MATCHWATCH : Preston North End (a)

[Hound]

That's certainly what Ince will do, so equally as certainly wrong.

Our squad is easily good enough to stay up.

Yeah but not with 9 injuries to our squad though, I'm not sure many sides that would be operating at "our level", probably lower mid-table, would be able to cope with 9 injuries. They'd all certainly struggle anyway that's for sure.

How many of those injured players should realistically be starting?

Moore - no
McIntyre - not paired with Holmes
Rahman - no
Hoilett - no
Hutchinson - maybe
Ince - yes
Long - no
Ejaria - no


So our bench is a bit weak. But the 14 who got on the pitch yesterday are easily good enough to stay up.

Yiadom and Holmes have been part of a dreadful defence for years. Sarr is not impressing. Mbengue has potential but nowhere near the real deal yet. Lumley is bottom end champ keeper at best

Fornah - unproven and not good enough on the evidence. Hendrick - headless chicken. Casadei - has about 5 games at men’s level

Meite - never recovered from knee injury.

Carroll and Joao I’ll give you.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

That's certainly what Ince will do, so equally as certainly wrong.

Our squad is easily good enough to stay up.

Yeah but not with 9 injuries to our squad though, I'm not sure many sides that would be operating at "our level", probably lower mid-table, would be able to cope with 9 injuries. They'd all certainly struggle anyway that's for sure.

How many of those injured players should realistically be starting?

Moore - no
McIntyre - not paired with Holmes
Rahman - no
Hoilett - no
Hutchinson - maybe
Ince - yes
Long - no
Ejaria - no


So our bench is a bit weak. But the 14 who got on the pitch yesterday are easily good enough to stay up.

Whether you think they should or not, McIntyre, Rahman, Ince and Hoilett have all been major parts of our season, Hutchinson has been important when he's been fit and would be if he could stay fit and Ince has said he wanted Moore in our squad as well, Dann has been used when fit as well.

It's not all about the starting XI for one game, but the squad over multiple games. Rahman would start, to the dismay of fans, but he'd do ok generally. Moore would improve our defence arguably, Dann would be an option for the bench, as would Ejaria and Long. Ince starts, McIntyre would find a place in the team, Hutchinson likely would, Hoilett at minimum in the squad etc.

[Snowflake Royal]

Yeah but not with 9 injuries to our squad though, I'm not sure many sides that would be operating at "our level", probably lower mid-table, would be able to cope with 9 injuries. They'd all certainly struggle anyway that's for sure.

How many of those injured players should realistically be starting?

Moore - no
McIntyre - not paired with Holmes
Rahman - no
Hoilett - no
Hutchinson - maybe
Ince - yes
Long - no
Ejaria - no


So our bench is a bit weak. But the 14 who got on the pitch yesterday are easily good enough to stay up.

Yiadom and Holmes have been part of a dreadful defence for years. Sarr is not impressing. Mbengue has potential but nowhere near the real deal yet. Lumley is bottom end champ keeper at best

Fornah - unproven and not good enough on the evidence. Hendrick - headless chicken. Casadei - has about 5 games at men’s level

Meite - never recovered from knee injury.

Carroll and Joao I’ll give you.

Holmes and Yiadom have been part of a team capable of staying up for years, Sarr survived with Huddersfield, Lumley finished 7th last season, Hendrick 11th. Fornah makes mistakes but actually tries to creat something. Casadei looks the best of our midfielders.

And I seem to recall you declaring our current midfield an improvement on last season's that was good enough to stay up.

Meite, has recovered, misused as a striker.

[South Coast Royal]

Yeah but not with 9 injuries to our squad though, I'm not sure many sides that would be operating at "our level", probably lower mid-table, would be able to cope with 9 injuries. They'd all certainly struggle anyway that's for sure.

How many of those injured players should realistically be starting?

Moore - no
McIntyre - not paired with Holmes
Rahman - no
Hoilett - no
Hutchinson - maybe
Ince - yes
Long - no
Ejaria - no


So our bench is a bit weak. But the 14 who got on the pitch yesterday are easily good enough to stay up.

Yiadom and Holmes have been part of a dreadful defence for years. Sarr is not impressing. Mbengue has potential but nowhere near the real deal yet. Lumley is bottom end champ keeper at best

Fornah - unproven and not good enough on the evidence. Hendrick - headless chicken. Casadei - has about 5 games at men’s level

Meite - never recovered from knee injury.

Carroll and Joao I’ll give you.

Yes, I agree with you and Ian's "easily good enough to stay up" is wide of the mark.

Watching Sunderland v Hull yesterday evening both teams, although not having gained many more points than us, looked a division ahead with fast-flowing inventive attacking football compared to our sit back and hope style which has got us to near to relegation even without the points deduction.

