How impressed are you with BMcD's return to the club?

[Maneki Neko]

im as positive a pro brian pro club man as anyone, but even I baulk at tactical genius

[Top Flight]

Fair enough. I accept your criticism.

I just got a bit defensive. There are people trying to state that Brian is completely tactically inept which I think is very unfair and quite harsh. Since it was quite extreme to call him completely inept, I went to the other extreme and called him a tactical genius. The truth is somewhere in the middle.

I haven't enjoyed watching the diamond in recent weeks. I prefer wing play, pace, 4-4-2. But you have to have the right players. I felt that he could have gone 4-4-2 but at the same time, I understand why he didn't. So I'm not going to slate him for it. These last 7 matches have been so meaningless and dissapointing. I don't think they really should be analysed. They have no bearing whatsoever on next season.

I'm sure part of the reason the diamond failed is because of the players attitude. When there is nothing to play for, the Euros are coming up and so many of them know they are heading out the door, it's obvious that there could be problems with attitude. Some of our players are very unprofessional and can quite frankly F off.

[Maneki Neko]

had no real option other than diamond imo, with oxf*rd all proper wingers at the club, attacking full backs who cant defend, Norwood cant play in a midfield 2 and doesn't like being too far up the pitch, likes to play QB. and a crocked winger at RB because the squad is massively lacking in cover and totally imbalanced.

[Longhorn1970]

Fair enough. I accept your criticism.

I just got a bit defensive. There are people trying to state that Brian is completely tactically inept which I think is very unfair and quite harsh. Since it was quite extreme to call him completely inept, I went to the other extreme and called him a tactical genius. The truth is somewhere in the middle.

I haven't enjoyed watching the diamond in recent weeks. I prefer wing play, pace, 4-4-2. But you have to have the right players. I felt that he could have gone 4-4-2 but at the same time, I understand why he didn't. So I'm not going to slate him for it. These last 7 matches have been so meaningless and dissapointing. I don't think they really should be analysed. They have no bearing whatsoever on next season.

I'm sure part of the reason the diamond failed is because of the players attitude. When there is nothing to play for, the Euros are coming up and so many of them know they are heading out the door, it's obvious that there could be problems with attitude. Some of our players are very unprofessional and can quite frankly F off.

Is it not BM's role to get the most out the players available ? Perhaps he's not able to do that, because regardless if formation the performances are not up to scratch ..

[Ian Royal]

Look, Ian, I'm usually pretty supportive of you, even when I completely disagree, but to just dismiss my opinions as "empty headed" is both arrogant and rude. I'll be fine if you'd like to apologise.

Favourites played far too many times: Gorkks. Leigertwood.
Bizarre selections: Carrico when not fit then (hardly ever again). Hope Akpan.
Not playing Tabb, or Guthrie. Not playing Pogrebnyak.

This season? Vydra. Williams. Cooper (ahead of Ferdiand when he's been fit).
Bizarre: Evans on his debut when not up to speed, then not again for months.
Not playing: Cox, Fernandez, John, Sa.

You may also like to watch highlights of the home games against Wigan and Aston Villa. from Spring 2013. I remember being there and knowing that this was a manager who had lost his way.

ok, well I'll go as far as sorry that what I said came across as saying you were empty headed, but I stand by describing the criticism of playing favourites as empyy headed. Though perhaps lazy and meaningless would be better. You certainly don't raise any of my mental flag lists for posters who couldn't find their arse with a map and both hands.

I've been plenty critical of McDermott's performance in the PL and I'm not going to go into that, though I don't think favouritism is really a valid one. As far as I'm concerned it's water under the bridge and barely relevant to the Championship and now.

I can happily agree some of McDermott's selection choices this season were questionable or even poor.

But the point of a manager is to make those choices and there were no clear better alternatives. Cox got a fair crack and wasn't scoring. Ferdinand had as many cons as pros. I think it's also important to remember we don't see the training ground and the manager does.

By all means criticise selection, but have some substance and don't juat resort to lazy and meaningless sound bites.

[Lower West]

Is it not BM's role to get the most out the players available ? .

Nothing BM can do once they are on the pitch. That's where the problems have surfaced. As pro's shouldn't need motivating. Far too much arguing the toss with ref's, shrugging of shoulders, sulking, not communication with team mates. Serious discord in the camp.

[Top Flight]

Fair enough. I accept your criticism.

