Hi, friendly greetings from daib0 Onto our game together this coming Friday night â and I wondered if I could have a few views from yourselves to inform the members on Readingâs âRoyals Rendezvousâ . Guaranteed no âwind upsâ on my forum! Whilst Iâd be grateful for anyone saying anything they'd like thinking ahead to the game, perhaps here Iâd just like to point you all towards a few ideas. These are some specific questions Iâm sounding out from Cardiff fans on other sites â these will really help us. Just a few basic easy things â here goes: A] ** As we speak Cardiff are just a couple of points better off than the Royals. As we also found out last season, being considered one of the bigger boys doesnât necessarily make the path any easier. So I wondered â so how do you think your season will go from now on, using both your head and your heart? B] ** How is your squad clicking together â please take us through a few; any who should Reading particularly fear (OK, I know youâre tempted but donât just say âeveryoneâ!!), and any really promising youngsters now bursting through? C] ** How strong do you see the general level of the Championship this season, and who do you see as the fierce competitors for promotion? Any surprise teams to you? D] ** Our own confidence in Reading is a bit wobbly at the moment; indeed this may be our worst finish in over a decade if things donât change. Are you surprised at our lack of bite so far? And leading on from that, how do you rate Nigel Adkins? E] ** So to the Friday game? How do you see the match going? By all means leave a prediction here even if youâve given it or will give it in another thread! Any snippet quoted will be fully credited with your member user name + forum mention. Cheers, daib0
"Any snippet quoted will be fully credited with your member user name + forum mention." "Cheers," ta butt
OK, then check Royals Rendezvous http://www.royalsrendezvous.co.uk I'm a mod there, wouldn't have made 20,000+ posts on there as a Palace fan!!
A - Head and heart says mid table. B - They are not gelling very well though better than under OGS. The players you should fear Ravel and Daehli wont play. Our best attacking options are Fabio and Brayford the full backs and for some bizarre reason Fabio was dropped last game. Our best players by a mile are Manga (injured) and Marshall our keeper. Adam Le Fondre will play and is no threat whatsoever, C - Championship is average. The team that suprise me are Leeds. They are completely useless and i cant see how they have so many points. D - Reading I thought would be bottom half.(but not relegation threat). No real opinion on Adkins. E - 2-1 to us.
I will be missing my first home City league game since August 2008. I blame the bleeding rugby. The chances of me not knowing the score and waiting for it to come on cityplayer is nil. Knowing my luck, it will be a thriller with a last gasp city winner with le Fondre getting his hat-trick.
A. If Slade sticks to his present dogmatic 4-4-2, we won't go down - that's the best I can see with that one-eyed approach. On the other hand, if he's got the vision to change the system to suit our exisiting players rather than push out into the cold those that can offer something else, we could easily finish top 6. B. Despite the soundbytes from the players and management about "togetherness", there is something wrong. I agree with the opinion that Ravel and Daehli could trouble anyone in this league, but they just don't fit into Slade's vision of his ideal Championship player. I do however disagree with Hilts about Le Fondre - he has been pants in front of goal so far, but he could easily slot a couple past anyone, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was on Friday. C. I see the Championship as being a pretty level division this season, especially as teams like Brentford, Charlton and Bournemouth (no disrespect intended to those) doing so relatively well. Derby are the best I've seen so far this season by a mile. D. I thought Reading would be higher in the table by now along with us - but then again I thought Wigan were almost nailed on for promotion before the season started, so what do I know about the other teams. Adkins is as good as his recent history - a bit like anyone else in this game, Brendan Rodgers being under fire at the moment for instance. E. The result on Friday should go our way. I've no doubt Slade will play 4-4-2 as always, but it's bound to come off sometime - Le Fondre will score.
I think Sparky might be Le fondre's Dad (Grandad?!?), as only a parent could be so unfaltering in their support!! Hilts assessment is based on what we've seen in our shirt. a) Head mid table, heart bottom end of the playoffs (which never ends well for us anyway!) b) We're short in centre mid and our new manager doesn't seem to rate creative players that have achieved at this level previously. In fairness to Slade he's sorted our home form, but we're dire away from home. Whitts is probably our most dangerous player after a serious drop in form. c) Unbelievably equal league, even more so than the last time we were here. Agree with Sparks that Derby are the one side I expect to see promoted. d) I thought Adkins was very harshly dealt with by Saints but tbh they've proven there were better mangers available. He's a decent championship manager imo, but there are loads of those knocking about. Surprised by how you struggled at times last year. Didn't really expect you to figure that highly this season. e) 3-1 to us. Macheda to score and perhaps Sparky's right and Alf will finally put the finishing touch on one of the many many chance he's been missing up till now.
Many thanks, great stuff. I'm reproducing them here for Thames Valley fame, and of course a reference to the Not 606 Cardiff Board - http://royalsrendezvous.co.uk/topic/10219890/1
A. My head tells me Mid table mediocrity for Cardiff. My heart tells me they will win the League by 10 points but that won't happen. B.The squad is not clicking at all. Acquisitions have been made with no thought to balance meaning that we are overrun with players we do not need. Any skilfull players we have such as Ravel Morrison, Daehli (man of the match for Norway) and Fabio are left out as the new manager has a League 1 mentality. Le Fondre is useless - can't hit a barn door from 5 paces. Plenty of huff and puff but no end product. And I'm not a fan of Morrison the defender either. C. The Championship is again competitive and unpredictable. I thought Wigan were one of the stronger sides and look where they are. Many of us thought Cardiff would return to the Premiership but we have no chance. D. Reading will finish above Cardiff. Adkins is a better manager than Russel Slade. Our man has won nothing in his relatively long career and was a baffling appointment. E. We have a good home record so will scrape a 2-1 win. Whatever happens Reading will score as clean sheets for us are a rarity.
I thought that was one of my more optimistic posts given that I said we would win. I admit I don't rate our former Reading acquisitions as they are no better than players that have been offloaded/loaned out. I'm all for giving Slade a chance but do you disagree with my view that it was a baffling appointment or that Adkins with a track record is a better manager than Slade who has won nothing?
whoops - I must agree that Slade came out of nowhere, and to be honest with not a lot to show for his years in the game, and to that extent was truly a baffling appointment. Given Tan's total ignorance of the game and personnel involved within it, I find it hard to understand why he was so personally resolute in pursuing him and ignore even speaking to Pulis. Most agree that the players brought in by Solskjaer should be performing much better as a team even though they seem to have been acquired with a scatter gun approach. We've really got two issues here. Is Slade the right guy to sort them out and get the best out of the existing bunch in the way that Pulis probably could have? If some are not his "type of player", has he the ability to replace them and build a team from scratch that can do better at this level and take us up? I suppose there is a third issue, and that is how much time (and money) will Tan allow Slade to do that? Can't see Tan being prepared to hang about in the Championship for another 10 years like we did before.
interesting points there. And there are plenty of doubts on Adkins on our side too; undoubtedly a proven record with Scunthorpe and Saints, but it certainly isn't clicking with us. We've new owners - look softies at the moment, but who knows in football?!
Sparkey, i think it is obvious now that Slade has to get rid of players in January to bring his own in. Trouble with that scenario is, someone will have to want them. Looks like the County could do with a few of our rejects !!
