back in the car from the Brighton (H) game

[ZacNaloen]

I can genuinely see Adkins needing that long as well, even if we'd got every player in we wanted this window, getting everyone bedded in and on the same wave length would have taken a while.

QPR can hit the ground running because they aren't in the midst of a transition to a new style of play.

We are, it takes time.

Stop moaning moaners.

[sandman]

Who can actually say they enjoy this style of football?

It's a yawnfest as the back four struggle to pass the ball and we give possession away cheaply.

At least we won games under McDermott.

Nigel 'Cliché' Adkins has a lot to work on.

This style of Football is great if you're Barcelona or Spain and it's played like they play the passing game i.e. through midfield and attack. If you're Reading and you play it mostly in your own half, without looking to go up the pitch and basically have possession for possession's sake I'm afraid it doesn't work.

[AirRaidSiren]

I can genuinely see Adkins needing that long as well, even if we'd got every player in we wanted this window, getting everyone bedded in and on the same wave length would have taken a while.

QPR can hit the ground running because they aren't in the midst of a transition to a new style of play.

We are, it takes time.

Stop moaning moaners.

I can see us playing inconsistently for a while yet whilst the players take on board the change and style of play. The only way they can do it is competitively, on the training ground is easy and works, match days will take alot longer.

It is feasible for us to have a good run in after the new year, for some that isn't good enough and the way some act on here and in the ground, we could end up driving him out and us back to square one again.

[floyd__streete]

It is feasible for us to have a good run in after the new year, for some that isn't good enough and the way some act on here and in the ground, we could end up driving him out and us back to square one again.

Drive who out? Adkins? LOL if he's even heard of this website, let alone even read it. The periods of silence yesterday just showed how ambivalent we all are about the club lately tbh, can't really see anybody being 'driven out' What a vivid imagination you have.

[AirRaidSiren]

It is feasible for us to have a good run in after the new year, for some that isn't good enough and the way some act on here and in the ground, we could end up driving him out and us back to square one again.

Drive who out? Adkins? LOL if he's even heard of this website, let alone even read it. The periods of silence yesterday just showed how ambivalent we all are about the club lately tbh, can't really see anybody being 'driven out' What a vivid imagination you have.

How long into our Premiership campaign did our fans start booing our team at the Mad stad? It affects the team's morale and it certainly piled more pressure on McDermott at that time. If we continue our form for some time, some impatient fans will want to vent their frustrations at someone again, won't they?

[kwik-silva]

I can genuinely see Adkins needing that long as well, even if we'd got every player in we wanted this window, getting everyone bedded in and on the same wave length would have taken a while.

QPR can hit the ground running because they aren't in the midst of a transition to a new style of play.

We are, it takes time.

Stop moaning moaners.

The only problem with that is that Coppell didn't have players coming down from a higher division feeling entitled to be back there, but I agree you should always give managers time. Sir Alex etc.etc.

[Franchise FC]

I've given myself time to reflect before ranting

I'm more likely tone rational now, so here goes

McCarthy - excellent all round
Gunter - never looks comfortable on the ball and gives no air of confidence defending
Morrison - has the odd 'moment' but defensively looks sound - worried about his pace (see also Pearce)
Pearce - completely failed to handle Ulloa - really impressed with his reaction to the Ulloa challenge but his pace is a MAJOR problem
Kelly - I don't get the idea of playing a moderate, right-footed player at left back when there's a perfectly adequate ex-England international available
Williams - I really expected more from him - average at best and caught on the ball too often
Karacan - works harder than anyone else on the pitch, but will suffer from Harper-syndrome - if he could add a little more guile to his passing, he could fill the next black hole
Guthrie - he works harder than I thought he might, and he clearly has some quality - he's just too inconsistent for my taste
Drenthe - please tell me that this was a blip - he looked exactly the hot-head I'd expected without the game changing touch I thought we'd see
Le Fondre - I still have not seen him have a good game when starting - admittedly, he played out of position to start with, but once in the middle, he just doesn't seem to have the strength or pace when the defenders are as fresh as him
Pogrebnyak - I just don't know what to say - he was unlucky to get the first yellow, and the second, but gave the referee every chance to produce the cards - his general play (for 25 minutes) was pretty good

Bridge - excellent, don't understand why he didn't start given that he looked fit and raring to go
Robson-Kanu - he maintains his ability to impersonate the curates egg - good in parts - it's why find him so frustrating
Blackman - not really on long enough but he just doesn't look like he's going to frighten any opposition

Adkins - where to start - Bridge, Le Fondre, Kelly - I'm not convinced yet

Still a long way to go

[Avon Royal]

Karacan - works harder than anyone else on the pitch

If by "works harder" you mean "runs around a lot without actually doing anything" then that's right.

