Where will the next points come from?

[Forest Gump]

Does anyone know?


I believe that the next four games are against Boro, Forest Derby and Sheffield Utd
Not being able to score; keeping a clean sheet is the only hope but with Elphick out I can’t see us managing that in any of these games.
The home games v Derby and Sheffield could be thrashing’s if we try to play the Stam way.
So I predict 0 points in Feb and I reckon this will put us in the bottom three and I think - actually hope that Stam will resign so that we can get a manager capable of getting something out of this squad.
Every match report reads like a horror story at the moment.
The clubs hierarchy are negligent at the moment.

[Hound]

Would say only Derby are a particularly tough prospect from that 4 on current form

Not saying we have a chance against any of them playing like we are though

[windermereROYAL]

Actually there are 7 teams below us on current form ( 6 matches) Forest are one of them.

[Oilroyal]

Does anyone know?


I believe that the next four games are against Boro, Forest Derby and Sheffield Utd
Not being able to score; keeping a clean sheet is the only hope but with Elphick out I can’t see us managing that in any of these games.
The home games v Derby and Sheffield could be thrashing’s if we try to play the Stam way.
So I predict 0 points in Feb and I reckon this will put us in the bottom three and I think - actually hope that Stam will resign so that we can get a manager capable of getting something out of this squad.
Every match report reads like a horror story at the moment.
The clubs hierarchy are negligent at the moment.

Form since December;

Dicked by - Millwall, Sheffield Wednesday, Brentford, Birmingham, Bristol City, Burton Albion, Ipswich,
Drew with - Barnsley and Cardiff
Managed to win against - Sunderland & the mighty Burton

Stam’s taking us down. Wake up FFS

[Zip]

Luton away.

[Forest Gump]

Seriously I think a realistic target would be:
Bolton home 1 pt
QPR home 1 pt
Sunderland home 3pts
Sheff Wed away 1pt
Ie 6 more point in total.
Where would this put us in the end?

[gdroyal]

I actually think the next two away games are where we could pick up points. Our away form has actually been ok (league wise), especially compared to the home form - think we have only lost to Sheff Utd, Ipswich and Bristol C since September? Boro will be a tough game, but they are only 9th, then Forest are in a bad patch of form and that one's winnable.

If we lose both of them, then it looks very tough - unless Gary Rowett conjures up another tactical masterclass like he did in November.

[Oilroyal]

Re the above.
FFS just get him gone. How much more do you want to suffer this season? If you want him gone, then don’t show up to the next 2 home games. If you boycott home games, then he’ll be gone. If you keep rocking up to home games then you deserve what you get and shouldn’t come on here moaning.

[Lower West]

If we lose both of them, then it looks very tough - unless Gary Rowett conjures up another tactical masterclass like he did in November.

Sixteen games to go. Park the bus. Point a game should see us safe.

[Hound]

I actually think the next two away games are where we could pick up points. Our away form has actually been ok (league wise), especially compared to the home form - think we have only lost to Sheff Utd, Ipswich and Bristol C since September? Boro will be a tough game, but they are only 9th, then Forest are in a bad patch of form and that one's winnable.

If we lose both of them, then it looks very tough - unless Gary Rowett conjures up another tactical masterclass like he did in November.

Agree we’ll prob just scratch enough points up away from home to see us over the line.
Without checking facts, I think Boro are pretty poor at home recently and Forest have been rubbish bar the Arsenal game. Think we might sneak one of those 2

We look like never winning at home ever again at the moment though

[Oilroyal]

I actually think the next two away games are where we could pick up points. Our away form has actually been ok (league wise), especially compared to the home form - think we have only lost to Sheff Utd, Ipswich and Bristol C since September? Boro will be a tough game, but they are only 9th, then Forest are in a bad patch of form and that one's winnable.

If we lose both of them, then it looks very tough - unless Gary Rowett conjures up another tactical masterclass like he did in November.

Agree we’ll prob just scratch enough points up away from home to see us over the line.
Without checking facts, I think Boro are pretty poor at home recently and Forest have been rubbish bar the Arsenal game. Think we might sneak one of those 2

We look like never winning at home ever again at the moment though

Not sure i'll be putting a tenner on us beating Boro or Forest, or even getting a draw TBH

[TiagoIlori]

One thing I don’t understand is why we are so poor defensively, granted it’s a high risk approach but we’ve been cut open far too often. Stam is one of the greatest defenders but that doesn’t make him a good defensive coach granted, the mistakes are basic stuff though...

[Lower West]

Stam is one of the greatest defenders but that doesn’t make him a good defensive coach granted, the mistakes are basic stuff though...

Where's the midfield......... that's the question I'm constantly asking myself.

[Zip]

I think Moore has been disappointing this season. Nowhere near as accomplished as last season. In the end no other clubs including teams in the Championship wanted to sign him in January.
We are so mentally weak.

I can’t ever recall a manager having such a poor rapport with the supporters as Stam. The relationship between players and fans is little better so every game at The Madejski feels like Groundhog Day.

