The cause of the blip

[Sarah Star]

LOL! What is an 'average' side these days?

Are we all too used to watching the top teams in the world on tv to realise what's played elsewhere. They're only the very tip of an enormous iceberg you know.

[Mad Dog's Ghost]

Well, if you think it's great then fine.

It's a very tight division, full of okayish sides. Which is why Charlton didn't really look miles worse than Wolves.

Without seriously major surgery, any side going up will be destroyed in the premiership.

[West Stand Man]

They're all average sides in a very average division where there is very little difference in quality between teams at the top and teams at the bottom.

For a team which featured so many players with such poor touch, the early season run was miraculous.

Assuming that I can agree with that (which is a big leap of faith), that still makes us the 3rd best team in this league at the moment (with games in hand on the top 2). Since the point of the league is to sift the top from the bottom I think that looks ok right now?

[West Stand Man]

Well, if you think it's great then fine.

It's a very tight division, full of okayish sides. Which is why Charlton didn't really look miles worse than Wolves.

Without seriously major surgery, any side going up will be destroyed in the premiership.

.. and your point is?

Other than us, when we stormed the Championship, it is pretty common for promoted teams to undego a major reshaping for the PL. What is important now is to get the promotion - we are well placed for that as I write - and then look at what needs to be done if we succeed.

Where I can agree with you is that the real quality gap between top and bottom is not as severe this time as it was the last time we were in this league. But to be fair, the CCC has always been a league where any team might beat any other team on 'its day' - it is those who have more 'days' than the others who tend to go up.

[Sun Tzu]

just a one word or line answer. i have a few ideas:

a) we miss ivar
b) we miss having marcus
c) the home fans

I can see that missing Ivar might be a factor at Wolves too, but not sure why Birmingham, Cardiff, Preston, Sheff Utd or anyone else should be missing him.

Wolves certainly have a keeper problem but whether Marcus would solve it I have no idea.

Wolves and Birmingham fans are no great help to their teams but I've always thought the Cardiff fans backed their team pretty well.

[Wongle]

From where I was standing in the lower west the fans were not booing the team off at half time or the final whistle, but instead were remonstrating that once again we had the cast offs from the Chuckle Brother series officiating another home game. Some truly terrible decisions were made last night!

[FiNeRaIn]

c) the home fans

LOL

Yeah, blame the fans. Grrr, those bloody fans costing us shoddy goals, curse them and their dire final ball.

lol +1

[madmickb]

I think the Blip Started when Ivar got injured and we lost a leader on the pitch Doyle is a great player but he is not a leader of men he is too quiet, when things ge tough you need someone who can organize and be strong perhaps Doobs he has plenty of experience.Oh and yes the Ref and the 2 clowns were bloody rubish

[Snowball]

It's strange that since January we've brought back three players
all who have seemed to say not-so-good things about Reading FC
and said big things about other clubs

little was nothing but complimentary about us
kitson just said what he thought had contributed to our demise last season

So he didn't suggest a few players should leave Reading and join him at Pompey?

[SteveRoyal]

you mean the fans who

A) boo off a promotion chasing side at half time

B) Abuse the ball girl for not picking up the ball

C) cheer when players are substituted

D) Moan about every player and say another player who isn't playing should be and then when that player does, moan about them.

You missed the bit about blaming the manager for every single thing.

'Greed.

[Royalee]

c) the home fans

LOL

Yeah, blame the fans. Grrr, those bloody fans costing us shoddy goals, curse them and their dire final ball.

lol +1

+1

[brendywendy]

whoever said about opposition teams having us worked out is spot on IMO.

We're one of the most predictable teams in the football league at the moment.

A centre back who couldn't kick a ball to save his life, despite his experience

A right back who thinks its acceptable to hoof it aimlessly 50 yards to an opposition defender, when you have one of the best right-wingers in football standing 10 yards from you

A left winger who hasnt put in a decent cross in about 4 months (and look at the difference when Tabb came on yesterday)

A midfield who CONSTANTLY try to play out to the left wing

And on the rare occasion the ball does get in the box, our strikers are so surprised Hunt's actually done something worthwhile, they haven't even bothered getting in there

Spot on mate

except that has absolutely nowt to do with anyone working us out, just that these areas have been performing badly

[brendywendy]

Well, if you think it's great then fine.

It's a very tight division, full of okayish sides. Which is why Charlton didn't really look miles worse than Wolves.

Without seriously major surgery, any side going up will be destroyed in the premiership.

that is what they say every season my friend
occasionally its bollocks


christ on a bike, can we just enjoy challenging FFS, without everyone going mental about what if we only make the playoffs, what if we get stuffed every week if we go up, what if we dont go up
etc

[Royalee]

whoever said about opposition teams having us worked out is spot on IMO.

We're one of the most predictable teams in the football league at the moment.

