Hunt out.

[morganb]

I wonder if there are similar conversations going on on the forums of Burton, Blackpool and Peterborough (the three teams below us)

[WestYorksRoyal]

2) we seemed to have regressed on the injury front - back to the pre Selles days. Why is that ? Bad luck or wrong training, prep whatever. Needs to be fixed

This is a concern for me. O'Connor barely misses a game for Lincoln and Bradford for about 4 years apart from suspension, but has missed the first 7 games due to a muscle strain injury picked up in training. Muscle strains always suggest something has gone wrong with managing fitness, and to get it in training before the season has even started is unforgivable. It sounds like he's close, but he'll also need time to settle into the team when he's back.

Ahmed struggled yesterday - where was Abrefa? He's not as high potential as Ahmed, but is more experienced now and should be a viable option.

Ritchie had a proper pre season with Portsmouth - was he not ready even for the bench yesterday?

Tim Dellor reported after the game yesterday that everyone's favourite scapegoat, but not actually that bad, Camara was hobbling down the tunnel at FT supported by two staff members. Did I miss his big collision or the haymaker tackle on him? Or is it a non contact injury for a player who only played 15 minutes?

Do better - it's been like this for years except a brief respite under Selles.

Seem to be a few minor non-contact injuries and cramp occurring about the squad, not sure that’s an entirely good sign of the fitness regime but then I’m sure the professionals know what they’re doing and despite the few problems it’s only really been O’Connor that would seem to be the loss.

Of the others crocked, Yiadom has been mostly permanently injured for 2 seasons and Abrefa has similarly been seeing a lot of the physio ever since breaking into the squad so it’s seems to be just more of the same really.

I think O'Connor has been huge. He was the marquee signing; a genuine top L1 player, organiser of defence, character and leader on the pitch. Ahmed, Jacob and midfielders in front of him should all benefit from his presence. When him and Williams get a run of games together, we won't keep conceding 2 or 3 a game.

[rabidbee]

Could Camara's issues be related to flying to Africa and playing two games? (I know cabin pressure affects athletic recovery, but not for how long afterwards.)

Did we have a big clear out of the sports scientists and physios under Dai? Perhaps we're still a bit threadbare in the back office? Or perhaps it's just really unfortunate that O'Connor got a bad injury in the pre-season, and not something you can mitigate against.

[Orion1871]

I'd certainly give Noel a little longer to work it out. He's been unlucky with his big defensive signing not having kicked a competitive ball for the club. Get O'Connor back and see how he does with making the defence more secure. If there isn't a big improvement from there then it may be time for a change.

The problem with him is that he doesn't appear to have many in game strengths and some of his tactics (the amount of long balls to tiny attackers), or his team selection (Fraser playing out of position). These really are things where he doesn't help himself.

I really want him to succeed, and I hate to say this, but I just don't see anything that makes him stand out as anything other than a stopgap. There are several former Reading managers who I've been glad to see the back of, but losing Noel would give me no pleasure at all.

[Millsy]

I wonder if there are similar conversations going on on the forums of Burton, Blackpool and Peterborough (the three teams below us)

Probably not.

“For beds to be wetting, the place to be heading is Reading.”

[Orion1871]

^
Ironic to see you posting about bed wetting given your meLOLtdown on AE the other day.

[stealthpapes]

Could Camara's issues be related to flying to Africa and playing two games? (I know cabin pressure affects athletic recovery, but not for how long afterwards.)

Did we have a big clear out of the sports scientists and physios under Dai? Perhaps we're still a bit threadbare in the back office? Or perhaps it's just really unfortunate that O'Connor got a bad injury in the pre-season, and not something you can mitigate against.

I'm surprised there's been little analysis of injuries in professional football. Thought someone sports science would have attacked it.

Strikes me that there's two things going on - one is a response to tiredness i.e. wear and tear injuries and the other is more random. My gut feeling is that the latter follows some sort of power law* - in a game, you'll have x % chance of seeing an injury that will cause a player to miss a certain number of weeks: the longer the lay-off, the less likely that severe an injury will occur. The other would depend on, I think, numbers of games played (given it would be nearly impossible to track training sessions) or games played per week.

*power law would be my first guess, I can also see an argument for something more Poisson-like.

There must be the data somewhere to extract out injuries and their durations. I'd keep the type of injury jotted down somewhere but that will get difficult to categorise.

