Back from the game..... Donny Rovers

[Ian Herring]

I'm sick of reading messages putting down Rodgers and the team after only 6 games this season. Yes, we should have won yesterday. However it's really not the end of the world, it sounds as if we were the better team and it was the same old problem of creativity and making that cost us.

That's exactly the sort of thing that will improve as a team grows together and begins to gel. We've got a young squad who are still learning and a new team. People talk about relegation - we've already had some tough fixtures and we're not really showing that form, especially when you'd expect this team to do better as the season continues. Rome wasn't built in a day. For that matter neither was Coppell's team that went on to win 106 points and finish 8th in the Premiership.

Look at the positives. Sigurdsson, Karacan and Pearce are the best things to come out of our academy since I've been a fan (about 10 years or so). The sig in particular appears to have a very bright future. We have some more experienced players such as Hunt, Tabb, Ivar, Rasiak, McAnuff and Howard.

However they're not on their last legs. Apart from possibly Rasiak and Ivar, I feel like there is potential in all of them to still play the best football of their career under the right guidance, rather like Little, Kitson, Ivar, Marcus, Murty and indeed half of Coppell's squad did under him. They were hardly spring chickens but they still had an extra level. You'd expect Rodgers to do similarly well with this crop, because whatever his shortcomings he is renowned as an excellent coach and worked at Chelsea as players such as Lampard really began to step up their game. We have a nucleus of a team that will grow together. When weaknesses are identified, it will be possible to add 1 or 2 players without upsetting the balance of the team.

I'm not expecting promotion this season, probably not next season either. However, I predict that if in 2 years time this team are still together we will be a serious force. Firstly, they will not so much be individuals as a team, which is not the case now. Should the likes of HRK, Pearce, Davies or any of our youngsters prove to promise but never actually bear fruit we can replace them without doing a complete overhaul and add strength to this side.

I saw a post from Ideal on the opening page already talking about getting Rodgers out. How many football clubs do you have to watch to see that that's not the answer? Newcastle? SAF at Man Utd would have been sacked before he won anything in today's footballing world. What a tragedy for the game that would have been.

At last. Someone with a reasoned - and reasonable - outlook on the possible future at RFC. Intelligent comment. Well thought-out and presented post. Refreshing.

Well said rhroyal.

[statto]

There's a lot of valid points in there, however, if we continue not to score any goals we will lose to better teams than Donny, if we continue to lose we will go down the league.

what concerns me is would this young, inexperienced team would cope SHOULD we find ourselves in a relegation dogfight.

I, of course, hope the team gels quickly and we don't.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

When is Brenda going to change the system we play to 4-4-2 so that we can play with width and get the full backs going forward .

The 4-3-3 system works for the world class teams as they have world class players who can hold the ball and play the pass that counts to open up a defence to score.. We are nowhere near that class nor will we be with the players we have.

Kebe was not in the game, his attribute is his pace playing wide which we are not using. Kebe's total contribution against Barnsley was to tackle Howard his own player 30 yards out and to loose the Doncaster left back when Donnie took a short corner

Sigi played on the left side not his position as he a central midfielder. His corners and set pice delivery were excellent and then he gets taken off, unbelievable.

Howard looks to be a good signing but then that was his debut

Brenda was pleased was the performance which I struggle to agree with as there is no pace, cutting edge nor end product.

[Schards#2]

I'm sick of reading messages putting down Rodgers and the team after only 6 games this season. Yes, we should have won yesterday. However it's really not the end of the world, it sounds as if we were the better team and it was the same old problem of creativity and making that cost us.

That's exactly the sort of thing that will improve as a team grows together and begins to gel. We've got a young squad who are still learning and a new team. People talk about relegation - we've already had some tough fixtures and we're not really showing that form, especially when you'd expect this team to do better as the season continues. Rome wasn't built in a day. For that matter neither was Coppell's team that went on to win 106 points and finish 8th in the Premiership.

Look at the positives. Sigurdsson, Karacan and Pearce are the best things to come out of our academy since I've been a fan (about 10 years or so). The sig in particular appears to have a very bright future. We have some more experienced players such as Hunt, Tabb, Ivar, Rasiak, McAnuff and Howard.

