Strangely optimistic about next season.

[Kuhl_Runnings]

Noel Hunt said on Twitter that if you have character in your football team, eventually it will succeed. I think I see where he's coming from

[George_]

Also some very good (A) coming into the league next season..

Villa
Newcastle (hopefully)
Burton (terrace)
Hopefully 1 of Walsall/Milwall

*Losing Charlton though

[Top Flight]

Also some very good (A) coming into the league next season..

Villa
Newcastle (hopefully)
Burton (terrace)
Hopefully 1 of Walsall/Milwall

*Losing Charlton though

Burton away would be a nice one to open with. A nice hot and sunny August day at a new ground, nice little Staffordshire town, whilst we're all optimistic. That would be a good one. I'll go to that.

[Crux]

http://thetilehurstend.sbnation.com/201 ... ubs-future

[RoyallyFcuked]

Noel Hunt said on Twitter that if you have character in your football team, eventually it will succeed. I think I see where he's coming from

Character which we are currently seriously lacking in.

[Top Flight]

Noel Hunt said on Twitter that if you have character in your football team, eventually it will succeed. I think I see where he's coming from

Character which we are currently seriously lacking in.

Ok, so you do acknowledge that the serious lack of character in our playing staff is a big issue.
You also know that we have a seriously unbalanced squad.

So it can't only be because Brian is not a good tactician.

The truth is Brian is a brilliant tactician. But you can only deploy tactics that your players are able to fulfil. You can't ask Simon Cox to play on the break. And if Simon Cox, Denniss and Kermorgant are your only striking options, then surely you have a problem...

Evidence that Brian is a great tactician. Just remember how he masterfully knocked out a strong David Moyes, Everton out of the FA Cup a few years back. Look at the cup win at Anfield. Look at the disposal of WBA this year with our seriously inferior team. Remember how we won at West Ham and Southampton.

Don't tell me that Brian is tactically inept. You are judgementally inept.

[3points]

Hoping Burton away is a midweek game, ditto Villa, Birmingham, Derby, Forest and Wolves (given I work in Birmingham during the week)

[RoyallyFcuked]

Noel Hunt said on Twitter that if you have character in your football team, eventually it will succeed. I think I see where he's coming from

Character which we are currently seriously lacking in.

Ok, so you do acknowledge that the serious lack of character in our playing staff is a big issue.
You also know that we have a seriously unbalanced squad.

So it can't only be because Brian is not a good tactician.

The truth is Brian is a brilliant tactician. But you can only deploy tactics that your players are able to fulfil. You can't ask Simon Cox to play on the break. And if Simon Cox, Denniss and Kermorgant are your only striking options, then surely you have a problem...

Evidence that Brian is a great tactician. Just remember how he masterfully knocked out a strong David Moyes, Everton out of the FA Cup a few years back. Look at the cup win at Anfield. Look at the disposal of WBA this year with our seriously inferior team. Remember how we won at West Ham and Southampton.

Don't tell me that Brian is tactically inept. You are judgementally inept.

Get off Brian's dick pal. Rakels and Kermorgant are players that he signed. Sa wanted no part of a McDermott team and with good reason, it was a big step backwards. Honestly, how much of those performances you mention were down to Brian's 'tactical genius'? Not much.

I'm not saying the problems at the club and with the players are Brian's fault and I'm not saying his lack of tactical nous is the only issue. However, there is plenty of evidence of his ineptitude as well and not just this season.

His team selections in the PL were often terrible, he had favourites and wouldn't drop them. Also persisted with the same tactics as well as players when it clearly wasn't working. He has no plan B. We could hardly keep a lead under him in the Prem season, the biggest example of that was inexplicably blowing a 4-0 lead at home to Arsenal's B team and losing 7-5.

Lets not forget we were absolutely shit for half of the season we went up until we went on a run in January, and a lot of the games we won we were under the kosh for most of it but soaked up pressure and took the few chances that came our way.

Did we ever play good football under Brian? No. Were we ever exciting to watch? Rarely. Was there a lot of luck involved? Yes.

You're the one thats judgementally inept, your blind loyal love of the bald one is blinding you severely.

[Top Flight]

Character which we are currently seriously lacking in.

