Summer Rebuild

[Nameless]

Left back is only a problem if we don't have a proper left winger.

And if Obita gets injured/suspended.

I'd be looking for a left sided utility defender

[WoodleyRoyal]

if kelly signs his contract we have that.

[andrew1957]

Minimum we need to try and avoid relegation, IMHO
1x Goalkeeper (plus a reserve of some sort - academy/other)
1x Central Defender who can play all season and not another Anton Ferdninad/Zat Knight
1x Striker who can form a partnership with one Cox of Pog

Do not think that is enough. If we do not re-sign Kelly and Karacan we will be left with just 12 experienced pros (including Ferdinand, Obita and Hector - one of which is injury prone and two still quite inexperienced).

I think that you need at least 18 experienced pros in this division - or a few injuries and you can very easily get stuck at the bottom of the table.

If we do not sign 6-7 I would have us as favourites to do a Blackpool.

[SCIAG]

Left wing is more important than a back up central defender.
It was the obvious weakness last season and has to be addressed. Not sure Fosu is the complete answer but he may be. Would rather see him fighting for a place with a new player than being our only option.

Hector and Cooper can and should be our first choice centre backs - neither are schoolboys, both are better players than Pearce and Cooper will only gain experience if he plays. I wouldn't be 100% happy with running with the 4 U21 centre backs as cover, but they are all good and suspect we could get away with it if we had to.

Definitely need a striker, Tanner, Novac and Cardwell are not there yet.

I broadly agree with much of what you're saying.

Right now I think Cooper has a fatal flaw, his complete inability to tackle. I'd be happy for us to effectively make him first choice as long as we took him out of the firing line when we came up against teams with quick, skillful forwards. Don't want to see him get torn apart by someone like Demarai Gray or Pat Robertson again.

I also don't think he'd be an ideal partner for Hector. They're both inclined to attack the ball, which is fair enough because they're both gonna win most headers, but I think we need someone who relies a bit more on their footballing intelligence along side them - Ingimarsson at his best would be ideal. The only one of the U21s who really falls into that category is Hyam (imo), but I think he'd benefit from a season in League 1.

I'd rather go into the season with Moore or Ward starting than Cooper.

[Forbury Lion]

Minimum we need to try and avoid relegation, IMHO
1x Goalkeeper (plus a reserve of some sort - academy/other)
1x Central Defender who can play all season and not another Anton Ferdninad/Zat Knight
1x Striker who can form a partnership with one Cox of Pog

Do not think that is enough. If we do not re-sign Kelly and Karacan we will be left with just 12 experienced pros (including Ferdinand, Obita and Hector - one of which is injury prone and two still quite inexperienced).

I think that you need at least 18 experienced pros in this division - or a few injuries and you can very easily get stuck at the bottom of the table.

If we do not sign 6-7 I would have us as favourites to do a Blackpool.

You're probably right.

Let me change that to "Minimum we need to stand a chance of winning a game".

[Nameless]

Left wing is more important than a back up central defender.
It was the obvious weakness last season and has to be addressed. Not sure Fosu is the complete answer but he may be. Would rather see him fighting for a place with a new player than being our only option.

Hector and Cooper can and should be our first choice centre backs - neither are schoolboys, both are better players than Pearce and Cooper will only gain experience if he plays. I wouldn't be 100% happy with running with the 4 U21 centre backs as cover, but they are all good and suspect we could get away with it if we had to.

Definitely need a striker, Tanner, Novac and Cardwell are not there yet.

I broadly agree with much of what you're saying.

Right now I think Cooper has a fatal flaw, his complete inability to tackle. I'd be happy for us to effectively make him first choice as long as we took him out of the firing line when we came up against teams with quick, skillful forwards. Don't want to see him get torn apart by someone like Demarai Gray or Pat Robertson again.

I also don't think he'd be an ideal partner for Hector. They're both inclined to attack the ball, which is fair enough because they're both gonna win most headers, but I think we need someone who relies a bit more on their footballing intelligence along side them - Ingimarsson at his best would be ideal. The only one of the U21s who really falls into that category is Hyam (imo), but I think he'd benefit from a season in League 1.

I'd rather go into the season with Moore or Ward starting than Cooper.

I think Keown is also the sort of player you are talking about, presumably he's had advice from somewhere !
You could be right about the pairing not being ideal, likewise I never thought Hector and Pearce looked right as a pair. If Cooper can progress as much in the next 12 months as Hector did in the last we will have a couple,of very good players though. Cooper's tackling will come as he gains experience, a lot of it is about timing and I don't think he'll be caught out of position as much as Pearce was, he's a little more nimble !
Agree that it would be good to have Ivar in the squad to bring this crop of young defenders through, not too many of his class around sadly.

