Brian's dilemma

[andrew1957]

Last season Brian played 4-2-3-1 and it worked well. Most of us agree that one of the main reasons for this is that we had Sig playing in the hole. Players who can actually undertake that role effectively are few and far between. Steven Gerrard comes to mind - but not many others. That Is why I was absolutely staggered that the club accepted the money for Sig. To me it was economic madness because if he had stayed we had a great chance of promotion and £60 -£80M or so for promotion to the PL. Instead we are now very unlikely to make much progress.

The dilemma for Brian is that he needs Sig replacement, but the chance of finding one within the current ranks seems to be diminishing by the day. I had some hope that McAnuff could do it, but he has disappointed there - as has Howard. I don't think that we have a player that can effectively play in that role at present. We could seek to recruit, but any player who can effectively play in that role will cost - oh a lot more than £7M - so unless we are incredibly lucky and find another 16-18 year old as good as Sig and develop them (which will take time) then trying to buy one is a waste of effort. We will just end up with players no better than we have already.

So does Brian continue to play 4-2-3-1 with limited success (because we don't have the personnel) or does he revert to 4-4-2. I know many are crying out for that option, but if we had played 4-4-2 against Swansea they would have completely dominated midfield and probably beaten us even more comfortably. If you play 4-4-2 against a team that plays and effective 4-5-1 (or 4-2-3-1) then you surrender midfield and end up playing hoof ball and cutting out midfield altogether - as we did all too often at the end of Steve Coppell's reign. At least then we had Kevin Doyle brilliantly holding up the ball. We cannot (or will not) afford as striker of that quality either.

In the end I think that perhaps sadly we will be forced to revert to 4-4-2 - more to survive than anything else, as we could yet be dragged back into a relegation struggle if we are not careful . 4-4-2 will mean we win as many games as we lose. It will mean mid table at best, but that is better than relegation.

I feel sorry for Brian. I am sure he would have wanted to keep Sig and really go for promotion this season - but sadly that opportunity has now been lost.

[PEARCEY]

^ From what I gather when we switched to 4-4-2 yesterday we looked better for it. At home we should be setting out a formation for the opposition to worry about and not the other way around.

[Snowball]

Noel Hunt

Play him in the hole and/or switch him to 442

[Ian Royal]

4-4-2 our wingers are too lightweight leaving us likely to be over-run in midfield. Plus they aren't at their best when hitting the byline and sticking in a cross. That simply isn't where Kebe & McAnuff's expertise lies. They are about taking people on and getting into the box.

4-4-2 worked for us last season to a certain extent because we could play Sig on the left allowing us more ball retention without losing the fight in the middle and counter his lack of pace and winger ability with Bertrand bombing beyond him. Neither Harte nor Armstrong can do that and we don't have anyone who could step in and the job Sig did there anyway.

4-2-3-1 though our forwards (certainly against Swansea) were isolated, Long can do some good holding up work but rarely looks like he'll get a chance to score. McAnuff has a fairly poor scoring record, which leaves us utterly reliant on Kebe. Howard is our best option for the hole, but I'd be interested to try Church or possibly Hunt, though I disagree with snowball that he is suited there.

Davies appears to be a player we've written off as not good enough, possibly with cause... but he would seem ideally suited to play in the hole. He's quick, energetic, attacking and has a decent socring record. We could do worse than recall him and give him a go.

Our problem is we are caught between two styles. Strikers suited to one, wingers suited to the other. I don't think there is a simple answer...

Considering 4-2-3-1 as a defensive formation takes it on far too simplistic a level. The way we set it up it is an attacking formation. Albeit one we're having trouble make work. 4-4-2 is certainly no more attacking, it's just a different set up.

[Millsy]

You play to the players you have.

We don't have the players for two strikers.

We now don't have the players for one striker.

The ball is in Madejski's court.

[West_Reading]

I don't think there's much of a dilemma. We're just missing Tabb IMO, once he's back we'll be a much better side. We've had a decent start to the season. We look hard to beat and i'm sure we'll pick up points in the next two games as we seem to play better away from home.

