'Hoofball'

[floyd__streete]

:roll:

What a great response. Anyone could see that we played a ridiculous number of long balls today. Again.

Suggest that if you're looking for a 'great response' you might want to put AirRaidSiren on 'ignore'.

Style of play? Is slow, turgid and ineffectual a style of play? Because that is how best to describe the rubbish I've watched this season.

[floyd__streete]

The F.A cup round is next, my fondest memory at home at the Mad stad was against Grays Athletic and they had only a corner in the entire game and celebrated the corner, we won pathetically 1-0, where were you? oh Mr-fucking know it all?

It was Welling, m8. If you're gonna give it the big'un get your facts str8

[floyd__streete]

but just because someone like me slags off the fans, there is no need to get high and mighty

So, just because you're being 'high and mighty' yourself there is no need (ie. you can't cope with) people giving you a bit back

This thread should be renamed 'The Roasting of AirRaidSiren'. A self-roasting.

[MR. CYNICAL]

:roll:

What a great response. Anyone could see that we played a ridiculous number of long balls today. Again.

And anyone can see how we have the same repetitive shit posted after a loss.

Again,

Someone barely forty taking the piss out of someone who is twenty!!
There are fans who have been around longer than you that are in agreement with urz13.

[Dixeyroyal]

Bit of a pointless argument IMO, everyone has their own views on our style of play, Manager etc etc, but what really puts people off of having any sort of opinion on here is the fact that they get attacked every time for being a "whinger", unless they agree with the view that Adkins is God, the players are doing their best and we have been in worse positions than this.

To put it into perspective, i have been a season ticket holder for 34 years and i am currently watching the same shit football played under Ian Brantfoot, except his style was slightly more effective.

Call me a whinger but the football we play now is predictable, boring and most definitely LONG BALL and some players simply do not look interested.

I am also fed up with the argument that "it isnt Adkins fault, he only has the players that he has been left with - what a load of rubbish.

ADKINS signed Drenthe - who has done nothing but eat by the look of it
ADKINS signed Williams - who has done nothing and needs to play behind Guthrie IMO rather than alongside him
ADKINS signed Bridge - who has done nothing except pick up wages for being injured
ADKINS persuaded Pearce to sign a new contract - presumably because he thought that the lad could actually play his "yet to be seen" passing style
ADKINS persuaded HRK to sign a new contract on the back of a few decent performances in the Prem - sadly the lad is another that falls into that "no longer interested" category
ADKINS signed Sharp on loan and told everyone how great he was - sorry but he is no better than ALF
ADKINS repeats the same "work in progress" bullshit in every interview but i do not see much work from some players and definitely do not see any progress

As i say, my opinion which i will probably get slated for but so what, we are going downhill fast and even the Adkins fanclub must be running out of excuses for him!

[Hoop Blah]

To give you a serious response...

I don't think we play "hoofball" at all. I've seen Reading play hoofball and it's even worse than what we are seeing at the minute, of constant booting of the ball from defence up to their goal keeper.

Our play is lacking dynamism, creativity, flair and naturalism. At times it's awkward and nervy and lacks an end product.

That's pretty much spot on bobby. I don't think we're as pretty and comfortable on the ball as Adkins would like, or as we should be, but we're by no means a direct team at the moment (I hate the expression hoofball and refuse to use it). We knock it long more than I think we should, largely because we run out of ideas and movement, but it's by no means the first thing we look to do.

[Zana Badawi]

The F.A cup round is next, my fondest memory at home at the Mad stad was against Grays Athletic and they had only a corner in the entire game and celebrated the corner, we won pathetically 1-0, where were you? oh Mr-fucking know it all?

It was Welling, m8. If you're gonna give it the big'un get your facts str8

Who on Earth says 'my fondest memory at home at the Mad Stad was against Grays Athletic'.
I was there and it was one of those games where you had a quiet word with yourself to do something else next time.

[ZacNaloen]

To give you a serious response...

I don't think we play "hoofball" at all. I've seen Reading play hoofball and it's even worse than what we are seeing at the minute, of constant booting of the ball from defence up to their goal keeper.

Our play is lacking dynamism, creativity, flair and naturalism. At times it's awkward and nervy and lacks an end product.

That's pretty much spot on bobby. I don't think we're as pretty and comfortable on the ball as Adkins would like, or as we should be, but we're by no means a direct team at the moment (I hate the expression hoofball and refuse to use it). We knock it long more than I think we should, largely because we run out of ideas and movement, but it's by no means the first thing we look to do.