[Snowflake Royal]

Yeah but not with 9 injuries to our squad though, I'm not sure many sides that would be operating at "our level", probably lower mid-table, would be able to cope with 9 injuries. They'd all certainly struggle anyway that's for sure.

How many of those injured players should realistically be starting?

Moore - no
McIntyre - not paired with Holmes
Rahman - no
Hoilett - no
Hutchinson - maybe
Ince - yes
Long - no
Ejaria - no


So our bench is a bit weak. But the 14 who got on the pitch yesterday are easily good enough to stay up.

Whether you think they should or not, McIntyre, Rahman, Ince and Hoilett have all been major parts of our season, Hutchinson has been important when he's been fit and would be if he could stay fit and Ince has said he wanted Moore in our squad as well, Dann has been used when fit as well.

It's not all about the starting XI for one game, but the squad over multiple games. Rahman would start, to the dismay of fans, but he'd do ok generally. Moore would improve our defence arguably, Dann would be an option for the bench, as would Ejaria and Long. Ince starts, McIntyre would find a place in the team, Hutchinson likely would, Hoilett at minimum in the squad etc.

Dann isn’t injured. Ince is an idiot.

[Snowflake Royal]

How many of those injured players should realistically be starting?

Moore - no
McIntyre - not paired with Holmes
Rahman - no
Hoilett - no
Hutchinson - maybe
Ince - yes
Long - no
Ejaria - no


So our bench is a bit weak. But the 14 who got on the pitch yesterday are easily good enough to stay up.

Yiadom and Holmes have been part of a dreadful defence for years. Sarr is not impressing. Mbengue has potential but nowhere near the real deal yet. Lumley is bottom end champ keeper at best

Fornah - unproven and not good enough on the evidence. Hendrick - headless chicken. Casadei - has about 5 games at men’s level

Meite - never recovered from knee injury.

Carroll and Joao I’ll give you.

Yes, I agree with you and Ian's "easily good enough to stay up" is wide of the mark.

Watching Sunderland v Hull yesterday evening both teams, although not having gained many more points than us, looked a division ahead with fast-flowing inventive attacking football compared to our sit back and hope style which has got us to near to relegation even without the points deduction.

Our players could do that, if they were coached and instructed to. They're not.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

How many of those injured players should realistically be starting?

Moore - no
McIntyre - not paired with Holmes
Rahman - no
Hoilett - no
Hutchinson - maybe
Ince - yes
Long - no
Ejaria - no


So our bench is a bit weak. But the 14 who got on the pitch yesterday are easily good enough to stay up.

Yiadom and Holmes have been part of a dreadful defence for years. Sarr is not impressing. Mbengue has potential but nowhere near the real deal yet. Lumley is bottom end champ keeper at best

Fornah - unproven and not good enough on the evidence. Hendrick - headless chicken. Casadei - has about 5 games at men’s level

Meite - never recovered from knee injury.

Carroll and Joao I’ll give you.

Holmes and Yiadom have been part of a team capable of staying up for years, Sarr survived with Huddersfield, Lumley finished 7th last season, Hendrick 11th. Fornah makes mistakes but actually tries to creat something. Casadei looks the best of our midfielders.

And I seem to recall you declaring our current midfield an improvement on last season's that was good enough to stay up.

Meite, has recovered, misused as a striker.

Sarr also went down with Charlton and has largely played at this end of the division bar last season with Huddersfield.

Ultimately, there is a reason why we are where we are in the league. With everyone fit, we are mid table, unfortunately you never get that at this level and we don't have the strength in depth to stay there, especially not with 9 injuries. If we can get 3/4 back sharpish, we will have a better chance.

Let's be totally honest, does yesterday's squad win promotion from League One? Maybe through the play offs, but I'm not sure that squad yesterday goes up automatically.

[Snowflake Royal]

Weren't you one of those saying what a good signing Sarr was?

oxf*rd LOL.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

How many of those injured players should realistically be starting?

Moore - no
McIntyre - not paired with Holmes
Rahman - no
Hoilett - no
Hutchinson - maybe
Ince - yes
Long - no
Ejaria - no


So our bench is a bit weak. But the 14 who got on the pitch yesterday are easily good enough to stay up.

Whether you think they should or not, McIntyre, Rahman, Ince and Hoilett have all been major parts of our season, Hutchinson has been important when he's been fit and would be if he could stay fit and Ince has said he wanted Moore in our squad as well, Dann has been used when fit as well.

It's not all about the starting XI for one game, but the squad over multiple games. Rahman would start, to the dismay of fans, but he'd do ok generally. Moore would improve our defence arguably, Dann would be an option for the bench, as would Ejaria and Long. Ince starts, McIntyre would find a place in the team, Hutchinson likely would, Hoilett at minimum in the squad etc.

Dann isn’t injured. Ince is an idiot.

Sorry I thought he was, he usually is!

