Welcome back Brian!

[Oilroyal]

To quote from the BBC match report ... Williams' eye-catching strike from Hal Robson-Kanu's flick-on

[AthleticoSpizz]

3.....yes 3 points come in many different ways

Chuffed to oxf*rd that Brian has hit the ground running

[3points]

He's probably the closest we have in the senior squad to back up for Sa's physical presence leading the line. That is admittedly highlighting a big old flaw in the squad.

I understand him being used upfront. Wasn't great, was ok, no worse. Did a job. And I've spent plenty of time frustrated at his apparent amble around the pitch in the past and in particular his lack of commitment to challenges or chasing down semi-lost causes. Definitely worked harder today.

Mind you, going 4-4-2 with that line up I'd have stuck him on the left, McCleary on the right and Blackman up top, personally. Not that if I was in charge we'd have been playing 4-4-2. I expect we'd also have three fewer points though, so all's well.

He offers a bit more up front for me than Sa, just because he's a bit quicker and can "run the channels" . He also doesn't fall over as much trying to buy fouls. Given he's been out for a few weeks I thought he lasted OK. I expected Sa to come on, but I think McShane was quite 100% for the last 20 minutes so Brian may have kept the final sub in reserve, just in case.

I thought it worked OK today

[wingnut]

Mind you, going 4-4-2 with that line up I'd have stuck him on the left, McCleary on the right and Blackman up top, personally.

My thoughts too.
Also thought HRK did ok- not spectacular but alright. I thought Gareth was far poorer. Piazon was played in the correct position for a change and looked good.

[Royal Ginger]

HRK had one of those battling performances we saw so often from Noel Hunt. The thing that let him down in my opinoion was useless runs once he'd done a good job of digging the ball out and dropping it back to Mcleary/Piazon/Blackman.

I quite liked Clarke and would have given him a bit longer, but you always had the feeling that the first half was as good as it's going to get. After half time we'd often be found out and on the back foot. One game in, yes, but i can't remember a time when Clarke made a formation/personnel change that had the impact that Brian's did at half time today.

[Ian Royal]

Mind you, going 4-4-2 with that line up I'd have stuck him on the left, McCleary on the right and Blackman up top, personally.

My thoughts too.
Also thought HRK did ok- not spectacular but alright. I thought Gareth was far poorer. Piazon was played in the correct position for a change and looked good.

There's not much in it with most of them tbh.

Hopefully Taylor or Obita will be back soon (or we get a replacement) and we can maybe push Quinn into midfield and go 4-3-3 with some combination of three of Blackman, Vydra, HRK, Piazon, McCleary and Sa. Probably Blackman, Sa, Vydra.

But I expect Brian will stick to what he knows and 4-4-2. Which is a bit of a waste of our oodles of talented midfielders (once they're fit) and our range of quality wide forwards in Blackman (that still fees strange), Vydra, Piazon, and HRK (also a bit strange). I think we're stronger at wide forward than we are for genuine wingers.

[Top Flight]

Nothing can be judged or compared after just one game with Brian in charge. He's only had a day to work with the players and find out what's been going on. All he can really say to them at this point was just to go out, work hard and do your best.

The Championship is an absolute grind and war of attritution. Matches are close fought encounters with little between the teams. Today saw two very hard working teams fight it out. The difference being an outstanding Williams strike and a couple of match winning saves from Bond. It could just have easily ended Reading 0 Blackburn 1.

Nothing can be judged right now.

What we do know is that Brian has proven in the past that his team more often than not has the edge in these tight matches.

The only transfer that we really need to make to ensure that we will have the edge for the second half of the season is a top drawer keeper. We need the man who is going to be our number one keeper for the next 5 to 10 years. He needs to go out and find us a new Marcus Hahnemann for the next decade.

Whilst Bond didn't put a foot wrong today, I can't see Bond and certainly not Al-Habsi being our top reliable keeper for the next 5 to 10 years.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Soooooo far from happening but

Let's get Feds back with Marcus as GK coach and Sal Bibbo as GK manager

[Top Flight]

I'd love to see Feds come back. He was a great keeper. But due to his age, he probably aint gonna be our top keeper for the next decade.

We may be better off looking towards Alex McCarthy....

