too confident?

[Esteban]

There's over a month of the transfer window left, signing another striker with Pogrebnyak still on our books is an unnecessary risk at this time. We might decide to take that risk nearer the end of the window, if we haven't moved him on by then.

And given that, if you believe a lot of what is written on here, the only strikers worth having are Hooper, Rhodes, Austin or Sharp, then it was always likely we'd miss out on those, with perhaps Sharp being the exception. We've signed the best left back in the league last season, a former Real Madrid player and a regular starter from the Bundesliga already, retained all of the players we wanted to, obtained category 1 academy status, have put plans in place for a new purpose built training facility and agreed partnership deals with two European football giants and obtained fresh sponsorship. Yet still there are questions about a lack of ambition?!

Patience is a virtue.

[Haag Royal]

The game on Saturday did rather feel like the last few games last season I am afraid to say.

In the final third same old Reading. No idea how to convert attacking play into goal scoring chances at the moment. Can't see this changing as it has a look of lacking in confidence above anything else.

Can't fault ALF for his work rate but pairing him with HRK will not strike fear into any Champ defence this season.

[Extended-Phenotype]

There's over a month of the transfer window left, signing another striker with Pogrebnyak still on our books is an unnecessary risk at this time. We might decide to take that risk nearer the end of the window, if we haven't moved him on by then.

And given that, if you believe a lot of what is written on here, the only strikers worth having are Hooper, Rhodes, Austin or Sharp, then it was always likely we'd miss out on those, with perhaps Sharp being the exception. We've signed the best left back in the league last season, a former Real Madrid player and a regular starter from the Bundesliga already, retained all of the players we wanted to, obtained category 1 academy status, have put plans in place for a new purpose built training facility and agreed partnership deals with two European football giants and obtained fresh sponsorship. Yet still there are questions about a lack of ambition?!

Patience is a virtue.

All good points. It just would have been good to begin the season with a complete team. Lacking a striker who is (a) capable of playing alone upfront or (b) is up for being here, just feels we have the foundations but no roof. But you are right; there is still time - I guess realising the season starts next week and looking toothless in pre-season has unsettled my optimism.

[SPARTA]

I remain convinced that we will finish, at the very best, in the bottom half of the table this year. Relegation looks a real possibility.

Agreed. We've been sat on 0 points for a month now!

[WestRoyal]

See: Luke Chadwick.

Yes i'm sure everyone was thinking Luke when Drenthe signed

[Ian Royal]

Not sure we need to spend some "actual money". Getting players on a free and paying them a fortune is still a big outlay.

We must have a thumping wage bill now. I'm not going to suggest we're nailed on for auto as we're clearly not, but we have to be up the top end of the table or it's going to be a bit of a disaster really.

Didn't AZ promise something like 7 new players at one point? A week to go and we haven't even made half that. Thought maybe I was being greedy and we'd be okay with what we have - this weekend demonstrated we are severely lacking in the very areas fans had their concerns about.

I still have no idea who we are going to play upfront; the choice seems to be between a man who can't and a man who won't. Hooper/Austin/Sharp/Lambert - maybe these 'targets' were just club spin once again.

Sigh. I thought we had moved on from this nonsense.

We also expected pearce and maybe hrk to go. Plus one or two more we haven't lost. That might explain why more haven't come in. Shift legs, and gorkss. Maybe fed and pog and we'd certainly see a flurry of activity.

[SCIAG]

Two years ago, we won the league.

Since then, we have made the following adjustments:
Griffin->Gunter
Connolly-> Kelly
Harte-> Bridge
Gorkss->Mariappa
Crap Morrison-> Good Morrison
Antonio-> McCleary
Tabb-> Guthrie
Mullins-> Akpan
Leigertwood-> Williams
Howard->Drenthe
Church-> Pogrebnyak
Afobe-> Blackman

and people are worried we'll get relegated?

[NewCorkSeth]

Two years ago, we won the league.

Since then, we have made the following adjustments:
Griffin->Gunter
Connolly-> Kelly
Harte-> Bridge
Gorkss->Mariappa
Crap Morrison-> Good Morrison
Antonio-> McCleary
Tabb-> Guthrie
Mullins-> Akpan
Leigertwood-> Williams
Howard->Drenthe
Church-> Pogrebnyak
Afobe-> Blackman

and people are worried we'll get relegated?

thanks for this! I wanted to say something similar yesterday but the idea of typing all that out hurt my brain.

