If there is one thing that Clint Hill and Shaun Derrys performances over the last few games have shown it's that MH could do worse than to bung a few of our Championship winning heroes into the side. I'm so proud of Clint in particular as he's been in and out of the team (and club) this season but never gives less than 110% and frankly in the last 2 games he's proven what a fine PL Centre Back he is. As has been discussed (at great length) some (most? all?) of the newer faces have let us down performance-wise recently and at a times when we really needed them to step up to the plate. I'd rather sacrifice a bit of (so called) quality for some heart and determination. So what do we reckon to giving the likes of Mackie, Smith, Buszacky and Heider a chance to shine? And lest we forget some magic from a certain Mr Taarabt is long overdue.
We can thank NW for starting that trend. Having worked with them for an entire season, he was in the best position to make those decisions. The fact that he sent hill out on loan shows the error in judgment. For some reason he and MH felt the need to add 5 new faces to make it work, rather than go with the swansea/norwich model which has worked so well for them. Sometimes having money isn't so good.
Good post ... Will be interesting to see the comments on this thread . Most of here should remember my comments about a teams on the up. Confidence and momentum is priceless. Most people thought the Swans were down before a ball was kicked that Brighton and Southampton would struggle ... Yet these teams and sometimes Norwich have played other teams off the pitch in their respective divisions We had a great team last year and sorry but events including NW 's decision to buy in a what is now looked at widely as a manic panic was wrong and blew apart the team he had successfully put together and managed ... We have been spinning plates ever since Yet it's our story now and we have to live with it ... At least it hadn't been boring and I have grown to accept this now ... PS Watch how the heart and the foundation of our old team Kasper and Connelly are helping Reading grow and push just at the right time
Interesting post - must confess to believing that we didn't have the quality in the Championship team to survive, but I obviously underestimated the element of team spirit and camaraderie that the team had. On balance think we would have struggled even more, but chopping , changing and as DT says panic buying has not helped. Guess we'll never know....
The losing doesn't bother me THAT much. What does bother me is feeling alienated from my own team - seeing a bunch of wasters taking money for no heart no passion and not even much skill. Although I actually blame the people that hired these mercenaries rather than the mercenaries themselves who are just for milking a situation created for them by a naive board of directors. The squad will have to be rebuilt from scratch next season, let's hope the board have learned some lessons.
PS Watch how the heart and the foundation of our old team Kasper and Connelly are helping Reading grow and push just at the right time[/QUOTE] Kaspars has been a huge miss, was so sad when NW let him go - solid, dependable and can nick a goal or two.
Kaspars has been a huge miss, was so sad when NW let him go - solid, dependable and can nick a goal or two.[/QUOTE] How much did we get for him? May be that the Goons insisted we sell someone to finance buying DJ. You may not want to think about that as a trade for too long. Even before his illness and injuries I couldn't see the point of dJ, totally mystified how he scored 10 plus last season, but think Ollie's kamikaze approach may have helped and they all bounced in off his knee or arse.
How much did we get for him? May be that the Goons insisted we sell someone to finance buying DJ. You may not want to think about that as a trade for too long. Even before his illness and injuries I couldn't see the point of dJ, totally mystified how he scored 10 plus last season, but think Ollie's kamikaze approach may have helped and they all bounced in off his knee or arse.[/QUOTE] DJ who? at least with Cisse we are talking about some genuine quality up top now. Cisse and Taarabt will keep us up!
Which ever way you look at it QPR ate itself twice and I am still of the opinion we had a team capable of finishing 8th Losing Gorkss was major ... Like losing a bit of jigsaw puzzle We flowed last year at times naturally following great prep by NW why o why he changed it I know not we needed to add a couple. Instead we convinced ourselves we needed to replace everyone ... Even Northolt claimed Faurlin was a donkey as well as the Adel haters ... I won't mention all the people who wanted HH gone ! At the moment people on here are killing Kenny he's not good enough .. the goal hasn't changed in size the shots less as hard in fact he has saved very well het everyone forgets that because we lost the game. You stupid ****s how fickle can you be ... The idiots will never stop on here by picking on the odd player If we got Messi and Messi it would be two weeks before the comments would come in saying rubbish those two I have nothing to add until I have finished this bag of skunk
As for the OP, i agree that Clint Hill has earned his place back in the team and should be commended for that, but i cant agree that last years team is good enough for this league....I thinik we'd be in last position and dead and burried. Team work and spirit will get you so far but you really need a large dose of quality to make it work....Unfortunatly for the most part we didnt have that quality. Now with Zamo and Cisse, we are going to score goals but i fear it is too little too late. As for Gorks..I'll never understand why we sold him ? I jusy hope that when we do win the league again next year...we ont make the same mistakes we did this year..... so it'll depend on who our manager is atthe time?
