Charlton - Back From The Game...

[Silver Fox]

No RL, he should have blown when time was up, which I'm guessing he did. If he got the timings right it was one fo the few correct decisions he made.

[The Surgeon of Crowthorne]

For the 4th home game in a row we looked like a team that had gone into the game with no tactical preparation whatsoever.

Long was flattered by his 2 goals i think, spent most of the game satuesque whist Doyle worked his nuts off.

Our Centre Backs, particularly Duberry, were utter gash. Pearce is not even close to being good enough for a team looking for Premiership Football, i dont care if he came from our Academy or not. Bikey must feel insulted.

Please explain to me what Pearce did wrong all night.

Gave away the free kick that led to their equaliser.

[CMRoyal]

Ah well, another small step towards a playoff place. Not sure about tactics, I think confidence is more the issue, especially at home where our support is abysmal with fans getting on the players' backs almost from the off. Earlier in the season, we would have destroyed Charlton at home, but now there's too much hesitancy all over the pitch. Even Long's great run for the penalty seemed to only make us more nervous about how to go about getting the winner. Both goals came from boldness, Long gambling that he could get in the box for the first and Cisse getting into an advanced position and making the ball his in the lead up to the corner. All too often in the first half it was lethargic, the defence panicky, no commitment from the midfield, and forwards not hitting the areas where it hurts when Little/Rosenior put crosses in. Marks:-

Fed - 5; has lost confidence, was poor on the second goal, and spilt a shot.
Rosey - 5; seems to be most affected by the crowd's whingeing attitude, constantly panicking and playing the rushed pass.
Doobs - 4; I said yesterday that recently he has had a tendency to leave his man, and it's costing us points. I'm a fan, but he needs to be dropped.
Pearce - 8; excellent, confident defensive performance and his distribution was better.
Stretch - 7; solid.
Blakey - 6; some pretty good crosses first half, but extremely leggy in the second.
Cisse - 6; stifled by the current midfield set-up, but occasionally able to show the damage he could do if given the chance.
Marek - 6; too good for tactics like ours. Always looking for the pass that hurts, hence occasionally overambitious, completely lost in the hoof-ball of the final third of the match.
S Hunt - 5; produced nothing, lacking in confidence. Tabb did enough to justify being given a start in his place.
Doyle - 6; seems leggy, should have played more central what with Glenda cutting in more than Kebe does. Needs a rest.
Long - 9; played the Doyle role to perfection. Just needs a touch more presence, but you can't fault a forward who scores two goals.

For the Ipswich game, I think we need Bikey in for Doobs - Pearce has the strength of character to take charge of that partnership. And Tabb for S Hunt, maybe even Kitson-Long up front, as Kev desperately needs a rest. N Hunt sadly is ineffective as an impact sub, so would have to make way. I'd stick to the Cisse/MM midfield for now, but we desperately need Kebe to come back to the bench (or Henry - when's he due to return?) because Blakey is only going to be good for a maximum of an hour a match for...well, at least the rest of this season, perhaps the remainder of his career.

Worrying times...unless you'd rather we didn't go up, of course.

[Schards#2]

Ah well, another small step towards a playoff place. Not sure about tactics, I think confidence is more the issue, especially at home where our support is abysmal with fans getting on the players' backs almost from the off. Earlier in the season, we would have destroyed Charlton, but now there's too much hesitancy all over the pitch. Even Long's great run for the penalty seemed to only make us more nervous about how to go about getting the winner. Both goals came from boldness, Long gambling that he could get in the box for the first and Cisse getting into an advanced position and making the ball his in the lead up to the corner. All too often in the first half it was lethargic, the defence panicky, no commitment from the midfield, and forwards not hitting the areas where it hurts when Little/Rosenior put crosses in. Marks:-

Fed - 5; has lost confidence, was poor on the second goal, and spilt a shot.
Rosey - 5; seems to be most affected by the crowd's whingeing attitude, constantly panicking and playing the rushed pass.
Doobs - 4; I said yesterday that recently he has had a tendency to leave his man, and it's costing us points. I'm a fan, but he needs to be dropped.
Pearce - 8; excellent, confident defensive performance and his distribution was better.
Stretch - 7; solid, unlucky on the freekick that led to their equaliser.
Blakey - 6; some pretty good crosses first half, but extremely leggy in the second.
Cisse - 6; stifled by the current midfield set-up, but occasionally able to show the damage he could do if given the chance.
Marek - 6; too good for tactics like ours. Always looking for the pass that hurts, hence occasionally overambitious, completely lost in the hoof-ball of the final third of the match.
S Hunt - 5; produced nothing, lacking in confidence. Tabb did enough to justify being given a start in his place.
Doyle - 6; seems leggy, should have played more central what with Glenda cutting in more than Kebe does. Needs a rest.
Long - 9; played the Doyle role to perfection. Just needs a touch more presence, but you can't fault a forward who scores two goals.

