We were more solid defensively. That may be down to an emerging Williams / O'Connor partnership now they're both available than any tactical tweaks. Other than that, I personally didn't see anything different from a Hunt side. With a full two weeks I expected to see something. Perhaps the task is b...
We were more solid defensively. That may be down to an emerging Williams / O'Connor partnership now they're both available than any tactical tweaks. Other than that, I personally didn't see anything different from a Hunt side. With a full two weeks I expected to see something. Perhaps the task is bi...
Awful football. Was really expecting an improvement - Richardson has had two full weeks to exert some influence, but if anything, it was more inept that the last few performances under Hunt. On the positive side, one of the best strikes I've seen in 25 year following Reading. Plus Kelvin E really pu...
Unusual for a referee to change their mind - well done to the assistant. Maybe the presence of the TV cameras helped persuade the ref to take his assistant’s advice. Savage and Wing were less dominant, not because they weren’t involved, but that others were, particularly Kyerewaa and Doyle. The back...
How depressing is it going into a home league game against Stevenage, one of the smallest tinpot teams in the EFL and no one expecting us to win ! This is turning into one of the most miserable seasons ever ! I get what you mean. It's not what we've become used to. But please don't call any team &q...
Couhig does mention Richardson having been at RUFC - he said if he had been asked he would have advised Leam to not take the job. So at least Couhig doesn't shy away from acknowledging his problems there.
Triallists have practically zero cost. But they're players who have otherwise fallen through the cracks and you used to rarely get any idea who they actually were. As noted elsewhere, Morrell had barely played for a few years and has now retired. I think we had Walcott here one summer and he chose ...
I liked the Couhig interview a lot; in general I'm supportive. But his thin-skinned vendetta against Dellor is a bit off. If he thinks that's being treated harshly by the press, he would be mortified by how the owners in Spain or Italy get treated. And back to recruitment. We'll probably only know i...
The nearest I'll ever be toward being ITK is from a contact inside the Crawley camp from last year - where they said Doyle was the outstanding player the've had it years - his attitude, his work rate, in training and on match days, was just miles ahead of anyone else. It was a no brainer to take him...
One of the worst performances and results of the 25 years I've been watching Reading. A truly catastrophic collapse. Fair play to Carlisle - the first half looked like it was only matter of time before it turned into a bloodbath. That they hung in there speaks volumes. Very decent turn out from thei...
I wonder how much Richardson knows about the players. Will he have been discreetly in attendance at games before today? Have the club been supplying him with videos for weeks? Or did he come into his first training sessions with little real idea apart from a few words (Wing's good, Elliott's inconsi...
To my uneducated eye, the key thing about the press is making sure its properly coordinated and implemented in the right zones/at the right time... Under NH, this appeared to be missing and we sometimes pressed in such a haphazard way that energy was wasted and we were cut open by simple triangles ...
Just out of interest what has he done right.? Not trying to be contrary, but in his first 6 months what’s he done right?. And I get all the steadying the ship financially, I’m not interested in all that, that’s a given and something any new owner would have done. I’m on about the day to day operati...
I mean, it isn’t particularly cultist to believe the owners, privy to 99% more information than the average fan while wanting pretty much the same thing in terms of success, might sign a decent candidate. If that’s Leam Richardson, fine. I get that what the owners want/can spend doesn’t always alig...
Apparently he likes to employ a high press which, given the glacial pace of our defence, would seem to be a disaster waiting to happen. Favoured set up 4-2-3-1 or 5-3-2. As ever, I'm happy to give every manager a chance but not overly enthused with the prospect of Richardson.. If anyone tries a gen...
Although Rodgers got ~22 league games, not 14, and had us firmly in the bottom 2 and absolutely clueless, losing a lot. And no history of success with us. And had spent a lot of money. And reportedly just demanded more money to fix things in January when challenged on his performance. And took over...
This all illustrates the problem of sacking the manager. You've got to find a new one. And in this case, it appears to be without too much planning ahead. So none of the options appear to be all that great. Hard to see how they're much of a step up on Hunt. Realistically, you probably have to look o...