Oddball I'm sorry but you've lost the plot (not that you ever had it). The secret to survival in your first season is simple: Keep the core group of your best players that got you up and then invest in some quality to supplement that. This waffle you keep coming up with that Swansea and Norwich have done it with last season's teams is just plain wrong. They brought in a number of good quality players to strengthen their squad and COLIN would've done so too if he'd been allowed to. Now I know you know what you're talking about with regards momentum etc but last season's squad on their own, that if we're honest bludgeoned its way to promotion, would have been torn to bits at this level. However, last season's best players along with some wise additions over the summer would be a different story. Plus COLIN made big errors selling Gorkss and loaning out Hill. The failure starts and ends with our whole pre-season destroyed by Flavio and Co.
You can't buy a team as Man C are still finding out You can build a team however but success is not guaranteed Swansea have built on their success block by block small changes tweaks ... at the same time enhancing and practising their own brand of football to perfection and they have just beaten the mighty City . We had a class player last year the best in fact I have seen ... Bollocks to his off field stuff ... He and Faurlin were untouchable Question to the fickle who would you keep Faurlin and Taarabt or Barton and SWP ? Answers on a post card I have to admire that of Swansea the same team we thrashed 4-0
I have said numerous times elsewhere that we should of kept the same defence as last season. 25 clean sheets? For me, breaking them up prematurely, was Warnock's biggest error. Of course I realise that Prem is a massive step up from the NPC, but given our circumstances, ( Only signing players at the eleventh hour ) it would of been better to keep a well drilled comfortable defensive unit in place than the rushed hap-hazard one we are left with now.
I thought we pretty much tried to play the same team in our first match against Bolton....didnt work to well did it? You can't blame the new signings solely for that result, as if you do then you have to praise them for being the reson we beat Chelsea & Everton?
i think Nw sold gorks because he was going to get that guy from spurs in as well as anton. he would have hall and gabbidon as back up. both who had premiership experence. sadly we lost out at the last minute for that spurs player. as for loaning hill out again at the time it looked like he would not have played much. so he got sent out for match time. in the end he was needed and he worked his socks off to show he was worthy of his spot.
Puncheon instead of Routledge ? He had a option Most on here thought Routledge wasn't premier league ... Our defence was outstanding .... You can't defend some strikers in this league apart from Torres Prattley scored Sat ex Swans
Really look it up seven players iput of ten goalkeepers don't count featured plus Routledge for them while Prattley scored for Bolton . Point is Swansea built on their foundations of football ... We smashed ours up for hard core Bob should back me up here as if take away your defence the team usually falls over Bolton at home at the start wasn't a match at all it was a naive fast followed by a great performance against Everton ... We then ****ed up against Rochdale!!!! Two home games and 6 goals let in .!!!! Wigan .... Christ we played them off the park and hit the woodwork three times ... NW ****ed up by changing his management style to one he believed was right in this league when he should have kept with the one we had He was in direct control with matters on the pitch and he blew his and our chances IMO ... It was a struggle after that ... Never forgive him for Gorkss and Rochdale ... Idiot thing to do Great bloke but just didn't have the minerals to stay cool when asked If you **** around with a team even if you are Man Utd don't expect stability and untimely results Kenny Gorkss Hill Orr Connelly (Walker) If we do go down then mark my words Only Kenny will be playing 2nd tier football as someone will buy Hill in the prem and Gorkss etc will be up with Reading Championship record holders
