Another injury

[Archie's penalty]

Happy to see Oster having the chance to start - sure I'm unhappy about the Little situation but let's see what Oster can do!

[Scarface]

The injury does explain why Blakey has had a quiet couple of games.

Perhaps Harper has an injury as well !!!

[Royalee]

I think Seol not being on the bench gives an impression of the current pecking order for me. Oster's sub appearances have warranted a start in the absence of Little, with Seol and Halford on the bench if Murty isn't fit,

Spot on. I really hope he doesn't play Doyle on the wing again.

I hope he plays Doyle on the left wing.

He's wasted there. Hunt was poor on Sunday (like the rest of midfield) but I'd still start him, he'll be well up for a dual against Finnan.

I'd rather play Doyle and Lita up front. Liverpool are more than capable of dealing with long balls, much better to test them with some pace and trickery.

Kitson's hardly disgraced himself when he's played and he needs to carry on playing. He works well with Lita and Doyle would do far better than Hunt on the wing - he uses the ball far better and would link up with Shorey. I'm not basing my reasons for dropping Hunt on the Spurs game alone - he's been consistently poor since January.

[Whore Jackie]

I think Seol not being on the bench gives an impression of the current pecking order for me. Oster's sub appearances have warranted a start in the absence of Little, with Seol and Halford on the bench if Murty isn't fit,

Spot on. I really hope he doesn't play Doyle on the wing again.

I hope he plays Doyle on the left wing.

He's wasted there. Hunt was poor on Sunday (like the rest of midfield) but I'd still start him, he'll be well up for a dual against Finnan.

I'd rather play Doyle and Lita up front. Liverpool are more than capable of dealing with long balls, much better to test them with some pace and trickery.

Kitson's hardly disgraced himself when he's played and he needs to carry on playing. He works well with Lita and Doyle would do far better than Hunt on the wing - he uses the ball far better and would link up with Shorey. I'm not basing my reasons for dropping Hunt on the Spurs game alone - he's been consistently poor since January.

Not knocking Kitson at all, just think we may fare better with Doyle and Lita up front. Carragher's one weakness is players who can turn him with pace.

I wouldn't say Hunt's been consistently poor since January. He's certainly not consistent, but his defensive hassling qualities and sporadic moments of skill are worth persevering with.
I've not seen any evidence that Doyle's an effective winger and with no Convey, the only other option on the left is Seol. Which isn't really his best position.

[brendywendy]

oster can play on the left or rightor in the centre, as can seol
hunty has had a good run, maybe we need to just freshen things up a little

or should wqe wait ttill after liverpool to do that

AAAAHHHHHHHH too confusing

glad im not managing the team

[Millsy]

Happy to see Oster having the chance to start - sure I'm unhappy about the Little situation but let's see what Oster can do!

Exactly.

Can anyone think of a time when an injury has happened under Coppell and we were left seriously affected by it? I certainly can't.

It's one of the miracles of Coppell that whenever an injury happens he somehow motivates the best out of whoever takes the place such that generally that person plays so well he keeps his spot.

I have no concerns about Little's injury (apart from for the poor guy himself) and am confident Oster OR Seol (or even Halford or Gunman) will do the biz for us.

[RobRoyal]

Happy to see Oster having the chance to start - sure I'm unhappy about the Little situation but let's see what Oster can do!

Exactly.

Can anyone think of a time when an injury has happened under Coppell and we were left seriously affected by it? I certainly can't.

Kitson, Jan - Mar 2005?

[Victor Meldrew]

On looking back I can't see the reason for Little continuing to play through an injury.
Remember Kitson doing the same and it messed him up for some time.
It's not as if we are actually playing for anything like a promotion push or a cup semi-final-we didn't want to win the FA Cup (God forbid a European spot)nor are we trying to qualify for Europe through our league position.
Thinks,what are we doing apart from fulfilling fixtures?
Maybe time for a run out for a youngster or two especially as Liverpool's mind won't be totally focused on Saturday's game.

[doylefan]

gutted about little being out. but explains his recent form. Would like to see Oster get his chance now, he deserves it, so lets see what he can do (might convince him to stay as well). Want to see Oster start on saturday with Seol on the bench (still not sure about him)

[Alan Partridge]

Interesting to see the Oster love in, i quite like Oster, clever footballer tidy player but is this the same John Oster that got battered on these very boards on a weekly basis during his spell on the right hand side last season?

Oster's best performances for Reading have all been in the centre of midfield, so why do we all suddenly want him back on the right hand side of midfield? Possibly the position he has had least success while playing for Reading?

I would play Oster but in place of Hunt and give Seol the chance to recreate his form. Unlike some morons who post on here I haven't forgotten the quality Seol has nor have i forgotten his contribution at the start of the season.

[rotherwick_royal]

I'm certain Hunt will play as we are undoubtedly going to have to chase the Liverpool midfield all over the pitch, and this will suit him. No he hasn't played well recently but Coppell's kept the faith and I can't seeing him changing his mind for this game. For the same reason I'd bring in Oster on the other side - he'll chase all day too, and he deserves a chance. The way Harper's played recently I'd be tempted to bring in Gunnarson too, but I can't see it happening.

Definitely NOT a game for sulky Hyeon - Liverpool will have a huge amount of possession and he'd be a spectator.

[brendywendy]

having checked back over our injuries this season

if anyone had said that wed be in 8th in april after spending alot of the season without:

Doyle
Kitson
Little
Convey
Sonko
Murty

Id have said you were mental

[SpaceCruiser]

Definitely NOT a game for sulky Hyeon

What makes you think he's sulky?

[rotherwick_royal]

Definitely NOT a game for sulky Hyeon

What makes you think he's sulky?

Well here's one definition....

"sullen, idle, lazy, slow, become sluggish, be weak or idle"

Think that sums up some of his performances.

Oh, and it's a play on words

[Yorkshire Royal]

BOO HIM

[RoyalBlue]

Definitely NOT a game for sulky Hyeon

What makes you think he's sulky?

Well here's one definition....

"sullen, idle, lazy, slow, become sluggish, be weak or idle"

Think that sums up some of his performances.

Oh, and it's a play on words

'Some' of his performances in 'some' people's eyes.

We have a lot of very good players but not that many that have the talent to produce something extra special class that can change games. Little has that talent and IMO Seol does too.

[Behindu]

On looking back I can't see the reason for Little continuing to play through an injury.

Because if players stopped playing whenever they have a slight twinge then we would never field a team of 11 ?

I read an article once that said most professional sportsmen in most sports are 'unfit' most of the time. The problem is at what point that impacts their performance, and most sportsmen want to play so tend to struggle on as long as they can.

[brendywendy]

especialy in our 1st term in the top flight, and at the point in littles career he is at right now id guess hed want to squeeze as much a possible out of it
he only had two games where he wasnt quite our usual pele-esque blakey
he still did ok though


and seol didnt sound too sulky in his recent interview saying if he wasnt playing he wasnt good enough and he needs to up his game
but ill let you off cos of the Pun