Back from the game - Millwall (A)

[Badger Finger]

Hi Jeff, hope you are well.

Fair enough on the sentiments, but, if you don't like the Premiership and the Championship is "not your cup of tea", what league would you like us to be in?

I can cope with this league Lux. Premier League prices and daft kick off times screw me I am afraid. I notice you are running out of games for that pint up north. We are drinking in Sheffield for the Barnsley game if you are interested.

I agree with my Negative friend here...

[LoyalRoyalFan]

<3 away days in London.

[Ginger Ninjas]

Whole bunch of footballing cliches you could throw at that game...

'Good time to score'
'Game of two halves'
'Winning when you're not playing well is the sign of a good team'

As already remarked, the first 35 minutes were appalling as we struggled to get going at all. Thought HRK, Hunt and Ledge were particualrly poor in this period, obviously the former redeemed himself with a superb strike, the other two didn't really get much better.

Tabb and Le Fondre both made a positive impact. I'd definitely go for ALF over Hunt on tuesday; from his first touch (a nice pass into space for Karacan to run into) he contributed more than Noel and generally looked more lively.

Decent atmosphere from the Reading fans. My first visit to Millwall, not as intimidating as you hear, and their fans were pretty quiet (suppose that's what you get for less than 10k home fans at a championship game)

[Nick Shorey my Lord!]

Excellent result, dire game. It was a carbon copy of Watford away as already mentioned. It seems if the opposition is dire, we struggle to break them down. There was very little wing play and apart from the excellent goal HRK was pretty non-existant and didn't really take on his man. When we did get the ball on the deck and decided to play football, we scored. The build up to the corner for the 1st was excellent. The pass and move for the 2nd was top class.

Roberts is super, real class and contrary to some comments he has got a bit of pace. He has the hold up skills of Quinn but reminds me a lot of Kitson as well. ALF's finish shouldn't be understated; bottom corner at full pelt and with an oncoming defender.

Comedy bald man giving us the slit-throat gesture, then getting turfed out was a highlight but deary me, poor old Milwall are in decline. They looked desperate with Henry doing his best to try and get one over on us and failing.

[Snowball]

Obviously the club first sees Karacan as a midfielder
but I've always fancied him as a full-back.

He has so much energy so would be a true hard-as-nails attacking FB or a wing-back
and I wonder if he would give more to the team in that position?

Not meaning right now as we have Connolly, Cummings, Griffin there
but I'm curious, how good an attacking full-back do people think he could be?

[JC]

Obviously the club first sees Karacan as a midfielder
but I've always fancied him as a full-back.

He has so much energy so would be a true hard-as-nails attacking FB or a wing-back
and I wonder if he would give more to the team in that position?

Not meaning right now as we have Connolly, Cummings, Griffin there
but I'm curious, how good an attacking full-back do people think he could be?

Surely any defender has to be fairly good in the air for defending set pieces. Unless you stretch him Jem is never going to be that good in the air.

[Ian Royal]

Obviously the club first sees Karacan as a midfielder
but I've always fancied him as a full-back.

He has so much energy so would be a true hard-as-nails attacking FB or a wing-back
and I wonder if he would give more to the team in that position?

Not meaning right now as we have Connolly, Cummings, Griffin there
but I'm curious, how good an attacking full-back do people think he could be?

Surely any defender has to be fairly good in the air for defending set pieces. Unless you stretch him Jem is never going to be that good in the air.

Shorey - not great in the air and short.
Tabb - good in the air and short.

Full backs often defend the posts at set pieces and midfielders or strikers pick up taller players. It's really not a big issue. I don't think Karacan's that bad in the air.

[floyd__streete]

Well that was a rather jokes day out wasn't it, in fact I only got home an hour ago. Pretty woeful standard as usual, but after a shaky first 45 Reading were so comfortable second half with everyone knowing their job it was just a matter of time until we created and took a chance.

[RG30]

Well that was a rather jokes day out wasn't it, in fact I only got home an hour ago.

Tough place to go

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Well that was a rather jokes day out wasn't it, in fact I only got home an hour ago.

Get lost?

[Snowball]

Obviously the club first sees Karacan as a midfielder
but I've always fancied him as a full-back.

He has so much energy so would be a true hard-as-nails attacking FB or a wing-back
and I wonder if he would give more to the team in that position?

Not meaning right now as we have Connolly, Cummings, Griffin there
but I'm curious, how good an attacking full-back do people think he could be?

Surely any defender has to be fairly good in the air for defending set pieces. Unless you stretch him Jem is never going to be that good in the air.

So no short full-backs then. I'll ring Murty and tell him it was a dream

[SLAMMED]

Obviously the club first sees Karacan as a midfielder
but I've always fancied him as a full-back.

He has so much energy so would be a true hard-as-nails attacking FB or a wing-back
and I wonder if he would give more to the team in that position?

Not meaning right now as we have Connolly, Cummings, Griffin there
but I'm curious, how good an attacking full-back do people think he could be?

Surely any defender has to be fairly good in the air for defending set pieces. Unless you stretch him Jem is never going to be that good in the air.

