Brendan looks to reduce the squad

[Barry the bird boggler]

From the OS

Royals boss Brendan Rodgers is looking to trim the edges of his playing squad and work with a consistent group.

Since coming to Madejski Stadium this summer the boss has given everybody in his squad the chance to impress, and is now looking to streamline his squad.

Brendan said, "Probably over the course of the next couple of weeks I need to trim the squad down now. I've had a good look at everyone since I've been here and we've got more numbers than I would like to work with. We're hoping to work it down and work with a more consistent squad.

"It's been a process in the first few months. I've given younger players an opportunity and put older players in as well. I've always said I want to work with 20 players plus 3 goalkeepers.

We've got more than that and there've been players in and out with August and so on. That's something we need to look at and be more stable as a group.

"I inherited big numbers when I came here, and I wanted to be fair to give everyone a chance. I've an idea of the squad now. People ask me about my best team, and the best team is the winning team.

Normally you get 8 or 9 players in the team and a few changes around that. You'll see us working with that, a core 8 or 9 and a couple of changes around because of tactical or physical factors

Now, to my mind, this means all the really young players will get dumped

[Royal Lady]

"the best team is the winning team" - so he still doesn't know his best team then

[brendywendy]

most of the remaining coppell players will go out on loan IMO- tabb cisse maybe?

along with some of the worst performing youngsters in his eyes-davies? hope not. church? hope so

[Ryn]

Bye bye Pearce.

[Sun Tzu]

Can only see him sending som eof the younger players who haven't quite settled in out on loan for more games. Church, Davies, Kelly.

Must be a question over Long as well.

[ZacNaloen]

If Long wasn't injured he'd have come on as a sub in the last two games I would have thought.

His pace and directness was what we needed in my opinion.

Sending him out would be premature.

[Sun Tzu]

If Long wasn't injured he'd have come on as a sub in the last two games I would have thought.

His pace and directness was what we needed in my opinion.

Sending him out would be premature.

Possibly - but I think the question is there.

Interesting that he was named in the ROI squad last week, not sure how that ties in with the injury.

[winchester_royal]

This was always likely to be the case after around 10 games.

It would have been impossible for BR to know who his best players were without seeing them in competitve situations under his new tactics, and once we now start to get some consistency we might start shooting up the table.

[ZacNaloen]

I was under the impression he hasn't even been training properly since the last international break. Would be surprised if he even travelled.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

If Long wasn't injured he'd have come on as a sub in the last two games I would have thought.

His pace and directness was what we needed in my opinion.

Sending him out would be premature.

Premature? He should have gone out on loan years ago.

[Alan Partridge]

I think he's right. I mentioned on another thread, we've got a big squad of players of similar ability/styles. Which is a nightmare if the team isn't winning, it's why we've had so many different players playing. He needs to shift 4/5 players from the squad, it'll make his life a hell of a lot easier.

I think the writing is on the wall for Cisse, Kelly will go on loan, as will Davies I'd have thought, Long too will go. Pearce will be kept, you don't make someone captain then bomb them out especially as O'Dea will in all likelihood be back at Celtic in a few months.

End of this season, there will be another huge clear out.

[Thomas L'Heureux]

I'd love to keep Davies here myself - I feel he offers a lot more than a lot of his colleagues even though he is still very raw. And it would be suicidal in getting rid of Long too in my opinion.

Remember that we can now name 7 substitutes on the bench so squads are likely to be bigger than years past anyway.

[Alan Partridge]

I'd love to keep Davies here myself - I feel he offers a lot more than a lot of his colleagues even though he is still very raw. And it would be suicidal in getting rid of Long too in my opinion.

Remember that we can now name 7 substitutes on the bench so squads are likely to be bigger than years past anyway.

In the last squad there was no room for Long, Matejovsky, Cisse, Pearce, Davies, Kelly

He won't sell Davies but will probably loan him out. Think Cisse, Long and sadly quite possibly Matejovsky might be on their way out, loan first them gone in Jan.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

The man again proves he is cluless in management.

Gives 24 players a try out in the league and sill does not know the best 11 to start.

He will know trim the numbers he can select from and he still will not know who to pick.

[ZacNaloen]

Long is injured AP and has been since the international break, "no room" isn't quite what I would call accurate there considering he was on the bench for every match up to then iirc.

[Sun Tzu]

The man again proves he is cluless in management.

Gives 24 players a try out in the league and sill does not know the best 11 to start.

Not that he says that !!!

[ZacNaloen]

The man again proves he is cluless in management.

Gives 24 players a try out in the league and sill does not know the best 11 to start.

He will know trim the numbers he can select from and he still will not know who to pick.

That's not what the article says at all.

[Big Foot]

Would guess this means the likes of Robson-Kanu, Church, Davies and Kelly are loaned out. Would expect Kelly to go to a League 1 side with the others remaining in the Championship.

[ZacNaloen]

Would guess this means the likes of Robson-Kanu, Church, Davies and Kelly are loaned out. Would expect Kelly to go to a League 1 side with the others remaining in the Championship.

With our position in the championship is still looking tenuous at this point... loaning them out to our contemporaries strikes me as a bit risky.

[Winvey]

most of the remaining coppell players will go out on loan IMO- tabb cisse maybe?

along with some of the worst performing youngsters in his eyes-davies? hope not. church? hope so

What has happened to Davies? Was impressed with him at the beginning of the season and in pre-season.
Guess it means that Mooney will be on the way out as well. Would have liked to have seen him given a chance.