Team for Brighton

[windermere_royal]

We will need to keep it tight for this one and hope to nick a goal on the break.
..................................................Al Habsi...................................................

Gunter.........Mc Shane.................Ferdinand...............Obita

.......................................Hector..........................................

.............Williams..................................Quinn....................

HRK............................................................................John (replaced by Vydra when he runs out of steam)

......................................Kermo............................................................

[Pepe the Horseman]

El Habso

Gunter
McShane
Ferdinand
Obita

Mcleary
Williams
Norwood
Quinn

Kermorgant
Cox

[Ian Royal]

Mcleary
Williams
Norwood
Quinn

Kermorgant
Cox

What's your thinking around leaving out John, HRK, Hector and Vydra?

For me, the back 5 is pretty easy... with two options for the front six
......................Al-Habsi
..Gunter, Hector, McShane, Obita

and either
.....Williams..Norwood...Quinn
HRK...............Vydra...............John

or
HRK.....Williams...Norwood.....Quinn
.............Kermorgant..Vydra

I wouldn't be particularly upset to see Ferdinand in for Hector, but it leaves us quite slow and immobile at the back.

[P!ssed Off]

........................................Al Habsi........................................

Gunter.........McShane....................Hector...............Obita

.............Norwood...........Williams.........Quinn....................

HRK............................................................................John

......................................Kermorgant...........................................

Keown, Kuhl, Evans, Fosu, McCleary, Rakels, Cox

[Pepe the Horseman]

Mcleary
Williams
Norwood
Quinn

Kermorgant
Cox

What's your thinking around leaving out John, HRK, Hector and Vydra?

For me, the back 5 is pretty easy... with two options for the front six
......................Al-Habsi
..Gunter, Hector, McShane, Obita

and either
.....Williams..Norwood...Quinn
HRK...............Vydra...............John

or
HRK.....Williams...Norwood.....Quinn
.............Kermorgant..Vydra

I wouldn't be particularly upset to see Ferdinand in for Hector, but it leaves us quite slow and immobile at the back.

Realistically not going to happen, but just leaving out the lot that won't be here next season.

[Ian Royal]

Ah... makes sense.

[sandman]

Al Habsi

Gunter
Ferdinand
McShane
Obita

Williams
Hector
Quinn

HRK
Kermogant
John

Subs: Bond, Evans, McCleary, Norwood, Fosu, Vydra, Rakelss

[windermere_royal]

........................................Al Habsi........................................

Gunter.........McShane....................Hector...............Obita

.............Norwood...........Williams.........Quinn....................

HRK............................................................................John

......................................Kermorgant...........................................

Keown, Kuhl, Evans, Fosu, McCleary, Rakels, Cox

So we`ll be buggered if Al Habsi gets injured then

[P!ssed Off]

........................................Al Habsi........................................

Gunter.........McShane....................Hector...............Obita

.............Norwood...........Williams.........Quinn....................

HRK............................................................................John

......................................Kermorgant...........................................

Keown, Kuhl, Evans, Fosu, McCleary, Rakels, Cox

So we`ll be buggered if Al Habsi gets injured then

In 201 competitive starts for English teams Al-Habsi has not gone off once, whether through injury or red card.

The last time Reading used their sub-goalkeeper was in Feb 2011 when McCarthy replaced an injured Federici for the last five minutes.

The substitute keeper is a waste of a place on the bench.

[Ian Royal]

Until you need them. With 7 slots you'd have to be an imbecile not to take that insurance.

[P!ssed Off]

Until you need them. With 7 slots you'd have to be an imbecile not to take that insurance.

And that's essentially why managers keep picking a sub-goalkeeper.
Because they can't be arsed to deal with the inevitable grief from thick pcunts like you.

[Ian Royal]

Until you need them. With 7 slots you'd have to be an imbecile not to take that insurance.

And that's essentially why managers keep picking a sub-goalkeeper.
Because they can't be arsed to deal with the inevitable grief from thick pcunts like you.

Without wanting to draw this out into silliness, you don't seem to understand basic risk vs reward.

The risk of needing to use a sub keeper is certainly very low, but the consequences of needing one and not having one are high. The benefit of having 7 rather than 6 outfield substitutes is utterly negligible. Frankly, if you can't fit your tactical choices into six slots, you don't have any business being in management. If it was 20 years ago and you only had 3 sub slots you'd absolutely be right not to pick a reserve keeper, because doing so massively limits your tactical flexibility. There the reward enormously outweighs the risk.