[Millsy]

Tbh the Reding squad is a bit like a car with two of its cylinders not working and here we all are trying to figure out the best exhaust, the best fuel type, the best aerodynamics, the best tyres etc to give it that extra horse power and neglecting the gaping deficit in the engine which is the loss of two cylinders!

We can try faff around the edges and try various people in "the hole" to try and make us a better side but ater losing Kitson, Doyle, Rasiak to money and Nunt to injury and lack of form, our gaping deficit is a decent striker. Tinker all we want with the team but until we have the OPTION of (i.e. not necessarily something to start with every time, but an OPTION) of a decent goalscorer we're p*ssing in the wind and will forever be starting with a lone striker whether playing at home or losing 1-0 with 30mins to go because we simply have no other reasonable choice.

[trueroyal1871]

We have one striker who works hard and makes for a good battering ram but has slightly limited technical ability and is not very tall - Long
We have one striker who is not very quick or mobile enough, and not a very good header - Hunt
We have one striker who is just not good enough at anything in particular, mediocre pace, mediocre finishing, not too strong in the air, typical 4th choice man at any other club - Church
Then there's Bignall, but we don't know how good he will turn out.

It seems to me that clearly we lack more than one striker!
Striker 1) someone who is fast, mobile, and a good finisher
Striker 2) Someone who is big, tall, strong, muscular and good at holding up the ball

So really, the problem is not so much that we lack a striker - we lack two of them!!

100% agree with that, it's what I said at work this afternoon.

[Rex]

It might be correct but will the club remedy the issues surrounding this deficiency. I'd be very surprised if it does.

[specialjon]

Andrew1957, i'm sorry but you'll get banned from this site soon if you continue to start threads that are actually interesting, thought provoking and accurate

I completely agree, he's got a difficult decision to make, I guess it all depends who is available on loan at the moment and then for transfer/loan in january. We all know the transfer market isn't like football manager and we can't just go out and buy jason koumas to play in the hole like you would do on FM. The main thing that McD did when he became manager was getting back to basics and seeing the short falls in personnel that we had. Hopefully he'll do the same soon, but as he has said a few times, it's about players being available.

[andrew1957]

Andrew1957, i'm sorry but you'll get banned from this site soon if you continue to start threads that are actually interesting, thought provoking and accurate

I completely agree, he's got a difficult decision to make, I guess it all depends who is available on loan at the moment and then for transfer/loan in january. We all know the transfer market isn't like football manager and we can't just go out and buy jason koumas to play in the hole like you would do on FM. The main thing that McD did when he became manager was getting back to basics and seeing the short falls in personnel that we had. Hopefully he'll do the same soon, but as he has said a few times, it's about players being available.

Many thanks for the kind words - I await my ban!!

I think the Bristol game proved the point. We played both Long and Hunt but they are too similar and again failed to get a goal. As I said above I think Brian will be forced to go 4-4-2 most games from now on - unless he wants to limit the damage (which he might well do on Saturday and against say QPR). with our attacking player options 4-4-2 against a good side could become embarrassing in terms of the scoreline I fear.

I feel really sorry for Brian. I think he is making all the right calls, but he simply he has no options. No Sig and no Rasiak to come off the bench and be a big target man to create a nuisance. I really fear we are somewhat in the mire.

[Z175]

Agreed it was a shock to read something sensible.

You're right about the basic finances of promotion v selling the Sig, but promotion was far from guaranteed in that QPR and Bellamy imspired Cardiff would not necessarily be second to a Sigurdsson powered Reading. Therefore it would have represented a gamble. At the rewards of 60m+ for promotion, it would seem like a a bet you would fancy taking. However I think it is clear Madejski has (or is! )no source of finance to fund this seasons wagebill so the stake we gambled with would have been racking up an overdraft of 6m, selling him anyway next summer, and having to do a Watford style firesale and play kids in order to avoid adminisitration. In short, I think the odds were good but the stake was in reality one we weren't ever going to gamble.

I think our main issue with 4-4-2 is surely the lack of strikers. Noel Hunt is very willing and able and almost world class in the air but is not clinical and has just spent a year out of football - unsurprisingly he looks rusty.

