool last season, and have a mare when a goal is conceded (Newcastle away)). Safe build up in midfield and holding play is great if Shunt / Kebe go on their positive mazy runs but so often recently these are breaking down far too early. He seems to lack the confidence to go in and tackle players when that is sometimes an easier option.

[brendywendy]

Now if Mick Gooding see's this potential and it is displayed when training then the question with Harps is does he lack the confidence to be assertive enough in the field of play when it counts. Admittedly he has shown this on occasion recently. He has shown he can take players on (Liverpool last season, and have a mare when a goal is conceded (Newcastle away)). Safe build up in midfield and holding play is great if Shunt / Kebe go on their positive mazy runs but so often recently these are breaking down far too early. He seems to lack the confidence to go in and tackle players when that is sometimes an easier option.

probably just a lack of confidence in the rest of the team compared to 05/06 where he KNEW he could rely on all of his team mates-so felt less soley responsible for keeping us solid etc, especially with the captaincy etc

[Rex]

Ideal - i think you just did.

[londinium]

Funny how nobody lambasts Kalifa "The Salmon" Cissé for all his shortcomings, yet the same people take advantage of every opportunity to point out every fault with James Harper.
Basicly all Cissé does is jump up and flap around, he's virtually useless in all other aspects of the game. Yet James Harper is the one singled out.

I can understand how people expect more from Harper than from Cissé, after all Harper is a million times the footballer Cissé is, in fact you'd struggle to call Cissé a footballer, but this criticism has really gone too far.

I'd like to see Cissé dropped in favor of Karacan, and Matejovsky sold to some european mediocrity where he is better suited to the style of play. After all he can't pass to anyone but the opposition, and he only has the stamina to play 20~25 minutes at most, and can't tackle to save his life. There has never been a player where the term "flatters to deceive" has been more appropriate. All hype and no end product.

I don't think I have agreed with a word you have ever said before today... but I have to say 'well said that man'.

[KC Royal]

I may be covering old ground here but...

I cannot think of a particular moment or game this season where he has made a positive contribution. I honestly can't.

Watford - outstanding performance, best for over a year. Excellent passing, good tackling and he also set up Lita's goal.

Prob in the minority on that though..

[KC Royal]

I'm a real Harper fan but I can totally understand why people get frustrated with the way he plays. As Gooding said on the radio after Saturdays game Harper has so much ability on the ball but we never really see that come out.

For me that's a real shame as he can light up a game at times and he really is good on the ball. Whether or not it's just the system we play and the instructions he gets from Coppell to keep the game simple and get the ball wide whenever possible and not to take too many risks or if it's just his natural game to try and keep the ball instead of take a risky pass on (a bit of his Arsenal pass the opposition to death upbringing coming out perhaps?) I do think we need to unshackle him a bit.

It comes back to the old question of having the right player alongside him really. We've not had that since Sidwell but I do think Harper gets a bad press from Reading fans but it's probably because they can all see he has the ability to do so much more.

I'm a Harper fan too but i readily admit he's been disappointing this season. As i've said before i do feel that being captain has actually added pressure to his game so that could be a reason. Though i do tend to be more impressed when i see him in the flesh, and that hasn't happened yet this season.

I think his best midfield partner in the current squad is Gunnarsson. It allows him to get forward and his best form of last season was alongside Gunnar. Not sure how much they've played together this season, but certainly in the Wolves game the situation dictated that Harper was going to sit deep and protect the lead.

[Focher]

I may be covering old ground here but...

I cannot think of a particular moment or game this season where he has made a positive contribution. I honestly can't.

Watford - outstanding performance, best for over a year. Excellent passing, good tackling and he also set up Lita's goal.

Prob in the minority on that though..

the pass for Lita's goal took a massive deflection so im not having that

[Scarface]

I get fed up with comments like "he's been an integral cog in the team for years" and "his work goes unoticed". The fact is this season he's been very ineffective in home games and away from home, apart from tossing up you wouldn't even know he was on the field.

Time has come for Harper to get dropped and Coppell to make some big positive decisions. I fear we're blowing a big chance to overtake Wolves and pull away from Birmingham, while Coppell again picks the same team waiting for it to click into form again. Tabb, Marek, Boris and The Turk all deserve a chance now.

[Barry the bird boggler]

I look at it simply that some people wouldn't know a good player if they were hit over the head with one.

[beno]

I thought he was called 'the Windmill'

[The whole year inn]

Oh, and the wingers wouldn't get the ball.

What difference will that make?

[rg6royal]

The person who make this thread is an idiot.