Team playing style - Next Season

[rhroyal]

We've got the multi ball system back in the Championship so it's possible to really keep a high tempo up and batter sides relentlessly. That makes a huge difference.

[Tilehurst End]

Agree with the high tempo but it does not mean we need a team of Walcotts. Little has never had great pace.

The most important aquisition is a leader on the pitch. In someways he doesn't need to be captain but someone who never hides, leads by example and typifies the spirit and work ethic of the side. The best example I can remember is Sidwell busting a gut to get back and head over the bar at the end of the 1-0 win at West Ham.

[sucatraps]

Retain the best manager
Invest a large fee and wages on a new club captain, (midfield or central defender)
Become the meanest defence in the division
Become the toughest and most creative midfield
Become the sharpest and most prolific scorers
Purge the squad of anybody who is not 100% ready to lay it on the line for the club.
Sign a number of mature, experienced professionals for key positions as the "spine" of the team. Blend them with the best of the existing squad and fold in the brightest prospects from the younger players, when and only when the opportunity presents.
Be completely ruthless and focussed, it's a serious business let's get "little old Reading" deadly serious!

That is all!

sucatraps for assistant manager!

Flattered of course, but I couldn't stand the pay-cut!!!

[Leamington Royal]

Still build the team on wing play because it's worked for us before at this level, but..

- Stronger engine room in CM that can break up opponents' play and retain the ball more effectively
- Add at least 1 player to the strike force who can out run defenders on the break (Doyle MAY be able to do this in the CCC, but won't be able to IF we get back up).
- A leader on the pitch (CM or CB) - i.e. a new signing

These are changes well within the style of SC and the financial grasp of JM.

Oh - and start giving some younger talent the feeling they can break into the team (it will stop the kind of complacency that, IMHO, affected our performances post Christmas e.g. Hunt, Shorey, Doyle).

[Wycombe Royal]

Add at least 1 player to the strike force who can out run defenders on the break

Shane Long.

[papereyes]

there was also a set of stats on who played the most long balls in the Prem. Aside from Man C and Blackburn, there was an almost perfect negative correlation between %age of long balls played and final league position, ie, the more long balls you play, the lower you finish.

Now, this could simply mean that better players don’t hoof, but it may also suggest that long ball football is fundamentally ineffective in the Prem.

In the high tempo game of the premier league hoofball/counterattack doesn't work as well as it would in a low paced league like in spain or on the international scene like what Greece did.
And people forget that for hoofball to work, you also have to have good players with superior fitness, and an intense motivation to fight/willingness to chase every lost cause down.
If you have shit players with low motivation to conform to your tactical dispositions, not even hoofball will work.

Hoofball simply doesn't work against technically better teams unless you're prepared, you're prepared to work hard and you know the opposition inside out. But your point about motivation is a very good one.

I think people do Greece a bit of a disservice. They approached that tournament fantasticlly well, understanding that they needed to do it for 5 games. Even Reading could do it by the odd game. It is over 38 games that fitness levels won't take the strain. That said, you are Norwegian, you should know all about Hoofball

[RoyalBlue]

Attack, attack, attack, attack, attack!

Down both wings and through the centre with pace.

Get the ball to our danger men in the danger areas and they will do the rest!

No more altering our own system and style of play to reflect that of the opposition. Dictate the style of play and take the game to the other team.

[Southbank Old Boy]

Agree with the high tempo but it does not mean we need a team of Walcotts. Little has never had great pace.

The ball moves quicker than any player.

[rhroyal]

Attack, attack, attack, attack, attack!

Down both wings and through the centre with pace.

Get the ball to our danger men in the danger areas and they will do the rest!

No more altering our own system and style of play to reflect that of the opposition. Dictate the style of play and take the game to the other team.

Agreed, 107 points and 100 goals this time!

[brendywendy]

Attack, attack, attack, attack, attack!

Down both wings and through the centre with pace.

Get the ball to our danger men in the danger areas and they will do the rest!

No more altering our own system and style of play to reflect that of the opposition. Dictate the style of play and take the game to the other team.

