back from the game- cardiff

[Spud Gun]

You people seriously want Harte back in the team? Unbelievable! Presumably this is because of his set pieces only?

We got found out at Wembley last season with Griffin and Harte being exposed for having no pace. Every team in the division has a fast winger and they know how to isolate Harte to leave him 1 on 1. We are likely to concede goals every time Harte plays for us. I would start Mills ahead of Harte time and time again.

Yes the team needs more creativity at the moment, but this should come from the midfield rather than the full backs. If you want to change the starting line up then I would suggest you look at our woefully ineffective wingers, McAnuff in particular.

[winchester_royal]

Agreed it's quite astonishing, especially given that Mills was once again our best player yesterday.

[floyd__streete]

Utter shambles tbh. I hear it was a final count of 18 corners to us? I suppose some of you will use that as a sign of us dominating and all being well......no, it shows that we are too easy to defend against, that our crosses are easily defended and that our front two are rarely first to the final ball.

The front four were really bad yesterday; Hunt is all brawn and no brain, he has no composure and smashed some very presentable chances straight at the keeper. ALF is now showing himself to be exactly what he is.....a League 2 striker who can finish but who frankly offers little by way of all round game. McAnuff, when is the last time this guy directly created a goal for us? Kebe, best summed up by tripping over the ball twice in the area. Tbf, our only real threat on goal but his crossing is just abysmal - remember how Glen Little used to look up and pick his man, Jimmy just thumps it towards the near post where it is easily defended. Time and time again. All this wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have such an uncreative middle of the park in Leigertwood and Karacan, who are both solid but unlikely to pick a killer pass.

I like the manager, who has been given a limited hand by the board, but he must take some criticism too. Substitutions appaling - HRK on with 3 left? He didn't even touch the ball, entirely pointless and a waste of time at a part of the game where we should be trying to build some momentum, not change things. Manset came on, got in the way, added nothing - he is not fit for purpose at the moment and should be loaned out.

Last season we smashed Cardiff in the play offs, but they look well on course to finish above us. How come they can be so competitive the following season and we look such a mediocre side? I suppose Cardiff are about to go bust at any second now and be wound up? Don't make me laugh. Tbh, I guess my frustration hear is at how football in general runs itself, not dear old pious Reading FC.

[West Stand Man]

We are absolutely awful to put it simply. The chairman has taken a lot of stick for not investing in the team however real questions need to be asked as to why we play some of the least attractive football in the division and now the least effective also - that falls on the manager. He's completely failing to get the best out of what we do have. Some subs today as well...wtf? Other than a sluggish birmingham team with a european hangover we have been abysmal at home this season and it continued again. Aimless balls down the channel, two strikers who may as well not be on the pitch and the midfield having the creativity of a blind man trying to paint. Its painful. First half we huff and puff around their goal for about 25 mins...put some real pressure on without creating a real goalscoring chance and don't score. Cardiff get the ball for 25 seconds...manage to find someone free in the box who heads wide when he should have scored. Its that easy for other teams to create yet we cant.

Alfie and Hunt get no service..but lets be honest they hardly cover themselves in glory when the ball does come near them or they are involved. Neither look to be good enough for a club looking to may its way out of the division, definitely fitting they are plying their trade here. Set pieces? lets not go there, our entire fanbase has been saying how awful it is for the last month...yet we persists with using mills must have had about 20 corners/free kicks 90% of which didn't beat the first man or the keeper casually claimed. Cardiff get a set piece in a dangerous area...what happens? in comes the cross....up goes the roar in the away end when the ball nestles in the back of our net.

Finally everyone is saying " well cardiff are a good side, etc,etc" these are the same people who were laughing at them apparently claiming they'll go " bust" and have to sell their entire squad to survive last summer - absolutely doomed according to some. They didn't....they got rid of some then invested in more.... apparently being in a worse financial position than us. Amazing how these other teams who don't sell players for 12 million can keep picking up good players on free transfers and offering them solid contracts. Thats why cardiff will be up there this season again and we are now fighting at the other end.

Finally, people keep mentioning about last seasons amazing run. After the same amount of games this season compared to last does anyone have a comparison as to how many points we hda? Strap maybe?

Lastly..this harte/mills debate says it all, our team is so bad at creating goals we are suggesting bringing in an ageing left back and hoping to score from his free kicks.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry any more.

Go home. Your village is missing its idiot.

