players in and out

[Snowball]

Anyone good at Leeds who we might get?

Leeds have lost THREE and not well, since McCarthy went out of the side.

[melonhead]

Why not offer Kebe the higher money for one year and then a drop to the longer-contract money
if we don't go up?

thats in effect exactly what we did do

[Snowball]

We offered, either/or

I was suggesting a compromise.

Would mean a one-year risk, we might then go up

[melonhead]

noty much difference tbf

if he signeda 1 yr extensin and we went up, hed get a longer contract on more money anyway

if he wants to stay. he'll sign, if he wants to go, he wont

[Hoop Blah]

I'm confident that the club will be handling the Kebe contract perfectly well and we'll have offered just what we can afford and are happy to pay him. If that's not enough for him then I'm happy to see the back of him.

I'm 50/50 whether he'll go now for a fee or in the summer. I don't think he's good enough to attract decent interest and offers, and we seem happy to keep him until the summer, so perhaps edging towards a summer exit there.

I'll be surprised if Howard doesn't find a club though. Can't see a lot more happening though, apart from Williams and maybe some long term loan deals for the kids and fringe players.

We should really be bringing in a central defender as a minimum and, with a bit of luck some strengthening of the attack with a winger/attacking midfielder and possibly a centre forward (the latter probably depends of shipping one of the current lot out though).

[skipper]

I strongly suspect there will be no players whatsoever either leaving or coming in.
No need to thank me for my contribution.

You obviously meant 1st team players

http://www.readingfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10306~2562900,00.html

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Someone to play some nice throughballs for ALF would be nice.

He is by far our best striker, but he needs to be on the end of throughballs/crosses. We're criminally underusing him

[Snowball]

Someone to play some nice throughballs for ALF would be nice.

He is by far our best striker, but he needs to be on the end of throughballs/crosses. We're criminally underusing him

Totally agree. IMO we should be playing to his strengths possibly in a 4-5-1 with an extra midfield (come back Gylfi)
or with a deep striker.

A solo striker doesn't have to mean long balls on to the "1"'s head (boring and not productive)

[sandman]

Someone to play some nice throughballs for ALF would be nice.

He is by far our best striker, but he needs to be on the end of throughballs/crosses. We're criminally underusing him

I'm not so sure he is our best striker and certainly not "by far".

[Hoop Blah]

Someone to play some nice throughballs for ALF would be nice.

He is by far our best striker, but he needs to be on the end of throughballs/crosses. We're criminally underusing him

I'm not so sure he is our best striker and certainly not "by far".

Agreed. At times he's looked very capable at this level, but at others he's also looked out of his depth and unable to get in the game.

He needs service yes, but we also need our forwards to demand the ball through their runs and also the way they win and keep the ball. I'm not sure he's doing the latter bit well enough for me.

To say he's the best by far is certainly over-egging it, especially when he's only scored in one of his last dozen appearances.

Unfortunately none of our forwards is making themselves undroppable by their performances.

[marcusopp]

We need one or two more coming in. Create new competition and boost the squad depth. Personally I would want a creative mid. And another striker. Extra pace up top and a play maker. Won't happen I know

We don't need a creative centre mid with our current tactics. If we did, then Howard would play.
We play with 2 holding centre mids and wingers, which means our centre mids are usually more cautious in getting forward with the first wave of an attack.
We should let Howard go. If not for us, for him. He's a great player who came here at the wrong time. I feel we've under used him, but when we needed a luxury player, Gylfi popped up, then we changed tactics and he wasn't involved.

[Snowball]

Come on, guys, ALF is a little bloke.

He wasn't made to be a target striker fielding dozens of hoiks upfield
and battling a gorilla-CB. He's grab to someone else's smash.

He'd have a field day playing off someone like Heskey or Scotland in their prime.

[cmonurz]

Someone to play some nice throughballs for ALF would be nice.

He is by far our best striker, but he needs to be on the end of throughballs/crosses. We're criminally underusing him

This. He is the closest we've had to Cureton since Cureton; thankfully we haven't needed his goals recently, but when we do we have to be creating chances for him.

[Hoop Blah]

Come on, guys, ALF is a little bloke.

He wasn't made to be a target striker fielding dozens of hoiks upfield
and battling a gorilla-CB. He's grab to someone else's smash.

He'd have a field day playing off someone like Heskey or Scotland in their prime.

Do you mean Jason Scotland? He's no bigger than Le Fondre by the way, but I agree on the essence of your point, he shouldn't be expected to be winning battles in the air against big centre backs. That shouldn't stop him getting in front of them or alongside and keeping the ball that way.

If he can't do that then he's going to struggle at this level as the higher you go the less scope their is to carry a player like that. There are very few forwards in the modern game who get by whilst just being a poacher and the way we play we certainly can't be so accommodating.

He's shown he can do it at times.

[TheWearing]

Today performance just tells you that our team is not strong enough. Kebe once again poor, strikers haven't scored since Church v Leeds. We need a new striker eg Rhodes/ Sharp. But we all know we will buy a player on the cheap eg Tubbs!

What will we do if Pearce /Gorkss gets injured? We need a new CB.
Harte's performance today shows he is an has-been, Bertrand anyone?

We lost out on Sigurdsson because we couldn't reach an agreement with Sigurdsson (Wages) and not the German club.

Karacan and Ledge are too defensive, We need a new CAM, I don't rate Howard by the way.


If we don't buy will rip up my season ticket

[Yellowcoat]

Good - hope you do. Just the sort of negative twerp we do not need.

[sandman]

Here come the Manic Depressives. Waiting for Sir Dodger's first appearance of the New Year.

[cmonurz]

It's rumoured today that Sharp is West Ham bound.

We need a creative midfielder, and a physical striker in the Kitson mould. Le Fondre's abilities are criminally under-used at the moment.

sandman, the OP asked only where we should look to improve, that's not doom and gloom.

[sandman]

After one bad day at the office. Total overreaction.

[cmonurz]

After one bad day at the office. Total overreaction.

I'd have thought the thread relevant even if we hadn't played day, what with the transfer window being open, and all that.