Do we really need another striker?

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Bring McDermott back, he's seems to be doing well.

[LoyalRoyal22]

I was just about to post this. Sack him before Martin O'neill gets appointed by another club.

. Stop

[One8Seven1]

NA has reiterated that the owner has been aware all summer what we need (strikers) and he expects two signings before the window closes.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

NA has reiterated that the owner has been aware all summer what we need (strikers) and he expects two signings before the window closes.

He said at the start of the summer he wanted 8 or 9 players.

Who do we believe?

[One8Seven1]

NA has reiterated that the owner has been aware all summer what we need (strikers) and he expects two signings before the window closes.

He said at the start of the summer he wanted 8 or 9 players.

Who do we believe?

AZ said 6-7, didn't he?

Bridge, Drenthe, Williams = 3
Pearce, HRK = 2 (5)

Plus two more... I'm no Carol Vorderman but that'd be 7, and AZ keeping his promise we wont sell our best players (unless the circumstances were that they wanted to leave).

[Cureton's Volley]

It takes time to adapt a new style.

It doesn't look that new to me. Resorting to a restrictive 4-5-1 formation, presumably to shore up at the back, yet no clean sheets. Likewise, no shots on target today. Sounds very much like last season.

People who argue 'we need to play 4-5-1 so we are used to it when we get back in the Premier League' are complacent & deluded.

McDermott interviewed this morning interestingly said 'it is not important to play pretty football at this stage, in this division you simply need to be able to grind out a result.'

[GSY-Royal]

Bignall scored at a ratio of a goal every two games for us. He is the solution and needs to return.

[Libertine]

I have been holding off on this question but yes, yes I believe we need another striker. From the sounds of it for all of our possession we are not generating the chances we should in the final third. A striker who can hold the ball up and create some chances on his own, plus probably an attacking midfielder, are needed. I am fairly sure we will be picking up a striker before the window closes but am less sure about the AM...

I am also concerned with our inability to keep a clean sheet, but it is early in the season, we need to get a choice CB pairing and let them gel. That is a discussion for another thread tho.

[howser]

I think, for me anyway, the subject of another striker has been rumbling on since May, confusing though why has it taken so long, 4 games into the new season and we are still mumbling around looking by all accounts, I can hear the famous "we tried to do some business but time ran out, so we will go with what we have got" starting to be dusted off to appease us long time supporters..................

We have had the best part of three and a half months to get something sorted but tha same old transfer policy still seems to be at the club, unless they are cheap or free we don't want them.

[Ian Royal]

Jesus Christ there's a lot of reactionary morons with an axe to grind on here.

[winchester_royal]

The laughable thing is that all the people going on with themselves about Adkins are the same who bemoaned the'lack of loyalty' in football when McD got the boot are the same who are slagging off Adkins 4 (yes, F O U R) games into a new season. A season that hasn't even started too badly, and there's still plenty of business to be done in the window.

Ludicrous, and to the predictably mongish response of 'he's had all summer though!!1111!!1!!!!'. that's true, but just because he may have been looking for a striker all summer that doesn't necessarily translate into signings. The transfer market in football these days is massively complicated and inflated, and often you need to wait until the end of the window for prices of available players to return to a reasonable level. Not to mention the fact that strikers of the level that will improve our squad will be massively in demand and we'll face plenty of competition to sign them.

[FridaysGhost]

Throughout the whole of the last 15 months, we have had both the opportunity and the finances to buy decent strikers - in some cases feelers were put out and the players in question were happy to join us. As always with RFC, the big problem was their clubs insisting on being paid what each player was worth. Had we been prepared to pay 8m going into the Premiership we may not have been relegated. Were we prepared to pay 5m now, we might win the Championship. But we are Reading. Small-minded Ownership and, in some cases, small minded Fans!

How many people, who decried the idea of buying Rhodes or Austin or Hooper or even Sharp etc. are now whinging about our lack of Strikers? We could have Zaha in our ranks but he was forced to take second-best and join Man Utd. We could have been bringing Kondogbia into a new Championship campaign but apparently he was'nt worth the money - which is obviously why some of the biggest teams on the continent are now after him at twice the price.

If we buy a player with potential for his worth, let's say 8m, he may then help us achieve our aims (stay in the Prem, Get promotion from the Champ). That wipes the original payment out. However, by then the Player is worth 15m and we have a huge asset. What is it about this that some Fans don't understand?

