The countdown to Ian Harte scoring 10+ league goals

[Big Foot]

From what passage of play did Karacan's cracker come on Saturday m8?

Harte Corner, ditto Church's goal

In terms of "goals involved in" I'd have thought Harte must be up there near the top for the whole league?

[floyd__streete]

I didn't go to yesteday's game, but I am fuming that our veteran left back didn't get on the score sheet again in order to paper over the cracks we have in our striking options. After all, as Snowball tells us - it doesn't matter who scores the goals, but you can sure as hell assume it won't be our p*ss-poor selection of strikers.

[Horsham Royal]

From what passage of play did Karacan's cracker come on Saturday m8?

Harte Corner, ditto Church's goal

In terms of "goals involved in" I'd have thought Harte must be up there near the top for the whole league?

As a percentage of his team's goals perhaps but not in absolute terms as we've not scored enough to allow it, surely.

[Big Foot]

The ball Ian Harte played out to Kebe on the right wing in the second half yesterday with his weaker right foot was quite simply, different gravy

[Victor Meldrew]

The ball Ian Harte played out to Kebe on the right wing in the second half yesterday with his weaker right foot was quite simply, different gravy

Yes and just about the only decent thing he did in the whole game as for most of the game he strolled back watching Dyer yet again have a clear run.

[Big Foot]

Dyer is one of the better wingers in the championship and played extremely well against us last season too IIRC - Harte was always going to have a hard day but he still won a couple of challenges

[loyalroyal4life]

The ball Ian Harte played out to Kebe on the right wing in the second half yesterday with his weaker right foot was quite simply, different gravy

Yes and just about the only decent thing he did in the whole game as for most of the game he strolled back watching Dyer yet again have a clear run.

+1

[Ian Royal]

The ball Ian Harte played out to Kebe on the right wing in the second half yesterday with his weaker right foot was quite simply, different gravy

Yes and just about the only decent thing he did in the whole game as for most of the game he strolled back watching Dyer yet again have a clear run.

+1

Not Harte's fault. He plays within the physical limitations his body puts on him. He had to make desperate attempts to step in and tack the ball because he'd have been rinsed by pace if he didn't. Unfortunately the ones he missed he got rinsed by pace.

I think McDermott got that one wrong and needed to play someone quicker at left back on this occasion.

[Hoop Blah]

Even as a slower player you can defend against pace if you read the game well enough and make the right decisions to either get tight or drop off and shepperd the attacker into the right areas to defend.

Harte has done that well for us in his short time here but he had a mare yesterday and Dyer got the better of him far too often. That'll happen to any of our players, and Griffin was guilty yesterday too.

[Z175]

I think Ian Harte is actually right footed. His rightfooted passes as superb! Try it for corners please!

[Big Foot]

Ian Harte appreciation society

*repeat to fade*

[Big Foot]

Not Harte's fault. He plays within the physical limitations his body puts on him.

Yet, when people predicted he was so slow that he would be a liability, others on here slated them?? How can this be?

Harte = TOO SLOW. Everyone knew before he signed he was too slow! How can this be a surprise to anyone?

Even if you claim it's not his fault that he's slow, he's still oxf*rd slow! How is it an excuse that it's not his own fault?
Bring back Paul Bodin, it's not his fault he's slow and has no stamina, he's 50, but by God, it's not his fault! It's just his bodys limitations!

Harte was a panic buy, a dud signing, end of.

I bet you £10 GBP that Ian Harte scores 10 or more league goals this season for Reading.

[Big Foot]

Ok, so as long as he can get ten goals, it doesn't matter if he can't defend?

In a nutshell

[Snowball]

Seriously how many goals has Harte been responsible for?

3-0 H Crystal Palace NO GOALS CONCEDED
0-0 A Millwall NO GOALS CONCEDED
1-3 A Middlesbrough Goal 1, break, Pearce skinned. Goal 2 Lita beats Pearce, Cummings trying to cover. Goal 3 Mills fails to stop header
3-0 H Barnsley NO GOALS CONCEDED
1-0 H Ipswich Town NO GOALS CONCEDED
1-1 A Preston Goal was a Zurab error, 100%
0-1 H Swansea City Break through the middle beats Mills and Griffin. Griffin played attacker on side.
0-1 A Bristol City Harte mis-judged cross after Griffin fails to STOP cross. Mills fails to block.


So he's played eight games, four clean sheets, three games conceding 1 goal, one 1-3 defeat




So he is PARTLY at fault for ONE goal, in that he failed to stop a header back across goal


This is how you lot analyse a bad player in a poor defence?

Despite the fact we currently have the joint second-best defence in the league ?

1 12 games 03 goals conceded Queens Park Rangers
2 12 games 11 goals conceded Reading
2 12 games 11 goals conceded Burnley
2 12 games 11 goals conceded Cardiff City

[Hoop Blah]

How many chances or pressure we've been put under has Harte been considerably responsible for?

