Church & HRK

[teignmouth hoops]

I'm sorry but what use are HRK & Church. HRK comes on first, one decent cross and that was it , Church looked so out of touch its embarrassing( he desparately needs to go out on loan to get some matchs in, but with our small squad we can't afford to let him go) After a magnificent rearguard action by a patched up defence holding on for what could be a great draw, we needed impact subs that will bust a gut to do something, the pair of them are simply not good enough, I realise Matty Mansett was cup tied ,a great pity because he would have been great to bring on for Hunty for the last half hour. Still brilliant support & atmosphere yesterday ,lets power on into the play-offs as everybody else is slipping up

[TFF]

Why are you sorry?

[ZacNaloen]

Robson-Kanu needs to be given the football/present for the ball more otherwise he's never going to do well as a sub

[RobRoyal]

I realise Matty Mansett was cup tied

Is this true?

[roadrunner]

Church is awful.

It wasn't long ago though that we were giving up on Shane Long, but even Shane at his worst was better than Church at his mediocre best. Our biggest problem is that we'll almost certainly lose Longy this summer and then what are we left with? I'd say flog Church but then all we have is B.Williams and Manset, so we can't afford to let the boy go.

I really do hope we have a quality striker lined up to replace Long, otherwise we're in a big load of poo next season.

[Optimist]

Gotta remember they both have very little experience against teams such as Man City, and maybe the pressure got to them a bit. Church in particular has played very little recently and can we really complain that he doesn't come on and change the game in the 10 or so minutes he gets each week? But yeah I agree its a shame Manset was cup-tied. HRK proved recently (vs Boro) that when he gets an opportunity to start he can put a good shift in, which tbh, is exactly what you want from a Championship back-up player against other Championship teams.
And btw no I'm not Welsh

[brendywendy]

HRK has just had his two best most consistent games in a reading shirt before his short sub appearance Vs the richest team in the prem.

church is having a bad season. but is young , and has shown enough in the past to perservere.

one things for sure, as soon as hob nob gets on his back he is sure to become a great player and youll all start worrying about him being poached by a big club

[teignmouth hoops]

Well Brendy, surely if we want to actually win something or get to wembley, they both should have done more, it's not good enough just making up the numbers .Man City were very poor yesterday, we rode our luck but if Longy had had a bit of support we could have got a result

[brendywendy]

Well Brendy, surely if we want to actually win something or get to wembley, they both should have done more, it's not good enough just making up the numbers .Man City were very poor yesterday, we rode our luck but if Longy had had a bit of support we could have got a result

except im not going to slag a young player off for being inconsistent. cos thats what young players are.
and as a yoof product of the academy id argue its fine for them to make up numbers till they grow up into a proper player

[muddyfeet]

I think Church has had a serious knock in confidence, due to lack of goals, lack of game time and other strikers bring brought in.
I still think he will come good, we've seen flashes of the skill he has.
Kanu - on his worst day is dire, but he will still probably shape up to be an average championship winger - we've been really spoilt with Kebe and mcAnuff. One of them will be off come the summer, so we'll be seeing lots more of Mr Kanu

[roadrunner]

Gotta remember they both have very little experience against teams such as Man City, and maybe the pressure got to them a bit. Church in particular has played very little recently and can we really complain that he doesn't come on and change the game in the 10 or so minutes he gets each week? But yeah I agree its a shame Manset was cup-tied. HRK proved recently (vs Boro) that when he gets an opportunity to start he can put a good shift in, which tbh, is exactly what you want from a Championship back-up player against other Championship teams.
And btw no I'm not Welsh

But little excuse for Championship games. His biggest problem is he isn't a goal scorer. Even dropping to L1 and L2 on loan, he was never consistant. Maybe he needs to develop as a midfielder.

[Svlad Cjelli]

The dilemma is how do young players get the invaluable experience that they need of playing at Championship level unless they actually get to play at Championship level?

It’s very rare for a player to come out of the academy as a completely finished product, and loan spells at lower levels may help fitness and confidence but don’t prove anything about ability to play at Championship level, so what is the answer – either give them match time and let them learn and improve or leave them to stultify in the reserves?