We knock it long because before we've seen the ball that was on, it's gone.
Is this 100% confidence or because we just don't have a player with the awareness to play that ball?

[The Goat was fed]

Very rarely post on here anymore, but given how this is at least an attempt to discuss our tactical ineptitude properly, I'll throw my hat into the ring and invite anyone to say I'm talking bollocks. The problem is not 'hoofball' per se, it's where we start moves in the first place.

Our midfield has zero ball-winners in it. This means that most of our moves start at the back (where we do get possession back). This means most of our moves either start with McCarthy or Pearce. Guthrie then comes into that annoying 'Quarter Back' role which, if we're playing with two central midfielders, means half of our team starts in our own half. I assure you that the best passing teams in the world struggle to score goals starting from the back line. It's an amazing move/goal if it happens.

I hate comparing us to much better teams, but if you look at 'great passing teams' - they all have a player that is in there to win the ball. Busquets for Barca, Martinez (and others!) for Bayern, Khedira for Real Madrid etc. etc. This means you win the ball off the opposition higher up the pitch, means the opposition are out of synch, means we're higher up the pitch, means we get more chances, means we can play with tempo, means we can score more goals.

Adkins has been unlucky with injuries, but frankly this bit of tactical foolhardiness indicates why he is doing himself no favours. I know people will now say I've ruined this post with this suggestion, but for me Akpan has to play in a 451. Someone better (I don't know enough about the kids to make a judgement) would obviously be better, but for the sake of our basic function - we can't play 442 (something McDermott was endlessly criticised for) without the personnel suited to it.

[ZacNaloen]

You're right and wrong.

You're right because that is part of the problem. You're wrong because Akpan is not that player.

[Sanguine]

I'm repeating this ad nauseum on various threads, but our problem is one of movement. We are a very static and unimaginative team. I don't know if the players have this drilled into them, or we have just stumbled upon a collection of generally thick players, with little intuition for the game. This is where Karacan is so under-rated by much of the Reading fan-base. He might 'only' hurry around winning the ball and moving it on, but his positioning and energy was key to many of our better performances earlier in the season.

I don't mind the quarter-back role. Modern football isn't about two banks of four and two strikers, it's really about 2 centre-backs and 8 outfield players running triangles around a field in some vague formation, with the balance and control to fall into a defensive pattern when they don't have the ball. As it stands, we don't have the thought or ability to make those attacking moves, and when we don't, our defensive formation falls to pieces.

For me it's a combination of tactics, confused players and perhaps even fitness. Adkins is trying to play a certain way, but has wholly under-estimated, imho, just how far Cummings is from being Danny Fox, Gunter from Richardson, Williams from Lallana and so on. As a result, we end up confused in possession, our technically better players (Guthrie - no-one to pass to, Pogrebnyak - holding the ball up with no support) are isolated.

I'd agree with others that a defensive midfielder (in the Karacan/Ledge role) might cure many of our ills. We also need our wingers and full-backs to become more of an attacking threat, running with the ball, movement off it; think Murty and Forster bombing down the right-hand side - so to that end, after a DM, full-backs should be a priority in January too.

[P!ssed Off]

Bit of a pointless argument IMO, everyone has their own views on our style of play, Manager etc etc, but what really puts people off of having any sort of opinion on here is the fact that they get attacked every time for being a "whinger", unless they agree with the view that Adkins is God, the players are doing their best and we have been in worse positions than this.

Too right.
What's even worse is the "oh look they always come out and whinge when we don't win".
Er, no.
I and many others point out after a shit win, that we've played shit. e.g. vs Yeovil and Charlton, to name a few.
But every time anyone dares point out we played rubbish they are greeted with "so what? Shut up, we won. Stop complaining".
And then they wonder why people only come out and criticise people after a loss...

[AirRaidSiren]

The F.A cup round is next, my fondest memory at home at the Mad stad was against Grays Athletic and they had only a corner in the entire game and celebrated the corner, we won pathetically 1-0, where were you? oh Mr-fucking know it all?

It was Welling, m8. If you're gonna give it the big'un get your facts str8

Who on Earth says 'my fondest memory at home at the Mad Stad was against Grays Athletic'.
I was there and it was one of those games where you had a quiet word with yourself to do something else next time.

I was generally talking about the away fans, thought they were great fun.

