LITA GONE OUT ON LOAN

[M Brook]

The slack afforded to Doyle relative to Lita has been quite incredible.

Really? Don't you think it might have a little to do with Lita's attitude?

[cmonurz]

The slack afforded to Doyle relative to Lita has been quite incredible.

Really? Don't you think it might have a little to do with Lita's attitude?

It if it does, it shouldn't.

[Archie's penalty]

First of all to AP. Lita started 6 out of the last 11 games of last year.

And to both Cmonurz and AP can't you see? Coppell does not trust Lita as much as Doyle, Kitson and Long. Why is that such a difficult thing to understand? Sure Coppell has been lambasted for being to loyal but sometimes you have to go with your gut feeling as a manager.

Should Martin Scorsese have got rid of Robert De Niro after a couple of dud films?

[CMRoyal]

Because I genuinely didn't know Long had played in the reserve matches. Please update the stats.

Just a small point, but when it comes to the Ressies, a) I don't think goals should be counted in whole numbers in comparison with first-team goals and b) I was at the game against Arsenal Ressies and in my opinion Long played better than Lita; his pen was terrible but he did make Leroy's goal and his overall play was superior, in my opinion. I'm not saying I'd put him ahead of Leroy, but sometimes stats don't tell the whole story. And that's before we even get onto attitude, etc.

[M Brook]

The slack afforded to Doyle relative to Lita has been quite incredible.

Really? Don't you think it might have a little to do with Lita's attitude?

It if it does, it shouldn't.

Like it or not, that's life. Lita is an arrogant foolish little man who thinks he knows it all and thinks he's better than he is. Doyle is the complete opposite. Who would you respond better to?

[Richi Royal]

I cannot believe that this has happened....we are in a crucial part of the season, the next four games will IMO set us up for relegation or survival.... we have 3 home games against team we are capable of getting a result against. Blackburn, Man city, Birmingham.
So what do we decided to do ......go and loan out our only striker who looks remotly like he is going to hit any sort of form......yeh well done steve. Those who think leroy will come back after the month are deluded, i will be shocked if it isnt extended beyond the end of the season because SC will not put the whole LL situation behind him.
LL may well be a c**t, but c**t or no c**t he is a striker who if given chances WILL score goals, if SC doesnt like him fine get rid of him in the summer do dont be so arrogant to get rid of him in the middle of a relegation fight. If there was the bust up in training after the anouncement of the team and LL was on the bench then i am glad LL reacted the way he did because he want to play and help this club and himself...yes he may come in and play well to secure a move in the summer but if that keeps us up then i dont give a toss. I would have reacted in exactly the same way if shane long who last looked like a headless chicked whenever he has played and is always out played by LL in the reserves was picked, it was a discraseful decision which showed that Coppell has not stopped been loyal to his players, i challenge anyone to come on here and say shane long is a better player than LL. Sure SL may have bags of potential and in burst at the end of games is exactly what we need due to his raw physical attributes but even on the cup games he has looked clueless.
No matter what anyone says Doyle has looked woeful in for a majority of this season, even when he was scoring he wasnt playing well but if a striker is scoreing i am more than happy to overlook perofrmance as that is their job. but Doyle is a striker not scoring and not playing well. Kitson for us needs to play, he hasnt played well recently but when we do look like creating something he is often the crucial cog. Kitson Lita partnership seemed a perfect combo for me....tall man short man, pace little pace, lita will play on last man and kitson can drop off where he is best, Lita will get in the F-ing box (take note strikers).

At the end of the day if we stay up or not, this season has been a disaster. Only one game this season we have looked batter than the opposition and that ironically was liverpool. we have scored 4 last minute winners , many of which were undeserved. I am not calling for his head, and what he has done with the club over the last few year will always make him a legend....but taking the blinkers off, this season SC decisions have been dreadful and he is starting to look out of his depth.

