Bottle, Heart, Commitment, Guts: "The Reading DNA"

[muirinho]

And anyway, whether someone is languid or not doesn't preclude guts,
going in where it hurts. Compare Noel Hunt to Simon Church, for example.

Who have we got that we could think are "heroic"? McShane, El Habsi, Quinn might be

But neither of our fullbacks, or Norwood, or Kermogant. or HRK, or McCleary, and not Williams

Even Matt Mills had balls

If you want "balls" watch boxing instead. See photos of Gunter after the Hull game? He put his head where it hurt, and given where those stitches were, he could have lost an eye. But what was the actual result of that? He had to go off, and we conceded while down to 10 men. We might have been better off if he'd bottled it.

Karacan was lost to the club for a year after a stupid "gutsy" tackle.

I want to see our players making an effort. But diving in to prove they're men? Nah.

I liked Noel Hunt because he never ever gave up. On his man, or on the game. We could do with a bit more of that. But it has nothing to do with "going in where it hurts".

[Snowball136]

You contradict yourself, Sir


Noel Hunt was often injured
doing exactly what we have discussed


and, incidentally, the tenor of my remarks in this discussion
have nothing to do with stupidity, but in COMMITMENT

as for Gunter, sure he ducked his head a bit low and got a kick. Now how many times
in the last three years has something like that happened?

[muirinho]

You contradict yourself, Sir


Noel Hunt was often injured
doing exactly what we have discussed


and, incidentally, the tenor of my remarks in this discussion
have nothing to do with stupidity, but in COMMITMENT

as for Gunter, sure he ducked his head a bit low and got a kick. Now how many times
in the last three years has something like that happened?

I'm not contradicting myself, you are misunderstanding me.
I liked Noel Hunt for his perseverance, not because he got stuck in. Those are different qualities. I admire one, I regard the other as often counter-productive. He might have contributed more to the team if he wasn't so frequently injured.

And my point about Gunter was similar. I'm not saying he does this often, because we both know he doesn't. I'm saying that when he did do it, it could be argued that the net result was bad for the team, not good.

[John Smith]

But neither of our fullbacks, or Norwood, or Kermogant. or HRK, or McCleary, and not Williams

For you to come on here and have the gall to post something like that spells out to me that you either:
a) don't go to games and formulate your opinion off someone equally as clueless and naive as you
b) are watching a different team
c) have only been watching football for a number of weeks
or
d) have your head in the sand

Is your head in the sand?

[Snowball]

But neither of our fullbacks, or Norwood, or Kermogant. or HRK, or McCleary, and not Williams

For you to come on here and have the gall to post something like that spells out to me that you either:

a) don't go to games and formulate your opinion off someone equally as clueless and naive as you

I'm a ST Holder, go to all the home games, maybe 6-8 away games in a season.
I'd to to more but I have two dogs to worry about.

b) are watching a different team

Yes, a different team (in terms of guts and commitment) to Coppell's team, to previous McDermott teams. esp the one that stole the champions spot

c) have only been watching football for a number of weeks

You got me. I've only been watching "soccer" for about sixty years. Played myself until I was 38, played 2 x 90 minutes in 2014

or

d) have your head in the sand

Is your head in the sand?

Williams is, IMO, a false-positive of a player.

He is a terrible TEAM player. He runs around a lot, dives in for a few minutes at a time,
can make you think he's much better than he is when he goes headless chasing the ball,
but I never get the feeling he'd come chasing down the alley to save his mate from a kicking

I'd take a Tish over Williams any day of the week. Williams is about Williams

[John Smith]

Williams is, IMO, a false-positive of a player.

He is a terrible TEAM player. He runs around a lot, dives in for a few minutes at a time,
can make you think he's much better than he is when he goes headless chasing the ball,
but I never get the feeling he'd come chasing down the alley to save his mate from a kicking

I'd take a Tish over Williams any day of the week. Williams is about Williams

No I'm sorry you're wrong. And by replying with that childish response, from someone who professes to be well into his twilight years probably reinforces the fact that you're well out of touch with the modern game. It's people like you that eventually force the few players with talent that we have out of the club and onto better things elsewhere. In what is already a ridiculous thread in the first place, you're only making things worse with posts like you have made. Probably best to quit while you can.

[leon]

Williams is, IMO, a false-positive of a player.

He is a terrible TEAM player. He runs around a lot, dives in for a few minutes at a time,
can make you think he's much better than he is when he goes headless chasing the ball,
but I never get the feeling he'd come chasing down the alley to save his mate from a kicking

I'd take a Tish over Williams any day of the week. Williams is about Williams

No I'm sorry you're wrong. And by replying with that childish response, from someone who professes to be well into his twilight years probably reinforces the fact that you're well out of touch with the modern game. It's people like you that eventually force the few players with talent that we have out of the club and onto better things elsewhere. In what is already a ridiculous thread in the first place, you're only making things worse with posts like you have made. Probably best to quit while you can.

You're talking shit.

[Snowball136]

Wow, I didn't realise I had so much power
if an itty-bitty little thread, incredibly mild IMO
can "force players out of the club"


How's the weather on your planet?

[genome]

Why do you keep alternating between two different usernames?

[Snowball136]

Why do you keep alternating between two different usernames?

It's the same one, really, one with 136 on the end

The system won't save my Password for some reason and both come up as options when I sign back in

[Maneki Neko]

Our problem is a few things. We don't play the tempo game anymore, we play too slowly with the lack of pace and our strikers just aren't good enough. That's not helped by Brian changing the system which Clarke played so we are not in any form.

the system that Clarke had not won with for ages?
plus 433-4231 IS pretty much the system Clarke played. brian just changed the personnel and balance around slightly

[stealthpapes]

Is this like the new Tenacity, Spririt, Flair mantra?

What a cringeworthy and pointless thread. It's just football, get over it

Yeah, but

How many times did Hunty get a head injury?

[stealthpapes]

It's amazing that we still resort to "get stuck in" when its basically the worst way to defend. If you're tackling, you're already out of position, you're already doing something risky. Unless you're good enough to turn a tackle into a pass, then you're doing it wrong.

If you're throwing yourself about, you're doing it wrong.

Sure, a bit of passion and determination gets the drinking-since-lunch crowd chanting a bit, but are we seriously saying, as the OP hints, that the more head injuries a squad gets, the better? Seriously?

And what the christ is a false-positive player?

[genome]

How exactly do players demonstr8 passion anyway

Are they required to run around the pitch shouting "I FCUKING LOVE FOOTBALL!!!!" ?