Safri – Best Midfielder or Liability

[Saint Canary 0]

There is no doubt that when he is fit and in form Safri is easily our best central midfield player.  Problem is though that during his time with City he has spent a lot of time being unavailable for selection due to injuries and international matches or injuries picked up in international matches.

Would you keep Safri and hope he can have injury free season next time or get rid in the summer and buy someone a bit more robust?

[Cheeky Monkey 0]

Liability. He is also far too defensive. I bet if someone bothered to work out the stats, our losses would be quite high with him in the team.

[ZLF 271]

Probably not Cheeky - from memory the first win without safri this season was stoke in March and the only other win that he has not featured in is QPR on Monday - that means he has featured in 18 out of the 20 wins this side has had this season.  With a grand total of 32 games the most defeats he could have had is 14, and some of those would have been draws (leeds away springs immediately to mind). That means a winning ratio which is not the case for the majority of this squad, the only other main contributor I can think of as likely  would be WLY.

As far as being defensive, well shock horror he is a defensive midfielder - its what his job is.  Yes his form has tailed off after the ACN in Feb but his stats are almost beyond compare... thats like saying that green - he doesnt get out of his own half much does he?..

Safri is the ONE quality midfielder we have - we need more with his talent (but not for injuries or bookings) who is more attack minded topush us for promotion next season, not fewer.

 

[rich 0]

your havin a laugh. lets take the one quality centre midfielder we have, the one with touch, tackling, passing and intelligence and get rid of him. oh yeah genius idea, have you ever watched any of our games this season, if so you would notice a huge drop in quality when safri gets injured, you only have to look at the run of poor form when safri went to africa nations to see how his loss impacts.

you should thank your lucky stars a player of his quality still graces our mediocre team.

[still holding out for new heroes 0]

hmm I think our stats show that without him in the team the number of victories is low...what wasnt it almost a year without a victory without him

[Mark Quinton 0]

I''m sorry but what a load of rubbsih. Safri is easily our most talented centre midfielder, the problem is he came to the club as a defensive midfielder who sticks his foot in and hassles players but because our other midfielders are so poor we also look to him to also be our attacking, playmaker. He can''t do both jobs. Our best run this season was when safri was on top of his game. The only time we score from a through ball you can guarantee it nearly always came from saf or mcveigh.

I''ll always remember him against Man Utd last season at home when he didn''t give any of there players a minutes rest, snapping at their ankles like a jack russell.

Sorry for the rant, I must admit I''m a little biased cause he''s my favourite player.

Mark

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

I believe I questioned Safri''s situation a few weeks ago.

[Yellow Rages 0]

Firstly, the African nations cup is only once every four years so we will have his undivided attention for a few years yet.

Secondly, he plays too deep because of the long ball. That goes for both Central mifield players. When the long ball is played out of defence the midfield have alot to do in order to catch up with play and inevitably the 6''2''" centre back wins the header and its straight back down our throat again.He simply doesn''t get the chance to move forward. So I wouldn''t say him playing deep is his fault, it''s just that the formation gets stretched with long balls.

[Northern Canary 0]

Safri seems the only player who can set up a goal.

I wouldnt sell him unless we got a good deal but first i would buy four new midfielders

[Rossi 0]

take a different perspective people

there is only room for one creative midfielder in the middle of midfield. Saf is the best that we have, but this is not necessarily conducive to a good team. If Saf backed up the play higher up the pitch, like Quashie for example, we would have the ammunition to supply Earnie et al. If Saf only played higher up the field we would have a challenger to koumas. The issue is he doesnt have the fitness to get up and down the pitch, and is often just in front of the defence. With room for one cretive player, someone then needs to mix it up as a box to box player like Etuhu or Hughes, but they cant do it, and even if they could they wouldnt be able to on their own (diamond)

If you go back to the holt / francis situation neither of them were creative flair players, they ran box to box and francis knew where the goal was - Safri came into his own in the prem becasue generally he had more time on the ball and we were playing counter attack football that allowed Saf to spray balls about from deep. The championship is different. Safri needs to score more if he is to be considered, or he needs to play in a 5 man midfield.

In short, sure he''s the best we''ve got, but it isnt really that flexible as a player and offers us a diamond shape. When you have Hucks, with his inability to track back, and a converted forward ont he right wing, you get the problems of a team with no shape, and a midfield you could drive a bus through

[still holding out for new heroes 0]

[quote user="Yellow Rages"]

Firstly, the African nations cup is only once every four years so we will have his undivided attention for a few years yet.

