So Reading have Yakubu and we've got...

[byf1]

Do some of you really think that Yakubu wouldn't have been a better option than Best? Blimey.

You're being sarcastic right? Of course Yakubu would have been a better signing and if you even doubt this for a second then go onto Wikepedia or another source and check his goalscoring rate, it's phenomenal wherever he has played and has more or less a 1 in 2 rate in the prem with two clubs and not many strikers in England now can boast that record. Yes he ran off for a pay day in China but at the end of the day we need a quality forward who can put the ball in the net and he is that with bells on.

As far as I can see we don't have one quality striker on the books who I feel confident can bang in the goals to drag us away from the bottom and the fact Dunk is our top scorer says it all. Now if it was simply down to the fact that he wanted 5k more a week and we wouldn't do it then fine but I'd be really disappointed in the club if we weren't at least in for his signature.

 

[Surf's Up]

I think goals are going to be a rarity for the rest of the season. Hewton has set out to make us "hard to beat" and this seems to mean a heavy focus on defending hence the midfield will be constantly in the wrong half of the pitch to support the lone striker who, 9 times out of 10 will probably also be in the wrong half of the pitch. Or am I being unduly pessimistic

 

[Foolg]

yakubu ****ed off to chase the money in china 3 years ago and the middle east (around the same time leon best came to prominence in the premier league with newcastle), you think we would ever pay the wages he expects? get real.

Yakubu is twice the player Best will ever be.


Oh, and you might be fairly surprised to find out Leon Best is on £32k a week at Blackburn. I bet you Yakubu's not on that at Reading.

 

[Lifelong Supporter]

I think goals are going to be a rarity for the rest of the season. Hewton has set out to make us "hard to beat" and this seems to mean a heavy focus on defending hence the midfield will be constantly in the wrong half of the pitch to support the lone striker who, 9 times out of 10 will probably also be in the wrong half of the pitch. Or am I being unduly pessimistic

I think unduly pessimistic to be honest. In away games maybe this will be the case but in home games we have scored 7 in 4 whilst he has been in charge. The problem at home has been letting them in !!!

 

[Gullflyinghigh]

Agreed, but a marquee signing of a Yakubu like figure would have lifted the entire squad... With all the good will in the world Best could never garner that kind of positive reaction... Indeed It is folly to argue the counter; not with 10 of his ilk could you hope for this.

Kosh

I'd tend to agree with you, though I imagine many others wouldn't. Hell, some were disappointed/underwhelmed when we got Bent on loan.

 

[Arkwright]

It doesn't really matter who plays upfront if the players behind aren't creating the chances.

Hopefully Stephens, Kayal, Kaz and Tex will start to have more influence on games and start creating these much needed chances. I've said it before on here Houghton needs to be more positive with his selection.

 

[GT49er]

the fact that you think yakubu is a marquee signing compared to leon best tells me all i need to know about your knowledge of football

The only valid part of your post highlighted for you.

 

[Stat Brother]

I'd have loved to have read the usual nimrods use the signing of Yakubu to absolutely hammer the club (Barber) before he's even kicked a ball.

I guess I'll have to make do with reading about the club missing out on the signing of Yakubu.

 

[Rugrat]

Hmmmmm this is what I'm talking about: Yakubu would have been the Rock & roll signing of yore, in it's place we've got Leon Best lip syncing to Goodbye Again by John F'ing Denver.

I quote the big man "I never ruled out coming back to England... Reading were willing to give me a chance..." And very possibly a massive pile of cash, yes, but was he even on our 'target man' radar? But hey, we've got O'Grady baby... Oh God.

Kosh

We missed out on Jason Roberts too ... and they nicked Bridge off of us. Why do Reading get all the luck?

