Ruthless Clarke

[Hoop Blah]

Chalobah was a great addition last season because he was better than what we had and he added some much needed quality.

I'm still not convinced by him though (he drifts around too much for my liking and just seems to play within himself too much too often) and for the money it would surely be costing us I'd have thought we could get someone a bit more suited to our requirements.

If he does sign though I'd guess it might mean Norwood's time is up as well.

[PeterReadingborn59]

SC is overseeing a squad change, but still has the enigma HRK to resolve, and SC's apparent unease with Cox.
Will SC select the players in form?
Gunter, Obita and Hector each seem liable to present the opposition with at least one chance during a match.

Current strongest team:
Bond
Gunter--Ferdinand--McShane (c)-----Taylor
Tshibola-----Williams
Blackman ------------ Norwood ------------------Obita
Sa
Subs: Al Habsi, Quinn, Hector, Keown, HRK, Cox
Kuhl, Long, Griffin, Sweeney, Novakovich, Moore
Assume unavailable – Pav, Samuel, McCleary, Cooper, Fosu, Hurtado, Stacey, Tanner, J Taylor

Use Williams to win the ball with Tshibola, Norwood to do what he does best and knock balls into space, Blackman to feed off Sa. Obita to provide a defensive winger and more crosses than Quinn.

Potential current strongest team:
Bond
Gunter--Ferdinand--McShane (c)-----Taylor
Tshibola-----Williams
McCleary ------------ Norwood ------------------Hurtado
Sa
Subs: Al Habsi, Quinn, Hector, Obita, Samuel, Blackman
Cooper, Cox, Kuhl, Keown, Fosu, Pav, HRK, Stacey, Tanner, Long, Griffin, Sweeney, Novakovich, Moore
J Taylor

[Lacoste]

A poor post ^^^^^

[PeterReadingborn59]

A poor post ^^^^^

Don't be so quick to put yourself down.

[Sanguine]

Sad to see Taylor go. I liked him. But. He wasn't up to the standard we are after, so can't argue with him going.

Clarke's done masses over the summer. There's a few issues left, but he seems to have had exactly the sort of summer business we needed to avoid going down in a shambles. Fair play.

The proof, as always, is in the results. It may be a failure but at least now you can't say it hasn't been a big effort. 10 games in I'd expect us to about 12th.

I put Taylor in the James Henry category. Clearly has something but just hasn't done it enough for Reading, he'll probably go on to have a reasonable career in the FL.

[floyd__streete]

Not ruthless enough to sort out our chronic goalscoring problem eh

[Ian Royal]

With Taylor seemingly having a decent game i think we have to revisit Obita at left wing to give us some width. We can't play Williams or Quinn on the flanks if we don't have genuine width on the other side.

HRK/Blackman right, Obita left. Sa up top, Williams behind. Quinn and Norwood in midfield. Blackman/HRK to come off the bench. or drop Quinn / Norwood for a second striker.

[SCIAG]

Sad to see Taylor go. I liked him. But. He wasn't up to the standard we are after, so can't argue with him going.

Clarke's done masses over the summer. There's a few issues left, but he seems to have had exactly the sort of summer business we needed to avoid going down in a shambles. Fair play.

The proof, as always, is in the results. It may be a failure but at least now you can't say it hasn't been a big effort. 10 games in I'd expect us to about 12th.

I put Taylor in the James Henry category. Clearly has something but just hasn't done it enough for Reading, he'll probably go on to have a reasonable career in the FL.

I don't think Taylor is quite on the James Henry/Simon Cox level. I don't think he'll be a regular Championship player or someone we'll look at signing back (unless we get relegated). Henry's a reliable 10-assists-a-season winger, which is really valuable. I'd put him in the John Mullins/Marvin Bartley camp.

[Hoop Blah]

Johnny Mullins, I'd pretty much forgotten about him. He was one of those I thought would come good and didn't realise he'd ended up at Oxford.

Not sure Bartley ever really came into the same category, seeing as he didn't get close to making it here, but I can see what you mean about the level of play and career though.

[andrew1957]

I have to say that I am ever more impressed by Clarke. I think that by the end of this season he will either be a RFC legend, or will most likely have been sacked (unless perhaps we narrowly miss out).

It seems to me that he has engineered the biggest squad overhaul in one summer that the club has ever seen during one transfer window. It is now very much his squad and a potentially very impressive one at that. Of our 29 first team squad at the end of last season only 13 remain (assuming that Hector is loaned back or else it will be 12). I think I am right in saying he has brought 11 new players in.

I think he will get promotion and will be rightly applauded - but only time will tell.

[tidus_mi2]

I have to say that I am ever more impressed by Clarke. I think that by the end of this season he will either be a RFC legend, or will most likely have been sacked (unless perhaps we narrowly miss out).

It seems to me that he has engineered the biggest squad overhaul in one summer that the club has ever seen during one transfer window. It is now very much his squad and a potentially very impressive one at that. Of our 29 first team squad at the end of last season only 13 remain (assuming that Hector is loaned back or else it will be 12). I think I am right in saying he has brought 11 new players in.

I think he will get promotion and will be rightly applauded - but only time will tell.

From what I've seen of our style of play and the signings this window, I do think he will get us promoted within the next few seasons.

RTG of course.

[Platypuss]

Gets the defence sorted and only then starts to add flair options. #textbook