[Man Friday]

...and yet, just yet, we dominated another match (just like Derby, Southampton, et al), could (should?) have had a penalty or two, a goal disallowed for offside that on another day being so tight could have been allowed, the goal we conceded was a fluke, the oppo only had one attack (a set piece from which they scored) and we had 18 corners.

Doesn't this suggest that we were a tad unlucky not to be something like 4-1 or 3-0 winners? Football is the strangest of sports for this. If it had been a tennis match with one side being so dominant over the other it would have been a whitewash, reflected in a score like 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.

[FiNeRaIn]

Go home. Your village is missing its idiot.

Welcome to ignore, you usually post a bunch of mindless club supporting drivel anyway.

[who are ya?]

you usually post a bunch of mindless club supporting drivel anyway.

That club being the one he supports?

[FiNeRaIn]

you usually post a bunch of mindless club supporting drivel anyway.

That club being the one he supports?

Let me rephrase, he's a brainless RTG that looks for positives even when there aren't any. People can talk about penalties fluky goals and luck being factors in our defeats all they want. The consistent pattern at home this season is that we are pretty awful, the biggest factor in that being we just aren't good enough no matter how you dress it up.

[Focher]

if we need creativity in midfield, and Madejski wont pay for it, then why the fuck am i sat here watching Brian Howard playing for Millwall

He's had some poor games, he's had some good games, but there is no doubt in my mind he is the most natural creative central midfielder at the club, and should not be on loan to a rival club.

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

...good striker in Div 1 ....scored today and amongst top scorers in division...worth looking at .....Bradley's the name ...oh we have already looked at him of course ...and decided that Simon Church was a better option because he had a possible problem with knee that could possibly backfire on club....a year down the road and injury free scoring for fun now ...happy days ...

yeah we could have taken a punt on a striker from lower division who scores plenty, but had a knee so dodgy our doctors and insurers thoght was too much of a risk
get over it

Nothing to get over BWP >> ALF....Hunt...Church...Manset.....even with a dodgy knee ......anyway Melonhead you seem to be confident with our current striking options so lets see if they come good......

[Far Canal]

. a goal disallowed for offside that on another day being so tight could have been allowed,
the goal we conceded was a fluke,
the oppo only had one attack (a set piece from which they scored) and we had 18 corners.

We're all entitled to our opinions, of course, but.........
The offside decision against Kebe was not tight. He mistimed his run.
I disagree with both you and McD that their first goal was a fluke, rather it was sloppy play from Kebe and quick thinking with good execution from Whittingham.
So you missed Cardiff's other notable free kick, I think it was approx after one hour, when two of their players went clear on goal with our defenders trailing behind them. You will always win a fair number of corners if you thump the ball aimlessly down the channels a lot. The defenders will often be happy to see the ball out for a corner, especially when their defence is dominant in the air.

There are some very varied summaries in this thread, here is mine:

Cardiff won the midfield, hardly surprising as they played with 5 men there and one up front.
Teams who play this way will always be difficult to break down, especially when they take the lead after 2 minutes.
We failed to do this, our midfield did not manage to give good service to our strikers.
Disappointingly, McD was unable to change this situation with either tactics or substitutions.
At the moment, I don't think he has the players at his disposal to do it.

[FiNeRaIn]

if we need creativity in midfield, and Madejski wont pay for it, then why the fuck am i sat here watching Brian Howard playing for Millwall
.

We could only dream of scoring a goal like Bristol City scored in the first half...some really neat passing and a great strikers finish. They were the laughing stock earlier this season but may well finish above us, that says a lot.

[Focher]

t'was a nice goal. They look a tidy team now impressed with Adomah on the right.

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

if we need creativity in midfield, and Madejski wont pay for it, then why the fuck am i sat here watching Brian Howard playing for Millwall

He's had some poor games, he's had some good games, but there is no doubt in my mind he is the most natural creative central midfielder at the club, and should not be on loan to a rival club.

Agree Focher he's playing left midfield as well and has done far better than I've seen Journeyman Jobi do in that position.....he's been good on deadballs as well

[melonhead]

Third game I've been to this year, glad I didn't renew...

Are the players told to hoof the ball forward as quickly as possible by McDermott and the coaches? Dreadful ball retention, no creativity in midfield and a real lack of quality across the team which will happen when your chairman strips the club's assets. Karacan and Leigertwood are too similar, Kebe needs to sod off and Federici needs to learn how to catch. Le Fondre got slated but still produced more than our entire midfield put together for the ball to Karacan second half, if only we could supply him with those sorts of passes every so often.

