BFTG - Weds H

[NewCorkSeth]

Are you sure?- I don't think Obita has many International caps.

got loads for Nigeria in Football manager. that counts, right?

He's actually not even eligible for Nigeria according to himself on Twitter. Football manager updated it for the latest game in the January update.

[Hound]

He hasn’t got a Nigerian background has he? Thought it was Uganda or something

Was a big fan of Obita. Seems a good lad and gave it his all. He was great in 16/17, my concern would be whether he could get back to those levels after such a nasty injury. Not heard any updates recently about him either that doesn’t fill me with any confidence he’ll be back this calendar year

[CountryRoyal]

Thought he was supposed to be back around December?

Probably not many updates because we’re all focused on just how utterly shite we are.

[NewCorkSeth]

He hasn’t got a Nigerian background has he? Thought it was Uganda or something

Was a big fan of Obita. Seems a good lad and gave it his all. He was great in 16/17, my concern would be whether he could get back to those levels after such a nasty injury. Not heard any updates recently about him either that doesn’t fill me with any confidence he’ll be back this calendar year

Up until February of this year he was listed on Football Manager as being eligible for Nigeria despite him tweeting in 2013 that he had no Nigerian links and is, as you correctly said, half Ugandan.

[Snowflake Royal]

When your competition is Jazz oxf*rd Richards of course you're going to get picked for your national team.

And a certain Hal Robson-Kanu has had 44 caps for this fantastic National team albeit he has now retired after scoring 5 goals as a striker to concentrate on playing for West Brom reserves.

Yep a national team that reached the semi finals of a major tournament and knocked out a superb Belgian side in doing so. As for HRK he has had a perfectly decent career. How many other players in our entire history have scored an outstanding goal in a major international quarter final?

Call me old fashioned but I rate a player by how well they play regularly, preferably for a team I care about. Not on how they score one good goal on a big stage once.

[Hound]

Thought he was supposed to be back around December?

Probably not many updates because we’re all focused on just how utterly shite we are.

Last I heard was back in October, McCleary in September. Think that was a Clement update.

[NewCorkSeth]

And a certain Hal Robson-Kanu has had 44 caps for this fantastic National team albeit he has now retired after scoring 5 goals as a striker to concentrate on playing for West Brom reserves.

Yep a national team that reached the semi finals of a major tournament and knocked out a superb Belgian side in doing so. As for HRK he has had a perfectly decent career. How many other players in our entire history have scored an outstanding goal in a major international quarter final?

Call me old fashioned but I rate a player by how well they play regularly, preferably for a team I care about. Not on how they score one good goal on a big stage once.

You're old fashioned.

[Hound]

Yep a national team that reached the semi finals of a major tournament and knocked out a superb Belgian side in doing so. As for HRK he has had a perfectly decent career. How many other players in our entire history have scored an outstanding goal in a major international quarter final?

Call me old fashioned but I rate a player by how well they play regularly, preferably for a team I care about. Not on how they score one good goal on a big stage once.

You're old fashioned.

Probably the nicest thing he has been called for a while tbf

[Snowflake Royal]

Windermere recently said I was one of the most intelligent TB posters and Mike Hunt said I was unfairly treated.

It's been a good week for me.

[Zip]

Windermere recently said I was one of the most intelligent TB posters and Mike Hunt said I was unfairly treated.

It's been a good week for me.

Windermere did later admit he was violently drunk when he said that though.

What is the world coming to.

[Snowflake Royal]

Windermere recently said I was one of the most intelligent TB posters and Mike Hunt said I was unfairly treated.

It's been a good week for me.

Windermere did later admit he was violently drunk when he said that though.

What is the world coming to.

No idea. The TB sets a pretty low standard, and there are posters who couldn't win an intelligence contest against a glass of water, but even I wouldn't say I'm one of the smartest.

[BR0B0T]

And a certain Hal Robson-Kanu has had 44 caps for this fantastic National team albeit he has now retired after scoring 5 goals as a striker to concentrate on playing for West Brom reserves.

Yep a national team that reached the semi finals of a major tournament and knocked out a superb Belgian side in doing so. As for HRK he has had a perfectly decent career. How many other players in our entire history have scored an outstanding goal in a major international quarter final?

Call me old fashioned but I rate a player by how well they play regularly, preferably for a team I care about. Not on how they score one good goal on a big stage once.

Macheda scored a really important goal for United once...he was shite btw

[Victor Meldrew]

Are you sure?- I don't think Obita has many International caps.

Sharrup Victor. Go and watch Bournemouth or summat.

Is that the best you can come up with?

[Zip]

Are you sure?- I don't think Obita has many International caps.

Sharrup Victor. Go and watch Bournemouth or summat.

Is that the best you can come up with?

It's certainly no worse than your constant droning on and on about Gunter.

[Zip]

Thought he was supposed to be back around December?

Probably not many updates because we’re all focused on just how utterly shite we are.

I thought he was due back around October

[Silver Fox]

Windermere recently said I was one of the most intelligent TB posters and Mike Hunt said I was unfairly treated.

It's been a good week for me.

I really do need to comment on your post about Gunter being hated by half of our fans

[Snowball]

I thought BOTH Reading fullbacks had an excellent game.

