MATCHWATCH : Stoke City (h) sponsored by John Halls

[Snowflake Royal]

Yeah Morrison for shizzle. Surprised you didn't mention Yiadom? Rinomhota could be a future captain.

Yiadom is a bit fiery. And I think can be prone to poor judgement.

Plus tend to prefer a captain in the middle of the pitch CB, CM, maybe ST.

You're right. What we need is Lewis Baker back as club captain. I agree.

I could live with that. Baker, Rino, Ejaria/Swift/Olise. Yum.

[NewCorkSeth]

Yiadom is a bit fiery. And I think can be prone to poor judgement.

Plus tend to prefer a captain in the middle of the pitch CB, CM, maybe ST.

You're right. What we need is Lewis Baker back as club captain. I agree.

I could live with that. Baker, Rino, Ejaria/Swift/Olise. Yum.

They're pretty good footballers too.

[Hound]

Swift seems a bit 'nice' to be a captain tbh. Can't really see him giving someone a bollocking

Miazga if he joined, Baldock or maybe Obita if he hangs around could do it

[NewCorkSeth]

Swift seems a bit 'nice' to be a captain tbh. Can't really see him giving someone a bollocking

Miazga if he joined, Baldock or maybe Obita if he hangs around could do it

Will Baldock start though? He seems to have a good attitude but will he even play?

Miazga is a silent shithouse. Can't have him drawing attention to his fuxkong about.

[SCIAG]

Morro club captain. Swift or Rino on pitch? Baldock...

Yeah Morrison for shizzle. Surprised you didn't mention Yiadom? Rinomhota could be a future captain.

Yiadom is a bit fiery. And I think can be prone to poor judgement.

Plus tend to prefer a captain in the middle of the pitch CB, CM, maybe ST.

Imagine having a full back or a winger as captain, that would never work!

[Old Man Andrews]

The best captains are goalkeeper imo. Can see the whole pitch and are normally the most vocal players due to the nature of their role in the team.

[Snowflake Royal]

Yeah Morrison for shizzle. Surprised you didn't mention Yiadom? Rinomhota could be a future captain.

Yiadom is a bit fiery. And I think can be prone to poor judgement.

Plus tend to prefer a captain in the middle of the pitch CB, CM, maybe ST.

Imagine having a full back or a winger as captain, that would never work!

'Tend to prefer' obviously in no way means 'must only be'.

McAnuff was just the really obvious choice. Been some question marks over Murty since, but also a good choice.

Gunter on the other hand... just not captain material.

[SCIAG]

Yiadom is a bit fiery. And I think can be prone to poor judgement.

Plus tend to prefer a captain in the middle of the pitch CB, CM, maybe ST.

Imagine having a full back or a winger as captain, that would never work!

'Tend to prefer' obviously in no way means 'must only be'.

McAnuff was just the really obvious choice. Been some question marks over Murty since, but also a good choice.

Gunter on the other hand... just not captain material.

Sure, I understood what you meant. But I feel like if one has a preference for position then it should be in the margins. So if you were picking the England captain then you have three very good options in Kane, Sterling, and Henderson and it might make sense to separate them on position and go with Henderson. But if Yiadom or Obita is the stand out option for the captaincy then I don’t think him being a full back is a real concern.

[Snowflake Royal]

Imagine having a full back or a winger as captain, that would never work!

'Tend to prefer' obviously in no way means 'must only be'.

McAnuff was just the really obvious choice. Been some question marks over Murty since, but also a good choice.

Gunter on the other hand... just not captain material.

Sure, I understood what you meant. But I feel like if one has a preference for position then it should be in the margins. So if you were picking the England captain then you have three very good options in Kane, Sterling, and Henderson and it might make sense to separate them on position and go with Henderson. But if Yiadom or Obita is the stand out option for the captaincy then I don’t think him being a full back is a real concern.

Fair. Don't see Yiadom as any sort of contender. Also think Obita is unlikely to play much of a part... good chance he won't be here next season.

If you're talking about standout contender regardless of playing time it's hands down Morro for me.

[Sutekh]

Would expect a line up similar to that which did well over xmas so...

33 Rafael
2 Gunter
4 Morrison
6 Moore
24 Blackett
10 Swift
26 Adam
29 Pele
19 Meite
31 Joao
14 Ejaria

Substitutes

Walker
Miazga
Olise
Rinomhota
Obita
McCleary
Baldock
McIntyre
Puscas

[muirinho]

Surprisingly yes. I have McIntyre in mind for next season. May as well have the left footed player start on the left.

K. Think he's been pretty shocking there, but could have been the system.

You're not wrong. He certainly has looked better on the left. I think he has even stated he prefers to play on the left.

Its an odd one. I suppose we could have inverted CBs but I am sure I saw something about left footed CBs actually being a good thing on the left.

I'm sure I've seen somewhere that if you have a right footed player on the right and a left footed player on the left you end up with a gap between them, and you're better off inverting them. I may have fabricated that out of my own head though.

[Simmops]

The best captains are goalkeeper imo. Can see the whole pitch and are normally the most vocal players due to the nature of their role in the team.

Disagree. Centre Mids such as Stevie G or me. Usually dictate the game, everything goes through them, vocal and can run up and down the pitch whereas a keeper obviously cannot for a corner or something.

Stuart Pearce said the best captain in his opinion was Bryan Robson, I never saw him play but he must have been good

[NewCorkSeth]

K. Think he's been pretty shocking there, but could have been the system.

You're not wrong. He certainly has looked better on the left. I think he has even stated he prefers to play on the left.

Its an odd one. I suppose we could have inverted CBs but I am sure I saw something about left footed CBs actually being a good thing on the left.

I'm sure I've seen somewhere that if you have a right footed player on the right and a left footed player on the left you end up with a gap between them, and you're better off inverting them. I may have fabricated that out of my own head though.

I recall it having something to do with the way they turn. Left footed people naturally turn to the left and right footed to the right so there is an advantage to having them play on their preferred foot. I imagine there was something about passing too. Anyway, doesnt really matter right now,

[Westwood52]

The best captains are goalkeeper imo. Can see the whole pitch and are normally the most vocal players due to the nature of their role in the team.

Disagree. Centre Mids such as Stevie G or me. Usually dictate the game, everything goes through them, vocal and can run up and down the pitch whereas a keeper obviously cannot for a corner or something.

Stuart Pearce said the best captain in his opinion was Bryan Robson, I never saw him play but he must have been good

Bryan Robson was a phenomenal player ,who could literally play any position on the field bar goalkeeper.Only Steve Gerard gets close as such an all round player.Unfortunately he was too brave for his own good and suffered with shoulder problems.

[Stranded]

If captain is actually that important and I have my doubts, then position is not important but the person is.

[Snowflake Royal]

If captain is actually that important and I have my doubts, then position is not important but the person is.

Person is clearly most important.

[morganb]

Do we think they will still play Sweet Caroline before kick-off?

[Sutekh]

Do we think they will still play Sweet Caroline before kick-off?

They should do, and the goal music (presuming Reading manage one).

And will players still be booked if they score then run into the crowd to celebrate with the cutouts?

Shied away from getting a cutout in case I get put behind someone bigger and therefore can’t see everything clearly. Not sure I entirely understand why cut outs appear to be standing throughout the game instead of sitting, or perhaps Reading have agreed a safe standing policy at last.

[NewCorkSeth]

How long has Sweet Caroline been our kick off song and, more importantly, why?

[JR]

Very excited about the game - it feels like the night before the first game of the season!

Can see us going on a great run and pushing the play-offs.