1-2-3-4-5-*-2-£-!-4-! is necessary nowdays because 4-4-2 is so outdated.... in league one. It’s not that formations pass their sell by date in isolation, it’s in response to the default formation change of all other teams. If the current convention is for five in midfield, four in midfield can stru...

morganb 7th in the League at the moment

Wild. I wonder if it’s my nostalgia of being a decent championship club that makes me feel our performances aren’t worthy of a play-off spot.

The strange thing is, we are always quite positive about our defensive players yet for the leaky defence constantly throwing away multiple goals per game we’d be winning matches with ease. Where do our defensive problems come from? Fullbacks don't cope with pace well. They also don't get enough sup...

The strange thing is, we are always quite positive about our defensive players yet for the leaky defence constantly throwing away multiple goals per game we’d be winning matches with ease.

Where do our defensive problems come from?

We didn’t have a shape. Lane and Doyle just wandered around seemingly at random. I thought it might be me being thick for not being able to figure out what our formation was (still possible). But it's been pretty difficult under LR. At first I thought it meant we were playing a more advanced and fl...

I don’t think he was trying to squeeze Keane in. He is generally known as being best as a number 10; which I guess is close enough to a CAM I'm no expert, but I can't find much about him being referred to as anything other than a striker. He's on record calling himself a striker in his RFC intervie...

Missed the game. Anyone have any idea how we lined up? BBC seemed to think it was a 4-3-2-1, but Dorsett being interchangably a CB and FB, we could have shaped up to be 3 at the back with Roberts and Nyambe WBs in a sort of 3-4-2-1, or obviously something fluid between the two. I was hoping the loss...

Shame. There was a spark about him that I liked. That he could play on the wing as well as fullback gave us options too. I'm not really sure which games - if any - led to him falling out of favour to the degree we'd bin him off, but all the best to him. Will always be remembered for being one of our...

The season got off to a terrible start, but it's looking much better now. There has been a clear improvement under LR, so that's good. Hopefully there's more improvement to come and we get into the play-offs. We just need to dawdle less. When we don't dawdle we seem to play well. We can overthink th...

Disappointing. Exeter quick out the gates to just pressure in an early goal, then sat back tight as fck to keep us from even breaking into the final third. Trouble is, we played into their gameplan by taking our time on the ball. The minute we passed it quicker, we broke their lines and scored. We d...

Hmm. My guess is that Keane is a ‘Stringer’ in a 4-2-3-1, coming inside to join Marriott with Roberts filling the width on the attack (3-2-3-2).

This is the sort of signing I like.

Turning out to be quite a window.

Best game I’ve seen in ages. Shame we didn’t get the result.

New fullbacks look incredible signings.

Snowflake Royal Yiadom needed to win that ball, once he doesn’t Cleary has too much space and pace, he's always beating him. McGoldrick in the right place always.

I think he’s gone to stick his toe in, but caught the ground. Cleary then passes him and poor Yids is tangled in his own feet.

Not as enthusiastic about this one; a loan so not really a building block for the future, but maybe key as a quick fix for this season, which in turn might yield rewards for us in the next. I can see the logic, even if it’s not getting me out of my seat in celebration. Will be interesting to see if ...

I think this is the sort of signing we should expect. Realistically we are in the market for players who haven’t set the world alight at their club of origin, but have the potential to flourish with us. It’s a punt, but I fail to see how league 1 sides can safely afford to bring in guaranteed qualit...

Alol at celebrating the cuisines and culture of Tilehurst and Whitley.

Can’t really think of much he did worthy of any comment beyond having an annoying surname.

Sometimes these things work out, sometimes they don’t, and it’s not always related to the player’s ability.

This might go against the grain, but I’m not convinced Savage is especially progressive in a forward role. He’s got a cracking left foot and his right is serviceable, but his default too often feels sideways or backwards. While he’s capable of a good pass, he can also be wasteful in possession. To ...

Ooer and all that. But I wondered if any brighter spark could elucidate why Savage might be preferred in the AM position over Wing? It’s happened a couple of times now, so it’s obviously something the gaffer wants to try out - we’ve either started with Savage, Wing and Doyle for Fraser to come on fo...