We said it, he admitted it, but was Coppell actually wrong?

[Top Flight]

I think we can get something from Blackburn away.

We can just as easily come home with nothing though. But if we get a few breaks and if we can be more solid in midfield we might just nick something.

[Huntley & Palmer]

I just can't see our midfield shutting down Bentley unless we employ Utd style spoiling tactics.

[Denver Royal]

The psychological impact of yesterday's game cannot be underestimated. A defeat might have finished our season.

Wow, with about 30 games still to go? You really think we're that bad/fragile, huh?

[brendywendy]

Blackburn is irrelevant as far as I am concerned, it's already down as 0 points. Newcastle at home and Fulham away are the better reflections on how the team is performing

that would make the portsmouth defeat totally irrelevant too then?

[Huntley & Palmer]

Probably not as it was a freak result, I would have had us down as having more chance of getting a point at Pompey than Blackburn. But that's just me

[Behindu]

The psychological impact of yesterday's game cannot be underestimated. A defeat might have finished our season.

Wow, with about 30 games still to go? You really think we're that bad/fragile, huh?

No, but I think the Pompey game could have shot he confidence of quite a few players to the extent that another defeat on Saturday could have been a big problem. Marcus has kept a clean sheet, Doyle has got a goal, Ivar got the game out of his system, Bryn didn;t get held up as the villain in any moves.
It was an important win, and Coppell did well in letting the same 11 go out and play (although he could have made a huge blunder !)

[Scarface]

Duff buys? Right, the worldly-wise Scarface has spoken, we must offload them as soon as possible.

Well seeing as neither of them have contributed anything positive this season in my opinion they are duff buys at present.

And how many games have they played? I don't think they have had much of a chance to show what they can do, you can't just write them off at this stage of the season.

Cissie has been injured recently, but when he played he looked well off the pace. Fae clearly hasn't impressed Coppell in training or when he has played, so much so that, he'd rather play Gunner over him. In fact I'm sure I've read comments from Coppell that Fae has cost us 3 or 4 goals already from not tracking back.

Yes it's early, but at the moment they look bad signings to me and they haven't improved our squad one bit, when it was desperately needed.

I'm more disappointed with Fae as he was hyped up as a quality player and he should of been good enough to fit into our team straight away. Perhaps the language barrier is an issue, but it was Coppell's decision to sign him.

[Top Flight]

Duff buys? Right, the worldly-wise Scarface has spoken, we must offload them as soon as possible.

Well seeing as neither of them have contributed anything positive this season in my opinion they are duff buys at present.

And how many games have they played? I don't think they have had much of a chance to show what they can do, you can't just write them off at this stage of the season.

Cissie has been injured recently, but when he played he looked well off the pace. Fae clearly hasn't impressed Coppell in training or when he has played, so much so that, he'd rather play Gunner over him. In fact I'm sure I've read comments from Coppell that Fae has cost us 3 or 4 goals already from not tracking back.

Yes it's early, but at the moment they look bad signings to me and they haven't improved our squad one bit, when it was desperately needed.

I'm more disappointed with Fae as he was hyped up as a quality player and he should of been good enough to fit into our team straight away. Perhaps the language barrier is an issue, but it was Coppell's decision to sign him.

I'm sure both Fae and Cisse will come good when they eventually learn what is required from them in the Premier League. We have seen that they both possess the raw physical and technical talent. They just need to learn how to play in the Premier League.

Its just that maybe we don't have time to wait for Fae and Cisse to come good. We kind of need them to be up to speed right now.

[Henleyensian]

Duff buys? Right, the worldly-wise Scarface has spoken, we must offload them as soon as possible.

Well seeing as neither of them have contributed anything positive this season in my opinion they are duff buys at present.

And how many games have they played? I don't think they have had much of a chance to show what they can do, you can't just write them off at this stage of the season.

Cissie has been injured recently, but when he played he looked well off the pace. Fae clearly hasn't impressed Coppell in training or when he has played, so much so that, he'd rather play Gunner over him. In fact I'm sure I've read comments from Coppell that Fae has cost us 3 or 4 goals already from not tracking back.

