How do we become good again?

[Crowbar6753]

The biggest thing for me is we lack drive, power, pace, strength

We miss rough-house strike partnerships like Long-Hunt. We miss raw speed. Kebe for example. Our only truly fast winger is out on loan and basically finished.

Strikers and fast wingers are not just about the goals they score, but about chasing and harrying defenders, especially centre backs so in the last 15 minutes, those defender are tiring, have lumps on their legs.

I remember the CB for Everton saying of Hunt & Long, "They never gave us a second's rest for the whole game."

How often did Hunt get knocked out, or Long, blasting through get chopped? Where is the rough-housing, the aggression?

Most of the time we sort of get the ball, wander up field "waiting for something to happen". We're SOFT, have little character.

Morrison will run through walls, Rhino some, but in general the malaise started when we began to go for more technical players and keep-ball so if/when we went up we might stay there.

It wasn't about skill-levels when Coppell managed, it was attitude, high-tempo, lots of pressure. Games were f---- EXCITING.

When McDermott did so well, it was far more about guts, work-rate and power than airy-fairy skills

This 100% well said sir.....

[Lower West]

Start a Crowdfunding campaign to bring the club, at least partly back, under the control of the community and the fans. Foreign owners are after prestige, i.e. the first Chinese billionaire to win the Premiership. Gives them bragging rights over their mates. No actual care for what the club actually represents.

[Zip]

The biggest thing for me is we lack drive, power, pace, strength

We miss rough-house strike partnerships like Long-Hunt. We miss raw speed. Kebe for example. Our only truly fast winger is out on loan and basically finished.

Strikers and fast wingers are not just about the goals they score, but about chasing and harrying defenders, especially centre backs so in the last 15 minutes, those defender are tiring, have lumps on their legs.

I remember the CB for Everton saying of Hunt & Long, "They never gave us a second's rest for the whole game."

How often did Hunt get knocked out, or Long, blasting through get chopped? Where is the rough-housing, the aggression?

Most of the time we sort of get the ball, wander up field "waiting for something to happen". We're SOFT, have little character.

Morrison will run through walls, Rhino some, but in general the malaise started when we began to go for more technical players and keep-ball so if/when we went up we might stay there.

It wasn't about skill-levels when Coppell managed, it was attitude, high-tempo, lots of pressure. Games were f---- EXCITING.

When McDermott did so well, it was far more about guts, work-rate and power than airy-fairy skills

This 100% well said sir.....

Yes it’s a good post from our Newport friend.

[muirinho]

Start a Crowdfunding campaign to bring the club, at least partly back, under the control of the community and the fans. Foreign owners are after prestige, i.e. the first Chinese billionaire to win the Premiership. Gives them bragging rights over their mates. No actual care for what the club actually represents.

Would want to be one hell of a crowd funding campaign! If every man, woman, and child in the greater Reading area contributed £100 each, it wouldn't cover our last two season's losses.

[Snowflake Royal]

yeah, the strikers have actually been reasonably clinical. Meite, Puscas and Joao have all decent goal returns

We just don't create anywhere near enough - I wouldnt blame the CFs for that particularly

Indeed which is why I disagree with Gooding. We simply don’t create much and certainly don’t play in a style that suits Puscas. Far from it. When we play a higher tempo we look good but more often than not our midfielders slow the play down. That’s fine if we are winning but it happens when we are losing all the time.

But should we change our style to suit one player, or change the player to suit the rest?

Puscas could do plenty more to succeed in our style, and hopefully with continued work and coaching we'll see him continue to improve his first touch, hold up play and releasing the ball, and start improving his movement, positioning and workrate from the front.

Just as we'll need to keep working on Ejaria, encouraging him to release the ball sooner, up his tempo and be a bit more direct when it come to chance creation.

Combine that with finding a proper left forward / winger who can contribute like Meite does, though preferably with creating chances more than finishing them.

If Meite and Puscas can get double figures with us not creating much, then a small tweak to our player and the right couple of signings could see our front three / four creating and scoring loads of goals.

