CONFIMRED - Rafael Cabral

[Hound]

And the other 9 players, of course

No it was pretty much just those two who got us to the heights we did that season. The others played at their level, Al-Habsi and Yann were way above expectations.

Did you go to any of the games?

Hmm, I seem to remember Danny Williams having a few stand-out games, McShane was excellent and Swift was playing at the same level he currently is.

A few standout games? He was brilliant from Jan onwards. Obita was superb as well. Whilst McCleary and Beerens were very good in the first half of the year (though GMac could argue that was his normal level)

[From Despair To Where?]

I wouldn't have. He was dreadful.

Well he was nominated for a PotM in November 2016, was in the EFL Championship Team of the Season for 2016-17 and was POTS for Reading in a season where we finished 3rd, so yeah, dreadful.

I know it's an unpopular opinion but it's one I stand by. A nice guy off the pitch, without doubt, but on it he was a lettuce-handed flapper who made Heurelho Gomes look like a safe pair of hands. The comedic errors against Man United (a) and QPR (h) are just two examples.

Or at Hillsborough where he kept us in the game with a string of fine saves etc.etc.etc.

Whilst it's important to highlight Kermorgant's goals or the number of times Al Habsi, kept us in the game, you don't win 26 games and keep 15 clean sheets (only Derby and Sheffield Wed had more with 16) without the whole team contributing.

[Hendo]

No it was pretty much just those two who got us to the heights we did that season. The others played at their level, Al-Habsi and Yann were way above expectations.

Did you go to any of the games?

Hmm, I seem to remember Danny Williams having a few stand-out games, McShane was excellent and Swift was playing at the same level he currently is.

A few standout games? He was brilliant from Jan onwards. Obita was superb as well. Whilst McCleary and Beerens were very good in the first half of the year (though GMac could argue that was his normal level)

Well, exactly.

[John Smith]

Or at Hillsborough where he kept us in the game with a string of fine saves etc.etc.etc.

Was that the Friday night game?

[From Despair To Where?]

Or at Hillsborough where he kept us in the game with a string of fine saves etc.etc.etc.

Was that the Friday night game?

That's the one.

Kermorgant's scored just over a quarter of our league goals that season (18 of 68).

[URZZZZ]

Well he was nominated for a PotM in November 2016, was in the EFL Championship Team of the Season for 2016-17 and was POTS for Reading in a season where we finished 3rd, so yeah, dreadful.

I know it's an unpopular opinion but it's one I stand by. A nice guy off the pitch, without doubt, but on it he was a lettuce-handed flapper who made Heurelho Gomes look like a safe pair of hands. The comedic errors against Man United (a) and QPR (h) are just two examples.

Or at Hillsborough where he kept us in the game with a string of fine saves etc.etc.etc.

Whilst it's important to highlight Kermorgant's goals or the number of times Al Habsi, kept us in the game, you don't win 26 games and keep 15 clean sheets (only Derby and Sheffield Wed had more with 16) without the whole team contributing.

Shows that in the Championship, you can have all the flair players in the world but having a rigid (yet slightly dull) structure can equally provide success

I’d argue Fulham’s squad is better than anyone else’s in this league by quite a way, yet their team lacks cohesion which is why they’re not pushing the front two where their squad really should be

Always wonder how we’d have fared if Moore and Obita put away their penalties. Think we’d have struggled but nonetheless would have liked to have seen it

[From Despair To Where?]

The problem with Stam's team was that first goal usually won and if the opposition got it, a few more would usually follow. 68 conceded in 31 games.

[WoodleyRoyal]

The problem with Stam's team was that first goal usually won and if the opposition got it, a few more would usually follow. 68 conceded in 31 games.

yep and that's why there should be more confidence around having sustained improvement with this team rather than Stam's with only 28 goals conceded this season 10 of which came in 3 games fulham Birmingham and Sheff wed. for the first time in a number of years we have a rock solid defense.

