RUMOUR - Harper to Middlesborough

[Stooper]

They're stealing our jobs! Can't let any more in! Borders aren't merely man made! This country is special! English only!

[brendywendy]

If we got an offer (a decent offer for him) then I'd let him move on, he's been a great servant but imo if Reading are to improve he's one of the people they need to replace.

Concur

A lightweight player who doesn't tackle, high workrate is great but end product???

Prepares to be shot down by pro Harp brigade!

6 goals, plus assists

no end product?

[Fezza]

If we got an offer (a decent offer for him) then I'd let him move on, he's been a great servant but imo if Reading are to improve he's one of the people they need to replace.

Concur

A lightweight player who doesn't tackle, high workrate is great but end product???

Prepares to be shot down by pro Harp brigade!

6 goals, plus assists

no end product?

All of which was invaluable to our survival in the top flight..... oh!

I would suggest that one of the major reasons for our relegation was the inability of our midfield to track back and help defend.

[Southbank Old Boy]

from what i heard on saturday, the club has accepted no bids from anyone. Coppell isn't even abck from holiday yet and he has the final say on who is sold

Heaven forbid that they might've discussed this kind of thing before he went away, or perhaps, just perhaps, the club have given Coppell and phone and they've been able to contact him whilst he's away.

Modern technology eh!

[Southbank Old Boy]

Really, that simple is it ?

A player who has consistently given his all for the club, who has shown his premiership quality across two seasons, who scored some vital goals for us and one who will be very difficult to replace and for you all his potential departure generates is "Fantastic, get rid......"

I know Harper sometimes generates mixed emotions here, but the glib talk of getting rid of him and rebuilding around Matejovsky ( who may or may not fulfill early potential) in my opinion underestimates Harpers importance to the team.

Harper was going to leave if we didn't go up during the promotion season.

He's rightly rated outside the club but as RR says, it seems the right time for him to move on, for both him and us.

I'd be pleased to see him stay because I think he's been a brilliant player for Reading, but our midfield needs a shake up and he's probably our most saleable asset in the midfield right now.

[Wycombe Royal]

Concur

A lightweight player who doesn't tackle, high workrate is great but end product???

Prepares to be shot down by pro Harp brigade!

6 goals, plus assists

no end product?

All of which was invaluable to our survival in the top flight..... oh!

I would suggest that one of the major reasons for our relegation was the inability of our midfield to track back and help defend.

But was that his fault? He was part of a midfield that worked very well the season before, so the failure to replace Sidwell was the problem, not Harper's performance.

[brendywendy]

Concur

A lightweight player who doesn't tackle, high workrate is great but end product???

Prepares to be shot down by pro Harp brigade!

6 goals, plus assists

no end product?

All of which was invaluable to our survival in the top flight..... oh!

I would suggest that one of the major reasons for our relegation was the inability of our midfield to track back and help defend.

well i would have agreed with that if youd said it
but you didnt-you said no end product

[Fezza]

well i would have agreed with that if youd said it
but you didnt-you said no end product

Sorry but a player who is being used in a defensive capacity failing to stop the opposition scoring IMO = no end product.

I do agree with the statement that he can't be blamed for SC failing to bring in an adequate replacement for Sidwell, however, he was given a job to do and couldn't do it, he is no longer the best creative midfield player at the club, and, as such, should be given the opportunity to go elsewhere and someone fit for the role of defensive midfielder should be brought in.

[brendywendy]

well i would have agreed with that if youd said it
but you didnt-you said no end product

Sorry but a player who is being used in a defensive capacity failing to stop the opposition scoring IMO = no end product.

I do agree with the statement that he can't be blamed for SC failing to bring in an adequate replacement for Sidwell, however, he was given a job to do and couldn't do it, he is no longer the best creative midfield player at the club, and, as such, should be given the opportunity to go elsewhere and someone fit for the role of defensive midfielder should be brought in.

ive never thought of him as a defensive midfielder, and had assumed that RFC had asked him to play as an oldfashioned midfielder who was required to do a bit of defending when we dont have the ball, and a bit of attacking when we did

to state that he had no end product was wrong in the 1st instance
but to also say he had no end product in the defensive part of his game is also wrong
he made more tackles this year than ever before, and his general harrying and hustling is still a vital part of our game

[Wycombe Royal]

well i would have agreed with that if youd said it
but you didnt-you said no end product

Sorry but a player who is being used in a defensive capacity failing to stop the opposition scoring IMO = no end product.

