Brendan Watch

[Royalee]

so how's the "utter shit" Leigertwood getting on in your "average" opinion?

He's improved considerably so fair play to him, but I don't rate him particularly still.

[AthleticoSpizz]

so how's the "utter shit" Leigertwood getting on in your "average" opinion?

He's improved considerably so fair play to him, but I don't rate him particularly still.

....is that a hint of you being wrong there Lee?

Maybe for that, and MaccyD overseeing that improvement, we have to be thankful

[Royalee]

so how's the "utter shit" Leigertwood getting on in your "average" opinion?

He's improved considerably so fair play to him, but I don't rate him particularly still.

....is that a hint of you being wrong there Lee?

Maybe for that, and MaccyD overseeing that improvement, we have to be thankful

I've been wrong before and will be again, so could be. McDermott's made many mistakes though:

Signing Williams
Persisting with Mills
Persisting with Church and dropping Noel Hunt when his return coincided with our good form
Signing short-term players like Harte instead of looking to keep hold of Bertrand who surely would have been cheaper than the combined wages of his replacements
Changing the style of football to long-ball which is short termist and will only get you so far
Playing Robson-Kanu instead of Antonio
Not putting Manset in the team

[Hoop Blah]

so how's the "utter shit" Leigertwood getting on in your "average" opinion?

He's improved considerably so fair play to him, but I don't rate him particularly still.

He is a pretty average midfielder, but he's been exactly the physical and experienced presence we were lacking.

He's been excellent for us because he was just what we needed, not so much because he's an outstanding player (at this level). It just goes to show how a good team doesn't have to have good players everywhere. It's about balance and having the right parts of the jigsaw.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Lee, on the Antonio thing we agree

Cummings not even featuring on the bench yesterday, nor getting a start in the games since his MotM performance a few games ago, I find hard to understand.....Griffin is good (but he aint all that), but Cummings is our future.

Still Brendan never made mistakes either

[Row Z Royal]

Not putting Manset in the team

Bit of an early call on that. He's not been here long and McD has, rightly imo, tried to let him settle in. I certainly expect him to be better than Church and in the team with Long before the end of the month/early March.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Signing Williams

Agreed

Persisting with Mills

Mills is a good player. He makes mistakes, but who, among the other options we have, doesn't?

Persisting with Church and dropping Noel Hunt when his return coincided with our good form

Hunt wasn't fit

Signing short-term players like Harte instead of looking to keep hold of Bertrand who surely would have been cheaper than the combined wages of his replacements

Just a hunch, but I'd guess Carlisle were playing Harte rather less then Chelsea are paying Bertrand, and Bertrand would have commanded a rather bigger fee to sign him.

Changing the style of football to long-ball which is short termist and will only get you so far

...but still better than changing to a style which didn't suit any of our players and would probably have got us relegated.

Playing Robson-Kanu instead of Antonio

I'd agree, but we've not seen enough of Antonio to really judge

Not putting Manset in the team

As above.....Reading players have a remarkable ability to seemingly possess far more talent when not playing than when they do.

[Royal With Cheese]

So to sum up.

Royalee posts when Swansea wins.

Royalee doesn't post when Swansea lose.

[Royalee]

Signing Williams

Agreed

Persisting with Mills

Mills is a good player. He makes mistakes, but who, among the other options we have, doesn't? Rather have Zurab and Pearce in there any day, both read the game far better and use their heads more than Mills

Persisting with Church and dropping Noel Hunt when his return coincided with our good form

Hunt wasn't fit He was once he got a run in the team, nothing said about an injury and he's been on the bench since being dropped. Much better player than Church

Signing short-term players like Harte instead of looking to keep hold of Bertrand who surely would have been cheaper than the combined wages of his replacements

Just a hunch, but I'd guess Carlisle were playing Harte rather less then Chelsea are paying Bertrand, and Bertrand would have commanded a rather bigger fee to sign him. You reckon a Chelsea youngster's wages would be more than that of two first teamers albeit at a (slightly) lower level, plus their transfer and signing on fees? Do me a favour

Changing the style of football to long-ball which is short termist and will only get you so far

...but still better than changing to a style which didn't suit any of our players and would probably have got us relegated. For the millionth time, we weren't in the relegation zone when Rodgers was sacked...you don't think the system suited ball players like Sigurdsson then? Would you rather we play the hoofball we do now? Actually don't answer that as most Reading fans love playing football in the clouds.

Playing Robson-Kanu instead of Antonio

I'd agree, but we've not seen enough of Antonio to really judge Why not try him then as we've seen enough of Robson-Kanu to know he's not up to scratch.

Not putting Manset in the team

As above.....Reading players have a remarkable ability to seemingly possess far more talent when not playing than when they do. Again, why not at least try him as he's already scored one goal and looked far better than Church who is rivalling Paul Brayson as the worst finisher ever to play for the club?

[Royalee]

So to sum up.

Royalee posts when Swansea wins.