However they're not on their last legs. Apart from possibly Rasiak and Ivar, I feel like there is potential in all of them to still play the best football of their career under the right guidance, rather like Little, Kitson, Ivar, Marcus, Murty and indeed half of Coppell's squad did under him. They were hardly spring chickens but they still had an extra level. You'd expect Rodgers to do similarly well with this crop, because whatever his shortcomings he is renowned as an excellent coach and worked at Chelsea as players such as Lampard really began to step up their game. We have a nucleus of a team that will grow together. When weaknesses are identified, it will be possible to add 1 or 2 players without upsetting the balance of the team.

I'm not expecting promotion this season, probably not next season either. However, I predict that if in 2 years time this team are still together we will be a serious force. Firstly, they will not so much be individuals as a team, which is not the case now. Should the likes of HRK, Pearce, Davies or any of our youngsters prove to promise but never actually bear fruit we can replace them without doing a complete overhaul and add strength to this side.

I saw a post from Ideal on the opening page already talking about getting Rodgers out. How many football clubs do you have to watch to see that that's not the answer? Newcastle? SAF at Man Utd would have been sacked before he won anything in today's footballing world. What a tragedy for the game that would have been.

At last. Someone with a reasoned - and reasonable - outlook on the possible future at RFC. Intelligent comment. Well thought-out and presented post. Refreshing.

Well said rhroyal.

As ever, the most vociferous in the positivity are the ones who were not at the game to witness the performance.

That should tell us something.

[Bristol Paul]

Unbelievable some of the moaning on here after 6 games. I don't thing many people agree with BR's view that we played really well, passed the test etc, but c'mon, virtually every player with an ouce of Premiership quality has been sold to try to get Mr Mad out of his own personal financial crisis, a new manager, only 3 "regulars" (sort of) from last years squad, 3 debut's - how some people think we should be flying straight to the top of the league is a joke.

On a personal level, I thought the defence was solid, although Cummings was a disappointment going forward, Kebe was, well Kebe (I really should have persisted in my footballing career having watched him for over a season or two), Howard I thought looked classy, Gunnar was solid as always, Marek and Rasiak added a bit of class, and Hunt and Sigurdsson looked solid. Although I think we are looking at mid to bottom half of the table this season, I'm positive things will improve once BR settles on his best starting 11, best formation, and the players get to know each others games more.

Can't hand on heart say the future is bright, as I think the club was mis-managed on a footballing front the last 2 seasons through a combination of Mr Mad's reluctance to invest and Coppel getting very stale in his thinking, but I think we'll still be a competitive Championship side in the medium term.

Its easy to moan about how we should have spent shed loads to stay up etc, but wait until the end of the season when Hull are relegated with massive debts and then ask their fans in a season or two whether it was worth it?

[Royal Lady]

^ I think I'd agree with all of this.

[RoyalBlue]

Once again ducks*rse Madejeski proves the old adage 'If you pay peanuts you get.........'

Sure he's now happy as a pig in shyte, having balanced the books and dramatically reduced the wage bill in a successful transfer window - and boy did it show!

Hands up all those who slagged off poor old Rosenior! Well look what you've got in his place!! Little wonder Chelsea were happy to sell him off while only wanting to loan out 'plastic'. Cummings ventured into the opposition's half with all of the enthusiasm of someone just asked to walk to his own excecution!

Not only was he very poor himself but his poor play led to Kebe looking even worse than normal.

What a fantastic comedy duo we now have on the right hand side. First Kebe tackles Hunt at the end of a great run and just as he is pulling the trigger to shoot! Moments later he follows that up by neatly heading a pass to him several yards out to the side for a throw in Not to be outdone, Cummings then produces a neat bit of skill and somehow manages to kick himself in the face

And Rasiak looks the ideal cheap bit part player - one good shot and the rest of the time spent clambering all over the defenders. Mind you, he might stand more of a chance if given some service from the wings.

