Jobi

[RoyalBlue]

no body's perfect!





although, agreed, lol at the early ball he put into the box( a great ball by the way) when there was no one within 25 yards

He put it right on Hunty's head!Unfortunately Hunt was off the pitch having treatment at the time hence the enormous gap.

I think it was way before that Mags.

If I've ruined a weak joke I can only apologise.

Sorry, you are wrong. It was when Hunt was off the pitch (he had to go off at least twice). Yes, McAnuff did need to look up but, had he done so, he would have realised he had b*gger all options. That has been a real failing this season - i.e. not getting numbers quickly forward and into the box to capitalise on our good wing play.

[Royal With Cheese]

I'm going to have to watch the recording now to check. Well, not now, when I get home.

[Z175]

I think Jobi would be genuinely world class if his decision making was good. In fact if it was just average he'd be at a much bigger club.

But as it is its woeful, so he plays for Reading. Which I am happy about because his touch is briliant, his skills are great, he can beat a man with pace, his balls in the box are good, and his marking/defending are excellent too.

It also makes it entertaining to watch when he wins the ball in his own box, slaloms past a winger and full back, cuts inside then does something ridiculously terrible with the ball.

Long live Jobi!

But as above hes a confidence player. When Brendan was sacked we were 23rd in the league, but McAnuff was 1st in the assists table... Wit ha bit of belief he'll do the simple thing at the end of his dribbles and we'd be better for it, whereas when times are tough he tends to take on too much.

[melonhead]

I don't think he does enough defensively which is such an important part of our game when we play with two wingers.

literally our hardest working attacking player in defensive terms

[Extended-Phenotype]

He’s fast, has a good bit of flair, a creative spark, tracks back, takes people on and keeps working until the end. Just falls short with his confidence (doesn’t take people on as much as his quality should encourage) and end product (crosses or shots aren’t consistent).

But kudos to the guy; he’s waltzed around Liverpool, rinsed the fullbacks at Chelsea and scored against Man United. Pleased to have him on the team. Captaincy makes somebody out of form less droppable which is a shame (and why you shouldn’t make wingers captains) which is why perhaps he gets more stick – people get frustrated to see a player continuously selected if they aren’t playing well.

At the same time, this frustration makes people look out for it more and exaggerate flaws – he’s been solid this season, had like any other player some off games, but he’s still our most consistent winger and I have a feeling our most creative and productive too.

[BraisingsteakRoyal]

I really like the guy, has been working hard recently and often has to put in a decent defensive display in front of Harte or Shorey.

Sadly I agree with a few above, he's not a mid-table Premier League player (which is what we need in order to move forward further). Neither are Hunt, Legs, McLeary and possibly Karacan. Karacan has a lot of bustle and gets about, but his passing options are either 'short' or 'sideways' and he has the touch of the proverbial rapist (as demonstrated on a number of occasions last night).

We've added to the squad well with Akpan and Kelly, but will need to invest significantly more in the summer no matter where we are, as I see the squad as a bit of a ticking time bomb in terms of a few players either being out of contract and/or suspect, age-wise for another season (Roberts, Hunt, Shorey, Harte, Legs, Jobi) or could be attracted to bigger and better things (Morrison, Pearce, Alfie, Pog, McCarthy, Feds, Guthrie).

[Barry the bird boggler]

Definitely more consistent in terms of what you want to see a winger doing than Kebe and McLeary

Don't like him playing in the middle but that's not his fault that he gets put there, also don't like wingers as captains but again that's not his fault

Certainly one of our better players this season and let's hope he's up for running the Wigan right back ragged on Saturday

[RoyalTank]

he is clearly a good captain, they are always going on about the reason for our success is down to the team spirit etc..

[Ian Royal]

I think he's great. He lets his head go down a bit sometimes when things just aren't going his way. but he puts in enormous work defensively, rarely goes missing even when it just isn't going his way and has created a fair few goals.

