Nigel Pearson doesn't rate Matt Mills

[carlhltid]

And I think Wes Morgan will be 3rd choice behind St. Ledger and Bamba once the dust settles. Wait and see, I suppose.

Morgan was also in the team of the year last year. Arguably he's an upgrade from Hobbs at a similar price.

The only really shitty deal here was signing Mills for £3 million+.

i agree

[sphericalfox]

A lot of this seems like Pearson showing the players that he's taking no bull from the squad and will sacrifice even the high earning/transfer fee players, including the captain.

Some of the comments in this thread are puzzling, but I can understand where they are coming from, regardless if I agree with them or not.

When SSL allegedly kicked up a stink about Mills being picked over him, lots of individuals joined together to voice their opinion that SSL was in fact rubbish to start with and another Sven waste of money. They indicated that he had a bad attitude historically, and that he wouldn't have the quality to play as backup, nevermind in the first team.

Now at the time, and when we signed him I felt and still feel that SSL is a good player and at times can be excellent. People sometimes don't remark on his workrate and sometimes diehard for the cause attitude on the pitch. He does have a tendency to through his head/face into some precarious positions in a heroic attempt to block a ball at times. This should be a prerequesite for all good defenders - never shirking from a challenge. A good defender should have a lumpy head, and a crooked face. Thems the rules!

Mills came here with a big price tag, certainly for a defender, but with the supposed competition for his signature, and the fact that he was both captain, and Reading's most consistant player, shows why we paid what we did in the end.

For me Mills struggled with the expectation at the start of the season, as did many of our players. It wasn't pretty, but he did settle, and when not playing with Bamba proved himself effective.

My only criticism is that he was made captain, perhaps because he had that own his CV, rather than he earned respect and pitch authority with the other players. I don't know what his relationship is with the rest of the team. Maybe one of the twitter-stalkers can say whether he is a regular in team outings, group outings, and appears relaxed and happy amongst friends.

Mills is a capable CB and could easily be of Premiership quality if he sorted himself out.

If the conclusion to this all is that Mills goes out on loan, simply because he refuses to be on the bench, then it's maybe it's been on the cards. Was in fact Morgan a replacement for Mills all along, rather than a replacement for SSL? It seems easier to swallow the financial loss to fans if the tale goes this direction. Call me cynical. Just a thought.

If Mills goes to Leeds, they won't be spending money to make him permanent, as the fee will be too high for them, how they can afford or would be willing to pay for his wages is another matter, but going to a promotion rival would be daft surely! Send him to Blackburn to replace Samba. They need a replacement and can afford hi wages. No damage done, and we won't have to hear about it.

Though, and I realise this is a long post, he decides to stay and fight his way back into the team (unlikely from the starkness of NP's interviews - though he intimated it was up to Mills), we then have an almighty fight for places at CB which can only be good for the clean sheets we will need to reach the impossible task of a playoffs place.