[Southbank Old Boy]

As suspected the majority of this board have gone off down a predictable route. We need goals, Lita has been scoring for the RESERVES, so why is he out on loan?

Well if I can put a possible theory forward.

Firstly the truth is we haven't created chances to score goals. Doyle has been playing on the right midfield and Kitson seems to be out wide more than Hunt FFS!!! How many clear chances have we created in the last 10 games? How many times has Doyle been running through on the last defender? How many decent crosses have been swung in aimed at Kitson? The simple answer is NOT enough. If we had had Torres up front in those games he also would have lacked any chances. So the there is more to the view that Kitson and Doyle can't score for toffee. They, as any stiker does, need quality service. This is where we hope Matejovsky, Kebe etc can now start to provide.

What you're overlooking is that in order to create chances you need your forwards to be in the right areas as well as having the balls delivered to those right areas.

One thing Lita has is that goal scorers instinct of being in the right place at the right time and he makes the kind of intuitive runs in, around and behing centre backs that our midfield and Kitons can pick out to create chances.

You even state in your theory that Kitson and Doyle haven't been in central positions enough for us to create chances. One thing Lita will do is get into those positions in favour of messing about out wide.

I'm not a fan of Lita's attitude and something must have happened to bring this move on but Coppell's job is to provide us with a squad with enough depth and options to cover for these type of things. It seemed pretty obvious in January that this situation was going to come to a head soon enough, and so Coppell should've had some sort of contingency in place. What does he do? Sell the one local lad who is desperate to play for the club and get out of this mess we're in and doesn't bring in a forward he can use as 4th choice, which considering our lack of options on the right of midfield (so occupying Doyle occassionally) and the lack of form of out first choice 3, is just a massive mistake.

[One Beer is never enough.]

Of course, Lita could go, have an absolutely storming time for Charlton, then come back to us, match fit, revitalised and this prove to be a moment of genius.

But until the wheel turns we just dont know.

(it could also raise his value with regard to a summer sale)

[RoyalBird]

I'm as shocked as a few people are that lita has been loaned out to charlton for a month, and I wouldn't say I 100% agree with the decision. But the SL bashing is a bit extreme saying he hasn't looked like scoring when he's only started 4 times in the league, 3 of those starts right at the start of the season. Give the lad a better chance than a few sub appearances!

As for the Lita deal, I'm not happy about it simply because if either Long, Kitson or Doyle get injured or suspended, we're screwed for a replacement (unless Illugason is going to be on the bench!) But given Lita's attitude this season and his shit first team form, it doesn't come as a surprise that he's been given a little time to regain some form with Charlton. Hope this works.

[Baines]

I am completely prepared to reverse my opinion if it emerges that Lita has been caught raping Coppell’s pet rabbit.

Disagree. Coppell must put aside personal opinions no matter how much he loved the rabbit.

On another note, this would be a bad decision if all 3 of our other strikers were in form. In the circumstances, it is incomprehensible.

[PlasticRoyale]

Of course, Lita could go, have an absolutely storming time for Charlton, then come back to us, match fit, revitalised and this prove to be a moment of genius.

But until the wheel turns we just dont know.

(it could also raise his value with regard to a summer sale)

This is the only thing worth thinking about. It's done and dusted now so you're all going to have to like it or lump it.

How many games is Lita set to miss for Reading before he comes back?

[Alan Partridge]

First of all to AP. Lita started 6 out of the last 11 games of last year.

And to both Cmonurz and AP can't you see? Coppell does not trust Lita as much as Doyle, Kitson and Long. Why is that such a difficult thing to understand? Sure Coppell has been lambasted for being to loyal but sometimes you have to go with your gut feeling as a manager.

Should Martin Scorsese have got rid of Robert De Niro after a couple of dud films?

In the same way he's trusted Murty, sonko, Oster over others, it gives me no faith in him anymore.

It's the timing as much as anything.

6 out of the last 11 last year? That's loads, how many has doyle started since his las goal?