For the Ipswich game, I think we need Bikey in for Doobs - Pearce has the strength of character to take charge of that partnership. And Tabb for S Hunt, maybe even Kitson-Long up front, as Kev desperately needs a rest. N Hunt sadly is ineffective as an impact sub, so would have to make way. I'd stick to the Cisse/MM midfield for now, but we desperately need Kebe to come back to the bench (or Henry - when's he due to return?) because Blakey is only going to be good for a maximum of an hour a match for...well, at least the rest of this season, perhaps the remainder of his career.

Worrying times...unless you'd rather we didn't go up, of course.

Can anyone spot a flaw in the argument highlighted?

[CMRoyal]

Edited my post because I thought it was Stretch who gave away the freekick that led to their goal. Consensus here seems to be that it was Pearce.

[CMRoyal]

Ah well, another small step towards a playoff place. Not sure about tactics, I think confidence is more the issue, especially at home where our support is abysmal with fans getting on the players' backs almost from the off. Earlier in the season, we would have destroyed Charlton, but now there's too much hesitancy all over the pitch. Even Long's great run for the penalty seemed to only make us more nervous about how to go about getting the winner. Both goals came from boldness, Long gambling that he could get in the box for the first and Cisse getting into an advanced position and making the ball his in the lead up to the corner. All too often in the first half it was lethargic, the defence panicky, no commitment from the midfield, and forwards not hitting the areas where it hurts when Little/Rosenior put crosses in. Marks:-

Fed - 5; has lost confidence, was poor on the second goal, and spilt a shot.
Rosey - 5; seems to be most affected by the crowd's whingeing attitude, constantly panicking and playing the rushed pass.
Doobs - 4; I said yesterday that recently he has had a tendency to leave his man, and it's costing us points. I'm a fan, but he needs to be dropped.
Pearce - 8; excellent, confident defensive performance and his distribution was better.
Stretch - 7; solid, unlucky on the freekick that led to their equaliser.
Blakey - 6; some pretty good crosses first half, but extremely leggy in the second.
Cisse - 6; stifled by the current midfield set-up, but occasionally able to show the damage he could do if given the chance.
Marek - 6; too good for tactics like ours. Always looking for the pass that hurts, hence occasionally overambitious, completely lost in the hoof-ball of the final third of the match.
S Hunt - 5; produced nothing, lacking in confidence. Tabb did enough to justify being given a start in his place.
Doyle - 6; seems leggy, should have played more central what with Glenda cutting in more than Kebe does. Needs a rest.
Long - 9; played the Doyle role to perfection. Just needs a touch more presence, but you can't fault a forward who scores two goals.

For the Ipswich game, I think we need Bikey in for Doobs - Pearce has the strength of character to take charge of that partnership. And Tabb for S Hunt, maybe even Kitson-Long up front, as Kev desperately needs a rest. N Hunt sadly is ineffective as an impact sub, so would have to make way. I'd stick to the Cisse/MM midfield for now, but we desperately need Kebe to come back to the bench (or Henry - when's he due to return?) because Blakey is only going to be good for a maximum of an hour a match for...well, at least the rest of this season, perhaps the remainder of his career.

Worrying times...unless you'd rather we didn't go up, of course.

Can anyone spot a flaw in the argument highlighted?

Yes, me. I missed out the "at home" bit. Well spotted, and duly corrected.

[Stranded]

The foul he gave away about 30 yards out? Yeah, the goal was his fault rather than Duberry's inability to mark a player inside the 6 yard box for the second game in a row. Probably the only foul he gave away all evening, where Duberry cost us more fouls than balls he actually won. I agree Pearce isn't the quickest, but he more than makes up for this in his reading of the game and aerial ability. Duberry is also slow but has neither of these qualities.

Only person to blame for the 2nd goal was Fed. No GK should let a ball that was basically floated in get to his byeline.

As for Pearce, yes he gave away the foul for the freekick. It happens, defenders give away freekicks occasionally not going to get on his back about it - he was one of the better players in a Reading shirt last night.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Only person to blame for the 2nd goal was Fed. No GK should let a ball that was basically floated in get to his byeline.

'greed

I agree Pearce isn't the quickest, but he more than makes up for this in his reading of the game and aerial ability.

