Injury table and expected return....

[Extended-Phenotype]

If I were an RFC player I'd be constantly on the look out for an opportunity to 'accidentally' shove Pearce down a flight of stairs.

Harsh and mean-spirited post.

Pearce has demonstrated that he is more than capable of tripping over his own feet and falling down said flight of stairs.

[Ian Royal]

Pearce has been worse than Hector but in all seriousness he's been pretty decent in the past with an experienced partner at the back. If Anton gets fit, it tricky to know who to drop really.

One needs to go though because as a partnership Pearce and Hector just aren't working.

Pearce hasn't been as strong as usual, but IMO he's been consistently ok, whilst Hector has swung between brilliant and calamity.

[Ian Royal]

I'm not denying Pearce was quality for us that season, but the style of football we were playing suited him. The style Adkins wants to play does not, anyone can see that. Plus I dont think he is good enough for the prem. But hey, cling onto the past as much as you like

Pearce has the 5th best pass completion of anyone in our team (81.4%) and makes the 4th most passes per game (40.6). He plays 2 long balls a game. That says to me he knows his limitations and deals with them feeding others. I don't think he has any problems with the style Adkins wants us to play.

Compare to Hector, who is a good passer, but not as good as he thinks., yet.
Pass completion: 67%
Passes / game: 48.8
Long balls / game: 5.7

[GH Royal]

I'm not denying Pearce was quality for us that season, but the style of football we were playing suited him. The style Adkins wants to play does not, anyone can see that. Plus I dont think he is good enough for the prem. But hey, cling onto the past as much as you like

Pearce has the 5th best pass completion of anyone in our team (81.4%) and makes the 4th most passes per game (40.6). He plays 2 long balls a game. That says to me he knows his limitations and deals with them feeding others. I don't think he has any problems with the style Adkins wants us to play.

Compare to Hector, who is a good passer, but not as good as he thinks., yet.
Pass completion: 67%
Passes / game: 48.8
Long balls / game: 5.7

He plays the simple passes well sure, but so does anyone? Can't fault him for knowing his limitations, but it's fairly common knowledge now. I'm talking more about how comfortable he is with the ball at his feet aswell, I cant be the only one who tightens up when he spends more than 3 seconds on the ball..

Hector is still growing, but shows great potential imo.

Enjoyed the stats though, would be interested to see the average distance of Pearce's passes compared to the rest of the team?

[Ian Royal]

Try the match centre for one of the games. They've beefed up what they show a lot.
http://www.whoscored.com/Teams/94/Show/England-Reading
In fact here's Blackpool
http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/830049/Live
click the spots and it shows you where it went. You can filter it for specific players. It seems against Blackpool that trend above was reversed (not sure about long passes), though neither were very accurate.

Largely agree on Hector. I think he could be a beast in future and has everything except experience. Maybe needs a touch more muscle mass.

On Pearce's ability on the ball, these stats suggest he hasn't been dispossesed, has had only one punished poor touch and is rarely dribbled round.
..................Disp..Tch..Drib
Pearce: --- 0 --- 0.1 -- 0.3
Hector: --- 0.1- 0.5 -- 0.5

Obviously normal caveats about the reliability of the stats or over-reliance on them. They add some depth, but they're far from the full picture.

[GH Royal]

Try the match centre for one of the games. They've beefed up what they show a lot.
http://www.whoscored.com/Teams/94/Show/England-Reading
In fact here's Blackpool
http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/830049/Live
click the spots and it shows you where it went. You can filter it for specific players. It seems against Blackpool that trend above was reversed (not sure about long passes), though neither were very accurate.

Largely agree on Hector. I think he could be a beast in future and has everything except experience. Maybe needs a touch more muscle mass.

On Pearce's ability on the ball, these stats suggest he hasn't been dispossesed, has had only one punished poor touch and is rarely dribbled round.
..................Disp..Tch..Drib
Pearce: --- 0 --- 0.1 -- 0.3
Hector: --- 0.1- 0.5 -- 0.5

Obviously normal caveats about the reliability of the stats or over-reliance on them. They add some depth, but they're far from the full picture.

Unfortunately couldn't find a section for Pass Distance, agreed these stat websites dont show the full picture - but an interesting point from the Who Scored website:

Alex Pearce
Total mins this season - 1260
Accurate long balls - 28
Inaccurate long balls - 34

Michael Hector
Total mins this season - 1080
Accurate long balls - 71
Inaccurate long balls - 122

Doubt it's 100% accurate, but a good insight.

[GH Royal]

'Yet another calf problem from Danny Guthrie. He's waiting for results on another scan.' via Charles Watts' Twitter.

Deadwood.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Drag Guthrie to a paddock and shoot him.

[Scampi12]

'Yet another calf problem from Danny Guthrie. He's waiting for results on another scan.' via Charles Watts' Twitter.

Deadwood.

Would prefer Williams and Karacan or Norwood as a midfield 2 over Over Guthrie anyway.