[Thomas L'Heureux]

Admittedly I haven't read through all six pages of this debate, got to about the third page and it was all quite repetitive.

I can honestly say that I was hoping Leroy was going to start on Saturday against Man City. They are missing pace at the back with Richards out, and last season at Eastlands Lita was absolutely awesome and was only denied a hattrick by an incorrect linesman's flag on Hunt.

If there was ever a stage for Lita to once again shine on, it was this Saturday. City have a depleted squad thanks to injuries and suspensions to key players, we've just picked up our first win in donkey's years, and, with our two regular strikers under-performing, Leroy should've had his chance to prove that his two clinical strikes of last season were not one-offs.

In my opinion this is absolutely outrageous and is one of the most questionable managerial decisions of a vert long time. We need everyone at this club available and to ship out the one player we have who may be able to find us a few goals in the all important run-in is suicidal.

I hope I'm proved wrong but I think Coppell may live to regret this.

[Wax Jacket]

I think it shows that Coppell probably feels like we'll be staying up and doesn't think Lita will be needed for the run-in. I hope he's got it right but there's a huge element of risk in this decision - i'd probably say it's the biggest he's made, aside from big-game team selections, since he's been here.

[Huntley & Palmer]

I think this day has been coming for a long time, RFC have finally drawn a line under Lita's career here as far as I am concerned. He must have been making a lot of enemies in the squad with his attitude if we are willing to loan him out to a Championship team at this stage of the season. It's not as if he needs the experience at that level to kick start him again, his fitness should be fine as well so it just doesn't make sense from a football perspective.

[Gordons Cumming]

Lita is a prima donna.

Good riddance I say.

[Archie's penalty]

Admittedly I haven't read through all six pages of this debate, got to about the third page and it was all quite repetitive.

I can honestly say that I was hoping Leroy was going to start on Saturday against Man City. They are missing pace at the back with Richards out, and last season at Eastlands Lita was absolutely awesome and was only denied a hattrick by an incorrect linesman's flag on Hunt.

If there was ever a stage for Lita to once again shine on, it was this Saturday. City have a depleted squad thanks to injuries and suspensions to key players, we've just picked up our first win in donkey's years, and, with our two regular strikers under-performing, Leroy should've had his chance to prove that his two clinical strikes of last season were not one-offs.

In my opinion this is absolutely outrageous and is one of the most questionable managerial decisions of a vert long time. We need everyone at this club available and to ship out the one player we have who may be able to find us a few goals in the all important run-in is suicidal.

I hope I'm proved wrong but I think Coppell may live to regret this.

You maybe right. I hope you are wrong.

The two sides in this debate have more in common than it looks at first glance. I wanted Lita to start against Citeh as well, you can check my posts on the 'Do they hate him thay much' thread.

I hope we can pull something out of the bag in the Citeh game...

[Leamington Royal]

I imagine there is some kind of recall option in the loan agreement should we be hit by suspensions/ injuries, but that's not really the point. Doyle is now under no real competition for his place and I can't see how that's a good thing.

From a long term perspective I was more upset by Cox going than the prospect of Lita going. He must be doing something seriously wrong off the pitch not to have displaced Doyle by now.

[Archie's penalty]

I think this day has been coming for a long time, RFC have finally drawn a line under Lita's career here as far as I am concerned. He must have been making a lot of enemies in the squad with his attitude if we are willing to loan him out to a Championship team at this stage of the season. It's not as if he needs the experience at that level to kick start him again, his fitness should be fine as well so it just doesn't make sense from a football perspective.

I think that post pretty much sums it up H&P...

[Coppelled Streets]

Ridiculas, can't understand it.

Yes he's been a silly boy a number of times, but he is a dam good striker and he is probably the inform striker here at the moment for what he's doing in the res'.

So we now rely on Shane Long, who to date has not proven good enough at this level.

Great!

This is the sort of decision that if you get relegated really bites you in the arse. One of a number of strange decisions this season.