Are we just a team of hoofers?

[Negative_Jeff]

You lot should get together and request a meeting with Brian.

I doubt any of this has crossed his mind................................

I should think it has crossed his mind. Otherwise why on earth would he have signed Guthrie in the first place?

Ever heard of sarcasm..? Plays for Irony Utd. Good player.

I only mention it to counter your frequent "leave it to Brian" comments. Although tiresome are they also meant to be in irony? If so I`ll ignore, bit slow you see.

[Gordons Cumming]

I don't use irony all the time.

HTH

[Extended-Phenotype]

Interesting article on Sky Sports website today.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11994/8149391


Reading Refusal to Pass

"I am trying to fit into the direct style of play the manager wants," wrote Guthrie on his Twitter feed prior to the game. "I pass too much at the moment, which is my biggest asset. I understand what the manager wants but stopping habits like going and getting the ball from the back four is difficult."

It is worth remembering this is Danny Guthrie - hardly a man previously noted for his commitment to the beautiful game. But the vision of Brian McDermott is clear and the contrast with Saturday's opponents Swansea was marked. The numbers are one thing - 600 attempted passes to 225 - but the real story lies in the percentages. Only 58 per cent of those 225 passes were completed and the Royals had just 29 per cent possession.

It is little surprise that the completion stats were so poor given the away side's direct approach. Reading's most common passing combination was Alex McCarthy finding Noel Hunt with no other pairing managing to get the ball to each other more than five times.

Of course, Swansea are not a side without flaws of their own - they conceded twice early on - but with so little of the ball it was hardly surprising that the home side found a way through in the end to earn a share of the points. And for the second Premier League game running, Guthrie was an unused substitute on the Reading bench.



Does anybody find this a concern?

No, I find it a f/cking embarassment.

McD and the team, you are letting us down.

[Stuboo]

I'm not overly concerned. I think Brian has stated that we need to keep the ball better and I expect him to address it, as he always seems to do. Also, last season we were very good at keeping possession and closing the game out, so I am sure we have the ability to do it.

Yes, the Prem is a higher level, but I still think we have it in us to do better at possession and passing than we are currently doing.

[Libertine]

Interesting article on Sky Sports website today.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11994/8149391


Reading Refusal to Pass

"I am trying to fit into the direct style of play the manager wants," wrote Guthrie on his Twitter feed prior to the game. "I pass too much at the moment, which is my biggest asset. I understand what the manager wants but stopping habits like going and getting the ball from the back four is difficult."

It is worth remembering this is Danny Guthrie - hardly a man previously noted for his commitment to the beautiful game. But the vision of Brian McDermott is clear and the contrast with Saturday's opponents Swansea was marked. The numbers are one thing - 600 attempted passes to 225 - but the real story lies in the percentages. Only 58 per cent of those 225 passes were completed and the Royals had just 29 per cent possession.

It is little surprise that the completion stats were so poor given the away side's direct approach. Reading's most common passing combination was Alex McCarthy finding Noel Hunt with no other pairing managing to get the ball to each other more than five times.

Of course, Swansea are not a side without flaws of their own - they conceded twice early on - but with so little of the ball it was hardly surprising that the home side found a way through in the end to earn a share of the points. And for the second Premier League game running, Guthrie was an unused substitute on the Reading bench.



Does anybody find this a concern?

It's an article taking comments from a player and a single game out of context. It implies we're long ball hoof merchants and that isn't our style. We're direct, but that isn't the same thing. When we play badly we do resort to crappy hoofing, but it's not what we're about.

If they took the Newcastle game instead of the Swansea game, it would show a completely different reflection of us.

Of course. Newcastle is far more direct. They play similar to us. So they gave up the ball more often to us, which allowed us to play our game. The games where we have struggled the most is when we have played teams like Tottenham and Swansea City who play a ball control game, where we see very little of the ball once we give it up with another sloppy pass.

So when we play more direct teams we will look better and have more of a chance to get a result. When we play a possession oriented one, with skilled players, we will look completely out of our depth. Unless we change our formation against the possession oriented teams and play a 4-5-1 to try to clog up the midfield and negate their passing game.

[Libertine]

And we have to tighten things up. There was much too much space between our forward players and defensive players. Either we need to play a higher line, which is very dangerous with the lack of pace of our back four, or we need to drop deeper. Teams like Tottenham and Swansea City can't be allowed to have the space they have been allowed to enjoy in the middle.

[Royal91]

What I don't understand is that every week McDermott comes out and says we need to pass the ball better, I know we can. He's been saying this since he joined and we are still terrible. Now it appears that McDermott wants to play a more direct style. Well which one is it.

We are not a passing side. End of!


We need to be more dynamic in our play. Yes play 4-4-2 but only have one out and out winger. Lose some pace on one wing and play a technical player to link up in the final third.

For me our team is good enough we are just fickle fans where our mindset changes every week (After Newcastle everyone was buzzing). The reason we our losing, is not because our defence is awful, but simply we don't retain the ball. We need more possession not to create chances but to set the tempo and prevent other teams from pressing. Its OK doing that in the championship but in the EPL any sustained pressure and you will concede.

The real problem in our team is Kebe and Karacan. These two just lack so much technique we will never hold the ball long enough to ease the pressure.

