Wingers for 13/14

[Royal Biscuitman]

I can see our set up being based on Chelsea.

or Southampton in their last Championship season - Let's face it, that worked well, they just got beaten by a better team.

[Pseud O'Nym]

Unfortunately for Snowball his stuff is more Ezekiel 23:20

Or Excel A1:B5

[RoyallyFcuked]

HRK could well leave the club, possibly Kebe and/or McAnuff too.

I think if we had Drenthe, McCleary, Kebe and a new winger I would be happy. I dont want HRK to go but I think he will.

[Judge Drenthe]

HRK could well leave the club, possibly Kebe and/or McAnuff too.

I think if we had Drenthe, McCleary, Kebe and a new winger I would be happy. I dont want HRK to go but I think he will.

After McAnuff's quotes today I don't think he's going anywhere, nor is he losing the captaincy!

[jellytot]

HRK could well leave the club, possibly Kebe and/or McAnuff too.

I think if we had Drenthe, McCleary, Kebe and a new winger I would be happy. I dont want HRK to go but I think he will.

After McAnuff's quotes today I don't think he's going anywhere, nor is he losing the captaincy!

We should keep McCleary perhaps with Kebe's injury probs he should go. McCleary is more of an impact sub. The Stoke home game last season stands out for me. Before he got on the pitch we had no idea how to break down Stoke apart from hoofing it towards ALF and the Pog who want the ball to feet (trend that continued throughout the season) He actually turned the Stoke defence who were admittedly knackered by then. I would like us to keep McCleary and HRK.

[Ian Royal]

HRK could well leave the club, possibly Kebe and/or McAnuff too.

I think if we had Drenthe, McCleary, Kebe and a new winger I would be happy. I dont want HRK to go but I think he will.

After McAnuff's quotes today I don't think he's going anywhere, nor is he losing the captaincy!

If he was going to lose it, it must surely happen by the end of next week. I've never thought it likely and I think he'll probably see out his playing career with us as well, as I've said before.

Jobi's one of my all time favs, so I'm certainly a bit biased. I think he's the best performing left winger we've had as well. At least in the almost 20 years I've been watching.

[kwik-silva]

HRK could well leave the club, possibly Kebe and/or McAnuff too.

I think if we had Drenthe, McCleary, Kebe and a new winger I would be happy. I dont want HRK to go but I think he will.

After McAnuff's quotes today I don't think he's going anywhere, nor is he losing the captaincy!

Are those the ones of the OS? The ones taken from the documentary that must have been filmed a few months ago?

[P!ssed Off]

HRK could well leave the club, possibly Kebe and/or McAnuff too.

I think if we had Drenthe, McCleary, Kebe and a new winger I would be happy. I dont want HRK to go but I think he will.

After McAnuff's quotes today I don't think he's going anywhere, nor is he losing the captaincy!

If he was going to lose it, it must surely happen by the end of next week. I've never thought it likely and I think he'll probably see out his playing career with us as well, as I've said before.

Jobi's one of my all time favs, so I'm certainly a bit biased. I think he's the best performing left winger we've had as well. At least in the almost 20 years I've been watching.

Don't have to go much further back to find a left winger better than Jobi tbh. Stephen Hunt was arguably better than Jobi on the left and none of McAnuff's season's have touched on Bobby Convey's 106pt promotion season either. Now we've got Drenthe in, who is almost certainly going to eclipse McAnuff's quality on the left.

If Jobi is going to be remembered it will be as captain of our second squad to get promoted, he certainly won't be remembered as an amazing left winger. Apart from anything else, he's not even a left winger, he only plays there because we've got better players for his preferred position on the right.

[Hoop Blah]

Don't have to go much further back to find a left winger better than Jobi tbh. Stephen Hunt was arguably better than Jobi on the left and none of McAnuff's season's have touched on Bobby Convey's 106pt promotion season either. Now we've got Drenthe in, who is almost certainly going to eclipse McAnuff's quality on the left.