Agreed, 107 points and 100 goals this time!

that should be our aim

[Sarah Star]

Won't we need quicker, fitter players for all this?

[papereyes]

Won't we need quicker, fitter players for all this?

ssssssssssssssssshhhh

[papereyes]

Attack, attack, attack, attack, attack!

Down both wings and through the centre with pace.

Get the ball to our danger men in the danger areas and they will do the rest!

No more altering our own system and style of play to reflect that of the opposition. Dictate the style of play and take the game to the other team.

did you not read about POMOs?

christ ...

[RoyalBlue]

Attack, attack, attack, attack, attack!

Down both wings and through the centre with pace.

Get the ball to our danger men in the danger areas and they will do the rest!

No more altering our own system and style of play to reflect that of the opposition. Dictate the style of play and take the game to the other team.

did you not read about POMOs?

christ ...

Yes and I thought christ..........

.....football is a simple game in essence! Only scientists love to try to make it more complicated!!

Regardless of POMOS, I believe what I wrote reflected how we went about blitzing the Championship last time reasonably well!

[AbovetheI]

Long balls dorect to Lloyd Owusu please.

[papereyes]

Long balls dorect to Lloyd Owusu please.

and Dean Morgan picking up the pieces.

BISH BASH BOSH

GOAL

[hiro]

Still build the team on wing play because it's worked for us before at this level
Oh - and start giving some younger talent the feeling they can break into the team

Totally agree.

Give either left or right wing to graduate of our own academy! Then senier players give a full 90 minutes of consentration and have to work hard to help young lad in a geme.

[ElmParker]

More important that POMO is PMA.

If we can’t actually sign any good players, then we should encourage our current team to pretend they are good and try to do the things that good players do. I’d like to see, for example, drama classes to help Andre Bikey to go to his special calm place where he can rob forwards of the ball as Rio Ferdinand does without having to throw them to the ground.

Likewise, I think Steve Hunt, great attitude that he already has, could do with an upgrade to his noggin-box. It’s one thing to think yourself into the relentless physicality of Javier Mascherano, but quite another to inhabit the intensely-cultured left foot of Christiano Ronaldo as surely as Dustin Hoffman might mentally wear the tights of a transvestite.

But the real key for me is Glen Little. He has an ankle like a man who can’t help but see himself as the heir to Neil Webb, whereas I’d see it as a major tactical furtherance for the team should he be able to adopt the mental mindset of, say, Theo Walcott whose ankles are rarely damaged for long periods and are able to propel him forward at considerable speed. Imagine that, Glen Little, fresh of Achilles, darting in behind defences!

What do you guys think? Is PMA the way forward or what?

[papereyes]

More important that POMO is PMA. If we can’t actually sign any good players, then we should encourage our current team to pretend they are good and try to do the things that good players do. I’d like to see, for example, drama classes to help Andre Bikey to go to his special calm place where he can rob forwards of the ball as Rio Ferdinand does without having to throw them to the ground. Likewise, I think Steve Hunt, great attitude that he already has, could do with an upgrade to his noggin-box. It’s one thing to think yourself into the relentless physicality of Javier Mascherano, but quite another to inhabit the intensely-cultured left foot of Christiano Ronaldo as surely as Dustin Hoffman might mentally wear the tights of a transvestite. But the real key for me is Glen Little. He has an ankle like a man who can’t help but see himself as the heir to Neil Webb, whereas I’d see it as a major tactical furtherance for the team should he be able to adopt the mental mindset of, say, Theo Walcott whose ankles are rarely damaged for long periods and are able to propel him forward as considerable speed. Imagine that, Glen Little, fresh of Achilles, darting in behind defences! What do you guys think? Is PMA the way forward or what?

I'd rather see Little hypnotised to think he's a 6ft 6 Leo Messi.

[Royal Rother]

More important that POMO is PMA.

What do you guys think? Is PMA the way forward or what?

More important than POMO and PMA is PMT.

Sign only single blokes and they will never be subjected to unjustified abuse at home and therefore always come to the field of play brimming with self-confidence.