As The Dust Settles - The Sombre Thread

[Snowflake Royal]

Mainly Twitter people, granted

He was the absolute definition of a luxury player, for me. I don’t think it makes someone necessarily stupid to think he could be a good player but only in a very particular system. Fredericks was a great supplement for him. Direct, pacy and attacking. Recall the pair of them tearing us to shreds one particular afternoon. We had Gunter. He was none of the things aforementioned. I’d love to have known what was going on in Stam’s mind to think that was a plausible duo

He certainly wasn’t someone to build a team around though (which was Stam’s idea). His end product was erratic at best (and part of the reason why we actually beat Fulham in the semis originally - missed a couple of sitters). Hands down one of the worst managerial decisions I’ve seen, replacing two very competent wingers for Aluko and Barrow

You knew it was a shit signing when we went for the flakey attacking midfielder with massively patchy form instead of a striker, because Oliveira fell through, just because we had some agreed budget burning a holein our pocket.

Kind of symbolic of a lot of our signings over the past 6 or 7 years. Over priced, over paid and not addressing a position of need. I'd put Baldock in the same category. Not bad players but brainless signings.

100%

Remember when we had about 4 right backs and no left backs?

Or 3 left backs and 1 right back?

[URZZZZ]

Mainly Twitter people, granted

He was the absolute definition of a luxury player, for me. I don’t think it makes someone necessarily stupid to think he could be a good player but only in a very particular system. Fredericks was a great supplement for him. Direct, pacy and attacking. Recall the pair of them tearing us to shreds one particular afternoon. We had Gunter. He was none of the things aforementioned. I’d love to have known what was going on in Stam’s mind to think that was a plausible duo

He certainly wasn’t someone to build a team around though (which was Stam’s idea). His end product was erratic at best (and part of the reason why we actually beat Fulham in the semis originally - missed a couple of sitters). Hands down one of the worst managerial decisions I’ve seen, replacing two very competent wingers for Aluko and Barrow

You knew it was a shit signing when we went for the flakey attacking midfielder with massively patchy form instead of a striker, because Oliveira fell through, just because we had some agreed budget burning a holein our pocket.

Kind of symbolic of a lot of our signings over the past 6 or 7 years. Over priced, over paid and not addressing a position of need. I'd put Baldock in the same category. Not bad players but brainless signings.

Baldock, at least, made sense (although not for the price we paid). We were in need of a couple of strikers and we were badly missing characters in the squad

Think the idea from Clement was to integrate a simple 4-4-2, big man (Bod/Meite), little man (Baldock/McNulty) combo. That integration period lasted about four games. The midfield was lightweight and soft, and Meyler’s legs were shot. Meant we had to stick another midfielder in and that was Baldock and McNulty’s career over before it had already started here

[Hound]

Another plus point for Meite is that he left everything out on the pitch, every game. You forgive players not doing so well, when they're always putting in 100%.

Also his treatment of young kids outside the ground before games is always great - he'll take a selfie, have a chat, and just generally be nice. People remember that. When you have a long line of absolute mercenaries playing for your club, seeing one or two doing things right will always make them popular.

I think if he didn't get that really bad knee injury at the back end of 2020/21 things would be different, but that's life. I expect he'll move on this summer, but will always get a great reception when he comes back.

Have to agree here, think he is a very likeable player in an era when we had some absolutely awful characters at the club. It is however the right time for him to go, he is better than League 1.

Yeah he was brilliant for a couple of years. Great for clement to spot the potential and a real shining light for those years

That injury has knackered him though. Not the same player and constantly carrying injuries ever since . Real shame, but I don’t think he was champ standard seeing him last two years. Prob best to go to another league altogether

[Hound]

You knew it was a shit signing when we went for the flakey attacking midfielder with massively patchy form instead of a striker, because Oliveira fell through, just because we had some agreed budget burning a holein our pocket.

Kind of symbolic of a lot of our signings over the past 6 or 7 years. Over priced, over paid and not addressing a position of need. I'd put Baldock in the same category. Not bad players but brainless signings.