Yes it's early, but at the moment they look bad signings to me and they haven't improved our squad one bit, when it was desperately needed.

I'm more disappointed with Fae as he was hyped up as a quality player and he should of been good enough to fit into our team straight away. Perhaps the language barrier is an issue, but it was Coppell's decision to sign him.

I heard Steve Coppell say that the trouble with Fae is that he is used to the French way of playing, which for a midfielder means passing the ball neatly and leaving it at that, while in this country he needs to track back and at present the staff are trying to impress that upon Fae. I think maybe you are right and the language barrier is a problem and Sonks is needed as an interpreter at present, so the sooner Fae becomes proficient in English the better. It seems that Fae has the skills but needs to learn how to harness them for the English game.

[.:BigDaveInTheDungeon:.]

We all said he got it wrong, even the staunchest fiercest defenders of Coppell like myself. He even admitted to the mistake he made.

But looking at the table I'm struggling a little bit to justify this point fo view, or the harsh treatment he got from us.

Of course I'm not sayign there is no problem whatsoever. We scraped a victory agaisnt the bottom of the table side at home, we let in seven against Pompey etc etc. Clearly we've got problems. But teh question is, how important are these problems considering the effect (or lack of) it's having on our league position.

The FACT is the table doesn't lie. The FACT is there ARE eight teams below us in the table. No matter how badly we've done, no matter rubbish we are, the FACT is there are eight teams who have done worse.

*Perhaps* when Sonko comes back if we can get a safe bottom half finish this year without demolishing our careful wage structure for EVER, and spending loads it'll be the biggest victory of all and we'll be £30 million richer? Perhaps therefore Coppell's so called 'mistake' was the wisest move since he joined and one we should eb eternally grateful for?

To be honest, I'm now really not sure I actually want us to spend big bucks and ruin our wage structure just to finish a couple of places higher. It's nice to know we have that ammo up our sleeves but quite frankly I'd rather take the £30million than ruin everything over a few nerves. Please, Coppell, do what you think is best and don't panic buy because of a few jittery fans' opinions!

Did we (including Coppell) panic a little too early?

well said, we don't want to spend big and end up in the same boat as teams like leeds. I'll be happy if we just say up this year as i would have been last year although i'm positive we'll still finish in a resonable position with or without spending when the window opens.
Have faith in the ability of the team, every team has a bad patch and if we support them they'll come through it quicker. Its still the same team mostly that got 106 points and finished so well last year remember.

[79Royal]

Did we (including Coppell) panic a little too early?

No, look at the performances (even the wins). If we maintain this level we'll be close to the bottom 3 at Christmas, as most teams will turn us over home and away.

If The Arse play anywhere near their best on 12th Nov, and we don't improve 100% on Saturday's performance, we could concede double figures. Frankly it could be a nightmare.

If Arsenal play their best football anywhere in the country, they will pummel most teams.

[wealdstone away]

What Coppell said about Arsenal and other Prem. teams on BBCi text is absolutely spot on (As usual) - Also, after the period of continous success that we have experienced over recent years, there will be a time when it is very tough for us. A period of rebuilding. A period of inconsistency and perhaps some grim encounters with scraped nil nils and one nils like Sunday. We're not bloody Barcelona - Derby are a bigger club than us whether we like it or not and they would have been busting a gut to get at least a point on Sunday. We won 1-0 in a crucial game for both clubs. People posting comments about Derby's previous record as if that's relative and therefore we should judge our team by our team's margin of victory against Derby - are posting naive nonsense. Why didn't Arsenal beat Wet Sham 10-0 last season? I believe Wet Sham did the double over them We won on Sunday - 3 points - two home league wins in a row against what will turn out to be key rivals - SC will develop the squad between now and next August and many of our Championship heroes will be sold - some will stay because they have the capability to continue to improve and our team and club will continue to move forward positively - keep the faith - this season will be tough and a little worrying at times but we'll be okay

[Leamington Royal]

People have short memories. Sidwell was out for most of this part of last season. And who replaced him - Brynyar. We played some decent football and got some good results, including playing all of the big 4. So he is capable of doing a decent job at this level.

