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JustALitaBit

Listed below are comments made by JustALitaBit between Tuesday, 23rd December 2008 and Tuesday, 27th October 2009.

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Reading's Alex Pearce - the new John Terry? 6:06pm on 27 Oct 2009 How Reading have ended up here is beyond belief.

Two years ago we were sitting comfortably in the Premiership, still playing good football on the back of a great first season. We were in a similar position to what Stoke are now. We were an honest, well run club that had built a great team without spending huge amounts of money.

But things change quickly in football and we lost confidence after Christmas. Maybe at this point we should have started spending a bit, who knows. It was disappointing to see us slip in to the relegation spots so late in the day. The potential of that team was good enough to be mid table but confidence is very fragile at Reading and some of the fans are too easily disheartened and the belief just goes.

One year ago Reading were absolutely smashing teams at home. They were back to playing good attacking football. Players like Pearce and Karacan were coming through too. But again a lack of confidence and belief cost us in the end (as well as some pathetic behaviour from Andre Bikey at Turf Moor).

What I saw last night was just absolute zero confidence again, but now combined with a lack of experience and to be honest a lack of courage. A lot of changes had to be made over the summer but I honestly feel that they went too far.

James Harper, Leroy Lita, Michael Duberry. All as good if not better than what we have now, but we have let them go for nothing. Doyle, Hunt, and Bikey fair enough, they had to go, but the team has been totally wiped out. Incredibly Liam Rosenior stated that he wanted to stay at Reading and get them promoted again, a couple of days later he is offloaded to Ipswich on loan and told he wont be coming back.

Its frustrating to see the likes of West Brom and Birmingham using their parachute payments to boost them towards the Prem, but we do not.

Personally I feel Brendan Rogers has some good ideas and may do well given enough time, but he is treating Reading like an experiment. It's like Arsenal, they had a great team but decided to wipe it and start again with young players, but they haven't won anything since. Rogers has basically taken our promising young players and thrown them in to the deep end. And right now they are drowning...
Robbo's England World Cup squad 3:54pm on 15 Oct 2009 It just goes to show what a strong squad England have when you are considering leaving out the likes of Owen, Agbonlahor, Carrick and Young among many others. I wish we had a bit more of an all rounder up front but if Rooney is in goalscoring mood next summer it won't matter.
Capello's World Cup contenders 10:01am on 15 Oct 2009 Phil, thank god you are not England manager.
Unsworth trusted with Preston's future 10:02pm on 14 Oct 2009 Surely it's a bit difficult for Preston to develop local home-grown players with such big clubs in the surrounding area with the means to snap up all the local talent and buy from the smaller clubs?

I think when they eventually get out of this league it will be up rather than down, and I fancy either Preston or Cardiff to sneak in to the Premier League at the end of this season. Along with more familiar clubs like Newcastle and West Brom.

Reading didn't fill up their stadium very much until they started looking like they would make it to the Premiership, and when they eventually got there. The fans can be fairly quiet there at times too but thats just the nature of the people in the area.

Also having big name players might increase attendances but its not necessary to get promoted - look at Wigan, Reading, Stoke, Hull and Burnley in recent times.

Good luck to Preston I say, I think they do a good job and are making good progress towards being a top flight club, without going over the top and putting their finances in the balance.
Hiddink's Russian revolution still on track 11:15am on 13 Oct 2009 (By the way I'd just like to add that no I'm not Irish)
Hiddink's Russian revolution still on track 11:14am on 13 Oct 2009 It's a disgrace that they use seeding at all. All the teams in the playoffs had their chance to qualify and failed. The likes of France and Portugal should have won their groups whereas many lesser sides have made a great achievement in finishing second in their group, so why should the big underachievers be given an advantage like that? Why bother even having the playoffs at all?

Fifa just wants all the big teams there. Personally I think one or two deserve to miss out and it wouldn't hurt to let some other sides in. OK so we might miss Ronaldo but I'm pretty sure no one would miss Portugal as a whole, their current side is not that great as the qualifiers have shown.

This is just a desperate attempt to ensure all the teams that Fifa want will be in South Africa. They look at the 2002 World Cup and think "we can't let that happen again". For me that was one of the best tournaments I have seen, the drama and cup shocks were what made it worth watching. Without France, Portugal and Argentina you may feel the World Cup is lacking something but frankly if they are not good enough to qualify then so be it.

Seeding is just basically picking and choosing the elite. Some people won't be happy until we have a big 13 of the best european sides that just automatically qualify.
Brave Shearer gives Newcastle hope 8:09pm on 12 May 2009 If Newcastle fans have more of this to come I feel sorry for them... Five weeks of nothing but misery until they finally win a game only when it really matters and their opponents seem to have accepted relegation already are probably the worst team in the league...
Man Utd pile on agony for Wenger 11:51am on 06 May 2009 @166: I think Barcelona are far better than Chelsea but if Chelsea sneak through I would be more apprehensive as a Man United fan about playing them. Against Chelsea, United might be favourites, adding to the pressure. And no matter how well United always manage to gain that desire and will to win when it really matters, it will be hard for anyone to want it more than Chelsea after the way they lost out last season.
Man Utd pile on agony for Wenger 11:28am on 06 May 2009 I was reading this article, agreeing with it all the way through and thinking it was very well considered. Then you went and ruined it with that comment about Howard Webb and Spurs! I think that is totally unjustified, but you're entitled to your opinion.

Arsenal though have real problems. Since Arshavin has arrived I think they have looked a bit more threatening, but I am suprised (and yes, I admit, delighted) to see that they have failed to win anything yet again.

For years now we have been hearing about the Gunners' potential and how they play "great football" and are entertaining to watch. While I agree that when on form they are certainly entertaining, I find it a little insulting to Man United, Liverpool and Chelsea for anyone to say that on their day Arsenal are the best side in the world and play the best football.

Arsenal are a good team and play attractive football. But they do not play the greatest football. Great football doesn't involve consistently overplaying the ball, missing tons of chances and barely defending at all. Great football comes from teams that score goals (the whole point of the game remember?), defend comfortably and have a winning mentality that always pulls them through. Man United and Barcelona are like that at the moment. Chelsea were a few years back.

It's nice that Wenger has his philosophy and tries to get his teams to play attractive football, but they are not clinical enough, not mentally tough enough, and not fulfilling their potential. Nothing winds me up more than hearing an Arsenal fan spouting off about the greatness of his team as if they some kind of arthouse movement or footballing new wave. When they were winning trophies with Henry, Vieira and Seaman etc they had a valid argument in claiming their team was the best around, now they are just ignoring the fact that there are better teams that are better balanced and play better football.

I think Wenger needs to go back to the drawing board and admit that he must change a few of his principles before Arsenal can really win anything. He needs a more powerful, ruthless and experienced team so that these young players can fulfill their potential. It's admirable to have youngsters coming through but if they are not playing alongside the best players in the game can they really develop to the same level?

That is my final point. Arsenals youngsters play alongside good players that are not yet the finished article. Then you look at the youngsters at Man United. They play alongside experienced winners and they become winners. It's an ongoing cycle.

You can win things with kids but they need to learn from someone!
Robbo's Christmas presents 11:51am on 23 Dec 2008 ... and for Robbo - some better material for your jokes?

Merry Christmas!

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