Henry

[Royal Rother]

Coppell has always been credited with handling young players very sensitively, providing a framework that will only gradually expose them to the pressure of the full rigours of 1st team football at the highest level that he believes they might ultimately prove capable of playing at.

I would love to see a 1st team chock-full of ex-Academy youngsters taking to the pitch on a Saturday afternoon and I am sure Coppell does too, but he will not jeopardise their long-term futures in the game by bringing them all in too early, hence sending them out on loan where they will get a chance to grow up, benefit from experienced pros around them, and, if they are made of the right stuff, come back to RFC bigger and better for it.

If he doesn't think Henry was ready for an extended spell in our 1st team (and that therefore he'd be better off getting games under his belt in a lower league) then that's good enough for me. I don't mean to appear unquestioning of his judgment but he clearly knows far more about what is good for young players than every single one of us put together so I really do think we should trust him on these issues.

[Hoop Blah]

Agree to an extent RR, and we sometimes seem to want the youngsters thrown in a bit early, but I think Coppell has shown he is perhaps a bit too tentative with them and there have been times over the Coppell's time here that I think he should've given them their chances more.

As for Henry not doing well when he came into the side, and being worse than Kebe, I think that's well wide of the truth. Henry had quiet moments in games yes, and like the rest of the team he didn't have the best of games against Blackpool, but he still made very good contributions against Birmingham (he put in some great crosses and played a few sublime passes that would've had Matejovsky fans going wild if he'd have made them) and Norwich (came off the bench and put some urgency in the side before setting up Long with a perfect cross).

Unlike Kebe, Henry very rarely lost the ball through having the basic footballing skills of Boris Johnson, and having some ability on the ball meant that we at least tried to pass the ball with him out wide more than relying on the pace of Kebe.

I don't think he was the sole answer to our problems on the wing but I do think he should've been part of the answer.

[juanpablo]

he has an attitude problem and thats speaking to insiders at the club


been a big time charlie for a long time we will see if the loan spell has woken him up

[Hoop Blah]

I think he's always been pretty arrogant from what I can gather watching him, does that make him any different to many others in the first team?

[Plymouth_Royal]

yep. he may have alot of arrogance and i remember dion dublin talking about him before the brum game saying "...he would say he's a very good player..." but unlike certain players at the club that have been throwing there toys out the pram wanting a transfer, he wants to play. he's a reading lad and he turned down chelsea so he could make it with us. i hope he breaks into the team regardless if coppell is here or not and shows him what a good player he is.

[juanpablo]

I think he's always been pretty arrogant from what I can gather watching him, does that make him any different to many others in the first team?

no but even if they are on his level of "big time charlieness" they have made it as pros. He on the other hand is in the youth and reserves, if he wont knuckle down in that enviroment im sure coaches and managers know whats waiting down the road............

[Harry Carry]

You can talk all you like about Readings younger players, but they're never going to be great with the likes of Eamon Dolan teaching them!

Reading never have and never will produce a young World class player.

[Royal Rother]

And the last young World Class player Chelsea produced would be...? Just out of interest.

[T.R.O.L.I.]

he has an attitude problem and thats speaking to insiders at the club

I've heard the same - and also that he's had a personality clash with Coppell (like Lita) - at the end of the day, there's only going to be one winner if a player clashes with the manager.

Should SC leave in the summer, it may be that James Henry starts to feature more regularly (especially if Brendan Rogers becomes the new manager). It may also be that he decides it's time to move on. Only time will tell.

Agreed with Mags though - LOLZ @ the Kebe haters.

[Ian Royal]

You can talk all you like about Readings younger players, but they're never going to be great with the likes of Eamon Dolan teaching them!

Reading never have and never will produce a young World class player.

Why on earth would we want to produce a world class player? They wouldn't play for us.

[TBM]

And the last young World Class player Chelsea produced would be...? Just out of interest.

Errm John Terry - current England Captain

[winchester_royal]

And the last young World Class player Chelsea produced would be...? Just out of interest.

Errm John Terry - current England Captain

And he emerged 10 years ago.......what have they been doing since in that academy?

[TBM]

And the last young World Class player Chelsea produced would be...? Just out of interest.

Errm John Terry - current England Captain

And he emerged 10 years ago.......what have they been doing since in that academy?

I wouldn't say Terry was world class 10 years ago?........

[OLLIE KEARNS]

Much as I would like to see James Henry emerge into the Reading first team I just don't see it happening in the near term. At least not in a side that would challenge at the top of the Championship. In many ways he is a poor man's David Beckham in that he lacks pace and doesn't have a trick. He does hower, keep the ball and pass / cross well.
When he played earlier this year we lost the threat of getting in behind on the right flank which makes us much easier to defned against. The one thing Kebe does is get in behind defences on at least a couple of occasions each match. If he had any compusure once he got there then he'd be playing in the Premier League but that's another matter.
If James continues to play wide then average Champ / top League 1 might be his level. However, I do wonder if he might eventually play central midfield though as some of his attributes would seem better suited to that role.

[Hoop Blah]

I agree that Henry lacks that extra yard that makes him quick quick, but having seen him give Ashley Cole a hard time and get round him on a number of occassions, and seen him get round the back of the Birmingham left back AND deliver quality balls into the box, I have to disagree Ollie.

It sounds like I'm building him up here, but as I said before I don't think he's the be all an end all, but I do think he has the qualities to play at this level.

Personally I'd liken him much more to David Bentley than Beckham, partly because he's not quite the top level perform Beckham was at times and partly because he does have the relative pace that Beckham didn't.

[Ian Royal]

Henry strikes me as less epectacular than Kebe, less quick and less tricky, but much much more reliable when it comes to delivering an end product. For that reason I say IN.

[brendywendy]

th eonly time ive seen him deliver is in that cup game

in the league he looked out of his depth IMO- or at least much more nervous


id still have him in the squad though

[Ian Royal]

th eonly time ive seen him deliver is in that cup game

in the league he looked out of his depth IMO- or at least much more nervous


id still have him in the squad though

Kebe's looked out of his depth in at least 15 games this season though. Henry allegedly 1 or 2.

[strap]

You can talk all you like about Readings younger players, but they're never going to be great with the likes of Eamon Dolan teaching them!

Oh be quiet! Eamon Dolan is the best thing that's happened to RFC youth football since Ted bloody Drake!!!!! The current crop of Pearce, Kelly, Karacan, Baggie, MacDonald, Henry, Cox (stupidly let go for peanuts), Church, Anderson to name just 9 that I can remember off the top of my head, could easily form the backbone of a pretty decent RFC Championship side in 2 or 3 years.

[brendywendy]

th eonly time ive seen him deliver is in that cup game

in the league he looked out of his depth IMO- or at least much more nervous


id still have him in the squad though

Kebe's looked out of his depth in at least 15 games this season though. Henry allegedly 1 or 2.

oh i dunno, 15 is pushing it
plus henry didnt get to the byline, or put in a decent cross in those league games either.

at least kebe does a couple of things every game that either get the ball into teh area, or cause utter chaos in the oppo defence
even if they end up being overshadowed by the 100 times he cocks it all up