Baldock, at least, made sense (although not for the price we paid). We were in need of a couple of strikers and we were badly missing characters in the squad

Think the idea from Clement was to integrate a simple 4-4-2, big man (Bod/Meite), little man (Baldock/McNulty) combo. That integration period lasted about four games. The midfield was lightweight and soft, and Meyler’s legs were shot. Meant we had to stick another midfielder in and that was Baldock and McNulty’s career over before it had already started here

Baldock’s other main issue was a complete inability to stay fit when needed

There was a very good player in there but totally misused as mentioned. Ended up a very expensive mistake

[South Coast Royal]

Aluko had just come off a very successful season with Fulham in which he scored 8 goals. Not quite Kebe numbers but similar to McCleary’s best season for us. Also very good in Hull’s promotion campaign.

Not the position I would have strengthened and he never looked like value, but I think we could have expected Aluko to be better than he was.

Stam signed six wingers: Beerens, Harriott, Meite, Popa, Barrow, and Aluko, with McCleary the senior winger at the club plus Tanner, Stacey, and Fosu. Beerens was great but wanted to leave after a year. Harriott was fine but never really recovered from that injury, his minutes should have gone to Fosu. Meite is one of the best signings we have ever made. Popa was superfluous, his minutes should have gone to Meite or Stacey. Barrow a good Beerens/Harriott replacement. Aluko superfluous and expensive, again could have got more out of Meite, Stacey, or even Tanner. Hindsight is 20/20 but imagine if we had spent that money on Neal Maupay instead.

Casadei, pretty obvious why we signed him, he was a clear upgrade on our midfield options even if he wasn’t a game-changer.

Meite one of the best signings we have ever made-really?

156 appearances in 7 years is not good although a goal return of around 1 in 4 if you think of him as a winger and not as a striker is not bad.
I would put him as a fair signing but way, way short of one of the best we have ever made.

To clarify, by "one of the best" I wasn't meaning "top three", but certainly "top 15" and arguably "top ten".

You need to check your stats! He spent one of those seven years out on loan for a start.

Winger signed on a free transfer who across three consecutive years scored 42 goals in 110 games, or one every 2.5. Yeah he's not been the same player after his injury, but neither were Little, Sonko, Convey, Karacan, etc., and we don't tend to count that against them.

42 league goals at this level puts him only behind Kitson (and joint with Joao) in the post-war era. And he's not a striker. And he cost less than Kitson.

He's definitely a fair way above merely a "fair" signing. Hasn't led the team to glory but still an excellent signing. A player of that quality in this day and age would typically set us back several million, if you look at the amounts we paid for Beerens, Popa, Barrow, Aluko, or Ejaria.

I think an "excellent signing" is also way OTT.
We sometimes describe him as a winger but he has been a wide striker like a Son or a Salah.

Yes, if he had stayed fit I might have put him in the good signing category but as a whole package , taking into account the injury record, I'll stick with "fair" thanks, although so many of late have not even been fair and have contributed to the demise of our team over the period that Meite has been with us.

Based on your stat of 110 games over 6 seasons that is not a very good attendance record.

BTW, I went with wikipedia stats that say 156 appearances for Reading plus 31 for Sochaux (3 goals) in that period.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Agree on Baldock, seemed a good signing on the surface but for the money we spent on him and what we got for him (including his injury record), it goes down as another mistake made there.

The one thing I look back on with a lot of our signings where we've overspent on is, how did anyone seriously think these players were going to win us promotion? When you think of the likes of Meyler, Edwards, Baldock, Aluko etc. Not bad players in their own rights, but extremely poor when you realise what we paid to bring them to the club (in Baldock's and Aluko's cases) and the wages these players were taking with them. Paying promotion level wages for just ok, experienced Championship players who were on the decline.

[Needle]

Have we seen this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etTfEHL9mZ4

Grim

[Snowflake Royal]

You knew it was a shit signing when we went for the flakey attacking midfielder with massively patchy form instead of a striker, because Oliveira fell through, just because we had some agreed budget burning a holein our pocket.

Kind of symbolic of a lot of our signings over the past 6 or 7 years. Over priced, over paid and not addressing a position of need. I'd put Baldock in the same category. Not bad players but brainless signings.

