10 games in - time to re-assess?

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

We're gonna walk the league, anyone who doubted Coppell's an idiot. Kebe the African Pele. Coppell's God.

However if we lose our next game, we're doomed, Coppell out and Kebe's a clown.

It's all about covering your bases!!

[Dick Habbin's hairdo]

Chillipepper - no, I wasn't be sarcastic and it seems you and I paddle the same canoe.

I'm not a simpering RTG neither am I in any way an STG... Whatever that maybe.

Hopefully, I'm just a rational, objective, hopelessly devoted supporter of RFC.

And I thank God we have the Mad Man, SSC, Squeaky and Dolan who are able to make the tough business decisions - not splashing the cash - and have the knowledge, insight and man management skills - do I really need to give examples? - in the best long term interests of the Club.

It's that which makes supporting "little old Reading" so attractive. Whatever we achieve we have achieved the "right way" - with astute business sense, superb management, skill and flair playing footy the right way.

That is why I bloody love this club.

The shock will come when we get promoted again and the Club becomes an attractive investment for an overseas "brand". The Mad Man gets his winnings - quite rightly too - SSC says mission complete and we become just another international bauble.

G'arn URZ.

[SCIAG]

We're gonna walk the league, anyone who doubted Coppell's an idiot. Pele the Brazilian Kebe. Coppell's God.

However if we lose our next game, we're doomed, Coppell out and Kebe's a clown.

It's all about covering your bases!!

Well put. I was guilty of changing my view very quickly after the Charlton game- but now, I'm full of positivity. We could go up- a three way race for the title is on the cards!

Assuming Kightly and Jarvis get fit quickly, of course. Otherwise two way race.

[strap]

Before the beginning of the season I was convinced we would be mid-table at best and at worst following Leeds, Nottm Forest, Leicester and Southampton (almost!) into the abyss whence we came. When RTG numpties came on here and said we would bounce straight back I laughed myself stupid.

Wrong! There's no guarantee that we won't slump and end up mid-table, but the potential is obviously there to manage the play-offs at least and even maybe a top two spot. If we can keep up our devastating home form we must have a chance.

There was also a thread about whether we minded being relegated and I thought "too right I minded. The Premier League is the place to be."

Wrong again! I still want to get back up, but the fun of watching sides taken apart at the MadStad and goals piling in is something we could never hope for in the Prem (excepting West Ham and Derby of course).

Then of course there was the great Coppell debate. I was on the No side - he had taken us up, sure, but he had brought us down with a tired lack of imagination and ambition and we needed to move on and start from scratch.

Wrong, wrong, thrice wrong. He has got us playing with verve and excitement again and has given us a good chance. If we do make it, though, he has got to have learnt lessons from last year.

So what assessments have the rest of you Nobbers made after 10 games?

You are me and i claim my £5. Seriously though, you have expressed my thoughts pretty closely. My main concerns still focus on Kebe and Mr Ego. Neither has convinced me in the slightest this season, but as we move closer to the transfer window, the fear of losing SHunt and Doyle starts to take on increasing significance. If we lose both of them in January, then I would stick with my original view of a mid-table finish. Losing one or the other would probaly derail an automatic promotion spot, but then I would have bitten your arm off for a play-off spot at the start of the season. If we net, say, £10M for the pair of them and Mr Ego keeps his wallet firmly locked, then my fears expressed during the close season will be proven and we can all go home and watch Rugby League or something until Mr Ego buggers off. We certainly won't be seeing much in the way of a promotion push then, more like the gradual demise of a team along the lines of Watford.

The biggest reassessment has to be SHunt's delivery of a corner. Last season he was absolute pants, often barely getting the ball above knee height. This year he's a nightmare, (in a good way!), and really has taken Shorey's mantle as our dead ball specialist.

[Deathy]

Ok, to reassess:

Play-offs.

It frightens the life out of me that if we lose our two best strikers to injury, or Doyle in the transfew window in January (and N.Hunt), we're left with Long and Mooney.

That can f**k us!

Otherwise I see youth coming through and I feel very possitive about this emerging team!