[grey_squirrel]

I've given myself time to reflect before ranting

I'm more likely tone rational now, so here goes

McCarthy - excellent all round
Gunter - never looks comfortable on the ball and gives no air of confidence defending
Morrison - has the odd 'moment' but defensively looks sound - worried about his pace (see also Pearce)
Pearce - completely failed to handle Ulloa - really impressed with his reaction to the Ulloa challenge but his pace is a MAJOR problem
Kelly - I don't get the idea of playing a moderate, right-footed player at left back when there's a perfectly adequate ex-England international available
Williams - I really expected more from him - average at best and caught on the ball too often
Karacan - works harder than anyone else on the pitch, but will suffer from Harper-syndrome - if he could add a little more guile to his passing, he could fill the next black hole
Guthrie - he works harder than I thought he might, and he clearly has some quality - he's just too inconsistent for my taste
Drenthe - please tell me that this was a blip - he looked exactly the hot-head I'd expected without the game changing touch I thought we'd see
Le Fondre - I still have not seen him have a good game when starting - admittedly, he played out of position to start with, but once in the middle, he just doesn't seem to have the strength or pace when the defenders are as fresh as him
Pogrebnyak - I just don't know what to say - he was unlucky to get the first yellow, and the second, but gave the referee every chance to produce the cards - his general play (for 25 minutes) was pretty good

Bridge - excellent, don't understand why he didn't start given that he looked fit and raring to go
Robson-Kanu - he maintains his ability to impersonate the curates egg - good in parts - it's why find him so frustrating
Blackman - not really on long enough but he just doesn't look like he's going to frighten any opposition

Adkins - where to start - Bridge, Le Fondre, Kelly - I'm not convinced yet

Still a long way to go

That^^^ is almost spot on, (especially Pearce), with the eception of Jem "Andy Hughes mark 2" Karacan. If he did less "buzzin' innit" and more industry, he might be a half decent player.

[RoyalBlue]

One qualifier to the 'McCarthy was excellent all round' view. Demonstrated poor decision making in second half when coming for high cross. Looked well placed to catch cleanly but then appeared to change his mind at last minute and went for a one-handed punch. Misconnected and ball span off his fist and not that far wide of our post for a corner.

Given his great height advantage (and reasonable strength/power), he seems to favour punching, as opposed to catching, more than I would have expected.

[Victor Meldrew]

I've given myself time to reflect before ranting

I'm more likely tone rational now, so here goes

McCarthy - excellent all round
Gunter - never looks comfortable on the ball and gives no air of confidence defending
Morrison - has the odd 'moment' but defensively looks sound - worried about his pace (see also Pearce)
Pearce - completely failed to handle Ulloa - really impressed with his reaction to the Ulloa challenge but his pace is a MAJOR problem
Kelly - I don't get the idea of playing a moderate, right-footed player at left back when there's a perfectly adequate ex-England international available
Williams - I really expected more from him - average at best and caught on the ball too often
Karacan - works harder than anyone else on the pitch, but will suffer from Harper-syndrome - if he could add a little more guile to his passing, he could fill the next black hole
Guthrie - he works harder than I thought he might, and he clearly has some quality - he's just too inconsistent for my taste
Drenthe - please tell me that this was a blip - he looked exactly the hot-head I'd expected without the game changing touch I thought we'd see
Le Fondre - I still have not seen him have a good game when starting - admittedly, he played out of position to start with, but once in the middle, he just doesn't seem to have the strength or pace when the defenders are as fresh as him
Pogrebnyak - I just don't know what to say - he was unlucky to get the first yellow, and the second, but gave the referee every chance to produce the cards - his general play (for 25 minutes) was pretty good

Bridge - excellent, don't understand why he didn't start given that he looked fit and raring to go
Robson-Kanu - he maintains his ability to impersonate the curates egg - good in parts - it's why find him so frustrating
Blackman - not really on long enough but he just doesn't look like he's going to frighten any opposition

Adkins - where to start - Bridge, Le Fondre, Kelly - I'm not convinced yet

Still a long way to go

A very good summary IMO.
Hopefully Williams' performance was just a blip as his earlier performances were energetic and he made telling contributions whereas on Sunday he looked a poor man's Karacan.
Why on earth didn't Bridge start?
He looked fit enough to me and produced most of the attacking impetus and (as vision knows from a discussion some years ago) I detest right-footed left-backs both from a defensive and attacking perspective.
Drenthe must have been taken off to prevent a second booking.
With him,either he has to accept that the other players don't have great vision and movement or they have to learn quickly.
This is a long way from being a team-their movement for each other is poor.

