I agree with Robbie Savage

[Stranded]

I think he's overstating how big an acheivement finishing top half will be. But otherwise he's on the money.

And it's reflected in the support. It's been positive. Attendances have been decent. 1000 at both Exeter and Cambridge. Both games the fans stayed and clapped the players off the pitch after narrow defeats.

Based on our start, I don’t think he is but no idea how effective we’ll be with Smith up top. It could all be very different.

It may well do - in terms of shots per game we are 7th in the table (13.7 pg) at the moment and shots on target per game we lie 13th (4 pg) - doesn't offer a clue on quality of those shots admittedly - but with a more experienced striker, or if Ballard is as good as is hoped, we would likely have had a few more goals and, in turn, points on the board.

Interestingly* we are 7th for shots from inside the 6 yard box and 10th for shots in the box and also from outside.

[CountryRoyal]

Twats on twitter (ToT for future use, you're welcome) seem to really hate this and it makes me laugh.

Please tell me we can find a word starting with 'i' for the middle of that
Twats In Twitter ?

Inciting?

I Just prefer swapping the i for an a.

[WestYorksRoyal]

We all love xG stats. By their measure we are 12th best at creating chances at 6.65 xG, but we have only scored 3. Only 3 teams are underperforming more than us. We also create a high proportion of our chances from open play, which I also view as encouraging.

At the other end, we're 4th in xA with 5.23, and have conceded 5.

So overall, we're solid defensively, create chances but have not been converting. Bring in Ballard and Smith and hopefully that changes. There is reason to think we'll push up the table, compared with last year where we simply didn't create chances from open play.

But I would still be surprised if we make top 6 this season.

[Sutekh]

We all love xG stats. By their measure we are 12th best at creating chances at 6.65 xG, but we have only scored 3. Only 3 teams are underperforming more than us. We also create a high proportion of our chances from open play, which I also view as encouraging.

At the other end, we're 4th in xA with 5.23, and have conceded 5.

So overall, we're solid defensively, create chances but have not been converting. Bring in Ballard and Smith and hopefully that changes. There is reason to think we'll push up the table, compared with last year where we simply didn't create chances from open play.

But I would still be surprised if we make top 6 this season.

A 20% success rate on penalties is another stat that will hopefully improve too.

[WestYorksRoyal]

We all love xG stats. By their measure we are 12th best at creating chances at 6.65 xG, but we have only scored 3. Only 3 teams are underperforming more than us. We also create a high proportion of our chances from open play, which I also view as encouraging.

At the other end, we're 4th in xA with 5.23, and have conceded 5.

So overall, we're solid defensively, create chances but have not been converting. Bring in Ballard and Smith and hopefully that changes. There is reason to think we'll push up the table, compared with last year where we simply didn't create chances from open play.

But I would still be surprised if we make top 6 this season.

A 20% success rate on penalties is another stat that will hopefully improve too.

A poor penalty record seems to have been a theme of Reading through the ages, even when we were good. Kitson is the only player I remember going back to 2000 or so who I always trusted to bury them. I remember in Stam's first season we missed a hatful but somehow turned in the rebound on 90% of them.

[Sutekh]

We all love xG stats. By their measure we are 12th best at creating chances at 6.65 xG, but we have only scored 3. Only 3 teams are underperforming more than us. We also create a high proportion of our chances from open play, which I also view as encouraging.

At the other end, we're 4th in xA with 5.23, and have conceded 5.

So overall, we're solid defensively, create chances but have not been converting. Bring in Ballard and Smith and hopefully that changes. There is reason to think we'll push up the table, compared with last year where we simply didn't create chances from open play.

But I would still be surprised if we make top 6 this season.

A 20% success rate on penalties is another stat that will hopefully improve too.

A poor penalty record seems to have been a theme of Reading through the ages, even when we were good. Kitson is the only player I remember going back to 2000 or so who I always trusted to bury them. I remember in Stam's first season we missed a hatful but somehow turned in the rebound on 90% of them.

Quite true, one thing Garath McCleary was rather good at...

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I think we are only another goalscorer away from being a top half side anyway, very reliant on Kelvin E but if Smith can get himself back to fitness and scoring at even the same rate as last season, that will win us a number of points over the course of the season.

Like Savage Snr says, we aren't exactly getting battered in games, it's fine margins really coupled together with some underwhelming performances. I'd rather get edged out playing poorly, than get edged out/battered playing well. Plenty of room for improvement and we've got another 40 games to go, including a transfer window. Nothing to be too down on just yet.

[skipper]

Anyone else ditched Twitter / X?