Baldock, at least, made sense (although not for the price we paid). We were in need of a couple of strikers and we were badly missing characters in the squad

Think the idea from Clement was to integrate a simple 4-4-2, big man (Bod/Meite), little man (Baldock/McNulty) combo. That integration period lasted about four games. The midfield was lightweight and soft, and Meyler’s legs were shot. Meant we had to stick another midfielder in and that was Baldock and McNulty’s career over before it had already started here

Clement was one of the few managers who seemed to identify the problems, create a plan and make signings to build that plan.

Only for:
1) McNulty to miss a pen and not step up
2) Meyler's legs and interest give out after 1 game
3) Ezahatoli (Meyler's replacement) to break after 4 games
4) Baldock to get injured iirc.

Right actions, all executed poorly or scuppered by bad luck.

[SCIAG]

Meite one of the best signings we have ever made-really?

156 appearances in 7 years is not good although a goal return of around 1 in 4 if you think of him as a winger and not as a striker is not bad.
I would put him as a fair signing but way, way short of one of the best we have ever made.

To clarify, by "one of the best" I wasn't meaning "top three", but certainly "top 15" and arguably "top ten".

You need to check your stats! He spent one of those seven years out on loan for a start.

Winger signed on a free transfer who across three consecutive years scored 42 goals in 110 games, or one every 2.5. Yeah he's not been the same player after his injury, but neither were Little, Sonko, Convey, Karacan, etc., and we don't tend to count that against them.

42 league goals at this level puts him only behind Kitson (and joint with Joao) in the post-war era. And he's not a striker. And he cost less than Kitson.

He's definitely a fair way above merely a "fair" signing. Hasn't led the team to glory but still an excellent signing. A player of that quality in this day and age would typically set us back several million, if you look at the amounts we paid for Beerens, Popa, Barrow, Aluko, or Ejaria.

I think an "excellent signing" is also way OTT.
We sometimes describe him as a winger but he has been a wide striker like a Son or a Salah.

Yes, if he had stayed fit I might have put him in the good signing category but as a whole package , taking into account the injury record, I'll stick with "fair" thanks, although so many of late have not even been fair and have contributed to the demise of our team over the period that Meite has been with us.

Based on your stat of 110 games over 6 seasons that is not a very good attendance record.

BTW, I went with wikipedia stats that say 156 appearances for Reading plus 31 for Sochaux (3 goals) in that period.

Where to start…

Firstly you haven’t read my post correctly. He didn’t make 110 appearances over seven years, he made that over three years.

Secondly it is utterly bizarre to mark a signing down because of how he performed on loan at another team.

Thirdly it is strange to mark a player down because he had a bad injury five years after we signed him on a free transfer. It isn’t like we signed him for a big fee and never saw a return on our investment. We got a player who was a first team regular and an absolutely key member of our side for three years, who cost us nothing. That doesn’t retrospectively stop existing just because of his injuries. This isn’t a Nick Blackman situation.

Glen Little spent a large portion of his Reading career in the treatment room (and another portion being mediocre). Would you say he was only a “fair” signing?

[South Coast Royal]

To clarify, by "one of the best" I wasn't meaning "top three", but certainly "top 15" and arguably "top ten".

You need to check your stats! He spent one of those seven years out on loan for a start.

Winger signed on a free transfer who across three consecutive years scored 42 goals in 110 games, or one every 2.5. Yeah he's not been the same player after his injury, but neither were Little, Sonko, Convey, Karacan, etc., and we don't tend to count that against them.

42 league goals at this level puts him only behind Kitson (and joint with Joao) in the post-war era. And he's not a striker. And he cost less than Kitson.

He's definitely a fair way above merely a "fair" signing. Hasn't led the team to glory but still an excellent signing. A player of that quality in this day and age would typically set us back several million, if you look at the amounts we paid for Beerens, Popa, Barrow, Aluko, or Ejaria.

I think an "excellent signing" is also way OTT.
We sometimes describe him as a winger but he has been a wide striker like a Son or a Salah.

Yes, if he had stayed fit I might have put him in the good signing category but as a whole package , taking into account the injury record, I'll stick with "fair" thanks, although so many of late have not even been fair and have contributed to the demise of our team over the period that Meite has been with us.

Based on your stat of 110 games over 6 seasons that is not a very good attendance record.

BTW, I went with wikipedia stats that say 156 appearances for Reading plus 31 for Sochaux (3 goals) in that period.