 

[Monsieur Le Plonk]

The frustrating thing for me when discussing loans is not that we haven't signed someone like Yakubu. It's when you seen LIngard and Bent combining to score for Derby that drives me bonkers.
Maybe we not an attractive enough prospect for them. Okay, nothing we can do about that.
More likely it's that we are not wiling to pay the competitive rate that the likes of Derby are for their services. We should have immediately agreed to resign Bent and we should have been monitoring LIngards progress so that we were the first in the queue to get him once he was back from injury.
Either way these errors are killing us.

 

[Monsieur Le Plonk]

We missed out on Jason Roberts too ... and they nicked Bridge off of us. Why do Reading get all the luck?

I doubt it's got anything to do with luck......

 

[Ninja Elephant]

The frustrating thing for me when discussing loans is not that we haven't signed someone like Yakubu. It's when you seen LIngard and Bent combining to score for Derby that drives me bonkers.
Maybe we not an attractive enough prospect for them. Okay, nothing we can do about that.
More likely it's that we are not wiling to pay the competitive rate that the likes of Derby are for their services. We should have immediately agreed to resign Bent and we should have been monitoring LIngards progress so that we were the first in the queue to get him once he was back from injury.
Either way these errors are killing us.

What makes you think either Bent or Lingard wanted to come back? Players will always be aware of their options and if Derby, strong candidates to win the league, are interested and prepared to offer a more attractive pay packet - why wouldn't they choose to go there?

 

[BensGrandad]

I hope that they both either miss the game or have a bad game at The Amex in a couple if weeks if not we could get hammered.

 

[Monsieur Le Plonk]

The frustrating thing for me when discussing loans is not that we haven't signed someone like Yakubu. It's when you seen LIngard and Bent combining to score for Derby that drives me bonkers.
Maybe we not an attractive enough prospect for them. Okay, nothing we can do about that. [/B]
More likely it's that we are not wiling to pay the competitive rate that the likes of Derby are for their services. We should have immediately agreed to resign Bent and we should have been monitoring LIngards progress so that we were the first in the queue to get him once he was back from injury.
Either way these errors are killing us.

What makes you think either Bent or Lingard wanted to come back? Players will always be aware of their options and if Derby, strong candidates to win the league, are interested and prepared to offer a more attractive pay packet - why wouldn't they choose to go there?

So we agree then.

 

[Rugrat]

I doubt it's got anything to do with luck......

Think you missed the irony

Lot's of these 30+'s around that have faded away and then come back looking for one last payday and an easy ride.

Don't know if Yakubu is a good buy or not but Jason Roberts took the pi$$ big time and the same sort of thread could quite easily have been started about him too.

It's simply a roll of the dice when you buy these sorts imo

 

[drew]

We missed out on Jason Roberts too ... and they nicked Bridge off of us. Why do Reading get all the luck?

You forgot Sidwell and Ingarmarsson! As for luck, glad they were paying Bridge the alleged £30k a week when he got crocked early on and then retired.

 

[Icy Gull]

Think you missed the irony

Lot's of these 30+'s around that have faded away and then come back looking for one last payday and an easy ride.

Don't know if Yakubu is a good buy or not but Jason Roberts took the pi$$ big time and the same sort of thread could quite easily have been started about him too.

It's simply a roll of the dice when you buy these sorts imo

I thought Jason Roberts was the catalyst that propelled Reading from the bottom 6 to Champions on Reading's way to the Premier League. If that's taking the piss, I'll have some of that please

 

[Rugrat]

I thought Jason Roberts was the catalyst that propelled Reading from the bottom 6 to Champions on Reading's way to the Premier League. If that's taking the piss, I'll have some of that please

I could have royally fecked that up but I seem to remember him going there, playing about half a season and then spending a season with some spurious injury and (seemingly) little desire to come back. Could well be totally wrong now I think about it

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

We probably did go for him, just wouldn't pay the going rate.
I.e wouldn't coff up the extra £100

A player like Yakabu wont play for less than £20k a week and his wages probably match what Reading had to pay Palace to take Murray on loan.