Back from the the game - Barnsley (A)

[Kitson12]

Seems Howard is staying. Maybe he was applauding the Barnsley fans

What? I'm sure he was. But he applauded us too.

[LoyalRoyal22]

Really pleased with the win, was nervous throughout the game because of the way the other results were going...

alex- 8
bryn- 7
harte- 7
zurab- 7
ivar- 7
kebe- 7
church- 7
tabb- 7
karacan- 8
howard- 8
long-8

manset looked quality when he came on, stand out players for me with the 8s, karacan, howard and long

[LoyalRoyal22]

Nice to see some consistent reports. Neutrals have Church as impressive, whilst all Hobnobers have him as poor. Two have Howard as good, one has him as shite.

Howard was awesome. best i seen him play this season

[brendywendy]

Disapointed with Antonio in recent weeks says the first poster!! Good god has he been playing, I must of blinked!!!!!!!

NOT.READY.YET!

[Kitson12]

Got to say Howard had an excellent game. Very glad he's decided to stay until at least the end of the season, valuable cover! As Barnsley fans were saying, he pulled the strings in midfield.

Also Church was good as well, he just needs that one goal to go in for him, and his confidence will flood back, but he certainly did a job for us on Saturday.

[Ian Royal]

I'd ideally like to see us play with Howard and Legs in the middle next season, Hunt / Long / Manset dropping deep to pad out midfield at need. Would give us a nice mix of strength, passing and guile. Make other teams worry about us controlling the game, rather than worrying about stopping them doing it. Would mean we're less likely to play percentage hoofball - which I really don't like a lot, even if it can be effective.

Karacan / Tabb as super subs to come on and close out games, step up for injuries / suspensions, or drop into the middle as an extra body in tricky away games.

I actually wonder if Karacan might end up making a better RB than midfielder...

[biscuitman]

I'd ideally like to see us play with Howard and Legs in the middle next season, Hunt / Long / Manset dropping deep to pad out midfield at need. Would give us a nice mix of strength, passing and guile. Make other teams worry about us controlling the game, rather than worrying about stopping them doing it. Would mean we're less likely to play percentage hoofball - which I really don't like a lot, even if it can be effective.

Karacan / Tabb as super subs to come on and close out games, step up for injuries / suspensions, or drop into the middle as an extra body in tricky away games.

I actually wonder if Karacan might end up making a better RB than midfielder...

What an odd thing to post when we still have a chance of doing something this season. You know we are 7th and our league form is quite impressive currently.

[biscuitman]

I'd ideally like to see us play with Howard and Legs in the middle next season, Hunt / Long / Manset dropping deep to pad out midfield at need. Would give us a nice mix of strength, passing and guile. Make other teams worry about us controlling the game, rather than worrying about stopping them doing it. Would mean we're less likely to play percentage hoofball - which I really don't like a lot, even if it can be effective.

Karacan / Tabb as super subs to come on and close out games, step up for injuries / suspensions, or drop into the middle as an extra body in tricky away games.

I actually wonder if Karacan might end up making a better RB than midfielder...

What an odd thing to post when we still have a chance of doing something this season. You know we are 7th and our league form is quite impressive.

[LoyalRoyal22]

I'd ideally like to see us play with Howard and Legs in the middle next season, Hunt / Long / Manset dropping deep to pad out midfield at need. Would give us a nice mix of strength, passing and guile. Make other teams worry about us controlling the game, rather than worrying about stopping them doing it. Would mean we're less likely to play percentage hoofball - which I really don't like a lot, even if it can be effective.

Karacan / Tabb as super subs to come on and close out games, step up for injuries / suspensions, or drop into the middle as an extra body in tricky away games.

I actually wonder if Karacan might end up making a better RB than midfielder...

really? i think he has been brilliant this season, one of our top players. Has really improved. Was quality on saturday aswell. Just needs to add a couple more goals to be a top midfielder, his passing and tackiling have been really good this season.

[Ian Royal]

I'd ideally like to see us play with Howard and Legs in the middle next season, Hunt / Long / Manset dropping deep to pad out midfield at need. Would give us a nice mix of strength, passing and guile. Make other teams worry about us controlling the game, rather than worrying about stopping them doing it. Would mean we're less likely to play percentage hoofball - which I really don't like a lot, even if it can be effective.

Karacan / Tabb as super subs to come on and close out games, step up for injuries / suspensions, or drop into the middle as an extra body in tricky away games.

I actually wonder if Karacan might end up making a better RB than midfielder...

What an odd thing to post when we still have a chance of doing something this season. You know we are 7th and our league form is quite impressive currently.

I've said all along I think we'll narrowly miss out on the play offs and even if we make them I can't see us being good enough to win them having only got wins against Burnley of the main contenders. So I'm looking forward positively to next year.

I'll be absolutely delighted, if nervous, if we go up.

I've thought Karacan looks just a little bit headless chicken in midfield sometimes and don't think his passing is up to the standard it needs to be regularly enough for a 2 man central pairing. He's ok to play there and he's been one of our better players... just don't think he lends himself brilliantly to the sort of style I'd prefer to see us playing.

[Snowball]

I've said all along I think we'll narrowly miss out on the play offs and even if we make them I can't see us being good enough to win them having only got wins against Burnley of the main contenders. So I'm looking forward positively to next year.

I'll be absolutely delighted, if nervous, if we go up.

