What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

Elm Park Kid
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What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by Elm Park Kid » 12 Feb 2018 10:29

Having Stam as manager . . . . . . Not replacing the Heineken van with another West Berks Brewery one . . . . Ian Royal. There you go, i've done the joke answers for you. . .

Seriously - I think it was buying Aluko rather than getting a new left back in. Had we bough a left back then we'd have had a pretty fixed defence, Gunter wouldn't have been out of position at any point and Bacuna could have established himself as our DM. Also it seemed like the wingers we were playing at the time were doing a fairly decent job and all this did was send McCleary into a strop.

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Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by Old Man Andrews » 12 Feb 2018 10:34

Ian Royal is not a joke, it is a lifestyle. The guys told me in another thread.

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Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by Sanguine » 12 Feb 2018 10:39

Elm Park Kid Having Stam as manager . . . . . . Not replacing the Heineken van with another West Berks Brewery one . . . . Ian Royal. There you go, i've done the joke answers for you. . .

Seriously - I think it was buying Aluko rather than getting a new left back in. Had we bough a left back then we'd have had a pretty fixed defence, Gunter wouldn't have been out of position at any point and Bacuna could have established himself as our DM. Also it seemed like the wingers we were playing at the time were doing a fairly decent job and all this did was send McCleary into a strop.


Thing is, when you have Bacuna and Blackett in the squad, and both should be perfectly capable of playing the left-back role Stam wants, and Kermogant was injured, you can understand why he bought a forward instead.

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Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by Sanguine » 12 Feb 2018 10:40

I don't know about our biggest mistake this season, but our biggest loss has been Danny Williams' energy in midfield.

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Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by Hound » 12 Feb 2018 10:47

Obita got injured after the window ended didn't he? In hindsight we've really struggled at LB but if Obita had been fit it wouldn't have been an issue

I think the biggest mistake in hindsight was trusting that Yann would come back and hit the ground running and play as he did last year. So as an extension of that, buying Aluko instead of a CF. And as an extension of that, seemingly having a shopping list of CFs who weren't going to be released by their club

There are/were certainly players we could have got hold of who would have made a massive difference, esp early season when we looked pretty good, but just lacking a CF


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Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by jar95 » 12 Feb 2018 10:55

Cardiff at home, felt like this could have been the moment we kicked on had we won.

Also bad money management - Aluko had been an okay signing if we had a bigger money pot, but to spend 70% + of the budget on him looks stupid now.

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Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by Theroyalbox » 12 Feb 2018 10:56

I think not sacking Stam at the start of January is going to prove to be our biggest mistake.

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Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by retro royal » 12 Feb 2018 10:56

Not getting decent coaching staff in for me, Stephen Reid was key last season, and the fact our displays are going from okay at the start of the season to terrible now, suggests something is amiss on the training field.

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Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by Hound » 12 Feb 2018 10:58

retro royal Not getting decent coaching staff in for me, Stephen Reid was key last season, and the fact our displays are going from okay at the start of the season to terrible now, suggests something is amiss on the training field.


on board with that as well


Old Man Andrews

Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by Old Man Andrews » 12 Feb 2018 11:00

Failure to evolve the playing style is the answer. If you do not evolve you die.

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John Smith
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Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by John Smith » 12 Feb 2018 11:19

I think it's all down to the failure to sign Dexter Blackstock

Elm Park Kid
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Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by Elm Park Kid » 12 Feb 2018 11:23

Hound Obita got injured after the window ended didn't he? In hindsight we've really struggled at LB but if Obita had been fit it wouldn't have been an issue

I think the biggest mistake in hindsight was trusting that Yann would come back and hit the ground running and play as he did last year. So as an extension of that, buying Aluko instead of a CF. And as an extension of that, seemingly having a shopping list of CFs who weren't going to be released by their club

There are/were certainly players we could have got hold of who would have made a massive difference, esp early season when we looked pretty good, but just lacking a CF


Well he hasn't played for us this season. Maybe it was thought that he would come back quicker and suffered a further injury after August.

Still - given that Obita isn't actually a left back himself I would have just bit the bullet and bought one in. He's a fine Championship player but if we ever got promoted we'd have to buy one anyway.

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genome
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Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by genome » 12 Feb 2018 11:25

If we go down - not sacking Stam after the Burton home match.


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Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by Old Man Andrews » 12 Feb 2018 11:26

genome If we go down - not sacking Stam after the Burton home match.


Yep good shout, that was the time to do it. Possibly too late now, we just have to put up with it until summer.

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savage 4 england
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Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by savage 4 england » 12 Feb 2018 11:31

I think it mainly stems from a poor recruitment policy. We are buying players with bigger reputations, higher wages and "experience" from bigger leagues. We have gone against a policy that worked for many years of bringing in young players with potential from the lower leagues (and on far lower wages!).

This has benefited a number of teams with far smaller budgets than ours in this division. With the potential to sell on young players for now vastly obscene prices, and then re-investing the proceeds.

Yes, there is clearly problems with the brand of football and the manager. However, it always helps when you have better players and not necessarily ones with big undeserved reputations. Despite the problems with Stam, our squad is full of bang average players, which I remember pointing out in August.
Last edited by savage 4 england on 12 Feb 2018 11:33, edited 1 time in total.

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genome
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Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by genome » 12 Feb 2018 11:33

Old Man Andrews
genome If we go down - not sacking Stam after the Burton home match.


Yep good shout, that was the time to do it. Possibly too late now, we just have to put up with it until summer.


I was thinking yesterday, if we do go down, I have the feeling that the Gourlay will still want to keep Stam, and see if he can turn it around in League One. Perish the thought, but I can really see that happening.

Old Man Andrews

Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by Old Man Andrews » 12 Feb 2018 11:33

savage 4 england Despite the problems with Stam, our squad is full of bang average players.


Who came third last season........ Can't be that average.

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Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by Elm Park Kid » 12 Feb 2018 11:34

genome If we go down - not sacking Stam after the Burton home match.


I think that was the worst Reading game i've ever been to in terms of what happened on the pitch and the atmosphere. Which is a shame because I thought that the club did a really good job of promoting the 500th game and getting such a big crowd.

As someone that believes with sticking with managers though I honestly don't think you could fire Stam at that point. A manager that got you to the play off final out of nowhere and then had to deal with losing key players. Given that we weren't threatened by relegation then it would have been extremely unfair.

Old Man Andrews

Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by Old Man Andrews » 12 Feb 2018 11:36

genome
Old Man Andrews
genome If we go down - not sacking Stam after the Burton home match.


Yep good shout, that was the time to do it. Possibly too late now, we just have to put up with it until summer.


I was thinking yesterday, if we do go down, I have the feeling that the Gourlay will still want to keep Stam, and see if he can turn it around in League One. Perish the thought, but I can really see that happening.


I would find it hard to believe the Stam or Gourlay have the bottle and stomach for League 1. We would have to literally press the reset button at the club and start from scratch with the youngsters and a manager who has experience of promotions in that league. Lets hope it doesn't come to that as we would be in financial ruin if we go down.

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savage 4 england
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Re: What was the single biggest mistake we made this season?

by savage 4 england » 12 Feb 2018 11:38

Old Man Andrews
savage 4 england Despite the problems with Stam, our squad is full of bang average players.


Who came third last season........ Can't be that average.

19th, 17th, 3rd, 18th...that's where we have been.

We finished 3rd in a season of playing pretty crap football and ended up with a +4 GD. I think the mentality to achieve that last season was fantastic, but it didn't necessarily come from having a team of great players.

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