SPECULATION - Nicky Maynard

[howser]

Anyway £2.25m never in a million years would Reading have spent that !! Noel Hunt is about as much as they will spend, understandable considering the serious financial position we are in !!

[Alan Partridge]

Maynard is a good player, scored goals for fun for Crewe and kept them up on his own basically last year. Think Bristol City have got a good un, but it's still a hefty gamble spending £2.25million on him. The going r8 for players at the moment I suppose.

[Xavier Onassis]

Anyway £2.25m never in a million years would Reading have spent that !! Noel Hunt is about as much as they will spend, understandable considering the serious financial position we are in !!

Is Maynard that much better than Hunt in your opinion?

[howser]

It is difficult to assess the who is "the best" between Maynard and Hunt .N, having watched Hunt several times over the past couple of years he is a capable forward who has scored regularly in the Scottish Premier League, however the recent history of players coming down from Scotland Premier League clubs to the English championship is not something to get excited about. The other thing to be considered is that the transfers fees paid and received involving Scottish clubs is a world apart from what is paid "down souff" if Hunt had been coming from an English side then his fee would have been higher, some will suggest that is not the case but the facts speek for themselves. In reflection Maynard is probably a better player, younger with more potential, whether he is worth £2.25m, only time will tell but thats the nature of the beast we all love and support.

[Vision]

It is difficult to assess the who is "the best" between Maynard and Hunt .N, having watched Hunt several times over the past couple of years he is a capable forward who has scored regularly in the Scottish Premier League, however the recent history of players coming down from Scotland Premier League clubs to the English championship is not something to get excited about. The other thing to be considered is that the transfers fees paid and received involving Scottish clubs is a world apart from what is paid "down souff" if Hunt had been coming from an English side then his fee would have been higher, some will suggest that is not the case but the facts speek for themselves. In reflection Maynard is probably a better player, younger with more potential, whether he is worth £2.25m, only time will tell but thats the nature of the beast we all love and support.

Yeah good point. Also worth noting that buying a youngster who has come through the system at Crewe guarantees as much as it possibly can that the player will have reached a certain technical level (Hulse, Ashton etc). Think he'll do well at Bristol City who play in a very similiar way to Crewe. He's probably worth 2.25m to them but maybe wouldn't be to us at this moment in time.

[Wycombe Royal]

I think a record of 32 goals in 59 appearances in the league justifies the price tag. I guess we weren't interested because we have four strikers and I can only see us signing another one if that player is over 6ft.

[Vision]

I think a record of 32 goals in 59 appearances in the league justifies the price tag. I guess we weren't interested because we have four strikers and I can only see us signing another one if that player is over 6ft.

Its not just abut height though is it ?. All of our forwards are actually pretty capable aerially. Its the ability to hold the ball up, possibly play with their back to goal and bring others into the game that i feel we lost with Kitson going to Stoke.

[Hoop Blah]

I think a record of 32 goals in 59 appearances in the league justifies the price tag. I guess we weren't interested because we have four strikers and I can only see us signing another one if that player is over 6ft.

Its not just abut height though is it ?. All of our forwards are actually pretty capable aerially. Its the ability to hold the ball up, possibly play with their back to goal and bring others into the game that i feel we lost with Kitson going to Stoke.

Spot on Vision. There is a world of difference between being a big lump challenging for the ball in the air against 6ft plus centre halfs and the ability Kitson had to get the ball to feet with his back to goal.

None of our other forwards really do that, not half as well anyway.

A lump to be on the end of long high balls might be useful too, we were just very lucky that Kitson could do a bit of that too.

[Wycombe Royal]

I think a record of 32 goals in 59 appearances in the league justifies the price tag. I guess we weren't interested because we have four strikers and I can only see us signing another one if that player is over 6ft.

Its not just abut height though is it ?. All of our forwards are actually pretty capable aerially. Its the ability to hold the ball up, possibly play with their back to goal and bring others into the game that i feel we lost with Kitson going to Stoke.

Yes our striker are fairly capable in the air, but they still don't win the majority against a 6ft plus central defender, hence my point regarding the height. Kitson was OK with his back to goal and holding the ball up but nothing special and when he did find himself in those positions he often found he didn't have the pace or stamina to get into the box quickly after laying it off. Another striker similar to what we had would have been a waste of money.

I also think that Doyle is every bit as good as Kitson at holding the ball up, he just doesn't have the height to win so many balls in the first place. Personally I am looking forward to seeing us play without a tall striker because it will hopefully mean that we utilise Matejovsky's ability at playing through balls and also go back to using the wings rather than a hoofed ball up the centre of the field.

[Royal Rother]

I also think that Doyle is every bit as good as Kitson at holding the ball up, he just doesn't have the height to win so many balls in the first place. Personally I am looking forward to seeing us play without a tall striker because it will hopefully mean that we utilise Matejovsky's ability at playing through balls and also go back to using the wings rather than a hoofed ball up the centre of the field.

Doyle is a better header of the ball than Kitson. He may not be as big, and, as a result, may not be able to defend crosses as well, or get as many flick ons, but he is definitely a better striker with his nut than Kitson - count the headed goals.

If we attack at pace and get some decent crosses in then I have no doubt that Doyle will score a decent number with his head again - Long too, given the chance.

