Gunter

[bobby1413]

My second rant of the day (for the first see the "in or out" thread).

I just don't understand Reading fans views and criticisms of Gunter. I don't think he had a great game against Norwich and made two really big errors in the second half which nearly led to a goal. But he wasn't our worst player and had some good moments.

Why are people so violently against him?

He has 81 International caps for Wales (who are a far better team than England) - and is one of the first names on the team sheet I'd imagine.

He's hugely admired and respected by pundits, Welsh football fans

He has 197 appearances for Reading

I personally feel he's one of our most solid and reliable players. He's more consistent than most who seem to look like Messi one game, and then a Sunday League player the next.

I can't help but feel it's once again the negative Reading fans who just seem to moan and groan about every little thing. If he was to go onto the transfer market he'd be snapped up and straight into any other Championship side.

If all people have to moan about is Gunter then they should look at other players within the team first.

[Steve_Upper_West]

Agreed.... he is the least of our worries just now.

Ironically playing in a back five suits him better as he has less traditional defending to do - he made a vital block in the first half yesterday and hit the bar in the second.

[The Cap]

Yet another rant, bob. Steady on mate. You need to go and lay down in a dark room for a few minutes Only joking. Love your passion really. Personally, I think the reason peeps have a pop at Gunter is that he's an easy target, playing where he does, as well as his very predictable way of playing. Yes, he's Mr Reliable and Mr Consistent but consistently what? I think you'll find that therein lies the answer to your question. Happy Sunday, bob.

[Hound]

The abuse towards Gunter always bemuses me.

Though in saying that I've only ever see Ian Royal on here do it

[Pandoras Box]

It really irritates me the way he wears his socks like a French whore.




(And no - not because i find it arousing)

[Chuckle Brother]

My second rant of the day (for the first see the "in or out" thread).

I just don't understand Reading fans views and criticisms of Gunter. I don't think he had a great game against Norwich and made two really big errors in the second half which nearly led to a goal. But he wasn't our worst player and had some good moments.

Why are people so violently against him?

He has 81 International caps for Wales (who are a far better team than England) - and is one of the first names on the team sheet I'd imagine.

He's hugely admired and respected by pundits, Welsh football fans

He has 197 appearances for Reading

I personally feel he's one of our most solid and reliable players. He's more consistent than most who seem to look like Messi one game, and then a Sunday League player the next.

I can't help but feel it's once again the negative Reading fans who just seem to moan and groan about every little thing. If he was to go onto the transfer market he'd be snapped up and straight into any other Championship side.

If all people have to moan about is Gunter then they should look at other players within the team first.

When did any of the players have a game like Messi ? Must have missed those ones.

[Linden Jones' Tash]

My view:

The 'media' bang on about how he is a great athlete ect ect. yet his performances underwhelm.

Agreed he is not the worse performer at the moment, but for someone with his pedigree, he should be so much better. His positional sense always seems off to me and he doesn't contribute enough going forward.

I'm not one for vocalising disappointment at players during the game as I believe that football is 65% psychology, 35% physique and tactics.

Confident players are so much better than when confidence is shot - sadly a losing habit tends to drain confidence and performances drop

The weird double mistake where Gunter tried to gift Norwich an assist twice was probably due to confidence issues.

In summary, he frustrates me, because he could and should be better for us, but isn't

[NewCorkSeth]

We've had a lot of Gunter threads eh?

[starbug]

What counts against him is that we remember him getting down the wing a lot, getting forward and getting crosses in. Since Stam, he rarely goes forward and simply plays it straight back. So its not so much that he's playing badly but boring and negative, far from what he used to be.

[Sutekh]

In summary, he frustrates me, because he could and should be better for us, but isn't

Think we're got about 11 of those at the moment, though perhaps Liam Moore could be excused.

[Hound]

In summary, he frustrates me, because he could and should be better for us, but isn't

Think we're got about 11 of those at the moment, though perhaps Liam Moore could be excused.

Moore has been our player of the season so far by a ridiculously huge margin

[Snowflake Royal]

Hound, I'm one of his more symapthetic critics on here.

Normally he's bang average but reliable. This season he's been at fault for many of the stupid goals we've conceded. He made more than half a dozen stupid errors in yesterdays second half.