There's a reason that no professional manager's go with 7 outfield subs and it's not because they care what fans think. It's because they're not prepared to bet their team's result and their position as manager in the long run on being able to choose from three strikers rather than two during a match.

[Royal Ginger]

-----------------------Someone-----------------------
This guy---Him----Whatzisname---That fella
-------------Matey boy--Wanna say Steve?----
Probable winger---------------That other chap
---Him with the thing-----Some Geezer-------

Season over, who cares as long as it's a decent spectacle.

[P!ssed Off]

Until you need them. With 7 slots you'd have to be an imbecile not to take that insurance.

And that's essentially why managers keep picking a sub-goalkeeper.
Because they can't be arsed to deal with the inevitable grief from thick pcunts like you.

Without wanting to draw this out into silliness, you don't seem to understand basic risk vs reward.

The risk of needing to use a sub keeper is certainly very low, but the consequences of needing one and not having one are high. The benefit of having 7 rather than 6 outfield substitutes is utterly negligible. Frankly, if you can't fit your tactical choices into six slots, you don't have any business being in management. If it was 20 years ago and you only had 3 sub slots you'd absolutely be right not to pick a reserve keeper, because doing so massively limits your tactical flexibility. There the reward enormously outweighs the risk.

There's a reason that no professional manager's go with 7 outfield subs and it's not because they care what fans think. It's because they're not prepared to bet their team's result and their position as manager in the long run on being able to choose from three strikers rather than two during a match.

You've completely overlooked the main benefit of more substitutes which is the development of young players over the long term.
Do you think we brought Josh Barrett on at Huddersfield on Tuesday to change the game?

An extra spot on the bench over the last 5 years would have been roughly 250 extra opportunities for a youngster to be involved in the 1st team.

We've put aside those 250 opportunities in case a keeper was injured/sent off. Which did not happen once.
Had it happened once we may have dropped at most three points. Which is completely insignificant in the long run.

Certainly when the Football league briefly reverted back to 5 subs from 7, that limited Jordan Obita's opportunities, for instance.
The more opportunities Kuhl, Stacey, Fosu, Keown, Barrett etc get now, the more points we will win in the long run.

And as for "you don't seem to understand basic risk vs reward", you can shove that up your arse. You're a man that routinely struggles with basic maths, whereas I actually work in insurance (have even worked on Reading FC's insurance previously). Don't always behave like you're the expert in the room.

[CountryRoyal]

If I was a manager and saw the other team had no keeper on the bench Id do my utmost to ensure theirs had to go off injured.

Extra incentive and all that.

[sandman]

So being on the bench is potentially a good opportunity for a young keeper like Jonathan Bond to gain experience?

[John Smith]

-----------------------Someone-----------------------
This guy---Him----Whatzisname---That fella
-------------Matey boy--Wanna say Steve?----
Probable winger---------------That other chap
---Him with the thing-----Some Geezer-------

Season over, who cares as long as it's a decent spectacle.

My thoughts exactly, and as a result I think we might actually win this game.

[Hoop Blah]

Realistically not going to happen, but just leaving out the lot that won't be here next season.

The thing is, we don't really know who is and who isn't going to be here next season so, as you suggest, it's daft for a manager to just ditch a load of who he sees as his best players just because they might not be around next season, especially when his job is potentially on the line if we don't get results.

Having said that, I would like to see McDermott give a bit more time to the likes Evans, Keown, Kuhl, Stacey and Fosu during these last 10 games to help plan for next season. It's a fine balancing act between the present and the future though.

I'm not overly impressed with McDermott's 3 in midfield, but I think he'll use Coopers suspension as a way of getting Williams into the midfield, probably in the form of Ian's second option for the front 6.

[Ian Royal]

In fairness I'm not sure McDermott's had a lot of midfield choice, Williams got injured, Tishbola got injured and Evans hasn't particularly lit the place up in his very small opportunities. Whilst Norwood was the clear contender for player of the season a month or so ago, Hector came in with some impressive performances, Quinn is just solid and results picked up a bit.

[Johann]

McDermott should and will pick his strongest possible side . It would not be fair to the rest of the league if he picked players who are " not up to it " . Our strongest side is more than capable of turning over Brighton .