The football's getting worse, the average intelligence of Reading fans is getting worse with mongtards whinging about not having a 'natural goalscorer' on the radio when ALF's already got 4 and is one of the most natural goalscorers in the league - I heard one idiot say we need to get the ball forward quicker...wrong, we need to keep the ball and pass and move. Unless there's a change at board level or in transfer policy, I can see us going down within the next couple of seasons.

this^^^^ really dont get "that" criticism, its clear the players are being told exactly the opposite and trying to change the way we play, alot of our football was very easy on the eye imo, and very noticable that fed was rolling more thyan he was hoofing

That was actually the most I've seen us 'build' from the back in a long time today. Fed must have rolled it out at least 7/8 times. Shame Gorkss' passing wasn't on par with his vision though.

[Maguire]

I thought we played okay tbh, didn't deserve to lose at any rate. We're just too light up front IMHO - Le Fondre isn't a bad player but he'd not going to anything without service.

Enough chances there to have got something from the game but Kebe was defo offside i'm afraid.

I may be in the minority but I like our full-backs. Much better than the elderly Griffin/Harte combo that cost us at Wembley. Yeah Mills faded a bit when he got tired but i think he's a good player who has the technical ability, just needs to learn how to defend a bit better/work on his positioning. He'll be just fine.

[melonhead]

Third game I've been to this year, glad I didn't renew...

Are the players told to hoof the ball forward as quickly as possible by McDermott and the coaches? Dreadful ball retention, no creativity in midfield and a real lack of quality across the team which will happen when your chairman strips the club's assets. Karacan and Leigertwood are too similar, Kebe needs to sod off and Federici needs to learn how to catch. Le Fondre got slated but still produced more than our entire midfield put together for the ball to Karacan second half, if only we could supply him with those sorts of passes every so often.

The football's getting worse, the average intelligence of Reading fans is getting worse with mongtards whinging about not having a 'natural goalscorer' on the radio when ALF's already got 4 and is one of the most natural goalscorers in the league - I heard one idiot say we need to get the ball forward quicker...wrong, we need to keep the ball and pass and move. Unless there's a change at board level or in transfer policy, I can see us going down within the next couple of seasons.

then how are you in a postion to comment then?, most of us have been to every home game, and today was one of our better performances, bossed the game by keeping cardiff on the back foot, the only thing they did better then us was to deliver set pieces properly,

In terms of the football getting worse, I mean year on year (although we at least knocked it about well against Southampton) - we don't pass the ball and if that's one of the better performances this season then I'm utterly delighted I didn't shell out for a season ticket. Do you think our build up play's good and we create enough chances then?

thats better passing from the back, and ball retention than since shorey left imo
tbh im sure the team are quite glad if "fans" like you stay away

[FiNeRaIn]

tbh im sure the team are quite glad if "fans" like you stay away

What would they know or care?
I'm sure royalee would be happy if players like the current one's stayed away and we actually had some good one's like a few seasons ago. People that got the ball on the deck, passed it around and created great goals to watch.

[melonhead]

you usually post a bunch of mindless club supporting drivel anyway.

That club being the one he supports?

Let me rephrase, he's a brainless RTG that looks for positives even when there aren't any. People can talk about penalties fluky goals and luck being factors in our defeats all they want. The consistent pattern at home this season is that we are pretty awful, the biggest factor in that being we just aren't good enough no matter how you dress it up.

surely yiou are just as guilty but the other way?
& a massive lol at no positives at all from that game.

[melonhead]

...good striker in Div 1 ....scored today and amongst top scorers in division...worth looking at .....Bradley's the name ...oh we have already looked at him of course ...and decided that Simon Church was a better option because he had a possible problem with knee that could possibly backfire on club....a year down the road and injury free scoring for fun now ...happy days ...

yeah we could have taken a punt on a striker from lower division who scores plenty, but had a knee so dodgy our doctors and insurers thoght was too much of a risk
get over it

Nothing to get over BWP >> ALF....Hunt...Church...Manset.....even with a dodgy knee ......anyway Melonhead you seem to be confident with our current striking options so lets see if they come good......

im not confident with them at all you doofus. i think we are short in that area, and that we should probably bite the bullet and ship out church in jan and get someone good.
i do think its probably more to do with the service, as i thought hunt looked good yesterday, and that alf just had a bad one.

im not having BWP being nailed on success at this level either, though im sure hes better than church. im sure Bm may believe so otherwise, but if your doctors, and insurers say the knees too much of a risk, then im not sure what he was supposed to do