Ok, so you do acknowledge that the serious lack of character in our playing staff is a big issue.
You also know that we have a seriously unbalanced squad.

So it can't only be because Brian is not a good tactician.

The truth is Brian is a brilliant tactician. But you can only deploy tactics that your players are able to fulfil. You can't ask Simon Cox to play on the break. And if Simon Cox, Denniss and Kermorgant are your only striking options, then surely you have a problem...

Evidence that Brian is a great tactician. Just remember how he masterfully knocked out a strong David Moyes, Everton out of the FA Cup a few years back. Look at the cup win at Anfield. Look at the disposal of WBA this year with our seriously inferior team. Remember how we won at West Ham and Southampton.

Don't tell me that Brian is tactically inept. You are judgementally inept.

Get off Brian's dick pal. Rakels and Kermorgant are players that he signed. Sa wanted no part of a McDermott team and with good reason, it was a big step backwards. Honestly, how much of those performances you mention were down to Brian's 'tactical genius'? Not much.

I'm not saying the problems at the club and with the players are Brian's fault and I'm not saying his lack of tactical nous is the only issue. However, there is plenty of evidence of his ineptitude as well and not just this season.

His team selections in the PL were often terrible, he had favourites and wouldn't drop them. Also persisted with the same tactics as well as players when it clearly wasn't working. He has no plan B. We could hardly keep a lead under him in the Prem season, the biggest example of that was inexplicably blowing a 4-0 lead at home to Arsenal's B team and losing 7-5.

Lets not forget we were absolutely shit for half of the season we went up until we went on a run in January, and a lot of the games we won we were under the kosh for most of it but soaked up pressure and took the few chances that came our way.

Did we ever play good football under Brian? No. Were we ever exciting to watch? Rarely. Was there a lot of luck involved? Yes.

You're the one thats judgementally inept, your blind loyal love of the bald one is blinding you severely.

At least you're beginning to make some sort of a case now.

But remember who was in our defence that season in the Premier League. It was

Federici, Gunter, Mariappa, Pearce and Harte. We also had Morrison, Kelly, Cummings....

Is that kind of defence really good enough in the Premier League? Gunter and Mariappa were quick but Pearce and Harte were slow and probably out of their depth at that level. Pearce can't even get into a Championship side at the moment.

We were relegated with inferior players. The same kind of thing happened to Burnley. They couldn't stay up. But, their sensible owners and supporters kept faith in Dyche and they have made an immediate return, which I'm sure would have happened if we had kept faith in McDermott. If we didn't come straight back up we would have been alot closer than Adkins.

McDermott knew what the problems were. He knew why we were losing. But once January has passed, you have to wait until the summer. By which time it's too late. Improvements take time. It takes time to build a side. You have to show faith in a manager that knows what he is doing. And McDermott certainly does know what he is doing.

When Burnely were struggling their fan versions of you would have been calling for Dyche's sacking. They would have complained that the manager is tactically inept. You will look tactically inept when you are losing games. But you have to be realistic and also understand the capabilities of the players as well. You are not realistic.

Palace were flying earlier in the season and Pardew looked like a tactical genius until Bolasie and Zaha got injured and Palace tactics went out the window. Results then were on the slide and suddenly Palace were looking more like a relegation candidate than a European chaser. Was Pardew tactically inept? Without certain players you are not going to be anywhere near as good a team. That is a fact.

We have no pace up front, no pace on the wings. We can't break out of defence quickly. we have no decent wide players to provide Kermorgant with the type of service he needs. No wonder we struggled. But until a transfer window comes along, Brian will look tactically inept. He is not, but some fans are too simplistic in their understanding.

[Top Flight]

Character which we are currently seriously lacking in.

Ok, so you do acknowledge that the serious lack of character in our playing staff is a big issue.
You also know that we have a seriously unbalanced squad.

So it can't only be because Brian is not a good tactician.

The truth is Brian is a brilliant tactician. But you can only deploy tactics that your players are able to fulfil. You can't ask Simon Cox to play on the break. And if Simon Cox, Denniss and Kermorgant are your only striking options, then surely you have a problem...

