Pogrebnyak

[EarleyRoyal16]

I hear he's not good enough for the Premier League and he's shit with his head...

Mad to think how long ago that game and goal actually was. All the anticipation we had for the season ahead after being robbed of a point at Stamford Bridge. Things looked so promising, sigh.

But yeah, I can't help but love Pog, admittedly at the start of the season I was 100% Pog OUT cause he showed no effort and was on a shit tone, now one of them is still true but he gives oxf*rd everything for the team now and I love it. His celebrations yesterday were brilliant, he had a bloody brilliant game as well, like on several occasions this season.

[floyd__streete]

I love Pog. Seemingly lacking in application around 75% of the time he plays for us yet he is still one of Reading's most talented players of all time. I will remember him fondly when we have HRK playing up front on his own next season.

[maffff]

13 isn't a bad return for a season..

[under the tin]

I love Pog. Seemingly lacking in application around 75% of the time he plays for us yet he is still one of Reading's most talented players of all time. I will remember him fondly when we have HRK playing up front for us next season.

Disagree.
Kitson was far better at holding the ball up and bringing others into play. I also reckon that Jimmy Quinn was a better all-round striker.

[SPARTA]

13 isn't a bad return for a season..

Not a bad return for the wages..

[maffff]

Our fault for paying him that, not his.

That's like blaming Blackman for his fee.

[melonhead]

I love Pog. Seemingly lacking in application around 75% of the time he plays for us yet he is still one of Reading's most talented players of all time. I will remember him fondly when we have HRK playing up front for us next season.

Disagree.
Kitson was far better at holding the ball up and bringing others into play. I also reckon that Jimmy Quinn was a better all-round striker.

one of....

[P!ssed Off]

Our fault for paying him that, not his.

That's like blaming Blackman for his fee.

Quite different.
Blackman was not involved at all in negotiating his fee, Pogrebnyak (his representative) was very much involved in negotiating his wage though.

I'm not saying Pogrebnyak is to blame, but it is a fact of life that those earning more are expected to do more.
And they can't very well complain about this increased expectation.

[maffff]

Club felt it's value for money. Joint 15th top scorer in the league (with Macheda, Ulloa, Murphy, and O'Grady). Only McGoldrick, Kermorgant, ALF, Vardy, Bryson, Austin, Nugent, Vokes, Martin, Ings, Grabban, Deeney, Rhodes and McCormack have scored more.

You can hardly go into a season expecting a player to score 20+, nice target though.

I bet most fans would be pretty happy with their front 2 scoring 28 goals between them.

Most of our fans are pretty happy with a player scoring 15 (ALF), although that's with a lot less game time.

Interestingly the four players with over 20 goals so far are playing for teams that missed out on the playoffs.

[Tilehurstsouthbank]

I love Pog. Seemingly lacking in application around 75% of the time he plays for us yet he is still one of Reading's most talented players of all time. I will remember him fondly when we have HRK playing up front for us next season.

Disagree.
Kitson was far better at holding the ball up and bringing others into play. I also reckon that Jimmy Quinn was a better all-round striker.

+1 Kit's was the best target man I've seen in 25 years of watching Reading and Quinny was a great finisher. Still love Pog though!

[Hendo]

I love Pog. Seemingly lacking in application around 75% of the time he plays for us yet he is still one of Reading's most talented players of all time. I will remember him fondly when we have HRK playing up front for us next season.

Disagree.
Kitson was far better at holding the ball up and bringing others into play. I also reckon that Jimmy Quinn was a better all-round striker.

You are probably right but floyd didn't say he was the most talented. Just one of. Which you have highlighted, which seems odd

[P!ssed Off]

Club felt it's value for money. Joint 15th top scorer in the league (with Macheda, Ulloa, Murphy, and O'Grady). Only McGoldrick, Kermorgant, ALF, Vardy, Bryson, Austin, Nugent, Vokes, Martin, Ings, Grabban, Deeney, Rhodes and McCormack have scored more.