I just got a bit defensive. There are people trying to state that Brian is completely tactically inept which I think is very unfair and quite harsh. Since it was quite extreme to call him completely inept, I went to the other extreme and called him a tactical genius. The truth is somewhere in the middle.

I haven't enjoyed watching the diamond in recent weeks. I prefer wing play, pace, 4-4-2. But you have to have the right players. I felt that he could have gone 4-4-2 but at the same time, I understand why he didn't. So I'm not going to slate him for it. These last 7 matches have been so meaningless and dissapointing. I don't think they really should be analysed. They have no bearing whatsoever on next season.

I'm sure part of the reason the diamond failed is because of the players attitude. When there is nothing to play for, the Euros are coming up and so many of them know they are heading out the door, it's obvious that there could be problems with attitude. Some of our players are very unprofessional and can quite frankly F off.

Is it not BM's role to get the most out the players available ? Perhaps he's not able to do that, because regardless if formation the performances are not up to scratch ..

We've been through all this already. I am not going to explain it to you again.

[Hoop Blah]

Is it not BM's role to get the most out the players available ? .

Nothing BM can do once they are on the pitch. That's where the problems have surfaced. As pro's shouldn't need motivating. Far too much arguing the toss with ref's, shrugging of shoulders, sulking, not communication with team mates. Serious discord in the camp.

It's down to the manager to manage the players and the environment to ensure that players are comfortable, confident and committed so that when they cross that white line they're more likely to perform.

Granted McDermott took over a squad that obviously had issues, and it probably wasn't an easy thing to address, but you can't just absolve the manager of any responsiblity for players performing poorly.

That's the art of management and we're constantly being told what a good man manager McDermott is and how he gets the best out of players. I don't think we've seen much of that over the last 6 months.

[Longhorn1970]

Fair enough. I accept your criticism.

I just got a bit defensive. There are people trying to state that Brian is completely tactically inept which I think is very unfair and quite harsh. Since it was quite extreme to call him completely inept, I went to the other extreme and called him a tactical genius. The truth is somewhere in the middle.

I haven't enjoyed watching the diamond in recent weeks. I prefer wing play, pace, 4-4-2. But you have to have the right players. I felt that he could have gone 4-4-2 but at the same time, I understand why he didn't. So I'm not going to slate him for it. These last 7 matches have been so meaningless and dissapointing. I don't think they really should be analysed. They have no bearing whatsoever on next season.

I'm sure part of the reason the diamond failed is because of the players attitude. When there is nothing to play for, the Euros are coming up and so many of them know they are heading out the door, it's obvious that there could be problems with attitude. Some of our players are very unprofessional and can quite frankly F off.

Is it not BM's role to get the most out the players available ? Perhaps he's not able to do that, because regardless if formation the performances are not up to scratch ..

We've been through all this already. I am not going to explain it to you again.

What a relief ..

[Longhorn1970]

Is it not BM's role to get the most out the players available ? .

Nothing BM can do once they are on the pitch. That's where the problems have surfaced. As pro's shouldn't need motivating. Far too much arguing the toss with ref's, shrugging of shoulders, sulking, not communication with team mates. Serious discord in the camp.

It's down to the manager to manage the players and the environment to ensure that players are comfortable, confident and committed so that when they cross that white line they're more likely to perform.

Granted McDermott took over a squad that obviously had issues, and it probably wasn't an easy thing to address, but you can't just absolve the manager of any responsiblity for players performing poorly.

That's the art of management and we're constantly being told what a good man manager McDermott is and how he gets the best out of players. I don't think we've seen much of that over the last 6 months.

+1

[sandman]

Not much a manager can do when Cooper slips over or Vydra and John are missing from about 2 yards.

[Longhorn1970]

Is it not BM's role to get the most out the players available ? .

Nothing BM can do once they are on the pitch. That's where the problems have surfaced. As pro's shouldn't need motivating. Far too much arguing the toss with ref's, shrugging of shoulders, sulking, not communication with team mates. Serious discord in the camp.

the responsibility to sort that mess out rests with 'the manager', the clue is in the title ..

[Longhorn1970]

Not much a manager can do when Vydra and John are missing from about 2 yards.

how you suppose warnock or lee Johnson got a reaction from lowly Rovrum and brizzle respectively ..

[Longhorn1970]

Not much a manager can do when Cooper slips over or Vydra and John are missing from about 2 yards.