Well, no not really? He's not a great manager, but teams who were predicted to finish, and currently are sitting, towards the bottom of the league don't tend to have the best managers, better players etc.

He's no 2004 Mourinho, but I do think sometimes it's a cheap and easy shot to say he's a poor tactician just because he spent a number of years out of the game, I don't think he'll shake that stigma off with ourselves. People only view tactics based on what they can tangibly see, like long balls. Fans don't count positioning, specific instructions etc because they are intangible a lot of the time.

[South Coast Royal]

Yiadom and Holmes have been part of a dreadful defence for years. Sarr is not impressing. Mbengue has potential but nowhere near the real deal yet. Lumley is bottom end champ keeper at best

Fornah - unproven and not good enough on the evidence. Hendrick - headless chicken. Casadei - has about 5 games at men’s level

Meite - never recovered from knee injury.

Carroll and Joao I’ll give you.

Yes, I agree with you and Ian's "easily good enough to stay up" is wide of the mark.

Watching Sunderland v Hull yesterday evening both teams, although not having gained many more points than us, looked a division ahead with fast-flowing inventive attacking football compared to our sit back and hope style which has got us to near to relegation even without the points deduction.

Our players could do that, if they were coached and instructed to. They're not.

A big assumption and leap of faith there Ian.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Weren't you one of those saying what a good signing Sarr was?

oxf*rd LOL.

No, I wasn't. At best I thought he'd be ok and I'd have hoped he would be, but I knew he was largely quite poor as every time I watched him previous to joining us (the few times I did), he had a mistake in him. Was he not partly at fault for the goal Huddersfield conceded in the PO final?

He's not living up to anything more than I expected either, quite poor with a mistake in him.

[Delboy]

Is the game in the red button Monday

[donh99]

Is the game in the red button Monday

Yes.
https://www.skysports.com/watch/footbal ... ampionship

[Snowflake Royal]

Yes, I agree with you and Ian's "easily good enough to stay up" is wide of the mark.

Watching Sunderland v Hull yesterday evening both teams, although not having gained many more points than us, looked a division ahead with fast-flowing inventive attacking football compared to our sit back and hope style which has got us to near to relegation even without the points deduction.

Our players could do that, if they were coached and instructed to. They're not.

A big assumption and leap of faith there Ian.

I've seen them do it.

[Clyde1998]

Yeah but not with 9 injuries to our squad though, I'm not sure many sides that would be operating at "our level", probably lower mid-table, would be able to cope with 9 injuries. They'd all certainly struggle anyway that's for sure.

How many of those injured players should realistically be starting?

Moore - no
McIntyre - not paired with Holmes
Rahman - no
Hoilett - no
Hutchinson - maybe
Ince - yes
Long - no
Ejaria - no


So our bench is a bit weak. But the 14 who got on the pitch yesterday are easily good enough to stay up.

Whether you think they should or not, McIntyre, Rahman, Ince and Hoilett have all been major parts of our season, Hutchinson has been important when he's been fit and would be if he could stay fit and Ince has said he wanted Moore in our squad as well, Dann has been used when fit as well.

It's not all about the starting XI for one game, but the squad over multiple games. Rahman would start, to the dismay of fans, but he'd do ok generally. Moore would improve our defence arguably, Dann would be an option for the bench, as would Ejaria and Long. Ince starts, McIntyre would find a place in the team, Hutchinson likely would, Hoilett at minimum in the squad etc.

Agreed - it's more about the squad when there's basically no recovery time between matches than our strongest XI.

At the moment the biggest concern for me is the number of players missing and our inability to rotate players. Meite was limping for twenty minutes before he came off yesterday, Mbengue didn't look like he was moving freely at points and the players, generally, looked out of steam towards the end.

Loum will almost certainly come in on Monday, simply because he'll be fresh. I'd guess Azeez, Guiness-Walker and Dann will all come in, should they be fit enough to start the game.

The problem is we'll still end up with something like:
Lumley
Yiadom - Holmes - Dann - Sarr - Guiness-Walker
Loum - Casadei - Hendrick
Carroll/Joao - Azeez

I wouldn't mind seeing Abrefa and Ehibhatiomhan given a go, but both would need experienced players around them (I wouldn't play about Ehibhatiomhan and Azeez). I'd also consider Mamadi Camara and Rashawn Scott being on the bench to bring on with twenty to go - even if just for more energy.

When you're missing: Hoilett, Hutchinson, Moore, McIntyre, Rahman, Tetek, Ince, Ejaria, Long and possibly now Meite you're basically playing whoever's fit enough to play as opposed to worrying about who's your strongest side and even then there appears to be players carry knocks who wouldn't be playing if others were avaliable.

[Ricardo]

Can’t believe people on here still saying we are missing Baba Rahman.
He’s probably the most incompetent left wingback to wear a Reading shirt in recent seasons.
He was poor last season and even worse this time around.

