Second season success stories

[WestYorksRoyal]

Another disappointing 45 minutes from Puscas last night, but I'm still hopeful it's just the impact of his injury and overall time to settle and adjust to the Championship. We have seen flashes of what he is capable of, and I really hope he can kick on next season.

However, looking back, there aren't many cases of Reading players doing this. Bobby Convey is the big exception that springs to mind, who had a very disappointing first season. Kebe also improved the more he stayed around. How we see the same with Puscas? Or am I clutching at straws? We could probably recoup a decent wedge of what we paid after a single season blip at a new club. If he doesn't come good, his value would plummet after 2/3 years stagnation.

[Old Man Andrews]

Puscas will not be here next season.

[Hendo]

Puscas will not be here next season.

Going on some of your predictions, I wouldn't be surprised to, not only, see Puscas here next season but play every game and score 30 goals, leading us to the Championship title.

[Old Man Andrews]

Puscas will not be here next season.

Going on some of your predictions, I wouldn't be surprised to, not only, see Puscas here next season but play every game and score 30 goals, leading us to the Championship title.

He will not be here next season, FACT.

[SCIAG]

Shaun Cummings, Yann Kermorgant, Ibrahima Sonko.

I like to compare Puscas to Carlos Tevez, and at this stage in his West Ham career people had written Tevez off.

[Hendo]

Puscas will not be here next season.

Going on some of your predictions, I wouldn't be surprised to, not only, see Puscas here next season but play every game and score 30 goals, leading us to the Championship title.

He will not be here next season, FACT.

Why do you say that, got proof? Or is this another one of your "facts"?

[Millsy]

Another disappointing 45 minutes from Puscas last night, but I'm still hopeful it's just the impact of his injury and overall time to settle and adjust to the Championship. We have seen flashes of what he is capable of, and I really hope he can kick on next season.

However, looking back, there aren't many cases of Reading players doing this. Bobby Convey is the big exception that springs to mind, who had a very disappointing first season. Kebe also improved the more he stayed around. How we see the same with Puscas? Or am I clutching at straws? We could probably recoup a decent wedge of what we paid after a single season blip at a new club. If he doesn't come good, his value would plummet after 2/3 years stagnation.

Good post, good Q.

I'd say there are too many mitigating factors. Injury, management change, change of style and no time for a partnership. Puscas is a young chap who I think needs to form a partnership and there were signs he was doing this effectively with Baldock, then we changed system to just Joao up front and when he got injured we didn't go straight back to the partnership.

McIntyre was crap and then came good too. All wingers we are mentioning though and it's purely down to them to get it right. WIth a striker I think it's much more down to the system they are asked to play and the partner they have up there with them so it's arguably harder (or easier possibly, depends how you look at it) for them to come good.

[Old Man Andrews]

Going on some of your predictions, I wouldn't be surprised to, not only, see Puscas here next season but play every game and score 30 goals, leading us to the Championship title.

He will not be here next season, FACT.

Why do you say that, got proof? Or is this another one of your "facts"?

Bowen has obviously ran out of patience with him and we are still at a stage where we can command a decent fee for him. He doesn't suit our style of play, fairly obvious really. Not sure how that needs to be explained.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Shaun Cummings, Yann Kermorgant, Ibrahima Sonko.

I like to compare Puscas to Carlos Tevez, and at this stage in his West Ham career people had written Tevez off.

Good shout on Cummings. He looked like a non league player when Rodgers gave him a run in the team.

[Hendo]

He will not be here next season, FACT.

Why do you say that, got proof? Or is this another one of your "facts"?

Bowen has obviously ran out of patience with him and we are still at a stage where we can command a decent fee for him. He doesn't suit our style of play, fairly obvious really. Not sure how that needs to be explained.

Well, we'll just have to see won't we...

Personally, I disagree with that he has lost patience with him and unless you're actually Mark Bowen, you cannot say that for certain.

I'd be foolish for us and Bowen, just to write him off after one season in a tough league in a new country.

