Royals v Blackburn Match thread

[T.R.O.L.I.]

Tugay's shot is just one of those magic moments.

Saw it on Goals On Sunday this morning - he got two hands to it and should have saved it. Agreed about the other three goals though...

[Katie Marsden]

Good to see Sonko back improving the defence and giving away his usual penalty

[LUX]

Good to see Sonko back improving the defence and giving away his usual penalty

yeah, why can't we be like Man United? They're brill and they win.

[Royal Rother]

I've just skimmed a couple of recent pages and I just want to say that The Whole Year Inn is an utter disgrace to this board.

The club would be better off without the likes of that little oxf*rd in its ranks of so-called supporters.

A really really offensive and utterly ignorant young man.

[winchester_royal]

problem with hahnemann is that his reflexes and reactions are not what they used to be, and he is no longer a premiership class keeper, from what ive seen of andersen he is potentially a world class keeper so give him a chance i say

[Ian Royal]

I've just skimmed a couple of recent pages and I just want to say that The Whole Year Inn is an utter disgrace to this board.

The club would be better off without the likes of that little oxf*rd in its ranks of so-called supporters.

A really really offensive and utterly ignorant young man.

Top of the oxf*rd Tree currently. I wonder how Daniella and co will try and win back the title.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

I just can't believe we're in this position. Two players, that's all we needed. Quality on the wing and quality in the middle.

Coppell utterly bottled it this summer when we know had the money, we all knew the weaknesses in the squad, yet he tried to kid himself the squad was fine.

January is not the answer to our problems, as Coppell always tells us. Premiership clubs won't want to sell anyone and Championship clubs won't sell there best players because they get a min of £60m for promotion. We can't sign players from abroad because we need players to do it form the day they arrive. There will maybe be 3 or 4 real Premiership quality players available and 12 clubs after them.

Our only saving grace is there are some very poor teams in the league this season. But except for Derby there is no one we can be confident of finishing above. A new manager will sort Bolton out.

We never looked out classed so easily last season.

There's no answer to our problems other than praying there's 3 teams worse than us and we can do the things we should have done this summer next summer.

[Royalee]

We have four positions where we're good enough - two strikers on the pitch at a time, left back and one centre back in Sonko. The rest of our team is a complete shambles, which is why we're going down.

[Royal Rother]

Although they are intensely irritating I find it strangely reassuring when fools like TWYI, Daniella and Royalee speak as if we are totally fcuked.

Very few things in this life are more certain than the fact that any shared opinions of that little triumvirate of ignorant reactionary numbskulls are going to be proved wrong.

[latchford]

The goals (Doyle x 2)

http://football-forever.com/forum/showt ... hp?t=35023

Scored six away in two games but still nothing

[RoyalBlue]

I just can't believe we're in this position. Two players, that's all we needed. Quality on the wing and quality in the middle.

Coppell utterly bottled it this summer when we know had the money, we all knew the weaknesses in the squad, yet he tried to kid himself the squad was fine.

We are led to believe that the money was available for transfer fees but was there also the money made available to pay any signing on fees and the high wages that target players may well have been asking for?

Maybe Sir Steve decided to stick with the players he had because in reality he had little choice as he could not attract any players better than he already had and/or he feared their high wages would upset his existing close knit squad.

Although they are intensely irritating I find it strangely reassuring when fools like TWYI, Daniella and Royalee speak as if we are totally fcuked.

Very few things in this life are more certain than the fact that any shared opinions of that little triumvirate of ignorant reactionary numbskulls are going to be proved wrong.

Whilst I hope you are right, I'm sure all three will have stored that comment for future reference!

Funny things penalties given that they are supposaed to be a 80-90% cert for a goal - the player is at fault if he misses, the goalkeeper at fault if he doesn't save...

Just how these are compatible I don't know

I reckon USA owes us on the 10-20% stat then!

[Dr Hfuhruhurr]

The fact is, the players are the same ones who got us to eighth last season.

I've seen this written a few times. Anybody who actually believes the statement can you please explain how it's possible to say it and keep a straight face?

Aaah, the wonderful entertainment of all the ups and downs of the HNA? match thread. Of all the great stuff on here, Ive chosen this one.