If Jobi is going to be remembered it will be as captain of our second squad to get promoted, he certainly won't be remembered as an amazing left winger. Apart from anything else, he's not even a left winger, he only plays there because we've got better players for his preferred position on the right.

McAnuff has played over 150 games for the club now, the majority on the left wing. He's been by far our most consistent performer on the left since Gilkes (who was consistently inconsistent but great value at the same time).

Both Hunt and Convey were very good (or at least effective in Hunts case) at their best, but we only ever saw their best for short purple patches. Hunt couldn't get a game whilst Convey made the left wing his during the 106 season but then came into his own when injury basically ended Convey's career. Convey on the other hand was very poor in his first season, excellent during the promotion, and then hung around whilst injured for the remainder of his 100 appearances.

McAnuff stands up excellently against those two. He's not been quite as good or effective as them at their very best, but he's rarely had a bad game, let alone a bad couple of months or seasons like the other two.

[littlejohnnyoster]

McAnuff will stay. Above anything else, a new manager wouldn't want to get rid of his personality.

I think he'll play majority of games, whether on the left or centrally with Drenthe on left or central (until he oxf*rd up) and HRK on right (unless he goes). Leaves injury prone Kebe and impact-sub McCleary as back up.

Don't see why any of these have to go?

[Ian Royal]

After McAnuff's quotes today I don't think he's going anywhere, nor is he losing the captaincy!

If he was going to lose it, it must surely happen by the end of next week. I've never thought it likely and I think he'll probably see out his playing career with us as well, as I've said before.

Jobi's one of my all time favs, so I'm certainly a bit biased. I think he's the best performing left winger we've had as well. At least in the almost 20 years I've been watching.

Don't have to go much further back to find a left winger better than Jobi tbh. Stephen Hunt was arguably better than Jobi on the left and none of McAnuff's season's have touched on Bobby Convey's 106pt promotion season either. Now we've got Drenthe in, who is almost certainly going to eclipse McAnuff's quality on the left.

If Jobi is going to be remembered it will be as captain of our second squad to get promoted, he certainly won't be remembered as an amazing left winger. Apart from anything else, he's not even a left winger, he only plays there because we've got better players for his preferred position on the right.

Hunt!?
Convey had one good season, Jobi has had four.

[P!ssed Off]

If he was going to lose it, it must surely happen by the end of next week. I've never thought it likely and I think he'll probably see out his playing career with us as well, as I've said before.

Jobi's one of my all time favs, so I'm certainly a bit biased. I think he's the best performing left winger we've had as well. At least in the almost 20 years I've been watching.

Don't have to go much further back to find a left winger better than Jobi tbh. Stephen Hunt was arguably better than Jobi on the left and none of McAnuff's season's have touched on Bobby Convey's 106pt promotion season either. Now we've got Drenthe in, who is almost certainly going to eclipse McAnuff's quality on the left.

If Jobi is going to be remembered it will be as captain of our second squad to get promoted, he certainly won't be remembered as an amazing left winger. Apart from anything else, he's not even a left winger, he only plays there because we've got better players for his preferred position on the right.

Hunt!?
Convey had one good season, Jobi has had four.

Convey had one amazing season. Hunt had two very good Prem seasons, and two decent seasons either side of the Prem years.
Jobi has had 4 decent seasons. The only reason he might be remembered by fans in 20 years time is because he was captain when we were promoted, his ability alone is not something that people will remember him for, people don't remember players who are just consistently decent.

That someone just mentioned Gilkes says it all. If someone says to me in 16 years time "He's the most consistent left winger since McAnuff", I'll assume they're taking the piss.

[Hoop Blah]

Hunt had two decent seasons around the Premier years?

The year we went up he started 3 league games. The year after we went down he was one of those players who totally lost form around Christmas time and played a huge part in us failing to go up after being in an excellent position at the turn of the year.