That said, I think Bryn's confidence has gradually ebbed away this season and I thought his performance against Derby was one of his poorest for Reading. It felt like we were playing with 10 men as he was not breaking up play, nor involved in the construction of moves. He always seemed to be in the wrong place, and showed a distinct lack of edge/ pace. I cannot help feeling that Fae would have at least added something on the attacking side of things. I do think Coppell needs to give Fae some time on the pitch in these sorts of games otherwise it will take him an awfully long time to adjust to the English game. It will alos make Gunnarson fight harder for his place!

Oster - he changed the game. Derby were starting to gain some confidence in the second half, but he came on and suddenly put them on the back foot again. Not to mention creating the space for Murty's cross for the goal. But for the absimal referee he would also have put Doyle clean through as well, and should have scored himself having done the hard bit. I look forward to him coming back to full fitness, as long as he keeps his head in more defensive positions.

[Platypuss]

Indeed Oster did give us far more on the right once he'd come on for Rosenior.

If that worries no one else, it certainly worries me.

[Starry Blue Hooped Wonder]

I do think Coppell needs to give Fae some time on the pitch in these sorts of games otherwise it will take him an awfully long time to adjust to the English game. It will alos make Gunnarson fight harder for his place!

I think that if we had been 3-0 up with 15 minutes to go then there would have been a good chance of Fae comming on for Gunnarson, however we were defending a 1-0 lead and the last thing Coppell is likely to do in that situation is change the central midfield (or central defence) pairings unless forced to. That is the way to a 1-1 draw. Saturdays game was always going to be about grinding out the win rather than blooding new players.

[PEARCEY]

Indeed Oster did give us far more on the right once he'd come on for Rosenior.

If that worries no one else, it certainly worries me.

Did he?? He managed to give the ball away which is a bit of a speciality but I cannot remember him doing much else. I agree though about Rosenoir....ineffective to date and nowhere near as positive as Convey...who has to be the right wing option if Hunt stays on the left.

[Stranded]

People have short memories. Sidwell was out for most of this part of last season. And who replaced him - Brynyar. We played some decent football and got some good results, including playing all of the big 4. So he is capable of doing a decent job at this level.
That said, I think Bryn's confidence has gradually ebbed away this season and I thought his performance against Derby was one of his poorest for Reading. It felt like we were playing with 10 men as he was not breaking up play, nor involved in the construction of moves. He always seemed to be in the wrong place, and showed a distinct lack of edge/ pace. I cannot help feeling that Fae would have at least added something on the attacking side of things. I do think Coppell needs to give Fae some time on the pitch in these sorts of games otherwise it will take him an awfully long time to adjust to the English game. It will alos make Gunnarson fight harder for his place!

Oster - he changed the game. Derby were starting to gain some confidence in the second half, but he came on and suddenly put them on the back foot again. Not to mention creating the space for Murty's cross for the goal. But for the absimal referee he would also have put Doyle clean through as well, and should have scored himself having done the hard bit. I look forward to him coming back to full fitness, as long as he keeps his head in more defensive positions.

The only League game Gunnarsson played against the big 4 last season was in defence. Where he played well. He did not face them in place of Sidwell at this time last year as Sidwell did not miss any games this time last season, he was pretty much ever present until the end of the season - when he was dropped a few games.

[Whore Jackie]

Indeed Oster did give us far more on the right once he'd come on for Rosenior.

If that worries no one else, it certainly worries me.

Did he?? He managed to give the ball away which is a bit of a speciality but I cannot remember him doing much else. I agree though about Rosenoir....ineffective to date and nowhere near as positive as Convey...who has to be the right wing option if Hunt stays on the left.

Surely no-one is under any illusions about Rosenior. He was a decent enough player-swap deal for Reading in exchange for Seol, who was desperate to live in New Malden and play for Fulham.

Rosenior was bought to replace Murty not Little. Injuries to Oster and Convey have meant he's played right-midfield, clearly not his specialist position.