Danny Williams

[SCIAG]

I had been wondering the same thing. I was a fan of Harper, but I do struggle to tell what Williams contributes.

I thought it was the right time to move on from Jay Tabb, but I'm not sure why we'd spend a million replacing him with Williams. I'd rather have kept Tabb based on performances so far.

To Williams' credit, he doesn't have Hope Akpan's habit of making glaring errors. I'm simply not sure how much he contributes positively. He just seems to be the epitome of average.

Lol @ the fifth result on a Google Image search of "jerry williams reading fc"

[RoyalBlue]

hes not helped by being partnered with Guthrie who likes to take his time on the ball and only passes it 45 yards.

jesus christ.

Nothing personal, but quite why this myth is being perpetuated I don't know.

Actually watch Guthrie closely. He has arguably got the best ball control of anyone at the club. His first touch normally turns him in the direction of his next pass, if he has already spotted it. If he hasn't, he looks up. Then it stops.

Guthrie is a passer of the football. When he doesn't do that quickly, it's because he doesn't have anyone to pass to.

This is absolutely spot on and currently Guthrie is suffering, like Marek did, from the fact that too many of his teammates lack footballing intelligence and consequently fail to make themselves available in good positions. Rest assured, if a pass is on, 9 times out of 10 Guthrie will make it and make it successfully.

[sandman]

Rubbish. Marek suffered from the fact he was incredibly overrated by Reading fans and wasn't as good as he or they thought he was. Same with Guthrie.

All that different wavelength stuff was complete bowlocks.

[Simon's Church]

]

This is absolutely spot on and currently Guthrie is suffering, like Marek did, from the fact that too many of his teammates lack footballing intelligence and consequently fail to make themselves available

McCarthy and Pearce are unfortunate victims of this too.

[RoyalBlue]

Rubbish. Marek suffered from the fact he was incredibly overrated by Reading fans and wasn't as good as he or they thought he was. Same with Guthrie.

All that different wavelength stuff was complete bowlocks.

Of course, that is why Marek was a Czech International and has spent the majority of his career playing for teams far better than us!

Poor old Brian, once again signed the right type of player but just didn't know how to use them.

[Ian Royal]

Williams strikes me as fairly similar to Sidwell, but a little less hard. An all rounder. Decent going forward, passing, shooting, hassling and tackling. A bit weak on the ball sometimes.

As so often has been the case since the Sidwell and Harper partnership broke up, we seem to have two pieces of a midfield triumvirate that can't quite meld into a successful partnership. It's symptomatic of the problem we've had in the squad for the same length of time. We're still very much in Rodgers' transition. We keep trying to break away into a more dynamic passing side, but we can't quite make the leap and have half a squad set up ready to play a more traditional 4-4-2 and half a squad trying to move on to something different.

And the end result is bitty performances and mostly seasons of not quite getting there. Bar a few superb good runs under McDermott (generally when we rejected the move towards change and were more conservative - which can rarely perform long-term). None of which actually lasted much more than six months.

I like Williams. I'm not convinced by him. But he's got plenty about him and it can take a season or two for even a quality player to find their feet and the right partnership to thrive. He's certainly worth keeping around.

[Ian Royal]

Rubbish. Marek suffered from the fact he was incredibly overrated by Reading fans and wasn't as good as he or they thought he was. Same with Guthrie.

All that different wavelength stuff was complete bowlocks.

Of course, that is why Marek was a Czech International and has spent the majority of his career playing for teams far better than us!

Poor old Brian, once again signed the right type of player but just didn't know how to use them.

Marek was a good player wholly unsuited to English football. He might have made it with the right players around him (not Cisse, Gunnarsson or Karacan that's for damn sure). But he just didn't have what it takes.

It's telling that Brian Howard performed better than him in a similar role. Guthrie is a significantly better player for the English Leagues.

And it was Coppell who signed Matejovsky.

[Handsome Man]

Rubbish. Marek suffered from the fact he was incredibly overrated by Reading fans and wasn't as good as he or they thought he was. Same with Guthrie.

All that different wavelength stuff was complete bowlocks.

Of course, that is why Marek was a Czech International and has spent the majority of his career playing for teams far better than us!

Poor old Brian, once again signed the right type of player but just didn't know how to use them.

1999–2001
Mladá Boleslav 16 (1)

2001–2003
Jablonec 6 (0)

2003–2008
Mladá Boleslav 127 (9)

2008–2010
Reading 51 (2)

2010–
Sparta Prague 78 (1)


?
Every club smaller than Reading

Reading was the highpoint of his career and he was just shit - a very poor footballer who couldn't hit a pass while he was here to save his life. Whatever you might think about the players he played with, no player should end his time in English football with more assists for the opposition than his own team. He is easily the worst adult player we have had at the Madejski.

[bcubed]

I think Danny does best when playing in a CM three, with a proper defensive CM alongside Guthrie, freeing up Williams to use his energy and drive to carry the ball up the pitch and link up with the forwards.

Then we could push our wide players further forward to provide some proper width, with Pog up front. I think this would work well, esp against the better teams when we don't want to go with 4-4-2.