You can hardly go into a season expecting a player to score 20+, nice target though.

I bet most fans would be pretty happy with their front 2 scoring 28 goals between them.

Most of our fans are pretty happy with a player scoring 15 (ALF), although that's with a lot less game time.

Interestingly the four players with over 20 goals so far are playing for teams that missed out on the playoffs.

Correction: Zingarevich thought it was value for money. I don't think anyone thinks it's value for money now, probably why they spent most of last Summer trying to offload him.

[under the tin]

I love Pog. Seemingly lacking in application around 75% of the time he plays for us yet he is still one of Reading's most talented players of all time. I will remember him fondly when we have HRK playing up front for us next season.

Disagree.
Kitson was far better at holding the ball up and bringing others into play. I also reckon that Jimmy Quinn was a better all-round striker.

You are probably right but floyd didn't say he was the most talented. Just one of. Which you have highlighted, which seems odd

Then I suppose it serves me right trying to post something when I was too busy to do it properly.
The "of all time" thing is a big statement. "One of" is subjective, depending on how big your reference list is. Maybe my list of all time greats is shorter.
Let me put it this way, If I had a time machine, was RFC manager, and could pick any strikers that I have seen over the years, the Pog would be behind Long, Kitson, Doyle, Forster, Cureton, Quinn, Morley, Senior, Friday and Chappell in the pecking order.

I'm not saying Pog's a bad player, but given the hype, full Russia international, Champions league experience, does he stand out at this level? Not for me.
I get irritated when a big strapping lad like him keeps getting knocked over, and all too often gets up holding his head.
I don't buy the lack of service thing too much. Friday was surrounded by cloggers, but still stood out, still scored loads.

[Royalwaster]

Maybe controversial but think that Jason Roberts was one our best players at both scoring goals and linking up play - unfortunately it only lasted for a few months.

[maffff]

Great at using his elbows and a guaranteed yellow every game, for that or being mouthy.

[Ian Royal]

Club felt it's value for money. Joint 15th top scorer in the league (with Macheda, Ulloa, Murphy, and O'Grady). Only McGoldrick, Kermorgant, ALF, Vardy, Bryson, Austin, Nugent, Vokes, Martin, Ings, Grabban, Deeney, Rhodes and McCormack have scored more.

You can hardly go into a season expecting a player to score 20+, nice target though.

I bet most fans would be pretty happy with their front 2 scoring 28 goals between them.

Most of our fans are pretty happy with a player scoring 15 (ALF), although that's with a lot less game time.

Interestingly the four players with over 20 goals so far are playing for teams that missed out on the playoffs.

You can expect a player you bought for the Premier League to get pretty close to it in the Championship though. As it turns out, ALF and Pog haven't given too bad a return thanks to a recent flurry, but you've got to be looking for your main strike pairing to be hitting 30 goals at a minimum surely?

[Wimb]

I think you've got to look at the chances created for our strikers this year, which in truth has been pretty woeful.

You can argue that strikers should be creating chances for themselves as the likes of Long, Forster and Roberts did but Pog's averaging 1.8 shots per game and Alfie 1.4, so it's pretty harsh to ask them to be getting into the 20 goal range.

For comparison McCormack is averaging 3 shots per game, so nearly double Pog and surprise surprise he's got double the goals. Rhodes is at 2.9, Vokes 2.6, Ings 3.6.

We're 20th out of 24 in terms of shots per game so to be 5th at this stage is pretty shocking and shows how good our players are when they do get decent chances.

[Cureton's Volley]

Great at using his elbows and a guaranteed yellow every game, for that or being mouthy.

Racist.

[Extended-Phenotype]

And the monkey in the astronaut joke was a reference to a monkey, rather than a black guy.

Well it wasn't. And that was his (in my opinion, over-sensitive) point.

[Schards#2]

IN for the world cup squad

'pparently