Evidence that Brian is a great tactician. Just remember how he masterfully knocked out a strong David Moyes, Everton out of the FA Cup a few years back. Look at the cup win at Anfield. Look at the disposal of WBA this year with our seriously inferior team. Remember how we won at West Ham and Southampton.

Don't tell me that Brian is tactically inept. You are judgementally inept.

Sa wanted no part of a McDermott team and with good reason,

This comment just shows you don't really know what you're talking about.

Explain what you mean by that and where you got your information from.

[Rea Ding]

Also some very good (A) coming into the league next season..

Villa
Newcastle (hopefully)
Burton (terrace)
Hopefully 1 of Walsall/Milwall

*Losing Charlton though

Burton away would be a nice one to open with. A nice hot and sunny August day at a new ground, nice little Staffordshire town, whilst we're all optimistic. That would be a good one. I'll go to that.

That would be perfect first away day, looking forward to Villa also and millwall/walsall
Hopefully brighton stay down too and Id be happy with that result with some decent awaydays in the league

[SCIAG]

'Kin hell this is a car crash of a thread. I know HNA gets polarised but there's usually a semblance of rationality...

I'm gonna pick out this:

Did we ever play good football under Brian? No.

Ludicrous. First up, the only objective measure of "good football" is whether you win. Brian had a 45% win record, the second best of any Reading manager - and it gets better if you take out the PL season.

We were ever stroking it around on the deck and creating buckets of chance under McDermott? Yes. In his first season in charge, his first choice midfield was Tabb-Howard-Sigurdsson, with McAnuff and Kebe on the wings and Bertrand charging forward from left back. We played beautiful football and scored 4+ goals several times.

Personally, I rather enjoyed watching the team built around the pace of Long and Kebe on the counter attack. I also really enjoyed watching Jason Roberts play. Finally, although they were all too rare, we had one or two really good matches in the PL when we played 4-5-1/4-2-3-1. Sunderland at home springs to mind.

Even this season, there have been some matches under McDermott where we've played some exciting stuff. Forest and Brentford at home spring to mind. Long way to go, but the intent is there and we've seen glimpses of real quality.

I'm not saying McDermott is the messiah but there are plenty of legitimate grounds to criticise him on (persisting with 4-4-2 in the PL, not playing Guthrie, dreadful performances against Villa + Wigan, sticking with the diamond for so long) without having to make any up.

[RoyallyFcuked]

'Kin hell this is a car crash of a thread. I know HNA gets polarised but there's usually a semblance of rationality...

I'm gonna pick out this:

Did we ever play good football under Brian? No.

Ludicrous. First up, the only objective measure of "good football" is whether you win. Brian had a 45% win record, the second best of any Reading manager - and it gets better if you take out the PL season.

We were ever stroking it around on the deck and creating buckets of chance under McDermott? Yes. In his first season in charge, his first choice midfield was Tabb-Howard-Sigurdsson, with McAnuff and Kebe on the wings and Bertrand charging forward from left back. We played beautiful football and scored 4+ goals several times.

Personally, I rather enjoyed watching the team built around the pace of Long and Kebe on the counter attack. I also really enjoyed watching Jason Roberts play. Finally, although they were all too rare, we had one or two really good matches in the PL when we played 4-5-1/4-2-3-1. Sunderland at home springs to mind.

Even this season, there have been some matches under McDermott where we've played some exciting stuff. Forest and Brentford at home spring to mind. Long way to go, but the intent is there and we've seen glimpses of real quality.

I'm not saying McDermott is the messiah but there are plenty of legitimate grounds to criticise him on (persisting with 4-4-2 in the PL, not playing Guthrie, dreadful performances against Villa + Wigan, sticking with the diamond for so long) without having to make any up.

Deluded. Ok maybe it was bit harsh to say we never played good football under McDermott but you're talking about games from like 6 years ago and anyway the quality of the play overall dropped when Sigurdsson left. That was a long time ago. Did we play good football, create a lot of chances and deserve to win most of our games the season we went up? No. We actually went up with a worse team playing worse football than when we lost the play off final the season before.

McDermott showed his limitations in the PL season, had literally no plan B and persisted with the same out of form players and poor system despite it not working. I can't see how any of that will changed or improved when all he has done as a manager since he left us 3 years ago is fail at Leeds.