Williams has been forced recently to play in a pair with Guthrie, which doesn't really work because neither of then is a true CDM. The only other option has been Akpan, but he is very similar in style to Williams.

If we'd had any of Karacan, Baird or Ledge avaialble these past weeks, things would have been different.

Given time, and an easing of the injury list, I think Williams can become a significant asset. Same might apply to Akpan, if he can get his confidence going.

Absolutely right
Guthrie was much better with Baird behind him
Williams and. Guthrie as a midfield pair just doesn't work

[royalp-we]

Rubbish. Marek suffered from the fact he was incredibly overrated by Reading fans and wasn't as good as he or they thought he was. Same with Guthrie.

All that different wavelength stuff was complete bowlocks.

Of course, that is why Marek was a Czech International and has spent the majority of his career playing for teams far better than us!

Poor old Brian, once again signed the right type of player but just didn't know how to use them.

1999–2001
Mladá Boleslav 16 (1)

2001–2003
Jablonec 6 (0)

2003–2008
Mladá Boleslav 127 (9)

2008–2010
Reading 51 (2)

2010–
Sparta Prague 78 (1)


?
Every club smaller than Reading

Reading was the highpoint of his career and he was just shit - a very poor footballer who couldn't hit a pass while he was here to save his life. Whatever you might think about the players he played with, no player should end his time in English football with more assists for the opposition than his own team. He is easily the worst adult player we have had at the Madejski.

I'm all for opinions, but do behave handsome. Matejovsky and Sidwell are the only two still doing good things coming up 10 years after us seeing our best squad EVER out on the pitch.


Sparta - narrowly lost 2-1 to Chelsea in the QF of the Europa League last year?
Czech national team - would most definitely give our own national team a run for their money!
Matejovsky - he scored the winner for Sparta Praha last week they're now top of their league!


His final moments weren't covered in glory, but there's no taking away the fact the lad was better than Jimmy Crawford


Isn't it great that when proven players join our club, we drag their name - and their career down the pan. I'm praying things change this season for bridge, drenthe, Guthrie and Pog.

Oh and back on subject - Danny Williams still has everything to prove as a footballer

[Uke]

Lol @ the fifth result on a Google Image search of "jerry williams reading fc"

I got the legendary



Which now comes up second on my search.

A few more clicks on the button and they'll come first...?

[mikey0406]

Some people on here talk absolute crap, marek was a very good footballer who didn't have intelligent players around him, some of his killer passes were sublime just lacked the quality in the end of them

[floyd__streete]

Reading was the highpoint of his career and he was just shit - a very poor footballer who couldn't hit a pass while he was here to save his life. Whatever you might think about the players he played with, no player should end his time in English football with more assists for the opposition than his own team. He is easily the worst adult player we have had at the Madejski.

HM, has Avon Royal hacked your account That is possibly the worst, most mental posting ever in the history of Hob Nob . I was no huge fan of Marek, but.....blimey.

[sandman]

Some people on here talk absolute crap, marek was a very good footballer who didn't have intelligent players around him, some of his killer passes were sublime just lacked the quality in the end of them

Constant under hit passes, trying to be clever by looking away when playing a pass, lightweight, unfit and totally unsuited to English football. Anyone would think he was Xavi the way people go on about him. Just because they have a foreign name doesn't mean they're automatically a good player.

[Ian Royal]

Some people on here talk absolute crap, marek was a very good footballer who didn't have intelligent players around him, some of his killer passes were sublime just lacked the quality in the end of them

Constant under hit passes, trying to be clever by looking away when playing a pass, lightweight, unfit and totally unsuited to English football. Anyone would think he was Xavi the way people go on about him. Just because they have a foreign name doesn't mean they're automatically a good player.

I think the first bit is a big exaggeration, but the bolded bit is pretty fair criticism.

As is so often the case on here, the 'truth' lies somewhere between the polar positions.

[genome]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-ck4aj7k9I

Have it... you can even hear applause from the Liverpool fans.

[Berry]

We need another Mass Sar

[Agent Balti]

We need another Mass Sar

Some may say we already do in Drenthe...

[melonhead]

Some people on here talk absolute crap, marek was a very good footballer who didn't have intelligent players around him, some of his killer passes were sublime just lacked the quality in the end of them

loved him, wanted him to come good, never did, and to blame those around him is lolable.

[The Rouge]

Reading was the highpoint of his career and he was just shit - a very poor footballer who couldn't hit a pass while he was here to save his life. Whatever you might think about the players he played with, no player should end his time in English football with more assists for the opposition than his own team. He is easily the worst adult player we have had at the Madejski.

HM, has Avon Royal hacked your account That is possibly the worst, most mental posting ever in the history of Hob Nob . I was no huge fan of Marek, but.....blimey.

Yeah, ridiculous. Marek's main weakness was the whole defensive part of his game (positioning and tackling) as well as losing the ball a bit too much and not being quick enough, especially over 5-10 yards. He had great touch, control, a great range of passing and a great shot.