Surely possession per se isn't the key variable; its where you have that possession that counts. With Swansea (and Southampton) a lot of teams have sussed that you can allow them all the possession they want in the 2/3rds of the pitch from their goal-line, but deny them the ability to do much beyon...

The main problem with Bolton fans is that they suffer from a collective delusion of grandeur; they REALLY believe that their "rightful" place is in the Premier League and that having to slum it in the Championship is a mere inconvenience that they really shouldn't have to endure. Remember...

The Guthrie problem is an interesting one. He is, I think, one of our 'best' players. After 3 months or so he seemed nailed on for POTS. But - it seems - things have changed. We are now playing a faster, more ball-to-feet game than before. So will Guthrie add to this new-found game-plan or not? Yes ...

I also enjoy (usually) visiting rival fans forums after the game. What is disappointing about the Bolton forums is that not one of them (that I have found anyway) have anything positive to say about the way we played.

Yesterday we had belief after a beating Watford away, we had no predictable, game-strangling and chokable Guthrie, and we had a left footed left back. That's enough of a difference without needing to invoke some theory about him changing strategy etc. But we didn't start the game against Bolton wit...

That's correlation. It says nothing of cause. 70% possession does not cause more shots on target than 48% possession. Your graph would only have value if each team had the exact same amount of quality. The graph does show correlation and that correlation is too strong to ignore. Taking just the Pre...

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee512/zonal_marking/rr3-1.jpg Don't need to be an economist to work this one out. That's correlation. It says nothing of cause. 70% possession does not cause more shots on target than 48% possession. Your graph would only have value if each team had the exact sam...

Well - who saw that coming?! What was most encouraging for me was to see our style of play change as the match wore on and we grew in confidence. The first 15 - 20 minutes were - to be fair - pretty forgettable. It was the same old passing around the back four before they (or McCarthy) launched a lo...

Yellow card for Royston!

NA has been very unlucky with injuries. These have meant that we have not had a settled team all season and full-backs and wingers haven't had the chance to develop partnerships in real games. I agree that we also miss Karacan's energy and enthusiasm as this tends to infect the whole team. Drenthe b...

How do you account for the sudden changes then? Is Adkins changing it. Then if so why doesn't he tell them to play like the last 10 mins all the time? As I have already said - Forest decided to protect their 1-0 lead with 10 minutes remaining and they concentrated on defence hence giving us the mom...

They need to play like that for more than 10 minutes, but they've shown they can do it and we (somehow) came away with a point. There are positives but they're few and far between - they really were dire for 80 minutes. We played well for the last 10 minutes because Forest let us. For the remainder...

He's obviously got a great goal scoring instinct and, like players before him such as Cureton, just has that ability to read the game and be in the right place at the right time in the area to get those crucial chances. He misses his fair share, Those with a great goal-scoring instinct don't miss t...

AthleticoSpizz

LoyalRoyalFan Would rather keep Le Fondre than Sharp tbh.

fair comment, but why?

Room for both? Pog goes injured...then what?

Then .... we are stuffed!!

They need to play like that for more than 10 minutes, but they've shown they can do it and we (somehow) came away with a point. There are positives but they're few and far between - they really were dire for 80 minutes. We played well for the last 10 minutes because Forest let us. For the remainder...

The transfer window is fast approaching but what investment, if any, does Reading need to make? GK - We have two very good keepers. Like all players one may have an off-day and any keeper having an off-day will be punished but we are solid in this position. WB - I'm happy with Bridge, Gunter and Cum...

There seems to be more positivity here than on the match thread. That is also borne out by the reports on the OS where it suggests that the penalty was harsh and Pog's goal was on-side. Maybe that's to be expected on a Reading site so it's a pity there is no FLS tonight where this would have been de...

Drenthe, Progebnyak, Williams, Sharp, etc might have achieved good things in the past, but all are on the way down. Successful clubs have hungry young players looking to better themselves, not frightened has-beens trying to cling on to dreams of major success that are now long-gone. Has-beens? Will...

Drenthe, Progebnyak, Williams, Sharp, etc might have achieved good things in the past, but all are on the way down. Successful clubs have hungry young players looking to better themselves, not frightened has-beens trying to cling on to dreams of major success that are now long-gone. Has-beens? Will...

So we have a defence that are leaking goals and people are wanting to sell our best defender?? Bridge is the one bit of class we have in the back four and we are missing him badly at the moment.