Le Fondre

[Keyser Soze]

I thought it was Birmingham for some reason. It was some team Northish before he signed for Reading, when he was on a scoring spree, sometime in the mid Noughties.

If you have ever managed or coached football, you will know that strikers, unless blessed with great technical ability, typically needs a style that suits them and many are in the main, confidence players. I would just have to disagree that "just not that good", even if he was limited. He played for a few sides that scored goals before Reading as well as Reading and he was always popping up on television as a regular scorer. Clearly he could score goals. In my view his prior record confirms his ability to score. To me it was style issue, which then turned into a confidence issue. Why he never discovered his old form since could be anything. A minor injury which repeats (Sturridge), loss of motivation, poor diet or maybe poorly managed. It could be anything.

[jon1959]

I thought it was Birmingham for some reason. It was some team Northish before he signed for Reading, when he was on a scoring spree, sometime in the mid Noughties.

If you have ever managed or coached football, you will know that strikers, unless blessed with great technical ability, typically needs a style that suits them and many are in the main, confidence players. I would just have to disagree that "just not that good", even if he was limited. He played for a few sides that scored goals before Reading as well as Reading and he was always popping up on television as a regular scorer. Clearly he could score goals. In my view his prior record confirms his ability to score. To me it was style issue, which then turned into a confidence issue. Why he never discovered his old form since could be anything. A minor injury which repeats (Sturridge), loss of motivation, poor diet or maybe poorly managed. It could be anything.

Was the Northish team Stockport, or Rochdale or Rotherham... or all of them?

I remember when ALF was with Rotherham he had the reputation of a selfish, often lazy, goal poacher. He scored about 1 goal in 3 games and made his name, but was always limited and did very little else for the team.

[Pedro de la Rosa]

I thought it was Birmingham for some reason. It was some team Northish before he signed for Reading, when he was on a scoring spree, sometime in the mid Noughties.

If you have ever managed or coached football, you will know that strikers, unless blessed with great technical ability, typically needs a style that suits them and many are in the main, confidence players. I would just have to disagree that "just not that good", even if he was limited. He played for a few sides that scored goals before Reading as well as Reading and he was always popping up on television as a regular scorer. Clearly he could score goals. In my view his prior record confirms his ability to score. To me it was style issue, which then turned into a confidence issue. Why he never discovered his old form since could be anything. A minor injury which repeats (Sturridge), loss of motivation, poor diet or maybe poorly managed. It could be anything.

Thanks for the patronising pat on the head. He's been poor for all clubs since he left us, bar a good four month spell at Bolton. He missed tap ins. He was totally ineffective for us, devoid of confidence and that's spilled over into his career. For whatever reason, he's not good enough at this level and he hasn't been for quite some time.

[ccfc_is_my_life]

Thanks for the patronising pat on the head. He's been poor for all clubs since he left us, bar a good four month spell at Bolton. He missed tap ins. He was totally ineffective for us, devoid of confidence and that's spilled over into his career. For whatever reason, he's not good enough at this level and he hasn't been for quite some time.

Zach Clough did more, looked more threatening in a sub appearance than Le Fondue did all game.

He's shot at this level and knows it.

[Pearcey3]

I don’t remember him being a regular starter at Reading. For some reason I’ve got him as scoring a ton (if not most) of his goals off the bench. League 2 or 3 player for me even in his prime

A bit of both. He made a reasonable number of starts but also spent half his time on the bench. Loved him. A cracking player for us and I have great memories of some very good goals including a number of excellent headers.
Didn’t Slade play him out wide? If so he was played totally out of position.