Anyway, McDermott is the ex Arsenal scout. I'm sure he can figure it out. He must have spotted one or two really strong Hahnemann-esque goalkeepers that we could bring in to be our number one for the next 10 years.

[Steve_Upper_West]

He's not the Messiah.............

He might be...... if he manages to make Piazon a vital part of this team !!

[Longhorn1970]

Soooooo far from happening but

Let's get Feds back with Marcus as GK coach and Sal Bibbo as GK manager

never come back

Doubt we could afford Federici under the new owners who made it known the wage bill was too high. Wasn't he offered a new deal and turned it down ? Bond looks ok at this level and is a good prospect although his fringe worries me sometimes !

[CountryRoyal]

Soooooo far from happening but

Let's get Feds back with Marcus as GK coach and Sal Bibbo as GK manager

never come back

Doubt we could afford Federici under the new owners who made it known the wage bill was too high. Wasn't he offered a new deal and turned it down ? Bond looks ok at this level and is a good prospect although his fringe worries me sometimes !

Same owners who have taken on the debt, production costs of new training ground (?), maintaining category 1/A academy status, 10+ players, 3 high profile loan signings with presumably not inconsiderable wages (one of which a joint record expenditure for a loan fee), compensation for sacking staff, hiring new staff...etc etc

Listen we don't know exactly how the costs work out to those saved from players cut over the summer but I have seen little this season to suggest we need to be overtly frugle ffp aside.

[Longhorn1970]

We were talking about Federici, but yes the operating costs are undoubtedly considerable which will take care of several sponsorship deals, but it's clear some players were on silly money. Federici was offered a new contract (presumably not meeting his expectations) and he walked away.
Nobody had heard of Piazon or Ola John unless you follow Dutch soccer or the Bundesliga, young players with some ability maybe but not exactly household names ...

[CountryRoyal]

Nobody had heard of Piazon or Ola John unless you follow Dutch soccer or the Bundesliga, young players with some ability maybe but not exactly household names ...

Speak for yourself.

Whilst Piazon was known more purely because of his parent club there were still a hefty amount of people that knew of him, less so with John but there were some of us. Hence the massive creaming at the prospect of the exciting signings.

[CountryRoyal]

We were talking about Federici, but yes the operating costs are undoubtedly considerable which will take care of several sponsorship deals, but it's clear some players were on silly money. Federici was offered a new contract (presumably not meeting his expectations) and he walked away.

I suspect with Feds with we could have offered him more money than Bournemouth (hypothetically) and he still would have moved on. He wanted to prove himself in the prem again, he got his chance and he took it.

[SCIAG]

I'd love to see Feds come back. He was a great keeper. But due to his age, he probably aint gonna be our top keeper for the next decade.

I don't think we've ever had the same first choice goalkeeper for a decade. In any case, Federici is younger than Marcus was when we signed him.

It would be nice, but I don't think it's something you can plan for. We just need a goalkeeper who is Championship standard.

[Sutekh]

I'd love to see Feds come back. He was a great keeper. But due to his age, he probably aint gonna be our top keeper for the next decade.

I don't think we've ever had the same first choice goalkeeper for a decade. In any case, Federici is younger than Marcus was when we signed him.

It would be nice, but I don't think it's something you can plan for. We just need a goalkeeper who is Championship standard.

Steve Death, 1970 - 1981. Total class.

[Longhorn1970]

Nobody had heard of Piazon or Ola John unless you follow Dutch soccer or the Bundesliga, young players with some ability maybe but not exactly household names ...

Speak for yourself.

Whilst Piazon was known more purely because of his parent club there were still a hefty amount of people that knew of him, less so with John but there were some of us. Hence the massive creaming at the prospect of the exciting signings.

Genius .. most of us had no idea who they were and saw the signings for what they were, young players who are not established, affordable and hungry for a chance in English football. Piazon looks like he did well at Vitesse Arnhem (wiki) but all that serves to prove is the contrast between the Dutch top flight and the Championship ..

[CountryRoyal]

Maybe so but don't be so quick to assume your own ignorance is representative of all.

[Longhorn1970]

Maybe so but don't be so quick to assume your own ignorance is representative of all.

No maybe about it .. So those if us who don't follow the careers of loanees from Chelsea and Benfica are ignorant now lol !