[RoyalBlue]

Throughout the whole of the last 15 months, we have had both the opportunity and the finances to buy decent strikers - in some cases feelers were put out and the players in question were happy to join us. As always with RFC, the big problem was their clubs insisting on being paid what each player was worth. Had we been prepared to pay 8m going into the Premiership we may not have been relegated. Were we prepared to pay 5m now, we might win the Championship. But we are Reading. Small-minded Ownership and, in some cases, small minded Fans!

How many people, who decried the idea of buying Rhodes or Austin or Hooper or even Sharp etc. are now whinging about our lack of Strikers? We could have Zaha in our ranks but he was forced to take second-best and join Man Utd. We could have been bringing Kondogbia into a new Championship campaign but apparently he was'nt worth the money - which is obviously why some of the biggest teams on the continent are now after him at twice the price.

If we buy a player with potential for his worth, let's say 8m, he may then help us achieve our aims (stay in the Prem, Get promotion from the Champ). That wipes the original payment out. However, by then the Player is worth 15m and we have a huge asset. What is it about this that some Fans don't understand?

Fully agree. Sadly, despite the big talk, it appears that Madejski's legacy lives on with an overwhelming desire to try to do things on the cheap and an insane belief that we can buck the established economic model of the top level game in this country. You have to be prepared to invest decent sums of money if you want to have a good chance of success.

So now prove me wrong over the next few days Anton, and tell Hapless Hammond that he can pay the market rate for a couple of proven goalscorers at this level.

[JIM]

We dont need anymore strikers. All we need is on bloody goal scorer.After all these 1-0 defeats over the past seasons do you not know the difference between a striker and a scorer.Normally its 3 points

[SCIAG]

NA has reiterated that the owner has been aware all summer what we need (strikers) and he expects two signings before the window closes.

He said at the start of the summer he wanted 8 or 9 players.

Who do we believe?

AZ said 6-7, didn't he?

Bridge, Drenthe, Williams = 3
Pearce, HRK = 2 (5)

Plus two more... I'm no Carol Vorderman but that'd be 7, and AZ keeping his promise we wont sell our best players (unless the circumstances were that they wanted to leave).

On what planet is a player signing a contract extension a transfer?

I'll give you Pearce because he technically left the club iirc, but never HRK. You may as well put Roberts down for activating a clause in his contract

(I don't really care if we make signings or not, as far as I'm concerned everyone other than Bridge and Pearce have been bonus additions to a very strong squad)

[winchester_royal]

FTR, it seems that most have forgotten the fact that we haven't actually sold anyone yet this summer, unlike the 'big spending' QPR and Wigan, therefore our net spend is probably one of the highest in the league.

[RoyalBlue]

FTR, it seems that most have forgotten the fact that we haven't actually sold anyone yet this summer, unlike the 'big spending' QPR and Wigan, therefore our net spend is probably one of the highest in the league.

Might have been more sensible to have sold one or two, in order to rebalance the squad! What's more, we did release two strikers who were more proven for us than McDermott's star January buy - Blackman!

[One8Seven1]

FTR, it seems that most have forgotten the fact that we haven't actually sold anyone yet this summer, unlike the 'big spending' QPR and Wigan, therefore our net spend is probably one of the highest in the league.

And many also choose to neglect what the wages are for the three we've brought in, and the squad as a whole. AZ is far from being tight, and the calls of "where's the money" are utterly ridiculous.

I'd like to see one striker come in next week, and one creative midfielder. We need another striker also, but I'd prefer to see Gozie Ugwu given a chance, and quite possibly ahead of Blackman before long.

[One8Seven1]

FTR, it seems that most have forgotten the fact that we haven't actually sold anyone yet this summer, unlike the 'big spending' QPR and Wigan, therefore our net spend is probably one of the highest in the league.

Might have been more sensible to have sold one or two, in order to rebalance the squad! What's more, we did release two strikers who were more proven for us than McDermott's star January buy - Blackman!

We didn't release Church or Hunt, they turned down new contracts and chose to leave. Hunt was offered a one year deal, and Church was told to sign a new deal before the January transfer window or we would sell him.

[Alexander Litvinenko]

To answer the OP .... "YES, YES, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, YES!!!!"

But hopefully these two new faces this week will include one.