Why do it? Because you'd be able to analyse whether the injuries are down to 'luck' or if there's something in the training routine that's breaking players. At the very least, it would be informative.

[Pepe the Horseman]

I wonder if there are similar conversations going on on the forums of Burton, Blackpool and Peterborough (the three teams below us)

Burton probably not. Blackpool almost definitely. Peterborough won yesterday, so probably willing to give Fergie Jnr a bit more time before sacking him, then rehiring him next season.

[ILoveMoonPig]

After reading this, and listening to BBC Radio Berkshire, it seems like the arguments being made (with my careless and pithy responses to both sides of the debate):

We need a change to stop the defeats and below-par performances: I'm not convinced. Just changing because it's not working now, does not mean it will magically start working under a new manager. Could we attract the managerial talent we would want, when we couldn't attract the player talent we wanted?

We're playing player X out of position, they need to be playing in position Y: well maybe. But also, if they're not playing where you would want them, perhaps they can perform an important role elsewhere better than anyone else? Maybe the player doesn't like position Y and asked not to be there. Or heck, maybe us fans are just not the tactical geniuses we think we are.

The squad haven't had a pre-season, some of the players have only just met: fair. Some of the players have only joined in the last 3 weeks. So let's say a pre-season is 6 weeks long, that would still give Noel another 3 weeks to get things working.

We don't have a striker: out of date. We do now. Yesterday's goal showed ingenuity and perseverance, I like that in a striker! I'm quite optimistic, having seen that.

Our squad is less strong than last year: fair. We lost some of our highest quality players over the summer. Get used to it, we're a league 1 club still trying to balance the books, we're going to lose many, many more. If you're going to succeed at this level, dealing with that is part of the job.

He's a club legend: fair. He is. But that's not an exception-case for not succeeding. We do need to see an improvement of either performances or results.

Overall I'm of the opinion that Noel needs at least another 3 to 4 weeks. But we do need to be seeing an improvement over that time.

[WestYorksRoyal]

The squad is not weaker than last year. The starting XI is, but we have depth and alternative options Selles could only have dreamed of.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

All about League One on X is saying Hunt is on the verge of the sack.

Most fans responding want Carrick or Mowbray as a replacement.

[Clyde1998]

All about League One on X is saying Hunt is on the verge of the sack.

Most fans responding want Carrick or Mowbray as a replacement.

Some actual sensible names.

To be critical: Carrick did appear to decline season-on-season at Middlesbrough and I would question his lack of experience of League One both as a player and manager. Mowbray has appears to have under performed in his previous jobs (especially at Celtic; Middlesbrough; possibly Sunderland; West Brom last season). Hasn't really done anything in the south either, since he stopped playing.

Don't know the specific context behind these any of these things though. Can't say I'm expecting a sacking soon though.

[Clyde1998]

Ian Evatt may be an option. Did well to get Barrow to the Football League, progressed well at Bolton (although underperformed last season before being sacked and arguably should've got Bolton promoted the season before).

[Royalcop]

Gareth Ainsworth has Gillingham (joint) top of L2 and unbeaten in eight games, doubt the football is pretty but the ownership know him and would no doubt see him as a low risk alternative.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

I wonder if there are similar conversations going on on the forums of Burton, Blackpool and Peterborough (the three teams below us)

Probably not.

“For beds to be wetting, the place to be heading is Reading.”

And if you need a bed to wet, there’s Reading bedding.

[Orion1871]

All about League One on X is saying Hunt is on the verge of the sack.

Most fans responding want Carrick or Mowbray as a replacement.

Well if all about league 1 are saying it then it must be true.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Hunt won’t get us promoted, this season or next, nice guy and he has stepped into the breach (twice) but it’s just treading water.

So it’s a waiting game for couhig, do it soon? Do it around Christmas? Do it next summer?

A lot may come down to paying off the contract. It will need to be done at some point.

[Clyde1998]

Hunt won’t get us promoted, this season or next, nice guy and he has stepped into the breach (twice) but it’s just treading water.

So it’s a waiting game for couhig, do it soon? Do it around Christmas? Do it next summer?

A lot may come down to paying off the contract. It will need to be done at some point.

They've also said they want stability. Sacking the manager wouldn't be in line with that. He didn't change the manager for the entire time he was at Wycombe, albeit they were relatively successful and Ainsworth was there for many years before he turned up.