Hard to see any progress for the forseeable future

[Alan Partridge]

STG, RTG, pff what a load of dump. We weren't relegated after 4 games and we aren't promoted after 9 and a win at Wolves. I personally have had a go at a few things at this club and a couple of really excellent results doesn't hide the fact that for me our transfer policy has huge flaws and is the reason we are in this division in the first place. However, I have been quite honestly stunned at how poor this division really is, we were superb in the year we went up but the teams we faced at the time (1 or 2 exceptions) seemed to me to be of a higher standard than the division we face now. That Sheffield Wednesday team we played were a park side defensively, an utter shambles, they are in a playoff position. Swansea I'd heard a lot about and were woeful first half. In fact the only half decent team I've seen were Forest and they are bottom now!!! Having said that, Reading were on their worst day there. You can only beat whats in front of you and thus far Reading are doing that, and doing it well.

Reading first and foremost have been very good recently, they've done what they had to do, played with a swagger that's been missing for the last 2 years and have smashed some supposedly 'good' teams I think Karacan, Kebe and N Hunt have provided a real new cutting edge that we desperately lacked last season, Armstrong has been a fantastic signing thus far it makes you think why these lads weren't brought in last season? Or given a few more opportunities during last season.

Schards original point was a fair one imo however there is definitely some progress being made for me by the emergence of players, namely Karacan and tbf to him Kebe. His end product is indifferent but it's going to be seeing a) where he's come from and b) the league he's playing in. What he does have is sheer pace and unpredictability. That's enough in this league. No one, probably not even Jimmy himself knows exactly what he's going to do, but he's exciting to watch, he's given us a balance we didn't have all of last season and just as importantly he's given the Reading attack pace. Which again with Oster or Fae or whoever we simply didn't have.

January is a big month for this club, I am 90% certain Doyle and probably Stephen Hunt will be sold, how they replace them will define which division Reading are in next season. IF Reading can get good solid replacements for these players (like they did with armstrong replacing Shorey) then Reading will have a very decent chance of bouncing straight back up.

[LUX]

hard to argue with any of that, so I won't.

[Archie's penalty]

However, I have been quite honestly stunned at how poor this division really is, we were superb in the year we went up but the teams we faced at the time (1 or 2 exceptions) seemed to me to be of a higher standard than the division we face now.

Very good post AP.

Regarding this bit of it. Don't you think this is because 1) we as supporters have been used to seeing much better teams week in, week out in the prem, 2) A lot of the Reading players have got better after playing for two years in the prem and for them it's nice to have games against worse players, 3) teams are giving us much more respect this year. They are saying you should beat us - and we are doing just that. In the 2005/6 teams (at least at the beginning of the season) were giving us no respect at all.

Just my thoughts. Wonder what you think...

[Alan Partridge]

However, I have been quite honestly stunned at how poor this division really is, we were superb in the year we went up but the teams we faced at the time (1 or 2 exceptions) seemed to me to be of a higher standard than the division we face now.

Very good post AP.

Regarding this bit of it. Don't you think this is because 1) we as supporters have been used to seeing much better teams week in, week out in the prem, 2) A lot of the Reading players have got better after playing for two years in the prem and for them it's nice to have games against worse players, 3) teams are giving us much more respect this year. They are saying you should beat us - and we are doing just that. In the 2005/6 teams (at least at the beginning of the season) were giving us no respect at all.

Just my thoughts. Wonder what you think...

Quite possibly a combination of all 3. Maybe I am expecting too much from the opposition, but sheffield wednesday and swansea disappointed me in how poor they were and I'd heard a bit about them and let's be fair Reading completely tore both apart, brilliant of course but all too easy.

If some of these teams have genuine ambitions of getting to the Premiership, I'd have thought Sheffield Wednesday for 1 would have then I expected a lot more from them, if that had been Arsenal playing them on that night God knows what the score could have been.

[Archie's penalty]

However, I have been quite honestly stunned at how poor this division really is, we were superb in the year we went up but the teams we faced at the time (1 or 2 exceptions) seemed to me to be of a higher standard than the division we face now.

Very good post AP.

Regarding this bit of it. Don't you think this is because 1) we as supporters have been used to seeing much better teams week in, week out in the prem, 2) A lot of the Reading players have got better after playing for two years in the prem and for them it's nice to have games against worse players, 3) teams are giving us much more respect this year. They are saying you should beat us - and we are doing just that. In the 2005/6 teams (at least at the beginning of the season) were giving us no respect at all.

Just my thoughts. Wonder what you think...

Quite possibly a combination of all 3. Maybe I am expecting too much from the opposition, but sheffield wednesday and swansea disappointed me in how poor they were and I'd heard a bit about them and let's be fair Reading completely tore both apart, brilliant of course but all too easy.