[Hound]

The problem with Stam's team was that first goal usually won and if the opposition got it, a few more would usually follow. 68 conceded in 31 games.

yep and that's why there should be more confidence around having sustained improvement with this team rather than Stam's with only 28 goals conceded this season 10 of which came in 3 games fulham Birmingham and Sheff wed. for the first time in a number of years we have a rock solid defense.

Stam's team was incredibly good at defending a lead. I think we only dropped 2 points from winning positions all season, or something ridiculous like that. I've never seen a team so dependent on scoring first.

When we went behind, I suppose we probably went a lot more expansive and then the gaps appeared. Its also odd there were so few 0-0s in the season considering our style of play.

[URZZZZ]

The problem with Stam's team was that first goal usually won and if the opposition got it, a few more would usually follow. 68 conceded in 31 games.

Agreed, we seemed good at holding out leads but pretty inept at chasing goals

Don’t know the stats itself for that season, but would estimate a high proportion of our wins were by one goal yet a high proportion of our losses were by more than one goal

[URZZZZ]

The problem with Stam's team was that first goal usually won and if the opposition got it, a few more would usually follow. 68 conceded in 31 games.

yep and that's why there should be more confidence around having sustained improvement with this team rather than Stam's with only 28 goals conceded this season 10 of which came in 3 games fulham Birmingham and Sheff wed. for the first time in a number of years we have a rock solid defense.

Stam's team was incredibly good at defending a lead. I think we only dropped 2 points from winning positions all season, or something ridiculous like that. I've never seen a team so dependent on scoring first.

When we went behind, I suppose we probably went a lot more expansive and then the gaps appeared. Its also odd there were so few 0-0s in the season considering our style of play.

Was a bit more than 2 points but in the whole of Stam’s tenure, we only lost from winning positions twice which is a pretty good record

[Snowball]

The problem with Stam's team was that first goal usually won and if the opposition got it, a few more would usually follow. 68 conceded in 31 games.

yep and that's why there should be more confidence around having sustained improvement with this team rather than Stam's with only 28 goals conceded this season 10 of which came in 3 games fulham Birmingham and Sheff wed. for the first time in a number of years we have a rock solid defense.

I don't dispute what you say (or the stats) but I never
feel comfortable watching us defend this season.

We always LOOK LIKE we are about to concede, and I would
not be surprised if we shipped at least one "Norwich"

I really can't remember which defence, (only been watching since 2006)
but there was a time (under McDermott maybe?) where the more the opposition
banged it in to the penalty area, the more calm I felt. Header after header clear.

But then (and now) we are conceding a lot of chances and second-tier strikers
aren't taking them (the Fulham four-stop in one attack for example).

When McD took us up I remember saying we have to stop giving away this
amount of chances cos Premiership strikers take them.



Just to add, I think our best "defender" is Pele.

[WoodleyRoyal]

The problem with Stam's team was that first goal usually won and if the opposition got it, a few more would usually follow. 68 conceded in 31 games.

yep and that's why there should be more confidence around having sustained improvement with this team rather than Stam's with only 28 goals conceded this season 10 of which came in 3 games fulham Birmingham and Sheff wed. for the first time in a number of years we have a rock solid defense.

I don't dispute what you say (or the stats) but I never
feel comfortable watching us defend this season.

We always LOOK LIKE we are about to concede, and I would
not be surprised if we shipped at least one "Norwich"

I really can't remember which defence, (only been watching since 2006)
but there was a time (under McDermott maybe?) where the more the opposition
banged it in to the penalty area, the more calm I felt. Header after header clear.

But then (and now) we are conceding a lot of chances and second-tier strikers
aren't taking them (the Fulham four-stop in one attack for example).

When McD took us up I remember saying we have to stop giving away this
amount of chances cos Premiership strikers take them.



Just to add, I think our best "defender" is Pele.

please write properly I can't read your haiku format.

[genome]

No it is a debate about football, its what a forum is for. Different opinions.

Not sure how many I times I need to say this:

It's not what you're saying, it's how you talk to other people.

This is coming from someone who does actually generally like you; I don't want you to be banned or anything. You just really need to reflect on your demeanour around here and the way you participate in discussions. When nigh on everybody is telling you there's a problem, it's time to look inwards.

