QPR have bid turned down for McAnuff......

[brendywendy]

The backup wingers are nowhere near McAnuff's quality and if we lose him without replacing him with sufficient quality then it won't matter who we get in at centre back we'll be on a hiding to nothing.

disagree
with sigurdson on the wing, kebe opposite
and two strikers everybodys happy

Oh do come on,Brendy!
Siggurdsson is on borrowed time here. It's WHEN the big move comes, not IF.
Kebe is likely to go back to France, or perhaps somewhere else if there's pay rise in it.
Our record of reinvesting in the team when we get big fees is not that impressive.

if you have a pet Lion, then pull all his claws and teeth out, you are left with a fcuking great big pussy cat

im talking about this season not next, and if you mean this season, then at least wait till it actually happens before moaning about it.

[brendywendy]

The backup wingers are nowhere near McAnuff's quality and if we lose him without replacing him with sufficient quality then it won't matter who we get in at centre back we'll be on a hiding to nothing.

disagree

with sigurdson on the wing, kebe opposite
and two strikers everybodys happy

And what about some competition and cover?

It's not just about having a good 1-11, it's about having competition for every place and being able to cope if someone is missing for a few games or a couple of months.

if we switch to 442 with sig on the wing, then we still have HRK and antonio as cover, same as if we dont sell macanuff.
and that way we arent twisting formations just to squeeze gylfi in


i just dont see that jobi does that much currently.
kebe has improved no end, and is far better over all, he even seemed to have added a physical edge to his game on saturday

[Arch]

... at least wait till it actually happens before moaning about it.

Good God, man! Where are your priorities?

[brendywendy]

Depends what McAnuff we are left with, should he stay. If it's the completely disinterested waster we saw on Saturday then we're be better off with the money and finding a replacement.

If we can get back the McAnuff we had in the back end of last year, then he needs to stay.

Really? I thought he was by far our most effective attacking player on Saturday.

Really? I thought it was one of his worst performances - joys of football huh that two people can have such polar positions on a player's performance.

im closer to stranded than hoop blah on saturdays performance

[brendywendy]

McAnuff is going to need alot more support from Marcus Williams.

Without Williams overlapping him and helping him out down the left hand side then McAnuff will be a shadow of what he was last season.

McAnuff can't do it on his own. He was outstanding last year when he was linking up with Bertrand, playing one twos with Bertie and had Bertie overlapping him and giving him options and taking defenders out of his way.

Apart from one rampaging run Williams gets up to the half way line and stops and doesn't help McAnuff out at all. I hope that will change as he gains more confidence and settles in but I'm not so sure it will. Williams was done like a kipper for pace by Anderson and I am wondering whether Williams has enough pace for this level.

Williams is taking us back to the Martyn Booty days of full back play. He is taking us back to those standards. He doesn't so far appear to be of the standard of Shorey, Armstrong or Bertrand.

agreed

perhaps i am guilty of blaming macanuff for things that arent entirely his fault.

[brendywendy]

... at least wait till it actually happens before moaning about it.

Good God, man! Where are your priorities?

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

The problem is u can't just make do in this game. We found that out in the Prem and making Do is what got us in this mess in the first place. Standing still is the same as going backwards.

Football clubs need to look forward. Saying it's alright u could play Sig wide is the same as saying Rosenior culd play on the wing, Cisse was a Premiership centre half or wait for it Bryn's better than Sidwell.


Sure Sig culd do a job wide, that's not the point though and we've been here before very recently.

[Victor Meldrew]

The problem is u can't just make do in this game. We found that out in the Prem and making Do is what got us in this mess in the first place. Standing still is the same as going backwards.

Football clubs need to look forward. Saying it's alright u could play Sig wide is the same as saying Rosenior culd play on the wing, Cisse was a Premiership centre half or wait for it Bryn's better than Sidwell.


Sure Sig culd do a job wide, that's not the point though and we've been here before very recently.