I do agree with the statement that he can't be blamed for SC failing to bring in an adequate replacement for Sidwell, however, he was given a job to do and couldn't do it, he is no longer the best creative midfield player at the club, and, as such, should be given the opportunity to go elsewhere and someone fit for the role of defensive midfielder should be brought in.

But surely at the start of the season he was not given the role of defensive midfielder, and that was the period when we conceded most. Gunnarsson and Cisse played that defensive role. It could be argued that he played the defensive role when Marek came into the side.

[Alan Partridge]

all this 'defensive role' and 'attacking role' imo is an utter nonsense when you play 2 central midfielders. They've got to do both. Get forward when possible and they have to put their stint in defensively, it's a demanding probably the most demanding place on the pitch because there is no rest period. Centre halves can stand around when you attack, forwards do the same when we defend but midfielders (well good midfielders) need to be able to do both especially in a 4-4-2. That's why Sidwell was such a huge miss as he did both very well for a club like ours.

When you play like Chelsea with a 5 in midfield you can talk about a defensive player or a free role, that's why Lampard is crap for England, they play nothing like Chelsea where his role is to almost play as a striker, similar to Paul Scholes. This has been Michael Carrick's best season ever, he to me was like a rich man's Harper, passes it without doing a great deal with it, rarely scored, created little but had good energy levels, he shone for England briefly when they stuck him in a 5 man midfield, Sir alex has brough out another side to him this season but previously he was a target for some of the Man Utd boo boys when he played in a 4man midfield.

Harper for me doesn't do enough. He can pass the ball, agreed but rarely do you ever see him really burst from midfield or create anything. With his quality of pass I expect him to do more. He can't tackle, I don't care what anyone says when we are defending a lot of the time he may as well not be there. He was at fault for Nolan's goal off the top of my head when he had zero awareness to track him back but i digress. Don't want to have a go at him because he has been a major reason in our success in the last few years, It might do him good to go elsewhere and see if another manager can bring him out of this comfort zone and find that extra gear, and for Reading to change the way we play and that's with a Brian Howard or someone who can create and score you 10 goals a season.

[Sarah Star]

I've questioned Harper's role before, but others have told me he does his job off the ball. I find it hard t watch him during play, but I have to admit that there are key opposition players in matches who seem to become anonymous sometimes. Don't know whether that's due to him or not, but I wonder... and he did score that goal against Middlesborough to end our goal drought and score our first away win. Two other wins followed that.

[jonboy]

It was Pardew that told him to sit in front of the back four.
I always thought he was pretty quick with good feet and he was best served further up the pitch. You could see in his first few games he liked to roam forward but they seemed to knock that out of him.
Unfortunately we had an even better attacking midfielder at the time in Sidwell. So they told him to sit deeper.

[Hoop Blah]

AP, I agree with most of what you've said about the mix of a midfielders role in a 4-4-2 but there is no doubt that Harper was the one who would sit more with Sidwell given more licence to bomb on.

It wasn't a ridgid arangement, although Coppell did liken Harper to being our Makelele, but Harper was much more likely to be infront of our back four picking up the ball and starting things off whilst Sidwell made the barnstorming runs all over the pitch to either attack the opposition or make a tackle to break things up. They complimented each other perfectly.

[Platypuss]

They complimented each other perfectly.

"Mmm, nice shorts, James."
"Thanks, Steve - your hair does looks very good today, I must say."

[Fezza]

They complimented each other perfectly.

"Mmm, nice shorts, James."
"Thanks, Steve - your hair does looks very good today, I must say."

Obviously a lie!

Should read "Thanks Steve - your hair still seems to be ginger, bad luck, though I still think you qualify for a late term abortion"

[papereyes]

They complimented each other perfectly.

"Mmm, nice shorts, James."
"Thanks, Steve - your hair does looks very good today, I must say."

The sad thing is people make that joke even if you spell it correctly.

[Hoop Blah]

They complimented each other perfectly.

"Mmm, nice shorts, James."
"Thanks, Steve - your hair does looks very good today, I must say."

I don't think that's far from the truth to be fair!

[papereyes]

Maybe that's why we were shite last season. The team missed Sidwell's length and girth.

[West Stand Man]

They're stealing our jobs! Can't let any more in! Borders aren't merely man made! This country is special! English only!

You don't really get this irony stuff do you, Stooper?