Millwall - weak and beaten on the back post.
Fulham - caught on his heels by Berg's shit pass, dived in and missed the ball and player instead of trying to stand him up or take both out.
Bristol - tried a stupid clearance and passed to their player in the middle of the D for an easy goal
Hull - another half hearted slide that gets nowhere near the ball

He is over cautious most of the time and frequently ignores forward options in favour of the safe pass to a CB. His first touch is usually to check back and open up that pass. He almost never takes anyone on. His crossing is almost always hopeful and aimless. He's spent the last couple of games actively gesturing for other players not to give him the ball.

He's just relentlessly negative and isn't in anyway suited to a positive passing style of play. He's soft. He rarely gets tight to his man. He constantly backs off. He's not typically good at blocking crosses.

For the stats this season he's successfully made tackles at less than half the rate of all our other defenders. He's our worst defender for interceptions. He barely ever fouls (sometimes its necessary). He's our worst defender for successful clearances. He has the worst pass completion of all our defenders. Blackett makes three times as many key passes a game. He's in the bottom 3 for accurate crosses a game (ahead of McCleary and Barrow only), he's 4th worst for inaccurate crosses, behind Beerens, Obita and Kelly. The much maligned Blackett puts in more accurate than inaccurate.

But he can run all game and never gets injured. Yay.

[The Cap]

Snowflake Royal wrote:
Hound, I'm one of his more symapthetic critics on here.

Normally he's bang average but reliable. This season he's been at fault for many of the stupid goals we've conceded. He made more than half a dozen stupid errors in yesterdays second half.

Millwall - weak and beaten on the back post.
Fulham - caught on his heels by Berg's shit pass, dived in and missed the ball and player instead of trying to stand him up or take both out.
Bristol - tried a stupid clearance and passed to their player in the middle of the D for an easy goal
Hull - another half hearted slide that gets nowhere near the ball

He is over cautious most of the time and frequently ignores forward options in favour of the safe pass to a CB. His first touch is usually to check back and open up that pass. He almost never takes anyone on. His crossing is almost always hopeful and aimless. He's spent the last couple of games actively gesturing for other players not to give him the ball.

He's just relentlessly negative and isn't in anyway suited to a positive passing style of play. He's soft. He rarely gets tight to his man. He constantly backs off. He's not typically good at blocking crosses.

For the stats this season he's successfully made tackles at less than half the rate of all our other defenders. He's our worst defender for interceptions. He barely ever fouls (sometimes its necessary). He's our worst defender for successful clearances. He has the worst pass completion of all our defenders. Blackett makes three times as many key passes a game. He's in the bottom 3 for accurate crosses a game (ahead of McCleary and Barrow only), he's 4th worst for inaccurate crosses, behind Beerens, Obita and Kelly. The much maligned Blackett puts in more accurate than inaccurate.

But he can run all game and never gets injured. Yay.

Just about sums it up.

[Snowflake Royal]

Sorry, I did him a dis-service. He's also very good at winning cynical freekicks under pressure near the sideline in his defensive area by provoking minimal contact in the back and falling over.

[bcubed]

My second rant of the day (for the first see the "in or out" thread).

I just don't understand Reading fans views and criticisms of Gunter. I don't think he had a great game against Norwich and made two really big errors in the second half which nearly led to a goal. But he wasn't our worst player and had some good moments.

Why are people so violently against him?

He has 81 International caps for Wales (who are a far better team than England) - and is one of the first names on the team sheet I'd imagine.

He's hugely admired and respected by pundits, Welsh football fans

He has 197 appearances for Reading

I personally feel he's one of our most solid and reliable players. He's more consistent than most who seem to look like Messi one game, and then a Sunday League player the next.

I can't help but feel it's once again the negative Reading fans who just seem to moan and groan about every little thing. If he was to go onto the transfer market he'd be snapped up and straight into any other Championship side.

If all people have to moan about is Gunter then they should look at other players within the team first.

Well said

We have many many problems
Gunter is the least of them in my opinion
When people give him a score of 2 or 3, it simply indicates a preconceived bias rather than an objective view

He gave the ball away on Saturday and tried on two occasions to pass straight to one of their players right in front of goal. But otherwise no better or worse than anyone else, on what was another very poor day

I don't agree with Stams selections but I would pick Gunter every time.

