BACK ON TOPIC In addition to the players released I would imagine Kebe and Long will be sold. Mills and Federici might be sold too.
Therefore I would like to see the following 22 to line up for the 2011/12 season:
GK - McCarthy (Andersen)
DR - Cummings (Griffin)
DL - Harte (Williams)
DC - Mills (Pearce)
DC -
Jordan Spence (Morrison)
MR - McAnuff (Obita)
ML -
Dale Jennings (Robson-Kanu)
MC - Leigertwood (Tabb)
MC - Karacan (Taylor)
ST - Williams (Manset)
ST - Hunt (Church)
What! No Gunnarsson?!I've been Gunnarson's biggest fan, a big match player who gives 100%, but his position in the squad prevents players like Morrison, Cummings, Taylor and even Obita from getting game time due to another of his assets, his versatility. I know it's sad, but on this basis I'd let him go (or try to keep him as a coach only).
Loan out the periphery youthLawson D'Ath, Ethan Gage, Nicholas Bignall, Michael Antonio and probably Ben Hamer should go out on loan (again).
Surely we need a new Striker if/when Long goes?!If come the end of August our strikers are not cutting it, we should look to bring in a striker on loan similar to the way Swansea brought in Borini. At this stage with the the Premier league yet to begin it's player merry-go-round it is too early to predict who we might be in a position to take. However, it is too early to be making decisions on buying a new striker when 1,2 or more of what we have could make the grade. In fact, we may even be able to play a five man midfield with the squad we have which would make buying a 5th striker excessive. Long will be tough to replace whatever happens.
How to replace Kebe if we have toDale Jennings from Tranmere would cost £1.5m and is a big prospect; buying him would allow McAnuff to move to the right and would not be the kind of player that would force Robson-Kanu to consider his future. Players like Danny Green would be in our price range and could be a good back up, but for a team that has so impressive with it's wide play since players like Convey, Little and Hunt, it seems right that we should be aiming high. Michael Kightly and Chris Burke are available on bosmans, but I feel both players do not fit the so called 'Reading DNA', in other words, they are not 'hungry' enough.
Pace needed at the backMorrison, Pearce and (if he stays) Mills are all dominant centre halves, however occasionally this season they've been caught out as to being too slow; Taraabt, Sinclair and Darren Ambrose spring to mind. For this reason I'd try to bring in a centre back with pace. Jordan Spence is being linked with Bristol City after a good loan spell but West Ham may want to keep him and instead sell players on higher wages, they may not even make a decision without the squad being assessed by Allerdyce. However, Spence has pace and is the right age to become a first team player at this level with the experience of having captained England youth sides so if we can do it, I'd love to see him fulfil his potential at the Madejski.
Midfield and HowardTabb, Leigertwood, Karacan and Taylor look to be enough to be able to do without Howard, sometimes it's better to just say goodbye to a player and 'good luck'.
The left back debateI'd love to bring back Bertrand, it's just that I think Harte has one more season in him at this level, especially due to his set pieces. If Mcdermott can work his magic on Williams- and he must have seen something he liked at one stage- it seems pointless to spend quite a lot of money on a position that is not really a big problem. If Bertrand is still available when we go up next season then yes please!
3 good goalkeepers too manyFederici splits opinion and I have to say I like him, however, he is on the face of it, at age 26, a very saleable asset and seems to be very ambitious, perhaps due to getting close to the Australian number 1 spot. On the other hand, finding a buyer might be harder than we imagine. Most championship teams seem to rate their keepers - Westwood, Camp, Speroni, Loach, Guzan, Heaton and Schmeichael have all got rave reviews this season and it would take a great salesman to get more than £1m for Federici in a buyers market. However, it is essential that McCarthy, Anderson and Hamer are getting first team action ideally at championship level. Could it be that, as a young Englishman with FA cup exposure, McCarthy is the player more likely to leave? This would be tragic but necessary if funds need to be raised for other areas of the team. One of Hamer and Anderson would need to play Carling Cup games and the other would need to be loaned out. Perhaps Hamer could go to Germany as a fluent German speaker?!