Actually Shades, this is how Coppell thinks. He rewards players for their success by showing loyalty towards them in his squad selection. This is, of course, partly because he is constrained by the Madejski budget, but this is what happened when we won the championship and it is what happened after a Premiership top half finish. Where he has been caught out is that his midfield replacements in the closed season, Fae and Cisse, cant get on the pitch and this is coupled with a succession of poor performance from some of his regulars. Playing much worse than last year are Murty, Little (Noy because of his play, but because he cant get on the pitch, either), Hannehmann and Hunt. This effectively means that we go into every game with a non-existant midfield, which is why we see Gunnarson and Rosenior consistently playing there.

I think what Im saying is that I dont see much wrong with the way Coppell is playing this. He's got unlucky. He might have used a bit of foresight (esp, with the situation of Little and the real impact of Sidwell leaving) but hindsight for us is a wonderful thing, isnt it?

Basically what you see now is what you will see until the end of the season. Our personnel may well be refreshed in the transfer window, and we may stop leaking so many goals in the second half of the season; but its a survival scrap and much depends on what we do at home.

We've been caught out by Premiership reality. The two people who have to step up is whoever is doing our scouting nowadays (Im never sure whether its Hammond and not) and Madejski himself. I wouldnt hold your breath on the later, Madejski is a pretty canny businessman and the lower half of the Premiership isnt a very canny business. Im not ready to blame Coppell yet.

But still, going down may well be the best thing for the club in the long run.

[The whole year inn]

I've just skimmed a couple of recent pages and I just want to say that The Whole Year Inn is an utter disgrace to this board.

The club would be better off without the likes of that little oxf*rd in its ranks of so-called supporters.

A really really offensive and utterly ignorant young man.

I've upset you haven't I Dad? To bed with no dinner for me then

I don't think Coppell has the mental strength for a relegation battle. It is my opinion that I have based on his record when things get tough.

No need to get quite so upset. You'll do yourself a mischief.

I am 39 BTW

[Uke]

Good to see Sonko back improving the defence and giving away his usual penalty

yeah, why can't we be like Man United? They're brill and they win.

That's because our fanbase is mainly in the home counties.






Oh.

[Ian Royal]

Good to see Sonko back improving the defence and giving away his usual penalty

yeah, why can't we be like Man United? They're brill and they win.

That's because our fanbase is mainly in the home counties.






Oh.

We don't get arrested enough.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

I just can't believe we're in this position. Two players, that's all we needed. Quality on the wing and quality in the middle.

Coppell utterly bottled it this summer when we know had the money, we all knew the weaknesses in the squad, yet he tried to kid himself the squad was fine.

We are led to believe that the money was available for transfer fees but was there also the money made available to pay any signing on fees and the high wages that target players may well have been asking for?

Maybe Sir Steve decided to stick with the players he had because in reality he had little choice as he could not attract any players better than he already had and/or he feared their high wages would upset his existing close knit squad.

Although they are intensely irritating I find it strangely reassuring when fools like TWYI, Daniella and Royalee speak as if we are totally fcuked.

Very few things in this life are more certain than the fact that any shared opinions of that little triumvirate of ignorant reactionary numbskulls are going to be proved wrong.

Whilst I hope you are right, I'm sure all three will have stored that comment for future reference!

Funny things penalties given that they are supposaed to be a 80-90% cert for a goal - the player is at fault if he misses, the goalkeeper at fault if he doesn't save...

Just how these are compatible I don't know

I reckon USA owes us on the 10-20% stat then!

1. If the money wasn't there for wages Coppell wouldn't have come out and said I had the money and didn't spend it. He's not an idiot. The Chairman's not tricked him into thinking moneys there for transfers and not wages. Coppell looks stupid by saying he was happy with the squad and that's why we didn't sign anyone. If the reason we didn't sign anyone was because of wages limits, Coppell would never have said that. He's been in the game far to long to be made to look stupid by JM.

2. Hammond would have gone to Arsenal if his hands were tied by wage limits. Transfers are all he's got, he wouldn't hang around if he couldn't do the job.

3. JM aim in life is to this summer sell a Premiership club. Why would he hold back on wages when it'll cost him £100m if we get relegated.

