New central midfielder ?

[Woodcote Royal]

That wasn't quite what I had in mind, but never mind.

[Behindu]

- we aren't a midfielder down compared to the squad that served us so admirably last season, one in and one out
- we'll miss Sidwell, like we'd miss any talented, hard working, fit player
- Sidwell is not irreplaceable
- We've openly stated we're in the market for another midfielder - if we get the right one then we've progressed from last season


It's hard to see what the 'debate' is about now, other than reinforcing entrenched positions.

[brendywendy]

Bryn was the better player last season, Sid was a passenger in some games. We always looked brighter, sharper and more energetic when the Gunner was fired up. I always look forward to watching him play. he anticipates, he marshalls and he moves well. Sid seemed content on occasions to lumber up and down the pitch and put in the odd tackle now and then. Harps was working overtime when paired with Sid. Harps has shown his true potential, Sid looks a spent force. Harps and the Gunn, best pairing in midfield.

Still I'd warm a bench for a couple of seasons for that sort of money, who can blame him. Good luck and goodbye, for every Sid supporter, he's gone - get over it.

Its not a case of being a fan, its a case of looking at our squad and going

1) We're a midfielder down

2) Oh, and its a good midfielder.

Coppell has said he needs to get a player in, in that position

Its jaw-droppingly, frighteningly obvious.

And yet, because of the way he left, people think we can do alright without him.

Makes no sense.

but coppell has repeatedly said we will replace him, with a player of better quality than cisse
since we already brought cisse in, have harps and bryn and possibly oyster
plus the extra player we were promised i dont think we have anything to worry about, im not sure any one here has said differently

Actually, you did.

Claiming that we had enough cover with the purchase of Cisse.

By the time I got bored of it, I said that proof that my argument was closer to Coppells thoughts would be the signing of another central midfielder.

if that is what i said, what i meant was we are not depleted numerically with the purchase of cisse, having the same number of midfield players as last year

at no point has anyone from reading FC said we were not replecing sidwell with another midfield player

[papereyes]

Nope, not quite.

You said that the squad wasn't weaker. And, thankfully, a lot of people pointed out the inherent fallacy of your point.

[andrew1957]

This debate is going round in circles.

Facts
1/Sidwell has gone - we have replaced him with Cisse so we have the same number of central midfield players that we did last year.
2/ Sidwell was not that great in a lot of matches last year
3/Gunnarson has always done well when he has played in central midfield BUT he is a lot older, a little more injury prone and unlikely to play 38 games next year
4/We do not know how good Cisse is but looked ok in Korea and may be much better than Sidwell for all we know
5/Steve Coppell has said that if we can find another central midfielder before 31st Aug we will buy him.
6/We are very unlikely to play the same two players for 38 games next year - we will use several players in central midfield - this may be a good thing!
7/Only around 10 league goals came from central midfield last year - I would hope for a better return this year - Sidwell's shooting was poor.

[SpaceCruiser]

1/Sidwell has gone - we have replaced him with Cisse

I thought Cisse wasn't a direct replacement for Sidwell?

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

This debate is going round in circles.

Facts
1/Sidwell has gone - we have replaced him with Cisse so we have the same number of central midfield players that we did last year.
2/ Sidwell was not that great in a lot of matches last year
3/Gunnarson has always done well when he has played in central midfield BUT he is a lot older, a little more injury prone and unlikely to play 38 games next year
4/We do not know how good Cisse is but looked ok in Korea and may be much better than Sidwell for all we know
5/Steve Coppell has said that if we can find another central midfielder before 31st Aug we will buy him.
6/We are very unlikely to play the same two players for 38 games next year - we will use several players in central midfield - this may be a good thing!
7/Only around 10 league goals came from central midfield last year - I would hope for a better return this year - Sidwell's shooting was poor.

So we'd have done better without him?? Remind where did we finish again?

[brendywendy]

Nope, not quite.

You said that the squad wasn't weaker. ??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!And, thankfully, a lot of people pointed out the inherent fallacy of your point.

either you need reading lessons, or you are just fishing, nice try.

having made me doubt my self i have just trawled through the entire thread, and so far i have said this:

1:-that is just rubbish

there have been many occasions when sidders wasnt present due to injury/fatigue and the team more than limped on without him
not sure what the difference is to now.

2:- im not sure there is any requirement, stated or otherwise for any posts to be well thought out

in fact if you trawl through the forum you will find th eopposite is more likely to be true

and actually "thats just rubbish" is a perfectly well thought out reply to th epoint that was made about it being really obvious whenever sids was out of the team that he was missing IMHO that is just rubbish.

oh, and oxf*rd off newbie

3:- but coppell has repeatedly said we will replace him, with a player of better quality than cisse
since we already brought cisse in, have harps and bryn and possibly oyster
plus the extra player we were promised i dont think we have anything to worry about, im not sure any one here has said differently
if that is what i said, what i meant was we are not depleted numerically with the purchase of cisse, having the same number of midfield players as last year

at no point has anyone from reading FC said we were not replacing sidwell with another midfield player


none of this bears any relationship to what you have said that i said, no where on this thread have i said "the squad wasnt weaker."
but i guess its understandable, i myself quoted the wrong post in one of mine, its easy to become confused within such a circuitous thread.

next time use the quote function when attempting to quote people, it should cut these mistakes out completely

[brendywendy]

This debate is going round in circles.