Secondly, he plays too deep because of the long ball. That goes for both Central mifield players. When the long ball is played out of defence the midfield have alot to do in order to catch up with play and inevitably the 6''2''" centre back wins the header and its straight back down our throat again.He simply doesn''t get the chance to move forward. So I wouldn''t say him playing deep is his fault, it''s just that the formation gets stretched with long balls.

[/quote]

er no the ANC is every 2 years

[ZLF 271]

ACN is every two years not every 4.

[Cheeky Monkey 0]

Thanks Rossi, I totally agree. Safri was great i nthe Prem, but has not been up to Championship football. He is injured for a large amount of time and there disrupts team cohesion. His passing of late has been poor.

For the first time this year we played decent attacking football that won us the game agianst QPR. Yes it was a dire match, but the combination of Henderson, McVeigh, Johansson and Earnie made is a winning team.

With Safri in the team we will continue to pass the ball back to the keeper and hoof it up the pitch.

Talented maybe, but he doesn''t play Championship football very well at all. That''s when he is well and not ill.

[can u sit down please 0]

Safs is my fave player but.......for a playmaker i dont feel he offers enough! A playmaker is somebody who will create  numerous amount of goals (Crook) i can only think of 1 defence splitting pass for Earnie V Leicester and they will also chip in with there fair share of goals.

As i said i do love the guy but i dont feel he is creative enough. He does favour the side ways ball alot aka Mulryne which is soooooo frustrating. How often do we use Hucks,Earnie and Leons pace with a scintillating through ball for them to chase? NOt often.....Plus his injuries are worrying as he seems to miss more games than he plays!!

 

[Lord Mouldywart 0]

I think thw biggest problem with Safri is the dross he''s asked to play with in CM. If he had a partner to help him he wouldn''t have to work so hard and there would be less strain on him. A partner with complimentary skills would mean his deficiencies were less of an issue.

Overall, whilst Safri''s fitness is an issue I don''t see us replacing him easily and cheaply and as he''s arguably our best player i''d keep him

 

[Saint Canary 0]

[quote user="rich"]your havin a laugh. lets take the one quality centre midfielder we have, the one with touch, tackling, passing and intelligence and get rid of him. oh yeah genius idea, have you ever watched any of our games this season, if so you would notice a huge drop in quality when safri gets injured, you only have to look at the run of poor form when safri went to africa nations to see how his loss impacts. you should thank your lucky stars a player of his quality still graces our mediocre team.[/quote]

I''m not disputing his talent Rich and as you say it''s great his quality still graces our mediocre team - when he''s fit.  The question really though is can you build a team or midfield around a player who is often a) injured or b) carrying an injury. 

Will he be fit when we really need him?  As you point out, our great run in December was followed by a pathetic January due to him being at the ACN.  We needed him then but for reasons beyond our control, he was unavailable.  We still paid his wages though!  When he did come back from the ACN he came back unfit and not able to compete for a whole 90 minutes, again at a time when we could have done with some big performances from him.  Last season he limped off early against Fulham in our biggest game for 10 years, when we really needed him.

The point is he may be our best midfielder but can we rely on him.

[Yellow Rages 0]

[quote user="ZippersLeftFoot"]ACN is every two years not every 4.[/quote]

Didn''t know that. Cheers!

In that case, ship him off to Scunthorpe for a fiver.

Seriously though, it does make African internationals a bit of problem to have in your squad when you know that you will loose them for a month every two years.

[Northern Canary 0]

[quote user="Lord Mouldywart"]

I think thw biggest problem with Safri is the dross he''s asked to play with in CM. If he had a partner to help him he wouldn''t have to work so hard and there would be less strain on him. A partner with complimentary skills would mean his deficiencies were less of an issue.

Overall, whilst Safri''s fitness is an issue I don''t see us replacing him easily and cheaply and as he''s arguably our best player i''d keep him

 

[/quote]

Spot on. He was awesome when played with Francis

[beelsie 0]

Hi! Zipper, nicely put and I can only agree with all you say.  Safs is tops for me when he is on all cylinders.

You mentioned Green on passing, and with apt regard to Green the possibility of him being replaced fills me with pleasure.  It is a treat to see a agile athletic looking individual in a goalkeepers garb for a change.  For two seasons Green IMHO has not looked the model of fitness in the EDP pictures I have seen of him, and his performances in the box area could, for a potential England Goalie have been much more assured.  If he was a horse, on looks, he would not have made the starting stalls let alone run a race.  His features have shown a puffy face around the cheek area and the eyes have almost always been half closed as if in need of sleep; as opposed to being bright and alert, as was Gallagher in today''s EDP.