Cooper was decent for the most part ..

[sandman]

You'd have to ask them what their methods are. Something to fight for, a club that's united rather than fractured through years of mismanagement, a team of players that are going to be at the club the following year and therefore have a vested interest in staying up?

[Snowball]

Presumably the loanees were brought in as the core of the side.

Sadly it wasn't always obvious that the loanees cared enough
and that was pre-McDermott.

HRK, Cox, Ferdinand were also going, so that's a mere TEN major players who
had very little reason to play hard.

Cooper was clearly starting to flag, needed a break but we had almost no back-up

That makes ELEVEN players off the top line.

I suspect that Norwood is going and will be replaced by Evans. If I'm right (and we know Norwood was keen to extend his contract) then maybe it was hard for him to be fully motivated. Make that 11 = 12

McDermott, once he gave up on the loanees, was down to the bare bones, and those players,
whether we like it or not were going to be disillusioned and going through the motions. No manager
is going to be listened to in this situation.

For the whole of this season something has felt "off" at the club and there have been many comments about Sa not being interested, Williams being selfish and not a team player (as was Blackman). These are only "feelings" but we have to admit this has been the most peculiar season ever.

Remember when we used to go 2-0 up and then stop playing (Bristol, Burnley) and how much of a shock it was at Fulham losing after leading 0-2? But then remember how in the game BEFORE Fulham, away to Rotherham, that 1-1 away draw seemed like a serious failure? Despite the little 6 in 7 run we had, and that brief moment at 2nd, did we ever feel like a great side with momentum?

The SC mystery is symptomatic of "something" even if we are not sure what.

IMO McDermott is managing a change of company structure. Brought in to hive off bits, buy in cheaper, set us up to stop the rot and keep us up, then to start planning for an almost-new team next season.

I think he will bring in a sound "pro" (like McShane) at CB, with Cooper as cover (and A N Other?) and we will see a lot of Stacey and Fosu on the wings. The midfield of Tish, Flynn, Evans (Norwood) looks solid enough with a couple of kids as back-up and the base "3" up front of Termagant, Rakels, Samuels almost certainly need a speed merchant or a rough-tough battering ram.

If, as seems likely, we rely on kids, anything near 12-15th would be decent next season, with a chance the following year of challenging for the top six. To do any better we need to find a striking gem, like Long coming good.

I realise all my guesses are based on Williams not being here. It's mostly instinct, but I think we will be a better club, and a better team when he goes.

[Top Flight]

Presumably the loanees were brought in as the core of the side.

Sadly it wasn't always obvious that the loanees cared enough
and that was pre-McDermott.

HRK, Cox, Ferdinand were also going, so that's a mere TEN major players who
had very little reason to play hard.

Cooper was clearly starting to flag, needed a break but we had almost no back-up

That makes ELEVEN players off the top line.

I suspect that Norwood is going and will be replaced by Evans. If I'm right (and we know Norwood was keen to extend his contract) then maybe it was hard for him to be fully motivated. Make that 11 = 12

McDermott, once he gave up on the loanees, was down to the bare bones, and those players,
whether we like it or not were going to be disillusioned and going through the motions. No manager
is going to be listened to in this situation.

For the whole of this season something has felt "off" at the club and there have been many comments about Sa not being interested, Williams being selfish and not a team player (as was Blackman). These are only "feelings" but we have to admit this has been the most peculiar season ever.

Remember when we used to go 2-0 up and then stop playing (Bristol, Burnley) and how much of a shock it was at Fulham losing after leading 0-2? But then remember how in the game BEFORE Fulham, away to Rotherham, that 1-1 away draw seemed like a serious failure? Despite the little 6 in 7 run we had, and that brief moment at 2nd, did we ever feel like a great side with momentum?

The SC mystery is symptomatic of "something" even if we are not sure what.

IMO McDermott is managing a change of company structure. Brought in to hive off bits, buy in cheaper, set us up to stop the rot and keep us up, then to start planning for an almost-new team next season.

I think he will bring in a sound "pro" (like McShane) at CB, with Cooper as cover (and A N Other?) and we will see a lot of Stacey and Fosu on the wings. The midfield of Tish, Flynn, Evans (Norwood) looks solid enough with a couple of kids as back-up and the base "3" up front of Termagant, Rakels, Samuels almost certainly need a speed merchant or a rough-tough battering ram.