We've got the base. We've got a manager who knows the squad, knows the problems and has shown he can improve us. Let's stick to the job through an already tough time coming up.

[Zip]

yeah, the strikers have actually been reasonably clinical. Meite, Puscas and Joao have all decent goal returns

We just don't create anywhere near enough - I wouldnt blame the CFs for that particularly

Indeed which is why I disagree with Gooding. We simply don’t create much and certainly don’t play in a style that suits Puscas. Far from it. When we play a higher tempo we look good but more often than not our midfielders slow the play down. That’s fine if we are winning but it happens when we are losing all the time.

But should we change our style to suit one player, or change the player to suit the rest?

Puscas could do plenty more to succeed in our style, and hopefully with continued work and coaching we'll see him continue to improve his first touch, hold up play and releasing the ball, and start improving his movement, positioning and workrate from the front.

Just as we'll need to keep working on Ejaria, encouraging him to release the ball sooner, up his tempo and be a bit more direct when it come to chance creation.

Combine that with finding a proper left forward / winger who can contribute like Meite does, though preferably with creating chances more than finishing them.

If Meite and Puscas can get double figures with us not creating much, then a small tweak to our player and the right couple of signings could see our front three / four creating and scoring loads of goals.

We've got the base. We've got a manager who knows the squad, knows the problems and has shown he can improve us. Let's stick to the job through an already tough time coming up.

That’s a difficult one. I’m not convinced how we play needs tweaking. More of an overhaul for me. I just don’t think how we play succeeds at this level. When you look at the Reading sides that have won the Championship we had proper wingers. Little and Convey and McAnuff and Kebe,. We were much more direct.

We do need more from Puscas but I think that will come. I think that’s secondary though. He simply isn’t receiving any service at all. We rarely get in any decent crosses for him to latch onto or any through balls. He spends so much time with his back to goal.

Agree we need a left winger. That will help with the width. However if it takes an age to get the ball wide that winger will be nullified. It’s up to Swift, Ejaria and Rinomhota to really speed up our play. Swift and Ovie are both guilty of taking too many touches and momentum is lost. That has to change. They also need to stop playing through the middle. Get the ball wide and look to stretch the opposition.

[Nameless]

Start a Crowdfunding campaign to bring the club, at least partly back, under the control of the community and the fans. Foreign owners are after prestige, i.e. the first Chinese billionaire to win the Premiership. Gives them bragging rights over their mates. No actual care for what the club actually represents.

When was the club last under the control of the community and fans. Pre Maxwell ? Further back than that ? Ever ?

Foreign owners are no more after prestige than English ones. Madejski was after prestige, Whelan was after prestige. You get bad (Anton), naive (theThais) and decent foreign owners just as you get a wide range of English ones.

[Snowflake Royal]

Different times, different ways of playing. 4-4-2 is largely dead and probably wouldn't work the same now anyway because every system has strengths and weaknesses and the context has changed.

What worked before won't always work again.

I think the last thing we need is an overhaul. Every time we change manager and / or system we hit the reset button. Different messages, different emphasis, different partnerships and responsibilities.

Coppell didn't hit the reset button when we lost 3-0 three in a row over Christmas. He said he didn't know what was wrong, persisted and tweaked until he found gold.

That's what we need. Stability to bring understanding, assurance, comfort and confidence. The ability and time to make mistakes, study them, understand them, learn from them and improve on them. And there ain't no magic bullet or quick fix for that.

If Olise or McIntyre have a bad few games we don't say they're shit and try to shove them out the door. We accept they're inexperienced and need leeway to grow, same with any new signing. Same with Bowen, same with any new manager, or system, or squad.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to sit in a loin cloth in a cave to contemplate the universe because I'm feeling altogether too zen and hippy. It's unnerving.

[Zip]

Start a Crowdfunding campaign to bring the club, at least partly back, under the control of the community and the fans. Foreign owners are after prestige, i.e. the first Chinese billionaire to win the Premiership. Gives them bragging rights over their mates. No actual care for what the club actually represents.