So no short full-backs then. I'll ring Murty and tell him it was a dream

And Nick Shorey was even shorter

[Elmer Park]

Interesting point about Jem. He has certainly never let us down when he has been called upon to play at full back.

On the subject of full back play Connelly, as Winnersh Royal alluded to. for some reason 'knocked off' completely for Millwall's goal on Saturday and then stood with his hand in the air as Keogh ran through.

I also agree with those who are surprised Roberts has got so much praise for his overall performance. I thought he was one of our most disappointing players in the first half although he improved in the second half like a few others. I'm not knocking him too much though because he made the goal and is an important player for the team.

[Simon's Church]

Obviously the club first sees Karacan as a midfielder
but I've always fancied him as a full-back.

He has so much energy so would be a true hard-as-nails attacking FB or a wing-back
and I wonder if he would give more to the team in that position?

Not meaning right now as we have Connolly, Cummings, Griffin there
but I'm curious, how good an attacking full-back do people think he could be?

Surely any defender has to be fairly good in the air for defending set pieces. Unless you stretch him Jem is never going to be that good in the air.

Same height as Cannavaro

[who are ya?]

My first visit to Millwall, not as intimidating as you hear

Seeing as your kept as far away from Bermondsey life as humanly possible I'm not suprise you wasn't shitting your pants.

[bcubed]

I must have been watching a different game to many - I thought Roberts was a passenger until ALF came on. The Millwall CBs were winning the majority of high balls, and it just wasn't sticking to Roberts. That changed from the moment he supplied the assist - from then on in he was a different player. Bullied their back line - not enough for MOTM though.

Jem had a good game and slotted in at right back well. I thought Tabb put himself about well - he and Ledge had far more presence in the 2nd half. Enjoyed watching Harte winding Henry up

Great day out, very pleased to win ugly yet again.

I think you will find that all CBs win the vast majority of balls against Roberts because he simply does not jump
He likes it to come to him chest high and then he can hold it up and he does this well, but jumping is not in his repertoire

And no doubt that Alf and Roberts is the best combination. Alf must start!

[floyd__streete]

Well that was a rather jokes day out wasn't it, in fact I only got home an hour ago.

Get lost?

Same to you, pal.

[Ian Royal]

I must have been watching a different game to many - I thought Roberts was a passenger until ALF came on. The Millwall CBs were winning the majority of high balls, and it just wasn't sticking to Roberts. That changed from the moment he supplied the assist - from then on in he was a different player. Bullied their back line - not enough for MOTM though.

Jem had a good game and slotted in at right back well. I thought Tabb put himself about well - he and Ledge had far more presence in the 2nd half. Enjoyed watching Harte winding Henry up

Great day out, very pleased to win ugly yet again.

I think you will find that all CBs win the vast majority of balls against Roberts because he simply does not jump
He likes it to come to him chest high and then he can hold it up and he does this well, but jumping is not in his repertoire

And no doubt that Alf and Roberts is the best combination. Alf must start!

I'd like to see them play more than 30 minutes together at the end of a match before deciding they're the best combination prsonally.

[bcubed]

I must have been watching a different game to many - I thought Roberts was a passenger until ALF came on. The Millwall CBs were winning the majority of high balls, and it just wasn't sticking to Roberts. That changed from the moment he supplied the assist - from then on in he was a different player. Bullied their back line - not enough for MOTM though.

Jem had a good game and slotted in at right back well. I thought Tabb put himself about well - he and Ledge had far more presence in the 2nd half. Enjoyed watching Harte winding Henry up

Great day out, very pleased to win ugly yet again.

I think you will find that all CBs win the vast majority of balls against Roberts because he simply does not jump
He likes it to come to him chest high and then he can hold it up and he does this well, but jumping is not in his repertoire

And no doubt that Alf and Roberts is the best combination. Alf must start!

I'd like to see them play more than 30 minutes together at the end of a match before deciding they're the best combination prsonally.

Personally i have seen enough to comment

[Isaac Hunt]

I must have been watching a different game to many - I thought Roberts was a passenger until ALF came on. The Millwall CBs were winning the majority of high balls, and it just wasn't sticking to Roberts. That changed from the moment he supplied the assist - from then on in he was a different player. Bullied their back line - not enough for MOTM though.

Jem had a good game and slotted in at right back well. I thought Tabb put himself about well - he and Ledge had far more presence in the 2nd half. Enjoyed watching Harte winding Henry up

Great day out, very pleased to win ugly yet again.

I think you will find that all CBs win the vast majority of balls against Roberts because he simply does not jump
He likes it to come to him chest high and then he can hold it up and he does this well, but jumping is not in his repertoire

And no doubt that Alf and Roberts is the best combination. Alf must start!

Agreed, i didn't make that point clearly enough. I just felt that, on the day, it wasn't sticking. The CBs were strong and he wasn't any where near as involved as you would hope him to be. The final 15 mins was far more like it.

I think Hunt has had some good games alongside Roberts - be interested to see ALF have more time though.