Royalee doesn't post when Swansea lose.

No, I post all season while Swansea look a far better side than us and will challenge for promotion, while Reading fans persist with defending long ball football, a lack of ambition and short termism.

[RoyalJames101]

Fcuk off to Swansea if you must.

[26-10-06]

So to sum up.

Royalee posts when Swansea wins.

Royalee doesn't post when Swansea lose.

No, I post all season while Swansea look a far better side than us and will challenge for promotion, while Reading fans persist with defending long ball football, a lack of ambition and short termism.

Are you a Reading fan or a Swansea fan? Fans like you just sum up our club tbh, thats why its quiet at the ground because people like you just dont care and have "second" clubs, even if you dont, you talk like you. Get lost.

[Royalee]

So to sum up.

Royalee posts when Swansea wins.

Royalee doesn't post when Swansea lose.

No, I post all season while Swansea look a far better side than us and will challenge for promotion, while Reading fans persist with defending long ball football, a lack of ambition and short termism.

Are you a Reading fan or a Swansea fan? Fans like you just sum up our club tbh, thats why its quiet at the ground because people like you just dont care and have "second" clubs, even if you dont, you talk like you. Get lost.

No second club for me, just very disappointed at how our team sets up. If you read that Xavi interview elsewhere on this forum, it's spot on. I know we can't be expected to play like Barcelona, but we don't even try and play football the right way and what's more our fans appear to now be happy with that. I care about the long term future of the club and the culture of the football rather than one result to the next and obviously I'm one of few on here who do so which is a shame.

[26-10-06]

There are very few teams in this league that play the "right" way according to your beleifs. We cant play a continetal keep ball style so we dont? We play to our relataive strengths, and at the moment were just not good enough, we'd be struggiling even more if we tried to play in the way Swansea do.

[floyd__streete]

Persisting with Mills

.....who Rodgers spent £2 million on, of course

[PEARCEY]

Swansea average less than 14,000 attendances. Rodgers has clearly failed to capture the imagination of the locals with his brand of football. Pass, pass and pass again.

[Royal With Cheese]

So to sum up.

Royalee posts when Swansea wins.

Royalee doesn't post when Swansea lose.

No, I post all season while Swansea look a far better side than us and will challenge for promotion, while Reading fans persist with defending long ball football, a lack of ambition and short termism.

As I said,

Royalee posts when Swansea wins.

Royalee doesn't post when Swansea lose.

[Plymouth_Royal]

He's improved considerably so fair play to him, but I don't rate him particularly still.

....is that a hint of you being wrong there Lee?

Maybe for that, and MaccyD overseeing that improvement, we have to be thankful

I've been wrong before and will be again, so could be. McDermott's made many mistakes though:

Signing Williams
Persisting with Mills
Persisting with Church and dropping Noel Hunt when his return coincided with our good form
Signing short-term players like Harte instead of looking to keep hold of Bertrand who surely would have been cheaper than the combined wages of his replacements
Changing the style of football to long-ball which is short termist and will only get you so far
Playing Robson-Kanu instead of Antonio
Not putting Manset in the team

I agree with most of what Royalee has said there, apart from the Antonio bit. He's going to be another one of those highly overrated players who can do feck all with the ball apart from throw it and run after it.

[Plymouth_Royal]

No, I post all season while Swansea look a far better side than us and will challenge for promotion, while Reading fans persist with defending long ball football, a lack of ambition and short termism.

Are you a Reading fan or a Swansea fan? Fans like you just sum up our club tbh, thats why its quiet at the ground because people like you just dont care and have "second" clubs, even if you dont, you talk like you. Get lost.

No second club for me, just very disappointed at how our team sets up. If you read that Xavi interview elsewhere on this forum, it's spot on. I know we can't be expected to play like Barcelona, but we don't even try and play football the right way and what's more our fans appear to now be happy with that. I care about the long term future of the club and the culture of the football rather than one result to the next and obviously I'm one of few on here who do so which is a shame.

One of the problems is that a lot of our fans are "old school" in a sense they're used to seeing super fit players running around and playing direct. It's the "old english way" I suppose. On top of that we're simply not technically good enough to string a few passes together(it pains me to say this but it's true). When Rodgers was here he tried to get the team to play football the way it "should" be played, but we had very few players that could cut it. Church, Matejovsky, Sig, McAnuff and Howard were the only real players who showed any sign of technical ability to play this style. At Swansea he's lucky enough to be at a club that has played this style since they started their rise from obscurity. It does please me to see more young managers trying to teach players to play "football" in this country, but it's not easy when there are so many "old school" supporters at small clubs (like Reading) who cannot and will not accept new ideas. It will be a long while before we see more teams (hopefully us too) able to have the patience to learn and master the style, but at the moment McD is playing to the unfortunate strengths of the team. I.e. hoof it and let the quick and strong players get hold of the ball.

[Royalee]

Oh, did Swansea win again?