4. Coppell and Hammond both say the money was there. They wouldn't say that if it wasn't the case. They'd be screaming from the top of their lungs that JM was holding back on wages if he was.

Just makes no sense if the money for wages wasn't there. Coppell and Hammond aren't stupid..

[Dr Hfuhruhurr]

1. If the money wasn't there for wages Coppell wouldn't have come out and said I had the money and didn't spend it. He's not an idiot. The Chairman's not tricked him into thinking moneys there for transfers and not wages. Coppell looks stupid by saying he was happy with the squad and that's why we didn't sign anyone. If the reason we didn't sign anyone was because of wages limits, Coppell would never have said that. He's been in the game far to long to be made to look stupid by JM.

2. Hammond would have gone to Arsenal if his hands were tied by wage limits. Transfers are all he's got, he wouldn't hang around if he couldn't do the job.

3. JM aim in life is to this summer sell a Premiership club. Why would he hold back on wages when it'll cost him £100m if we get relegated.

4. Coppell and Hammond both say the money was there. They wouldn't say that if it wasn't the case. They'd be screaming from the top of their lungs that JM was holding back on wages if he was.

I think thats a pretty fair assessment. For me, however, the weak link is the DoFs CV which suggests Premiership inadequacy. A succession of poor transfers have gone through the Reading books ever since and including Alan Bennett. If our squad is ageing and slowing, then we need to learn that lesson in a couple of months time. There may be money, but its limited money. Madejski probably feels we will stay up because of his faith in the manager. What his faith in the DoF is, is up for speculation.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

1. If the money wasn't there for wages Coppell wouldn't have come out and said I had the money and didn't spend it. He's not an idiot. The Chairman's not tricked him into thinking moneys there for transfers and not wages. Coppell looks stupid by saying he was happy with the squad and that's why we didn't sign anyone. If the reason we didn't sign anyone was because of wages limits, Coppell would never have said that. He's been in the game far to long to be made to look stupid by JM.

2. Hammond would have gone to Arsenal if his hands were tied by wage limits. Transfers are all he's got, he wouldn't hang around if he couldn't do the job.

3. JM aim in life is to this summer sell a Premiership club. Why would he hold back on wages when it'll cost him £100m if we get relegated.

4. Coppell and Hammond both say the money was there. They wouldn't say that if it wasn't the case. They'd be screaming from the top of their lungs that JM was holding back on wages if he was.

I think thats a pretty fair assessment. For me, however, the weak link is the DoFs CV which suggests Premiership inadequacy. A succession of poor transfers have gone through the Reading books ever since and including Alan Bennett. If our squad is ageing and slowing, then we need to learn that lesson in a couple of months time. There may be money, but its limited money. Madejski probably feels we will stay up because of his faith in the manager. What his faith in the DoF is, is up for speculation.

Hammond can only sign who Coppell wants. He gets no final say on transfers. Nothing he could do in the summer if Coppell didn't want anyone. It doesn't seem like we were trying to get players in this summer and failing in negotiations. Also don't see why Coppell would protect Hammond by taking the blame for the decisions made this summer. Coppell would not risk his reputation for Hammond imo, just like he wouldn't risk it for JM.

Hammond can't be that bad if Wenger wanted him. The fact the Chairman gave him a 3yr contract shows a lot of faith imo.

I suppose there's no point blaming people. Just frustrating we're in this position now where the squad needs real strengthening in January, when it should have been done in the summer.

[Bowman's Quiver]

I've just skimmed a couple of recent pages and I just want to say that The Whole Year Inn is an utter disgrace to this board.

The club would be better off without the likes of that little oxf*rd in its ranks of so-called supporters.

A really really offensive and utterly ignorant young man.

I've upset you haven't I Dad? To bed with no dinner for me then

I don't think Coppell has the mental strength for a relegation battle. It is my opinion that I have based on his record when things get tough.

No need to get quite so upset. You'll do yourself a mischief.

I am 39 BTW

Then act your age and not your shoe size as my old mum used to say

[Victor Meldrew]

I wonder if Coppell and Hammond are on some sort of profitshare -that might explain why we only spent peanuts in the summer.