A centre back who couldn't kick a ball to save his life, despite his experience

A right back who thinks its acceptable to hoof it aimlessly 50 yards to an opposition defender, when you have one of the best right-wingers in football standing 10 yards from you

A left winger who hasnt put in a decent cross in about 4 months (and look at the difference when Tabb came on yesterday)

A midfield who CONSTANTLY try to play out to the left wing

And on the rare occasion the ball does get in the box, our strikers are so surprised Hunt's actually done something worthwhile, they haven't even bothered getting in there

Spot on mate

except that has absolutely nowt to do with anyone working us out, just that these areas have been performing badly

No, it means teams have worked out how to play against us whereas the didn't know previously. Barely anything's changed in the last 18 months, Coppell's just been found out. LOL, he's even admitted he thinks teams are finding us out.

[Scarface]

The route cause of the blip is Steve Coppell.

We were crying out for change in January and he did nothing, now it's March and he's changing the team and making signings, that is an ommission he got it wrong. Credit for him at least trying to salvage the season, however I fear it's too late and the rot has well and truely set in.

[brendywendy]

whoever said about opposition teams having us worked out is spot on IMO.

We're one of the most predictable teams in the football league at the moment.

A centre back who couldn't kick a ball to save his life, despite his experience

A right back who thinks its acceptable to hoof it aimlessly 50 yards to an opposition defender, when you have one of the best right-wingers in football standing 10 yards from you

A left winger who hasnt put in a decent cross in about 4 months (and look at the difference when Tabb came on yesterday)

A midfield who CONSTANTLY try to play out to the left wing

And on the rare occasion the ball does get in the box, our strikers are so surprised Hunt's actually done something worthwhile, they haven't even bothered getting in there

Spot on mate

except that has absolutely nowt to do with anyone working us out, just that these areas have been performing badly

No, it means teams have worked out how to play against us whereas the didn't know previously. Barely anything's changed in the last 18 months, Coppell's just been found out. LOL, he's even admitted he thinks teams are finding us out.

rubbish

the team doesnt play some mentally ultra modern brand of footy
its just coppells brand, been about for years, if its taken this long to"work it out" then theyve been doing it all wrong.

and my point is, that the list of thing i replied to, contains bugger all about being found out
hence the reply

[seahawk10]

The reason for the 'blip' is that we are not a very good football team.

And we would still not be very good if the Charlton equaliser had gone wide instead of going in.

The blip was the freescoring run earlier in the season.

So what about the other teams in this league then? The ones who are nearly all below us in the table and the 2 that are ahead of us having played 2 extra games? What is your view on them, pray tell?

They would be even more dull and uninspiring than us of course. I am content with being dull and uninspiring and finishing in the top two. I would take that in a heartbeat.

[papereyes]

The biggest problem is central midfield. Our weakness there was the reason we got relegated in the first place, and it is showing again.
To play like we want to, 4-4-2 with old style wingers, we need a better midfield than what we have.
People can drone on and on about how much Cissé has improved, that's all fine, but he is not the type of player we need.
We need someone who can run around like a headless chicken all day like Hughes, tackle like Williams and pass like Osborn, and Cissé is pretty far from being that player.
Anytime we discuss how we never replaced Sidwell people start groaning about how expensive it would be to buy him back etc, which is a total dead-end-discussion, and has no meaningful purpouse.
It can't be that hard to find a player who has SIMILAR QUALITIES - it's just a matter of looking around more.
Just like we managed to find Armstrong, who has done a real good job, I think it would be possible to find the player we need if we just tried. I honestly don't think we have made an effort to get a new DMC, we've just resigned to the fact that "we already have Cisse and Gunnarsson and that will be enough", but they aren't good enough for us to get promoted.

It seems to me that mentioning Sidwell in a debate about RFC has the same effect as bringing up Hitler in a political debate.

I think its because it was stated, repeatedly, that we wouldn't miss him.

I agree with so much of that. I think we could have looked in the January of 2007, when it was clear Sidwell was off and we had a bigger bargaining chip in our success at the time.

Oh, and Cisse may have improved but he's still not quite there. Not sure what's missing - a turn of pace perhaps? Its the same with Gunnar. Love the player, love what he's done but you have to accept that he has his limitations.

[West Stand Man]

The reason for the 'blip' is that we are not a very good football team.

And we would still not be very good if the Charlton equaliser had gone wide instead of going in.

The blip was the freescoring run earlier in the season.

So what about the other teams in this league then? The ones who are nearly all below us in the table and the 2 that are ahead of us having played 2 extra games? What is your view on them, pray tell?

They would be even more dull and uninspiring than us of course. I am content with being dull and uninspiring and finishing in the top two. I would take that in a heartbeat.

I am glad that I am not the only one who feels that way. I was beginning to think that everyone else wants pretty football over success.

ps, to scarface. 'root' cause' not 'route' cause.

[Schards#2]

The reason for the 'blip' is that we are not a very good football team.

And we would still not be very good if the Charlton equaliser had gone wide instead of going in.

The blip was the freescoring run earlier in the season.

So what about the other teams in this league then? The ones who are nearly all below us in the table and the 2 that are ahead of us having played 2 extra games? What is your view on them, pray tell?

They are garbage, as are the two teams above us.