Back from the game - Swansea

[Gordons Cumming]

First Half: Shit
Second Half: Less Shit

We move on.

Very eloquent.

Thanks for that. I look forward to your opinion of the West Ham game.

[ZacNaloen]

Trouble is, in the first half especially, we were too keen to sit back and watch them pass.

No point in chasing after the ball in their half if all they are going to do is pass between their back 4.

It wasn't that we were keen to watch them do it out of any sort of respect. It was simply, what's the point? They are doing it because they are trying to tire out our attackers. We weren't out there to play their game. Just hold shape and if they want to win the game they have to come at us at some point. At which point everytime they did suddenly they got shit in possession because we were all over them. This meant we had more energy in the second half which and could really go at them.

We'd probably have won that game if Tabb was playing in Leigertwoods place, I reckon. He was bloody awful in possession.

[Victor Meldrew]

I felt that we played for the 0-0 with the vague hope that we might snatch something.
Horrible stuff to watch and the second half performance in any other game would normally have been regarded as ordinary but the first half was such dross that by comparison the second was brilliant.
Good efforts by Jem and Guthrie and at last Brian saw what we see from Jobi most weeks and did something about it.

When I got back to the car I expected a down beat Brian and Adie on Radio Berks but they spoke as if we had won 6-0 and not drawn one of our many must-win games to come.
Somebody needs to tell Brian that if we draw the rest of our games 0-0 we will be relegated by Easter.

[West_Reading]

Trouble is, in the first half especially, we were too keen to sit back and watch them pass.

No point in chasing after the ball in their half if all they are going to do is pass between their back 4.

It wasn't that we were keen to watch them do it out of any sort of respect. It was simply, what's the point? They are doing it because they are trying to tire out our attackers. We weren't out there to play their game. Just hold shape and if they want to win the game they have to come at us at some point. At which point everytime they did suddenly they got shit in possession because we were all over them. This meant we had more energy in the second half which and could really go at them.

We'd probably have won that game if Tabb was playing in Leigertwoods place, I reckon. He was bloody awful in possession.

Depends what your ambitions from the game are. If you're at home, in must win games, then the onus is on you to press and win that ball back. Without the ball, you can't create anything.

[ZacNaloen]

You can't win games if you knacker yourself out in the first half either

[Rex]

As Zac states - there is no point chasing shadows and inviting a foul. Fantastic for the possession stats but does zilch if the opposition are wise to it for once. It's not as if it was probing passes looking for a chink in the armour.

[runrunrunrungilksey]

Swansea had no ideas for all of their possession today, it was pleasing that they were kept mainly to long range efforts that caused no problems. One of the few times they did get in, Feds made a great save from Michu's header which ultimately got us a point. They were far superior in the 1st half and looked like a team with confidence but that faded more as the game went on. Second half we were much better and credit to the players for sticking to the game plan.

A big complement to our midfield when Swansea took off Britton and I thought Guthrie and Karacan worked well together and both worked really hard for the team, they look promising for the future of our midfield however thought Ledge didn't have the best of games esp when he had possession but in fairness he got some important tackles in. Pearce had a good game today and was solid winning everything in the air.

Feds, fine save from Michu (7)
Gunter - nervous, did everything but score for Swansea in the first half (5)
Pearce - Showed why we need to re sign him (7.5)
Mapps - Decent Hoofballer but worked well with Pearce (6.5)
Harte - Experienced but slow (6)
Ledge - Gave the ball away too often but made some decent tackles (6)
Karacan - Worked hard, clearly more to come when fully fit (7)
Guthrie - Grew more as the game went on worked hard, more to come when fully fit (7)
Jobi - We were better when he went off (5)
Kebe - Absent (5)
Pog - No decent service and fluffed his lines when through on goal (6)

subs not rated:
Le Fondre - Looks like he could work well with Guthrie
Robson Kanu - dangerous from the bench as always.

[Mr Angry]

Brian has gone back to basics and has - in 2 games - made us considerably more difficult to beat than even a week ago, and if we are to have ANY chance of surviving, the first step is to stop shipping goals.

Its going to be gritty, its going to be ugly, but for all those people who were moaning about the recent entertainment of successive 7 goal matches at the Mad Stad, surely this is what you wanted?

[LanercostRoyal]

Legsofwood- Absolute shit! We are never gonna win a game with this big pile of oxf*rd in our team. McCleary IN! To play behind ALF!

Harte- Didn't think he had a good game, just hoofed it up to Pog hoping he would make something out of nothing. Shorey IN!

Pog- No service, just hoofed the ball up to him. Horrible first touch. ALF IN!

McAnuff- Did nothing, other than get subbed for the far superior Hal Robson Kanu. HRK IN!

McDermott must be absolute blind with his selections.

Brightside-

Guthrie, what we have been missing. Drops a little bit too deep for a CF but adds quality and passion. Put him more in a CM role and stick McCleary behind ALF.
Karacan- Passion, can pass and never stops. Just what we are missing, just a shame Legsofwoods gets in his way.
Got a clean sheet.

A massive game and if we can build on today whilst taking the shit out then we could get the three points.

Since when was Guthrie ever a CF?!

[BrockManson]

I was really pleased with the performance. Whilst normally the prospect of seeing MacAnuff leave the pitch with plenty of time to go would bring me great joy and relief, not today. He did alright - Kebe though was absolutely gutless. It's bad enough he doesn't give a whoopsie in the Championship yet gets away with it but in a tight knit game like this?

