Loanwatch 09-10

[Sun Tzu]

I do think we're allowed to have an opinion though, or should we not discuss players ability, progress or potential at all?

Of course, but anyone expressing an opinion should expect to be asked to justify it ! If after having watched a 19 year old warm up for a reserve game they decide he's crap and will never make it it seems reasonable for others to point out that just maybe it's a bit premature to jump to that conclusion.

I'm not accusing you of doing that (quite !!) but there is an awful tendancy fore pople on here to want to be the first to rubbish something - when in reality it can take severl years from the time a playertakes his forststeps in the first team to him looking anything like the finsihed article.

I always remember how absolutely appalling Adie Williams was when he started in the first team.....likewise Darius Henderson was considered a joke by many on here. Both seem to have done OK !

[Hoop Blah]

I see where you're coming from Sun Tzu, but personally I don't belittle anything just for the sake of it.

I do think a hell of a lot of over blown praise and expectations get attributed to very average players on here because people either belive the club PR or are just totally unrealistic. Much more so than realitic and contructive apprasial of players anyway.

Unfortunately there haven't been many players that have come through the ranks here that I've thought have had enough about them to make the grade. Henderson was one I praised, and I always thought Tyson would do alright for himself. I never thought the likes of Boucaud, Fashanu, Campbell or Hayes would ever be good enough either. They all got the sort of praise that Antonio is getting now. I did have high hopes for Alex Stanley, Matt Birnie and Johnny Mullins though, none of whom really proved me right.

I have expectations and types of players I like, rate and think have the ability to make it. I think you can usually suss a player pretty quickly though, not to write them off of course, but certainly enough to form an educated opinion on them off the back of a few games.

[Sun Tzu]

Hoops i should clarify that i wasn't specifically having a go at you, as whether I agree with comments you make or not I do usually find them pretty reasonable.

I was making a more generic point about the way people seem to make snapshot judgements.

Antonio really doesn't fit in with any of the other players mentioned of course, given that he hasn;t come through the ranks and hasn;t developed a reputation. I suspect there is a bit of a 'shock' factor for some people, suddenly hearing we have player doing quite well for Saints although they have no idea who he is.

[working class hero]

Does not buying one player and then buying 4 cheaper ones mean we've shelled out a fair bit more on wages and other costs ? I suspect Smith would have been well paid but if he was on 20k and Howard, MacAnuff and Rasiak were on £1ok and Cummings on 5k then that's pretty quickly used up the money saved on transfer fees.

But as Dirk says, none of us know and guessing is pointless. If JM makes money available then he does, I don;t think we should expect major spending but I would expect Rodgers to look to make adjustments to the sqaud in some form.

Just to correct you on a technicality, I didn't say that none of us know. I said that Ian Royal doesn't know .....

And TBF Dirk you don't really KNOW do you? You just choose to believe what you are told by JM and NH - and businessmen never tell porkies do they?

[Wizard]

Evening guys. Just a quick update.

I went to Gillingham v Yeovil tonight, and I have to say Alex McCarthy looks like he will one day be a superb goalkeeper. He is very tall, which surprised me but I don't know why

In the first half, about 2 minutes before Gillingham scored (a penalty) he made a decent save from I think SImeon Jackson (who we should really try to sign; he's class). He also made a cracking double save and still got up again to catch the resulting cross-ball back. He always looked comfortable in the air, repeatedly coming for and claiming crosses.
In the second half he made one truly outstanding save to deny a Gillingham free-kick, diving at full-stretch to push the ball onto the post. The only mistake I saw him make all match was slipping over when taking a goal-kick, but it did rain an awful lot in Medway tonight and all the players were slipping over.

From what I saw tonight, we have a very good young goalkeeper on our books.

[Royalwaster]

He always looked comfortable in the air, repeatedly coming for and claiming crosses.
.

We need to bring him back to give ol' Fedders some coaching then.

[winchester_royal]

We have to be careful with McCarthy, potentially our best keeper since Shaka, but the vultures are circling.

[Barry the bird boggler]

Evening guys. Just a quick update.

