Have any of the players spoken out on where it went wrong?

[yappy]

While I agree supporters can affect players confidence, there is some rubbish in this thread. All players know criticism comes with the job, and you just have to get on with it. How someone can say the reason Kebe didn't make a simple pass to Kitson to get a goal at Burnley, was down to the fans, is beyond me. If Kebe can't take some criticism (and lets face it, I've seen players get a lot more stick) well he's in the wrong job.

[TBM]

Surely its the managements job to drive confidence into a player

Reading (thats reading as in looking at words) Watfords view on Rodgers and what he's done to the players who were shit at the start of the season, it seems he's given them the confidence to be superb post xmas - surely it was Coppell/Downs/Dillon etcs job to give Kebe the confidence to be a quality player. Nothing to do with the fans as EVERY fan of EVERY club is critical when not winning.

[roberto_11]

Anyone remember how much stick David Beckham got after the 98 world cup, and how the season after he inspired Man Utds treble winning season playing out of his skin??

Kebe is shit, so it Hunt. Mentality is part of the game im afraid. From my experience playing sport, it can make up to 50% of the difference!

Lets hope the both oxf*rd off

[boy1985]

look we've all had a laugh haven't we, but we had better get off their backs now because they will play sh*t in sweden otherwise

[yuomi]

Maybe the players lost the dressing room, confidence was so low at home, and there seemed to be nothing that Coppell could do, we have no idea why, and possibly never will have.

How about, "Some players, especially both wingers, had their confidence shot but vicious criticism"?

LOL! poor them.

Don't be a dummy. It's not about being cute and posting clever Kebe-hating threads or SHunt-hating threads,
or booing our players on the pitch, IT'S ABOUT WINNING GAMES.

Kebe is a confidence player. Without any doubt, the negativity will have fed through to him
and made him make more mistakes.

Let's theorise for one moment. Say he hadn't been pilloried, hadn't been booed
and had managed that pass to Kitson at Burnley, and that Kits hadn't been too demoralised
and had managed to score. We'd've been 1-0 up, deservedly so, probably not lost the penalty,
not had the sending off, then we'd've come back to the Mad and won.

It's so easy to be a loudmouth on this board or boo players at games, but the negativity WILL make players even less effective


Now cue a load of "look how funny I am" posts.

Supporters? Pah![/quote]


tbf its not like we didnt give kebe a chance on his arrival (see malian pele etc). i remember having his debate a few games in, when hed done nothing but wobble about like bambi on ice and run really really really fast. everyone loved him everytime he was on the ball, the roar was deafening and we were all really excited to have this exotic french 2nd division reject running our wing(s).

and then the misplaced passing didnt stop. his touch didnt get any better. he never smiled. he was truculent towards everyone and the flashes of brilliance were massively outweighed by nothing of any footballing clarity or definition.

we gave kebe a chance. any 'confidence footballer' could see that the fans were willing him to be what he and ssc (and NOT the belly laughing french fans and media) said he could be. he didnt live up to that expectation and the warmth we showed him to start with understandably flickered and died.

hth.

[Snowball]

While I agree supporters can affect players confidence, there is some rubbish in this thread. All players know criticism comes with the job, and you just have to get on with it. How someone can say the reason Kebe didn't make a simple pass to Kitson to get a goal at Burnley, was down to the fans, is beyond me. If Kebe can't take some criticism (and lets face it, I've seen players get a lot more stick) well he's in the wrong job.

CRITICISM, whether or not it's constructive is one thing

Foul, vitriolic abuse, is another, especially when it goes on and on and on.

We had it with Shane Long WHO ENDED THE SEASON WITH THE BEST STRIKE RATE IN THE CLUB

We had it with S Hunt, with Kebe, with Harper.

We had posts saying Mooney is crap, a Sunday League player who will never score a goal in the championship, a total dud

Oh and the fat Yank with short arms?

The knee-jerkers attacked Bike, have lambasted Matejovsky, slammed rosenior.

It's only six weeks ago it was being posted that Tabb would never be good enough to play for us, now he's a hero.



How on God's Earth can this sort of thing HELP THE CLUB?


Too many of you "get off" on opening your fat, mindless gobs on line (and sadly, some, at games)
when you would never have the guts face to face.


Countless managers have said confidence is a delicate thing and our away form shows that
the players were unhappy playing in front of the mindless at the Mad Stad.



I am not defending any of these players, but if you get told you're shit every day, day after day,
of course you will lose confidence. Don't risk getting caught on the ball, hoof it.

And then, of course, the mindless can complain, WHY DON'T YOU TRY TO PLAY FOOTBALL?

[boy1985]

christ

[Snowball]

we gave kebe a chance. any 'confidence footballer' could see that the fans were willing him to be what he and ssc (and NOT the belly laughing french fans and media) said he could be. he didnt live up to that expectation and the warmth we showed him to start with understandably flickered and died.

hth.

NOPE, THEN IT TURNED INTO THE FOULEST ABUSE

That's the point. I have no problem with people thinking a player is not living
up to expectations, or is past-it. I don't have a problem with harsh criticism
for stupidity or not trying.

