Brian - Goals on Sunday

[Jackson Corner]

Whats the odds on a ding Leeds play off final next season? BM comes back to haunt us like Rogers and Swansea?

[melonhead]

I don't think it's that unusual for a sacked manager not to get to say bye to his squad at the time of his sacking (Adkins didn't) but I'm sure he'll get to speak to those that he wants to in good time.

In the meantime I think he probably needs to keep a respectful distance to allow the new regime to kick on with things without his ghost distracting things a bit.

From what I've seen of the interview I'd say his comments show an acceptance of his part in the car crash of a season we've sat through. Interesting comments about the lack of spending and that he should've done more, I'll save the 'I told you so's' for another time though!

'i should have been stronger' says to me he wishes he had pushed harder for more money, rather than admitting there was money he didnt spend tbf

Personally I think it's a total admission that he got it wrong in the summer. Combined with all the other comments from him and everyone else I'd say he's accepting that he got it totally wrong in the summer when (IMO) leading the club into the go with what we've got type approach to setting the budget for adding to the team.

clearly he takes responsibility.

but the "i should have been stronger" definitely points to anton/hammond/JM setting that low budget and him accepting it too easily.


and tbf going with what weve got/signing 6 players doesnt match up for me

[Gordons Cumming]

I have to say at times I've wondered about his judgement.

Early in the season he said the players were good enough to stay up and in this recent interview " I thought I'd be at Reading forever"



Hhmmmm.......?

[Wimb]

I have to say at times I've wondered about his judgement.

Early in the season he said the players were good enough to stay up and in this recent interview " I thought I'd be at Reading forever"



Hhmmmm.......?

If the players had been on top form and injury free then I think there is/was enough quality in the squad to stay up.

The problems included key injuries (Roberts, Kebe, Karacan, Federici, McCarthy) bust-ups/behind the scenes issues (Pearce, Federici, Guthrie, Pogrebnyak) as well as just underwhelming solo performances (Morrison v Wigan, Leigertwood v Everyone) Bad luck (Ba handball, Torres offside etc) plus bad tactical decisions at key times.

Obviously you have to expect those sorts of things in a season and perhaps Brian's mistake was not expecting those things and under preparing.

However I'd maintain that he was quite unlucky this season and if one or two of the above had gone in our favour then he'd still be here today.

[melonhead]

tbf to him - of course he said he thought his players were good enough. he is never going to come out and say that, even if he did feel it.
and tbf i thought hed be here forever. he was reading through and through, and loved it here.

i currently think i will be at my current job forever, despite the liklihood being extremely small

[melonhead]

I have to say at times I've wondered about his judgement.

Early in the season he said the players were good enough to stay up and in this recent interview " I thought I'd be at Reading forever"



Hhmmmm.......?

If the players had been on top form and injury free then I think there is/was enough quality in the squad to stay up.

The problems included key injuries (Roberts, Kebe, Karacan, Federici, McCarthy) bust-ups/behind the scenes issues (Pearce, Federici, Guthrie, Pogrebnyak) as well as just underwhelming solo performances (Morrison v Wigan, Leigertwood v Everyone) Bad luck (Ba handball, Torres offside etc) plus bad tactical decisions at key times.

Obviously you have to expect those sorts of things in a season and perhaps Brian's mistake was not expecting those things and under preparing.

However I'd maintain that he was quite unlucky this season and if one or two of the above had gone in our favour then he'd still be here today.

agree with all of this. good post.



when things go wrong, its usually due to a complex web of interdependant factors. rather than just one.
agree totally, if just one of the set backs we had had gone the other way.....

if there hadnt been that gap for the sunderland game
the kebe/roberts injuries, or pog suspension
if wed won the newcastle game,
if somehow wed managaed to come out on top in any of those mental games where we really went at arsenal/man united/chelsea
if tottenham had succeeded and signed that player that meant they released gylfi to talk to us on deadline day(what a lift that would have given everyone)
any one of those things could have had the positive effect we would have needed to be just 3 or 6 ponts higher up than we are and be in with a proper shout of staying up.


obviously mistakes were made, obviously we were woefully short of quality.
but short of buying a whole new team in the summer and risk the QPR scenario, im just not sure how we were meant to deal with that.
cos its more than one or two players not being good enough. its pretty much the entire squad.
and because of that imo, i can understand, and in many ways agree with the decisions we made in the summer.

[winchester_royal]

So what we're basically saying is that if we'd have got more lucky breaks, had a fit first team squad all season, hadn't had anyone sent off, and every player had produced the form of their lives throughout the season then we'd be in a better position?