[RoyallyFcuked]

Ok, so you do acknowledge that the serious lack of character in our playing staff is a big issue.
You also know that we have a seriously unbalanced squad.

So it can't only be because Brian is not a good tactician.

The truth is Brian is a brilliant tactician. But you can only deploy tactics that your players are able to fulfil. You can't ask Simon Cox to play on the break. And if Simon Cox, Denniss and Kermorgant are your only striking options, then surely you have a problem...

Evidence that Brian is a great tactician. Just remember how he masterfully knocked out a strong David Moyes, Everton out of the FA Cup a few years back. Look at the cup win at Anfield. Look at the disposal of WBA this year with our seriously inferior team. Remember how we won at West Ham and Southampton.

Don't tell me that Brian is tactically inept. You are judgementally inept.

Get off Brian's dick pal. Rakels and Kermorgant are players that he signed. Sa wanted no part of a McDermott team and with good reason, it was a big step backwards. Honestly, how much of those performances you mention were down to Brian's 'tactical genius'? Not much.

I'm not saying the problems at the club and with the players are Brian's fault and I'm not saying his lack of tactical nous is the only issue. However, there is plenty of evidence of his ineptitude as well and not just this season.

His team selections in the PL were often terrible, he had favourites and wouldn't drop them. Also persisted with the same tactics as well as players when it clearly wasn't working. He has no plan B. We could hardly keep a lead under him in the Prem season, the biggest example of that was inexplicably blowing a 4-0 lead at home to Arsenal's B team and losing 7-5.

Lets not forget we were absolutely shit for half of the season we went up until we went on a run in January, and a lot of the games we won we were under the kosh for most of it but soaked up pressure and took the few chances that came our way.

Did we ever play good football under Brian? No. Were we ever exciting to watch? Rarely. Was there a lot of luck involved? Yes.

You're the one thats judgementally inept, your blind loyal love of the bald one is blinding you severely.

At least you're beginning to make some sort of a case now.

But remember who was in our defence that season in the Premier League. It was

Federici, Gunter, Mariappa, Pearce and Harte. We also had Morrison, Kelly, Cummings....

Is that kind of defence really good enough in the Premier League? Gunter and Mariappa were quick but Pearce and Harte were slow and probably out of their depth at that level. Pearce can't even get into a Championship side at the moment.

We were relegated with inferior players. The same kind of thing happened to Burnley. They couldn't stay up. But, their sensible owners and supporters kept faith in Dyche and they have made an immediate return, which I'm sure would have happened if we had kept faith in McDermott. If we didn't come straight back up we would have been alot closer than Adkins.

McDermott knew what the problems were. He knew why we were losing. But once January has passed, you have to wait until the summer. By which time it's too late. Improvements take time. It takes time to build a side. You have to show faith in a manager that knows what he is doing. And McDermott certainly does know what he is doing.

When Burnely were struggling their fan versions of you would have been calling for Dyche's sacking. They would have complained that the manager is tactically inept. You will look tactically inept when you are losing games. But you have to be realistic and also understand the capabilities of the players as well. You are not realistic.

On paper I agree the defence was barely PL standard but it may have been good enough, had it been better managed. It was one of our stronger points the season we went up before suddenly turning into the area where we were weakest despite the personel not really changing.

Do you get to watch Burnley much? Let me tell you they were a lot better side than we were when they went up, they were a lot more competitive in games in the Prem as well and that was with spending around the same as what we did, Dyche made a much better fist of staying up than Brian did. They needed to back him more financially this season to have a good chance, they did and its paid off. Brian would not have got that kind of backing, and I wouldn't trust him with it in the transfer market anyway. Also I don't think there is any guarentee we would have done better under Brian than Adkins the season after we went down, that is just what you'd like to believe.

I'm not sure McDermott knew what the problems were, but if he did then that highlights his ineptitude further as his inabilty to change his rigid one dimensional style meant that he was powerless to do anything about the problems on the pitch.

[royalp-we]

Bet you're really good company at games

It's the off season. Brian deserves a chance. Clean slate; and we go again.

You know exactly how this club can rise from looking toilet to becoming contenders in only a couple of months, it wasn't a dream, it actually happens. And it can easily happen again.