If some of these teams have genuine ambitions of getting to the Premiership, I'd have thought Sheffield Wednesday for 1 would have then I expected a lot more from them, if that had been Arsenal playing them on that night God knows what the score could have been.

I still think there are some tough tasks ahead of us. Teams like Norwich, Bristol City, Coventry, Derby, QPR, Birmingham and Sheffield United have not been played. Once we have played all of them we will know where we really are at.

[CMRoyal]

However, I have been quite honestly stunned at how poor this division really is,

Me too, and at first I thought it was just my memory playing tricks on me. Pre-season, I was convinced we would face a battle to make the playoffs, and even in my darker moments thought that anywhere in the top half of the table would be OK. But - notwithstanding how SC has once again proved the doubters like me wrong by building yet another decent team quietly and at little cost - when the solidly mid-table Plymouth visited, I was stunned at the sudden drop in standard. And the Palace, Wednesday and Swansea games have almost been surreal in the ease in which the boys have rolled these teams over (they nearly cocked up against Palace, but once they got into second gear it was a foregone conclusion). So, here we are awaiting the visit of another supposedly impressive and promotion-chasing club, and if Saturday's game is yet another near walkover, I'll be seriously expecting us to be clear of the rest of the league come the Doyle/Hunt departures in January, and well over the horizon soon after that if they do by some miracle stay. I seriously doubt that makes us as well-equipped for the Prem as we were in 2006, though. I'm convinced the standard has dropped significantly.

[Archie's penalty]

I'm convinced the standard has dropped significantly.

Or the prem has got significantly better perhaps?

[CMRoyal]

I'm convinced the standard has dropped significantly.

Or the prem has got significantly better perhaps?

Yeah, the answer's relative standard, isn't it? It's early days, but it could just be that actually we are still a Premier League standard club who just lost our way a bit. Time will tell. Fantastically enjoyable season so far, anyway.

[LUX]

well how do you explain Stoke, Hull and even WBA's results, Archie? I know there is a very, very long way to go, but Hull have won at Arsenal (and two other games), Stoke have drawn at Liverpool and WBA are doing OK.

Compare with Derby last season (Hull already have their full season total) and Watford the year before. Even we in our first season never got a sniff at Anfield and The Emirates.

So is the Premiership getting weaker?????

[Maguire]

However, I have been quite honestly stunned at how poor this division really is,

Me too, and at first I thought it was just my memory playing tricks on me. Pre-season, I was convinced we would face a battle to make the playoffs, and even in my darker moments thought that anywhere in the top half of the table would be OK. But - notwithstanding how SC has once again proved the doubters like me wrong by building yet another decent team quietly and at little cost - when the solidly mid-table Plymouth visited, I was stunned at the sudden drop in standard. And the Palace, Wednesday and Swansea games have almost been surreal in the ease in which the boys have rolled these teams over (they nearly cocked up against Palace, but once they got into second gear it was a foregone conclusion). So, here we are awaiting the visit of another supposedly impressive and promotion-chasing club, and if Saturday's game is yet another near walkover, I'll be seriously expecting us to be clear of the rest of the league come the Doyle/Hunt departures in January, and well over the horizon soon after that if they do by some miracle stay. I seriously doubt that makes us as well-equipped for the Prem as we were in 2006, though. I'm convinced the standard has dropped significantly.

I agree with lots of that (and almost all of AP's mega-post) right up until the bravado about being clear at the top of the league. Please be more cautious

The standard of the league has been LOLable from what I've seen, with special mention to Wednesday's shambles of a defence.

Been very impressed by the form of S.Hunt (a player I've never really warmed to) and together with Kebe they're showing the benefits of wide players with pace (Kebe) and delivery (Hunt).

Overall I'm just starting to suspect that Coppell knows more about football than I do.

[Hampshire Royal]

Interesting post, AP. I'm not sure you're right about this season's CCC being stunningly poor compared to the CCC in 05/06. It's my opinion that each division is essentially the same standard each season.

In my opinion, we were so much better than Swansea, Wednesday and Wolves that we made them look poor. We didn't just beat them, we slaughtered them!! The reputation Swansea have of being a good team is held my most serious commentators on the game; Wednesday are just behind us in the league; and Wolves are reckoned to be among the best in the division and will, in my opinion, be right up there in the mix in May.

The early disappointing results (in my opinion) came while the team was adjusting to each other and learning how to play together We have replaced our departing 'stars' with more than adequate players and the youth that have come into the team seem to be proving themselves to be up to the mark. In Kebe we seem to have solved our RM problem (better, surely, to let him develop in the CCC than the Prem), with the emergence of Karacan and the re-emergence of Gunnar we look to have a pretty good CM. SHunt, of course, is just SHunt and looks to have put the second half of last season behind him. Who's to say that, if Doyle and SHunt leave in January we won't replace them just as well as we seem to have replaced Kitson, Sonko and Shorey?