[Ian Royal]

Drag Guthrie to a paddock and shoot him.

A bit harsh. I'd send him out to stud.

I think it's past time it's become obvious he'll not recover. I can't see him managing more than 3 appearances before breaking down, even if he can get fit enough to make a first team appearance.

[GH Royal]

Agreed. High earner with a big ego and quite inconsistent. Out of contract in the summer too I think.

[wingnut]

I would be quite happy if I never saw Guthrie in a Reading shirt again.

But then that's me. I'm easily pleased.

[Vision]

I do wonder if there's a deeper underlying problem with Guthrie that's not simply a physical thing.

It was alluded to around the time of his falling out with McDermott and something just seems a little off in him continually being quoted with different muscle injuries just at the point he's expected to return.

[JC]

From the OS

Latest from the treatment room

The injury list is shortening, with the likes of Danny Williams, Anton Ferdinand, Garath McCleary and Jem Karacan stepping up their recovery in recent weeks.

Anton Ferdinand
He played an hour for the under 21s on Monday evening, and is now closer to being involved with the first team.

Danny Williams
He played 45 minutes for our under 21s at Brighton on Monday night, having been out since April with a knee injury. After six months out and just half a game under his belt so far, he will still most likely be a little while away from starting a first team game.

Garath McCleary
He played 45 minutes in a practice game last week, and has a pre-planned specialist appointment next Tuesday to hopefully give him the all-clear to be involved in competitive matches.

Jem Karacan
He is back out on the training pitch, doing ball work with the team, although he has not yet taken part in a practice game. After more than a year of hard work in the treatment room he will rightly be nursed back into competitive action.

Danny Guthrie
He trained well last week but felt a calf problem on Friday, which ruled him out of the under 21s game on Monday. He has undergone a scan and the results should be with us shortly as he bids to overcome a frustrating injury for him.

Aaron Tshibola
He played the full 90 minutes for our under 21s on Monday so is almost back to full fitness.

Shaun Cummings
He is back doing outdoor multi-directional running and all being well he can join in with more training next week.

Craig Tanner
He has an appointment with a consultant soon to take another look at the knee injury which has sidelined him since the end of August.

Read more at http://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/article ... PCIi4DM.99

[leww_rfc]

Charles Watts said on twitter yesterday that Williams could be involved this weekend.

[savage 4 england]

I hope Williams is not rushed back. We need him to be 100%, so he can play the rest of the season.

Once we have Williams and McCleary back..it'll make a big BIG difference.

[Extended-Phenotype]

I've always been a "give a guy a chance" kinda chap. Guthrie has never really kicked on for us. Perhaps if he hadn't acted like an asshole early doors, people would have given him more of a chance. But the excuse that he wasn't the right player for McD's style of football has been proven to be a misnomer as he hasn't exactly set the pitch on fire under Adkins either.

Injury prone and a bit one-dimensional, won't be sad to see him go.

[Ian Royal]

I've always been a "give a guy a chance" kinda chap. Guthrie has never really kicked on for us. Perhaps if he hadn't acted like an asshole early doors, people would have given him more of a chance. But the excuse that he wasn't the right player for McD's style of football has been proven to be a misnomer as he hasn't exactly set the pitch on fire under Adkins either.

Injury prone and a bit one-dimensional, won't be sad to see him go.

He looked good briefly under McDermott before being dropped again and he looked good at the start of last season before drifting off and getting injured.

Whether he could be good or not is a mute point seeing as he's expensive, (I believe) in the last year of his contract and looks to be properly crocked fitnesswise.

There's no reason to extend his contract or rush him back with Norwood and Kuhl available. The ones we need are Karacan and Williams. Echo the above that we don't want to rush Williams back too soon.

[RoyallyFcuked]

Guthrie is starting to p me off, never fit to play more than about 3 games, and when he does play he often doesnt look fit enough. Not sure how commited he is tbh, probably our second highest earner I'm guessing (after dog), and it wouldnt surprise me if he's actually in no rush to get back to full fitness and is happy to keep picking up the money for doing fcuk all.

I did believe he would come good but not sure anymore, wouldnt care if he left now as we have Norwood, Williams, Akpan and Kuhl. I think all of those players deserve a place more than Guthrie and IMO Williams and Norwood will be a great CM partnership which I am looking forward to seeing.

[Ian Royal]

Guthrie is starting to p me off, never fit to play more than about 3 games, and when he does play he often doesnt look fit enough. Not sure how commited he is tbh, probably our second highest earner I'm guessing (after dog), and it wouldnt surprise me if he's actually in no rush to get back to full fitness and is happy to keep picking up the money for doing fcuk all.

I did believe he would come good but not sure anymore, wouldnt care if he left now as we have Norwood, Williams, Akpan and Kuhl. I think all of those players deserve a place more than Guthrie and IMO Williams and Norwood will be a great CM partnership which I am looking forward to seeing.

If you'd seen him react to getting injured again last season, you'd know that's not very likely.