How best to approach the rest of the season

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Snowflake Royal
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Re: How best to approach the rest of the season

by Snowflake Royal » 30 Jan 2026 08:18

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
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Re: How best to approach the rest of the season

by Orion1871 » 30 Jan 2026 08:31

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.


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.

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Re: How best to approach the rest of the season

by Millsy » 30 Jan 2026 09:08

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


Best troll post ever and people are falling for it :lol:

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 8)

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Snowflake Royal
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Re: How best to approach the rest of the season

by Snowflake Royal » 30 Jan 2026 10:02

Orion1871
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.


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.

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Re: How best to approach the rest of the season

by MR. CYNICAL » 30 Jan 2026 11:53

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


Best troll post ever and people are falling for it :lol:

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 8)

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!


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Re: How best to approach the rest of the season

by South Coast Royal » 30 Jan 2026 11:59

MR. CYNICAL
Millsy
traff Looks to me as though this season is pretty much over already,


Best troll post ever and people are falling for it :lol:

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 8)

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 .

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Re: How best to approach the rest of the season

by Stranded » 30 Jan 2026 12:19

MR. CYNICAL
Millsy
traff Looks to me as though this season is pretty much over already,


Best troll post ever and people are falling for it :lol:

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 8)

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.

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Re: How best to approach the rest of the season

by under the tin » 30 Jan 2026 13:52

:lol: :lol: Some of the stuff on here :lol: :lol:

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.

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tidus_mi2
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Re: How best to approach the rest of the season

by tidus_mi2 » 30 Jan 2026 14:10

under the tin :lol: :lol: Some of the stuff on here :lol: :lol:

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.


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Re: How best to approach the rest of the season

by South Coast Royal » 30 Jan 2026 14:52

under the tin :lol: :lol: Some of the stuff on here :lol: :lol:

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.

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