Pre-season Friendlies

[MoorgateRoyal]

I went to Bristol Rovers last week and was fairly impressed.

Al-Habsi's handling was pretty good, but his kicking was really poor.

Ferdinand and Keown in particular looked good, I was impressed by Taylor and Fosu too. Obita was fairly solid and Tish looked very good in the middle. Quinn was busy and I think he will be an asset this season. Akpan looked fat and was yards off their midfield- not a good sign. Samuel looked decent and I hope he gets a go this year. Long at right-back was OK, but didn't get forward as much as Gunter did when he came on. Blackman was in the right place to score after good work from Fosu, but he's so greedy and so often makes the wrong decision in critical areas. He's probably too old to have that coached out of him, too.

Nova wasn't on for long and didn't see much of the ball, but he seems to have pretty clever movement and could, a few years down the line and with the correct support, be a striker in the Kitson mould.

[SCIAG]

Tanner seems to have not progressed as expected and will probably be loaned out as this is what Reading do.

Tanner looks a shadow of the player he was before he went on loan, he's still got the touch and grace but he seems totally lacking in confidence and his decision making is all wrong.

I think this validates what I was saying at the time - it's just not right to send players out on loan unless they fit into a typical 4-4-2 (or the receiving club has a clear desire for precisely the kind of player they are). Expecting a 5'8 attacking midfielder to be the main goalscorer for a long ball side was never likely to bring the best out of him. We should have kept him at the club and used him as a substitute for one of the 3 in a 4-2-3-1, give him a small amount of responsibility in a role he's well suited to.

Anyone who has seen Tanner and Fosu play together knows which of them is more talented. We've managed Fosu correctly and now he's probably going to start the season on our left wing, whilst Tanner has fallen behind players who are younger and less talented - Stacey and Kelly as well as Fosu.

Loans can work - for the likes of Karacan, Tshibola, Pearce, and Dickie, the sort who fit into a 4-4-2. They don't work nearly as well for the likes of Taylor, D'Ath, Tanner, even Obita. We should stop sending those sorts of players on loan.

[/rant]

[MoorgateRoyal]

Tanner seems to have not progressed as expected and will probably be loaned out as this is what Reading do.

Tanner looks a shadow of the player he was before he went on loan, he's still got the touch and grace but he seems totally lacking in confidence and his decision making is all wrong.

I think this validates what I was saying at the time - it's just not right to send players out on loan unless they fit into a typical 4-4-2 (or the receiving club has a clear desire for precisely the kind of player they are). Expecting a 5'8 attacking midfielder to be the main goalscorer for a long ball side was never likely to bring the best out of him. We should have kept him at the club and used him as a substitute for one of the 3 in a 4-2-3-1, give him a small amount of responsibility in a role he's well suited to.

Anyone who has seen Tanner and Fosu play together knows which of them is more talented. We've managed Fosu correctly and now he's probably going to start the season on our left wing, whilst Tanner has fallen behind players who are younger and less talented - Stacey and Kelly as well as Fosu.

Loans can work - for the likes of Karacan, Tshibola, Pearce, and Dickie, the sort who fit into a 4-4-2. They don't work nearly as well for the likes of Taylor, D'Ath, Tanner, even Obita. We should stop sending those sorts of players on loan.

[/rant]

It's difficult to get the balance. You want the creative players to flourish, but not many fit into the up and at 'em 4-4-2 hoofball played by so many teams in this country.

So, they end up playing in the tippy-tappy u21s league until they're 22, then they're not ready for the men's game as they have no experience playing that sort of football.

[Vision]

I don't think it's a catch all method though. There's a lot to be said for players of a certain type to try and develop skills slightly outside of their comfort zone whilst on loan deals. A good way for us to check their ability to adapt under pressure and to see their character.

Tanner may be one who has gone backwards but the local unbiased Plymouth press reported him as "the best player on the pitch" so perhaps he's not in as bad shape as we're making out. His injury issues may come into play here too. Seeing if he can stand up to senior football and the Saturday/Midweek treadmill.

[Nameless]

You'd hope when a player goes out on loan we do more than hand him a rail ticket, sandwiches for the journey and a brief handshake.
I would expect that we agree talk to the loaning club about the player, about what we want him to get out of the loan and how we want him to be used ( whilst realising that we can't dictate entirely). I'd then hope we talk in detail to the player about the club he is going to, how we expect him to approach the loan and what we expect him to get from it.
I'd then expect we are in regular personal contact with the player and the club so we know exactly how he is fitting in, how he is playing etc eg and can step in if the loan is not working.
For young players (more so than simply out of favour players) it should be a carefully controlled part of the player's development.
If we are going to build a link with Wycombe allowing loan players to go there as our preferred development path it would be ideal .
Whether I would be so happy to think Chelsea worked the same way with us in getting involved in how we use their young prospects I'm not so sure....

[ZacNaloen]

Difference is Wycombe don't have a quality youth program that could get blocked by helping us train our youth players.

Net loss for us if helping Chelsea out when we should focus on our own category 1 profile, net benefit for them is they get temporary easy access to players of technical and potential ability they couldn't afford to buy and the ones that don't make it at Reading they already have a relationship.

[SCIAG]

Didn't Wycombe abolish their youth set up entirely a few years ago?

I think that helps a lot - Wimbledon fans were initially sceptical of the decision to sign Tanner because they had a lightweight young striker of their own, whereas Hartlepool fans had no reservations about Tshibola because they might as well not have a youth set up.

[Nameless]

Good to see Long and Griffin starting in the full back spots tonight.
If they are in the running to be cover for the first team we need a chance to see if they have what it takes.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Is Gunts playing CB?

[Nameless]

Is Gunts playing CB?

Guess so, not sure how a 3 full back system would work !

[Royalwaster]

According to Jonathan Low: "Hope Akpan's name got a huge cheer from the Reading supporters"

Hardly.

Maybe JL doesn't know Akpan used to play for Crawley?

[RustyRoyal]

Seems like Long is playing CB with Griffin and Gunter at fullback. Not a the game but according to Low - "Elsewhere Gunter and Griffin are almost playing as wing backs tonight. Both of them are showing good legs down the wing"

[blueroyals]

Al Habsi living up to his reputation

[RustyRoyal]

How did he fcuk it up this time?

[blueroyals]

According to BBC Berks Blackman lost possession and they had a go from distance and it went through his hands.

[marlowuk]

So what is the score? Is it all over yet?

[Nameless]

Lost 1-0
Clarke out

[ZacNaloen]

They trained at 11am, just a fitness exercise.

[Y21]

We're still not scoring enough goals.

[blueroyals]

Complete lack of creativity. Pre-season or not the problems from last season haven't been addressed.