Guthrie and Karacan were absolutely superb and if Guthrie has decided he wants to perform like this for the team then he's well worth his place in the starting line up. Ok in the first half he was giving away the ball cheaply once or twice but he always tried to get it back. Winning the ball isn't his game but the coaching staff have obviously performed miracles because I was standing up and clapping almost every contribution he made. Karacan makes such a difference when he's in the team - just a shame he's made out of paper because he's developing into an all action midfielder. Him and Guthrie with a new DM to do the majority of the ball winning would really benefit the team. Legs is too slow for the premiership and I don't like seeing Karacan limited by playing too defensively - he's got a full range of passing that BM has tried to stamp out of him ever since he took over the helm.

Now there seems to be one or two - especially at the match who were discontent with Swansea's amount of possession. To my mind they had two clear cut chances, one of which was an absolute howler from Gunter to chest it into Michu. Possession is all well and good but Reading were spot on off the ball today - all Swanselona did was caress it around their own half until they ran out of ideas and wasted it. Second half we came into it more when the lads realised they're nowhere near as good as the praise they've been getting warrants. If not for heroic defending from Chico, Reading would've won this.

Very much looking forward to the West Ham game now that there's a clean sheet at last and a solid performance to boot. Come on!

[ZacNaloen]

As Zac states - there is no point chasing shadows and inviting a foul. Fantastic for the possession stats but does zilch if the opposition are wise to it for once. It's not as if it was probing passes looking for a chink in the armour.

Exactly, everytime they tried that we were all over them like a bad rash.

[Percy's Rocket]

You can't win games if you knacker yourself out in the first half either

You cannot win games at this level unless you buy players of premiership quality and looking round our line up it was very hard to spot them. Karacan ? Guthrie ?
(both of them have hardly played so far tbf) So we have decided to go defensive and cling on in the hope of sneaking a winner. ...hardly the "Reading Way" and this simply will not keep us in this league or have we given up on that already.and the big signing of supposed prem quality fluffed his touch when set up beatifully by a swansea defender (but then their big signing did the same when set up by Gunter)

It is so frustrating that we are throwing away this season..

[Toon Toon Blue army]

We now look solid. But we are still shockingly bad in possession though. If we do continue with the hoof ball Pav cannot start, at least Alfie or Noel will run around a lot.

[Y21]

Agreed. I love watching them TBH. I would much rather watch them for 90 minutes than 1 minute of Stoke "football".

That would be the same Stoke 'Football' that is currently beating Liverpool 3-1, and Liverpool with their ex Swansea manager? The first half was the dullest half of football I have seen at the Mad for a very long time. All passing and no penetration is utterly devoid of interest to me. And not to mention completely pointless. We showed in the second half how to undo this apparently wonderful style of play. Close them down quickly and they soon start passing it out of play. There was only one team in the second half and it wasn't the super lovely passing Swansea. I sometime wonder what people actually want from a game. Points or pretty passing?

[floyd__streete]

Points or pretty passing?

We usually get neither.

[grey_squirrel]

If ever there was a game to go aggresive 4-4-2 then this was it.

Totally lost any respect I have for McDermott as a Manager after this.

Have we ever played deeper? Ever? Against a side who at the best of times are going to play tippy-tappy total boring football. I bet they couldn't believe their luck. Their sidewards pass rate 100%. God, give me hoof ball any day of the week. At least it's not as boring as that.

The one game we could've/should've got 3 points and McDermott gets them scared of their own shadows by us almost defending past our own goal line.

Their time on the ball = as much time as you like chaps. Our time on the ball = 3 men on us every single time and panic!

Regardless of the player quality, McDermott just hasn't a clue.

Legsofwood is getting worse and worse (if that is possible) and contributes nothing.

Game over.

[Victor Meldrew]

Agreed. I love watching them TBH. I would much rather watch them for 90 minutes than 1 minute of Stoke "football".

That would be the same Stoke 'Football' that is currently beating Liverpool 3-1, and Liverpool with their ex Swansea manager? The first half was the dullest half of football I have seen at the Mad for a very long time. All passing and no penetration is utterly devoid of interest to me. And not to mention completely pointless. We showed in the second half how to undo this apparently wonderful style of play. Close them down quickly and they soon start passing it out of play. There was only one team in the second half and it wasn't the super lovely passing Swansea. I sometime wonder what people actually want from a game. Points or pretty passing?

How many shots did WE have on target?
Nil in the first,2 in the second?
They were the away team comfortably placed in mid-table and we were the team at the bottom supposedly fighting for our lives.
I didn't see any fighting in the first-half and it shows how far we have fallen that the second half is seen as a success just because we stopped a mid-table side from scoring.
Now if we get a clean sheet and win v West Ham and the same at Spurs I will join in the euphoria but today was 2 points lost in a game where neither side looked very interested in winning and was often like a pre-season friendly.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

If ever there was a game to go aggresive 4-4-2 then this was it.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but with all due respect that says that you haven't got a chuffing clue.

We might go 2 up on Saturday, but against a side who dominate possession and us on the back of 7 defeats on the spin we had to pack the midfield today. BM got his team selection and tactis spot on for once. Even if that meant we all had to be bored to tears for most of the game.

[Hoop Blah]

Trouble is, in the first half especially, we were too keen to sit back and watch them pass.

No point in chasing after the ball in their half if all they are going to do is pass between their back 4..

Having just watched the last 25 minutes of Stoke do exactly that against Liverpool and harass them into plenty of mistakes in the last third I can't agree with that.

[Rex]

Trouble is, in the first half especially, we were too keen to sit back and watch them pass.

No point in chasing after the ball in their half if all they are going to do is pass between their back 4..

Having just watched the last 25 minutes of Stoke do exactly that against Liverpool and harass them into plenty of mistakes in the last third I can't agree with that.

Having control of a match when having scored three is about killing a game off. A slightly different tactic we haven't got the ability to control or close down.