Andy Carroll - He's back

[Snowflake Royal]

I admire all your optimism and positivity, but for me this is a case of ignoring a problem to hope it gets better then panicking when it doesn’t really.

[Once upon a time .]

Assuming that Puscas is not injured, has nobody considered the effect he could have with 45 minutes on the field with Carroll ?

[paultheroyal]

Assuming that Puscas is not injured, has nobody considered the effect he could have with 45 minutes on the field with Carroll ?

Good point, well made.

Southwood

Yiadom Dann Moore Rahman

Drinkwater Bashiru

Ejaria Swift

Carroll Puscas

[Nameless]

Given the length of the initial deal, will be very surprised if he is not at least on the bench come Saturday.

Signed Andy Carroll on Monday,
He was starting training by Tuesday
Got him injured by Wednesday
He took up a treatment table on Thursday and Friday and Saturday
We put him out of his misery on Sunday.

To the tune of chitty chitty bang bang?

Everything Ian posts can be sung to the tune of Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now….

[Hound]

Assuming that Puscas is not injured, has nobody considered the effect he could have with 45 minutes on the field with Carroll ?

yeah its a plan b. not one I can see Pauno using a lot based on this season though

[largetrousers]

Keeping fit and being 'football fit' are massively different - but with our injury list we just have to all be optimistic that he can manage himself a bit better with age/experience to give us some games soon.

It's another striker roll of the dice. Will he be another Les Ferdinand or Vydra flop? Or another Jason Roberts? If you look at Jason Roberts stats for Blackburn before he joined Reading he wasn't exactly prolific and in the 29 games he played for Reading he only scored 7 goals, but brought so much more to the team at the time - lets home Carroll can do similar as he has a point to prove.

Can he still do a job in the championship? Absolutely. He's a brilliant header of the ball and has a sweet left foot. Great reading and movement to head balls but we don't exactly play with wingers whipping crosses in. Set pieces lets hope we beat the first man with the ball across, him and Dann heading balls in those situations will certainly get some goals.

Other than being low risk / prove yourself strategy, I wonder if there was any other meaning behind the deal only being until Jan. I doubt it's to put him in the shop window as he's been free all summer with no one knocking. Is the thought that he will be surplus if we get players back? I doubt it and I have little hope in Joao or Miete putting their boots back on this season. Or we have only had a deal till then sanctioned by EFL, with an expectation that we then have to sell other players to satisfy some FFP constraints before anyone can have a contract after Jan that isn't already committed to?

[Sutekh]

Keeping fit and being 'football fit' are massively different - but with our injury list we just have to all be optimistic that he can manage himself a bit better with age/experience to give us some games soon.

It's another striker role of the dice. Will he be another Les Ferdinand or Vidra flop? Or another Jason Roberts? If you look at Jason Roberts stats for Blackburn before he joined Reading he wasn't exactly prolific and in the 29 games he played for Reading he only scored 7 goals, but brought so much more to the team at the time - lets home Carroll can do similar as he has a point to prove.

Can he still do a job in the championship? Absolutely. He's a brilliant header of the ball and has a sweet left foot. Great reading and movement to head balls but we don't exactly play with wingers whipping crosses in. Set pieces lets hope we beat the first man with the ball across, him and Dann heading balls in those situations will certainly get some goals.

Other than being low risk / prove yourself strategy, I wonder if there was any other meaning behind the deal only being until Jan. I doubt it's to put him in the shop window as he's been free all summer with no one knocking. Is the thought that he will be surplus if we get players back? I doubt it and I have little hope in Joao or Miete putting their boots back on this season. Or we have only had a deal till then sanctioned by EFL, with an expectation that we then have to sell other players to satisfy some FFP constraints before anyone can have a contract after Jan that isn't already committed to?

There’s also the commute the player has to do that’s a factor in the short agreement. While he can probably do a certain amount of fitness work locally he will still need to make that tiresome journey round the M25 car park fairly regularly so it’s as much for him to see how he gets on.

For now I’m seeing it like a loan, hopefully a Jim Leighton type of success but eventually with a longer stay.

[Nameless]

He does n’t have to drive from Essex , he is wealthy enough to hire a helicopter, as are our owners.
I believe we had another big name loan signing who used a helicopter although can’t recall who !

[From Despair To Where?]

That was Les Ferdinand.

[bcubed]

As a striker it is almost not as much about scoring goals chipping in 2 or 3 would be brilliant but he is more use holding the ball up and playing in the swifts and Ejarias of the team to bomb it forward. That is what Joao does (and scores aswell but we cant win them all). Puscas needs someone to play off and he cant hold the ball up at all which is why he doesn't work. he could be a very shrewd signing and a threat at corners (finally).

Really do hope this works out.

