Well done on cup run but fans deserve better

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

What is needed is a manager that can manage. Hopefully Clarke can do this, support from above about his decisions. Not keeping players that cause problems. Guthrie going was a big positive, couple more to leave, then we can move on. Unfortunately not all contracts are up this summer.
Then back to the Reading way please, no big time Charlies again.

[Royalwaster]

The spine of a team needs a centre forward. That is clearly what we are missing.

Good Lord - this.

Our back four is 100% better under Clarke. Ive always been convinced that our midfield is a combination of good players mixed in with a few bad players and its just a matter of picking the right 4/5. But we have NOTHING up front. We did when Murray was here, but even then he was on his own, and we were simultaneously awful at the back.

If the Arsenal game proved anything, it is that we are a lot less vulnerable now than we were in the first half of the season, but, really, we're no more threatening up front. If we really want to translate form into winning points in the championship, we need to find a pair of strikers. Fast.

+1 .... I think to get promoted from the Champ you need a couple of confident strikers and a reasonably solid defence .... we've had neither this season.

[CountryRoyal]

No one can deny the colossal effort and performance on Saturday and everyone thought we would get dicked... But should we be surprised if we played our best game against the best team we've faced this season?

One of the only consistent things about this season was our performances against better teams; wolves, derby, ipswhich away...etc. We hypothesised and speculated and I think most agreed that the better teams play more expansive football and gives us more space, they attack allowing us to counter. If we were playing a team who sat back and we couldn't break down, would we have seen the same grit and determination? Doubt it.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

As others have said the lack of strikers is the main reason we are where we are but we also need more goals all over the pitch to be honest.

How many defenders have got their heads on a set piece this season? In fact, what has happened to our set pieces? This is arguably the worst season for years in that respect - they've been sh1t all season. Who is the midfield dynamo that's pitched in with say 8 goals or something? To have a good season everyone needs to contribute. I was looking at the stats for Bournemouth the other day - between Ritchie, Wilson & Kermorgant they've got about 60 goals between them alone.

Unsurprisingly they look set to go up.

Mackie aside, I would be happy to see all the other forwards leave. (I think Pog, Cox & HRK are all replaceable but I'm pretty sure they're all still under contract). Clarke has a tricky situation to manage there as I think he'll struggle to move any of them on bar Cox.

[Royal Lady]

Clarke sold Cox before so clearly doesn't rate him but I know cox and Pog get on well outside of the game so not sure why he'd say he couldn't partner him and it's a strange thing to say in public anyway.

Ferdinand is probably on a big wage and I'd be miffed too if someone was brought in on more money than me but wasn't even fit and hasn't played a full game this season. So it could be that.

I hope Clarke has the ability to sort out whatever the problem is, and it's not something that out of his hands.

Saturday should have given them all the confidence to know that they can all play much better as a team than they have all season.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I think Clarke will sell Cox. He doesn't rate him. Sadly, I have to agree.

[Schards#2]

I'm afraid that you have to take the rough with the smooth, there is nothing on the terms of the season ticket guaranteeing good performances or entertainment.

You've just got to go and have faith and hope that the players out on the pitch can play well and win. If they don't then there is a good chance that they won't be at the club long but the club will always be there.

If you want guaranteed "entertainment" (and a hot goth chick from Norwich) go watch wwe with wiz.

You miss the point

Of course there will always be peaks and troughs and god knows I've suffered a fair few troughs and, as you rightly say, that's part of the deal, What isn't part of the deal is non football related problems dragging us down. Clarke has stated there are problems, he can't talk about them and can't fix them at the moment.

That is very different from a squad lacking confidence or having insufficient strikers or anything like that which, I believe, he would be happy to talk about. To me, it suggests some off pitch issue, be it ownership related or problem players/cliques in the squad, I've no idea what, but something that can't be fixed on the training ground or by just bouncing a couple of players out of the first team squad.

For two years, we've watched a squad underperform badly, and perform (dare I say it) uninspiringly under two separate and quite different managers. If it was players lacking confidence/injury crisis/getting old, I could live with that but I think this is different and the manager has all but confirmed this.

I'm very reluctant to invest the time and money a season ticket requires until I'm satisfied I'm not going to spend another season watching a team that isn't entirely focused on winning games. I would want to hear that this problem, whatever it is, has been resolved are we are now all pulling in the same direction, even if that means taking a step back in terms of the quality of player (on paper) that we are fielding.

[Extended-Phenotype]

A great effort yesterday and, for that, we can all be grateful but does it not underline the fact that this squad has underperformed appallingly week in week out this season?

Much as we all enjoyed it, it's frustrating that the players can take it to one of the best teams in the country when they want to but continually produce inept performances and results against inferior opposition in the league when, demonstrably, they are not giving it everything. Don't take my word for it by the way, Clarke has gone on record about something being wrong in the squad that isn't for broadcast to us mere paying customers and that he has been unable to address.

