New central midfielder ?

[Gordons Cumming]

We keep saying we need a new central midfielder to replace Sidwell?

Cisse? Maybe.................but I think there is a ready made replacement and he's been here a year now.

We have plenty of centre backs so it makes sense to put our Bikey into the midfield role.

He may be a bit raw, may need to improve his passing and decision making but what do you think?

The boy is improving all the time.

[Skyline]

As Mr A and WR could tell you, I've been saying Bikey's style of play is more suited to midfield rather than defence for some time now.

[TBM]

We need a midfielder who can break forward and score goals, not one that can sit back and defend as we dont seem to have a problem there - Gunnarsson, Cisse and as you say Bikey can all do that role.

[Coppell's Right Footed 11]

not a chance with Bikey in midfield, Cisse can do well there along with Harper and Gunnar.

Bikey was for me the player of the peace cup at centre back and is getting better with every game, he will be a useful player in sonkos absence, and even superman may have a job to displace him

[TFF]

http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopi ... &start=147

[Gordons Cumming]

http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=56544&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=147

Sorry

Please forgive me, please.......................

[johnnym]

..step forward James Harper.

i think he was quoted in the EP saying he had been asked whilst playing with Sidwell to hold back and let him do the attacking.

cast your mind back to our championship winning season, early doors when many here agreed that a midfield of Harps and Gunnarsson was our best pairing, with Harper playing the attacking role. interestingly, Gunnarsson does well attacking the box too...4 goals last year was it??

i'd prefer to see Bikey as a CB and Harper as our attacking midfielder, supported by someone like Gunnarsson.

u f'ing r's

[Vision]

I'm not gonna discount his abilities as a midfielder because i've only ever seen him play there once, although to be honest i wasn't that impressed.

However his outstanding performances in the Peace Cup and steady improvement during last season as a central defender suggest to me thats where we should be focusing with regards to his development.

Besides which, what the central midfield really lacks is someone that can create in the last 1/3 of the pitch where it matters. For all Bikey's improvement this is never gonna be his forte.

[Forbury Lion]

We need a midfielder who can break forward and score goals, not one that can sit back and defend as we dont seem to have a problem there - Gunnarsson, Cisse and as you say Bikey can all do that role.

Harper can play as attacker with Bikey or Gunnarsson in the holding tole.

Harper may have a funny run, but he can run and run and run and scored almost as many as Sidwell last season.

[Muskrat]

We keep saying we need a new central midfielder to replace Sidwell?

Cisse? Maybe.................but I think there is a ready made replacement and he's been here a year now.

We have plenty of centre backs so it makes sense to put our Bikey into the midfield role.

He may be a bit raw, may need to improve his passing and decision making but what do you think?

The boy is improving all the time.

Errmmm....

[TBM]

We need a midfielder who can break forward and score goals, not one that can sit back and defend as we dont seem to have a problem there - Gunnarsson, Cisse and as you say Bikey can all do that role.

Harper can play as attacker with Bikey or Gunnarsson in the holding tole.

Harper may have a funny run, but he can run and run and run and scored almost as many as Sidwell last season.

So who challenges Harper for that role? - personally i feel we can get better than Harps or what if Harpers gets injured for 6 months a week after the deadline!?

[ScottishRoyal]

We need a midfielder who can break forward and score goals, not one that can sit back and defend as we dont seem to have a problem there - Gunnarsson, Cisse and as you say Bikey can all do that role.

Harper can play as attacker with Bikey or Gunnarsson in the holding tole.

Harper may have a funny run, but he can run and run and run and scored almost as many as Sidwell last season.

So who challenges Harper for that role? - personally i feel we can get better than Harps or what if Harpers gets injured for 6 months a week after the deadline!?

Exactly, we need more than one competant player (by Premiership standards, not putting square pegs in round holes) in each position.

Also Coppell said at the time of the Cisse signing that he was not Sidwells replacement so that suggests that there is still one more more attack-minded midfielder to be purchased.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

I hate to say it but I'm starting to think we should have taken a risk on Koumas. Yeah he went for more than he's worth, but there's no one else outside the Premiership any better.

We need something different in the final 1/3 from our central midfield, someone who can make things happen with that little bit of extra flair, as much as I love Harps, I don't think he's got it in him.

What worries me is that the club must have been looking for this player for over a year now, knowing that Sid was leaving. If we haven't attracted the right quality of player by now, are we really going to by the end of the summer? We can only hope that other clubs dealings will mean players become available, but that never seems to happen. Coppell rightly won't spend for the sake of it, so a Harps and Bryn centre mid partnership seems the most likely option, for the start of the season anyway.

[Hoop Blah]

I agree with Doe-boy.

All the signs this summer are pointing towards Harper playing as the more offensive player because we can't find a more direct replacement for Sidwell. All the midfielders we've supposedly been interested in (I'm discounting Koumas as I don't think we went after him) have been defensively minded. To me that signals that we can't find the dynamic force that Sidwell was in another player we think is willing to come here.

It'll be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks to see if the club can address the problem.

[rg6royal]

tbh i dont think we need to make any more signings.

[mzungu_royal]

tbh i dont think we need to make any more signings.

agreed to an extent, that if we buy more it destabilises the unity we have but Koumas would've been such a good player here. He's got the Parkinson tackle and the Sidwell forward mind. Am i right here or am i just being an idiot?

[higher]

tbh i dont think we need to make any more signings.

I agree I dont think theres any burning need however im sure the backroom staff continue to sniff about for hungry non bigtime charlies who have potential to improove squad competition.
The club have done absolutely fantastic in recent years and I have every confidence we will defy the so called second season syndrome and lay another brick on our gradual road to complete and utter world domination of the beautiful game.

[readingfc_4_life_and_beyo]

tbh i dont think we need to make any more signings.

I agree I dont think theres any burning need however im sure the backroom staff continue to sniff about for hungry non bigtime charlies who have potential to improove squad competition.
The club have done absolutely fantastic in recent years and I have every confidence we will defy the so called second season syndrome and lay another brick on our gradual road to complete and utter world domination of the beautiful game.

I like the sound of that

[mzungu_royal]

tbh i dont think we need to make any more signings.

I agree I dont think theres any burning need however im sure the backroom staff continue to sniff about for hungry non bigtime charlies who have potential to improove squad competition.
The club have done absolutely fantastic in recent years and I have every confidence we will defy the so called second season syndrome and lay another brick on our gradual road to complete and utter world domination of the beautiful game.

I like the sound of that

Amen. bring ther season on , please!

[dontbedaft]

What about Oster? Isn't the centre his preference? I have only seen him in a few cameos as a sub on the wing (on the telly in Canada) but he has looked quite skillful and creative.