Chris Armstrong v Palarse

[Chuckle Brother]

After a slightly dodgy first involvement, giving away a dangerous free kick, I thought he had a pretty solid debut. Nothing overly ambitious going forward but looked pretty dependable at the back. And with the obvious benefits of allowing Hunt to play further forward and Convey not getting a game.
Any thoughts ?

[kwik-silva]

Yeah I agree, his first thing in a Reading shirt is to give a foul away! I would agree, pretty solid debut, allowed Hunt to go forward, seemed to slot in nicely but we'll only really know after a few more games!

[rfcjoe]

Looked shakey at first which is understandable but had a solid debut and has a bit of pace which is nice to finally see at left back.

[Thou Voice]

Anything to put hunt back in his proper slot is a good move IMO.

Hopefully we'll be seeing more of Armstrong over the next coming months and he will continue to impress.

[kwik-silva]

He said at the star forum he might've tried one of the younger LB's and not have bought Armstrong if Golbourne (:D) was fully fit

[Sarah Star]

As he's only been here a few days, I think he'll improve on his performance against Palace, which wasn't bad either.

[Chuckle Brother]

He said at the star forum he might've tried one of the younger LB's and not have bought Armstrong if Goldberg was fully fit

Whoopie ?

[Bill Oddie's Beard]

He made a great block with his head when Alan Lee looked certain to score, got better as the game went on as well.

[wallyroyal]

At least now there is some attacking flair with Hunt and Kebe running rings around the midfielders' and full backs. All we need know for the players to shoot more instead of passing it too much.

[kwik-silva]

He said at the star forum he might've tried one of the younger LB's and not have bought Armstrong if Goldberg was fully fit

Whoopie ?

Would you rather have a CCC player or one of our own thats come through the ranks?

[Far Canal]

He made a great block with his head when Alan Lee looked certain to score, got better as the game went on as well.

He did indeed. It was most impressive and could have been a game-changing moment.

[Far Canal]

He said at the star forum he might've tried one of the younger LB's and not have bought Armstrong if Goldberg was fully fit

Whoopie ?

No, Whoopi.

[georgerob]

He looked ok, but its only his first game and he obviously hasnt trained much with reading so he'll improve. He got caught out of position and made a mistake for tom soares goal but overrall good debut performance

[Royalwaster]

He looks stronger than Shorey - probably less skill on the ball than him; but Shorey could sometimes be outmuscled by big PL players.

[Chuckle Brother]

He said at the star forum he might've tried one of the younger LB's and not have bought Armstrong if Goldberg was fully fit

Whoopie ?

Would you rather have a CCC player or one of our own thats come through the ranks?

Whoopie as in Whoopie Goldberg. As in Sister Act etc. (see your original post)

In a perfect world it would be great to win the Premier League with players exclusively born in The Royal County. But it's not going to happen so you have to supplement it by bringing players in.

And Scott Golbourne (or Goldberg if you prefer) came from Bristol City so strictly speaking he hasn't come all the way through the ranks anyway.

[kwik-silva]

I didn't actually notice that! and I do realise that he hasn't come all the way through... I'm gonna go change that now...

[readingbedding]

How come no-one has mentioned that terrific block that he did with his head to save a certain goal?

He'll be alright.

We'll be alright.

[Chuckle Brother]

How come no-one has mentioned that terrific block that he did with his head to save a certain goal?

He'll be alright.

We'll be alright.

They have ?

[readingbedding]

How come no-one has mentioned that terrific block that he did with his head to save a certain goal?

He'll be alright.

We'll be alright.

They have ?

Sorry.
It was Mr Bill Oddie.

Shoddy.

[BearBoy]

How come no-one has mentioned that terrific block that he did with his head to save a certain goal?

He'll be alright.

We'll be alright.

While it was a good block, I felt it was more luck than judgement. If Lee has headed the ball into the corner, which was gaping in front of him, instead of back across goal into Lance, he's have scored.

I must admit, after 5 minutes I wondered what the hell we'd wasted £500k on, what with him getting easily skinned and having to take the man down. I guess we can chalk that down to nerves. He was much steadier for the rest of the game and contributed the crucial aforementioned block as well as getting forward a couple of times and putting some nice balls into the box.

Most importantly, as the OP said, is the fact that having a proper left-back allows us to unleash Hunt further up the pitch. I think this was vindicated yesterday, with the characteristically fearless Hunt running rings round the Palace players. I just wish he wouldn't dive; he's better than that, and as a club we're better than that.