I've been a season ticket holder for 20 years but have serious reservations regarding renewing unless whatever the problem is is resolved and we can be confident that we are paying to watch a squad giving 100% and all pulling in the same direction. I'm very reluctant to invest the time and effort on watching a team for whom it appears, (at least for some of the squad), the success of the team isn't the number one focus. Even if, as a result, were having to blood the youngsters and are struggling, I could live with that and would prefer it to whatever the current circumstances are.

So over to you Reading FC, convince me that the team you are putting out wants to win as much as I do and are worthy of my hard earned cash because, judging from our manager's comments, you can't currently say that and, until you can, you don't deserve our unconditional support.

Flawless assessment as always. Can rarely argue with you on football matters, Schards.

Great effort on Saturday highlights what we are capable of when the motivation is there. It's troubling that the same motivation cannot be summoned for the league and understandable that fans enthusiasm will reflect what is happening on the pitch unless Clarke can resolve an issue which has seen two decent managers before him lose their jobs.

[Hoop Blah]

Clarke sold Cox before so clearly doesn't rate him but I know cox and Pog get on well outside of the game so not sure why he'd say he couldn't partner him and it's a strange thing to say in public anyway.

It's a slightly odd thing to say in public (if he did that is) but they're basically the same type of player so I can totally understand why he'd realise they'd never make much of a partnership. Both are hard working, pretty decent on the ball and want to play a little bit deeper and so need someone else to be the one to run in behind to create them space.

Both of them seemed to link up well with Murray at times and it's pretty obvious to me why.

Saturday should have given them all the confidence to know that they can all play much better as a team than they have all season.

Lets hope so. It might also help that the pressure is off once we've secured safety. Either that or the lack of effort they've put in at times will get worse as they all start looking ahead to a few weeks on the beach.

[Forbury Lion]

I can't quite remember exactly what he said but in his post match interview Wenger suggested that they were surprised at the energy we showed because they hadn't seen any evidence of it from the tapes they had of us.

Ah, maybe playing badly all season was part of the plan to fool the spies like Brian McDermott in the crowd.

Seriously though, I'm prepared to draw a line under past performances if this game proves to have been the turning point.

[Forbury Lion]

The manager and director of football need to sit down and talk, If a disruptive player is under contract and unsellable then they have to weigh up the benefits to the squad of paying up their contract versus keeping them around at the club and then take that to the board.

Anton Ferdinand, this could be tricky if he is a disruption (and I've seen and heard nothing to suggest he is) as I get the impression the board signed him as a favour to Samrit after he signed him for his Thai Police side and missed the player registration deadline (schoolboy error)..... although, I guess there's nothing to stop Thai Police signing him up for next season.

[melonhead]

A great effort yesterday and, for that, we can all be grateful but does it not underline the fact that this squad has underperformed appallingly week in week out this season?

Much as we all enjoyed it, it's frustrating that the players can take it to one of the best teams in the country when they want to but continually produce inept performances and results against inferior opposition in the league when, demonstrably, they are not giving it everything. Don't take my word for it by the way, Clarke has gone on record about something being wrong in the squad that isn't for broadcast to us mere paying customers and that he has been unable to address.

I've been a season ticket holder for 20 years but have serious reservations regarding renewing unless whatever the problem is is resolved and we can be confident that we are paying to watch a squad giving 100% and all pulling in the same direction. I'm very reluctant to invest the time and effort on watching a team for whom it appears, (at least for some of the squad), the success of the team isn't the number one focus. Even if, as a result, were having to blood the youngsters and are struggling, I could live with that and would prefer it to whatever the current circumstances are.

So over to you Reading FC, convince me that the team you are putting out wants to win as much as I do and are worthy of my hard earned cash because, judging from our manager's comments, you can't currently say that and, until you can, you don't deserve our unconditional support.

don't you say this kind of thing every year?

see you in august!

[melonhead]

I don't really blame the players for lacking motivation in the league when this cup run has been on the horizon for ages, with people naturally not going all out in league games when there's a cup game in a few days etc. and because the club has made it pretty clear it was just marking time this season till they could get rid of the half of the team who were being paid too much.

a lot of it is the hangover from anton still, and hopefully, (pog aside) we will be able to sweep away all vestiges of that next year and push for promotion with clarkes own players alongside the decent spine we already have.

im absolutely buzzing for next season

[tidus_mi2]

The manager and director of football need to sit down and talk, If a disruptive player is under contract and unsellable then they have to weigh up the benefits to the squad of paying up their contract versus keeping them around at the club and then take that to the board.

Anton Ferdinand, this could be tricky if he is a disruption (and I've seen and heard nothing to suggest he is) as I get the impression the board signed him as a favour to Samrit after he signed him for his Thai Police side and missed the player registration deadline (schoolboy error)..... although, I guess there's nothing to stop Thai Police signing him up for next season.

As you say, I very much doubt Ferdinand is one of the problem players, he was heavily involved in the Ryan's Royals community project, I doubt the club would let him close to community projects if he was being a disruptive influence in the club and quite frankly, anyone willing to take part in these community projects probably isn't a problem.

