![](http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/069/e/a/calm_the_fuck_down_by_mooh438.jpg)
by M-U-R-T-Y » 11 Sep 2011 14:31
by Cookie » 11 Sep 2011 14:37
2 world wars, 1 world cup Weird coming from me I know but seriously, calm down everyone.
I'd love to continue my gloat about Madejski ruining the club but it's just foolish to complain so early and it's old news anyway.
We've just lost our star striker and a rock solid defender. We could have spent 20 million replacements and still get the same result as losing key players disrupts the team and new players need to gel.
Brian has proven himself beyond doubt already and results will follow.
by Compo's Hat » 11 Sep 2011 14:44
by Ian Royal » 11 Sep 2011 15:20
by savage 4 england » 11 Sep 2011 15:42
by rfc2001 » 11 Sep 2011 16:33
by LoyalRoyal22 » 11 Sep 2011 17:06
by handbags_harris » 11 Sep 2011 17:08
Compo's Hat If we haven't won by the time we play 'boro i predict the atmosphere will have turned rather sour.
by handbags_harris » 11 Sep 2011 17:10
savage 4 england We need to start playing with the ball on the floor again. We need Howard or another creative midfielder to feed balls into the feet of our front two (without being given a completely free role). Then have Karacan or Leigertwood becoming more disciplined and protecting the back four.
Basically a 4-4-2 diamond
by Friday's Legacy » 11 Sep 2011 17:18
handbags_harrissavage 4 england We need to start playing with the ball on the floor again. We need Howard or another creative midfielder to feed balls into the feet of our front two (without being given a completely free role). Then have Karacan or Leigertwood becoming more disciplined and protecting the back four.
Basically a 4-4-2 diamond
Are you serious? And leave absolutely nowhere in the side for our two most creative assets, Kebe and McAnuff? Yeah, that'll work
by Cypry » 11 Sep 2011 17:35
LoyalRoyal22 Bri is a ledge. lay off. who cares about what subs he made? everyone was shit, confidence has gone, nobody could have changed it with any sort of substitions
by savage 4 england » 11 Sep 2011 17:52
handbags_harrissavage 4 england We need to start playing with the ball on the floor again. We need Howard or another creative midfielder to feed balls into the feet of our front two (without being given a completely free role). Then have Karacan or Leigertwood becoming more disciplined and protecting the back four.
Basically a 4-4-2 diamond
Are you serious? And leave absolutely nowhere in the side for our two most creative assets, Kebe and McAnuff? Yeah, that'll work
by NR_Royal » 11 Sep 2011 18:10
by andrew1957 » 11 Sep 2011 18:17
by PEARCEY » 11 Sep 2011 18:21
handbags_harrisPlymouth_Royal I agree. I hate to say it but the more I look at our performances the more it reminds me of our last season in the prem and the latter of Coppell's last year with us. it's just hoof or get it to the wings as quick as possible. We spend over a million on the pitch every season and never use it effectively. I'm not saying we should become a short passing side looking for the perfect killer pass but surely a bit of variety in our play wouldn't go amiss. Take man utd for example. They can play direct, they can pass the ball about, they have overlapping full backs, creative DMs, creative midfielders, they have 2 fantastic wingers, they have a striker who can hold up the ball, a striker how is very creative, a goal poacher and they all work there socks off.
We have 2 fantastic wingers for our level, we work hard, we play direct, but we have no creative DMs, 1 creative midfielder who wants to leave, we cant pass the ball about without someone panicking and hoofing it, and our full backs are not overlapping. No wonder we're easy to predict.
That mirrors almost exactly what my thoughts are on all of this, particularly the highlighted bits. I have said it since we started playing this formation with the core personnel that have been deployed that, ultimately, it is limited and will only get you so far. It worked last season with the fairly solid base of a standard back four and two midfielders with better defensive attributes than attacking, but last season we had what turned out to be an exceptional talent at the top with Long. Under Coppell we had the likes of Kitson initially, then Doyle, under McDermott we had Long. Now we have no exceptional talent up front we suddenly look very, very ordinary because our only two attacking outlets - the flanks - are effectively and easily nullified. We are now in a situation where we have no creativity through the middle, our flanks are stifled, and therefore in order to at least abate the situation we absolutely have to play a ball-playing midfielder in the middle of the park, and we have a more than capable man who can do it at this level sitting twiddling his thumbs hoping for a loan move. He won't be a world beater, he'll make mistakes, he'll lose the ball trying to thread little balls into the channels but he rarely loses it in dangerous areas. Who do we drop though? We can only drop one of two - Karacan or Leigertwood - and up until yesterday's performance I would have said drop Karacan because he is the more limited of the two, but Leigertwood has just looked so full of lethargy that he is literally half the player we had last year.
What am I basically saying? We need another dimension to our attack, and that can only come from one area of the field in my mind - the middle of the park.
by RoyalBlue » 11 Sep 2011 18:42
by andrew1957 » 11 Sep 2011 18:48
RoyalBlue McDermott got the Watford game completely and utterly wrong. And what is this about not knowing his best 11?
What the hell were the pre-season friendlies and the games we've already played about it it wasn't to get a pretty good idea of his best 11.
Yes, of course he was well and truly shafted by Madejski's book balancing but then he's been working in the shadow of the great man's ego for long enough to have known that was going to happen and that he was certain to lose some of his biggest stars, with Long being an absolute cert to go unless he picked up a bad injury. Therefore he should have been planning and building for this season on that basis.
by brendywendy » 11 Sep 2011 19:12
RoyalBlue McDermott got the Watford game completely and utterly wrong. And what is this about not knowing his best 11?
What the hell were the pre-season friendlies and the games we've already played about it it wasn't to get a pretty good idea of his best 11.
Yes, of course he was well and truly shafted by Madejski's book balancing but then he's been working in the shadow of the great man's ego for long enough to have known that was going to happen and that he was certain to lose some of his biggest stars, with Long being an absolute cert to go unless he picked up a bad injury. Therefore he should have been planning and building for this season on that basis.
by Friday's Legacy » 11 Sep 2011 19:27
RoyalBlue McDermott got the Watford game completely and utterly wrong. And what is this about not knowing his best 11?
What the hell were the pre-season friendlies and the games we've already played about it it wasn't to get a pretty good idea of his best 11.
by peterroyal76 » 11 Sep 2011 19:30
andrew1957 I cannot see how anyone can blame the manager for the current fiasco.
This is the third time in less than 2 years that he has got to fully rebuild the team and find a new way of playing. This will be the most difficult job of the three though - as a lot of the older and experienced players seem to have started this season as if they could not care a less. Harte, Griffin, Leigertwood and Kebe have been a shadow of their former selves so far.
The only possible reason I can see for their complete and utter lack of form is 1/ a loss of belief in the club (i.e. what is the point in putting any effort in when all that will happen is that the best players will be sold at the end of the season) or 2/ a complete and utter loss of confidence (i.e. they don't believe we can be successful after losing key players).
We are already so far adrift that this season is effectively a write off already (statistically even after 6 games teams very rarely progress from bottom 3 to top 6 - there are very few examples of this in recent years) so I think we need to build a team around youth. The only target left us survival and hopefully next summer lessons will be learned and no players who progress will be sold (however- that is a pipe dream as we will have another 10M black hole by then no doubt).
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 269 guests