second now ..but for how long

[true blue 4 ever]

Yes we are 2nd now but for how much longer? Anyone who saw the Watford game and now the Swansea game can see that we must replace the centre of midfield. The scoreline against Watford flattered us ...we were hopelessly overun in the middle of the park and had it not been for their poor play in the final third it would have been a very different story.

If we don't replace Harper in particular we will begin the slide. He may offer the occassional assist but not enough of them to warrant his place.The majority of his time these days is spent running around waving his arms and passing a short square ball..not to mention the fact that he can't tackle.

[The 17 Bus]

How crap must life be, 2nd in the table, and all this criticism of the players that got us there.

I would like to see different, exciting flowing attacking, 90 minute action being served up, if I went that is, but can you really complain about 2nd place?

[2.8 lita injection]

Yes we are 2nd now but for how much longer? Anyone who saw the Watford game and now the Swansea game can see that we must replace the centre of midfield. The scoreline against Watford flattered us ...we were hopelessly overun in the middle of the park and had it not been for their poor play in the final third it would have been a very different story.

If we don't replace Harper in particular we will begin the slide. He may offer the occassional assist but not enough of them to warrant his place.The majority of his time these days is spent running around waving his arms and passing a short square ball..not to mention the fact that he can't tackle.

Even Reading fans see the negativity of 2nd place, with expectations so high i wonder if they really support another team but live locally.

[true blue 4 ever]

[quote="The 17 Bus"]How crap must life be, 2nd in the table, and all this criticism of the players that got us there.

I'm not complaining about the fact we are second...I am concerned about what I see...and that is a weak central midfiield.
With 2 good keepers, a great defence, 2 good wingers and a strike force that is second to none...we should be top...and if we replace Harper in particular ...we would be

[FiNeRaIn]

How can harper and matejovsky be played the whole second half of the prem season, then we get relegated and bring in a worse player to replace matejovsky?
harper has been one of my favourite reading players in recent years and I had a chat with him the day after we lost to wolves in the playoffs at home years ago, that night he gave one of the best performances from a centre mid I've ever seen at our club and I told him that, this many years on and its like coppell has put a roof on what he wants harper to do, its like he has no freedom to play how he did then.

If harper is the defensive midfielder then fine, so be it, you then can't have another one in cisse next to him, what kind of attacking championship challenging team has two defensive mids? Any team with a brain would just double up on our wide men..and the teams that have like swansea and southampton have battered us. We've been found out at home aswell, we might have a good record but we've been very lucky with some of our recent wins and have been outplayed in a number of games. If our wingers have off days, we look like a poor side with a dangerous striker with little service. We have absolutely no plan b and its worrying that coppell can't see this. Subs are inneffective and late like they have been for as long as I remember on top of the fact that when our wingers run out of ideas we play long balls through the middle, doyle is quality but he's no agbonlahor and rarely gets on the end of n.hunts flick ons.

Get cisse out, put matevosky in, I don't care if he's lightweight he can keep possession and we are more dangerous when he opens teams up trough the centre, we hardly ever score through the middle and he gives us another creative option.

[The 17 Bus]

That's not a bad post FR, no indivual blame laid, but looking at what we have, and how we play, not many wide players can keep going for a full season, seems they always have a bad patch, as do most other players, however for them when you are running at, or through players and it stops working it must be easy to get frustrated.

I would think that there are a few here that will move on in the summer whatever happens, we don't really seem to have as much strength in depth as we like to think, and we dont have as strong a 1st 11 as we have had in the past.

[Jack Celliers]

It's going to be three or four games before we go top now.

[readingbedding]

That's what I was thinking, RFC is such a tease!

[SCIAG]

Harper can't tackle? In that case, you don't watch us play. I counted the tackles he made in the first half against Watford- he was at five at half time. I forgot to do the second half. So, a player who can't tackle makes five tackles in one half.

[rotherwick_royal]

Our centre mid can't cope against a 5-man midfield. It's up to our management to sort that out

[DelBoyRodders]

Yes we are 2nd now but for how much longer? Anyone who saw the Watford game and now the Swansea game can see that we must replace the centre of midfield. The scoreline against Watford flattered us ...we were hopelessly overun in the middle of the park and had it not been for their poor play in the final third it would have been a very different story.

What an idiot!!

[FiNeRaIn]

Yes we are 2nd now but for how much longer? Anyone who saw the Watford game and now the Swansea game can see that we must replace the centre of midfield. The scoreline against Watford flattered us ...we were hopelessly overun in the middle of the park and had it not been for their poor play in the final third it would have been a very different story.

What an idiot!!

Wrong.

Instead of baiting and making a contribution a 6 year old boy would be proud of, why not act like an adult and disect his argument? Disagree with something?...then state why, contrubtions like this serve no purpose.

[Chuckle Brother]

Cissé is no Edgar Davids / Lothar Matthaus / Bryan Robson / insert name here.
He is what he is - a centre back filling in as a midfielder. We need to sign someone who can do a better job. When we win the ball we need to know what to do with it. Cissé, while combative and strong, does not particularly know what to do when he has the ball. He is no Matthias Sammer, that is for sure. A minimum of passing skill is required.
It is also obvious that while other teams can bring on something different in terms of "big guy up front", we don't have anyone like that.
So what we need is a "German" DMC and an "English" forward..
Is Dietmar Hamann playing regularly these days?

Would be a good addition but I believe he is long-term injured.

[Rex]

Yes we are second, good fortune has surrounded us in that respect. Wolves have only slightly edged away, Brum, only slightly edged up. Everyone seems to have stuttered in the top three, though it was us who had the most effective christmas run in. We have played without outshining ourselves recently and yesterday was a shocker which with the 10 day rest should be time to re-assess what is needed to UP the team. We have to learn to nullify a five man mid-field, and that means simply NOT by lumping the ball.