[Old Man Andrews]

Why do you say that, got proof? Or is this another one of your "facts"?

Bowen has obviously ran out of patience with him and we are still at a stage where we can command a decent fee for him. He doesn't suit our style of play, fairly obvious really. Not sure how that needs to be explained.

Well, we'll just have to see won't we...

Personally, I disagree with that he has lost patience with him and unless you're actually Mark Bowen, you cannot say that for certain.

I'd be foolish for us and Bowen, just to write him off after one season in a tough league in a new country.

I wouldn't necessarily write him off as such I just cannot see him ever fitting the system Bowen plays. I don't think Puscas came here to sit on the bench so it may be in the best interests for everyone to move on. We get a decent wedge of cash and the player gets 1st team football elsewhere. He is clearly talented, no doubt.

[stealthpapes]

Bobby Convey is the big exception that springs to mind, who had a very disappointing first season

Convey was some excellent man management. Club took him to one side, told him he was not fit/strong enough and helped him get fit/strong enough.

[WestYorksRoyal]

I don't particularly like the argument that he's not suited to the lone striker role. Increasingly, teams set up to control possession and have numbers in midfield. 352 can work, as can a narrow 442, but the traditional 442 similar to Coppell and McDermott only works with 2 very hard working, energetic midfielders, which is not the strength of Swift and Ejaria. Any squad ultimately needs striking options who can play the lone role.

A traditional no.10 who doesn't play his role in tracking back used to be called a luxury player. I'd suggest a striker who needs a partner to be effective is also a luxury player.

[Nameless]

Does Bowen just play one system though ?
Seems to me he’s used a number of different approaches and rather than being a ‘we play this way or not at all’ a feature of his style is how flexible he has been, both in terms of formation and how he uses players.
So on that basis Puscas ‘not fitting his system’ isn’t a reason why we’ll sell him.
Puscas clearly has ability and I think the factors mentioned are all relevant. For some young players moving to a new country where you don’t know the language, have no friends or family etc etc can be really tough. Whether he’s struggled off the field we don’t know.
I would be surprised if we gave up on him so quickly but then none of us know all the factors, although obviously we could guess !

[Millsy]

Shaun Cummings, Yann Kermorgant, Ibrahima Sonko.

I like to compare Puscas to Carlos Tevez, and at this stage in his West Ham career people had written Tevez off.

Good shout on Cummings. He looked like a non league player when Rodgers gave him a run in the team.

My memory may be failing me but I thought he started poorly, got worse, and was generally an awful flop.

[Hendo]

Shaun Cummings, Yann Kermorgant, Ibrahima Sonko.

I like to compare Puscas to Carlos Tevez, and at this stage in his West Ham career people had written Tevez off.

Good shout on Cummings. He looked like a non league player when Rodgers gave him a run in the team.

My memory may be failing me but I thought he started poorly, got worse, and was generally an awful flop.

You might be thinking of Marcus Williams.

Although Cummings' best game for Reading was 100% the PO Semi 2nd leg at Cardiff, where he played as a RM.

[Royalwaster]

Better example - Shane Long ... thought he was clueless for a long time, and then suddenly he came on fire ... and he's still playing in the Prem now. He surely has to be incredibly grateful to Steve Coppell for all he's achieved.

[JamieY26]

Blackman...

[yuomi]

And first season in the Championship, Mitrovic scored 4 goals in 25.

There is no doubting Puscas' quality, but his confidence is shot and he's taking longer to adapt than any of us would like.

While it is incredibly frustrating to watch, especially given what we saw in his goals against Cardiff way back when, this is a guy who on his day can be nigh on unplayable.

The impatience of a predictable minority of hyperactive loudmouths is unbelievably tedious.

[Wycombe Royal]

He will not be here next season, FACT.

Why do you say that, got proof? Or is this another one of your "facts"?

Bowen has obviously ran out of patience with him and we are still at a stage where we can command a decent fee for him. He doesn't suit our style of play, fairly obvious really. Not sure how that needs to be explained.

Thanks for confirming it isn't a fact.