Will Pauno start Joao on Monday.

[Franchise FC]

I really feel for Joao.

He’s clearly a confidence driven type and his confidence is shot.

He isn’t deliberately trying to be crap and his laconic style was what made us so full of it in the first third of the season. Unfortunately, it’s that same style that’s making some pile in now.

[Notts Royal]

He'll play. He actually had a decent game except for that miss. He'll have nightmares about that for years.

Hmmm I’d disagree. He didn’t hold the ball up at all and really wasn’t a presence against Barnsley’s (Barnsley’s) defence.

Meite was poor as well. We needed balls today.

Both the 2006 and McDermotts would have battled them in the first 20-30 minutes and then 2nd half dictated the game.

We lacked steel and we lacked leaders. Why weren’t we going in on them studs up after 15 minutes? Match them.

Tbf Moore was excellent and was the only one showing the kind of spirit required. And Laurent was class, very clever.

I agree with this. Yes a lot of 50:50s went their way, but we spent a lot of energy shouting at the ref rather than manning up & matching them.

As you say, if we’d concentrated on the battle rather than shying away from it in the 1st half, we might’ve been able to play a bit more later

[Bristol Paul]

Whilst this team has undoubted skill, it’s missing battlers and grafters which is why I don’t mind Semedo as while he isn’t the greatest player, he sticks his boot in and disrupts opposition play, Barnsley were very in your face, we still have a tendency to stand off.

[Royal Rother]

Missing good chances. Something is wrong upstairs and has been for a while. Work rate at times poor but always was, touch less good. Seems totally out of sorts.

I think Pauno will persist with our talismanic top scorer that largely enables the way we play, certainly more than anyone else.

I'd be seriously considering dropping him, but I'm not sure how much that actually helps. Might ruin him further and I'm not sure our alternatives are great. Puscas looked thoroughly blunt a few weeks back. Meite has failed to put away at least as many sitters as Joao in the last two games as well.

The idea he's started his last game for us as RR suggested is mindbogglingly stupid though.

Hmm, I can see how for those short on imagination / intelligence that might be a tough one to get the old noggin’ around - maybe the “last game” comment is just my wishful thinking to an extent but I’ve been saying for 2 months he is a shit influence on the pitch and is dragging the rest of them down. I thought that would now be obvious to everyone.

Paunovic will certainly be aware of the negative impact he is having on the squad and no matter how good he was in the 1st half of the season he won’t want him around next season so I think he’ll be offloaded.

Just my opinion, we shall see what transpires in due course.

[leon]

He'll play. He actually had a decent game except for that miss. He'll have nightmares about that for years.

Hmmm I’d disagree. He didn’t hold the ball up at all and really wasn’t a presence against Barnsley’s (Barnsley’s) defence.

Meite was poor as well. We needed balls today.

Both the 2006 and McDermotts would have battled them in the first 20-30 minutes and then 2nd half dictated the game.

We lacked steel and we lacked leaders. Why weren’t we going in on them studs up after 15 minutes? Match them.

Tbf Moore was excellent and was the only one showing the kind of spirit required. And Laurent was class, very clever.

Because Reading don’t play like that and probably consequently still haven’t had a player sent off this season as a result - out of interest when did Reading last go through a season without having a player dismissed?

You sound like Don Goodman.

We had to battle today. Moore, Morrison (a miss when he went off) Laurent and Rinomhota are a basis to do that. I was seeing the others rolling around looking for sympathy. Not fcuking good enough.

[leon]

Whilst this team has undoubted skill, it’s missing battlers and grafters which is why I don’t mind Semedo as while he isn’t the greatest player, he sticks his boot in and disrupts opposition play, Barnsley were very in your face, we still have a tendency to stand off.

Agreed on Semedo.

[Snowball]

Whilst this team has undoubted skill, it’s missing battlers and grafters which is why I don’t mind Semedo as while he isn’t the greatest player, he sticks his boot in and disrupts opposition play, Barnsley were very in your face, we still have a tendency to stand off.