[Jimaldinho 0]

[quote user="Lord Mouldywart"]

I think thw biggest problem with Safri is the dross he''s asked to play with in CM. If he had a partner to help him he wouldn''t have to work so hard and there would be less strain on him. A partner with complimentary skills would mean his deficiencies were less of an issue.

Overall, whilst Safri''s fitness is an issue I don''t see us replacing him easily and cheaply and as he''s arguably our best player i''d keep him

 

[/quote]

100 % agree with all of that.If Saf was partnered in midfield with someone like Koumas it would take alot of pressure of his shoulders. Just imagine what it must be like playing centre midfield alongside Hooze.....

[Herb 0]

[quote user="Cheeky Monkey"]Liability. He is also far too defensive. I

bet if someone bothered to work out the stats, our losses would be

quite high with him in the team.[/quote]

Quite the opposite in fact.

Still, when did this forum ever let facts get in the way of a player bashing session?

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

He is a defensive midfielder!!!!  thats why he isnt getting forward scoring goals and the like.......    christ......

Lets just get him to play further up teh pitch in a role he isnt used to because all our other central midfielders are poor!!   sounds like worthy style management...

[rich 0]

the problem is cheeky that were asking saf to do too much because of the absolute lack of quality around him. I think you shouldn''t build a midfield around one player, give him a defined role and he''ll do the job but don''t ask him to do everything that really isn''t fair.

Sure he might get injured and suspended but in a strong squad situation that shouldn ''t matter, we can''t take our our best player just because the rest of the team doesn''t measure up. You win by building with your quality players and offering support for them on the pitch and backups in depth. I would see safri is one of few players whose role on the team this summer should be guaranteed. Now lets find him some badly needed help.

[no1canary 0]

just because he can play a good pass, it doesn''t mean he needs to be a goalscoring playmaker. we need 2 people who can pass a ball in the center, not just one. thats why with a playmaker alongside safri, that would be very good.

without mcveigh of safri this year, im pretty sure we would be in the bottom half. getting rid of safri would put us even further behind where we need to be.

[Alex Harvey-Jones 0]

He ceratinly isn''t a liability. Ok he gets injured fairly frequently but that doesn''t make him a liability. We are a better side with him in the team as he can pass it about and seems to be calm and composed on the ball. I do think he is the best midfielder we have and if he could stay free of injury he would get even better. I think some people though are making him out to be better than he is which is probably partly due to the lack of ability of our other midfielders. IMO Safri should be described as a useful Championship midfielder.

[Silver Canary 0]

I think we are forgetting who bougt safri! If he was any good why would worthy have bougt him? How many goals has he scored this season? real Frank lampard is''nt he!!!

[Loyal fan 0]

[quote user="Silver Canary"]I think we are forgetting who bougt safri! If he was any good why would worthy have bougt him? How many goals has he scored this season? real Frank lampard is''nt he!!![/quote]

Silver - there are many supporters who want rid of Worthington just as much as you but to say that he has never bought a decent player is rather "over-egging the pudding." Frank Lampard is an attacking midfielder, Safri a defensive one.

The lack of basic knowledge about football that you and others display (like Wizard with his absurd attack on Delia) makes me wonder about the membership about the "Worthy Out campaign."

[Chris Meadows 0]

if i remember our late surge last season involved the recall of safri and the fulham game he went off early

[DuncanMirams 0]

i like him, however i dont think he should take corners as we havnt scored from one in ages.

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

[quote user="Loyal fan"]

[quote user="Silver Canary"]I think we are forgetting who bougt safri! If he was any good why would worthy have bougt him? How many goals has he scored this season? real Frank lampard is''nt he!!![/quote]

Silver - there are many supporters who want rid of Worthington just as much as you but to say that he has never bought a decent player is rather "over-egging the pudding." Frank Lampard is an attacking midfielder, Safri a defensive one.

The lack of basic knowledge about football that you and others display (like Wizard with his absurd attack on Delia) makes me wonder about the membership about the "Worthy Out campaign."

[/quote]

he is a wind up merchant, christ, how many posters fail to realise this is beyond me.....  he is a WIND UP MERCHANT......    [8-)]