SIGNED - Hope Akpan

[Ian Royal]

i have a feeling he maybe cup tied

Who did he appear against?

[TheLawnMowerMan]

i have a feeling he maybe cup tied

It should be like Top Trumps - if you beat a club (and get their players) you should be allowed to use them yourself.

[2.8 lita injection]

i knew he miss hit it.

[Royal Rother]

I dont know where all this praise is coming from, ok he got an assist (a lucky one) but didnt do much else and gave the ball away a lot. I wasnt paying much notice towards the end so might have missed something.

He didn't give the ball away a lot. No idea why you would say that.

He tackled, got involved, looked strong and passed neatly.

[winchester_royal]

I like him. Classy, strong, quick...only 21. He'll be a real player for us.

[Albert Spangler]

i have a feeling he maybe cup tied

LOL Proper murking that.

[Platypuss]

I dont know where all this praise is coming from, ok he got an assist (a lucky one) but didnt do much else and gave the ball away a lot. I wasnt paying much notice towards the end so might have missed something.

He didn't give the ball away a lot. No idea why you would say that.

He tackled, got involved, looked strong and passed neatly.

He did needlessly underhit a couple of passes that gave possession away, that's for sure. Looked comfy on the ball, mind.

[Royal Ginger]

January debus: Kelly>Akpan>>>>>>>>>>Carrico

[joeroyal]

I dont know where all this praise is coming from, ok he got an assist (a lucky one) but didnt do much else and gave the ball away a lot. I wasnt paying much notice towards the end so might have missed something.

He didn't give the ball away a lot. No idea why you would say that.

He tackled, got involved, looked strong and passed neatly.

He did needlessly underhit a couple of passes that gave possession away, that's for sure. Looked comfy on the ball, mind.

Thats magic

[Royal91]

To early to judge. Apart from the looped pass forward to nobody he did a solid job. Certainly didn't look out of place.

Looks like he can zip a pass and has a great amount of mobility.

Although he scuffed it to Alf the fact he was in that position was encouraging.

[Ian Royal]

I dont know where all this praise is coming from, ok he got an assist (a lucky one) but didnt do much else and gave the ball away a lot. I wasnt paying much notice towards the end so might have missed something.

He didn't give the ball away a lot. No idea why you would say that.

He tackled, got involved, looked strong and passed neatly.

He did needlessly underhit a couple of passes that gave possession away, that's for sure. Looked comfy on the ball, mind.

dubious stats website whoscored.com had his pass completion as 44% I didn't think he'd done that badly personally. It did also award him an assist

He did alright IMO.

[Maguire]

Looked about as good as I expected - not that good. Early days though, he's not the finishes product yet

[anR]

It may have been mentioned already, but the way Gooding and Dellor described his assist couldn't have been more of a contrast to how the commentators on MOTD described his 'lay off'. I thought he did though, even though it may have seemed he didn't mean it.

[Arch]

Looked about as good as I expected - not that good. Early days though, he's not the finishes product yet

Agreed. Not understanding the love on that showing, but time will tell.

[SapperBRoyal]

I am more concerned about what it means when we buy a 21 year old 'work in progress' from a lower league team, and then feel the need to throw him on a week later at one nil down in the league. Genius or naked desperation?

[Scutterbucketz]

It may have been mentioned already, but the way Gooding and Dellor described his assist couldn't have been more of a contrast to how the commentators on MOTD described his 'lay off'. I thought he did though, even though it may have seemed he didn't mean it.

Who said what? MOTD rightly took the mick out of it. I think it was Linekar who sarcastically said "Great pass!"

It's great that it sult in a goal but that's two debuts and two embarrassing air shots in the space of a week.

[Franchise FC]

It may have been mentioned already, but the way Gooding and Dellor described his assist couldn't have been more of a contrast to how the commentators on MOTD described his 'lay off'. I thought he did though, even though it may have seemed he didn't mean it.

Who said what? MOTD rightly took the mick out of it. I think it was Linekar who sarcastically said "Great pass!"

It's great that it sult in a goal but that's two debuts and two embarrassing air shots in the space of a week.

And two wins ...... I'll settle for air shots every week if we keep doing that

[marcusopp]

It may have been mentioned already, but the way Gooding and Dellor described his assist couldn't have been more of a contrast to how the commentators on MOTD described his 'lay off'. I thought he did though, even though it may have seemed he didn't mean it.

Who said what? MOTD rightly took the mick out of it. I think it was Linekar who sarcastically said "Great pass!"

It's great that it sult in a goal but that's two debuts and two embarrassing air shots in the space of a week.

FFS! Is that what 'fans' do nowadays? Literally picking apart every single mistake.
He had a wild swing at Kebe's knock down, not what i'd call an easy chance by any means. Fortunately Le Fondre was there to bury it. I thought he covered a lot of ground yesterday and used the ball well most of the time, not a bad debut for a young lad.
Pogrebyak also skied one, it's what happens in real life, if not in FIFA.

[winchester_royal]

Looked about as good as I expected - not that good. Early days though, he's not the finishes product yet

Agreed. Not understanding the love on that showing, but time will tell.

The 'love' is coming from him showing signs of having all the raw attributes to be a fantastic midfielder capable of driving from deep and making a real contribution.

Yes he lacked some composure at times towards the end, but the guy is 21 making his premier league debut in front of 50k fans (compared to the 6000 that Crawley entertain) with his new team on the verge of a hugely significant and historic result. I think they count as 'mitigating circumstances' for having a few nerves and not wanting to take risks in his own half.

[Big Ern]

I thought he did well on his debut. Far too early to say whether he has what it takes at this level but made a couple of good challenges with successful, if not spectacular lay offs afterwards.