For me we needed a Lallana type player, who plays on the wing but moves inside and links up. We lack a fast striker who can stretch the defence and we needed another CDM who can pass the ball!

[SpaceCruiser]

We are not a passing side. End of!

Oh, piss off, you newbies are an embarrassment.

[Royal91]

We are not a passing side. End of!

Oh, piss off, you newbies are an embarrassment.

I'm not a newbie my account stopped working. My previous account was rfc2001. If you look at the statistics on Sky we make about 250/300 passes less than every other team!

[SpaceCruiser]

We are not a passing side. End of!

Oh, piss off, you newbies are an embarrassment.

I'm not a Newbie my account stopped working. my previous account was rfc2001.

Never heard of you.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

I did have to laugh at McDermott saying pre-Swansea 'it'll be a good match between two good footballing teams'

No, it was a game between one good team and one who couldn't wait to clear lines and hoof it up the pitch.

[SpaceCruiser]

If you look at the statistics on Sky we make about 250/300 passes less than every other team!

They're still passes. If we're not a passing team, then we'd be making zero passes.

[jonboy29red]

am i right in thinking when stoke got promoted they were classed as a team of hoofers? and over the seasons they have altered there style

[Ian Royal]

If you look at the statistics on Sky we make about 250/300 passes less than every other team!

They're still passes. If we're not a passing team, then we'd be making zero passes.

Even by your unspeakably low standards, that is pathetic. That may well be THE stupidest thing I've ever read.

[Northern Git]

If you look at the statistics on Sky we make about 250/300 passes less than every other team!

They're still passes. If we're not a passing team, then we'd be making zero passes.

Even by your unspeakably low standards, that is pathetic. That may well be THE stupidest thing I've ever read.

Correct Ian, how anyone can say we dont use the 'long ball' hoof up the pitch, not pass and move just shows they dont go to games

[Plymouth_Royal]

am i right in thinking when stoke got promoted they were classed as a team of hoofers? and over the seasons they have altered there style

No.

If you have a look on skysports there's a stats section and stoke had the lowest successful passes with 7133 last year. They've also been a direct team too and had one the lowest year after year.

[Plymouth_Royal]

What I don't understand is that every week McDermott comes out and says we need to pass the ball better, I know we can. He's been saying this since he joined and we are still terrible. Now it appears that McDermott wants to play a more direct style. Well which one is it.

We are not a passing side. End of!


We need to be more dynamic in our play. Yes play 4-4-2 but only have one out and out winger. Lose some pace on one wing and play a technical player to link up in the final third.

For me our team is good enough we are just fickle fans where our mindset changes every week (After Newcastle everyone was buzzing). The reason we our losing, is not because our defence is awful, but simply we don't retain the ball. We need more possession not to create chances but to set the tempo and prevent other teams from pressing. Its OK doing that in the championship but in the EPL any sustained pressure and you will concede.

The real problem in our team is Kebe and Karacan. These two just lack so much technique we will never hold the ball long enough to ease the pressure.

For me we needed a Lallana type player, who plays on the wing but moves inside and links up. We lack a fast striker who can stretch the defence and we needed another CDM who can pass the ball!

Wow.

You must be working for the club and involved with the first team on a daily basis judging by your post. Really interesting insight to the problems we have.

Hey, perhaps you can sort it out for us.

Cheers pal.

[SPARTA]

We can't stick to the same tactics that got us up, that's the problem. We were very fortunate in so many games last season, but the seems to have been lost on most people.

We can't sit back, soak up pressure and hit on the break at this level. We will get raped.

Close down the opposition with high energy performances, which has been the Reading way for some time, but stick to 4-4-2, and make the most of a very talented passer of the ball in Danny Guthrie, and the quick wide men that we have here. That is usually a cocktail for a very successful side at any level!

If we persist with last seasons tactics then we will go straight down, no question.

[Woodcote Royal]

What I don't understand is that every week McDermott comes out and says we need to pass the ball better, I know we can. He's been saying this since he joined and we are still terrible. Now it appears that McDermott wants to play a more direct style. Well which one is it.

We are not a passing side. End of!

One of the worst aspects of the modern game is putting too low a value on possession and despite much success in recent seasons, we as a club are worse than most.

Even when we got 106pts in a season there were many matches where we buried teams with 3 goals in 20minutes and then let them have the ball for the rest of the game

I agree that we won't win many passing competitions but there have been 100's of occasions in recent years when the utterly needless loss of possession has left me exasperated.

At 2-0 up, we should have been doing everything in our power to limit Swansea's possession and, yet again, we missed out on a win largely because we ran out of steam chasing shadows.

Whereas Steve Coppell picked his first 11 and reserves/cup side in August and refused to deviate, come what may, I have been highly impressed with Brian's willingness to shuffle his pack in search of the right blend. In this respect I understand why Guthrie was dropped but I agree with those who feel McDermott missed a trick on Saturday in failing to bring on his best passer by sacrificing a striker.

The standard is too high in this league to expect to sit back and hold on to what we've got. Whatever it looked like, in converting the two chances we created, the first half was excellent but the second, McCarthy aside, was a disaster.

[windermere_royal]

Dread to think what the possession stats will be when we play Arsenal.