I went to Gillingham v Yeovil tonight, and I have to say Alex McCarthy looks like he will one day be a superb goalkeeper. He is very tall, which surprised me but I don't know why

In the first half, about 2 minutes before Gillingham scored (a penalty) he made a decent save from I think SImeon Jackson (who we should really try to sign; he's class). He also made a cracking double save and still got up again to catch the resulting cross-ball back. He always looked comfortable in the air, repeatedly coming for and claiming crosses.
In the second half he made one truly outstanding save to deny a Gillingham free-kick, diving at full-stretch to push the ball onto the post. The only mistake I saw him make all match was slipping over when taking a goal-kick, but it did rain an awful lot in Medway tonight and all the players were slipping over.

From what I saw tonight, we have a very good young goalkeeper on our books.

Alex is very highly rated and is a regular part of the England U-21 squad, for the record he is 6 foot 5 and given his form for Yeovil this season it is no wonder they are looking to extend his loan until the end of the season.

I also think, if he carries on improving at his current rate, he will actually be Reading's next no. 1 after Adam Federici.

From the Yeovil Western Morning News

YEOVIL Town boss Terry Skiverton has revealed that he is in talks with Reading to extend the loan of goalkeeper Alex McCarthy until the end of the season.

The 19-year-old has been in outstanding form for the Glovers and produced another man-of-the-match display at Gillingham on Tuesday.

McCarthy is one of the most highly rated young English goalkeepers and a regular in Stuart Pearce's Under-21 squad. His performances for the Glovers have attracted the attentions of other clubs and the Royals are also monitoring his development.

Skiverton is hopeful of retaining the Guildford-born stopper's services until May. "It's no secret that Alex is a great goalkeeper," he said. "Our scouting and recruitment of players has been good but we actually came across him by chance.

"He's really enhancing his reputation doing a fantastic job for us and there's a lot of people watching him. For us we're just glad we've got him week-in, week-out when he's performing so well. In the last two games I think he's been called upon more than in all the rest of the season so when we need him we know he's there for us.

"He's with us for the foreseeable future and we are talking to Reading all the time. His loan isn't up until January but I'm hopeful of extending that."

[Alan Partridge]

Evening guys. Just a quick update.

I went to Gillingham v Yeovil tonight, and I have to say Alex McCarthy looks like he will one day be a superb goalkeeper. He is very tall, which surprised me but I don't know why

In the first half, about 2 minutes before Gillingham scored (a penalty) he made a decent save from I think SImeon Jackson (who we should really try to sign; he's class). He also made a cracking double save and still got up again to catch the resulting cross-ball back. He always looked comfortable in the air, repeatedly coming for and claiming crosses.
In the second half he made one truly outstanding save to deny a Gillingham free-kick, diving at full-stretch to push the ball onto the post. The only mistake I saw him make all match was slipping over when taking a goal-kick, but it did rain an awful lot in Medway tonight and all the players were slipping over.

From what I saw tonight, we have a very good young goalkeeper on our books.

Alex is very highly rated and is a regular part of the England U-21 squad, for the record he is 6 foot 5 and given his form for Yeovil this season it is no wonder they are looking to extend his loan until the end of the season.

I also think, if he carries on improving at his current rate, he will actually be Reading's next no. 1 after Adam Federici.

From the Yeovil Western Morning News

YEOVIL Town boss Terry Skiverton has revealed that he is in talks with Reading to extend the loan of goalkeeper Alex McCarthy until the end of the season.

The 19-year-old has been in outstanding form for the Glovers and produced another man-of-the-match display at Gillingham on Tuesday.

McCarthy is one of the most highly rated young English goalkeepers and a regular in Stuart Pearce's Under-21 squad. His performances for the Glovers have attracted the attentions of other clubs and the Royals are also monitoring his development.

Skiverton is hopeful of retaining the Guildford-born stopper's services until May. "It's no secret that Alex is a great goalkeeper," he said. "Our scouting and recruitment of players has been good but we actually came across him by chance.

"He's really enhancing his reputation doing a fantastic job for us and there's a lot of people watching him. For us we're just glad we've got him week-in, week-out when he's performing so well. In the last two games I think he's been called upon more than in all the rest of the season so when we need him we know he's there for us.