[Schards#2]

The game on Saturday did rather feel like the last few games last season I am afraid to say.

In the final third same old Reading. No idea how to convert attacking play into goal scoring chances at the moment. Can't see this changing as it has a look of lacking in confidence above anything else.

Can't fault ALF for his work rate but pairing him with HRK will not strike fear into any Champ defence this season.

You don't think playing Championship opposition as opposed to Premiership opposition might impact on the volume of goal scoring chances?

[Royal Dee]

The game on Saturday did rather feel like the last few games last season I am afraid to say.

In the final third same old Reading. No idea how to convert attacking play into goal scoring chances at the moment. Can't see this changing as it has a look of lacking in confidence above anything else.

Can't fault ALF for his work rate but pairing him with HRK will not strike fear into any Champ defence this season.

You don't think playing Championship opposition as opposed to Premiership opposition might impact on the volume of goal scoring chances?

May I remind people on here that We are playing championship teams such as an Ipswich side, a side that one of their biggest signings this season was capturing jay Tabb... nothing against the bloke, hard worker and that but we should dominate that midfield and thus create chances

[NewCorkSeth]

May I remind people on here that We are playing championship teams such as an Ipswich side, a side that one of their biggest signings this season was capturing jay Tabb... nothing against the bloke, hard worker and that but we should dominate that midfield and thus create chances

Ipswich do have the longest tenure in the Champ tho! well seasoned in this league

[Mike Hunt]

We will give them a good hiding. For that I am sure.

[Get Carter]

Hang on a minute - didn't AZ criticise BM for not bringing in more players in the summer & Jan transfer window?
I believe the club released about 10 players at the end of the season including first teamers Harte, Shorey, Hunt,
Tabb & Chuch as a squad player plus some youngsters & Carrico on loan.
We have signed three players and our players have their salaries reduced on relegation (I assume) & we receive
huge parachute payments.
This does not look like a push for auto promotion to me and it is obvious we need 1/2 quality strikers - surely we
deserve some proper information from Hammond as to how Adkins can possibly win promotion with the current
squad & limited investment.

[Esteban]

Hang on a minute - didn't AZ criticise BM for not bringing in more players in the summer & Jan transfer window?
I believe the club released about 10 players at the end of the season including first teamers Harte, Shorey, Hunt,
Tabb & Chuch as a squad player plus some youngsters & Carrico on loan.
We have signed three players and our players have their salaries reduced on relegation (I assume) & we receive
huge parachute payments.
This does not look like a push for auto promotion to me and it is obvious we need 1/2 quality strikers - surely we
deserve some proper information from Hammond as to how Adkins can possibly win promotion with the current
squad & limited investment.

If only we had the opportunity to sign more players before the window shuts...

[Ian Royal]

Hang on a minute - didn't AZ criticise BM for not bringing in more players in the summer & Jan transfer window?
I believe the club released about 10 players at the end of the season including first teamers Harte, Shorey, Hunt,
Tabb & Chuch as a squad player plus some youngsters & Carrico on loan.
We have signed three players and our players have their salaries reduced on relegation (I assume) & we receive
huge parachute payments.
This does not look like a push for auto promotion to me and it is obvious we need 1/2 quality strikers - surely we
deserve some proper information from Hammond as to how Adkins can possibly win promotion with the current
squad & limited investment.

I think you're missing the words "high quality" between 'more' and 'players', which should make everything fit together a bit better.

We had a top Championship squad and we still do. The likes of Leigertwood, Gorkss and possibly Federici & Karacan all dominated in the Championship last time we were here and yet they either won't or might struggle to start regularly this season for us. That should tell you a whole hell of a lot about the quality of our squad and whether we need lots of signings.

[NewCorkSeth]

I think you're missing the words "high quality" between 'more' and 'players', which should make everything fit together a bit better.

We had a top Championship squad and we still do. The likes of Leigertwood, Gorkss and possibly Federici & Karacan all dominated in the Championship last time we were here and yet they either won't or might struggle to start regularly this season for us. That should tell you a whole hell of a lot about the quality of our squad and whether we need lots of signings.