[Avon Royal]

It frightens the life out of me that if we lose our two best strikers to injury, or Doyle in the transfew window in January (and N.Hunt), we're left with Long and Mooney.

Yeah, when was the last time Mooney scored for the first team?

Coppell out!

[T.R.O.L.I.]

Wrong again! I still want to get back up, but the fun of watching sides taken apart at the MadStad and goals piling in is something we could never hope for in the Prem (excepting West Ham and Derby of course).

Agree with the sentiments of this comment but a 1-0 borefest is possibly not the right game to use

[Dick Habbin's hairdo]

Bloody hell, strap, you climbing down off of the fence?!

You're so right most of the time and much better for it when you don't pour your vitriol over the Mad Man.

Yes, he may be a tight git but we're all the better for it - both financially and as a "team". Besides, whose to say that SSC and Squeaky haven't had requests to buy players turned down? They are very specific in the type of player they want and who will "fit in."

The crunch will come if and when Doyle and Shunt sling their hooks and we're struggling for replacements. See my comment re Doyle on UR&G.

[londinium]

As posted on my previous thread ' not yet ahead of the game', we are exactly where I would like us to be if automatic promotion is to be a reality.

3 points each home game and 1 point each away game so after tomorrows game with a nice win we will have 20 points from 10 games which is a great start that if we can continue for the rest of the season will see us to 92 points and almost certian promotion.

Yes we may slip behind that (which we did earlier in the season), but we may well go ahead of that target (05-06). But as we stand we are in great shape and also getting better.

Premiership 2009 -2010 a real posibility.

[papereyes]

1) Squad capable of play-offs, it needs a certain extra something to turn it into promoted. Still not convinced squad has it but more convinced than I was after Forest (A) where we looked as if we'd never met.

2) I don't mind not being in the Premiership - as with most things, it was the manner in which we approached and failed last season that annoyed me rather than the actual result. Reading could establish themselves in the Premiership, we really do have the potential to do that as the club has rightly recognised. It just takes actions not words to back it up.

3) Exactly the same as before - continuity >>> pointless change but Coppell has taken the risks that could have paid off last season and they're paying off this season. Not complaining that he's learned from last year, not at all.

[Royal Rother]

If we do lose Shunt and Doyle (no foregone conclusion that as there won't be much cash splashed on internal transfers anywhere in January) then, if Lita and Mooney haven't started banging them in by then, we will of course sign another player or 2.

If we have sold 2 players for £10m+, believe me, we will be in a great position to do some cherry-picking because there will be many clubs around desperate to reduce their wages and borrowings. This is the beauty of the prudent financial management shown by RFC over the last couple of years - we are better off than most of our competitors and will be one of the very last of the non-billionaire-backed clubs to get hit by the recession. (In fact may well be hit after some of those as well.)

As for the 9 game reassessment, well actually I still feel exactly the same as I did 4 months ago.

The thing is RB, no football manager in employment today has won promotion to the top flight more times than Coppell, and he has never done it on the back of a large spending spree.

I just don't understand the pessimism - it just doesn't seem logical.

Criticism of Coppell's transfers in during the last 2 years may be justified, but his record at building teams in lower divisions is exceptional so I am confident money will be wisely spent.

Look forward, not backwards. But if you insist on looking backwards then look back further than just last season and give me good reasons why optimism is as misplaced as you guys seem to suggest.

[Scarface]

Things are looking up, would be my personal assessment.

The away form/tactics/performances are still my main issue, but lets hope Wolves will be the norm now. I really hope Coppell is strong enough to keep Harper out of the team, as I think he's been one of the main reasons why our away form was so bad last season. If Jem continues to shine I would sell Harper in January, whilst we can still get good money for him.

I still have reservations with Kebe, but N Hunt and Armstrong both look excellent signings. Lita and Fae should be offloaded ASAP.

[readingbedding]

I'm looking forward to the 20/30/40 games in - time to re-assess thread/s.
All this serves is 'Yeah I was too premature slating/rating a team before a ball was kicked...'

Really?

