How best to approach the rest of the season

[Snowflake Royal]

Do people not just enjoy watching football any more? Does everything really have to be promotion or disaster.


How best to approach the rest of the season? Play/watch games, try to win them and enjoy what's enjoyable. Then go again next season.

Football is a very fine margins game. Teams can quite easily go from looking very mediocre one minute, to the final piece clicking and going on an excellent run the next.

[Orion1871]

Do people not just enjoy watching football any more?[/b] Does everything really have to be promotion or disaster.


How best to approach the rest of the season? Play/watch games, try to win them and enjoy what's enjoyable. Then go again next season.

Football is a very fine margins game. Teams can quite easily go from looking very mediocre one minute, to the final piece clicking and going on an excellent run the next.

No, not really. All bogged down in tactical nonsense, and "systems", with no individual skill or expression encouraged. I end up looking at my phone during TV games these days. Look at the PL, who's on top? Boring set piece merchants, Arsenal. (Sorry Windemere Royal, I know they're your second team)

If I wasn't a Reading fan would I watch the sort of football we have served up this season? Probably not tbh.

[Millsy]

Looks to me as though this season is pretty much over already,

Best troll post ever and people are falling for it

8 points off playoffs with 2 games in hand. Good new manager, good new players, impressive form, Only 27 games played. Etc etc but “sEaSoN oVeR” and people are taking the bait. Top work traff

[Snowflake Royal]

Do people not just enjoy watching football any more?[/b] Does everything really have to be promotion or disaster.


How best to approach the rest of the season? Play/watch games, try to win them and enjoy what's enjoyable. Then go again next season.

Football is a very fine margins game. Teams can quite easily go from looking very mediocre one minute, to the final piece clicking and going on an excellent run the next.

No, not really. All bogged down in tactical nonsense, and "systems", with no individual skill or expression encouraged. I end up looking at my phone during TV games these days. Look at the PL, who's on top? Boring set piece merchants, Arsenal. (Sorry Windemere Royal, I know they're your second team)

If I wasn't a Reading fan would I watch the sort of football we have served up this season? Probably not tbh.

Sounds like you should find a different hobby tbh.

[MR. CYNICAL]

Looks to me as though this season is pretty much over already,

Best troll post ever and people are falling for it

8 points off playoffs with 2 games in hand. Good new manager, good new players, impressive form, Only 27 games played. Etc etc but “sEaSoN oVeR” and people are taking the bait. Top work traff

Not sure about a good new manager, as for impressive form, 2 points from the last 3 games, of which 2 were at home would suggest otherwise.
Think the 8000 attendance on Tuesday says it all!

[South Coast Royal]

Looks to me as though this season is pretty much over already,

Best troll post ever and people are falling for it

8 points off playoffs with 2 games in hand. Good new manager, good new players, impressive form, Only 27 games played. Etc etc but “sEaSoN oVeR” and people are taking the bait. Top work traff

Not sure about a good new manager, as for impressive form, 2 points from the last 3 games, of which 2 were at home would suggest otherwise.
Think the 8000 attendance on Tuesday says it all!

Two contrasting views but both with merits-just what you would want and expect on a website like this .

[Stranded]

Looks to me as though this season is pretty much over already,

Best troll post ever and people are falling for it

8 points off playoffs with 2 games in hand. Good new manager, good new players, impressive form, Only 27 games played. Etc etc but “sEaSoN oVeR” and people are taking the bait. Top work traff

Not sure about a good new manager, as for impressive form, 2 points from the last 3 games, of which 2 were at home would suggest otherwise.
Think the 8000 attendance on Tuesday says it all!

There is a reason why you don't look at form over 3 games, as it is too small a sample - yes 2pts from 9 isn't great but win tomorrow then its 5pts from 9 - over a 6 or 10 game run we are 10th - picking up 1.5 PPG over both runs or a 69pts season.

Not impressive but certainly more than good enough and means we are on for 66pts.

Over his tenure to date - we are picking up 1.69 PPG - or a 78pt season - that is impressive and if we continue it would get us to 70pts.

So yeah, more reasons to look up that down and far too early to right off a season.

In terms of the crowd, 2 home games in 4 days, and whilst that crowd was disappointing, we still have the 6th highest average attendance in the division this year.

