I feel strangely elated that at the end of the match there were seven academy-produced players on the pitch. I know this was largely due to injuries but, even so, it strikes me as something to be rather smugly pleased about.

Death, Peters, Hetzke, Youlden, White, Cummings, Bowman, Dunphy, Nelson, Friday, Murray

Oliver Norwood, Er ist Gut,
That's "he is good"
In English and it's
Oh so true,

Yes it is
Yes it is

Oooh Ollie Norwood
Oooh Ollie Norwood

Thanks for the match reports guys. This is probably against my better judgement but I am feeling optimistic about this season.

Shame. Wasn't Arsene Wenger monitoring him once upon a time?

A few here have mentioned Gooding and I can't for the life of me imagine why he wasn't the first name that popped into my head. It is a mystery that Gooding never played for a lengthy spell at a higher level. Particularly mysterious as I imagine he would have been a manager's dream in many ways - an...

I heard on numerous occasions Argentina's Mascherano being described as the "heartbeat" of the South American side during what I thought was a rather splendid World Cup all things considered. I think there are several nominees among Reading players as candidates for this particular charact...

Probably change the entire footballing culture among English players and coaching staff from the year dot. Train in technical ability, stop shutting down schools' 'green spaces', ideally try and hope ridiculously remunerated English players realise that they aren't as good as they think they are (do...

I have not followed England closely in the past few years and that was a far, far better performance than I remember from 2010 - although it would be hard to be worse. The downsides were Rooney and Glen Johnson really isn't a great right back. Sterling showed all the indications, I thought, that if ...

Jeez, Ronaldo is a great player (although he was distinctly out of sorts tonight) but what a complete and utter bell-end.

Little ground for optimism.

I remember years ago when one of the highlights of Match of the Day on a Saturday night (in fact of watching the then English First Division in general) was having the opportunity to witness the sublime ability of Kenny Dalglish (still one of my favourite players of all time). Now I am not a footbal...

I wouldn't be at all surprised if this rumour is true and he goes. That's all.

Can't remember the last time someone told me to "just shut up".

Definitely president of his local ukelele club.

God it sounds shocking. If the lack of spirit and effort is as bad as it sounds (and, of course, I have no reason to think it isn't as bad as people are saying?) how exactly did this happen. It makes me feel jealous of supporters who are supporting a team way down the league (and even in leagues bel...

I thought the verdicts of last night's performance couldn't get any more damning and then I read the comparison to Reading under Terry "know what I mean" The Taxi. If this Reading team is really as bad as under Bullivant then thank God I live in Australia, and I don't even like Australia.

At least, I guess, even if the games are crap for the rest of the season the ramifications of the results will make it a potentially nailbiting few weeks (that's presuming, of course, that anyone gives a toss about us going up).

Thanks for, as on previous occasions, the excellent report kwik-silva.

I wouldn't rule it out.