Aerial ability?? I agree he can get his head to a ball but he has zero control over where it goes! That's something we really miss Ivar for. His ability to calmly head the ball and control where it goes, even under pressure, is unmatched in our squad

[CMRoyal]

Good to see you back anyway, schards#2. That's always the one plus point from a poor performance - we know we can look forward to reading more of your valued opinions here.

[brendywendy]

thought we were decent if patchy

good to see glen back on the wing, long looked much better with some confidence, armstrong was good again(has to be POS for me) cisse looked to put himself about,
we hit the bar a couple of times,had alot of chances again and played some very decent stuff in patches

too pedestrian in the middle though, and not enough urgency at times where i expected us to really pressure them, and looked shakey, so much so that everyone could feel that goal coming at the end

crowd started well, but faded second half to teh usual standard, everyone feckin orf before the end is ridiculous, we are there to support the side, not cheer our loudest when one of our players is subbed FFS

personally i thought there were a couple of stoppages in extra time that warranted more being added so that the corner shoudl have stood, but theres no guarantee wed have got it in teh box, let alone th egoal.

hunt was again poor, and im starting to think marek cant cope in a central 2 with the defensive side of things, they were able to walk through our midfield way too easy at times for a shit team with no confidence
either a change needs to be made to our formation, or brynn and cisse for the next game
and bikey at the back for.....doobs, maybe

[Royalee]

For the 4th home game in a row we looked like a team that had gone into the game with no tactical preparation whatsoever.

Long was flattered by his 2 goals i think, spent most of the game satuesque whist Doyle worked his nuts off.

Our Centre Backs, particularly Duberry, were utter gash. Pearce is not even close to being good enough for a team looking for Premiership Football, i dont care if he came from our Academy or not. Bikey must feel insulted.

Please explain to me what Pearce did wrong all night.

Gave away the free kick that led to their equaliser.

Shit, he gave away one free kick? Anyone count how many others around him gave away? I guess it was his fault his centre back partner can't mark or head a football too?

[Alan Partridge]

That's false Royalee.

[Tilehurst End]

Becoming a bit monotonous filing out of the ground listening to critisisim of referees, the state of the pitch and rather sad that the biggest cheer of the night is reserved for other teams' failings. The recent run has highlighted how much the influences of Murty and Ingimarrson are missed. Although Pearce, Duberry etc all defend well at times as individuals they are not playing as a cohesive unit, there's just no leader out there.

As for last night: Long looked bright and lively, Doyle burned out. Rosenior dreadful, Duberry slightly better but scares me when the ball's below head height, Pearce and Armstrong OK, Little unfit, Hunt had a couple of good moments and one decent cross early on, Matejovski was pass one lose one, Cisse had a good 15 minute spell in the 2nd half but with his attributes should produce more and Tabb did OK when he came on but not going to set the world alight.

[Alan Partridge]

Becoming a bit monotonous filing out of the ground listening to critisisim of referees, the state of the pitch and rather sad that the biggest cheer of the night is reserved for other teams' failings. The recent run has highlighted how much the influences of Murty and Ingimarrson are missed. Although Pearce, Duberry etc all defend well at times as individuals they are not playing as a cohesive unit, there's just no leader out there.

As for last night: Long looked bright and lively, Doyle burned out. Rosenior dreadful, Duberry slightly better but scares me when the ball's below head height, Pearce and Armstrong OK, Little unfit, Hunt had a couple of good moments and one decent cross early on, Matejovski was pass one lose one, Cisse had a good 15 minute spell in the 2nd half but with his attributes should produce more and Tabb did OK when he came on but not going to set the world alight.

Which I would say is absolutely spot on. It does make you wonder when they sign up the likes of Cisse long term, sign Tabb up if they have genuine PRemiership ambitions are these guys going to be good enough?

[Royal Lady]

No RL, he should have blown when time was up, which I'm guessing he did. If he got the timings right it was one fo the few correct decisions he made.

it's a MINIMUM of 5 minutes added time, if he blew up on 5 minutes exactly, then he could have still allowed us to take the corner. HTH.

[Bill Oddie's Beard]

We seem to be a hell of a lot more vulnerable from set pieces now than we were earlier in the season, perhaps due to the lack of leadership at the back. Fed hasn't done anything majorly wrong imo but in may be time to throw USA back in there simply for a bit of organisation. Bikey has to come back in for me, Doobs had one his poorest games this season and I think we could really do with Bikey's pace and composure at the back at the moment.

I think Little played well, definitely needs a few more games as he seemed a bit reluctant to take players on. Rosey linked up with Little well going forward but his defending wasn't great although perhaps not as bad as some people have made out. Stretch again was very good, Hunt again was fairly anonymous.

