Official: Adam Le Fondre signs for Reading

[Ian Royal]

I don't care what other people think mate, I've seen enough of Noel Hunt to suggest he's not the player to be in a decent Championship team- I disagree with anyone who said he was decent last season because he simply wasn't- how many goals and assists did he get?

Noel Hunt: 19 (12) - 10 goals, ~ 6 assists. 1 goal every 3.2 games.

Not all those appearances were as a striker. Just as appearances that's a 1 in 3 strike rate, which is a pretty decent rate for a striker. When you factor in a third of his appearances were from the subs bench it gets much better. Especially as a come back from a very long injury lay off.

As for the assists he got pretty much the same amount as Kebe, McAnuff & Howard, starting significantly fewer games than either winger.

He's not very pretty, or creative, but unless you want to start down the line of arguing the equivalent of "the Earth is flat", you can't deny he's effective in producing an end product.

[leww_rfc]

Snowball?

[Snowball]

Barring injuries or a switch to 433/451 it will be Hunt with Alf

Easily the best combo (ATM) and Hunt's goals/assists per minute played is very, VERY good

[Ian Royal]

Snowball?

He doesn't have a monopoly of facts.

[chilipepper91]

Barring injuries or a switch to 433/451 it will be Hunt with Alf

Easily the best combo (ATM)

Based on...? Remember when we had Curo and Fozzy? The two barely ever played together. Just because they may be our two best strikers does not mean they work well together. Early days but it reminds me of a similar situation.

[ZacNaloen]

Hunt is nothing like Forster as a player, he's unselfish and gets a high number of assists

[M-U-R-T-Y]

In order to be similar to Fozzy, you must clock at least 10 offsides per game. I don't think Hunt is going to challenge that.

Church however

[Hoop Blah]

Hunt is nothing like Forster as a player, he's unselfish and gets a high number of assists

I'd imagine the point he's making is more along the lines of the two best forwards might not actually make the best partnership and/or play together that often.

I've no idea who are best options are upfront at the moment but I'm not sure Le Fondre is going to go straight into the team let alone who he might play with.

Back on the Forster/Curo partnership, one of the reasons they didn't play together all that much was that we only signed Cureton when Forster crocked himself and then when they were both fit we built a team around Forster as the lone forward with Hughes supporting him. Cureton was then mainly used as a last throw of the dice when we were in need of goal.

[brendywendy]

[quote="Hoop Blah
Two big IFs with Manset as well though aren't there?

Is he good enough?

Can he last more than 60/70 minutes of leading the line and still be capable of making a run when needed?

I think we'd all prefer watching Manset for 60/70 min than Hunt running around for 90 min doing sod all!

i think you need to work on your reading of a large number of peoples minds a little.

I don't care what other people think mate, I've seen enough of Noel Hunt to suggest he's not the player to be in a decent Championship team- I disagree with anyone who said he was decent last season because he simply wasn't- how many goals and assists did he get? I don't rate the man, that's my opinion, I'd be happy to be proved wrong. The only decent partnership he was in was with Doyle (who WAS A LOT BETTER than Long last season). Since his injury he's not been the same player. I compare that with Manset who looks dangerous everytime he gets the ball, Robson-Kanu who is currently our best player at creating things and getting the ball to a teammate's feet, Church who's positioning is the best out of all our strikers (regardless of the goals he hasn't scored and the fact that he has no confidence), and Le Fondre who has been regularly banging in the goals and is high on confidence.[/quote]


i aint your mate, mate.
and its m8

[roadrunner]

Le Fondre says he is confident that he can maintain his form in the Championship.

He told the Reading Post: "As long as I can get the chances I think I'll score goals.

"The goal size doesn't change when you come to the Championship, it's just obviously about me getting chances and putting them away.

"I have to try to bring the record I had in League Two to the Championship and try to get us to the Premier League.

"I'm probably a bit of a poacher but this season I had been playing a bit deeper for Rotherham and I've supplied a bit more.

"I just want to keep improving as a player and keep scoring goals.

"With the wingers we've got I don't see how I'm not going to score, it's just down to me really."


Thing is our wingers aren't seeing much of the play with the lump it style we've been using. I really McD changes things about and looks to use the wingers and midfield more.

[Z175]

Spot on Road runner...but I think thats what Brian wants.