[melonhead]

So what we're basically saying is that if we'd have got more lucky breaks, had a fit first team squad all season, hadn't had anyone sent off, and every player had produced the form of their lives throughout the season then we'd be in a better position?

yes.

no.

maybe.


cant cite the injuries- theyve occurred to injury prone players so should have been predictable.
cant cite all of our players not being at 100% throughout the season as that too is
predictable.
the lucky breaks- like goals given/not given could have given us a confidence/points boost just when we needed it, and meant we went on to ammass more point-and though its pointless to bemoan this now, just one of these could have made a big difference.

the biggest one for me though was the tottenham striker situation.
if that signing hadnt fallen through on deadline day wed have brought gylfi home, and the entire squad/stadium would have been a different prospect- a huge lift, that would have made all the difference, and imo meant we would have kept our mini run of form going past the start of feb.

im not offering these things up as justification, or excuses. i thought we would go down all season, and nothing ive seen has made a difference to that.
im just saying that we werent actually all that far away at the end, despite being oxf*rd awful for most of the season.

[Wimb]

So what we're basically saying is that if we'd have got more lucky breaks, had a fit first team squad all season, hadn't had anyone sent off, and every player had produced the form of their lives throughout the season then we'd be in a better position?

yes.

no.

maybe.


cant cite the injuries- theyve occurred to injury prone players so should have been predictable.
cant cite all of our players not being at 100% throughout the season as that too is
predictable.
the lucky breaks- like goals given/not given could have given us a confidence/points boost just when we needed it, and meant we went on to ammass more point-and though its pointless to bemoan this now, just one of these could have made a big difference.

the biggest one for me though was the tottenham striker situation.
if that signing hadnt fallen through on deadline day wed have brought gylfi home, and the entire squad/stadium would have been a different prospect- a huge lift, that would have made all the difference, and imo meant we would have kept our mini run of form going past the start of feb.

im not offering these things up as justification, or excuses. i thought we would go down all season, and nothing ive seen has made a difference to that.
im just saying that we werent actually all that far away at the end, despite being oxf*rd awful for most of the season.

Yeah Brenders has said what I was trying to get at.

Obviously you get injuries, suspensions and bad luck in a season. What's not helped was how they all came together at really bad moments that in other seasons you might just get away with.

For example the bust-up/injuries/whatever with Guthrie happening at the same time that Karacan gets ruled-out for a couple of months. Just bad timing and left us with just Tabb and Leigertwood. Poor transfer dealings but also bad luck.

Likewise had Ba's handball been spotted we'd have got a much needed morale boosting win sooner.

As Brian said on Sunday, it's such fine margins and sadly for us and him... we've been on the wrong side off too many this year.

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

I'm sure every Prem league club can pull up an "if only" list..Reading don't have exclusivity to it.

....after 38 games you are where you deserve to be,,

[Gordons Cumming]

I have to say at times I've wondered about his judgement.

Early in the season he said the players were good enough to stay up and in this recent interview " I thought I'd be at Reading forever"



Hhmmmm.......?

If the players had been on top form and injury free then I think there is/was enough quality in the squad to stay up.

The problems included key injuries (Roberts, Kebe, Karacan, Federici, McCarthy) bust-ups/behind the scenes issues (Pearce, Federici, Guthrie, Pogrebnyak) as well as just underwhelming solo performances (Morrison v Wigan, Leigertwood v Everyone) Bad luck (Ba handball, Torres offside etc) plus bad tactical decisions at key times.

Obviously you have to expect those sorts of things in a season and perhaps Brian's mistake was not expecting those things and under preparing.

However I'd maintain that he was quite unlucky this season and if one or two of the above had gone in our favour then he'd still be here today.

Doesn't account for him thinking he'd be at Reading forever though.
As soon as he became manager the clock for his departure started ticking...............

[melonhead]

I'm sure every Prem league club can pull up an "if only" list..Reading don't have exclusivity to it.

....after 38 games you are where you deserve to be,,

yeah, hence why we both caveated the statements with that exact explanation

[melonhead]

Doesn't account for him thinking he'd be a Reading forever though.

like i already said- that just says he was very happy here, had been here for a very long time, and loved it here.
its just something you say. it doesnt mean he actually believed he would stay at reading for an eternity.

[SPARTA]

Whats the odds on a ding Leeds play off final next season? BM comes back to haunt us like Rogers and Swansea?

BM would lose it, so yes please.

[melonhead]

like he lost the championship last season........oh

[Ian Royal]

like he lost the championship last season........oh

46 game league is quite different to a one game final. Bm lost his. Adkins won his. I know which manager I'd give a marginal edge to for that encounter.

[melonhead]

scratch that thenand just use the single cup final we had at their place last season which would have won them the championship if theyd won it.


plus his was in league 1, so its not a valid comparison.

[Ian Royal]

scratch that thenand just use the single cup final we had at their place last season which would have won them the championship if theyd won it.


plus his was in league 1, so its not a valid comparison.

Play Off Final vs Play Off Final. Our match in the league at their place was not a one off winner takes all match.

[Royalee]

Whats the odds on a ding Leeds play off final next season? BM comes back to haunt us like Rogers and Swansea?

We'll already have been crowned Champions, plus he won't do anything at Leeds.

[SPARTA]

Leeds fans seem to think they'll get McDermott but they hate the thought of long-ball and lower league players coming in. I think they've forgotten just how average they've become this last several years.