Anything to be positive about?

[Franchise FC]

It's always darkest just before the dawn


(and I'm 'working' from home tomorrow)

[Victor Meldrew]

oxf*rd it I'll have a go.

If we can ride out the current shitstorm and show even a gradual improvement then actually there is still plenty to be optimistic about. We'll be financially stable again at the end of the season and will have bedded down virtually a whole new team in a year (including for the first time regular graduates from our own Academy). We'll have more of an idea at that stage how many of those currently in the squad are good enough to carry us forward as we embark on another "brick by brick" building of a new team on a new journey.

The greatest side (and years) in this club's history didn't happen overnight but were the culmination of several years of progress. The fact that this process began after some particluarly dark days and wasn't without its ups and downs along the way when pretty much all of the negative aspects being highlighted now were all highlighted back then as well.

It's how football is (unless you've got a massively wealthy and willing benefactor), was and always will be.

Things appear pretty desperate at the moment of course and the current team is in something of a hole but in the overall scheme of things we're still a fine football club with a fine future ahead of us.

Hmm....you say that we'll be financially stable again at the end of the season but if attendances fall then presumably they will be less than the club has budgeted for.
How many of those graduates do you think will have been part of the bedding down?-they might end up having not much more experience at Reading than they have already by virtue of being loaned out all over the place and Brendan is now playing less and less of them as the season progresses and he turns to the experienced and in some cases aged players to hopefully get us through what is now becoming a crisis.
Two of our better players don't even belong to us so presumably they will return to their parent clubs and in O'Dea's case in January.

As I see it the one positive is that our owner is looking to sell which COULD mean a new investor who is prepared to buy players rather than sell them,otherwise I see nothing positive on the pitch with none of the much vaunted Academy starlets making a lasting impression(if they actually played more than a couple of games in a row it could be different) andI haven't yet visited the very expensive media centre to see what the money from selling our players has brought us instead.
Incidentally I have just had a drink with a long-standing Pompey fan and we both comiserated over our best players being sold but whereas he detects signs of improvement on the pitch I had to say that similar signs aren't there for us and even at this still early stage of the season it feels like a relegation side.
Looking around at our current starting eleven,or rather looking at about 25 or so that could be picked from for Monday,there is nobody (other than perhaps Bertrand) that I feel commands a regular starting spot.

As Pardew used to say "Belief,belief and even more belief"-blind faith is needed more than just belief IMHO as we watch our side doing it's best to set up local derbies v Swindon,Bournemouth,Brentford and Brighton next season.

[Terminal Boardom]

Two of the better posts on here ^

To get some perspective on things, I do not recall us ever having such a drastic turnaround in playing staff.

Only 2 players started the game on Tuesday who could be regarded as established first team players last season - Kebe and Ingimarsson. The rest are either new signings or reserves. Such a drastic clearout is having a really negative effect. Basically, the transfer policy has not changed. We are still buying players who are better than what we currently have. Note this. Better than what we currently have. NOT what we HAD.

We are also seeing, quite clearly, that the reason Coppell did not play the youngsters was because they were not better than what we already had.

The only players we have coming out of this season with any sort of credit are Karacan and The Sig. Even Kebe is starting to look good which, in the grand scheme of things, speaks volumes for the type of season we are having!

Maybe we will be relegated this season regardless who the manager is. Karacan and The Sig are players that we can start to rebuild the team around. It will take time and patience and it may well take in trips to Bristol Rovers, Oldham and Huddersfield. Perhaps we need to become a little more realistic but for this to happen we need the people in the football club to do the same. Stop the hyperbole and tell us as it really is. Don't tell us what you think we want to hear because we know BS when we hear it.

[rhroyal]

Tbf Karacan and The Sig shouldn't be our best players on the pitch every week - Tabb and Matejovsky should be. They just never get the chance. Rodgers is not using his squad in the best way possible.

[Ian Royal]

Tbf Karacan and The Sig shouldn't be our best players on the pitch every week - Tabb and Matejovsky should be. They just never get the chance. Rodgers is not using his squad in the best way possible.

Matejovsky is a luxury player who is yet to really perform in a Reading shirt. He's scored two fantastic goals and played lots of ineffective but pretty passes. He gives the ball away too easily in situations where he shouldn't. Please don't give me the attacking passes bullshit, because half the time he gives possession away it's by turning down blind alleys or misplacing really really simple passes. He is yet to get an assist iirc.

Siggurdsson on the other hand already has 3 assists and 1 goal in a handfull of appearances, proving about as useful as Matejovsky has been in his 30 odd appearances.

I'm coming round to Tabb, but lets face it, Karacan is a better defensive midfielder and Howard is a better creative midfielder. Tabb should certainly be on the bench each week at least.

I think we should restrict ourselves to 5 of our current midfielders if we play 4-5-1 and 4 if we play 4-4-2.

Karacan, Siggurdsson, Howard, Tabb & Gunnarsson - in that order. Gunnarsson should never start unless Tabb & Karacan are out.

Once we turn things around a bit Matejovsky can possibly be reintroduced, but he's got the least fight of all of them and has shown the least so far.