16 December 2009

Royalee
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Re: 16 December 2009

by Royalee » 16 Dec 2010 20:59

floyd__streete This time last year we were playing stupefyingly dull sideways football with a stronger squad than we have now and we were in the bottom 4. I'd say that McD has done an adequate job with the absolute paucity of resources available, certainly he has done better than Rodgers absymal spell at the helm. Anything else is supposition and revisionism.


Rodgers didn't know what he was walking into and was given one set of objectives when he took the job and another just months later on totally different timescales. As for dull sideways football, I quite enjoyed us building moves and could see the promise in what might have been achieved - unfortunately some fans didn't see it that way and would rather see us lump the ball aimlessly forward at every opportunity. Then again that's the main problem with English football, many don't appreciate the need to build moves from the back, retain possession and make the opposition work, which is why we've won sod all for over half a decade as a national team and our continental adversaries continue to dominate (it's also why Swansea are pushing for promotion and we're going nowhere).

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Re: 16 December 2009

by floyd__streete » 16 Dec 2010 21:09

Royalee As for dull sideways football, I quite enjoyed us building moves and could see the promise in what might have been achieved - unfortunately some fans didn't see it that way and would rather see us lump the ball aimlessly forward at every opportunity.


Agreed with a good chunk of what you said in your last post, Royalee. I also enjoy passing football by the way; Reading's 1993-95 side under McGhee was a joy to behold. I felt that Rodgers came in with a load of bluster, bravado and a stubborness which gave us the hideous spectacle of the likes of Kalifa Cisse being asked to spray the ball around. This stubborness made us a totally ineffective side which was rather dull to watch. Rodgers was rather fortunate to inherit a Swansea side primed for his ideals. Good luck to him, he is a lucky man to land such a plum job but he is making a very good fist of it which goes to prove that there is something in his theories and (*cringe*) methodology.

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Re: 16 December 2009

by Royalee » 16 Dec 2010 21:37

I wholly concur with those sentiments about McGhee's Reading which I started watching at the beginning of my time watching the Royals...good times and probably some of the most attractive football we've ever played. I agree with where you're coming from regarding Cisse, but Rodgers was trying to change the style of football we played and in order to do so he needed to get players into the routine of passing the ball (even Cisse, sideways) in order to get them comfortable with retaining possession and it was always going to take time. I don't think we were far away from being a very effective side, we just made individual errors at key times n games we should have won at a canter based on chances created for either side alone against Forest, Cardiff, Peterborough, Watford, Leicester, Ipswich and his last game against Scunthorpe. I know it's all very well saying 'couldawouldashoulda', but if just a couple of those chances had gone in, we'd have been equal or even better in points than we find ourselves a year on...and with a much better basis to build.

I agree that Swansea were more geared to his style to begin with, but that's definitely not to say that he couldn't have turned things around here and generated that style had he been given more than 5 months, 'nor is it to detract from the excellent job he's done for them this season. The thing that I find saddest among our fans (not yourself as I often find myself agreeing with your comments), is that they kid themselves that the man can do good and actually enjoy to slate him when he was an excellent servant and always had the club's best interests at heart. I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but because of this I was quite pleased to see Swansea turn us over at our place and wouldn't mind them doing so on New Year's Day on the road to promotion...

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Re: 16 December 2009

by PEARCEY » 16 Dec 2010 21:40

^ Are you saying you would rather see Swansea win promotion than Reading?

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Re: 16 December 2009

by Royalee » 16 Dec 2010 21:42

PEARCEY ^ Are you saying you would rather see Swansea win promotion than Reading?


Not at all, but seeing as there is absolutely no way we're going up under the present management, I'd enjoy Rodgers rubbing it into Madejski and some of our fans and see it as a moral victory for proper football.


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Re: 16 December 2009

by PEARCEY » 16 Dec 2010 21:49

Royalee
PEARCEY ^ Are you saying you would rather see Swansea win promotion than Reading?


Not at all, but seeing as there is absolutely no way we're going up under the present management, I'd enjoy Rodgers rubbing it into Madejski and some of our fans and see it as a moral victory for proper football.



OK. I think we will be playing Swansea at this level next season though. I'd like to see them go up ahead of any other team in the division apart from Reading because when they get it right they are a cracking outfit...but they lack a cutting edge.
As for Rodgers the Reading job came at the wrong time for him. He wasn't given very long but in the end being sacked did him a favour. He is far better suited managing a club like Swansea.

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Re: 16 December 2009

by Ian Royal » 16 Dec 2010 21:58

Royalee
PEARCEY ^ Are you saying you would rather see Swansea win promotion than Reading?


Not at all, but seeing as there is absolutely no way we're going up under the present management, I'd enjoy Rodgers rubbing it into Madejski and some of our fans and see it as a moral victory for proper football.


He really won't be rubbing anything in. Wrong man, wrong time. Got it wrong here, much better set up for him at Swansea, as someone else has said, they've been building in his style for about 5 years before he got the job.

Under other circumstances he probably would have done very well here. But we were in big trouble when he was sacked and there was a very real danger of us getting relegated, at which point we'd have blown most of the good work of the last 10 years.

There is also a balance between playing ineffective passing boreball and playing ineffective boring percentage hoofball. One we played under Rodgers, the other is what we're playing currently.

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Re: 16 December 2009

by floyd__streete » 16 Dec 2010 22:50

Royalee The thing that I find saddest among our fans (not yourself as I often find myself agreeing with your comments), is that they kid themselves that the man can do good and actually enjoy to slate him when he was an excellent servant and always had the club's best interests at heart. I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but because of this I was quite pleased to see Swansea turn us over at our place and wouldn't mind them doing so on New Year's Day on the road to promotion...


I said at the time - although I missed the game, a thoroughly merited Swansea win I am told - that a win for Rodgers that day was no bad thing in that it drew a line under his tenure. I think that since then the Rodgers baiting has curtailed somewhat, point proven you could say. I am a massive cynic and grew tired of hearing the 'I am this club's biggest supporter' line he kept trudging out but I guess he is a decent man and if he really has learned from his sour experience at Reading then it seems he is well set to go on and prove us doubters very wrong.

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Re: 16 December 2009

by under the tin » 18 Dec 2010 09:27

Ian Royal there was a very real danger of us getting relegated, at which point we'd have blown most of the good work of the last 10 years.


Some of us are of the opinion that the "good work" stopped a few years ago, and the inevitablity of that relegation scenario grows with every year that passes under the current regime.


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