Well said Smoking.
Kebe and MacAnuff are two of the best wide players at this level and the team should still be built around them.
They are vital particularly if we play a non 4-4-2 and the likes of Antonio and HRK are a very long way behind these two.
The idea that somebody else can "do a job" is so 3rd division-these are our star players and the main reasons behind our transformed second half of last season.

I would be very disappointed if either of these two wingers were to be sold at this stage .

[Ian Royal]

The problem is u can't just make do in this game. We found that out in the Prem and making Do is what got us in this mess in the first place. Standing still is the same as going backwards.

Football clubs need to look forward. Saying it's alright u could play Sig wide is the same as saying Rosenior culd play on the wing, Cisse was a Premiership centre half or wait for it Bryn's better than Sidwell.


Sure Sig culd do a job wide, that's not the point though and we've been here before very recently.

Not really seeing as Sig was extremely good when played out wide. Better when played in the hole certainly, but still very good. Admittedly I'm not sure it would work as well without someone with Bertrand's attacking pace and skill behind him, but it's hardly a making do option.

[brendywendy]

dont see any difference- he drifts in and out the game wherever he is. and the benefits in formation etc outweigh any differences

imo of course

[retro royal]

As were so short of CB's why not play 3-5-2 formation, it will be entertaining at least

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Now to see whether that allows some of the younger shoots to blossom !!

It is not the blossom that is needed, it is the need for them to bear fruit.

[Hoop Blah]

if we switch to 442 with sig on the wing, then we still have HRK and antonio as cover, same as if we dont sell macanuff.
and that way we arent twisting formations just to squeeze gylfi in


i just dont see that jobi does that much currently.
kebe has improved no end, and is far better over all, he even seemed to have added a physical edge to his game on saturday

That switch in formation is possibly our first stage of cover though, depending on the fixture and the form and fitness of our limited options upfront. Sell one of the attacking 3 players, without replacing them, and you've taken away a layer of competition/cover.

After taking that away and your immediately turning to Kanu or Antonio as a Championship standard winger which from what I've seen so far they're not. That's when we start to get significantly weaker than we were last year.

If that's where we are for the forseable future then so be it, but personally I hope we're aiming a little higher than those levels of quality.

[brendywendy]

if we switch to 442 with sig on the wing, then we still have HRK and antonio as cover, same as if we dont sell macanuff.
and that way we arent twisting formations just to squeeze gylfi in


i just dont see that jobi does that much currently.
kebe has improved no end, and is far better over all, he even seemed to have added a physical edge to his game on saturday

That switch in formation is possibly our first stage of cover though, depending on the fixture and the form and fitness of our limited options upfront. Sell one of the attacking 3 players, without replacing them, and you've taken away a layer of competition/cover.

After taking that away and your immediately turning to Kanu or Antonio as a Championship standard winger which from what I've seen so far they're not. That's when we start to get significantly weaker than we were last year.

If that's where we are for the forseable future then so be it, but personally I hope we're aiming a little higher than those levels of quality.

not if you switch to 442- then sig covers mcanuffs position,kebe stays where he is, and HRK and antonio are still back up players.
and as good as he is, and as much as i like him, i tghink we can lose macanuff without a massive impact on our offensive play, and th emoney in would enable us to compete better at the back.
im not even saying it should happen- just that if we need to sell then id lose jobi over our other attacking players

[under the tin]

if we switch to 442 with sig on the wing, then we still have HRK and antonio as cover, same as if we dont sell macanuff.
and that way we arent twisting formations just to squeeze gylfi in


i just dont see that jobi does that much currently.
kebe has improved no end, and is far better over all, he even seemed to have added a physical edge to his game on saturday

That switch in formation is possibly our first stage of cover though, depending on the fixture and the form and fitness of our limited options upfront. Sell one of the attacking 3 players, without replacing them, and you've taken away a layer of competition/cover.

