Alex Pearce..........

[Millsy]

Didn't think much of him but never blasted him.

Still don't but I have to say he's coming along nicely.

However, most of us who didn't rate him felt he needed time to develop and so it's hadly surprising that as he's developing he's becoming more acceptable.

Still needs more time but good to see him improving.

[Millsy]

Pearcey it's a fair point about the constant slagging off of certain players but again it depends what people are saying. If you're saying Church is totally devoid of form and confidence right now then that's one thing but like you said thats different to 'he's god awful and has no talent'

Exactly. But it's also embarrassing and stupid to mindlessly defend a player who is having a shocking time by moving goalposts every two minutes and twisting and changing stats relentlessly, only to feel a little stupid when you realise you didn't actually need to do any of that when he *actually* comes good.

Pointing out someone is awful when they are is fine. What's NOT fine is categorically saying they will be awful for ever (which, actually few people do), OR categorically putting your head in the sand and claiming someone actually is *currently* good when he whole world can see they are currently an embarrassment.

[Wimb]

Pearcey it's a fair point about the constant slagging off of certain players but again it depends what people are saying. If you're saying Church is totally devoid of form and confidence right now then that's one thing but like you said thats different to 'he's god awful and has no talent'

Exactly. But it's also embarrassing and stupid to mindlessly defend a player who is having a shocking time by moving goalposts every two minutes and twisting and changing stats relentlessly, only to feel a little stupid when you realise you didn't actually need to do any of that when he *actually* comes good.

Pointing out someone is awful when they are is fine. What's NOT fine is categorically saying they will be awful for ever (which, actually few people do), OR categorically putting your head in the sand and claiming someone actually is *currently* good when he whole world can see they are currently an embarrassment.

^^ greed

[Big Foot]

floyd__streete wrote:
I said in pre-season that I was seeing far too much of our Alex Pearce and Jem Karacan in the starting line-up for my liking. If these two are regular Championship-quality players then my name is Brendan Rodgers

good afternoon brendan.

They've been arguably our 2 best players this season.

Pearce is head and shoulders above everyone else for PoTS thus far...

[floyd__streete]

I said in pre-season that I was seeing far too much of our Alex Pearce and Jem Karacan in the starting line-up for my liking. If these two are regular Championship-quality players then my name is Brendan Rodgers.

Possibly our two best players this season along with Long

Delighted to take the mocking regarding Pearce, fantastic stuff. But Karacan? Behave. He couldn't pass water that bloke.

[FiNeRaIn]

Ageed re karacan, nowhere near our best player. Need an attacking midfielder next to mikele and we are sorted.

[winchester_royal]

Yep. Agreed with those two....really average player that doesn't offer anywhere near enough going forward, and defensively isn't that impressive either.

Disappointed that he hasn't turned into the box-to-box goal-scoring midfielder that his early promise suggested he could be.

[Snowball]

Not now sure whether Tabby still has it in him
but him at his best I'd prefer to Jem as he can
find a pass and score a goal

[Big Foot]

Not now sure whether Tabby still has it in him
but him at his best I'd prefer to Jem as he can
find a pass and score a goal

How many goals has Tabb scored for Reading?

[Ian Royal]

Not now sure whether Tabby still has it in him
but him at his best I'd prefer to Jem as he can
find a pass and score a goal

How many goals has Tabb scored for Reading?

[West_Reading]

LOL @ the Karacan hating. I've seen it all now. Definetely happy to be proved wrong on Pearce though.

[Hoop Blah]

pearce has already showed he can cope at this level with decent games at the end of last season.
just needs to up the consistency.
players dont have to keep reproving themselves just cos they have a bad game.

Part of improving is playing more games at your higher end of performance though. Any League 2 defender could have a handful of good games at Championship level given enough games. But if they have say 4 or 5 below average games between the good ones then they're just not good enough for the standard.

For my money Pearce is an ok Championship centre back. He had his worst game in a Reading shirt on Saturday but he still does the basics of his game well enough to get by at this level. His positioning isn't usually as bad as it was on Saturday but with his total lack of pace and slowness on the turn he can't afford to be caught out because he can't recover in the same way as a Sonko or Primus could.