As others have said, the invisible midfield were the problem.

Thought the three subs showed commitment and energy. I really think McNulty should be given a decent run. He seems to play deeper, like a number ten (which might help the midfield)

Sims on his own would probably beat a team of Aluko's. Kelly was decent when subbed on.

The defence, with a bog-standard hard-working midfield in front of it would be more than adequate for a top half finish, probably a top third finish. ATM we aren't giving away many clear-cut chances but opponents are taking a high percentage of the chances they get.

Would love to see the stats for opponents' shots on target (Stam's last twenty games versus this season's games). I think, ATM, we are "kind of" unlucky. We are letting in an unusually high percentage of chances conceded, and sadly, heads drop. It isn't "gutless". It's due to the sheer number of lost games.

When we get our first win, if we could then fluke a second and deserve a third, these same players, this team, will suddenly look pretty decent.

Apart from Watford we have yet to be played off the park, as our GD shows. We need a mini-miracle, a lucky 90th minute winner off someone's knee, anything.

An example is Meyler. I took special note of him in the first 20/25 minutes and I thought he was very tidy. I forget what he did wrong, but he made a bad mistake around 22 minutes and you could literally see his head go. Had he been subbed off for Kelly on 25, it would have been a different game.

Yes, I'm worried that 2-3 more games without wins will very likely put us on a definite road to relegation, but I also feel a win at Preston (for example) followed by beating Norwich, would totally turn the club around.

[3points]

I thought BOTH Reading fullbacks had an excellent game.

As others have said, the invisible midfield were the problem.

Thought the three subs showed commitment and energy. I really think McNulty should be given a decent run. He seems to play deeper, like a number ten (which might help the midfield)

Sims on his own would probably beat a team of Aluko's. Kelly was decent when subbed on.

The defence, with a bog-standard hard-working midfield in front of it would be more than adequate for a top half finish, probably a top third finish. ATM we aren't giving away many clear-cut chances but opponents are taking a high percentage of the chances they get.

Would love to see the stats for opponents' shots on target (Stam's last twenty games versus this season's games). I think, ATM, we are "kind of" unlucky. We are letting in an unusually high percentage of chances conceded, and sadly, heads drop. It isn't "gutless". It's due to the sheer number of lost games.

When we get our first win, if we could then fluke a second and deserve a third, these same players, this team, will suddenly look pretty decent.

Apart from Watford we have yet to be played off the park, as our GD shows. We need a mini-miracle, a lucky 90th minute winner off someone's knee, anything.

An example is Meyler. I took special note of him in the first 20/25 minutes and I thought he was very tidy. I forget what he did wrong, but he made a bad mistake around 22 minutes and you could literally see his head go. Had he been subbed off for Kelly on 25, it would have been a different game.

Yes, I'm worried that 2-3 more games without wins will very likely put us on a definite road to relegation, but I also feel a win at Preston (for example) followed by beating Norwich, would totally turn the club around.

Sensible post - if our wingers afforded our full backs a bit more protection as well then the current midfield might also be OK. Everyone (Aluko excepted) is doing 95% of their job each week, but that 5% extra effort/quality/motivation is the difference between a 1-0 win and a 1-0 defeat. Go back to the PO season, all the players were fully committed to the cause, the system and the manager - they made that extra effort to track back (Danny Williams) or block that shot (Moore/McShane) or pull off the save which just isn't happening right now

[leon]

An example is Meyler. I took special note of him in the first 20/25 minutes and I thought he was very tidy. I forget what he did wrong, but he made a bad mistake around 22 minutes and you could literally see his head go. Had he been subbed off for Kelly on 25, it would have been a different game.

I thought Meyler did OK in the 1st half against Bolton both positionally and technically. Second half the entire midfield collapsed. Since then he's been poor. He's an international - he was brought in, presumably to bring in some experience and leadership. His head shouldn't be dropping after a few games.

Is he really happy at Reading?

[Hound]

An example is Meyler. I took special note of him in the first 20/25 minutes and I thought he was very tidy. I forget what he did wrong, but he made a bad mistake around 22 minutes and you could literally see his head go. Had he been subbed off for Kelly on 25, it would have been a different game.

I thought Meyler did OK in the 1st half against Bolton both positionally and technically. Second half the entire midfield collapsed. Since then he's been poor. He's an international - he was brought in, presumably to bring in some experience and leadership. His head shouldn't be dropping after a few games.

Is he really happy at Reading?

He should be. He has a nice contract I imagine, 2 old mates from the Ireland squad and a place in the first team. What is there to be unhappy about?

Going back to the PO season, I think a lot of the work done by McCleary and Beerens is often overlooked. I think we miss Williams massively, but if I recall, a lot of people spent a large amount of time suggesting he should be dropped. Obvs his form took a massive upturn in the last couple of months when he was outstanding.

Both Beerens and McCleary, esp before Christmas, scored a number of goals, but also created a number of outstanding chances. McCleary was also pretty disciplined defensively, even playing as a RWB on a number of occasions. I think Aluko has been a massive downgrade on what Beerens initially offered. I don't think we created a great deal more than what we are now, but it was of higher quality, and those 2 finished the chances themselves.

I'd love to see McCleary back to his form of that season, though its probably never going to happen