Life after Pog

[Royalwaster]

What about McAnuff behind ALF? Surely I'm not the only one who thinks he has played well in CM? Start Robson-Kanu on the left too.

Agree - this is how I would play; with Akpan and Ledge in DM positions behind him. I thought it worked really well against Sunderland as McA often doubled up on either the left or right; surprised we didn't play like this against Wigan. The reason HRK isn't used is because of his defensive weakness - cue the game against ManUtd: he was great going forward but totally lazy helping out at the back.

[maffff]

What about McAnuff behind ALF? Surely I'm not the only one who thinks he has played well in CM? Start Robson-Kanu on the left too.

I think I'd prefer Jobi next to Ledge with Akpan infront of them. Although McDermott seems to favour him deeper than Jobi.

[Jaytee]

The commentary for the Man U cup game stated " Jobi McAnuff who has been a massive inspiration to Reading all season", I'm not convinced that he is versatile enough. I think Pog was stupid BUT he also gets really bad press on this site - again i'm not sure he warrants it.
Surely we cannot keep playing Harte - he has to position himself so far off the winger because he knows he is not fast enough to catch him if he goes past.
Wigan outdid us for pace and quality and we didnt seem to know what to do. Lucky 1st goal with handball missed, so lock it down and get to half-time. Morrison decides that he is Robin Friday and tries to dribble around a player of much higher quality and desire - 2-0 down as Harte nowhere to be seen on the the left. 3rd goal - simple one-twos straight through the defence at pace. That fella hadn't scored this season!!
Still, at least we will have more games next year, and most will be at 3:00 on a Saturday.
I still say McD should have gone at Christmas but its too late now - we just have to battle on and probably beat Everton on Sat.
Funny old game!!

[Unknown]

Interesting.....
Robson Kanu on twitter: Played in an attacking role upfront in friendly today, back to full health 2 goals 3 assists. #6-0 #Boom

Looks like a strong possibility he could play this role on Saturday and looks quite effective even if it was just a friendly

[Wimb]

Interesting.....
Robson Kanu on twitter: Played in an attacking role upfront in friendly today, back to full health 2 goals 3 assists. #6-0 #Boom

Looks like a strong possibility he could play this role on Saturday and looks quite effective even if it was just a friendly

Simon Church scored 4 in a friendly earlier this year, even Baseya got some goals . Means the square root of bugger all sadly.

[SPARTA]

Interesting.....
Robson Kanu on twitter: Played in an attacking role upfront in friendly today, back to full health 2 goals 3 assists. #6-0 #Boom

Looks like a strong possibility he could play this role on Saturday and looks quite effective even if it was just a friendly

Simon Church scored 4 in a friendly earlier this year, even Baseya got some goals . Means the square root of bugger all sadly.

Baseya was released in the summer.

[Ian Royal]

What about McAnuff behind ALF? Surely I'm not the only one who thinks he has played well in CM? Start Robson-Kanu on the left too.

Agree - this is how I would play; with Akpan and Ledge in DM positions behind him. I thought it worked really well against Sunderland as McA often doubled up on either the left or right; surprised we didn't play like this against Wigan. The reason HRK isn't used is because of his defensive weakness - cue the game against ManUtd: he was great going forward but totally lazy helping out at the back.

Agree, I think about the best we've played was against Sunderland and it was a mistake to make changes against stoke. McAnuff did really well in a free role supporting the attack and overloading the wings.

[Wimb]

Interesting.....
Robson Kanu on twitter: Played in an attacking role upfront in friendly today, back to full health 2 goals 3 assists. #6-0 #Boom

Looks like a strong possibility he could play this role on Saturday and looks quite effective even if it was just a friendly

Simon Church scored 4 in a friendly earlier this year, even Baseya got some goals . Means the square root of bugger all sadly.

Baseya was released in the summer.

In a friendly last season point being you friendlies are absolutely pointless except to help judge fitness levels.

[Vision]

Interesting.....
Robson Kanu on twitter: Played in an attacking role upfront in friendly today, back to full health 2 goals 3 assists. #6-0 #Boom

Looks like a strong possibility he could play this role on Saturday and looks quite effective even if it was just a friendly

Simon Church scored 4 in a friendly earlier this year, even Baseya got some goals . Means the square root of bugger all sadly.

It's not conclusive fo course but it's not entirely irrelevant either. I've been saying for some time now that if we're going to play with a "10" as it were (and if we had interest in Gylffi then I'd suggest we were) then HRK is the player most suited to that role. Unlike Church, we already know he can be effective in small spells at this level. What we don't know and may never know is whether he can do it consistently or whether he can adapt to a more advanced role.

Even in a friendly it can be quite obvious if a player is totally unsuited to a certain position so I think there is still some value in a player demonstrating he can be suitable in a certain position.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Get ready for a hero to emerge

Is he hiding behind Nick Blackman?

[Wimb]

Interesting.....
Robson Kanu on twitter: Played in an attacking role upfront in friendly today, back to full health 2 goals 3 assists. #6-0 #Boom

Looks like a strong possibility he could play this role on Saturday and looks quite effective even if it was just a friendly

Simon Church scored 4 in a friendly earlier this year, even Baseya got some goals . Means the square root of bugger all sadly.

It's not conclusive fo course but it's not entirely irrelevant either. I've been saying for some time now that if we're going to play with a "10" as it were (and if we had interest in Gylffi then I'd suggest we were) then HRK is the player most suited to that role. Unlike Church, we already know he can be effective in small spells at this level. What we don't know and may never know is whether he can do it consistently or whether he can adapt to a more advanced role.

Even in a friendly it can be quite obvious if a player is totally unsuited to a certain position so I think there is still some value in a player demonstrating he can be suitable in a certain position.

I just think there's a massive difference between showing what you can do in a non-competitive environment behind closed doors against a bunch of youth teamers, compared with asking someone to do that job in a Premier League game.

Robson-Kanu has played in the 10 before, he did it last year after Long left and didn't really excel in the position. Obviously he's another year older and wiser but I think it's a big ask to now throw him back in there.

Still, it's almost getting to the last chance saloon so if Everton/Villa doesn't go well, there's no harm.

[USA_Loyal_Royal]

i highly rate HRK i personally believe that he could excel in the number 10 role as it seems to suit his style of play fairly well, and as others have pointed out we have no other real number 10 options.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Never been much of an HRK fan, not by a long shot, but he's looked far better this year in the prem than last year in the champ

Maybe his type of play suits it, or maybe he's just a year older. Either way:


McCleary Legs Akpan Jobi
Kebe
HRK


...would be fun

[OpinionatedRoyal]

Life after Pog = Reading scoring goals.

[Royal91]

This would be my team for Everton

........................Federici............................

Kelly........PEARCE...........Mariappa.......Shorey



Kebe.........Guthrie.......Karacan.........McAnuff


........................HRK...........................


............................Le Fondre.................


Talyor, Harte, Morrison, Akpan, L,wood, Blackman, McCleary


Karacan or L,wood. I went Karacan purely for the energy and mobility. Watching L,wood lumber around the pitch is just infuriating. I don't believe you need some big oaf in middle in modern day football. Karacan can throw in a tackle. Just tell him don't go beyond the half way line!

HRK can replace any height lost on the corners. He's seems pretty effective in the air!

McAnuff is in there for the defensive element and THAT IS IT.