Cisse was pretty quiet until a couple of strong tackles that seemed to boost the crowd and the team just before we got our second. Marek had a bit of a quiet game. I don't think anyone knows what our strongest midfield pairing is which is quite worrying given that we're in the final part of the season.

Fair play to Shane. Great perseverance to win the pen and a well taken penalty, good header for the second as well, he's stepped up just when he's needed to, will be interesting to see if he can keep it up. Doyle's looking a bit tired, but I'd be very reluctant to drop him due to the fact that he does work his socks off and will score goals.

Another pretty depressing game at the Mad Stad, crowd started off fairly well but were pretty flat by midway through the first half.

I thought the club missed a trick by not making more of the Little and Kitson signings, could have boosted the crowd a bit by 'parading' them before kick off.

Hopefully we can pick ourselves up for Saturday.

[Silver Fox]

No RL, he should have blown when time was up, which I'm guessing he did. If he got the timings right it was one fo the few correct decisions he made.

it's a MINIMUM of 5 minutes added time, if he blew up on 5 minutes exactly, then he could have still allowed us to take the corner. HTH.

He could have got it wrong wrt the actual time but if he felt that the additional time was up he was spot on in blowing up when he did. It's not really worth beefing about as to be honest it gave me a small LOLz as we left last night hearing people moanng that he should have let us take the corner for some reason, it could only have caused more ignorant consternation if he'd gone for the full CLive Thomas

[Royalee]

That's false Royalee.

Oh come on AP, I know you're a Duberry fan but even you have to admit he's been shocking recently and deserves to be dropped. I lost count of the number of times he went through the back of players and totally mistimed headers last night. Then to put the icing on the cake he completely lost his man for the second goal.

[Royal Lady]

No RL, he should have blown when time was up, which I'm guessing he did. If he got the timings right it was one fo the few correct decisions he made.

it's a MINIMUM of 5 minutes added time, if he blew up on 5 minutes exactly, then he could have still allowed us to take the corner. HTH.

He could have got it wrong wrt the actual time but if he felt that the additional time was up he was spot on in blowing up when he did. It's not really worth beefing about as to be honest it gave me a small LOLz as we left last night hearing people moanng that he should have let us take the corner for some reason, it could only have caused more ignorant consternation if he'd gone for the full CLive Thomas

Yeah. You're right. He WAS rubbish though. And I like a good moan.

[79Royal]

You can always rely on a bad run to weed out the plastics from the real fans...

It goes without saying that our recent run has been 'dull and uninspiring', but for some on here to suggest that we have a lack of tactical preparation sounds a lot like fans responding in a fit of pique, which is understandable. There isn't a manager in this division who sends out their team without sufficient tatical preparation. Once the team is on the pitch, it is down to the players.

Whilst I'm defending Coppell, I'll also say that he got slated last season for not making changes. We've hit a rocky patch and he's made changes in personnel and in the way we set up. Dropping Harper has had a massive effect on our defensive shape, but I cannot blame Coppell for that. He had to do something to get us scoring, he bought Marek in and guess what? Obviously, we now need to plug the goals again, but I'm not in favour of wholesale changes. It has to be done gradually.

So, there is a case to drop every player who played last night according to what I've read here. Personally, I'd like to see SHunt and Pearce dropped to the bench, with Tabb (if fit) and Bikey coming in. SHunt is off form and could do with a rest and whilst I don't think that Pearce has done badly, he cannot play in partnership with Doobs. There's just not enough pace there with the two of them and Doobs has been very good recently.

IF Ipswich come and play 4-5-1 (and I don't think they will), I wouldn't be surprised to see Kitson come in for Long, allowing Doyle to drop a bit deeper and occupy the attentions of their spare midfielder. That might be a bit unfair on Long, but whilst he's been scoring recently, there's no doubt he still makes the wrong decision far too often and he does have an impact as a substitue that we don't have from many others. I still think he'll start on Saturday though, with Kits on the bench.

Little needs some time to get back to match fitness before we can make a fair judgement on his performances. He did well considering he's hardly played for 2 months. His and Kitson's signings are low risk and pretty sensible and I doubt many on here would have moaned if we had started the the season with both of them in our first 11.

Given the recent results for the top 6, it goes to show that we are now entering that time of the season where the lower sides are now scrapping and don't care how they get points as long as they do. I still think that Reading can take up the challenge and win this league. No-one (not even the mighty Swansea or Cardiff!) have managed to run away with it, so we're still in a good position.

That's my two pennies worth anyway.