He had a good run in the Premier League, but his game was just about running around and getting in peoples faces. If you think he was better in that relegated side than McAnuff was this year then I'd suggest you've got a bit of a warped view on what consititutes good wing play.

[P!ssed Off]

Hunt had two decent seasons around the Premier years?

The year we went up he started 3 league games. The year after we went down he was one of those players who totally lost form around Christmas time and played a huge part in us failing to go up after being in an excellent position at the turn of the year.

He had a good run in the Premier League, but his game was just about running around and getting in peoples faces. If you think he was better in that relegated side than McAnuff was this year then I'd suggest you've got a bit of a warped view on what consititutes good wing play.

Came on 35 times though, I'm not sure you can discount his contribution.
In that magnificent season where 12 players got 20+ starts in the league, we still cannot forget Hunt, Oster and Gunnarsson, who still contributed significantly, whilst not being key players.

[Hoop Blah]

I'm not saying he didn't play a part. Being able to rest Convey and Little after 60/70 minutes of the high tempo play we used at that time was important.

To compare that contirbution with McAnuff, or Gilkes, as a key player playing week-in week-out and playing well is just daft though.

[P!ssed Off]

I'm not saying he didn't play a part. Being able to rest Convey and Little after 60/70 minutes of the high tempo play we used at that time was important.

To compare that contirbution with McAnuff, or Gilkes, as a key player playing week-in week-out and playing well is just daft though.

Definitely didn't compare Gilkes to anyone. In fact I said it was foolish to compare Gilkes to McAnuff.

I think it is entirely possible to compare Hunt to McAnuff though, who better to compare the current left winger to, than the previous left winger, who played a very similar amount of games over an identical time period (4 seasons), with both players testing themselves at Championship as well as Prem level.

I also agree with you that Hunt was not an amazing winger technically, but it was his effort and tenacity that made him good. This is very similar to what people say about McAnuff. I don't thonk anyone claims McAnuff to be an amazing winger, they say he tries very hard and is consistently decent.

[Hoop Blah]

I said compare that seasons contribution (the 3 starts) to McAnuff's contribution as a key player for each and every one of his 4 seasons.

Not comparing any of them to Gilkes is daft too. He was our left winger for a significant amount of time and a previous standard-barer for comparison in that position. Yeah he played at a lower level, and wasn't as good a player as others, but in terms on contribution (he played what, 400 games?) and relative talent at the level we were at he's a contender for our best left winger (certainly over the last 25 years).

[P!ssed Off]

I said compare that seasons contribution (the 3 starts) to McAnuff's contribution as a key player for each and every one of his 4 seasons.

Not comparing any of them to Gilkes is daft too. He was our left winger for a significant amount of time and a previous standard-barer for comparison in that position. Yeah he played at a lower level, and wasn't as good a player as others, but in terms on contribution (he played what, 400 games?) and relative talent at the level we were at he's a contender for our best left winger (certainly over the last 25 years).

Yes, I am in agreement that Gilkes is a Reading legend and will be remembered in decades to come. Stop trying to convince me that he is more of a Reading legend than Convey, Hunt or McAnuff, I never said anything to the contrary.

Also, I would have to disagree that McAnuff was a key player in his first season at Reading. He rarely even touched the ball and was one of our least involved players.
His tendency to not get involved in games continued in to the next season, hence the surprise from most people (including myself), when he was named captain.

[melonhead]

He rarely even touched the ball and was one of our least involved players.

really?

[P!ssed Off]

He rarely even touched the ball and was one of our least involved players.

really?

I believe it was regularly discussed on BBCRB after games, where it was revealed that often McAnuff would only touch the ball 5 or so times, a half, in particularly dry spells, far less than anyone else on the pitch.

Partly understandable that a winger will touch the ball the least, but still much less touches than expected.
This was definitely discussed regularly on BBCRB, less so in the last two seasons.