Did anyone on here dare to think this season would go this badly?

[TiagoIlori]

Stam is one of the greatest defenders but that doesn’t make him a good defensive coach granted, the mistakes are basic stuff though...

Where's the midfield......... that's the question I'm constantly asking myself.

I think too many players have just gone off colour this season, Barrow is the only player that has consistently put in a good performance all season. This team would get hammered by our 14/15 side, back then they were perhaps unlucky to lose as many as they did, here we’re just playing extremely badly almost every game. Unbelievable the board think Stam is building anything

[Jackson Corner]

They say anyone can beat anyone on a given day in this league. Not Reading defeats and performances are very a given. You can put your mortgage on us losing at Boro next Saturday.

[Snowflake Royal]

One thing I don’t understand is why we are so poor defensively, granted it’s a high risk approach but we’ve been cut open far too often. Stam is one of the greatest defenders but that doesn’t make him a good defensive coach granted, the mistakes are basic stuff though...

It's a team game and confidence plays a massive part.

It takes the whole team to defend well and we're simply not playing well as a team. Players don't like losing and an unhappy player who is low on confidence plays badly, makes poor decisions and is generally half-hearted even whilst trying hard throughout the game. Their low confidence affects them physically and that makes passing, shooting and everything else wayward.

The vast majority of Championship clubs are only a couple of star players and the right mindset and confidencecaway from mounting a promotion challenge. In season, particularly with a quiet or restless crowd, its exceedingly hard to turn that around and losing becomes a habit.

So in turn you see teams at the top suffer a reverse, but they're doing well so it doesn't affect them. They believe they'll win every game going into it, so they just keep going and get a turnaround. Or win next week. Similarly you see teams at the bottom dominate part of a game but fall apart. The other team expects to beat them and they expect to be beaten.

With a solid pre-season and the right work from Stam, this squad with a few changes could be right back up there next season.

I have no doubt we'll win more games this season no matter how unlikely it looks right now. I don't know if we'll stay up and you simply can't say Stam's doing a good job now. But none of this means he's shit, the players are shit or there's somesort of conspiracy going on. Nor that if the owners haven't sacked him yet they won't at all.

We're still 6 points clear and we've got 3 points from our last six. I wouldn't be surprised if he's gone on monday, but I'd expect to see him given one more game at least after the Burton display.

Maybe we can stay up on away form.

I certainly wouldn't expect a big change in form from a new manager, it's possible, but confidence is so low it seems unlikely. For every big turnarounds 4 or 5 continued failures.

[TiagoIlori]

One thing I don’t understand is why we are so poor defensively, granted it’s a high risk approach but we’ve been cut open far too often. Stam is one of the greatest defenders but that doesn’t make him a good defensive coach granted, the mistakes are basic stuff though...

It's a team game and confidence plays a massive part.

It takes the whole team to defend well and we're simply not playing well as a team. Players don't like losing and an unhappy player who is low on confidence plays badly, makes poor decisions and is generally half-hearted even whilst trying hard throughout the game. Their low confidence affects them physically and that makes passing, shooting and everything else wayward.

The vast majority of Championship clubs are only a couple of star players and the right mindset and confidencecaway from mounting a promotion challenge. In season, particularly with a quiet or restless crowd, its exceedingly hard to turn that around and losing becomes a habit.

So in turn you see teams at the top suffer a reverse, but they're doing well so it doesn't affect them. They believe they'll win every game going into it, so they just keep going and get a turnaround. Or win next week. Similarly you see teams at the bottom dominate part of a game but fall apart. The other team expects to beat them and they expect to be beaten.

With a solid pre-season and the right work from Stam, this squad with a few changes could be right back up there next season.

I have no doubt we'll win more games this season no matter how unlikely it looks right now. I don't know if we'll stay up and you simply can't say Stam's doing a good job now. But none of this means he's shit, the players are shit or there's somesort of conspiracy going on. Nor that if the owners haven't sacked him yet they won't at all.

We're still 6 points clear and we've got 3 points from our last six. I wouldn't be surprised if he's gone on monday, but I'd expect to see him given one more game at least after the Burton display.

Maybe we can stay up on away form.

I certainly wouldn't expect a big change in form from a new manager, it's possible, but confidence is so low it seems unlikely. For every big turnarounds 4 or 5 continued failures.

oxf*rd knows what a new manager is going to bring, perhaps he’ll do just enough to keep us up, or equally likely it’ll get even worse. Trouble is we haven’t had a good win without us continuously giving teams chances to come back into the game, like the derby or forest games for example, we have a young squad and there’s going to be far too many concentration lapses, I actually liked how Elphick challenged Ilori with the line, think it’ll benefit if we have players challenging each other, always good to have a differing point of view

[John Smith]

We will draw at Boro and get something from Forest. Then the meltdown will be on hold for another week again.

[Gunny Fishcake]

If we lose both of them, then it looks very tough - unless Gary Rowett conjures up another tactical masterclass like he did in November.

Sixteen games to go. Park the bus. Point a game should see us safe.

What a wonderful prospect to look forward to