I'm with you bruv our squad is all round quality! there is even serious room for change if form is a problem! Great back up and fantastic prospects coming from the youth! good times

[Royalee]

Does anyone else feel that we are being too confident about this season?
Fact; We have appointed a manager who got sacked from his last job 99% of managers have been sacked at some point, ask fans at all his former clubs what they think of him
Fact: we were very poor in the premiership last year Under a completely different manager
Fact; We were missing an experienced playmaker and a goalscorer - which we still dont have Not sure any of last year's promoted teams had both - I don't know of a better goalscorer around than ALF and I'm pretty sure Guthrie, Akpan, Drenthe, Robson-Kanu, McCleary, McAnuff and Kebe will create
Fact: Still missing two of our best players - Kebe and Roberts through injury Kebe wouldn't get into my team ahead of Drenthe, McCleary or Robson-Kanu playing this style of football, nor would Roberts ahead of ALF or Pogrebnyak
Fact: Most teams struggle when they get relegated to the championship Not when they have stronger squads than they've been relegated with the previous year
Fact: We haven't spent big again this season Around 2 years ago a left hand side of Bridge and Drenthe would have easily been judged good enough to play in the Champions League - we're probably paying them more than several Championship teams are for their entire attack and wingers.
Fact:We may still lose some of our best players Like who? You've just said we were crap last year so we can't have many good players

Dont want to sound pessimistic but just feel we may be getting over-confident. I do think Adkins is a good manager but he may need a couple of seasons to perfect the way we play. We will need the return of Kebe, Royston to prove a hit, Guthrie to become the midfielder we all want him to be, Macarthy to stay,Zingarevech to spend on a CF and for us to break the mould on teams that come down. Quite a few if's to go right. Just saying we shouldn't be too disappointed if we are not one of the best 4 teams in the division.

[Haag Royal]

The game on Saturday did rather feel like the last few games last season I am afraid to say.

In the final third same old Reading. No idea how to convert attacking play into goal scoring chances at the moment. Can't see this changing as it has a look of lacking in confidence above anything else.

Can't fault ALF for his work rate but pairing him with HRK will not strike fear into any Champ defence this season.

You don't think playing Championship opposition as opposed to Premiership opposition might impact on the volume of goal scoring chances?

I hope you are right.

[paddy20]

Hang on a minute - didn't AZ criticise BM for not bringing in more players in the summer & Jan transfer window?
I believe the club released about 10 players at the end of the season including first teamers Harte, Shorey, Hunt,
Tabb & Chuch as a squad player plus some youngsters & Carrico on loan.
We have signed three players and our players have their salaries reduced on relegation (I assume) & we receive
huge parachute payments.
This does not look like a push for auto promotion to me and it is obvious we need 1/2 quality strikers - surely we
deserve some proper information from Hammond as to how Adkins can possibly win promotion with the current
squad & limited investment.

Hammond quoted this morning 'we are quite happy with the squad we have'. That kind of statement just riles fans. Its blatantly obvious we don't have the right squad. Agents in the transfer market aren't stupid enough to think that this reduces the value of any of our targets. I just worry that Hammond and Adkins actually believe that. If thats the case we are in for another wasted opportunity. We always seem to get on the right track and then blow it! No investment 2008.! No investment 2011/12! No investment 2013! The sad fact is I can see Championship mediocracy if we don't sign at least 2 quality players. We could then enter a downward spiral.Come on hammond, push the boat out a bit, pay a little over the odds if we have to. The prize at the end will be worth it. At the moment Reading look like a company driven by accountants. We all know accountants are cr-p at running businesses. Where is this new era????

[Tilehurst End]

I have to say that after the initial signings and the noises coming out of the club I was looking forward to this season more than any for a number of years, however the lack of activity in transfers and the performances in the last week have dampened that enthusiasm somewhat.

But there is still a month of the window left, AZ NH and NA have all alluded to more business to be done and Adkins has recently mentioned the loan market which isn't likely to kick in until the big boys have finished their business for the summer so fingers are crossed.

Whatever, be prepared for that emotional rollercoaster known as a Reading FC season.