Facts
1/Sidwell has gone - we have replaced him with Cisse so we have the same number of central midfield players that we did last year.
2/ Sidwell was not that great in a lot of matches last year
3/Gunnarson has always done well when he has played in central midfield BUT he is a lot older, a little more injury prone and unlikely to play 38 games next year
4/We do not know how good Cisse is but looked ok in Korea and may be much better than Sidwell for all we know
5/Steve Coppell has said that if we can find another central midfielder before 31st Aug we will buy him.
6/We are very unlikely to play the same two players for 38 games next year - we will use several players in central midfield - this may be a good thing!
7/Only around 10 league goals came from central midfield last year - I would hope for a better return this year - Sidwell's shooting was poor.

So we'd have done better without him?? Remind where did we finish again?

the facts remain

statistically the worst shot in the premiere league
statistically gave away the most freekicks in the premiere league, so the worst tackler?? (though with few bookings)
and from the evidence of my own eyes, his passing wasnt great either
i can count perhaps 3 successful defence splitting passes from memory,
so i reckon that wasnt too great either, gave it away a hell of a lot, though better than many of the other players,

apparently his strengths lay in more unquantifiable areas such as "engine" and "drive"

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

This debate is going round in circles.

Facts
1/Sidwell has gone - we have replaced him with Cisse so we have the same number of central midfield players that we did last year.
2/ Sidwell was not that great in a lot of matches last year
3/Gunnarson has always done well when he has played in central midfield BUT he is a lot older, a little more injury prone and unlikely to play 38 games next year
4/We do not know how good Cisse is but looked ok in Korea and may be much better than Sidwell for all we know
5/Steve Coppell has said that if we can find another central midfielder before 31st Aug we will buy him.
6/We are very unlikely to play the same two players for 38 games next year - we will use several players in central midfield - this may be a good thing!
7/Only around 10 league goals came from central midfield last year - I would hope for a better return this year - Sidwell's shooting was poor.

So we'd have done better without him?? Remind where did we finish again?

the facts remain

statistically the worst shot in the premiere league
statistically gave away the most freekicks in the premiere league, so the worst tackler?? (though with few bookings)
and from the evidence of my own eyes, his passing wasnt great either
i can count perhaps 3 successful defence splitting passes from memory,
so i reckon that wasnt too great either, gave it away a hell of a lot, though better than many of the other players,

apparently his strengths lay in more unquantifiable areas such as "engine" and "drive"

If he was that bad why did Coppell keep playing him??

[brendywendy]

This debate is going round in circles.

Facts
1/Sidwell has gone - we have replaced him with Cisse so we have the same number of central midfield players that we did last year.
2/ Sidwell was not that great in a lot of matches last year
3/Gunnarson has always done well when he has played in central midfield BUT he is a lot older, a little more injury prone and unlikely to play 38 games next year
4/We do not know how good Cisse is but looked ok in Korea and may be much better than Sidwell for all we know
5/Steve Coppell has said that if we can find another central midfielder before 31st Aug we will buy him.
6/We are very unlikely to play the same two players for 38 games next year - we will use several players in central midfield - this may be a good thing!
7/Only around 10 league goals came from central midfield last year - I would hope for a better return this year - Sidwell's shooting was poor.

So we'd have done better without him?? Remind where did we finish again?

the facts remain

statistically the worst shot in the premiere league
statistically gave away the most freekicks in the premiere league, so the worst tackler?? (though with few bookings)
and from the evidence of my own eyes, his passing wasnt great either
i can count perhaps 3 successful defence splitting passes from memory,
so i reckon that wasnt too great either, gave it away a hell of a lot, though better than many of the other players,

apparently his strengths lay in more unquantifiable areas such as "engine" and "drive"

If he was that bad why did Coppell keep playing him??

what goes Bob bOb Bob bOb boB BOB?

these are just the same points repeated over and again, but what the hell......

i didnt say that i think he was bad, or worse than anyone else we have, clearly that aint true.

its just that statistically the above points are true,.........
(except the one about his passing, and i cant be arsed to find the stats on that.it was as stated only my opinion)

but its ok for you to think we will miss him terribly
and indeed we may.

[papereyes]

Nope, not quite.

You said that the squad wasn't weaker. ??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!And, thankfully, a lot of people pointed out the inherent fallacy of your point.

either you need reading lessons, or you are just fishing, nice try.

http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopi ... &start=100

This thread.