The biggest problem he now faces is that the the players around him aren't best suited to cover his deficiences. He and Mills are too similar, and Williams doesn't seem (from the evidence of Saturday alone so plenty of room to be proved wrong) to read the game or cover his centre back well enough. Last season Pearce had Bertrand, with his pace, to help him out. I'm not sure if Williams will be able to do the same.

Ivar, if he can ever get himself fit, is also a bit too similar to Pearce and Mills but at least has that extra nouse to help both himself and them out. We need a partner for Mills and Pearce who has that extra yard of pace either on the floor or in their head to get the best out of either of them.

We can't wait forever for Pearce to come good, but if that's what we have to do then I can't see us being too successful this season.

I don't think a lot has changed to be honest. He's been steady enough and done his own job pretty well.

Having the physical presence of Leigertwood infront of them has helped the back four massively though.

As for Karacan, a bit like Pearce, he's now in a partnership that helps him get the most out of his strengths. I think it's noticable that he's not been so wasteful in posession ove the last few months and I think that's probably as much down to having a strong player alongside him as it is his own improvement in his decision making etc.

[brendywendy]

LOL @ the Karacan hating. I've seen it all now. Definetely happy to be proved wrong on Pearce though.

agreed with this^^^^


pearce has been superb- especially considering he lost his place and must have been quite low.
karacan has been consistently decent all season in the middle.as much as i love tabb- i think jem has outperformed him.
theyre both up there as the best players of the season alongside long, legs, and fed.

[Scarface]

LOL @ the Karacan hating. I've seen it all now. Definetely happy to be proved wrong on Pearce though.

I couldn't say whether Tabb or Karacan would be my first choice, but I just hope McDermott gives Tabby a chance to prove himself if we have a couple of bad results. I do think we still lack Central Midfielder who can grab us 5 or 6 goals a season (Sidwell being the obvious choice). Howard would be the obvious candidate (out of the current squad), but I think Mcdermott feels we get over run in midfield when he plays, hence he's dropped down the pecking order.

[winchester_royal]

LOL @ the Karacan hating. I've seen it all now. Definetely happy to be proved wrong on Pearce though.

agreed with this^^^^


pearce has been superb- especially considering he lost his place and must have been quite low.
karacan has been consistently decent all season in the middle.as much as i love tabb- i think jem has outperformed him.
theyre both up there as the best players of the season alongside long, legs, and fed.

But there's the problem. Consistently 'decent'. Given his work-rate and enthusiasm he'll never have a 3/10 game. But he just doesn't have the ability to win us a football. Hence why McD always takes him off when he's looking to chase the game.

[brendywendy]

id take consistently decent over any of our other options this season

[The Rouge]

I love the way people are really scathing and then say 'yeah, we were just saying he needed to develop etc..'

I am guessing TBM may struggle to argue the same with his opening post!

[TBM]

I love the way people are really scathing and then say 'yeah, we were just saying he needed to develop etc..'

I am guessing TBM may struggle to argue the same with his opening post!

Not really.........cos he was shit.

Fair play to him for coming back and proving a point

[Ian Royal]

LOL @ the Karacan hating. I've seen it all now. Definetely happy to be proved wrong on Pearce though.

agreed with this^^^^


pearce has been superb- especially considering he lost his place and must have been quite low.
karacan has been consistently decent all season in the middle.as much as i love tabb- i think jem has outperformed him.
theyre both up there as the best players of the season alongside long, legs, and fed.

But there's the problem. Consistently 'decent'. Given his work-rate and enthusiasm he'll never have a 3/10 game. But he just doesn't have the ability to win us a football. Hence why McD always takes him off when he's looking to chase the game.

That's a style choice rather than anything to do with Karacan. McDermott choses to play two central midfielders who will break up play rather than get forward and create / score goals. This is most likely to accomodate two lightweight wingers (Coppell did very similar things, but Sidwell was a better goalscorer).

It's pretty much a case of "no shit sherlock" that a more defensive midfielder comes off when we are chasing games, in favour of an attacker. He starts because that combination is obviously considered to be the best one as a defens vs attack balance.

I'd say Karacan has been more than decent... though he's still got areas to improve on, he'd be one of my first names on the team sheet based on this season.

[winchester_royal]

It may be a case of 'no shit sherlock', but Karacan is in the team for his energy and work-rate. Nothing else. I think everyone in this board recognises his contribution in those terms, but in terms of footballing talent, he is lacking.