He started well, against some of the weaker opposition we've played, but as the quality has increased and the 'new player' effect has worn off a bit his performances have dipped. His was never the most accomplished defender when he was playing as full back at the highest level. Experience may well have improved it but from what I've seen over the last couple of games I'd say it hasn't.

I wouldn't write him off but I would still say that if Armstrong can recapture his pre-injury form then he is a much better defender. That's not a massive criticism of Harte, it's just that Armstrong is better.

[Snowball]

How many chances or pressure we've been put under has Harte been considerably responsible for?

He started well, against some of the weaker opposition we've played, but as the quality has increased and the 'new player' effect has worn off a bit his performances have dipped. His was never the most accomplished defender when he was playing as full back at the highest level. Experience may well have improved it but from what I've seen over the last couple of games I'd say it hasn't.

I wouldn't write him off but I would still say that if Armstrong can recapture his pre-injury form then he is a much better defender. That's not a massive criticism of Harte, it's just that Armstrong is better.

This is why I like facts.

It MAY be that, over a season, he'll be a liability, but TO DATE, he's playing in the second-best defence in the Championship,
the defence has conceded just 6 goals in 8 games (3 goals in 7 games if you take out Boro) and he has not been directly
responsible for ONE conceded goal, partly (slightly) responsible (a three-defender responsibility) for one goal.

And going forward has scored two, had two excellent other shots, made some brilliant passes.

I like Armstrong a lot. It's been so long tho' I can barely remember how he played except
he was all-heart (no pun intended). I don't remember his contributions going forward.

Not saying he wasn't good, just that I can't remember.

[Dave Gale]

It has been a while, but i still remember very vividly his contribution. I liked Armstrong when he came in to replace Shorey because he offered a lot going forward much like Nicky did. During the season he won player of the year he would overlap our winger and delivered good crosses. I'm not a Harte knocker, I do like him, but seeing Chris back and playing well I'd have him as my full back. He's relatively fast, lots of heart as you mention, and is composed.

[Hoop Blah]

I think we get the idea that you like FACTS snowball, but the point is that your facts don't always translate into the reality of what's happening on the pitch.

Harte has made a decent contribution so far, I don't think many, if any, are disputing that. He has looked progressively suspect when defending as he's played more games though. That's conincided with us playing the better teams and also with him settling in more.

A bit like Cummings playing well at left back against Leicester which was (IMO) partly down to playing out of position and so having to be that little bit more switched on, Harte is now back into the swing of things after the initial period of concentrating that bit more playing in a 'new' position at a new club. Don't forget he seems to have played the majority of his games for Carlisle at centre back, so coming to Reading and playing at left back was all new to him. That may have got the best out of him in the short term.

Armstrong was ok going forward. Not as accomplished on the ball as Harte, but he'd get his fair share of decent balls into the box but more importantly he was a very good defender. For me the Armstrong of a couple of years back, when he won Player of the Season, was much better than the Harte I've seen over the last 6 weeks. Can he get back to the standard? Will we ever have enough credible midfielders available to play him in his proper postion? Only time will tell.

I never thought I'd see him in a Reading shirt again, so it's good progress so far in my eyes.

[Snowball]

Armstrong played in a defence including Rosenior (42 games), Bikey (23), Ingamarson (26), Duberry (27), Pearce (13) with bit parts from Cisse, Gunnar. Hahnemann (32) Feds (14)

We had a very good team, then, including Doyle and SHunt

He started 40 league games and we conceded 36 goals = 0.9 goals per game

The team with Harte has conceded 6 goals in 8 games = 0.75 goals per game.

If we lose 2-0 at Burnley, their goals-conceded tallies will be the same.


I am NOT saying Armstrong shouldn't play.

What I AM saying is, that despite the usual morons bleating, Harte, in terms
of goals conceded (very very good) and goals scored (very very good) is a GOOD
player who, so far, deserves a place in the side.


It may be that Armstrong at LB might make us a lot stronger, and in 8 goals we only conceded 3/4 goals.


THEN, we can start saying Armstrong is better. But the stats show that Harte's experience is compensating
for other deficiencies. (Unless, of course, we've been lucky to play crap sides)

[Snowball]

It has been a while, but i still remember very vividly his contribution. I liked Armstrong when he came in to replace Shorey because he offered a lot going forward much like Nicky did. During the season he won player of the year he would overlap our winger and delivered good crosses. I'm not a Harte knocker, I do like him, but seeing Chris back and playing well I'd have him as my full back. He's relatively fast, lots of heart as you mention, and is composed.

Yes. Going through the old match reports, he made some good goals.

I had a bet on him for first goal and 3-0, (he scored FG) and Lita made it 4-0 in the 94th minute.


That cost me two grand.