The way I see it, and this is just an opinion,some people on here expect the world and they want it now.
The two players who are in for a bit of a slagging here are Harper and Koren,neither of which deserve it IMO.
I'll start with Koren.Maybe I see things through rose tinted specs but for me he produces something every game, some games more than others.He's scored what is it 6 goals and has 7 assists,that's 13 goals he's been involved in yet it's not good enough for some.I can't be arsed to look but I bet that's not far off 40 % of the goals we've scored.
If he played at his very best every single week he'd be playing for a mid table Premier league club, fact is he doesn't that's why he plays for us.I for one am very happy that he does.
A good point made on another thread is that he plays better when Barmby comes on.Is that because he is on the same wave length ? I think so.
People used to slag Marney off no end because all he did was run around but could do sweet FA with the ball.Now Koren gets slagged off because he can do something with the balll but doesn't run enough ??
Midfielders who can score, pass,tackle,head and run box to box are few and far between and usually play for Chelsea or Man Utd.
As for him not caring about the cause, well that's well far off the mark.Trust me on that one.I speak with one of the managemet team quite often and he has nothing but praise for Koren, the consumate professional who has helped the young lads no end apparantly.When you have a squad full of youngsters that attitude amongst senior players is vital.The same was not said about certain other midfielders who have recently departed.
As for Harper.Certainly not everyones cup of tea but I can't see why he gets such a hammering.In case some of you hadn't noticed our Nige likes a certain type of player and Harper quite clearly fits the bill.
His passing is average at best, his tackling is no better and his finishing is comical.So you may ask why do I think he's not that bad ?
The answer to that one is that he plays his role is a system and as it stands the system pretty much works.
Brian Clough used to give each and every one of his players a specific instruction before each game.
Example;he'd tell John Robertson to get half a dozen crosses into the box, job done.Kenny Burnms to stop so and so from breaking from midfield,job done.Obviously they couldn't get their job done in the first half then toss it off but the point is each and every player knew exactly what was expected of him.
I read that somewhere or saw it on a documentary, I can't remember.
How can anyone on here say what role Harper has been given before the game ?
I thought Hoolahan was pretty average on Saturday and he can tear teams to shreds.Again this is just my observation but he( Hoolahan) only really started to play when Harper went off.Again maybe I'm just trying to see the positives.
When all is said and done NP sees something in JH that a lot of others do not and when it comes to picking a football team he knows his stuff.
In big Nige we trust .
UTT.