He's not quite strong enough against a lot of PL players who appear to mostly be made of tungstun, and he's not that little bit quicker than most players at this level like he was in the Chump. But he's still our most consistent and well rounded winger. He's still turned a few players inside out at this level. He was giving Jones a torrid time and I think his injury was a bit of a blessing in disguise for Fergie as Nani coming on and Valencia switching to right back really put a crimp in our joy down their right flank.

There are just too many morons in our support who decided they thought he was shit a few years ago and won't let the thought budge from their head no matter how well he does. I've said it before, but I know two fans who genuinely think he's the worst winger we've had in a decade. Which is just utterly baffling.

[peterroyal76]

I think he's great. He lets his head go down a bit sometimes when things just aren't going his way. but he puts in enormous work defensively, rarely goes missing even when it just isn't going his way and has created a fair few goals.

He's not quite strong enough against a lot of PL players who appear to mostly be made of tungstun, and he's not that little bit quicker than most players at this level like he was in the Chump. But he's still our most consistent and well rounded winger. He's still turned a few players inside out at this level. He was giving Jones a torrid time and I think his injury was a bit of a blessing in disguise for Fergie as Nani coming on and Valencia switching to right back really put a crimp in our joy down their right flank.

There are just too many morons in our support who decided they thought he was shit a few years ago and won't let the thought budge from their head no matter how well he does. I've said it before, but I know two fans who genuinely think he's the worst winger we've had in a decade. Which is just utterly baffling.

Spot on Ian.
He also ruined Rafael in the league game too.

[West Stand Man]

thought he played really well, worked incredibly hard, and caused them some real problems.


blinkered h8ers will h8 him no matter what he does.

As someone who has watched about 2 games all season on tv and has no agenda with anyone, i thought he was pants. He's too slow to react to anything and the yard of real pace he had seems to have gone. To be honest, championship player playing a league above his level. He gives you a shift though and it's all you can ask from players like him.

i think Morrison will go for a lot of money to one of the big clubs in the Prem, he's got loads of potential and already looks comfortable. Mariappa was excellent, McLeary anonymous, hunt willing, Le Fondre is Curo which isn't a bad thing.

Reading actually have the core of a half decent Premiership team, if they can stay up this year and add a bit of quality out wide and in the middle of midfield they could become a West Brom.

Pretty much agree with all of this.

It's blindingly obvious to anyone that knows anything about football, that if we stay up and we want to progress, we will need to phase Jobi, Leg, N.Hunt out of the team. These players are clearly playing above their level, so I can't get too annoyed with them for their performances, provided the effort is there, which it clearly is.

Paraphrased = "I have a bigoted view of my own powers of thought and will force them on you regardless"

[Maguire]

I'm going to have to watch the recording now to check. Well, not now, when I get home.

I was just going from memory but the odds are that you're wrong here m8

[Bandini]

Genuinely surprised at the amount of h8erz Jobi has attracted this year. He loses the ball and gets slated, he's a winger, he's supposed to take people on
this means he will lose the ball sometimes!

I think he's given a lot of very disciplined performances this year, playing out of position quite often. Offensively he's set up a few goals and scored a very good goal last night.

Defensively he closes down, presses and tracks back.

So get off Jobi's back, seriously what do you expect?

Some people are just racist, Archie's Penalty.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

I have never been a Jobi fan as I always thought he was just a journeyman pro who got moved from club to club because he was not good enough.

This season, McAnuff has come on leaps and bounds as a team player and when McDermott has moved him into the centre of midfield he has been excellent, giving us an option to create from the centre.

Keep it up Jobi. (I never thought I would be saying that)!!!!

[SCIAG]

Definitely more consistent in terms of what you want to see a winger doing than Kebe and McLeary

I think Kébé is more consistent tbqh. He's been a 7/10 player every week for the last year or eighteen months, he doesn't have bad games any more and he doesn't destroy teams very often (West Ham being the obvious exception, I suppose Sunderland as well).