Keep. Up. I made no mention to the comment being in the current thread, but thought I referred back to a past thread.

If you've changed your mind, then that's OK. That would make sense.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

This debate is going round in circles.

Facts
1/Sidwell has gone - we have replaced him with Cisse so we have the same number of central midfield players that we did last year.
2/ Sidwell was not that great in a lot of matches last year
3/Gunnarson has always done well when he has played in central midfield BUT he is a lot older, a little more injury prone and unlikely to play 38 games next year
4/We do not know how good Cisse is but looked ok in Korea and may be much better than Sidwell for all we know
5/Steve Coppell has said that if we can find another central midfielder before 31st Aug we will buy him.
6/We are very unlikely to play the same two players for 38 games next year - we will use several players in central midfield - this may be a good thing!
7/Only around 10 league goals came from central midfield last year - I would hope for a better return this year - Sidwell's shooting was poor.

So we'd have done better without him?? Remind where did we finish again?

the facts remain

statistically the worst shot in the premiere league
statistically gave away the most freekicks in the premiere league, so the worst tackler?? (though with few bookings)
and from the evidence of my own eyes, his passing wasnt great either
i can count perhaps 3 successful defence splitting passes from memory,
so i reckon that wasnt too great either, gave it away a hell of a lot, though better than many of the other players,

apparently his strengths lay in more unquantifiable areas such as "engine" and "drive"

If he was that bad why did Coppell keep playing him??

what goes Bob bOb Bob bOb boB BOB?

these are just the same points repeated over and again, but what the hell......

i didnt say that i think he was bad, or worse than anyone else we have, clearly that aint true.

its just that statistically the above points are true,.........
(except the one about his passing, and i cant be arsed to find the stats on that.it was as stated only my opinion)

but its ok for you to think we will miss him terribly
and indeed we may.

I've only ever see people say that we'll miss him if he isn't replaced, which is exactly what Coppell's saying.

[Baines]

A player's contribution can rarely be reduced to the kind of stats you've quoted above.

Sidwell brought a lot to the team that Bryn can't bring to the team for 90 minutes a match over the course of the season. Sidwell was also part of a settled and successful side - and whoever we bring in can't replicate that from the word go.

It would be good for Coppell to bring someone else in, but if the right person won't come for the right money then we are not in such bad shape that we can't cope with what we've got. And whoever is brought in will not "replace" Sidwell as I expect any new player will alter slightly the dynamic of the team.

[papereyes]

A player's contribution can rarely be reduced to the kind of stats you've quoted above.

Sidwell brought a lot to the team that Bryn can't bring to the team for 90 minutes a match over the course of the season. Sidwell was also part of a settled and successful side - and whoever we bring in can't replicate that from the word go.

It would be good for Coppell to bring someone else in, but if the right person won't come for the right money then we are not in such bad shape that we can't cope with what we've got. And whoever is brought in will not "replace" Sidwell as I expect any new player will alter slightly the dynamic of the team.

Are you ill?

We can't have that level of sense on this board

[Baines]

Sorry. How about

- we're better off without Sidwell. Coppell, Mourinho and the other managers who wanted him should have gone for Bryn instead.
- we will be relegated if we don't break up our successful side by making lots of expensive new signings.
- Steve Coppell is such a good manager that we don't even need any players on the pitch to finish at least 8th again. Having him just standing quietly on the touchline is enough for a Champions League finish.

Delete as (in)applicable.

[Cookie]

So what's happening?

nothing

[brendywendy]

Nope, not quite.

You said that the squad wasn't weaker. ??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!And, thankfully, a lot of people pointed out the inherent fallacy of your point.

either you need reading lessons, or you are just fishing, nice try.

http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopi ... &start=100

This thread.

Keep. Up. I made no mention to the comment being in the current thread, but thought I referred back to a past thread.

If you've changed your mind, then that's OK. That would make sense.

but i specifically, and very carefully said "this thread"

also, i didnt say the squad wasnt weaker, just that we really couldnt tell untill cisse has bedded in
i was never wholly sure he would, just making the point that numerically we are the same
quality wise we do not know yet
though the lad looks pretty decent to me so far

[papereyes]

Nope, not quite.

You said that the squad wasn't weaker. ??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!And, thankfully, a lot of people pointed out the inherent fallacy of your point.

either you need reading lessons, or you are just fishing, nice try.

http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopi ... &start=100

This thread.

Keep. Up. I made no mention to the comment being in the current thread, but thought I referred back to a past thread.

If you've changed your mind, then that's OK. That would make sense.

but i specifically, and very carefully said "this thread"

Don't think you did.

Are all clubs afflicted with stupid fans, or is it just us?

[Old Biscuitman]

Move on please you guys. A better debate IMO might be: How many Prem games will Sidwell start for Chelsea next season? My guess - zero.