Reports are saying Riise has been told he can look for another club. It would seem he is not happy after being dropped. What I don't understand is does he think he has being playing well ? if so he must have an inflated ego of himself. I've been saying for months, he creates a problem for us at the back when he tries getting back to defend after bombing forward, Hangeland has to come across to cover, leaving the center of defense, leaving us vulnerable. May be in his defense he doesn't get the support from Kaca that Duff gives to Riether. Riise's crossing and shooting hasn't been great. So I would say to him, that he has been playing well below his best.
There's a chance it's lazy journalism - "oh look, Riise was playing every week for that little club near Chelsea, now he's not playing but he's not injured. I smell a paper-seller!".
The Times, Bidley ? No idea how they got the story first and can only guess that they published it because of their eclectic taste, which doesn't tend to appeal to the masses.
I'm no newspaper afficionado to be honest, C58, so I'm not really very aware of their individual quirks and leanings. I do know that newspapers like to bullshit, and this has the potential to be bullshit. Of course I could be wrong, I was only making a suggestion.
Hmm. I'm not so sure this is lazy journalism to be honest, and like 58, I don't think The Times are one of those papers. Riise was obviously dropped due to poor form, and the fact we are apparently looking at replacement left backs (Warnock) means that either Riise is not happy or Jol is not happy with Riise, both of which could see him leave the club. Let's face it, compared to some of our other defenders, we could still recoup a few million for Riise, which could help boost the 'limited' funds available in January. If Warnock is the replacement then no thanks, I'd rather keep Riise, but if we can get in someone better for a small fee then I'm all for it. He hasn't exactly been quality this season.
Whatever the opinions are on the handling of the affair, there seems to be consensus that JAR deserved to be dropped. Just to re-inforce that view he is in the top 20 of premiership defensive 'bloopers'. The third chart in this article is probably the most revealing. http://www.eplindex.com/24736/defensive-error-prone-players-premier-league-stats-comparison.html
I think it's worth mentioning that when JAR arrived, he stated a part of the reason he wanted to come to us was the chance to play with his brother. We subsequently released BHR and I wonder if that feeds in to any general unhappiness JAR currently has. EDIT: C58, I think you've misread that third chart. It is good to have a high "minutes per error" stat, as it mean Riise has only directly given away one goal rather than the 4 that someone like Federici has.
According to Norwegian papers, JAR is not travelling with the team today and has agreed with Jol that he 'train on his own'. "Once it was clear that he had not intended to use me in the starting line was Martin Jol and I agreed that it was better for me to stay in London and train really hard for me these three days, says John Arne Riise to TV 2 Sport." This Norwegian paper also says he is actively looking for a new club. http://www.tv2.no/sport/fotball/england/premierleague/riise-ikke-i-fulhamtroppen-mot-city-det-er-ikke-holdbart-slik-situasjonen-er-naa-3968416.html
Does this look like a case of 'I'm not starting, so I'm not going' I think it does. If Briggs/Richardson get injured in the warm up then Riise would have had 90 minutes under his belt.