Honestly didn't think Kebe could get much better at this stage in his career, but he really has.

[Royal With Cheese]

I'm going to have to watch the recording now to check. Well, not now, when I get home.

I was just going from memory but the odds are that you're wrong here m8

Possibly.

FTR, I didn't watch last night. Forgot.

[The Beardy Man]

I think he's great. He lets his head go down a bit sometimes when things just aren't going his way. but he puts in enormous work defensively, rarely goes missing even when it just isn't going his way and has created a fair few goals.

He's not quite strong enough against a lot of PL players who appear to mostly be made of tungstun, and he's not that little bit quicker than most players at this level like he was in the Chump. But he's still our most consistent and well rounded winger. He's still turned a few players inside out at this level. He was giving Jones a torrid time and I think his injury was a bit of a blessing in disguise for Fergie as Nani coming on and Valencia switching to right back really put a crimp in our joy down their right flank.

There are just too many morons in our support who decided they thought he was shit a few years ago and won't let the thought budge from their head no matter how well he does. I've said it before, but I know two fans who genuinely think he's the worst winger we've had in a decade. Which is just utterly baffling.

Agree with all this. I would also say that those who want a shouty fist pumper type as captain should look at things again. We won the championship with Jobi as captain (of a side that was weaker than the one Murty captained), and our spirit throughout his tenure as captain has been excellent. It is highly likely as captain he plays a big part in that with his off field behaviour. It's not just about what you see on the pitch with captaincy.

[Royal Biscuitman]

Reading fans are harsh on McAnuff for the simple fact he isn't Jimmy Kebe and he isn't Gareth McLeary who are generally more exciting to watch going forward.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Reading fans are harsh on McAnuff for the simple fact he isn't Jimmy Kebe and he isn't Gareth McLeary who are generally more exciting to watch going forward...

...and generally less productive.

[Croydon Royal]

I think Jobi would be genuinely world class if his decision making was good. In fact if it was just average he'd be at a much bigger club.

But as it is its woeful, so he plays for Reading. Which I am happy about because his touch is briliant, his skills are great, he can beat a man with pace, his balls in the box are good, and his marking/defending are excellent too.

It also makes it entertaining to watch when he wins the ball in his own box, slaloms past a winger and full back, cuts inside then does something ridiculously terrible with the ball.

Long live Jobi!

But as above hes a confidence player. When Brendan was sacked we were 23rd in the league, but McAnuff was 1st in the assists table... Wit ha bit of belief he'll do the simple thing at the end of his dribbles and we'd be better for it, whereas when times are tough he tends to take on too much.

Agree with this. I don't hate Jobi but he does frustrate me, and mostly it's to do with his decision making. Off the top of my head there's 3 cases in point from Monday - firstly when he crossed the ball in to nobody in the first half, when it would have been much better to get his head up, realise no-one was in 25 yards and keep the ball in the corner until reinforcements arrived (we were on a breakaway so he wasn't right to assume anyone was up with him).

Secondly, when he dived to try and win a penalty (against Jones?) - it never looked like a penalty, the ref was never going to give it and we had men in the box, it would have been so much more worthwhile to cut it back or hit it hard towards the back post.

Thirdly, in the very final minutes of the game, once we'd won the corner and Feds was up, the ball came back to Jobi just inside their half. He seemed caught in 2 minds and for some reason tried to take on their defender. With our keeper out of position and 95% of the players on the pitch in the Man Utd area, why not swing it back in? We've scored plenty of late goals that way by latching on to mad scrambles (Chelsea, West Brom etc) yet Jobi arsed about with it and not only killed our one final attack but almost set up an embarrassing Man Utd goal as well.

As said elsewhere, the positives with him do outweigh the negatives and when he goes on a run he is a joy to watch (see Liverpool at Anfield in that cup match), but his poor decision making, ability to get frustrated and go missing when the game is going against us (not great for a captain) and most worryingly his increasing willingness to dive means he will always frustrate and always divide opinion.