I've thought Karacan looks just a little bit headless chicken in midfield sometimes and don't think his passing is up to the standard it needs to be regularly enough for a 2 man central pairing. He's ok to play there and he's been one of our better players... just don't think he lends himself brilliantly to the sort of style I'd prefer to see us playing.

"Saying all along" and sticking to it, doesn't always make sense.

Here is how the table looked after 31 games, just 7 games to go.

1 P31 60 Points +31 GD QPR
2 P31 55 Points +14 GD Cardiff ON WHOM WE HAVE GAINED SIX POINTS AND SEVEN GOALS GD PLUS A GAME
3 P31 54 Points +10 GD Norwich ON WHOM WE HAVE GAINED ONE POINT AND FOUR GOALS GD PLUS A GAME
4 P29 53 Points +16 GD Forest ON WHOM WE HAVE GAINED SEVEN POINTS AND TEN GOALS AND TWO GAMES
5 P31 53 Points +11 GD Swansea ON WHOM WE HAVE GAINED FOUR POINTS AND ONE GOAL PLUS A GAME
6 P31 52 Points +10 GD Leeds ON WHOM WE HAVE GAINED FIVE POINTS AND EIGHT GOALS PLUS A GAME
7 P31 48 Points +01 GD Leicester ON WHOM WE HAVE GAINED SEVEN POINTS AND EIGHT GOALS PLUS A GAME
8 P31 47 Points +09 GD Burnley ON WHOM WE HAVE GAINED FOUR POINTS AND NINE GOALS PLUS A GAME
9 P31 46 Points +09 GD Millwall ON WHOM WE HAVE GAINED SIX POINTS AND FIVE GOALS PLUS A GAME
10 P31 45 Points +04 GD Hull ON WHOM WE HAVE GAINED THREE POINTS AND SEVEN GOALS PLUS A GAME
11 P30 44 Points +10 GD Watford ON WHOM WE HAVE GAINED TWO POINTS AND THREE GOALS PLUS A GAME
12 P31 43 Points +11 GD Reading
18 P30 35 Points -05 GD Portsmouth who have gained 5 points on us, no goals (but played one more game)

[biscuitman]

I give up. Karacan/Legs= the best partnershp by far this season. How can you not see that?? As for next year's team, you clearly havent even thought about the possibilty of players coming and going except for getting Legs in from QPR...

[Negative_Jeff]

Manset has real potential, pace, strength and one or two tricks. His goal was a bit of a strange affair. Tabb`s stock Reading channel ball looked to be going nowhere but Long`s persistence on the by line created the opportunity.
There is another thread on Howard, but I wish people would get off his back. Up behind Long in a 4-4-1-1 formation he was outstanding here. Nobody can say he is blessed with quick feet, but (on a good day) he lets the ball run across his body, drifts past opponents and picks a pass. Once or twice I thought I might have been watching Trevor Brooking!

[facaldaqui]

Manset has real potential, pace, strength and one or two tricks. His goal was a bit of a strange affair. Tabb`s stock Reading channel ball looked to be going nowhere but Long`s persistence on the by line created the opportunity.
There is another thread on Howard, but I wish people would get off his back. Up behind Long in a 4-4-1-1 formation he was outstanding here. Nobody can say he is blessed with quick feet, but (on a good day) he lets the ball run across his body, drifts past opponents and picks a pass. Once or twice I thought I might have been watching Trevor Brooking!

Yes, Howard certainly has some silky skills, though his body language telegraphs what he's going to do, which is why he is sometimes rendered ineffective by quick opponents.

As for the way Shane made that goal, he has a clever trick he performs consistently enough that it can't be an accident: he surprises defenders from the blind side. I've never seen a Reading player so good at this, the football equivalent of daylight robbery.

[handbags_harris]

I've thought Karacan looks just a little bit headless chicken in midfield sometimes and don't think his passing is up to the standard it needs to be regularly enough for a 2 man central pairing. He's ok to play there and he's been one of our better players... just don't think he lends himself brilliantly to the sort of style I'd prefer to see us playing.

Spot on pretty much. Karacan is promising, but having witnessed almost every minute of his RFC career my opinion is that he will end up as no more than a mid-table all action Championship midfielder. Snappy in the tackle, runs around a lot, but of average quality on the ball. Breaks up play well alongside Leigertwood, but to a certain degree Karacan has been carried in some games. No surprise that Karacan's best games have come in physical battles, and his worst have been in games where the opposition tend to pass it more. For me, Howard or Tabb are both much better options alongside Leigertwood.

[brendywendy]

now. but how can you judge his potential for improvement with experience and coaching?

[biscuitman]

He's pretty much coming to the end of his first full season as a regular team player but yet people on here have the audacity to think they've seen enough of him to say he's going to be a 'mid table championship player'. Sign up Legs and they'll be perfect together. I heard the same bullshit on here about when Harper joined us.

[brendywendy]

oh dont mention him- half of the population of the board think he was awful and was totally carried by sidwell for his entire career at reading and arsenal.

[facaldaqui]

He's pretty much coming to the end of his first full season as a regular team player but yet people on here have the audacity to think they've seen enough of him to say he's going to be a 'mid table championship player'. Sign up Legs and they'll be perfect together. I heard the same bullshit on here about when Harper joined us.

I remember considerable joy on here at the arrival of Harper, who seemed a cut above--of course, that was in League 1.

[facaldaqui]

oh dont mention him- half of the population of the board think he was awful and was totally carried by sidwell for his entire career at reading and arsenal.

I think the votes showed that most rated him; but there was a vocal minority who kept slagging him off.