Why are you still here?

Yep.
Although he needs to prove himself in a midfield role of course.

He's got a point though, and I support Hodgson.

PHIL BARBER never has a point. JAT

Sorry, I thought you were cracking a joke.

There was a pre-season where everyone was moaning he was hugely overweight but Chris G confirmed its wasn’t that but instead he preferred to wear the older style, bigger baggy shirts rather than the tailored fit. So he looked huge but wasn’t filling out the shirt. TBH they are so closely monitored the chances of him getting seriously fat are very low and that’s what was said anyway. This kept surfacing on here constantly and became a bit of a running joke. Which is why I responded that way.

I agree with Stella that he looks slimmer but I reckon he has a few more pounds to go

On a serious note - I would genuinely be surprised if you are right about him needing to lose weight to gain fitness. His photo in the programme certainly looks OK unless that’s been photoshopped!

It’s not impossible but with today’s constant monitoring weight/diet etc and this far into the season (I.e. in Full first team training/monitoring) it just seems unlikely it would go unnoticed or unaddressed. To state the obvious, not everyone has the same body shape do they? The most extreme example likely being who KG got a load of stick and yet his fitness levels were actually the best in the squad when measured scientifically. I wasn’t at the ground but didn’t really notice him carrying weight on the BT coverage but TBH I wasn’t looking for it really.

Again apologies Stella, I did think you were cracking an in-joke. :)

I met Jairo last week and he looked slim to me.

I suspect he has bulked up his muscle since joining us, in an attempt to cope better with the physical nature of the EPL. He therefore looks more ‘solid’ when in his football kit on the pitch, but that’s not the same as overweight due to excess fat.

Are you allowed to tell footballers that they're over weight? Could be classed as bullying.

Not sure if that's a trick question or not.

Assuming not - I would say so - on a weekly basis probably as they review their personal stats etc :)

Ruddock even had his weight in his contract didn't he?

The strength to Riedewald's game is his reading of situations when it is needed, hence why ideally his position should be either as a player that "sits" in front of the back four to add extra protection but also has the ability to "come out" with the ball and set up the midfield to move the ball forward.
The alternative is as a Defensive Midfielder that can put pressure on Luka to get his mojo back again or lose his position, but clearly he does not have the pace for certain positions like the Full Back positions where the ability to turn quickly, or keeping up when being attacked down the wing leaves him short and the team vulnerable.
He is young and clearly has ability that we must not discard easily without him being given every opportunity, seems crazy to say that after he has been at the club for nearly THREE yearsand is only Now being given an opportunity and that is only due to our injury crisis.
You have to ask, have we also missed a similar trick by ignoring Camarasa? as yet another young player of proven abiity playing in the premiership yet still gets ignored, so lets hope RH sees sense and gives him a chance to prove his point as what have we to lose? before being discarded and Palace regret not having given him an opportunity.
None of us know the real reasons as to why he is being ignored, in my opinion based on his ability but also being the type of player we have been crying out for, should be given a chance as it would be in the interest of CPFC, and if it does not work out he is then returned to his parent club in the summer. What have we to lose?

Agreed. I was never a massive fan of Riedewald. I understood completely what the management's reservations were about lack of energy. But then I saw our current midfield and none of them can pass!!! Riedewald can at least play football. I don't think he can play in a 2 man centre mid because he doesn't show enough urgency or cover the ground quickly enough. But in a 3 man central midfield he's probably my first name on the teamsheet for the position. Don't underestimate the usefulness of having a left foot either.

He can play left side midfield in a 3, and cover PVA's surging runs forward by filling in at left back. Hopefully he can also take the ball off the centre backs and get us moving again. Still think we need another more attack minded centre mid but JR should be given a chance there when PVA is back.

I really hope the Bentaleb rumour is true, I know he's not exactly an attacking midfielder as such, but he looks to move the ball forward and far more creative than all of our other midfielders bar Meyer, who's not looking likely to start in the centre. I think this is why Roy continued putting Schlupp in the middle, to try to push us forward.

Worrying how someone that claims to have massive credibility and emphatically promised to never post on here again is still posting.

Well he has had a spell of a few decent games for us. The cynic in me feels it is a good time for him to turn up and get a move abroard, if the rumours of him being unhappy here for a number of years are true.

Hopefully I am wrong though and we have someone younger in our ageing squad and there are places for Max and Jairo in this team yet...

First name on the team sheet? I'm not against trying him there and seeing how he does but that seems a bit of a stretch.

Got MOTM for Saturday, really pleased for him

Moved country at 20 to play for a manager who was gone a month later. Since then half the games he has started have been in the past month, and he has had just 3 other starts and 7 sub appearances in about 2 and a half years.

I would be shocked and disappointed if he WAS happy. Question is, when PVA is back, Schluup is back etc, let alone if we sign someone, is he going to be anywhere near the matchday squad again? If not, having put him in the spotlight a bit, we need to sell him by the end of the month. We might then get some of the £8m back.

I heard saturday that when he reaches so many first team games by the end of this season we pay Ajax another million pounds.

He's very tidy on the ball, as you'd expect from an Ajax graduate. I'm very interested to see him in a more central role. Hope he gets a chance. Those in front of him aren't irreplaceable.