It's the level of vitriol, the nastiness, the bigotry, the near-racism (eg Hunt = Pikey hitch your caravan to your Porsche stuff)


Basically, a list of non-footballers, probably most of them fat fnucks with small IQs
think they have a tiny bit of power. They'd be like lambs face to face with "the fat Yank"

[Snowball]

christ

Yes my child? (and please Capitalise my name)

[yuomi]

did you accompany that with storming about the room, knocking things off he mantle piece and pummeling your fists into the palm of your hand?

[Snowball]

While I agree supporters can affect players confidence, there is some rubbish in this thread. All players know criticism comes with the job, and you just have to get on with it. How someone can say the reason Kebe didn't make a simple pass to Kitson to get a goal at Burnley, was down to the fans, is beyond me. If Kebe can't take some criticism (and lets face it, I've seen players get a lot more stick) well he's in the wrong job.

Criticism does not have to equal vitriolic abuse

[boy1985]

we gave kebe a chance. any 'confidence footballer' could see that the fans were willing him to be what he and ssc (and NOT the belly laughing french fans and media) said he could be. he didnt live up to that expectation and the warmth we showed him to start with understandably flickered and died.

hth.

NOPE, THEN IT TURNED INTO THE FOULEST ABUSE

That's the point. I have no problem with people thinking a player is not living
up to expectations, or is past-it. I don't have a problem with harsh criticism
for stupidity or not trying.

It's the level of vitriol, the nastiness, the bigotry, the near-racism (eg Hunt = Pikey hitch your caravan to your Porsche stuff)


Basically, a list of non-footballers, probably most of them fat fnucks with small IQs
think they have a tiny bit of power. They'd be like lambs face to face with "the fat Yank"

look stop having a go will you? i am losing my confidence and its taking me ages to find the post button.

[yappy]

Abuse?? My god. Kebe doesn't get half of the stick that I've seen some players get. Andy Hughes got it far worse towards his latter stages of his time at Reading, and even that wasn't that bad. As I said, if you can't handle CRITICISM and rowdy fans shouting at you in a game, well your in the wrong job.

[yuomi]

we gave kebe a chance. any 'confidence footballer' could see that the fans were willing him to be what he and ssc (and NOT the belly laughing french fans and media) said he could be. he didnt live up to that expectation and the warmth we showed him to start with understandably flickered and died.

hth.

NOPE, THEN IT TURNED INTO THE FOULEST ABUSE

That's the point. I have no problem with people thinking a player is not living
up to expectations, or is past-it. I don't have a problem with harsh criticism
for stupidity or not trying.

It's the level of vitriol, the nastiness, the bigotry, the near-racism (eg Hunt = Pikey hitch your caravan to your Porsche stuff)


Basically, a list of non-footballers, probably most of them fat fnucks with small IQs
think they have a tiny bit of power. They'd be like lambs face to face with "the fat Yank"

sorry to disagree, but thanks bullshitmunch.

irrespective of how fragile your mental state might be, if youre kebe or hunt youre getting paid something like 18k PER WEEK (thats an average, dragged upwards by hunt) to play for the club. your job is to be a professional footballer. i would not say that the 'level of vitriol' levelled at kebe and hunt has been any worse than that i have heard elsewhere. it is certainly nowhere near what has been proffered to c.ronaldo, sol campbell or beckham over the years. if youre a sensetive flower who needs tucking in bed at night then its fair to say professional football is not the career for you. the fact is that kebe, regardless of any criticism or how nasty fat people hiding behind computer screens have been, has not progressd or improved as a footballer since he arrived. he hasnt shown anything of the potential promised to us. as such we are voiceing our frustration. as a paying fan i feel i have the right to be unhappy with this and to voice my discontent. im not a racist or a bigot and my criticism is purely based on his football talent (or lack thereof) rather than any personal attack (lets face it, bambi on ice isnt exactly like calling a finger painting a monet).

you cant go on a one man crusade to protect players egos because its crap. these people have an amazing opportunity to do something all of us would happily do for free and they get paid a stupidly large amount of money to do it. if i think hes being shit, il say it.

otherwise we'd all be sat around saying how lucky we are that hunt is the irish pele and kebe has had a fantastic season and was integral in our successgul promot- oh.

[Archie's penalty]

I agree with Snowball. I think some of the abuse of Kebe has been over the top. That doesn't mean he hasn't let us down at times.

*Sits back and awaits the attacks*

[papereyes]

I think some of the abuse of Kebe has been over the top. That doesn't mean he hasn't let us down at times.

*Sits back and awaits the attacks*

Then the people that attack you would be numpties.

Kebe has been effective, he has also been a lot less than effective.

I do think our players' individual stats have been somewhat overinflated by battering weak teams by many goals and not as deflated by several months of underperformance as they could have been.

[Dr Hfuhruhurr]

Kebe is a confidence player. Without any doubt, the negativity will have fed through to him
and made him make more mistakes.

Kebe isnt 12.

[Dr Hfuhruhurr]

(eg Hunt = Pikey hitch your caravan to your Porsche stuff)

I quite like that one. Can I nick it?

[TommyF]

Maybe the players lost the dressing room

I think the players knew exactly where the dressing room was, but only Marcus seemed to have any idea where the goal was and that fundamentally was our problem

[Royal Lady]

(eg Hunt = Pikey hitch your caravan to your Porsche stuff)

I quite like that one. Can I nick it?

He hasn't even got a porsche - he's got a BMW X5.