At the moment we are so used to Long's presence that without the space we are resorting to hoofball too much. Right now Hunt, Manset and HRK are dropping back to create but then giving us no outlet, or pushing up so much we need the long ball. Its because we need a partnership, like Hunt had with Long.

If we can get Hunt in the hole and Kebe and McAnuff on form then we will guarantee a few opportunities for Alfie.

Its tough on Manset and HRK who have done little wrong, with 4 goals between them, but they are great impact players and its a long season.

[Ian Royal]

Le Fondre says he is confident that he can maintain his form in the Championship.

He told the Reading Post: "As long as I can get the chances I think I'll score goals.

"The goal size doesn't change when you come to the Championship, it's just obviously about me getting chances and putting them away.

"I have to try to bring the record I had in League Two to the Championship and try to get us to the Premier League.

"I'm probably a bit of a poacher but this season I had been playing a bit deeper for Rotherham and I've supplied a bit more.

"I just want to keep improving as a player and keep scoring goals.

"With the wingers we've got I don't see how I'm not going to score, it's just down to me really."


Thing is our wingers aren't seeing much of the play with the lump it style we've been using. I really McD changes things about and looks to use the wingers and midfield more.

Despite the fact our wingers are currently isolated and a bit out of form, they are actually still putting a fair amount of good ball into the box or creating opportunities. We could have had half a dozen goals against Barnsley. We had chances we didn't convert against Millwall & Leicester too. We've hit the wood work a fair amount already, we've had a couple of goals ruled out for offside...

If we can get a bit of form and confidence together, especially with decent overlapping fullbacks, we could really start tearing defences to pieces. Like we did on occasion last season.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

this could be good for reading but he will need to score goals

[Svlad Cjelli]

this could be good for reading but he will need to score goals

You are Lawro AICMFP!

[andrew1957]

Cannot help liking what this guy says.

If he can walk the walk and it is not a lot of hot air - then then next summers black hole should be well and truly filled when we sell him on.

http://www.readingfc.co.uk/page/NewsDet ... 29,00.html

[Croydon Royal]

Le Fondre says he is confident that he can maintain his form in the Championship.

He told the Reading Post: "As long as I can get the chances I think I'll score goals.

"The goal size doesn't change when you come to the Championship, it's just obviously about me getting chances and putting them away.

"I have to try to bring the record I had in League Two to the Championship and try to get us to the Premier League.

"I'm probably a bit of a poacher but this season I had been playing a bit deeper for Rotherham and I've supplied a bit more.

"I just want to keep improving as a player and keep scoring goals.

"With the wingers we've got I don't see how I'm not going to score, it's just down to me really."


Thing is our wingers aren't seeing much of the play with the lump it style we've been using. I really McD changes things about and looks to use the wingers and midfield more.

Despite the fact our wingers are currently isolated and a bit out of form, they are actually still putting a fair amount of good ball into the box or creating opportunities. We could have had half a dozen goals against Barnsley.

Agreed. If we had Le Fondre (or anyone who could make a bit of space for himself in the box and put his foot through the ball) we'd have won that Barnsley match. I lost count of the amount of times the ball whistled across the box with no-one there to put it in.

[Ian Royal]

Cannot help liking what this guy says.

If he can walk the walk and it is not a lot of hot air - then then next summers black hole should be well and truly filled when we sell him on.

http://www.readingfc.co.uk/page/NewsDet ... 29,00.html

I think he might actually explode with excitement if he scores on his debut.

[M-U-R-T-Y]

this could be good for reading but he will need to score goals

In other news, homosexuals are gay.

[Gordons Cumming]

[i]Le Fondre says he is confident that he can maintain his form in the Championship.

He told the Reading Post: "As long as I can get the chances I think I'll score goals.

"The goal size doesn't change when you come to the Championship.................................

These footballers are bright aren't they?

[roadrunner]

I just hope when we keep struggling, because it is going to be a frustrating season this season, people don't start booing and bitching at him for being lazy. He is, and he knows his game is all about poaching and being in the right place at the right time. Curo was the same but would get moaned about on here all the time but his record was superb.

Let him float about around the box, the second striker can work that bit harder and drop back if need be.

I want Le Fondle in that box waiting for any tit bits he can get his foot on the end of!