Agreed on Semedo.

If we stay down, I'd sign Semedo in a heartbeat.

He has skills, nicks a goal, gets a foot in. I think he'd be a VG player if he had a run
in a fixed position. Excellent late sub

[CountryRoyal]

Would 100% not want us to sign Semedo in any league.

[Zip]

Same here. I don’t see what Semedo offers to the side. The game often passes him by. His passing is erratic.
We never seem to do well when he is on the pitch.

[Once upon a time .]

Face the facts , stop living an illusion . Before the season started we were a team likely to be fighting relegation , along came a new manager who transformed the players we had into a unit which performed at a level above what they had achieved before . One of the ways this came to fruition was by converting a high rate of chances into goals . How was this achieved , because we had a striker called Joao who put half chances into the back of the net . He was the envy of the league .

What has changed ? We are the same team . Now match us up player to player with the likes of , Norwich , Watford , Brentford , Bournemouth , and not many Reading players would get in the team , they are not of the quality to be in a top of the championship team . We do have some quality players , but we also have weaknesses , and sometimes those weaknesses are going to cost us points . On top of that , we had a a bad run of injuries which has required the manager to involve academy players who do not have the ability or experience to be in a top of the championship team.

I started by saying , face the facts , well the facts are that we do not have the quality in the team to be top of the Championship, but thanks to good management through difficult circumstances ( and in his first season in this league ) we have had a season that many clubs envy . As for Joao , the same circumstances apply . He has ability and class, but he doesn’t have everything . However, his overall ability is above any other striker that we have . I don’t think we can afford to leave him out and therefore reduce the skill level in the team .

[windermereROYAL]

Face the facts , stop living an illusion . Before the season started we were a team likely to be fighting relegation , along came a new manager who transformed the players we had into a unit which performed at a level above what they had achieved before . One of the ways this came to fruition was by converting a high rate of chances into goals . How was this achieved , because we had a striker called Joao who put half chances into the back of the net . He was the envy of the league .

What has changed ? We are the same team . Now match us up player to player with the likes of , Norwich , Watford , Brentford , Bournemouth , and not many Reading players would get in the team , they are not of the quality to be in a top of the championship team . We do have some quality players , but we also have weaknesses , and sometimes those weaknesses are going to cost us points . On top of that , we had a a bad run of injuries which has required the manager to involve academy players who do not have the ability or experience to be in a top of the championship team.

I started by saying , face the facts , well the facts are that we do not have the quality in the team to be top of the Championship, but thanks to good management through difficult circumstances ( and in his first season in this league ) we have had a season that many clubs envy . As for Joao , the same circumstances apply . He has ability and class, but he doesn’t have everything . However, his overall ability is above any other striker that we have . I don’t think we can afford to leave him out and therefore reduce the skill level in the team .

Top post newbie.

[Snowball]

Face the facts , stop living an illusion . Before the season started we were a team likely to be fighting relegation , along came a new manager who transformed the players we had into a unit which performed at a level above what they had achieved before . One of the ways this came to fruition was by converting a high rate of chances into goals . How was this achieved , because we had a striker called Joao who put half chances into the back of the net . He was the envy of the league .

What has changed ? We are the same team . Now match us up player to player with the likes of , Norwich , Watford , Brentford , Bournemouth , and not many Reading players would get in the team , they are not of the quality to be in a top of the championship team . We do have some quality players , but we also have weaknesses , and sometimes those weaknesses are going to cost us points . On top of that , we had a a bad run of injuries which has required the manager to involve academy players who do not have the ability or experience to be in a top of the championship team.

I started by saying , face the facts , well the facts are that we do not have the quality in the team to be top of the Championship, but thanks to good management through difficult circumstances ( and in his first season in this league ) we have had a season that many clubs envy . As for Joao , the same circumstances apply . He has ability and class, but he doesn’t have everything . However, his overall ability is above any other striker that we have . I don’t think we can afford to leave him out and therefore reduce the skill level in the team .