Simon church has evidently not kicked on. His glimpses of potential seem to have relapsed into second season syndrome of things not coming off. It can't have helped his morale that he finds hitting the back of the net harder than Leroy Lita behind a camera. Frankly I'm a big fan of him as he offers a Rooney-lite combination of pace, power and shooting. Composure and confidence will see him a premierleague player i'm sure, but too late for us this year. Meanwhile Shane is giving everything for the team at the moment but a lot of the time he wins the ball doesn't yield an opportunity for us. He seems more interested in winning personal duels than getting off a shot. I think if he sometimes played more on the back of the defence or looked to get off a shot more we could keep the 4-5-1.

The main point in defence of 4-5-1 is that Kebe and McAnuff(and now HRK) look like our only creative players. All are currently tracking back and defending for the team like its cup final day - maybe the whole point of the formation is to release them up front. Should we gamble and release them? I think Karacan, Howard and Tabb as a middle 3 in a 4-3-3 means we don't really need a Sigurdsson figure if Kebe and McAnuff can get back to their best.

[PistolPete]

So if promotion really is good for a clubs finances, why are Reading skint??

It seems that the only financially sound thing to do was sell Sig for 7m (+saved wages) and hope that one of our large squad could fill the 'hole'.

Due to the bid coming so late, we had no time to replace him either.

I agree the 4-2-3-1 is the best formation, mainly because we have great ball winnners (relative to championship players; karacan, gunnarsson, tabb and now even Armstrong), our wingers need licence to get forward as they are also great assets that shouldn't be shackled by defensive duties, and our strikers are rubbish, so let's use one instead of two of them!

Next priority is to buy a sig replacement and quite possibly a striker, problem is we could do with losing whomsoever fails to step up in thr next couple of months.

Having said all that, we are still in the mix and that's all that matters!

[howser]

The bit that concerns me is what mix we are in ? at the "top or Bottom" of the table ?

[Royalee]

Dear Brian,

Please stop playing a full back in central midfield when he is only capable of using one foot, has no idea positionally and is a liability there.

Please stop playing Jobi McAnuff in central midfield when he is a winger.

Please stop playing Shane Long up front when he has yet to muster a goal from open play in the entirety of pre season or competitive games (6 months?)

Please stop flapping your hands about on the touchline like a PE teacher.

Please stop telling our team to hoof the ball up to our useless strikers, giving the ball away needlessly.

Please stop telling Jem Karacan to hook the ball along the pitch instead of doing what he's good at and passing it.

Please tell Adam Federici how to catch a cross.

Please use our promising youngsters like Jake Taylor and Michail Antonio instead of the same players every week who have performed poorly.

Please teach Simon Church what to do when he has a free header six yards out.

Please play Noel Hunt up front next week with Kebe in behind, McAnuff and Antonio on the flanks and Karacan and Tabb if fit in the middle.

Please give Madejski a slap for me and tell him to stop pissing his work down the drain by failing to reinvest.

Thank You.

[PistolPete]

Please stop playing Jobi McAnuff in central midfield when he is a winger.

Please play Noel Hunt up front next week with Kebe in behind, McAnuff and Antonio on the flanks and Karacan and Tabb if fit in the middle.

So many great points (especially the one about giving the chairman a slap), but when Kebe is the Championships form player on the wing, why not play him on the wing!

[Snowball]

McDermott has had a go-for-a-win policy, which I've thought makes total sense.
Two wins, and 4 losses is as good as six draws, etc


But I notice on the main site that he's suddenly talking about getting 0-0 draws.

Are we about to see a big change?

[Royalee]

Please stop playing Jobi McAnuff in central midfield when he is a winger.

Please play Noel Hunt up front next week with Kebe in behind, McAnuff and Antonio on the flanks and Karacan and Tabb if fit in the middle.

So many great points (especially the one about giving the chairman a slap), but when Kebe is the Championships form player on the wing, why not play him on the wing!

I think because of his pace he'd still be a massive goal threat down the middle and that would mean we could utilise 3 wingers instead of two, which would suit us better than using Long or Church.

[readingbedding]

Get Paul Jewell in!

[Royalee]

Get Paul Jewell in!

He'd do a better job than McDermott, not that that's difficult - they only need to be taught how to pass a football.

What would you do then Mr Promotion Party? Are you happy with how things have panned out since we sacked Rodgers? Is the football entertaining enough for you?