"He's with us for the foreseeable future and we are talking to Reading all the time. His loan isn't up until January but I'm hopeful of extending that."

He is the reason why Federici won't be Reading's long term goalkeeper.

[Dirk Gently]

At the Fans' Forum last night BR said that we had the best squad of goalkeepers in the FL, and that Reading won't need to buy a goalkeeper fro at least 10 years - he really rates McCarthy highly.

[Hopeful]

Evening guys. Just a quick update.

I went to Gillingham v Yeovil tonight, and I have to say Alex McCarthy looks like he will one day be a superb goalkeeper. He is very tall, which surprised me but I don't know why

In the first half, about 2 minutes before Gillingham scored (a penalty) he made a decent save from I think SImeon Jackson (who we should really try to sign; he's class). He also made a cracking double save and still got up again to catch the resulting cross-ball back. He always looked comfortable in the air, repeatedly coming for and claiming crosses.
In the second half he made one truly outstanding save to deny a Gillingham free-kick, diving at full-stretch to push the ball onto the post. The only mistake I saw him make all match was slipping over when taking a goal-kick, but it did rain an awful lot in Medway tonight and all the players were slipping over.

From what I saw tonight, we have a very good young goalkeeper on our books.

Alex is very highly rated and is a regular part of the England U-21 squad, for the record he is 6 foot 5 and given his form for Yeovil this season it is no wonder they are looking to extend his loan until the end of the season.

I also think, if he carries on improving at his current rate, he will actually be Reading's next no. 1 after Adam Federici.

From the Yeovil Western Morning News

YEOVIL Town boss Terry Skiverton has revealed that he is in talks with Reading to extend the loan of goalkeeper Alex McCarthy until the end of the season.

The 19-year-old has been in outstanding form for the Glovers and produced another man-of-the-match display at Gillingham on Tuesday.

McCarthy is one of the most highly rated young English goalkeepers and a regular in Stuart Pearce's Under-21 squad. His performances for the Glovers have attracted the attentions of other clubs and the Royals are also monitoring his development.

Skiverton is hopeful of retaining the Guildford-born stopper's services until May. "It's no secret that Alex is a great goalkeeper," he said. "Our scouting and recruitment of players has been good but we actually came across him by chance.

"He's really enhancing his reputation doing a fantastic job for us and there's a lot of people watching him. For us we're just glad we've got him week-in, week-out when he's performing so well. In the last two games I think he's been called upon more than in all the rest of the season so when we need him we know he's there for us.

"He's with us for the foreseeable future and we are talking to Reading all the time. His loan isn't up until January but I'm hopeful of extending that."

He is the reason why Federici won't be Reading's long term goalkeeper.

If he's that good, then I suspect we won't be able to keep him on our books.

[Ian Royal]

At the Fans' Forum last night BR said that we had the best squad of goalkeepers in the FL, and that Reading won't need to buy a goalkeeper fro at least 10 years - he really rates McCarthy highly.

Blimey. What did he say about the quality of our strikers?

[Sarah Star]

At the Fans' Forum last night BR said that we had the best squad of goalkeepers in the FL, and that Reading won't need to buy a goalkeeper fro at least 10 years - he really rates McCarthy highly.

Blimey. What did he say about the quality of our strikers?

Erm....

[West_Reading]

Davies got the winner for Wycombe and got the assist for the other goal.

[Pseud O'Nym]

James Harper scored.

[Ian Royal]

Davies got the winner for Wycombe and got the assist for the other goal.

I bloody love Davies, I really hope he makes it here.

[Archie's penalty]

James Harper scored.

Good goal as well.

[Sarah Star]

I've heard Davies has loads of natural ability (obviously), but he has a bit of an attitude problem towards training.

[Ian Royal]

I've heard Davies has loads of natural ability (obviously), but he has a bit of an attitude problem towards training.

Never heard anything like that. I thought the main reason he went back out on loan is that despite his shot, set pieces and pace, his passing didn't quite seem up to Championship standard yet.

[Sarah Star]

I was quite surprised to be told that, because I think he's a good player and he does well for Wycombe every week, but I can't argur with it without knowing the guy.