Brian: The right decision?

[Big Foot]

now how did I know this would come back to the top after Leeds won today? 4 efforts on goal 4 goals, pretty clinical from McCormack

36%-64% possession..nothing changes there

Sheffield Wednesday 5 - 2 Reading - Possession? 53:47 in Reading's favour - remind me how many points we get at the end of the season for having the most possession.......

[Mr Angry]

Personally I was both surprised and disappointed that McDermott was sacked when he was, regardless of the reasoning; it seemed to me a hugely negative thing to dispense with the services of someone who had proved he could get a football team promoted from the Championship. I genuinely hope he does well at Leeds, and for the first time in 40 Years, I don't want Leeds to get relegated or suffer weekly humiliation.

Despite the sacking of McDermott, I'm not disappointed in the appointment of Adkins, who will clearly need time to develop the squad to fit into how he wants the game to be played, and for the change in style to become embedded and to work effectively - time that many who post on this board appear unwilling to give him.

Reading FC are - to use a couple of footballing cliches - a work in progress and in transition; to achieve automatic promotion this season will be both a miracle and, IMHO, far from the panacea to all things that many make out, as I feel at this stage in our development playing in the Premier League would be a disaster. Far better to develop the new style in the Championship for another season after this, and then we should be better equipped to survive should we get promotion.

However, a play-off spot is not beyond the bounds of possibility this season, and achieving that should be seen as a success for Adkins; sadly though, there will be some for whom the guy will never be any good purely because he isn't McDermott.

[Big Foot]

Reading FC are - to use a couple of footballing cliches - a work in progress and in transition; to achieve automatic promotion this season will be both a miracle and, IMHO, far from the panacea to all things that many make out, as I feel at this stage in our development playing in the Premier League would be a disaster. Far better to develop the new style in the Championship for another season after this, and then we should be better equipped to survive should we get promotion.

You have to laugh then, when Adkins comes out and says at the fans forum (shhhh better not speak about it too long before STAR have a menopause over it):

"We will win the league, we'll score 100 goals, we'll win 24 matches and keep clean sheets"

He is a JOKER.

[Bandini]

The club are running out of time to get Brian back in before the transfer window, to give him a chance to work his magic as he did in 11/12.

[Cypry]

Reading FC are - to use a couple of footballing cliches - a work in progress and in transition; to achieve automatic promotion this season will be both a miracle and, IMHO, far from the panacea to all things that many make out, as I feel at this stage in our development playing in the Premier League would be a disaster. Far better to develop the new style in the Championship for another season after this, and then we should be better equipped to survive should we get promotion.

You have to laugh then, when Adkins comes out and says at the fans forum (shhhh better not speak about it too long before STAR have a menopause over it):

"We will win the league, we'll score 100 goals, we'll win 24 matches and keep clean sheets"

He is a JOKER.

Were you there then? If you were you clearly need to speak to the quack about your hearing....

What he actually said is that IF we scored 100 goals and kept 24 clean sheets, statistics would indicate that we'd win the league....he said that therefore 100 goals and 24 clean sheets were nominal TARGETS that had been set....

At no point did he say we WOULD achieve either target.....

There's only one JOKER here and that's you.....

[Big Foot]

Oh dear Don't say too much, don't want you to upset your STAR chums again m8

[The Cap]

How does it go in Green Street when the pair of them are squaring up to each other? "Beers boys". And, anyway, where were we with the original topic of this thread?

[Ian Royal]

Reading FC are - to use a couple of footballing cliches - a work in progress and in transition; to achieve automatic promotion this season will be both a miracle and, IMHO, far from the panacea to all things that many make out, as I feel at this stage in our development playing in the Premier League would be a disaster. Far better to develop the new style in the Championship for another season after this, and then we should be better equipped to survive should we get promotion.

You have to laugh then, when Adkins comes out and says at the fans forum (shhhh better not speak about it too long before STAR have a menopause over it):

"We want to win the league, we want to score 100 goals, we want to win 24 matches and keep clean sheets"

He is a JOKER.

[Man Friday]

It seems that possession is not all it's cracked up to be...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24891724

"Against the Gunners, Manchester United had the least possession (39.87%) and worst passing accuracy (75.87) of any of their Premier League games this season.

United also played their lowest number of passes (344) in any league game at Old Trafford for seven years, since a draw with Chelsea in a top-of-the-table clash in November 2006, when they played 310.

In fact, there have only been seven away league games since the start of the 2006-07 season where United have played fewer passes than they managed on Sunday."

[Ian Royal]

Why is it so hard for people to understand that possession doesn't guarantee success, but it certainly helps to achieve it for the most part. Afterall, your opposition can't score if you've got the ball and you can't score if they've got it. You've still got to make it quality possession to achieve anything though.

[winchester_royal]

Why is it so hard for people to understand that possession doesn't guarantee success, but it certainly helps to achieve it for the most part. Afterall, your opposition can't score if you've got the ball and you can't score if they've got it. You've still got to make it quality possession to achieve anything though.

Good discussion here: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2010/may/12/the-question-important-possession

Conclusion is basically that while possession isn't the single determinant of a result, there is a pretty strong correlation between possession and winning football games, obviously.

Doesn't make the other parts, such as defensive organisation and having a cutting edge in attack, any less important, but it stands to reason that if you spend less time having to defend and more time trying to break down the opposition that you'll be more successful in both in the long run (ceteris paribus).

[Eaststandman]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

[AirRaidSiren]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

Would be a better comment come May

[WoodleyRoyal]

noooooooooooo just let go and let this thread die

[windermere_royal]

i just knew it would happen

[BILTON]

This is a good thread I think we were stupid to get rid of Brian absolutely stupid

[Uke]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

Would be a better comment come May

Brian May?

[Eaststandman]

Hurricane Smith, circa 1971

[Bandini]

I can't see that today's results change anything.

Whether or not Brian again beats Nigel in the Championship this was the wrong decision. Nigel's failures just highlight the error.

[AirRaidSiren]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

Would be a better comment come May

Brian May?

Buh dum-tisch!