Look at Guthrie, I don't recall him getting involved with the club's community projects, he certainly has negative history and it's very believable that he is one of the disruptive players, what about Taylor? Clarke shipped him off on loan pretty quickly and he has done terribly at Leyton Orient, a club struggling near the bottom of League 1, that may be more of an indicator of his lack of current ability though as he clearly has a good relationship with Hector and the club were happy for him to comment on a few academy games before.

People have speculated the same about Dominic Samuel for a bit too, being a disruptive influence, seeing him this season I'm doubting that a bit, he has built up a friendly rapport with some of his Coventry team-mates and became quite popular there on his loan spell.

tl;dr version, is there anyone but Guthrie that can reliably be deduced as disruptive to the team?

[Schards#2]

A great effort yesterday and, for that, we can all be grateful but does it not underline the fact that this squad has underperformed appallingly week in week out this season?

Much as we all enjoyed it, it's frustrating that the players can take it to one of the best teams in the country when they want to but continually produce inept performances and results against inferior opposition in the league when, demonstrably, they are not giving it everything. Don't take my word for it by the way, Clarke has gone on record about something being wrong in the squad that isn't for broadcast to us mere paying customers and that he has been unable to address.

I've been a season ticket holder for 20 years but have serious reservations regarding renewing unless whatever the problem is is resolved and we can be confident that we are paying to watch a squad giving 100% and all pulling in the same direction. I'm very reluctant to invest the time and effort on watching a team for whom it appears, (at least for some of the squad), the success of the team isn't the number one focus. Even if, as a result, were having to blood the youngsters and are struggling, I could live with that and would prefer it to whatever the current circumstances are.

So over to you Reading FC, convince me that the team you are putting out wants to win as much as I do and are worthy of my hard earned cash because, judging from our manager's comments, you can't currently say that and, until you can, you don't deserve our unconditional support.

don't you say this kind of thing every year?

see you in august!

Err...no

Last season I was criticising people for not renewing when it was clear we'd struggling.

Struggling I can live with, not doing all that's possible to get a result it where I have difficulties

[melonhead]

I don't really blame the players for lacking motivation in the league when this cup run has been on the horizon for ages, with people naturally not going all out in league games when there's a cup game in a few days etc. Clarke has done his bit by making wholesale changes for games, leaving them in little doubt what the priorities are.
and because the club has made it pretty clear it was just marking time this season till they could get rid of the half of the team who were being paid too much.

a lot of it is the hangover from anton still, and hopefully, (pog aside) we will be able to sweep away all vestiges of that next year and push for promotion with clarkes own players alongside the decent spine we already have.

im absolutely buzzing for next season

[melonhead]

apologies- I forgot about your unexpected u turn last season.
it was the dull and uninspiring years I was thinking of.


I know Clarke will get rid of anyone who he thinks didn't put enough in, and next season I think we honestly have the makings of greatness already

[sandman]

I'm afraid that you have to take the rough with the smooth, there is nothing on the terms of the season ticket guaranteeing good performances or entertainment.

You've just got to go and have faith and hope that the players out on the pitch can play well and win. If they don't then there is a good chance that they won't be at the club long but the club will always be there.

If you want guaranteed "entertainment" (and a hot goth chick from Norwich) go watch wwe with wiz.

You miss the point

Of course there will always be peaks and troughs and god knows I've suffered a fair few troughs and, as you rightly say, that's part of the deal, What isn't part of the deal is non football related problems dragging us down. Clarke has stated there are problems, he can't talk about them and can't fix them at the moment.

That is very different from a squad lacking confidence or having insufficient strikers or anything like that which, I believe, he would be happy to talk about. To me, it suggests some off pitch issue, be it ownership related or problem players/cliques in the squad, I've no idea what, but something that can't be fixed on the training ground or by just bouncing a couple of players out of the first team squad.

For two years, we've watched a squad underperform badly, and perform (dare I say it) uninspiringly under two separate and quite different managers. If it was players lacking confidence/injury crisis/getting old, I could live with that but I think this is different and the manager has all but confirmed this.

I'm very reluctant to invest the time and money a season ticket requires until I'm satisfied I'm not going to spend another season watching a team that isn't entirely focused on winning games. I would want to hear that this problem, whatever it is, has been resolved are we are now all pulling in the same direction, even if that means taking a step back in terms of the quality of player (on paper) that we are fielding.

You miss the point. You're focusing on the current team and the current players when they are just passing through. The club as an entity is what matters not the individuals currently playing for it.

[SCIAG]

I think the accusation wrt. Samuel is that he isn't training hard enough. He's a popular member of the squad, and has been out on loan for most of Clarke's tenure anyway. Doubt he's the one being talked about.

Based on behaviour on the pitch, Williams is a candidate, but Clarke keeps selecting him. Maybe he thinks his ability makes up for it?

Then there's Norwood's recent plummet in form...

[RG30]

Guthrie surely has to be one of one's Clarke made reference to. Dependant on who you believe was told he was free to leave the club in January before eventually getting shipped off to Fulham on deadline day.