If you want them to play and learn, you have to recognise that they are learning and gaining experience, and not keep criticising them criticising them all the while – cut them a little slack!

Having said that, Church does look desperately, desperately, low on confidence – perhaps a loan spell at a lower level might be of some use to him to rebuild his confidence and let him find his scoring touch.

[Norfolk Royal]

I agree that HRK could become a championship player but he really needs to work on his end product. It's all very well doing the stepovers, although better to do it to pass the full back, but then wellying it into the stand is not quite the ticket. He did this at Ipswich as well.

If he could improve this part of his game I think he could be useful. Church definetly needs to go out on loan though.

[brendywendy]

I agree that HRK could become a championship player but he really needs to work on his end product. It's all very well doing the stepovers, although better to do it to pass the full back, but then wellying it into the stand is not quite the ticket. He did this at Ipswich as well.

If he could improve this part of his game I think he could be useful. Church definetly needs to go out on loan though.

considering that you are describing 90 % of mcanuffs and kebes games for teh club too, then id say hes pretty much made it

[ZacNaloen]

That final ball is down to composure, which comes from confidence, which comes from games and the rest of the team doing well. Just ask Sir Jimmy of Kebe.

[Norfolk Royal]

I agree that HRK could become a championship player but he really needs to work on his end product. It's all very well doing the stepovers, although better to do it to pass the full back, but then wellying it into the stand is not quite the ticket. He did this at Ipswich as well.

If he could improve this part of his game I think he could be useful. Church definetly needs to go out on loan though.

considering that you are describing 90 % of mcanuffs and kebes games for teh club too, then id say hes pretty much made it

There's an element of truth in that but Kebe does at least get into dangerous areas even if the cross sometimes doesn't hit the mark.

HRK is crossing it too soon though. I'd rather see him try to get into a more dangerous postition or pass back to one of our own players than release it in the hurried fashion he sometimes does.

[Scarface]

Ok HRK isn't MacAnuff or Kebe, but I think he's showed improvement this season which bodes well for the future, so hopefully he can continue this next season as he gets more experience.

Church looks to have gone backwards and I think McDermott needs to take a long hard look at him. If he thinks he still has the potential to make it, then perhaps a loan now will be beneficial, as we may need him come play-off time. At the moment as an impact sub he's totally inneffective, as he just doesn't look like scoring a goal and every performance seems to knock his confidence down even more.

[Gordons Cumming]

Church did as well as Balotelli.

[Snowball]

Gotta remember they both have very little experience against teams such as Man City, and maybe the pressure got to them a bit. Church in particular has played very little recently and can we really complain that he doesn't come on and change the game in the 10 or so minutes he gets each week? But yeah I agree its a shame Manset was cup-tied. HRK proved recently (vs Boro) that when he gets an opportunity to start he can put a good shift in, which tbh, is exactly what you want from a Championship back-up player against other Championship teams.
And btw no I'm not Welsh

Church has played 1500 minutes this season and there are still 10 games to go so even if he doesn't start any more games he's on for 1700-1800 or so,
the equivalent of 20 full games.

To put that in context, Shane played 1675 minutes TOTAL in his first TWO seasons (one in the Prem) (aged 18-19) (and scored 8 goals)

His subsequent "seasons" were 1,011 minutes, 1,953 minutes; 2,246 minutes...


or put it another way. This season

1,864 Hunt
1,500 Church

Whatever is the problem, I don't think it's time on the pitch




PS I know he can do it. 12 goals last season testifies to that, but it's just not minutes.

[Snowball]

Gotta remember they both have very little experience against teams such as Man City, and maybe the pressure got to them a bit. Church in particular has played very little recently and can we really complain that he doesn't come on and change the game in the 10 or so minutes he gets each week? But yeah I agree its a shame Manset was cup-tied. HRK proved recently (vs Boro) that when he gets an opportunity to start he can put a good shift in, which tbh, is exactly what you want from a Championship back-up player against other Championship teams.
And btw no I'm not Welsh

But little excuse for Championship games. His biggest problem is he isn't a goal scorer. Even dropping to L1 and L2 on loan, he was never consistant. Maybe he needs to develop as a midfielder.

We need centre-backs...