As for the passing game McGhee tried to get defenders comfortable on the ball and it worked as the players further forward learned to pass and move better.
At the moment it is more Burns and Rodgers with defenders keeping the ball and depriving the opposition of the ball yes but also depriving our other players of the ball which leads to a stalemate like on Sunday.
Adkins needs time but I am far from convinced that these players are good for a promotion challenge and I feel sure that he is most disappointed that he couldn't bring in the 3 players that he wanted.

[Cripple Creek]

Playing the passing game Adkins stylee seems a great idea but is somewhat hard to achieve without Iniesta, Xavi and Fabregas. Seriously, if you are really going to persist with this kind of game (and I hope we do although I'm not convinced we're going to achieve it) it's possible in the lower divisions (the best examples I can think of are the Reading team under McGhee and Swansea under Rodgers). I imagine all supporters would love it if their team played like the Arsenal team Wenger assembled at various stages in his career - I'm thinking when Henri, Petit, Vierra and Bergkamp were playing. However, we seem hopelessly ill equipped to pass off any resemblance as a technically proficient side right now. Keeping possession and scoring on the break are incredibly difficult things to do and require incredibly talented players and coaches. Frankly, I doubt we have either.

[genome]

Anyone remember the last time we were in Championship?

11/12 - First 6 Games: W1 D1 L4
13/14 - First 6 Games: W2 D3 L1

Just sayin'

[Victor Meldrew]

One qualifier to the 'McCarthy was excellent all round' view. Demonstrated poor decision making in second half when coming for high cross. Looked well placed to catch cleanly but then appeared to change his mind at last minute and went for a one-handed punch. Misconnected and ball span off his fist and not that far wide of our post for a corner.

Given his great height advantage (and reasonable strength/power), he seems to favour punching, as opposed to catching, more than I would have expected.

I agree with you that he cocked up on that one occasion but normally he comes and catches rather than punching.
Still,he is ready-made for the Premier League as nearly all of the keepers now punch or push away rather than catch despite having gloves that are now designed for stickability.

[Will95]

I'm more annoyed that I've watched 5 dull games (well, 4 and 1 shocking performance from us) in a row than I am at the team, it's been shit as a spectator!

[Warfield North Stand]

Very, very dull. The Leek and Potato soup I had was very nice however. Beer £4 a pint???!!!. In summary, the soup was nice..

[Eaststandman]

Very, very dull. The Leek and Potato soup I had was very nice however. Beer £4 a pint???!!!. In summary, the soup was nice..

Damn, wish I'd had the soup!

[melonhead]

i should add that my pint of fosters still took 5 minutes to make it from order to drinkage
and when it did it tasted even fouler than usual

[creative_username_1]

Very, very dull. The Leek and Potato soup I had was very nice however. Beer £4 a pint???!!!. In summary, the soup was nice..

did you bring your own soup or purchase it at the ground?

[joeroyal]

I've given myself time to reflect before ranting

I'm more likely tone rational now, so here goes

McCarthy - excellent all round
Gunter - never looks comfortable on the ball and gives no air of confidence defending
Morrison - has the odd 'moment' but defensively looks sound - worried about his pace (see also Pearce)
Pearce - completely failed to handle Ulloa - really impressed with his reaction to the Ulloa challenge but his pace is a MAJOR problem
Kelly - I don't get the idea of playing a moderate, right-footed player at left back when there's a perfectly adequate ex-England international available
Williams - I really expected more from him - average at best and caught on the ball too often
Karacan - works harder than anyone else on the pitch, but will suffer from Harper-syndrome - if he could add a little more guile to his passing, he could fill the next black hole
Guthrie - he works harder than I thought he might, and he clearly has some quality - he's just too inconsistent for my taste
Drenthe - please tell me that this was a blip - he looked exactly the hot-head I'd expected without the game changing touch I thought we'd see
Le Fondre - I still have not seen him have a good game when starting - admittedly, he played out of position to start with, but once in the middle, he just doesn't seem to have the strength or pace when the defenders are as fresh as him
Pogrebnyak - I just don't know what to say - he was unlucky to get the first yellow, and the second, but gave the referee every chance to produce the cards - his general play (for 25 minutes) was pretty good

Bridge - excellent, don't understand why he didn't start given that he looked fit and raring to go
Robson-Kanu - he maintains his ability to impersonate the curates egg - good in parts - it's why find him so frustrating
Blackman - not really on long enough but he just doesn't look like he's going to frighten any opposition

Adkins - where to start - Bridge, Le Fondre, Kelly - I'm not convinced yet

Still a long way to go

What an absolute waste of your time writing this nonsense was, feel better now