Back From The Game - Norwich

[sandman]

Sitting behind the goal the wall for the third was a mess to begin with and I predicted that it would result in a goal as soon as I saw it. There was a massive gap in it where Howard just didn't join it and looked confused about what he was supposed to do.

There was no rythm in the first half mainly due to the complete ineptitude of Howards passing summed up by his terrible pass after the keeper had kicked the ball straight at him. The back four and keeper were terrible with no communication at all and I thought Feds should've been screaming at Mills for the second to warn him about what was around him.

Fed - Poor communication with his defenders and should've set the wall up far better than he did for the third. Good save at 3-1 to keep us in the game. 5

Griff - Best of the defenders and kept his head when defensive colleagues didn't. Attacked well in the second half. 7
Harte - Goal lifts his score. Got Holte sent off by rolling about and got beaten for pace for the first. 5
Khiz - Aliens must have landed and replaced him with an inept Frank Spencer wannabe. Stepped out of the way to let Martin score the first, put Mills in a bad situation for the second and seemed to be playing hide and seek behind the wall for the third. 3
Mills - If in doubt kick it out and despite the contributions of Fed and Zurab he is still the most culpable for the second. He wasn't as bad as many are suggesting but he was far from great. 4

Jem - Industrious as always. Does the donkey work well and his passing is improving.
Howard - Joins the likes of Keith Jones, Andy Hughes and James Harper in being sarcastically cheered off by some "fans".Imo he was terrible today but while he plays in our colours he should be supported not humiliated like that especially on tv. Should have joined the wall instead of watching it for the third. 4
Jobi - much better when moved into the centre of midfield. 7
Hunt - Missed some great chances to win the game but still did ok in an unfamiliar role. 7

Church - Hit the post but didn't contribute much else going forward. 6
Long - Typical Long performance. Missed chances but did well to win and scored a penalty.8

Antonio - Gave great width when he came on and stretched the Norwich defence on more than one occasion. 7

[chilipepper91]

I watched from the TV admittedly but few people seem to be mentioning that Noel Hunt forgot to track the man for their first goal - I guess that's one of the drawbacks of playing strikers in midfield.

[Maguire]

Where to begin? Terrible first half, just terrible. Have any of those defenders actually met each other before? Norwich tore us to pieces again and again and I really did think we were likely to concede every time they poured forward.

Howard was as poor today as he was good against Cardiff and the boos were senseless. Likewise the relentless booing at 2-0 down. Get a grip.

We did well to get a draw but I really don't think we're very good. Particularly we don't really have the talent to put a 10-man team under the cosh. I'm sure Antonio is a good athlete but deary me he has no football brain. We were also lacking severely on the left hand side in the second half - Church, Hunt, etc just cam ein field all the time which meant we didnt' stretch Norwich like we should have done.

[royalsteve]

Interesting listening to Lambert saying the sending off changed the game. I bet if you offered him before the game 3-1 up at half time and one of your forwards sent off for he 2nd half he would have taken it. We put 3 past Barnsley with ten QPR beat us and drew with Pompey with ten as did Hull at Leeds. We battered them second half and I don't think the sending off made all that much difference. As for anyone blaming Feds for the goals they must know oxf*rd all about football.
The wall was set up fine it's not his fault the players in it didn't stand there ground.

dont agree feds blows hot and cold and tonight he was cold......
1st, not his fault.....
2nd, not his fault entirely but he should NOT beaten that easily at the near post from such an acute angle!
3rd - seemed to dive too late and tbh shouldnt be beaten from there

then again he had virtually zero protection in fron of him......Kish played well on Weds and in parts griffin played well, mills and harte were dire....however today noone in the back line played well 1st half...much better 2nd but then norwich just sat back anyway

[West_Reading]

Absoloutely pathetic cheering when Howard got subbed off. He was one of our best players at Cardiff and always gives 100%. He is always at the hub of everything good that we create. He set up Long at the start with some wonderful interplay. He did give the ball away a few times but that was due to a real lack of movement in front of him. I for one will be getting his name printed on the back of my new away shirt just to show my support. I know it won't make a difference but it disgusts me seeing one of our own players being abused or booed.