[AirRaidSiren]

but just because someone like me slags off the fans, there is no need to get high and mighty

So, just because you're being 'high and mighty' yourself there is no need (ie. you can't cope with) people giving you a bit back

This thread should be renamed 'The Roasting of AirRaidSiren'. A self-roasting.

Can't cope??

[AirRaidSiren]

The F.A cup round is next, my fondest memory at home at the Mad stad was against Grays Athletic and they had only a corner in the entire game and celebrated the corner, we won pathetically 1-0, where were you? oh Mr-fucking know it all?

It was Welling, m8. If you're gonna give it the big'un get your facts str8

I stand corrected. Well done.

[Barry the bird boggler]

First, and foremost the board have yet to back Adkins in what he wants to do as regards transfer activity due to the total farce there is going on behind the scenes
Second, all the players NA has signed gave been injured for a large proportion of the season so far
Three, it takes time to get what you want from a team playing a new style when at least half of the team are not quite good enough to do it

That said NA is far from perfect in that he only seems to have one notion of the basis to play the game which doesn't quite fit with what we have at the moment yet he still persists with it and as a result we look dreadful from time to time. Even given that issue though we are hanging on in the chase for a play off spot so to get rid now would be even more stupid than the idiot decision to drop Rodgers. We have to therefore give NA a couple more windows - assuming we he gets backed properly - to see if things start clicking.

Oh and the football under BM was abject and predictable most of the time but the passion and all for one mentality he got through to the players helped make up for that to a degree.

[leon]

And anyone can see how we have the same repetitive shit posted after a loss.

Again,

Hmmm. Might be something in it maybe?

Might be something 'in' the fact we have one of the most nauseating, nonsensicle, whinging, negative, knee jerk reaction fans in the country?

Been a Reading fan over 30yrs and never known such a spoilt bunch of cunts as some of you on here.

I hope you're not calling me a cunt AirRaidSiren. I'm not sure I've insulted you?

Just pointed out that maybe we continue to make the same mistakes.

[AirRaidSiren]

Hmmm. Might be something in it maybe?

Might be something 'in' the fact we have one of the most nauseating, nonsensicle, whinging, negative, knee jerk reaction fans in the country?

Been a Reading fan over 30yrs and never known such a spoilt bunch of cunts as some of you on here.

I hope you're not calling me a cunt AirRaidSiren. I'm not sure I've insulted you?

Just pointed out that maybe we continue to make the same mistakes.

No. Not you personally, Leon.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Does anyone else share the opinion that, at present, we are playing a style of football that can be described only as hoofball? All we do is pass to Guthrie, who passes back to the defence, and they either whack it upfield, chip it upfield or pass it back to McCarthy to thump it upfield.

Cummings and Pearce are the prime suspects in this - Cummings doesn't seem to be able to see more than 5m ahead of him as every single ball he plays forward is a dreadful chip which either goes out for a goal kick, throw in, or is collected by the 'keeper. Pearce at least tries to aim his balls forward, but they are equally terrible and give Pogrebynak no chance most of the time.

Adkins was supposed to bring a smooth, passing style - after almost 10 months there is NO SIGN of this whatsoever, we haven't improved WHATSOEVER, and if anything we've declined. This is why I, personally, think it's time for him to go.

The football under McDermott was branded hoofball too - yet, in the championship at least, we actually played a very effective, exciting and attractive style which revolved around distributing the ball quickly to the wingers and the midfield and strikers bursting to get into the box. I'd wager we play far more long balls under Adkins (especially the last 10 games) than we did under McDermott in the championship. Whilst that was ineffective in the Premiership (largely down to lack of good players, so those that we had panicked and hoofed it), our current style would be even more useless and would fail miserably. The way we play currently is incredibly dull, ineffective, slow and far worse than what we saw under McDermott.

This isn't meant to be another McDermott vs Adkins thread, but it will be interesting to hear opinions on our 'style' of play.

the football under mcDermott was certainly not exciting on the whole - people seem to be just remembering that 15 game run or whatever it was.

Adkins will not be able to build a passing side until we get rid of the deadwood from the McDermott era - certainly at the back

[sandman]

So you weren't excited by the two FA Cup runs, the period where we marched up the table and had one of our best players ever (certainly the best we've produced ourselves from the Academy era) or the season we got to the Play Off Final? Jog on pal.

Heard Rio Ferdinand is going to make a programme about AirRaidSiren's contribution to this thread.