[Snowflake Royal]

How many of those injured players should realistically be starting?

Moore - no
McIntyre - not paired with Holmes
Rahman - no
Hoilett - no
Hutchinson - maybe
Ince - yes
Long - no
Ejaria - no


So our bench is a bit weak. But the 14 who got on the pitch yesterday are easily good enough to stay up.

Whether you think they should or not, McIntyre, Rahman, Ince and Hoilett have all been major parts of our season, Hutchinson has been important when he's been fit and would be if he could stay fit and Ince has said he wanted Moore in our squad as well, Dann has been used when fit as well.

It's not all about the starting XI for one game, but the squad over multiple games. Rahman would start, to the dismay of fans, but he'd do ok generally. Moore would improve our defence arguably, Dann would be an option for the bench, as would Ejaria and Long. Ince starts, McIntyre would find a place in the team, Hutchinson likely would, Hoilett at minimum in the squad etc.

Agreed - it's more about the squad when there's basically no recovery time between matches than our strongest XI.

At the moment the biggest concern for me is the number of players missing and our inability to rotate players. Meite was limping for twenty minutes before he came off yesterday, Mbengue didn't look like he was moving freely at points and the players, generally, looked out of steam towards the end.

Loum will almost certainly come in on Monday, simply because he'll be fresh. I'd guess Azeez, Guiness-Walker and Dann will all come in, should they be fit enough to start the game.

The problem is we'll still end up with something like:
Lumley
Yiadom - Holmes - Dann - Sarr - Guiness-Walker
Loum - Casadei - Hendrick
Carroll/Joao - Azeez

I wouldn't mind seeing Abrefa and Ehibhatiomhan given a go, but both would need experienced players around them (I wouldn't play about Ehibhatiomhan and Azeez). I'd also consider Mamadi Camara and Rashawn Scott being on the bench to bring on with twenty to go - even if just for more energy.

When you're missing: Hoilett, Hutchinson, Moore, McIntyre, Rahman, Tetek, Ince, Ejaria, Long and possibly now Meite you're basically playing whoever's fit enough to play as opposed to worrying about who's your strongest side and even then there appears to be players carry knocks who wouldn't be playing if others were avaliable.

It's not like Ince wasn't just running players into the ground when he had options anyway.

[Sutekh]

Yiadom and Holmes have been part of a dreadful defence for years. Sarr is not impressing. Mbengue has potential but nowhere near the real deal yet. Lumley is bottom end champ keeper at best

Fornah - unproven and not good enough on the evidence. Hendrick - headless chicken. Casadei - has about 5 games at men’s level

Meite - never recovered from knee injury.

Carroll and Joao I’ll give you.

Holmes and Yiadom have been part of a team capable of staying up for years, Sarr survived with Huddersfield, Lumley finished 7th last season, Hendrick 11th. Fornah makes mistakes but actually tries to creat something. Casadei looks the best of our midfielders.

And I seem to recall you declaring our current midfield an improvement on last season's that was good enough to stay up.

Meite, has recovered, misused as a striker.

Sarr also went down with Charlton and has largely played at this end of the division bar last season with Huddersfield.

Ultimately, there is a reason why we are where we are in the league. With everyone fit, we are mid table, unfortunately you never get that at this level and we don't have the strength in depth to stay there, especially not with 9 injuries. If we can get 3/4 back sharpish, we will have a better chance.

Let's be totally honest, does yesterday's squad win promotion from League One? Maybe through the play offs, but I'm not sure that squad yesterday goes up automatically.

Reading couldn’t spot and sign a defender that’d actually improve the overall defence even if Alex Ferguson introduced one to them. Been like that for years. Remember them signing Yiadom from a continually struggling Barnsley team and thinking that was just stupid and so it’s followed on to this season signing Sarr who had an amazing debut but since then might as well not have been on the pitch. However, in contrast, they have been really good at developing promising defenders (esp. centre backs) only for which ever idiot was managing the side at the time to largely ignore them and let them go, usually for next to nothing too!

God! Everything on the pitch has been an absolute disaster since the Dai’s took over.

[Pebbleleague]

Good Morning all ,

Friendly invite to visit PNE forum Pebbleleague , friendly knowledgable fans who welcome new members . Easy sign up

https://pebbleleague.com/
[url][/url]

Why not also check our our match thread which includes a local pub guide for those travelling to the game , local police dont allocate official away pubs which is brilliant as we have loads of drinking holes that will welcome away fans

https://pebbleleague.com/thread/9646/of ... ne-reading
[url][/url]

Will post a link to your forum in there too

[leon]

The fact that anyone here is defending Ince is astounding. Yes we have injuries (some important players but not all) but the way we play is moronic. Continually failing and continually repeating the same tactics is educationally subnormal.

How Ince can still have a job is testament to how badly this club is run.