[royalsteve]

Absoloutely pathetic cheering when Howard got subbed off. He was one of our best players at Cardiff and always gives 100%. He is always at the hub of everything good that we create. He set up Long at the start with some wonderful interplay. He did give the ball away a few times but that was due to a real lack of movement in front of him. I for one will be getting his name printed on the back of my new away shirt just to show my support. I know it won't make a difference but it disgusts me seeing one of our own players being abused or booed.

dont like booing/cheering when he went off but he didnt play at his best tonight.....it was his wayward pass then eventually lead to their 2nd btw

[West_Reading]

Absoloutely pathetic cheering when Howard got subbed off. He was one of our best players at Cardiff and always gives 100%. He is always at the hub of everything good that we create. He set up Long at the start with some wonderful interplay. He did give the ball away a few times but that was due to a real lack of movement in front of him. I for one will be getting his name printed on the back of my new away shirt just to show my support. I know it won't make a difference but it disgusts me seeing one of our own players being abused or booed.

dont like booing/cheering when he went off but he didnt play at his best tonight.....it was his wayward pass then eventually lead to their 2nd btw

I'm not disputing that. Still don't think that is an excuse.

[royalsteve]

Where to begin? Terrible first half, just terrible. Have any of those defenders actually met each other before? Norwich tore us to pieces again and again and I really did think we were likely to concede every time they poured forward.

Howard was as poor today as he was good against Cardiff and the boos were senseless. Likewise the relentless booing at 2-0 down. Get a grip.

We did well to get a draw but I really don't think we're very good. Particularly we don't really have the talent to put a 10-man team under the cosh. I'm sure Antonio is a good athlete but deary me he has no football brain. We were also lacking severely on the left hand side in the second half - Church, Hunt, etc just cam ein field all the time which meant we didnt' stretch Norwich like we should have done.

we lack a creative player.......where's the sig...oh.......

we needed someone like tabb as we were a bit too predictable

[RoyalX]

He set up Long at the start with some wonderful interplay.

I'm glad I'm not going mental. I was beginning to think that I was the only person that saw this or I'd got him confused with Church.

IMO our backline minus Griffin were all more culpable than him.

[URZZ]

I don't think I've been as pi$$ed off watching a game of football as I ever have been. Getting up early on a Sunday morning (Australian time) to watch that w@^k of a ref! I mean, he's 25 and acting all ignorant and arrogant - like the game revolves around him. PL really ought to have taken him out, fair dinkum.
But everyone will have a dig at him, I'm sure. What probably bothered me more was the Reading team. The more I watched them, the more I really had it in for them. Take the free kick by R.Martin (after the headclash) for example. Little Reading cheat wanted to intercept a ball which it was already being given back to them. absolute w@^ka.
And then there's the penalty. I know Chris has said it was a penalty, but have a look at it again mate, Lappin barely made contact (albeit it being clumsy). Rubbish decision.
And finally, Reading supporters must love their superstar Hunt. Fair enough he had one goal (pretty easy when you play against 10 men), but for the amount of headers he had, he shouldn't be playing in this league. He thought he was pretty cool running back with the ball after his goal too.
There were so many things that pi$$ed me off, even the spotlight being constantly on their manager - who really looked like he had no idea in the first half. reminded me of Gunn actually. He must have slipped the 4th ref a rather large cheque to get Holt sent off...

Funniest thing I've read in a while.

[No Fixed Abode]

ten men, you'll never beat ten men...

[swansea jack]

Really surprised that Rodgers did not come back in for any of the players he signed last summer, please come and take Howard at the very least, and for £3m he can take Mills as well.

And reduce the quality of his team?

Anyway, I can tell you that never in a million, billion, gazillion years would Rodgers come in for Mills

Even if he wanted too we don't have anywhere near that kind of $.

[RFCMod]

I thought people cheering off Howard was pathetic.

Get behind him, not boo him.

Whats new

Its always been the case at Reading that when ever a play is playing woefully or is out of form then instead of getting behind them then lets boo them instead

Pathetic,yep you pay your money so have the right to your opinion but seriously do yourselves a favour and shut your mouths sometimes

[Snowball]

I watched from the TV admittedly but few people seem to be mentioning that Noel Hunt forgot to track the man for their first goal - I guess that's one of the drawbacks of playing strikers in midfield.