When was the club last under the control of the community and fans. Pre Maxwell ? Further back than that ? Ever ?

Foreign owners are no more after prestige than English ones. Madejski was after prestige, Whelan was after prestige. You get bad (Anton), naive (theThais) and decent foreign owners just as you get a wide range of English ones.

Fair comment.

[Emmer Green Royal]

[quote="Nameless"][quote="Lower West"]Start a Crowdfunding campaign to bring the club, at least partly back, under the control of the community and the fans. Foreign owners are after prestige, i.e. the first Chinese billionaire to win the Premiership. Gives them bragging rights over their mates. No actual care for what the club actually represents.[/quote]

When was the club last under the control of the community and fans. Pre Maxwell ? Further back than that ? Ever ?

Foreign owners are no more after prestige than English ones. Madejski was after prestige, Whelan was after prestige. You get bad (Anton), naive (theThais) and decent foreign owners just as you get a wide range of English ones.[/quote]

I think that's unfair on Madejski. Perhaps he enjoyed the kudos that came with owning a football club, but he looked after it very well. Has there been an owner of Reading FC that did a better job than Madejski?

[Simmops]

Start a Crowdfunding campaign to bring the club, at least partly back, under the control of the community and the fans. Foreign owners are after prestige, i.e. the first Chinese billionaire to win the Premiership. Gives them bragging rights over their mates. No actual care for what the club actually represents.

Would want to be one hell of a crowd funding campaign! If every man, woman, and child in the greater Reading area contributed £100 each, it wouldn't cover our last two season's losses.

You couldn't honestly pay me £100 a game to watch Reading. I am buying a Worthing fc season ticket next season

[Millsy]

yeah, the strikers have actually been reasonably clinical. Meite, Puscas and Joao have all decent goal returns

We just don't create anywhere near enough - I wouldnt blame the CFs for that particularly

Indeed which is why I disagree with Gooding. We simply don’t create much and certainly don’t play in a style that suits Puscas. Far from it. When we play a higher tempo we look good but more often than not our midfielders slow the play down. That’s fine if we are winning but it happens when we are losing all the time.

Reading between the lines I think Mick, along with the other BBC Radio Berks guys, are blaming Puscas. They have an agenda against him, they do this most seasons with a player they don't take a liking to.

Possibly but I don't think it's that.

I also disagree with Gooding if he's saying our issue is our strikers as ours are clinical and talented enough and clearly service is the problem.

BUT I think a big part of his point is that we are missing João and need to replace him because none of the others can. Yes his goals per minutes aren't massively impressive but the point is when he plays our system works very well. When he doesn't we're generally a bit toothless. It's no disrespect to Puscas to say he just can't play that João role. It's just fact.

So realistically the options are either

1) Get a replacement for João
2) change our whole style of play from ground up so we perhaps have ball crossing wingers, better service etc etc to play to the strengths of Puscas and Meite

We can go for option two and I have been pushing for better service as we all have but the quick fix right here right now with the situation we have is to get the strikforce fixed by filling Joaos role.

I know Gooding and he's an absolutely smashing chap. 100% honest decent fella who from what I know of him just ain't the sort of guy who'd get carried away with singling out a player like Puscas.

Of course when you're in the heat of commentary of course you're swayed by the mood when you see Puscas missing sitters but generally I'm sure he's talking about a quick fix for the current system i.e. if we must continue to play how we are let's have the strikers who can thrive and make the system work.

[Zip]

Too much emphasis is being placed on Joao. He will be 27 when the new season starts. He has not scored more than 12 goals in a season throughout his career. He has yet to score more than 10 goals in a season in England. Puscas has bettered all of that in his first season here.

[Old Man Andrews]

Too much emphasis is being placed on Joao. He will be 27 when the new season starts. He has not scored more than 12 goals in a season throughout his career. He has yet to score more than 10 goals in a season in England. Puscas has bettered all of that in his first season here.