Still the supporters who have splashed out their very hard earned cash to watch this mix of comedy, tragedy and, at times, full blown car crash TV can sleep easy, safe in the knowledge that the performers aren't being paid very much.

[Royal Lady]

Sad thing is, if things don't improve and we're near the bottom (or worse) at the end of the season, our books still won't balance next season, as we'll have less bums on seats and less ST sales.

[PEARCEY]

Once again ducks*rse Madejeski proves the old adage 'If you pay peanuts you get.........'

Sure he's now happy as a pig in shyte, having balanced the books and dramatically reduced the wage bill in a successful transfer window - and boy did it show!

Hands up all those who slagged off poor old Rosenior! Well look what you've got in his place!! Little wonder Chelsea were happy to sell him off while only wanting to loan out 'plastic'. Cummings ventured into the opposition's half with all of the enthusiasm of someone just asked to walk to his own excecution!

Not only was he very poor himself but his poor play led to Kebe looking even worse than normal.

What a fantastic comedy duo we now have on the right hand side. First Kebe tackles Hunt at the end of a great run and just as he is pulling the trigger to shoot! Moments later he follows that up by neatly heading a pass to him several yards out to the side for a throw in Not to be outdone, Cummings then produces a neat bit of skill and somehow manages to kick himself in the face

Still the supporters who have splashed out their very hard earned cash to watch this mix of comedy, tragedy and, at times, full blown car crash TV can sleep easy, safe in the knowledge that the performers aren't being paid very much.

Yes but what about this great manager you and others were talking about in Brendan Rodgers? Nobody forced him to bring in the players that he has and if he took on the job knowing he would have to cut his cloth accordingly he should have had the balls to stand up to Madejski in the first place.
Still we have a world class model in place even though Rodgers and the players were oblivious to our worst home run in only what is it...oh thats right 137 years.

[Hogmeister Royal]

Not the best game.bit dull.shit crowd. But the gloom on here is a bit much. We played well,nice football all over the pitch. Howard and odea look to have extra quality.rasiak looked a handful.cummings ok.berti good,again.sigi good again,bryn and kara solid.back four comfortable, kebe and ref dogshit.but surely enough to see things coming together. I fancy the win on wednesday.

A good, short, accurate summary of the game. Agree with everything except the last sentence - I fear the worst on Wednesday. We should become a decent team in time and I'm still hopeful of a top half finish, but at the moment we're so much "a work in progress", it's not true. Until things start gelling a lot more, which is going to take some time, then Cardiff, like any of the other top half a dozen teams in this division, will be able to beat us comfortably, I think.

[winchester_royal]

Once again ducks*rse Madejeski proves the old adage 'If you pay peanuts you get.........'

Sure he's now happy as a pig in shyte, having balanced the books and dramatically reduced the wage bill in a successful transfer window - and boy did it show!

Hands up all those who slagged off poor old Rosenior! Well look what you've got in his place!! Little wonder Chelsea were happy to sell him off while only wanting to loan out 'plastic'. Cummings ventured into the opposition's half with all of the enthusiasm of someone just asked to walk to his own excecution!

Not only was he very poor himself but his poor play led to Kebe looking even worse than normal.

What a fantastic comedy duo we now have on the right hand side. First Kebe tackles Hunt at the end of a great run and just as he is pulling the trigger to shoot! Moments later he follows that up by neatly heading a pass to him several yards out to the side for a throw in Not to be outdone, Cummings then produces a neat bit of skill and somehow manages to kick himself in the face

Still the supporters who have splashed out their very hard earned cash to watch this mix of comedy, tragedy and, at times, full blown car crash TV can sleep easy, safe in the knowledge that the performers aren't being paid very much.

Yes but what about this great manager you and others were talking about in Brendan Rodgers? Nobody forced him to bring in the players that he has and if he took on the job knowing he would have to cut his cloth accordingly he should have had the balls to stand up to Madejski in the first place.
Still we have a world class model in place even though Rodgers and the players were oblivious to our worst home run in only what is it...oh thats right 137 years.

So you'd rather they had it preying on their minds???????

Muppet.