I keep getting right wing mouthpieces being promoted in my time line, despite not following them.

Whole thing is just crap now. Got rid of the app completely.

[From Despair To Where?]

I go on Twitter maybe once a week and spend no more than 5 minutes on it

[Snowflake Royal]

Anyone else ditched Twitter / X?

I keep getting right wing mouthpieces being promoted in my time line, despite not following them.

Whole thing is just crap now. Got rid of the app completely.

Never joined, but certainly would have left by now if I did

[Hound]

Anyone else ditched Twitter / X?

I keep getting right wing mouthpieces being promoted in my time line, despite not following them.

Whole thing is just crap now. Got rid of the app completely.

It’s a mess, borderline unusable

Still sadly probably the quickest way to get info though

[SpaghettiHoop]

Anyone else ditched Twitter / X?

I keep getting right wing mouthpieces being promoted in my time line, despite not following them.

Whole thing is just crap now. Got rid of the app completely.

What's the best alternative?

[From Despair To Where?]

Anyone else ditched Twitter / X?

I keep getting right wing mouthpieces being promoted in my time line, despite not following them.

Whole thing is just crap now. Got rid of the app completely.

It’s a mess, borderline unusable

Still sadly probably the quickest way to get a hot take from a moron

c4y

[Franchise FC]

Anyone else ditched Twitter / X?

I keep getting right wing mouthpieces being promoted in my time line, despite not following them.

Whole thing is just crap now. Got rid of the app completely.

It’s a mess, borderline unusable

Still sadly probably the quickest way to get a hot take from a moron

c4y

Absolutely, there's nothing better than getting completely unsubstantiated nonsense from a keyboard warrior

[genome]

Anyone else ditched Twitter / X?

I keep getting right wing mouthpieces being promoted in my time line, despite not following them.

Whole thing is just crap now. Got rid of the app completely.

It's only useable if you use browser plugins that get rid of all the nonsense and only show you your "Following" tab

[Clyde1998]

Anyone else ditched Twitter / X?

I keep getting right wing mouthpieces being promoted in my time line, despite not following them.

Whole thing is just crap now. Got rid of the app completely.

I only really use it to find specific things now (ie. team news), especially now TweetDeck (or whatever it's called now) is behind a paywall. It's increasingly unusable and that's without thinking about the content/opinions on there. That said, I really stopped using Twitter on a regular basis a number of years ago.

[Ascotexgunner]

Anyone else ditched Twitter / X?

I keep getting right wing mouthpieces being promoted in my time line, despite not following them.

Whole thing is just crap now. Got rid of the app completely.

Never had an account or inclination to use it. It's the pox of society, like Instagram and especially TikTok.

[SCIAG]

We all love xG stats. By their measure we are 12th best at creating chances at 6.65 xG, but we have only scored 3. Only 3 teams are underperforming more than us. We also create a high proportion of our chances from open play, which I also view as encouraging.

At the other end, we're 4th in xA with 5.23, and have conceded 5.

So overall, we're solid defensively, create chances but have not been converting. Bring in Ballard and Smith and hopefully that changes. There is reason to think we'll push up the table, compared with last year where we simply didn't create chances from open play.

But I would still be surprised if we make top 6 this season.

A 20% success rate on penalties is another stat that will hopefully improve too.

A poor penalty record seems to have been a theme of Reading through the ages, even when we were good. Kitson is the only player I remember going back to 2000 or so who I always trusted to bury them. I remember in Stam's first season we missed a hatful but somehow turned in the rebound on 90% of them.

Even Kitson managed to miss a couple, although that’s basically inevitable.

I think Le Fondre deserves to be considered on that level. Had a lot of faith in Gylfi and Harte too, but not sure they took very many.

[windermereROYAL]

Well after yesterday we sit one place and three points outside the drop zone and with two difficult games coming up it`s not inconceivable
to think we will be entrenched there by the end of the month, still early days obviously but it won`t stop the bed wetters here or on twatter going into a panic frenzy.
Of course Robbie is right, our main aim this season is to maintain our current status, top half will be a tremendous achievement.

[South Coast Royal]

A 20% success rate on penalties is another stat that will hopefully improve too.

A poor penalty record seems to have been a theme of Reading through the ages, even when we were good. Kitson is the only player I remember going back to 2000 or so who I always trusted to bury them. I remember in Stam's first season we missed a hatful but somehow turned in the rebound on 90% of them.

Even Kitson managed to miss a couple, although that’s basically inevitable.

I think Le Fondre deserves to be considered on that level. Had a lot of faith in Gylfi and Harte too, but not sure they took very many.

I don't remember Jimmy Quinn missing many.