My f-cking Sky didn't record and I was wondering who the player was who failed to run with that FB
Really he is the main person at fault as he just lets him go (I LIKE Hunt, BTW)

I think too many of our defenders (Incl Feds) thought the FB was going to square it

[under the tin]

A game of two halves.
First half was reminiscent of us vs. Arsenal (0-4) a few years ago.
Not that Norwich were world beaters, but their passing was snappier, their movement was better, they ran faster, jumped higher, closed down quicker than us. We were plain feckin abject.
Then came the game changer.
I sit in the North, but some people on the 76, who sit in the West reckoned it was never a red card.
Mc Dermott obviously had a word at half time, and suddenly, our full backs started to cross the halfway line.
McAnuff found he had options to pass to when he had the ball, and I have come to the conclusion that Griffin crosses the ball better than Jobi does.
I don't think Norwich sat back: they were pushed back by the pressure.
The pressure eventually told, Hunt took his goal well, but I have to say the contact with Long for the penalty was minimal, in my view.
Chances were missed after that, but overall, I view it as a point gained, because we weren't in it at all in the first half.

[PEARCEY]

Norwich can't really complain though, I thought they were terrible and we gifted them three goals that they'd never have made for themselves. Should've hammered them 10-0 really.

Are you taking the piss?

We were shocking first half and were very lucky to go in only 3-1 down. If it wasn't for the debatable red card, more than likely we'd have been soundly beaten. We've conceded thee goals in three of our last four games, defensively we are god awful so its not some sort of fluke they were gifted goals.

I found this comment amusing too. Norwich were getting in behind our back four far too easily in that first half and knocked the ball around really well in that time. They certainly were far from terrible.

[Snowball]

Where to begin? Terrible first half, just terrible. Have any of those defenders actually met each other before? Norwich tore us to pieces again and again and I really did think we were likely to concede every time they poured forward.

Well they did, Mags. 4 Chancces 3 goals, one good save.

Howard was as poor today as he was good against Cardiff and the boos were senseless. Likewise the relentless booing at 2-0 down. Get a grip.

I loathe booing players. It's just wrong.

We did well to get a draw but I really don't think we're very good. Particularly we don't really have the talent to put a 10-man team under the cosh. I'm sure Antonio is a good athlete but deary me he has no football brain. We were also lacking severely on the left hand side in the second half - Church, Hunt, etc just cam ein field all the time which meant we didnt' stretch Norwich like we should have done.

Sheesh, how can you say we didn't put them under the cosh?

First half we had about 2-3 chances.

I make it second half we had 10 on target and 9 off-target and scored twice

In 45 minutes? It just wasn't going to go in, is all. Harte gave Hunt the freest free header in the perfectest perfect place, that absolutely had to be a goal.

But it wasn't. The God of Football said 3 Goals, but we slaughtered them second half.

[PEARCEY]

I watched this in Ox on Foxtel and it's the first time I have seen Reading for a couple of years. I thought the sending off was a dreadful decision by the ref - but this 25 year old ref is starting to create a really, really bad reputation for himself. Sending Paul Lambert to the stands was just stupid. The penalty decsion was 50/50.
For what it's worth there is a real lack of pace in the Reading team. There's nothing wrong with the "patience, possession and passing" way of playing the game but only if you have the likes of Zidane Zidane with Dennis Bergkamp to finish things off. I'm not suggesting long ball tactics but if Reading are going to play in such a fashion they need more creativity in midfield.
The McGhee team of, gosh, almost ten years ago, was in my opinion the best Reading side I have ever seen. But we had Shaka Hislop and Simon Osborne playing for us. There is absolutely nobody of that quality in the current side.

10 years ago?? More like 15/16 mate.

[Snowball]

Absoloutely pathetic cheering when Howard got subbed off. He was one of our best players at Cardiff and always gives 100%. He is always at the hub of everything good that we create. He set up Long at the start with some wonderful interplay. He did give the ball away a few times but that was due to a real lack of movement in front of him. I for one will be getting his name printed on the back of my new away shirt just to show my support. I know it won't make a difference but it disgusts me seeing one of our own players being abused or booed.

Agreed. He did some good stuff

But when fans decide to get on a player's back they only remember the errors.

[Terminal Boardom]

Just how many times did Howard give the ball away when not under pressure? How many passes went to oppo players or out of play? 10? 15? More??? The longer the games went on the worse he got. He lost posession for the 2nd and gave away the free kick for the 3rd. Really bad day for Howard but whenever I see Reading play, this appears to be the norm.