I'm into my fourth decade as a City fan now, and have noticed that there is always at least one player that seems to attract negative attention from fans. I've noticed in recent years that the holding midfielders seem to get it in the neck more than any other players (Ashbee for years, and now Harper). Is it possible for a team to be successful without one of these ugly players in the team, who do work that goes largely unnoticed by the fans? Ashbee was slagged because of his lack of ability, whereas all Harper does is 'stand and point' according to some. Why do the managers keep playing these players if they are so bad, and are they so bad or is it that fans don't recognise the job they are in the team to do? Could we play as a team with all attacking midfielders?
Look at Carrick at United, hardly make the Barcelona team would he, he does his job and he does it well, Ashbee mastered his role over the last few years and played it very well. The problem with Harper is he doesn't play the holding role well enough and goes running about the pitch too often leaving a gap in the middle for the opposition to run through, didn't use to see Ashbee out on the wings watching the opposition running at our defense very often did we? Back to your question, yes you can manage without however you have to be absolutely solid at the back and keep possession well in the middle as we don't do that we need one. Harper just isn't it. I think Chester could play the role to be fair but he will be taking up Rosy's position now he is out.
a team certainly does need a good holding midfielder...harper just doesnt do that role well.. people arent just picking on him for no reason, ..they just dont rate him..i did nothing but praise ashbee, i fully understand, the role, and why it is needed.. for people to think harper is being criticised for that reason is unfair..just stickig someone in that role, doesnt automatically make them good at it.. weve had plenty of good wins with and without harper...i dont necessarily think he costs games, i just dont think he contributes much to the wins either.. i also dont agree every team always has a scapegoat, i think towards the end ashbee had won most over, and he did that by getting stuck in and putting his body on the line, not running around like he has **** himself
hit the nail on the head with that comment, just because you play in that role doesn't mean you are good, it's a hard role to play as you always get little praise when you play well but as it is he is not playing well for us in that role.
Harper may be known as a somewhat defensive minded player, however take a look at this video of his goals for Reading in the 2007-08 season. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1D2UGjbgzE In all of the goals he has scored Harper has made a forward run to latch onto a through ball, made a run high up the field to support an attack, or a late burst into the penalty box. This shows that he is better suited to the role of a box-to-box midfielder as that's where he excelled at Reading. We can't really expect him to perform to an adequate level as a ball winning midfielder as I think we can all see, he's not the best tackler in the world. What we really need is a proper ball winning midfielder or a defensive midfielder. Unfortunately we've used up all our loans so we'll have to wait until the summer, or give Apkan a try.
when we 1st signed him, i was pleased because i thought i remembered him from reading doing things like that.. i was beginning to think id remembered a different player and was getting him mixed up with someone else... shame something seems to have changed in the last 3 years