Where to start…

Firstly you haven’t read my post correctly. He didn’t make 110 appearances over seven years, he made that over three years.

Secondly it is utterly bizarre to mark a signing down because of how he performed on loan at another team.

Thirdly it is strange to mark a player down because he had a bad injury five years after we signed him on a free transfer. It isn’t like we signed him for a big fee and never saw a return on our investment. We got a player who was a first team regular and an absolutely key member of our side for three years, who cost us nothing. That doesn’t retrospectively stop existing just because of his injuries. This isn’t a Nick Blackman situation.

Glen Little spent a large portion of his Reading career in the treatment room (and another portion being mediocre). Would you say he was only a “fair” signing?

Clearly we aren't going to agree on the merits of what has supposedly been one of the best EVER signings-ever is a very long time.
To judge somebody's merit then surely their availability for selection is an important element and Meite has played very little football for us over the past two seasons, has been largely ineffective and has been drawing a weekly wage of £17,500 and we will now not get a fee.
Am not saying it is his fault that he got injured .

Just because so many of our recent signings have been poor that doesn't mean that Meite was one of the best ever-it is a very low bar in recent years when most have been poor but IMHO his signing , over the whole tenure , has been fair.

[72 bus]

I think an "excellent signing" is also way OTT.
We sometimes describe him as a winger but he has been a wide striker like a Son or a Salah.

Yes, if he had stayed fit I might have put him in the good signing category but as a whole package , taking into account the injury record, I'll stick with "fair" thanks, although so many of late have not even been fair and have contributed to the demise of our team over the period that Meite has been with us.

Based on your stat of 110 games over 6 seasons that is not a very good attendance record.

BTW, I went with wikipedia stats that say 156 appearances for Reading plus 31 for Sochaux (3 goals) in that period.

Where to start…

Firstly you haven’t read my post correctly. He didn’t make 110 appearances over seven years, he made that over three years.

Secondly it is utterly bizarre to mark a signing down because of how he performed on loan at another team.

Thirdly it is strange to mark a player down because he had a bad injury five years after we signed him on a free transfer. It isn’t like we signed him for a big fee and never saw a return on our investment. We got a player who was a first team regular and an absolutely key member of our side for three years, who cost us nothing. That doesn’t retrospectively stop existing just because of his injuries. This isn’t a Nick Blackman situation.

Glen Little spent a large portion of his Reading career in the treatment room (and another portion being mediocre). Would you say he was only a “fair” signing?

Clearly we aren't going to agree on the merits of what has supposedly been one of the best EVER signings-ever is a very long time.
To judge somebody's merit then surely their availability for selection is an important element and Meite has played very little football for us over the past two seasons, has been largely ineffective and has been drawing a weekly wage of £17,500 and we will now not get a fee.
Am not saying it is his fault that he got injured .

Just because so many of our recent signings have been poor that doesn't mean that Meite was one of the best ever-it is a very low bar in recent years when most have been poor but IMHO his signing , over the whole tenure , has been fair.

Better scoring record than arguably two of the best wingers we have had Jimmy Kebe and Glen Little.
Meite 165 games 47 goals
Kebe and Little combined 286 games 38 goals.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Meite has been a good servant. Done very little over the last couple of seasons due to injury which is unfortunate, but a really good player on his day and had 2/3 years where he was one of our better players regardless of where we finished. Always looked to put a good shift in as well.

He's been one of the more successful signings of the last decade since our relegation I'd say. Not worthy of the best ever category, probably not even the top 10 to be honest in my lifetime either. Good player who probably hasn't justified his wage over the last couple of seasons for reasons beyond his performance. In hindsight, it would have been good if his PL interest was concrete and he moved on for a few million as reported.

[South Coast Royal]

Where to start…

Firstly you haven’t read my post correctly. He didn’t make 110 appearances over seven years, he made that over three years.

Secondly it is utterly bizarre to mark a signing down because of how he performed on loan at another team.

Thirdly it is strange to mark a player down because he had a bad injury five years after we signed him on a free transfer. It isn’t like we signed him for a big fee and never saw a return on our investment. We got a player who was a first team regular and an absolutely key member of our side for three years, who cost us nothing. That doesn’t retrospectively stop existing just because of his injuries. This isn’t a Nick Blackman situation.