I too look forward to some more attractive build-up play than we had last season. If we play 3 strikers under 6' tall, and have Marcus booting it out of his hand straight down the middle then I really will start to doubt the oft-lauded (by me) intelligence of the team and its coaches. I'm confident they won't let me down.

[Vision]

My recollection is that Doyle has scored as many with his head over the last couple of seasons as Kitson has so getting on the end of things in that sense isn't a that much of problem for Doyle.

Where Kitson's height was advantageous is when we're playing a percentage ball from back to front. The added height Kitson has enables him him to take the ball down on his chest easier as well as having the guy playing the ball not needing to be so precise. Doesn't hurt when defending set-pieces either

Like yourself , i have a hunch that if they're both here for the season then Marek & Lita could prove to be a fruitful combination. However i would still have preferred to see a "link" forward bought in to replace given the choice.

[Wycombe Royal]

My recollection is that Doyle has scored as many with his head over the last couple of seasons as Kitson has so getting on the end of things in that sense isn't a that much of problem for Doyle.

Where Kitson's height was advantageous is when we're playing a percentage ball from back to front. The added height Kitson has enables him him to take the ball down on his chest easier as well as having the guy playing the ball not needing to be so precise. Doesn't hurt when defending set-pieces either

Like yourself , i have a hunch that if they're both here for the season then Marek & Lita could prove to be a fruitful combination. However i would still have preferred to see a "link" forward bought in to replace given the choice.

I wasn't talking about goalscoring with the head as Doyle seems to have a great awareness about him that allows him to find space in the box to get headers on goal. Where he isn't so good is winning headers from long balls where he has his back to goal, however if he does win the ball in those situations he is as good, if not better than Kitson was, at holding the ball up and building an attack. I just hope we don't play that way this season.

A tall striker is good option to have on the bench, in my opinion, to bring on if you are chasing the game late on.

[Alan Partridge]

I also think that Doyle is every bit as good as Kitson at holding the ball up, he just doesn't have the height to win so many balls in the first place. Personally I am looking forward to seeing us play without a tall striker because it will hopefully mean that we utilise Matejovsky's ability at playing through balls and also go back to using the wings rather than a hoofed ball up the centre of the field.

Doyle is a better header of the ball than Kitson. He may not be as big, and, as a result, may not be able to defend crosses as well, or get as many flick ons, but he is definitely a better striker with his nut than Kitson - count the headed goals.

If we attack at pace and get some decent crosses in then I have no doubt that Doyle will score a decent number with his head again - Long too, given the chance.

I too look forward to some more attractive build-up play than we had last season. If we play 3 strikers under 6' tall, and have Marcus booting it out of his hand straight down the middle then I really will start to doubt the oft-lauded (by me) intelligence of the team and its coaches. I'm confident they won't let me down.

And for me Lita is better in the air than the pair of them. Especially considering he's what 5'6? He really does have an incredible leap, springs in them silver/yellow/blue boots!

With regards to the last point, it will still happen!

[Victor Meldrew]

I'm in agreement with all three of you.
My fear is that Marcus, Ivar and Duberry will continue to play long ball in the vague hope that somebody somehow will get on the end of it.
We can dream that our central midfielders will pick balls up off the back four and play intricate through balls to our front two and out wide for our wingers to provide accurate crosses to incoming strikers-I dd say "we can dream".
Unfortunately Lita's touch is so poor that his contribution will be harrying dfenders and hopefully getting on the end of scraps.
As mentioned earlier I think Kitson will be badly missed defensively so expect a few goals from opposition centre-backs at set-pieces.

[SCIAG]

I'm not sure if we'll miss Kitson at set pieces. Both Kebe and Henry are tall, so we'll still have 3 (4 if we use Cisse or Bikey as a DM) good defensive aerial options. Attacking crosses will be hard next season, as neither of our first choice wingers can cross and all our strikers are less than 6ft. Winning headers will be even harder, as we'll have a 5'7 striker with a 5'11 one.

[Platypuss]

I'm not sure if we'll miss Kitson at set pieces. Both Kebe and Henry are tall, so we'll still have 3 (4 if we use Cisse or Bikey as a DM) good defensive aerial options.

When do you see both Kebe and Henry playing?

[Ian Royal]

I'm not sure if we'll miss Kitson at set pieces. Both Kebe and Henry are tall, so we'll still have 3 (4 if we use Cisse or Bikey as a DM) good defensive aerial options.

When do you see both Kebe and Henry playing?

2 centrebacks + Kebe OR Henry + Bikey OR Cisse if used in midfield.

Not that I'm agreeing.

[Whore Jackie]

Cisse maybe tall, but he's very average in the air.

[Southbank Old Boy]

I've never seen Henry win much in the air when I've seen him play. That doesn't mean he's no good in the air, just that he's not really in a position where you end up challenging for much in the air.

Height doesn't mean you can compete well in the air either. Strength, timing and courage are very important too and from the look of Kebe I really can't see him being too much use defending set pieces!

[Ian Royal]

I've never seen Henry win much in the air when I've seen him play. That doesn't mean he's no good in the air, just that he's not really in a position where you end up challenging for much in the air.

Height doesn't mean you can compete well in the air either. Strength, timing and courage are very important too and from the look of Kebe I really can't see him being too much use defending set pieces!

Indeed, for example Crouch and Asaba. Both might as well not have/had heads.