Bottle, Heart, Commitment, Guts: "The Reading DNA"

[Kuhl_Runnings]

Al-Habsi
Gunter
McShane
Cooper
*someone who gives a shite*
*someone who gives a shite*
Tshibola
Quinn
*someone who gives a shite*
Vydra
Cox

The current "give a shite XI". As many players as Yeovil after 80 minutes.

[Maneki Neko]

Taking Palace game as an example, we lost because we weren't brave enough with the ball.

nonsense, we lost because no matter how brave you are to try a pass, if you misplace it straight to the opposition when under no pressure, you'll probably lose the game

It's a bit like me borrowing my Dad's car, crashing it into a bus stop and then trying to deflect the blame by telling the Police that it wasn't my car and therefore I cannot be held responsible!

no it isn't.

[Snowball136]

Not comparing player-quality, obviously but Arsenal are in a similar mood to Reading

Until recently they were just turning up and losing too many games.

They just went out of two competitions and at Everton yesterday actually COMPETED
and duly won.

Managers used to say "You have to earn the right to play."

That's what's missing

[Royal_jimmy]

Our problem is a few things. We don't play the tempo game anymore, we play too slowly with the lack of pace and our strikers just aren't good enough. That's not helped by Brian changing the system which Clarke played so we are not in any form.

[Winston Smith]

Lol @ the drama of this thread title

[leon]

Our problem is a few things. We don't play the tempo game anymore, we play too slowly with the lack of pace and our strikers just aren't good enough. That's not helped by Brian changing the system which Clarke played so we are not in any form.

Because it was working for Clarke wasn't it?

Agreed on tempo. Its dictated by the midfield and forwards pressing off the ball and movement on the ball.

I was talking to a Watford fan about Vydra. He apparently is a bit moody - never seems to enjoy himself. He also needs a strike partner to play off.

I'm afraid we need surgery in the summer to sort things out.

[Snowball]

[

I'm afraid we need surgery in the summer to sort things out.

22 Heart Transplants?

[Ian Royal]

Why do people think going down would be a magical fix for the club? Look at Sheffield United, a similar sized club who generally finished very close to us when we were in the same division, only the 2 times they were relegated, Premier League and Championship, did we finish significantly ahead of them, they went down in 2011 and still haven't gained promotion.

There is no guarantee we would go back up and we'd never be able to afford the upkeep for a category 1 academy in League One on top of all our other expenses, would our owners still be interested in the club were we relegated?

Relegation to League One would be oxf*rd terrible and shouldn't even be entertained as a positive for the club.

Of course it's not guaranteed. But there are plenty of examples of teams who go down and come back stronger. And losing can become a habit, the longer we spend mediocrely in the bottom half of the Championship, the harder it becomes to get out of that groove.

No one wants us to go down, but there could be benefits should it happen. Not that it matters, as we won't go down this season.

[Maneki Neko]

Our problem is a few things. We don't play the tempo game anymore, we play too slowly with the lack of pace and our strikers just aren't good enough. That's not helped by Brian changing the system which Clarke played so we are not in any form.

the system clarke played was 4231/433
that's what we are playing now.

hes just had to shift the balance backwards slightly, to stop us losing.

[John Smith]

Lol @ the drama of this thread title

Exactly. As if any of that exists in football anymore. For those talking about individual player's passion/commitment based on what they can see from the stand is naive and foolish. You can't be an 'expert' in anything if you only have a partial view. Who knows what goes on behind the scenes, which is what makes threads like this pointless.

I have to say there's rather a few on here who, quite clearly, have their head in the sand.

[Winston Smith]

Lol @ the drama of this thread title

For those talking about individual player's passion/commitment based on what they can see from the stand is naive and foolish. You can't be an 'expert' in anything if you only have a partial view. Who knows what goes on behind the scenes

pretty much this. I wouldn't try to 2nd guess my own work colleagues mental state and reason for them doing/not doing something in the same way in which I would do it, let alone someone I do not even know.

'whaaaa? he kicked a spherical shaped object 30 yards and it didn't land in the precise position I thought it should even though he may not want for it to have landed there anyway and has been given instructions by his management on what he was to do with it all of which I am completely unaware of? well that is not good enough! Someone needs to lose their employment over this and I shall make sure I tell as many people as I can that, based on my very limited information, that person is a complete failure in their job!'

[genome]

The notion of getting that worked up over 22 grown men shepherding a leather sphere around a field of grass is in itself, inherently ridiculous

[Winston Smith]

The notion of getting that worked up over 22 grown men shepherding a leather sphere around a field of grass is in itself, inherently ridiculous

print that off, stick it to the bottom of your screen so is always visable then have a good look through the team board.

Discovered it is actually quite hard to read while shaking my head with disbelief so much

[Top Flight]

Yeah, and they're not shepherding the ball around well enough.

[Snowball136]

Boll-icks

Anyone who says he doesn't know about teams that fight above their weight
or teams of expensive individuals who stroll around is blinkered

This has nothing to do with ability, but it has a lot to do with personal pride,
]with leaving it on the pitch.

The difference between Shane Long, Noel Hunt, Bryn

and, say, Sa, is so obvious.


There is currently little club identity, little team identity. They are just going through the motions

[Winston Smith]

Anyone who says he doesn't know about teams that fight above their weight....

What is overachieving? Isn't it just the person claiming it showing that they misjudged the situation?

Does overachieving and underachieving really exist? Don't we just live in a world of achieving?

[Maneki Neko]

The difference between Shane Long, Noel Hunt, Bryn

and, say, Sa, is so obvious.

I think its too easy to look at hard working, effort players like the three you mention, and then compare to others, like Sa or kebe and come up with a passion/hard work defecit, when in fact theyre just languid, or their running style is different, for instance

[John Smith]

Anyone who says he doesn't know about teams that fight above their weight....

What is overachieving? Isn't it just the person claiming it showing that they misjudged the situation?

Does overachieving and underachieving really exist? Don't we just live in a world of achieving?

A profound and positive outlook there, Winston. You're like the older, wiser version of me - you could be my 'board father'

[Sutekh]

The notion of getting that worked up over 22 grown men shepherding a leather sphere around a field of grass is in itself, inherently ridiculous

Perhaps that's what the problem is, we have a squad of players who believe that to be true.

[Snowball136]

Nothing to do with "languid" versus "hard-running"

Beckenbauer was languid, so was Bobby Moore. Nobody would say they weren't fully committed


I'm thinking of the difference between Tony Adams and William Gallas

And anyway, whether someone is languid or not doesn't preclude guts,
going in where it hurts. Compare Noel Hunt to Simon Church, for example.

Who have we got that we could think are "heroic"? McShane, El Habsi, Quinn might be

But neither of our fullbacks, or Norwood, or Kermogant. or HRK, or McCleary, and not Williams

Even Matt Mills had balls