Joao isn't all about goals though, he is all about hold up play and being a physical presence that disturbs opposing defenders, we severely lack that without him. For me the ideal scenario is we play him and Puscas up top together in a 3-5-2 with Joao playing that Heskey role.

[Zip]

Too much emphasis is being placed on Joao. He will be 27 when the new season starts. He has not scored more than 12 goals in a season throughout his career. He has yet to score more than 10 goals in a season in England. Puscas has bettered all of that in his first season here.

Joao isn't all about goals though, he is all about hold up play and being a physical presence that disturbs opposing defenders, we severely lack that without him. For me the ideal scenario is we play him and Puscas up top together in a 3-5-2 with Joao playing that Heskey role.

I know that but if we only play one up front and that’s Joao I am not convinced we will resolve our goalscoring problem. Joao played well over the festive period when we went on a good run. He has yet to show he can consistently perform over an entire season. Sheffield Wed fans will tell us that.

[Hendo]

Too much emphasis is being placed on Joao. He will be 27 when the new season starts. He has not scored more than 12 goals in a season throughout his career. He has yet to score more than 10 goals in a season in England. Puscas has bettered all of that in his first season here.

He’s scored 6 this season with a very slightly better minutes per goal record than both Puscas and Meite so without the injuries I think he would be pushing 15 this season, which would be a fine return.

[Zip]

Too much emphasis is being placed on Joao. He will be 27 when the new season starts. He has not scored more than 12 goals in a season throughout his career. He has yet to score more than 10 goals in a season in England. Puscas has bettered all of that in his first season here.

He’s scored 6 this season with a very slightly better minutes per goal record than both Puscas and Meite so without the injuries I think he would be pushing 15 this season, which would be a fine return.

Yes but the injuries....he has yet to get more than 12 in a season throughout his career. He’s nearly 27. He was known for his inconsistency at Sheffield Wed. Yet he is the answer to our problems. His career to date suggests otherwise.

[morganb]

Too much emphasis is being placed on Joao. He will be 27 when the new season starts. He has not scored more than 12 goals in a season throughout his career. He has yet to score more than 10 goals in a season in England. Puscas has bettered all of that in his first season here.

He’s scored 6 this season with a very slightly better minutes per goal record than both Puscas and Meite so without the injuries I think he would be pushing 15 this season, which would be a fine return.

Yes but the injuries....he has yet to get more than 12 in a season throughout his career. He’s nearly 27. He was known for his inconsistency at Sheffield Wed. Yet he is the answer to our problems. His career to date suggests otherwise.

Isn't this standard behaviour? Any player that is injured/dropped/not being played is immediately the saviour of Reading.

It is interesting that on the POTS thread Joao hardly gets a mention.

[Zip]

He’s scored 6 this season with a very slightly better minutes per goal record than both Puscas and Meite so without the injuries I think he would be pushing 15 this season, which would be a fine return.

Yes but the injuries....he has yet to get more than 12 in a season throughout his career. He’s nearly 27. He was known for his inconsistency at Sheffield Wed. Yet he is the answer to our problems. His career to date suggests otherwise.

Isn't this standard behaviour? Any player that is injured/dropped/not being played is immediately the saviour of Reading.

It is interesting that on the POTS thread Joao hardly gets a mention.

Yep.Agreed.

[tidus_mi2]

He’s scored 6 this season with a very slightly better minutes per goal record than both Puscas and Meite so without the injuries I think he would be pushing 15 this season, which would be a fine return.

Yes but the injuries....he has yet to get more than 12 in a season throughout his career. He’s nearly 27. He was known for his inconsistency at Sheffield Wed. Yet he is the answer to our problems. His career to date suggests otherwise.

Isn't this standard behaviour? Any player that is injured/dropped/not being played is immediately the saviour of Reading.

It is interesting that on the POTS thread Joao hardly gets a mention.

Because he's been injured most of the season, if he hadn't and kept the form he had when he was playing then he would very likely be in the top 3.