And that's the last I'll say on the matter because I can't have the same conversation with you every single day.

Hey OMA, you know we get on.

And you know I blocked you for ages, until I decided you're not that bad.

genome has a point here buddy. You're not a bad chap and your contributions are always worthwhile whether people agree or not. Just think about wording things differently and you'll be fine. Don't take it personally when people disagree.

You're not the only one but some (like Ian - sorry but it's true you weren't too dissimilar, I just never blocked you) changed their ways over the years and are much more pleasant to disagree with now and have a good friendly debate.

Perhaps it's time everybody just resets: it's been a difficult time with f**king Brexit and f**king Trump and emotions are running high. Draw a line under it all and start afresh. This means noone jumping on everything OMA says too, it's not fair on him either.

Interesting that he's blanked these two responses. We can only hope that he'll take it on board.

[John Smith]

Or at Hillsborough where he kept us in the game with a string of fine saves etc.etc.etc.

Was that the Friday night game?

That's the one.

Kermorgant's scored just over a quarter of our league goals that season (18 of 68).

Yeah...can't really remember much from that game. Very pissy.

[Old Man Andrews]

Was that the Friday night game?

That's the one.

Kermorgant's scored just over a quarter of our league goals that season (18 of 68).

Yeah...can't really remember much from that game. Very pissy.

As in beer or do you mean incontinence?

[From Despair To Where?]

The problem with Stam's team was that first goal usually won and if the opposition got it, a few more would usually follow. 68 conceded in 31 games.

Agreed, we seemed good at holding out leads but pretty inept at chasing goals

Don’t know the stats itself for that season, but would estimate a high proportion of our wins were by one goal yet a high proportion of our losses were by more than one goal

18 of our wins were by 1 goal, 8 of them 1-0 with Brentford (h) and Wigan (a) our only ones by more than 2 goals. (Still, we won the league in 85/86 with 29 wins without winning any game by more than 2 goals)

We only lost twice at home, 2-1 to Villa and 1-0 to QPR but of our 11 away defeats, 6 were by 3 or more goals (4-1, 3-0, 5-0, another 4-1, 7-1 and another 3-0)

[URZZZZ]

The problem with Stam's team was that first goal usually won and if the opposition got it, a few more would usually follow. 68 conceded in 31 games.

Agreed, we seemed good at holding out leads but pretty inept at chasing goals

Don’t know the stats itself for that season, but would estimate a high proportion of our wins were by one goal yet a high proportion of our losses were by more than one goal

18 of our wins were by 1 goal, 8 of them 1-0 with Brentford (h) and Wigan (a) our only ones by more than 2 goals. (Still, we won the league in 85/86 with 29 wins without winning any game by more than 2 goals)

We only lost twice at home, 2-1 to Villa and 1-0 to QPR but of our 11 away defeats, 6 were by 3 or more goals (4-1, 3-0, 5-0, another 4-1, 7-1 and another 3-0)

Thanks, explains the low goal difference at least

Not being picky but presume you mean Burton (H) rather than Brentford (H)?

[Hound]

yep and that's why there should be more confidence around having sustained improvement with this team rather than Stam's with only 28 goals conceded this season 10 of which came in 3 games fulham Birmingham and Sheff wed. for the first time in a number of years we have a rock solid defense.

Stam's team was incredibly good at defending a lead. I think we only dropped 2 points from winning positions all season, or something ridiculous like that. I've never seen a team so dependent on scoring first.

When we went behind, I suppose we probably went a lot more expansive and then the gaps appeared. Its also odd there were so few 0-0s in the season considering our style of play.

Was a bit more than 2 points but in the whole of Stam’s tenure, we only lost from winning positions twice which is a pretty good record

I'm not sure it was. I know Fulham pegged one back in the semi, but I think there was only one other occasion all that season (trying to wrack my brain for what game it was....)

[URZZZZ]

Two I can think of are Brighton (H) (2 points)
Derby (A) - 3 points

Maybe that's it actually. 5 points then, thought there were a couple of others