Ex-Portsmouth Defender Rocha On Trial
Tuesday, 25th Sep 2012 13:29

Former Portsmouth and Tottenham defender Ricardo Rocha is on trial at Playford Road this week. The 33-year-old left Pompey at the end of last season.

Blues manager Paul Jewell told the club site that the six-times-capped Portuguese international joined up with the club yesterday: “Ricardo is here for the week and we will take it from there.”

Santo Tirso-born Rocha played youth football with ARC Areias and started his senior career with FamalicÃ£o before moving on to Braga and Benfica. During five years with the Lisbon side he won the Portuguese League, Cup and Supercup and appeared in the Champions League.

In January 2007 he joined Tottenham for £3.3 million but having made only 16 first team starts and two sub appearances he moved on to Belgian side Standard Liege in the summer of 2009.

A year later he was off to Pompey, where he played until being released in May, making 71 starts and five appearances from the bench.

Last week one-time Bolton and West Brom centre-half Abdoulaye Meite was on trial with the Blues but Town are yet to take their interest any further.

The 33-year-old told the French press that he wasn't confident of winning a deal despite impressing Jewell, citing Town's current lowly position in the table and suggesting that the manager might not be persuade the Blues' money men to offer terms: "I am rather pessimistic, because he is not in a strong position at the moment because of the bad position of the team."

Photo: Action Images

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Edmunds5 added 14:55 - Sep 25

It doesn't bother me how old or young the player is, surely if he is solid and helps the defence he's worth signing?, it's fine to say 'he's too old' but I would be more worried if we went and got a 19 year old and stuck him at the back the whole season. The point is our defence is making errors and we need to sure it up because we are already in a scrap, if Rocha comes in and helps that problem I would sign him if he was 46. If we don't get somebody in because they're too old and we end up going down, people would say we lacked experience or a leader at the back and that we were forced to play Smith all season. I would rather a capable 33 year old that a dodgy 20 year old in our current situation.

Surco72 added 14:58 - Sep 25

I might be on my own but i still dont think our main issue is the centre backs it is the fact both our full backs cannot defend ,are constantly out of position and dont pick up their men ,let too many crosses come into the box too easily .
First goal saturday prime example Cresswell nowhere near his man cross comes straight through six yard box to Edwards man stood on own who pulls ball back to scorer .This happens far too often .

BoxerBlue added 14:58 - Sep 25 Get him in to steady the backline with higganarse would be a good signing IMHO
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mannos6 added 14:59 - Sep 25 One of harrys suggestions maybe?? Knows him from portsmouth and I think spurs......
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dirtydingusmagee added 15:07 - Sep 25 May as well wait now ,till Barnsleyb bash us ,then let Harry sort it out .Was thinking today how long its been since the supporters had anything to be happy about , jeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Come on ME a defender can wait now ,the horse as long bolted, lets get a the manager sorted .
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Michael11 added 15:13 - Sep 25 I agree i don't really care if they are 33 at the minute so long as they are good enough, but every time i've seen Rocha he's been awful...
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loudnproud added 15:16 - Sep 25 This is one of many that Harry put forward to ME over the weekend........interesting!
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kerryblue added 15:23 - Sep 25 Good Lord,who next?Gordon Mc Queen?????Pathetic Jewell resign now and let this club move forward ,your not up to the job
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kuyski added 15:27 - Sep 25 where's the future????
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StuartBrett8 added 15:29 - Sep 25 A short -term fix to save Jewell's job? I just hope we beat Barnsley
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ITFC_OWGS added 15:40 - Sep 25 Not the kind of player we need.. Someone younger and with potential!
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raycrawfordswig added 15:50 - Sep 25

irishtim added 15:51 - Sep 25 Michael Dawson on loan would be nice.Dreamworld.
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alfromcol added 15:51 - Sep 25 raycrawfordswig It wasn't this guy!
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chepstowblue added 15:52 - Sep 25 The cv is more impressive than the player.Has a tendency to kick the man and not the ball,unpopular at Spurs and poor when i saw him for for Pompey.Desperation is indeed the word.
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Edmunds5 added 15:58 - Sep 25 Is Meite still on trial by the way or has he been let go?
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 16:14 - Sep 25

These 30+ defenders with experience at a high level are usually looking for one last pay packet before retirement. Nothing wrong with that necessarily, but I bet they usually set rate themeselves pretty highly, with pay demands to match. If the money is not being released to tempt them (again, I'm not saying that it should be) then you can't really blame Jewell for that. The more I think about it, the more I feel it's Catch 22 for PJ.

NoelTheDub added 16:35 - Sep 25

Its pauls 8th or 9th choice cb on trail ,if its not his fault then the club has to look at its self.Players are not going to come here now because of the current state of the team and they are going to be judged on everything they do.Its going to be very hard to get out of this mess but I believe we have to depend on what we have at the moment on the pitch.We have more people on trail than the old bailey and we probably released more this year.COYB get us in mid table and get it sorted next season because it looks like they have faith in PJ.Iv lost mine......

StanwayBlue added 17:00 - Sep 25 He's only on trial! We need centre backs and PJ is looking at a few who are either unattached or for loan. The moaners on here ought to accept our place in the current world and the fact that our targets are limited!
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Bergholtblue added 17:02 - Sep 25

"The 33-year-old told the French press that he wasn't confident of winning a deal despite impressing Jewell, citing Town's current lowly position in the table and suggesting that the manager might not be persuade the Blues' money men to offer terms: "I am rather pessimistic, because he is not in a strong position at the moment because of the bad position of the team."

That says it all. Jewell has lost the confidence of the board! Taxi!!!!!!!

martleshamitfc added 17:05 - Sep 25 The last paragraph of this article says it all and why we do not sign anyone!
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blues1 added 17:24 - Sep 25

cant believe some people on here. its been mainly accepted by most town fans that our squad is too young this year and needs a few older, experienced players to balance this out. yet every time we bring an older player to the club either on loan, on trial, or sign him you're all moaning about it. look, i want pj gone as much as the rest of you, but willl not criticise every move he makes to improve matters. have to say that i would be surprised if this guy proves to be any good as didnt rate him when we played pompey 2 years ago, but would certainly be willing to give him the chance to prove me wrong.

Plums added 17:38 - Sep 25 Imaging going for a job interview and as you're walking through the building to the meeting room, you can hear all of the staff looking at you, googling your CV and muttering loudly amongst themselves about whether you'd be any good or not. How do you think you'd perform in the interview...?
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manualthetisfanclub added 18:13 - Sep 25 Can you still smell it,last time I smelt it was Friday when he signed higginbotham.......................................that's right pure DESPERATION!! It reeks of it!
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