[under the tin]

Some of the stuff on here

LR has scarcely got his feet under the table here. He's weighed up the contracted pro's he has inherited, signed specific players where he believes is necessary, and some of those those players are still bedding in.

Having what is perceived by our L1 peers as a flash stadium and training ground gets us precisely 0 extra points in this league.

In the years that we all have been following football, we frequently witness something called momentum, where winning becomes a habit.
Ipswich were in this very league but a few years ago, went up, and that momentum took them through the Champ like a dose of salts. Southampton did much the same, and our 106 season form carried little old us all the way up to 7th in the top flight.

LR is tasked with building a winning team in a results-based industry. Putting that jigsaw together might well require a close season to find the pieces he needs.

We're seeing a work in progress.

[tidus_mi2]

Some of the stuff on here

LR has scarcely got his feet under the table here. He's weighed up the contracted pro's he has inherited, signed specific players where he believes is necessary, and some of those those players are still bedding in.

Having what is perceived by our L1 peers as a flash stadium and training ground gets us precisely 0 extra points in this league.

In the years that we all have been following football, we frequently witness something called momentum, where winning becomes a habit.
Ipswich were in this very league but a few years ago, went up, and that momentum took them through the Champ like a dose of salts. Southampton did much the same, and our 106 season form carried little old us all the way up to 7th in the top flight.

LR is tasked with building a winning team in a results-based industry. Putting that jigsaw together might well require a close season to find the pieces he needs.

We're seeing a work in progress.

Agreed, isn't the argument typically that a new manager needs 3 transfer windows? LR has had one.

[South Coast Royal]

Some of the stuff on here

LR has scarcely got his feet under the table here. He's weighed up the contracted pro's he has inherited, signed specific players where he believes is necessary, and some of those those players are still bedding in.

Having what is perceived by our L1 peers as a flash stadium and training ground gets us precisely 0 extra points in this league.

In the years that we all have been following football, we frequently witness something called momentum, where winning becomes a habit.
Ipswich were in this very league but a few years ago, went up, and that momentum took them through the Champ like a dose of salts. Southampton did much the same, and our 106 season form carried little old us all the way up to 7th in the top flight.

LR is tasked with building a winning team in a results-based industry. Putting that jigsaw together might well require a close season to find the pieces he needs.

We're seeing a work in progress.

I doubt if very many would disagree with you but the topic is about how the rest of the season is to be approached and not whether the manager has done a good job so far.
I think it is just a case of enjoying the wins when they come along and look forward more to next season when there will have been greater stability and a Summer transfer window for the owner to back up his unfulfilled boast of last Summer that we will have an extraordinary transfer window.

We may turn out to be a bit better with these latest additions but as yet I feel that we are miles away from having a side capable of doing anything better than battling to survive in the Championship so building a side next season and the following one are reasonable expectations for an ambitious club and don't worry too much about the rest of this season-enjoy it if you can.

[Orion1871]

Do people not just enjoy watching football any more?[/b] Does everything really have to be promotion or disaster.


How best to approach the rest of the season? Play/watch games, try to win them and enjoy what's enjoyable. Then go again next season.

Football is a very fine margins game. Teams can quite easily go from looking very mediocre one minute, to the final piece clicking and going on an excellent run the next.

No, not really. All bogged down in tactical nonsense, and "systems", with no individual skill or expression encouraged. I end up looking at my phone during TV games these days. Look at the PL, who's on top? Boring set piece merchants, Arsenal. (Sorry Windemere Royal, I know they're your second team)

If I wasn't a Reading fan would I watch the sort of football we have served up this season? Probably not tbh.

Sounds like you should find a different hobby tbh.

Well I do like the people that sit around me. Obviously that's not something you can relate to listening on the radio at home.

[Greatwesternline]

I feel like with the transfer window we've had we've spent quite a lot of money on extra wages signing on fees and transfer fees such as agent fees.

And we're in all likelihood not going to be promoted. Feel it may have been better to hold the money back and target a better squad assembled well before the start of a season in the summer so that you get the full bang for your money with the 42 games that matter.

How many of these players will still be here game 1 next season? Have we not just used up quite a lot of budget to just have quite a good second half of a season? Why didn't we do this in the summer?