If, as seems likely, we rely on kids, anything near 12-15th would be decent next season, with a chance the following year of challenging for the top six. To do any better we need to find a striking gem, like Long coming good.

I realise all my guesses are based on Williams not being here. It's mostly instinct, but I think we will be a better club, and a better team when he goes.

Great post Snowball. Makes a lot of sense.

Also, let's take into account what Paul McShane has this evening said on Get Reading. Here is the link:

http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/reading-fc-skipper-paul-mcshane-11312829

Paul McShane has questioned the desire of some of his teammates following Reading’s disastrous end to the season.

McShane believes the dramatic loss of form can be put down to a lack of desire to do what’s needed to succeed in the Championship.

His comments: “It was really good at the start,” said the Republic of Ireland international.

“But it was hard work though when we were winning and we couldn’t keep it up.

“I’ve always said this league is about physical and mental endurance. I don’t think we had the mental side.

“There has been no team that’s hammered us, it’s just consistency we’ve lacked.

“It doesn’t take much to get that, it takes good, hard work and we need people who are willing to do that.”

McShane added: “It’s hard to win games, you have to work hard in every single game. I think mentally you have to get yourself ready for every Saturday and Tuesday.

“At times I don’t think we were ready for that. At times I think we wanted to be one game on, game off.

“You look at the likes of Burnley and Middlesbrough. You can’t say they were better footballing teams than us, but they had that edge, that grit to win games - we lacked that.”

And McShane looks back to that draw against Rotherham as the moment the season started to fall apart.

“The change that I noticed was when we got a point at Rotherham,” he said.

“We then went into that slump and never recovered from it.

“All the teams have a slump though. Middlesbrough had it, Brighton had it, Hull had it - but they got themselves back in it because they kept going.

“But we didn’t. Heads went down and we found it hard to get them back up. We’ve let ourselves down.”

The centre-back added: “It’s sickening. I’m raging, it’s been really disappointing.

“There’s a lot of talking that’s gone on, but not enough action - that’s what I’ve found.

Let's stop pointing the finger at Brian (Longhorn, Royally Fffff up and the rest of ya). All the evidence is telling us that the players didn't have the desire this season. It's not Brian's fault.
As I have said many times, the only sort of management that is appropriate in this situation is a complete change in the playing staff. They need to be kicked out of the door and sent on a bus to Derby.

Paul McShane is definitely one of the players that doesn't need to be changed. He always wore his heart on his sleeve and gave everything. And there are a few others as well, like McShane who gave it their all this season. But massive change is needed and Brian is the best man for that difficult job.

Full credit to McShane for being honest and telling us what we can already see. We know the desire hasn't been there this season. We know it has been a shambles. Brian has come in to fix all of that. Now is the time he can finally address those big issues that ruined last season, because it's only transfer window management that can resolve it when so many players are total ars*holes.

Thanks Clarke for filling our squad with assh*loes!

[Maneki Neko]

Is it not BM's role to get the most out the players available ? .

Nothing BM can do once they are on the pitch. That's where the problems have surfaced. As pro's shouldn't need motivating. Far too much arguing the toss with ref's, shrugging of shoulders, sulking, not communication with team mates. Serious discord in the camp.

exactly the same under Clarke at the end

[Longhorn1970]

Presumably the loanees were brought in as the core of the side.

Sadly it wasn't always obvious that the loanees cared enough
and that was pre-McDermott.

HRK, Cox, Ferdinand were also going, so that's a mere TEN major players who
had very little reason to play hard.

Cooper was clearly starting to flag, needed a break but we had almost no back-up

That makes ELEVEN players off the top line.

I suspect that Norwood is going and will be replaced by Evans. If I'm right (and we know Norwood was keen to extend his contract) then maybe it was hard for him to be fully motivated. Make that 11 = 12

McDermott, once he gave up on the loanees, was down to the bare bones, and those players,
whether we like it or not were going to be disillusioned and going through the motions. No manager
is going to be listened to in this situation.

For the whole of this season something has felt "off" at the club and there have been many comments about Sa not being interested, Williams being selfish and not a team player (as was Blackman). These are only "feelings" but we have to admit this has been the most peculiar season ever.

Remember when we used to go 2-0 up and then stop playing (Bristol, Burnley) and how much of a shock it was at Fulham losing after leading 0-2? But then remember how in the game BEFORE Fulham, away to Rotherham, that 1-1 away draw seemed like a serious failure? Despite the little 6 in 7 run we had, and that brief moment at 2nd, did we ever feel like a great side with momentum?