Top post newbie.

Top congratulatory post, Oldie

[Snowflake Royal]

Same here. I don’t see what Semedo offers to the side. The game often passes him by. His passing is erratic.
We never seem to do well when he is on the pitch.

He's played 34 games and we're 6th ffs. I think it says more about you and CR that you can't seen anything good in Semedo than anything about the player.

He's decent.

[leon]

Face the facts , stop living an illusion . Before the season started we were a team likely to be fighting relegation , along came a new manager who transformed the players we had into a unit which performed at a level above what they had achieved before . One of the ways this came to fruition was by converting a high rate of chances into goals . How was this achieved , because we had a striker called Joao who put half chances into the back of the net . He was the envy of the league .

What has changed ? We are the same team . Now match us up player to player with the likes of , Norwich , Watford , Brentford , Bournemouth , and not many Reading players would get in the team , they are not of the quality to be in a top of the championship team . We do have some quality players , but we also have weaknesses , and sometimes those weaknesses are going to cost us points . On top of that , we had a a bad run of injuries which has required the manager to involve academy players who do not have the ability or experience to be in a top of the championship team.

I started by saying , face the facts , well the facts are that we do not have the quality in the team to be top of the Championship, but thanks to good management through difficult circumstances ( and in his first season in this league ) we have had a season that many clubs envy . As for Joao , the same circumstances apply . He has ability and class, but he doesn’t have everything . However, his overall ability is above any other striker that we have . I don’t think we can afford to leave him out and therefore reduce the skill level in the team .

He’s going through a terrible patch he needs a rest if Puscas is fit he should start.

[CountryRoyal]

Same here. I don’t see what Semedo offers to the side. The game often passes him by. His passing is erratic.
We never seem to do well when he is on the pitch.

He's played 34 games and we're 6th ffs. I think it says more about you and CR that you can't seen anything good in Semedo than anything about the player.

He's decent.

Never said don’t see “anything good” in him. Just said I don’t want us to sign him.

His cons outweigh his pros for me and believe it or not Ian people are allowed a different opinion to you without it offending you.

Only reason I can see why you care so much about other’s views.

[RoyalBlue]

Despite the YouGov style bias in the survey wording, VP will start Joao on Monday because he is still a valuable member of the team and dropping him will completely destroy his confidence and pretty much ensure that we don't make the playoffs.

[Snowflake Royal]

Same here. I don’t see what Semedo offers to the side. The game often passes him by. His passing is erratic.
We never seem to do well when he is on the pitch.

He's played 34 games and we're 6th ffs. I think it says more about you and CR that you can't seen anything good in Semedo than anything about the player.

He's decent.

Never said don’t see “anything good” in him. Just said I don’t want us to sign him.

His cons outweigh his pros for me and believe it or not Ian people are allowed a different opinion to you without it offending you.

Only reason I can see why you care so much about other’s views.

That's why you slag him off at every opportunity and wouldn't sign him in any league.

People are just as entitled to challenge and disagree with opinions as have them CR, they're not sacrosanct and nor should they be.

[Ascotexgunner]

He will start on the bench.
Puscas needs to start. Should have started against Barnsley as that game was more his style, playing off the last man.....ball over the top etc.
As for João, there's clearly somthing not right mentally. Give him a break and use him as a sub.
We are still in this and Barnsley just look far less of a top 6 side than us.
Even their run in isn't that easy.

[Zip]

Same here. I don’t see what Semedo offers to the side. The game often passes him by. His passing is erratic.
We never seem to do well when he is on the pitch.

He's played 34 games and we're 6th ffs. I think it says more about you and CR that you can't seen anything good in Semedo than anything about the player.

He's decent.

It’s called having an opinion Ian. Live with it.

[Stranded]

Same here. I don’t see what Semedo offers to the side. The game often passes him by. His passing is erratic.
We never seem to do well when he is on the pitch.

Best hope we don't go up then as we are contractually obliged to sign him for, I think 6m if promoted.