[PEARCEY]

No need for name calling is there Winchester?
The players and management are professionals well so-called anyway. As is the manager. They are well-paid for what they do.
To think they were unaware of this unwanted record defies belief. Are they really that thick?

[tomrfcurz]

Thought Kebe really frustrated Cummings who made a few runs, for Kebe to either get in the way or not make an overlapping run like he should have. Rasiak looked pretty good when he came on to be fair to the lad, played very well with Hunt. Also i reckon Howard is a brilliant player, made a few good runs, and passes and his first half shot looked fierce if Kebe didn't get in the way again! O'Dea looked pretty solid and deserved a goal considering he went up and challenged well for 99% of our corners. New signings look promising and Marek looked ace when he came on, should definitely start on Wednesday, in my opinion.

[winchester_royal]

No need for name calling is there Winchester?
The players and management are professionals well so-called anyway. As is the manager. They are well-paid for what they do.
To think they were unaware of this unwanted record defies belief. Are they really that thick?

Why should they know?

The past is IRRELEVANT.

[PEARCEY]

No need for name calling is there Winchester?
The players and management are professionals well so-called anyway. As is the manager. They are well-paid for what they do.
To think they were unaware of this unwanted record defies belief. Are they really that thick?

Why should they know?

The past is IRRELEVANT.

So on the one hand you argue its irrelevant and then on the other you say you dont want it preying on their minds.

[Seal]

That was one of the most boring games I have watched in a long long time. Just about bearable on a warm September afternoon....but putting up with that crock of shite in mid January? No thanks.

My biggest concern is a commitment to a formation that just doesn't work at this level and with this quality of player.

My second biggest concern is that Rogers has no idea what his best midfield is. How many central midfielders do we have now? What the hell will do if we revert to 4-4-2.

My third biggest concern is Kebe. He is just not good enough, and I think contributed massively to young Cummings looking nervous going forward. Cummings would pick up the ball, but have no options as Kebe would just stand on on the touchline, offering nothing. McAnuff can't get fit soon enough.

I know it's early season but there are some fundamental problems that need to be addressed. Otherwise, we genuinely are in danger of a relegation scrap. Which is a shocking return for a team that should have gone up last year.

[PEARCEY]

That was one of the most boring games I have watched in a long long time. Just about bearable on a warm September afternoon....but putting up with that crock of shite in mid January? No thanks.

My biggest concern is a commitment to a formation that just doesn't work at this level and with this quality of player.

My second biggest concern is that Rogers has no idea what his best midfield is. How many central midfielders do we have now? What the hell will do if we revert to 4-4-2.

My third biggest concern is Kebe. He is just not good enough, and I think contributed massively to young Cummings looking nervous going forward. Cummings would pick up the ball, but have no options as Kebe would just stand on on the touchline, offering nothing. McAnuff can't get fit soon enough.

I know it's early season but there are some fundamental problems that need to be addressed. Otherwise, we genuinely are in danger of a relegation scrap. Which is a shocking return for a team that should have gone up last year.

I couldn't agree more Seal. I was very positive about last season. Its very different this time around.
I had genuinely thought a win yesterday would be the start of a real move in the right direction.
I will go to the Cardiff game on Wednesday but if Rodgers persists in the lone striker role but plays someone not capable of playing that role I just cannot see where the goals are coming from.

[winchester_royal]

No need for name calling is there Winchester?
The players and management are professionals well so-called anyway. As is the manager. They are well-paid for what they do.
To think they were unaware of this unwanted record defies belief. Are they really that thick?

Why should they know?

The past is IRRELEVANT.

So on the one hand you argue its irrelevant and then on the other you say you dont want it preying on their minds.

I'm saying that it is irrelevant, but if the players were aware of it, which they don't need to be, then it may have an adverse effect...

Understand?

[Schards#2]

Do you not think it might help them if they understood why an increasing number of fans are disillusioned, not making a noise, booing at the end and staying away in droves?

[PEARCEY]

^ Why dont they need to be aware of the record? They are not little children that need to be carefully protected from shocking home truths.
They bloody well should be aware of it and be busting a gut to end this dismal record.
If they are unaware of it then they are thick.