After taking that away and your immediately turning to Kanu or Antonio as a Championship standard winger which from what I've seen so far they're not. That's when we start to get significantly weaker than we were last year.
Which is what we are likely to be looking at when Kebe goes back to France. Gylfi gets his deserved big move. Mills gets frustrated, and asks for a move. Long gets shipped out to save money, and, Ladies and gentlemen, there you have a League 1 team.

If that's where we are for the forseable future then so be it, but personally I hope we're aiming a little higher than those levels of quality.

[brendywendy]

Which is what we are likely to be looking at when Kebe goes back to France. Gylfi gets his deserved big move. Mills gets frustrated, and asks for a move. Long gets shipped out to save money, and, Ladies and gentlemen, there you have a League 1 team.

If that's where we are for the forseable future then so be it, but personally I hope we're aiming a little higher than those levels of quality.

some of these things may happen, probably next season if we dont go up, but theyve not happened yet, so just wait before venting you spleens about them happening till after theyve happened..

and people were saying the same when curle left, when shaka left, forster left, cureton and butler left, sidwell left, shorey left, kitson left, etc
we survived, and in fact did rather well out of all of those deals, so lets just take it on past evidence rather than made up random worries you have

LOL at losing long being a massive worry

[under the tin]

Which is what we are likely to be looking at when Kebe goes back to France. Gylfi gets his deserved big move. Mills gets frustrated, and asks for a move. Long gets shipped out to save money, and, Ladies and gentlemen, there you have a League 1 team.

If that's where we are for the forseable future then so be it, but personally I hope we're aiming a little higher than those levels of quality.

some of these things may happen, probably next season if we dont go up, but theyve not happened yet, so just wait before venting you spleens about them happening till after theyve happened..

and people were saying the same when curle left, when shaka left, forster left, cureton and butler left, sidwell left, shorey left, kitson left, etc
we survived, and in fact did rather well out of all of those deals, so lets just take it on past evidence rather than made up random worries you have

LOL at losing long being a massive worry

I knew you'd bite!

[brendywendy]

cant help it

[URZZ]

Which is what we are likely to be looking at when Kebe goes back to France. Gylfi gets his deserved big move. Mills gets frustrated, and asks for a move. Long gets shipped out to save money, and, Ladies and gentlemen, there you have a League 1 team.

If that's where we are for the forseable future then so be it, but personally I hope we're aiming a little higher than those levels of quality.

some of these things may happen, probably next season if we dont go up, but theyve not happened yet, so just wait before venting you spleens about them happening till after theyve happened..

and people were saying the same when curle left, when shaka left, forster left, cureton and butler left, sidwell left, shorey left, kitson left, etc
we survived, and in fact did rather well out of all of those deals, so lets just take it on past evidence rather than made up random worries you have

LOL at losing long being a massive worry

I agree with both of you though, like I said in another thread:

I can't help but feel though that there is a very slow decrease in Reading Football Club, a very very, very slow landslide. I can see next season being even more difficult, obviously finance is the issue, but I know for a fact without Kebe, Gylfi or McAnuff in particular we would struggle, it isn't even worth thinking about... and there is an expiry date on all of those players' names too, it's obvious

When you talk about Sidwell leaving, then Shorey, then Kits etc, that was the end of a Premier era, but the players we have now in Gylfi, Kebe, Jobi, Hunt, etc... when they leave, it may well be the end of a Championship era. We've had a pretty generous portion of football in the last decade and ever since we've been at the Mad Stad we've had a good level of football. Teams like us come and go, we only get a certain amount of time before we have to go back to where we started.

Like I said, I do see an extremely slow landslide, when we got relegated from the Premiership each year has got increasingly difficult, i.e, losing in the Play-Off semi final to Burnley, following season struggling to begin with and finishing 9th, and this year... well, we're yet to see but it's only getting tougher.

[Davyc]

I wouldnt agree with thats! i can see us remaining as a midtable chamionship side for a number of years until the financial situation gets better. yes it is tough and will be tough for a number of seasons for them but there is a good number of youth players that will be bale to hold theree own in the championship.