andrew1957RobRoyalandrew1957 I suspect the lack of activity re Smith is because Hunt has not been sold. As soon as he goes my guess is we will be back in for Smith. Reading between the lines it looks like the club have not made any of the Doyle transfer money available so the sale of Hunt is probably conditional before moving for Smith. The argument (rightly or wrongly) is probably that if Hunt stays we don't need Smith.
I still think Smith will be a Reading player by 31st August.
This sounds likely, but it bothers me slightly. If we're not prepared to up our offer for Smith without getting a big fee in for SHunt, well, it's frustrating but there you go. But I think the idea that Smith and Hunt are in any way interchangable on the field has been pretty much debunked. I've got my fingers crossed that we'll get that fee for Hunt, but if we do then we need a like-for-like replacement in addition to another forward (whether BR actually sees Smith as a front man, who knows). I don't see that our left-sided options are particularly strong without Hunt. Or with Hunt, for that matter.
Yes but if we play 4-5-1 Smith is probably seen as one of a front three - probably playing on the right side so either Kebe, Henry or Robson-Kanu (or even Noel Hunt) will be playing wide left with Long up front. You don't need to replace Hunt with this set up and the idea is that Smith and others will get goals to replace Doyle's tally. Not saying it will work - just that this seems to be the BR theory.
Yeah... I'm extremely hopeful that banking on three right-footed players who are yet to prove themselves to cover the left side of that three (ok, Kebe is equally adept/poor on the left, I know) doesn't constitute a "theory" in our manager's eyes. It's more of a "wild stab". I don't see N Hunt or Long working in that position, but perhaps we'll find out.
It's perfectly plausible for him to be right-footed AND prefer playing on the left - they're not mutually exclusive conditions!