[Stranded]

I feel like with the transfer window we've had we've spent quite a lot of money on extra wages signing on fees and transfer fees such as agent fees.

And we're in all likelihood not going to be promoted. Feel it may have been better to hold the money back and target a better squad assembled well before the start of a season in the summer so that you get the full bang for your money with the 42 games that matter.

How many of these players will still be here game 1 next season? Have we not just used up quite a lot of budget to just have quite a good second half of a season? Why didn't we do this in the summer?

To put it bluntly, maybe the finances or the wiggle room to allow such moves weren't there in the summer due to issues post takover - maybe the likes of Catania coming onboard has allowed for more investment this window.

The 2 permanent signings are clearly both here to offer support now but also to have tied down 2 of the back 4 spots and it wouldn't surprise me to see Nyambe and Keane sign permanently in the summer if they do well.

Of the signings made, only Young is very unlikely to be here in the summer. The loans in the summer were more of an issue as only Doyle has been a moderate success there really.

[Snowflake Royal]

I feel like with the transfer window we've had we've spent quite a lot of money on extra wages signing on fees and transfer fees such as agent fees.

And we're in all likelihood not going to be promoted. Feel it may have been better to hold the money back and target a better squad assembled well before the start of a season in the summer so that you get the full bang for your money with the 42 games that matter.

How many of these players will still be here game 1 next season? Have we not just used up quite a lot of budget to just have quite a good second half of a season? Why didn't we do this in the summer?

Agreed - cost/risk/reward seems out.

You have to remember though, Couhig was bringing on extra investment through the summer and early season, plus there's the £3m security to Dai put on the training ground relatively recently which suggests maybe a payment to him has been diverted to fund the squad, so the money may simply not have been there to do this at the start of the season. And some of these players may not have been interested or available then.

[stealthpapes]

Plus, and I think this might be the biggest factor involved here, we changed our manager in the Autumn.

[South Coast Royal]

Plus, and I think this might be the biggest factor involved here, we changed our manager in the Autumn.

Yes and I would guess that LR would have made clear that he would need reinforcements.

I didn't post this earlier because it sounded a bit light on detail but I was told that LR had been advised that he could spend £1 million in this window-seeing what we have now got and presumably having offered £3-400,00 for Lisbie it now sounds about right.

I know that Brogue gets info from the same source as my son so Brogue, did you hear anything about a £1 million kitty?

[stealthpapes]

Not even reinforcements per se, more "I have a different vision, oh, and this lad I worked with before is available and I think he's a better fit here, ah, and I'm not sure this player is working and we might be able to get this guy in on loan"

Plus, as implied, there's a "we brought you in, we need to show you some trust" aspect to it.

It's not a criticism, just a reflection of the situation we're in.

Finally, play offs are still very much on.

[Vision]

Not even reinforcements per se, more "I have a different vision, oh, and this lad I worked with before is available and I think he's a better fit here, ah, and I'm not sure this player is working and we might be able to get this guy in on loan"

Plus, as implied, there's a "we brought you in, we need to show you some trust" aspect to it.

It's not a criticism, just a reflection of the situation we're in.

Finally, play offs are still very much on.

Yup.

Any chance he gets in interviews, Richardson disassociates himself from the previous set-up.

He's very vocal about having 3 transfer windows and pre-season but knows he has to show he's worth that investment now. So a late play-off push or continuous improvement is essential.

The days of seeing academy players break through (or even feature at all) are over for a while.

[Hound]

We seem to have a half decent u21 side but without anyone really pushing to come through. Ahmed prob the closest, maybe Patton will get a look in next year if this loan goes well. The new lad from Liverpool sounds like he’s rated

Don’t think Osho or Coke-Miles-Smith will be rushed in

Suspect it’s cup games only for that lot next year

Reckon we’ll not renew JOP, Spencer, Stickland, or basically anyone over 20. Sackey may well go out of his choice

[Extended-Phenotype]

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 things sometimes, and that give our opponent the time to get into position, or to nip it off us. We clearly have players who can score, create chances, and defend well - they just need to trust themselves a bit more, and play more instinctively.

It's not the end of the world if we don't make the play-offs. Tbh League 1 has been quite good fun.