One final note - Stop saying ineptitude so much. You sound like a tosser.

[RoyallyFcuked]

Bet you're really good company at games

It's the off season. Brian deserves a chance. Clean slate; and we go again.

You know exactly how this club can rise from looking toilet to becoming contenders in only a couple of months, it wasn't a dream, it actually happens. And it can easily happen again.

One final note - Stop saying ineptitude so much. You sound like a tosser.

Bet you're really good company at games

It's the off season. Brian deserves a chance. Clean slate; and we go again.

You know exactly how this club can rise from looking toilet to becoming contenders in only a couple of months, it wasn't a dream, it actually happens. And it can easily happen again.

One final note - Stop saying ineptitude so much. You sound like a tosser.

Ok big man. I like your optimism.

The guy said dont tell me Brian is tactically inept so naturally I responded by highlighting why he is inept. I used many others words to explain it not just that one in case you didn't notice.

[Brosef Stalin]

Noel Hunt said on Twitter that if you have character in your football team, eventually it will succeed. I think I see where he's coming from

Noel is as thick as fcuk.

[Jackson Corner]

No idea why. That's all.

8 academy players in the matchday squad today. Sign of the future.

Trouble is most of them are not good enough for this level of football how many acadamy players did Burney, Boro and Brighton have?
NONE

[genome]

No idea why. That's all.

8 academy players in the matchday squad today. Sign of the future.

Trouble is most of them are not good enough for this level of football how many acadamy players did Burney, Boro and Brighton have?
NONE

Middlesbrough had Ben Gibson for one

[Maneki Neko]

'Kin hell this is a car crash of a thread. I know HNA gets polarised but there's usually a semblance of rationality...

I'm gonna pick out this:

Did we ever play good football under Brian? No.

Ludicrous. First up, the only objective measure of "good football" is whether you win. Brian had a 45% win record, the second best of any Reading manager - and it gets better if you take out the PL season.

We were ever stroking it around on the deck and creating buckets of chance under McDermott? Yes. In his first season in charge, his first choice midfield was Tabb-Howard-Sigurdsson, with McAnuff and Kebe on the wings and Bertrand charging forward from left back. We played beautiful football and scored 4+ goals several times.

Personally, I rather enjoyed watching the team built around the pace of Long and Kebe on the counter attack. I also really enjoyed watching Jason Roberts play. Finally, although they were all too rare, we had one or two really good matches in the PL when we played 4-5-1/4-2-3-1. Sunderland at home springs to mind.

Even this season, there have been some matches under McDermott where we've played some exciting stuff. Forest and Brentford at home spring to mind. Long way to go, but the intent is there and we've seen glimpses of real quality.

I'm not saying McDermott is the messiah but there are plenty of legitimate grounds to criticise him on (persisting with 4-4-2 in the PL, not playing Guthrie, dreadful performances against Villa + Wigan, sticking with the diamond for so long) without having to make any up.

Deluded. Ok maybe it was bit harsh to say we never played good football under McDermott but you're talking about games from like 6 years ago and anyway the quality of the play overall dropped when Sigurdsson left. That was a long time ago. Did we play good football, create a lot of chances and deserve to win most of our games the season we went up? No. We actually went up with a worse team playing worse football than when we lost the play off final the season before.

McDermott showed his limitations in the PL season, had literally no plan B and persisted with the same out of form players and poor system despite it not working. I can't see how any of that will changed or improved when all he has done as a manager since he left us 3 years ago is fail at Leeds.

have played good football and created loads of chances under him this season ffs. Theres just no striker on the end of it all to slot em away, and a kid in defence who kept falling over to gift the oppo a goal per game.

Get off Brian's dick pal. Rakels and Kermorgant are players that he signed. Sa wanted no part of a McDermott team and with good reason, it was a big step backwards

if you don't know what youre talking about, maybe try shutting up instead of making shit up.

Sa's wife h8ed reading and the weather and demanded he move. Clarke not really playing him again after his sending off didn't help.
literally fook all to do with brian.

Rakels bought in by someone else- doesn't matter- looks decent enough.
kermorgant- ultra cheap last minute punt because we knew we now had no strikers at all.