The emphasis on the Wolves game is massive. With us only being now able to claw back points on Wolves, we have to ensure a win to keep brum from overtaking us.

[swansea jack]

Cissé is no Edgar Davids / Lothar Matthaus / Bryan Robson / insert name here.
He is what he is - a centre back filling in as a midfielder. We need to sign someone who can do a better job. When we win the ball we need to know what to do with it. Cissé, while combative and strong, does not particularly know what to do when he has the ball. He is no Matthias Sammer, that is for sure. A minimum of passing skill is required.
It is also obvious that while other teams can bring on something different in terms of "big guy up front", we don't have anyone like that.
So what we need is a "German" DMC and an "English" forward..
Is Dietmar Hamann playing regularly these days?

For Oxf*rd's sake You are an extremely well run team who are second in the league and yet you moan like you're a kid who didn't get enough presents for Xmas! You need to realise that the 106 point season will never be repeated and get on with battling for an automatic promotion spot.

And as for quoting the players above, words fail me. They are 4 of the best DMC's from the last 20 odd years and Urz will never be in the market for the next one and even someone the class of Hamann will not sign unless Mr Mad gets his cheque book out.

Get the smelling salts out.

[FiNeRaIn]

Cissé is no Edgar Davids / Lothar Matthaus / Bryan Robson / insert name here.
He is what he is - a centre back filling in as a midfielder. We need to sign someone who can do a better job. When we win the ball we need to know what to do with it. Cissé, while combative and strong, does not particularly know what to do when he has the ball. He is no Matthias Sammer, that is for sure. A minimum of passing skill is required.
It is also obvious that while other teams can bring on something different in terms of "big guy up front", we don't have anyone like that.
So what we need is a "German" DMC and an "English" forward..
Is Dietmar Hamann playing regularly these days?

For Oxf*rd's sake You are an extremely well run team who are second in the league and yet you moan like you're a kid who didn't get enough presents for Xmas! You need to realise that the 106 point season will never be repeated and get on with battling for an automatic promotion spot.

And as for quoting the players above, words fail me. They are 4 of the best DMC's from the last 20 odd years and Urz will never be in the market for the next one and even someone the class of Hamann will not sign unless Mr Mad gets his cheque book out.

Get the smelling salts out.

Good post, seperate question, do you live in bondi mate, anywhere near bondi junction? Or you jsut travelling through.

[Chuckle Brother]

Cissé is no Edgar Davids / Lothar Matthaus / Bryan Robson / insert name here.
He is what he is - a centre back filling in as a midfielder. We need to sign someone who can do a better job. When we win the ball we need to know what to do with it. Cissé, while combative and strong, does not particularly know what to do when he has the ball. He is no Matthias Sammer, that is for sure. A minimum of passing skill is required.
It is also obvious that while other teams can bring on something different in terms of "big guy up front", we don't have anyone like that.
So what we need is a "German" DMC and an "English" forward..
Is Dietmar Hamann playing regularly these days?

For Oxf*rd's sake You are an extremely well run team who are second in the league and yet you moan like you're a kid who didn't get enough presents for Xmas! You need to realise that the 106 point season will never be repeated and get on with battling for an automatic promotion spot.

And as for quoting the players above, words fail me. They are 4 of the best DMC's from the last 20 odd years and Urz will never be in the market for the next one and even someone the class of Hamann will not sign unless Mr Mad gets his cheque book out.

Get the smelling salts out.

It's a sorry state of affairs when we have to rely on a Swansea fan to put things in a bit of perspective !

[handbags_harris]

I think it's prudent to point out that both Wolves AND Birmingham aren't playing particularly well at the moment, and have also dropped a number of points since Christmas...poor form doesn't just affect us.

Another reactive thread after a team out of form got beaten by a team well in form yesterday. End of the world? It would seem it given some of the posts I've read this morning.

[fridays child]

Cissé is no Edgar Davids / Lothar Matthaus / Bryan Robson / insert name here.
He is what he is - a centre back filling in as a midfielder. We need to sign someone who can do a better job. When we win the ball we need to know what to do with it. Cissé, while combative and strong, does not particularly know what to do when he has the ball. He is no Matthias Sammer, that is for sure. A minimum of passing skill is required.
It is also obvious that while other teams can bring on something different in terms of "big guy up front", we don't have anyone like that.
So what we need is a "German" DMC and an "English" forward..
Is Dietmar Hamann playing regularly these days?

For Oxf*rd's sake You are an extremely well run team who are second in the league and yet you moan like you're a kid who didn't get enough presents for Xmas! You need to realise that the 106 point season will never be repeated and get on with battling for an automatic promotion spot.


And as for quoting the players above, words fail me. They are 4 of the best DMC's from the last 20 odd years and Urz will never be in the market for the next one and even someone the class of Hamann will not sign unless Mr Mad gets his cheque book out.

Get the smelling salts out.

Thankyou - voice of reason (well done yesterday, you deserved it)

[westendgirl]

Yes we are second, good fortune has surrounded us in that respect. Wolves have only slightly edged away, Brum, only slightly edged up. Everyone seems to have stuttered in the top three, though it was us who had the most effective christmas run in.

I couldn't go yesterday and not being in the Reading area had to rely on 5Live Sports Extra for info on our game. Their featured game was Cardiff Birmingham and the commentators were surprised at the standard of the Brum play. They certainly didn't deserve a draw from what I heard. Add to that the fact Wolves seemed to be doing well only to end with a draw and maybe all 3 teams are finding that teams playing like our 106 point team and few and far between and if we really expect that every season we are due for nothing but disappointment.

Maybe linking the the thread about being lucky to be a Reading supporter it would be more fun to forget the angst and enjoy the wins wherever they occur.