The SC mystery is symptomatic of "something" even if we are not sure what.

IMO McDermott is managing a change of company structure. Brought in to hive off bits, buy in cheaper, set us up to stop the rot and keep us up, then to start planning for an almost-new team next season.

I think he will bring in a sound "pro" (like McShane) at CB, with Cooper as cover (and A N Other?) and we will see a lot of Stacey and Fosu on the wings. The midfield of Tish, Flynn, Evans (Norwood) looks solid enough with a couple of kids as back-up and the base "3" up front of Termagant, Rakels, Samuels almost certainly need a speed merchant or a rough-tough battering ram.

If, as seems likely, we rely on kids, anything near 12-15th would be decent next season, with a chance the following year of challenging for the top six. To do any better we need to find a striking gem, like Long coming good.

I realise all my guesses are based on Williams not being here. It's mostly instinct, but I think we will be a better club, and a better team when he goes.

Great post Snowball. Makes a lot of sense.

Also, let's take into account what Paul McShane has this evening said on Get Reading. Here is the link:

http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/reading-fc-skipper-paul-mcshane-11312829

Paul McShane has questioned the desire of some of his teammates following Reading’s disastrous end to the season.

McShane believes the dramatic loss of form can be put down to a lack of desire to do what’s needed to succeed in the Championship.

His comments: “It was really good at the start,” said the Republic of Ireland international.

“But it was hard work though when we were winning and we couldn’t keep it up.

“I’ve always said this league is about physical and mental endurance. I don’t think we had the mental side.

“There has been no team that’s hammered us, it’s just consistency we’ve lacked.

“It doesn’t take much to get that, it takes good, hard work and we need people who are willing to do that.”

McShane added: “It’s hard to win games, you have to work hard in every single game. I think mentally you have to get yourself ready for every Saturday and Tuesday.

“At times I don’t think we were ready for that. At times I think we wanted to be one game on, game off.

“You look at the likes of Burnley and Middlesbrough. You can’t say they were better footballing teams than us, but they had that edge, that grit to win games - we lacked that.”

And McShane looks back to that draw against Rotherham as the moment the season started to fall apart.

“The change that I noticed was when we got a point at Rotherham,” he said.

“We then went into that slump and never recovered from it.

“All the teams have a slump though. Middlesbrough had it, Brighton had it, Hull had it - but they got themselves back in it because they kept going.

“But we didn’t. Heads went down and we found it hard to get them back up. We’ve let ourselves down.”

The centre-back added: “It’s sickening. I’m raging, it’s been really disappointing.

“There’s a lot of talking that’s gone on, but not enough action - that’s what I’ve found.

Let's stop pointing the finger at Brian (Longhorn, Royally Fffff up and the rest of ya). All the evidence is telling us that the players didn't have the desire this season. It's not Brian's fault.
As I have said many times, the only sort of management that is appropriate in this situation is a complete change in the playing staff. They need to be kicked out of the door and sent on a bus to Derby.

Paul McShane is definitely one of the players that doesn't need to be changed. He always wore his heart on his sleeve and gave everything. And there are a few others as well, like McShane who gave it their all this season. But massive change is needed and Brian is the best man for that difficult job.

Full credit to McShane for being honest and telling us what we can already see. We know the desire hasn't been there this season. We know it has been a shambles. Brian has come in to fix all of that. Now is the time he can finally address those big issues that ruined last season, because it's only transfer window management that can resolve it when so many players are total ars*holes.

Thanks Clarke for filling our squad with assh*loes!

Stop making excuses for BM's resounding failure, you rightly point out most contenders blipped but notably they didn't sack their manager ..

[Top Flight]

I find it impossible at this early stage to pass a judgement over McDermott in his current stint as Reading manager. He hasn't failed or succeeded yet in his job as our boss. His mission has barely begun.

What I do know about him though, is that he is one of only two managers to get Reading in to the top division since 1871. His track record as Reading manager in just 3 years as our boss reads 1 League title, 1 play-off final and 3 FA CUP quarter finals.

On that basis, he deserves the chance to actually do the job that he was brought in to do.

You're the kind of person that would sack your builder before he has laid his first brick. Or walk out of Cafe Nero before the milk has been frothed up and poured into your cappuccino.

You need to just chill out and be patient.