[JC]

We are only 3 points behind where we were after 9 games in 05/06 and we have scored 5 more goals. On track I would say.

[Handsome Man]

I am enjoying it. I hoped I would, but it really has been great so far. It seems like proper football again,

[RoyalBlue]

***) losing star performers (Doyle & Hunt) not likely happen now. Reading's price tag will be too high (as we don't need the money) certainly for those clubs who where interested and the 2 players know that playing for Reading in the premiership next season is a safe bet.

'Not likely to happen now'?!!

You are missing several extremely important points:

Reading can not fix a price tag merely to put other clubs off trying to buy the players in question, if there is already a release price specified in their contracts. I believe that is the case with Hunt and suspect the same applies to Doyle.

Even if there isn't a release price, Coppell has already made it abundantly clear that he will not try to keep players who are not fully committed to the Reading cause.

Finally, come January, which team do you think you would get the best odds on being in the PL next year - Everton or Reading? In other words, if one of the big established PL teams comes in for either player do you really think that they will take the gamble and stay with us, even if we are well placed for promotion? IIRC Doyle has already indicated that he would leave if a big established PL team came in for him.

[Bill Oddie's Beard]

***) losing star performers (Doyle & Hunt) not likely happen now. Reading's price tag will be too high (as we don't need the money) certainly for those clubs who where interested and the 2 players know that playing for Reading in the premiership next season is a safe bet.

'Not likely to happen now'?!!

You are missing several extremely important points:

Reading can not fix a price tag merely to put other clubs off trying to buy the players in question, if there is already a release price specified in their contracts. I believe that is the case with Hunt and suspect the same applies to Doyle.

Even if there isn't a release price, Coppell has already made it abundantly clear that he will not try to keep players who are not fully committed to the Reading cause.

Finally, come January,which team do you think you would get the best odds on being in the PL next year - Everton or Reading? In other words, if one of the big established PL teams comes in for either player do you really think that they will take the gamble and stay with us, even if we are well placed for promotion? IIRC Doyle has already indicated that he would leave if a big established PL team came in for him.

On current form, probably Reading.

[Stranded]

***) losing star performers (Doyle & Hunt) not likely happen now. Reading's price tag will be too high (as we don't need the money) certainly for those clubs who where interested and the 2 players know that playing for Reading in the premiership next season is a safe bet.

'Not likely to happen now'?!!

You are missing several extremely important points:

Reading can not fix a price tag merely to put other clubs off trying to buy the players in question, if there is already a release price specified in their contracts. I believe that is the case with Hunt and suspect the same applies to Doyle.

Even if there isn't a release price, Coppell has already made it abundantly clear that he will not try to keep players who are not fully committed to the Reading cause.

Finally, come January, which team do you think you would get the best odds on being in the PL next year - Everton or Reading? In other words, if one of the big established PL teams comes in for either player do you really think that they will take the gamble and stay with us, even if we are well placed for promotion? IIRC Doyle has already indicated that he would leave if a big established PL team came in for him.

As at stands at the moment, only Everton have (of late) shown any form on interest in S.Hunt. If Moyes goes before Jan (and there are mumblings) then that interest could well cool.

Doyle signed his last deal much earlier that S.Hunt, so will be very surprised if he's got a clause.

At the end of it all if they go, they go, not worth fretting over - we've got at least another 17 games and 51 possible points with them here.

[Silver Fox]

I don't if this is as good a thread as any to point out something that's been bothering me this last week. Everyone is absolutely 100% certain that we will lose our best players in January and this wil undoubtedly derail any chance we have of being promoted, but won't our rivals lose players then too? Or are all their players rubbish?

To answer the origninal point, I've had to reassess my early season thoughts as we're currently at least a place lower than I thought we'd be

[Sarah Star]

I don't if this is as good a thread as any to point out something that's been bothering me this last week. Everyone is absolutely 100% certain that we will lose our best players in January and this wil undoubtedly derail any chance we have of being promoted, but won't our rivals lose players then too? Or are all their players rubbish?

But aren't ours the only proven Premiership and International players playing well and drawing attention to themselves by saying that they'd love to be playing at a big club?