[maffff]

At least once thing we know is Clarke knows his defences.

[Hoop Blah]

Anyone who thinks Cooper isn't raw and is ready to play Championship football as a first choice centre half is in cloud cookoo land.

Hector is there and needs to now play games to iron out his flaws. What Cooper needs is to be in and around a competitive environment nd playing in games that matter here and there. They don't get that in the U21s and they don't have to deal with the pressure and attention of Senior football. Cooper coming in and playing a few games here and there and learning from both his mistakes, his team mates and the coaches is what he needs now, not playing 40-odd games.

We don't need to expose a decent young prospect to playing out of his depth in the full glare of Championship football.

[Nameless]

Cooper did that last season.
He's not looked out of his depth (Birmingham excepted).
Why hold good players back rather than letting them play ?
The idea that you only let players play when they have got experience is arguable at best.
And anyone using 'cloud cuckoo land' as any sort of logical argument is on a loser....

[Hoop Blah]

Cooper did that last season.
He's not looked out of his depth (Birmingham excepted).
Why hold good players back rather than letting them play ?
The idea that you only let players play when they have got experience is arguable at best.
And anyone using 'cloud cuckoo land' as any sort of logical argument is on a loser....

He stated 7 or 8 games? He did ok, but at no point did he look like a player who should be a first choice at this level IMO.

At times he looked half decent, at times he looked out of his depth. It's not holding players back by making sure they're capable and introduced gently and without exposing them too early. That can ruin a young player as much as it can make them.

Relying on players such as Cooper would be a very very risky gamble.

[Nameless]

10 starts and 9 sub appearances, plus on the bench pretty much every week so fully involved in the first team set up.
I understand what you are saying, and obviously some players get thrown in too soon but equally others don't get given the chance to prove themselves early enough.
I'd say he looked more than half decent and he rarely looked out of his depth, bearing in mind Pearce regularly got caught out of position, was uncomfortable on the ball and made mistakes.
I' not convinced alayer who is good enough needs 2 years of sitting on the bench and playing League Cup games.

[Extended-Phenotype]

And a LW.

[Sutekh]

Cooper did that last season.
He's not looked out of his depth (Birmingham excepted).
Why hold good players back rather than letting them play ?
The idea that you only let players play when they have got experience is arguable at best.
And anyone using 'cloud cuckoo land' as any sort of logical argument is on a loser....

He stated 7 or 8 games? He did ok, but at no point did he look like a player who should be a first choice at this level IMO.

At times he looked half decent, at times he looked out of his depth. It's not holding players back by making sure they're capable and introduced gently and without exposing them too early. That can ruin a young player as much as it can make them.

Relying on players such as Cooper would be a very very risky gamble.

But then he did win us the game at Norwich.

[Pepe the Horseman]

The Tilehurst End reckon Fosu is out of contract. Thought he had another year. Anyone know for sure?

[tidus_mi2]

This is all I could find http://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/article ... 50264.aspx

I doubt the club only gave him a year contract so I would suggest it's either up next year or the year after.

But then this link: http://www.football-league.co.uk/docume ... 491536.pdf

Suggests he is out of contract this summer.

[Sutekh]

A few weeks ago the Tilehurst End had Fosu down as under contract until 2016.

Seeing as the media haven't reported him as one of those out of contract and the club themselves haven't included him on the released list I would be tempted to say he is still under contract for at least 1 more year.

[Royal Bahamas]

Gunter switched to central defence for Wales yesterday, and he was being touted as the Man of the Match..........Can he do this for Reading???????

[Nameless]

Wasn't he the right side of a back 3 rather than a centre back ?
He's played centre back for us, without looking like it would be a worthwhile long term option.

[Ian Royal]

Gunter switched to central defence for Wales yesterday, and he was being touted as the Man of the Match..........Can he do this for Reading???????

Leaving us with who at right back?

Square pegs in square holes please. Round pegs in square holes has typified our non-financial problems for the last several years.

Gunter can barely defend at right back, has a heart the size of a pea and isn't exactly big and strong, I wouldn't want him anywhere near centreback.

[linkenholtroyal]

There is one exciting thing about this summer I've been thinking about it, for once we have to make signings where as we haven't before, our squad is so thread bear that at least there will be some transfer action this summer,