Glen Little spent a large portion of his Reading career in the treatment room (and another portion being mediocre). Would you say he was only a “fair” signing?

Clearly we aren't going to agree on the merits of what has supposedly been one of the best EVER signings-ever is a very long time.
To judge somebody's merit then surely their availability for selection is an important element and Meite has played very little football for us over the past two seasons, has been largely ineffective and has been drawing a weekly wage of £17,500 and we will now not get a fee.
Am not saying it is his fault that he got injured .

Just because so many of our recent signings have been poor that doesn't mean that Meite was one of the best ever-it is a very low bar in recent years when most have been poor but IMHO his signing , over the whole tenure , has been fair.

Better scoring record than arguably two of the best wingers we have had Jimmy Kebe and Glen Little.
Meite 165 games 47 goals
Kebe and Little combined 286 games 38 goals.

But they were two out and out wingers who had the main role of providing chances and crosses for others.
Meite has had this more modern role of wide striker so his scoring stats should be compared to strikers.
Also of course those other two did play for us in the Premier League and not just The Championship.

[Hound]

Meite has only had 6 assists in his Reading career according to whoscored, 3 of which came this year

Actually a pretty bizarre stat considering. Goal scoring record, esp up to 2 years ago was excellent

[CountryRoyal]

You knew it was a shit signing when we went for the flakey attacking midfielder with massively patchy form instead of a striker, because Oliveira fell through, just because we had some agreed budget burning a holein our pocket.

Kind of symbolic of a lot of our signings over the past 6 or 7 years. Over priced, over paid and not addressing a position of need. I'd put Baldock in the same category. Not bad players but brainless signings.

100%

Remember when we had about 4 right backs and no left backs?

Or 3 left backs and 1 right back?

Or 2 full backs who we knew were going to miss at least a month of the season for AFCON.

Can’t agree with the original sentiment though, I think a lot of the players were bad, made worse by poor utilisation. Baldock was crap, Puscas was crap, list goes on. The fact we broke ffp going “all out” for promotion and then you look at our squads of recent years, is truly embarrassing.

[tidus_mi2]

Kind of symbolic of a lot of our signings over the past 6 or 7 years. Over priced, over paid and not addressing a position of need. I'd put Baldock in the same category. Not bad players but brainless signings.

100%

Remember when we had about 4 right backs and no left backs?

Or 3 left backs and 1 right back?

Or 2 full backs who we knew were going to miss at least a month of the season for AFCON.

Can’t agree with the original sentiment though, I think a lot of the players were bad, made worse by poor utilisation. Baldock was crap, Puscas was crap, list goes on. The fact we broke ffp going “all out” for promotion and then you look at our squads of recent years, is truly embarrassing.

Christ, that part was so obvious to just about everyone except the manager apparently, thank God Ghana did absolute dogshit and were out in the group stages.

[From Despair To Where?]

Dont think Puscas is crap, just not utilised properly, which leads on to the biggest problem with him, which was in signing him, it should have been Puscas or Joao, not Puscas and Joao. This also harks back to when Clarke was here and we went mental signing loads of players on loan like Piazon and John which left us to not fielding the one loanee we actually needed (Taylor) or the one who actually gave a toss (Fernandez) because we had too many.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Yeah I don't think Puscas is poor, just needs a strike partner with him and support around him. No coincidence when we started with 2 up top against Huddersfield at home (4-3 defeat) he scored, along with Joao. Similar at Wigan away in the 3-1 win a few seasons ago, not doing much up until we brought on forwards around him and he got a hat-trick and was far more influential in the game.

Genuinely believe him and Joao could have made a good partnership, they just needed to be played correctly in those areas. Meite as well in a 2 could have worked potentially as well in the system we were playing. Signing both Puscas and Joao for me wasn't the issue, it was the money we paid, and then continued to pay in wages, on both that was the issue. We cannot afford to be paying £12.5m+ (not including massive wages) on players who are not going to be utilised correctly and not take us to the Premier League.

[From Despair To Where?]

Yeah, but are both more suited to playing off another forward in a front 2. Given the cost, i just don't get why we bought both.

[Hendo]

Yeah, but are both more suited to playing the same role in a front 2. Given the cost, i just don't get why we bought both.