Good point
Although he's had his moments Puscas generally doesn't manage to hold the ball up
So could work well as you say

Scoring goals as well would be nice though

[Pepe the Horseman]

I know it's not much to go by, but he looks in good nick from the pics and videos. The Reading FC social media accounts are really bigging him up too, so I expect he's going to go straight into the squad. Even for 10 mins off the bench against Forest, his sheer presence will be a big asset if we need a goal or are trying to hold onto a lead.

[Zip]

I know it's not much to go by, but he looks in good nick from the pics and videos. The Reading FC social media accounts are really bigging him up too, so I expect he's going to go straight into the squad. Even for 10 mins off the bench against Forest, his sheer presence will be a big asset if we need a goal or are trying to hold onto a lead.

Agreed. No point in signing him for such a short period if he wasn’t available to get straight into the squad. I suspect we have been monitoring his fitness.

[Millsy]

Assuming that Puscas is not injured, has nobody considered the effect he could have with 45 minutes on the field with Carroll ?

I'm certain Puscas will quadruple his goal-scoring rate playing alongside Carroll.

So it's probably a bad a idea.

[gazzer, loyal royal]

I assume the deal is basically what the EFL would let us do until Joao or Clarke are back fit. I believe part of the reasoning for the deal falling through in September was because we had enough players fit to play the position. Now that’s not the case.

If he’s kept himself in shape and he’s in full training then he could start on Saturday.

[NathStPaul]

[Sutekh]

I assume the deal is basically what the EFL would let us do until Joao or Clarke are back fit. I believe part of the reasoning for the deal falling through in September was because we had enough players fit to play the position. Now that’s not the case.

If he’s kept himself in shape and he’s in full training then he could start on Saturday.

l’m sure I saw it reported in the EP earlier this week that the main issue was agreeing terms around his commute to Reading.

[Pepe the Horseman]

I assume the deal is basically what the EFL would let us do until Joao or Clarke are back fit. I believe part of the reasoning for the deal falling through in September was because we had enough players fit to play the position. Now that’s not the case.

If he’s kept himself in shape and he’s in full training then he could start on Saturday.

l’m sure I saw it reported in the EP earlier this week that the main issue was agreeing terms around his commute to Reading.

Yep. Reading struck a deal with Highways England to scrap the 50mph speed limit on the M4 until mid Jan.

[bcubed]

I assume the deal is basically what the EFL would let us do until Joao or Clarke are back fit. I believe part of the reasoning for the deal falling through in September was because we had enough players fit to play the position. Now that’s not the case.

If he’s kept himself in shape and he’s in full training then he could start on Saturday.

l’m sure I saw it reported in the EP earlier this week that the main issue was agreeing terms around his commute to Reading.

Yep. Reading struck a deal with Highways England to scrap the 50mph speed limit on the M4 until mid Jan.

[Snowflake Royal]

Assuming that Puscas is not injured, has nobody considered the effect he could have with 45 minutes on the field with Carroll ?

yeah its a plan b. not one I can see Pauno using a lot based on this season though

Yeah, if you look at the structure of the side, its not actually very easy to switch to 2 upfront with a proper shape behind it.

Easiest way to do it would be to remove Swift, but he's our best player, so that's counter productive.

That leaves LW, RW, DM or CM/DM or a defender. If we're going to play 2 up, really we're going to want wingers, but we don't really have any and the closest we've got are two of the options to sub off.

Meaning our only options are a defender or a central midfielder. The former makes us more likely to concede again and the latter also makes us more likely to concede and means pulling Swift, our best player, a bit deeper to cover the hole we just made.

You've got to look at the whole picture and how you're accommodating the second striker, with the impact that has elsewhere before you actually do it.

We'd be better off just setting up with it in a 5-3-2 if we want it than trying to change to use it mid game.

[bcubed]

Assuming that Puscas is not injured, has nobody considered the effect he could have with 45 minutes on the field with Carroll ?

yeah its a plan b. not one I can see Pauno using a lot based on this season though

Yeah, if you look at the structure of the side, its not actually very easy to switch to 2 upfront with a proper shape behind it.

Easiest way to do it would be to remove Swift, but he's our best player, so that's counter productive.

That leaves LW, RW, DM or CM/DM or a defender. If we're going to play 2 up, really we're going to want wingers, but we don't really have any and the closest we've got are two of the options to sub off.

Meaning our only options are a defender or a central midfielder. The former makes us more likely to concede again and the latter also makes us more likely to concede and means pulling Swift, our best player, a bit deeper to cover the hole we just made.

You've got to look at the whole picture and how you're accommodating the second striker, with the impact that has elsewhere before you actually do it.

We'd be better off just setting up with it in a 5-3-2 if we want it than trying to change to use it mid game.

Agreed but maybe we need to try playing without him
Because it seems we’ll soon have to