[Crotts]

I don't agree with Stams selections but I would pick Gunter every time.[/quote]

dt.

[Crotts]

I don't agree with Stams selections but I would pick Gunter every time.[/quote]

I think that's essentially the problem. Other players must look at Gunter and wonder how a player, who many on this site regard as average at best, is Stam's first name on the team sheet every week regardless of his performances. Gunter is like the employee in the workplace who is the manager's favourite and his chief confidant always agreeing with the bosses decisions, yet his fellow colleagues view him as useless or decidedly average at best.

[West Stand Man]

My second rant of the day (for the first see the "in or out" thread).

I just don't understand Reading fans views and criticisms of Gunter. I don't think he had a great game against Norwich and made two really big errors in the second half which nearly led to a goal. But he wasn't our worst player and had some good moments.

Why are people so violently against him?

He has 81 International caps for Wales (who are a far better team than England) - and is one of the first names on the team sheet I'd imagine.

He's hugely admired and respected by pundits, Welsh football fans

He has 197 appearances for Reading

I personally feel he's one of our most solid and reliable players. He's more consistent than most who seem to look like Messi one game, and then a Sunday League player the next.

I can't help but feel it's once again the negative Reading fans who just seem to moan and groan about every little thing. If he was to go onto the transfer market he'd be snapped up and straight into any other Championship side.

If all people have to moan about is Gunter then they should look at other players within the team first.

Totally agreed. He takes flak for things that he had no part in; gets blamed for all sorts of faults; yet everyone who really knows the game rates him highly.

Sadly there is always a player in the squad who gets that. It used to be James Harper, Jim McIntyre, and others going back in time. There is no real logic to the selection of the player who is targeted by the boo boys but once they have got their man they don't often let go.

The only one I can remember turning it round was Dean Horrix. He was given a torrid time when he failed to score for a sustained period and his confidence was being shot to pieces. He even missed a penalty, as I recall, the easiest way to break his duck. Then he broke his duck and the story changed, leading to him becoming one of the most popular players we have ever had.

[Henley Royal 1]

After yesterdays game Mick Gooding said on Radio Berkshire you know what you are going to get he is a seven out of ten player every week. well that must be June and July.

[Snowflake Royal]

My second rant of the day (for the first see the "in or out" thread).

I just don't understand Reading fans views and criticisms of Gunter. I don't think he had a great game against Norwich and made two really big errors in the second half which nearly led to a goal. But he wasn't our worst player and had some good moments.

Why are people so violently against him?

He has 81 International caps for Wales (who are a far better team than England) - and is one of the first names on the team sheet I'd imagine.

He's hugely admired and respected by pundits, Welsh football fans

He has 197 appearances for Reading

I personally feel he's one of our most solid and reliable players. He's more consistent than most who seem to look like Messi one game, and then a Sunday League player the next.

I can't help but feel it's once again the negative Reading fans who just seem to moan and groan about every little thing. If he was to go onto the transfer market he'd be snapped up and straight into any other Championship side.

If all people have to moan about is Gunter then they should look at other players within the team first.

Totally agreed. He takes flak for things that he had no part in; gets blamed for all sorts of faults; yet everyone who really knows the game rates him highly.

Sadly there is always a player in the squad who gets that. It used to be James Harper, Jim McIntyre, and others going back in time. There is no real logic to the selection of the player who is targeted by the boo boys but once they have got their man they don't often let go.

The only one I can remember turning it round was Dean Horrix. He was given a torrid time when he failed to score for a sustained period and his confidence was being shot to pieces. He even missed a penalty, as I recall, the easiest way to break his duck. Then he broke his duck and the story changed, leading to him becoming one of the most popular players we have ever had.

Not true, taking me as an example, I loved harper and had no problem with McIntyre.

Harper did all the non- obvious things really well. Gunter does all the non-obvious things badly.

I also hate booing and turn up to cheer on the side. I always stay and clap them off. I'm not interested in big signings or spending, or swapping managers the second something goes wrong.

Gunters detractors are split fairly evenly among the clueless boo-boys and those who can look deeper. That's why criticism if him is often more in depth than just obscenity driven ranting about him just being shit. Because there are actual real faults to criticise him for.