You're absolutely right, of course, that no team is promoted or relegated yet, and any team in the league (including us) can go either way. As a natural optimist I, of course, think that we will be at the top of the league in May.

[CMRoyal]

I agree with lots of that (and almost all of AP's mega-post) right up until the bravado about being clear at the top of the league. Please be more cautious

I'm not usually like that, and will try not to make a habit of it. But I was only saying it based on what I've seen so far. I know these things can change very quickly.

[Archie's penalty]

Well all I can say is I haven't seen HNA so positive for a looonnnng time...

[Alan Partridge]

Interesting post, AP. I'm not sure you're right about this season's CCC being stunningly poor compared to the CCC in 05/06. It's my opinion that each division is essentially the same standard each season.

In my opinion, we were so much better than Swansea, Wednesday and Wolves that we made them look poor. We didn't just beat them, we slaughtered them!! The reputation Swansea have of being a good team is held my most serious commentators on the game; Wednesday are just behind us in the league; and Wolves are reckoned to be among the best in the division and will, in my opinion, be right up there in the mix in May.

The early disappointing results (in my opinion) came while the team was adjusting to each other and learning how to play together We have replaced our departing 'stars' with more than adequate players and the youth that have come into the team seem to be proving themselves to be up to the mark. In Kebe we seem to have solved our RM problem (better, surely, to let him develop in the CCC than the Prem), with the emergence of Karacan and the re-emergence of Gunnar we look to have a pretty good CM. SHunt, of course, is just SHunt and looks to have put the second half of last season behind him. Who's to say that, if Doyle and SHunt leave in January we won't replace them just as well as we seem to have replaced Kitson, Sonko and Shorey?

You're absolutely right, of course, that no team is promoted or relegated yet, and any team in the league (including us) can go either way. As a natural optimist I, of course, think that we will be at the top of the league in May.

I agree with this, you could be right and it's just my mind playing the old trick of 'things were better/tougher when' Just thinking back to 05/06 we rolled a few teams by big scores but no one who were near the top by 5 or 6 like we did to Wednesday and it could have been more. There were games where we got 2 or 3 goals up and then eased off a bit but still won comfortably, Ipswich at home immediately springs to mind. Maybe this team this season although not quite as good as 05/06 has more of a ruthless streak about them? and just want to really thump sides? I hope so, that's a great trait to have. Sod all that, just win the game and don't worry about it.... let's have em. Maybe..

Saturday in theory should be another good test, Burnley are up with us, they always seem to start seasons well before filtering away to 9th place so be interesting to see how that goes, I must say i predict another comfortable Reading win but they have 1 or 2 tidy players in their ranks.

I like the earlier poster said was sceptical of this season, far more so than after 05/06 where i said even after Plymouth 'we'd make the playoffs at worst' a bit of the 'feel good' factor had gone from the club and we'd lost a couple of big players but to be fair to Coppell he seems to be the man when it comes to this division and getting players for this league. Armstrong and N Hunt have been fabulous, the youth are pushing through and Kebe has been a bit of a revelation at times. Things have rapidly improved over the last fe weeks, confidence really is a major factor in football from the top level to the bottom, we've got some good players here that in some cases are too good for this league, a bit of confidence and belief from the wins in recent weeks and we are seeing them nearer the top of their game. It's a good place to watch football at the moment! a far cry from last season in many ways!

[Stranded]

well how do you explain Stoke, Hull and even WBA's results, Archie? I know there is a very, very long way to go, but Hull have won at Arsenal (and two other games), Stoke have drawn at Liverpool and WBA are doing OK.

Compare with Derby last season (Hull already have their full season total) and Watford the year before. Even we in our first season never got a sniff at Anfield and The Emirates.

So is the Premiership getting weaker?????

I think you'll find the answer in that by comparing the teams Hull, Stoke and WBA are currently putting out and the sides they put out last season.

[Mad Dog's Ghost]

You cannot judge any of the teams we've played just by the 90 mins of them you've happened to have seen.

I think this division is going to be much like it was last time we were here. Two, maybe three standout sides, the rest on a par, one or two stragglers.

Keep playing well down the flanks, just as all of Coppell's great sides have done and we'll be fine.

[The 17 Bus]

I think one thing we are doing is buying a good set of players, for ages people have put forward names, many of those are journeymen footballers, not really that bothered about the club they play at, IMHO, wheras Coppell has plucked some damned good players, most of whom want to improve themselves, not the been there done that type.

[Lower West]

In fact the only half decent team I've seen were Forest and they are bottom now!!!

First game of the season ......newly promoted.........

Just maybe Reading FC have improved since the season in the championship !!

Enjoy every game, Win , lose or draw......... football is sport.

[Royal Rother]

Highest goalscorers in the entire League structure. (7 more goals than we had scored after same number of games in 2005/6.)

[cmonurz]

13 games in all competitions, and only twice have we failed to score at least 2 goals.