Back from the Arsenal game/TV

[Snowball]

4 minutes is a long time?

48 seconds is for me

[Hampshire Royal]

What does Mrs Snowball think about that?

[Snowball]

She can't remember

[URZZ]

I still have no words. Unbelievable night...

[windermere_royal]

I remember going down to the concourse to watch the last few minutes of normal time and screaming at the TV screen as the injury time ticked over the 5 minute mark, then slumping in anquish as we conceded, went back to my seat but I knew the game was over for us.

[REMTARDROYAL]

No offense but anyone wanting Redknapp near our club deserves shooting.

[who are ya?]

As does anybody wanting Brian out

[Snowball]

No offense but anyone wanting Redknapp near our club deserves shooting.

I heard Ian Royal does.

[RoyalBlue]

Just to put things into perspective Arsenal, with their millions of pounds of talent on display, let in 5 goals against what is basically a good Championship team so they must be pretty shyte too!

I'm not so worried by the goals we let in but more annoyed that we weren't bright enough or professional enough to kill the game off at 4-3 with just a few minutes left to play! All we had to do was keep the ball in the corner as we did for more than 5 minutes away to Watford last season. When you do that, it does not matter how talented the opposition is, they find it exceptionally difficult to get the ball off you and can't do you any harm. Instead two of our thickos (Legs and Gunter IIRC) , tried to attack them, conceded possession and allowed them to break forward at pace with most of our team committed forward on the edge of their area! The only two players more stupid than them were the two Arsenal thickos who threw their shirts into the crowd at full-time (actually two bookings had Friend stuck to the letter of the law!).

[MouldyRoyal]

Guardian's Fiver newsletter reviews the match in it's usual style:

MADEJSKI MADNESS LEADS TO MCDERMOTT MADNESS
Last night, the Madejski Stadium was the scene of some unforgettable football, the like of which will probably never be played again. So all hail Arsène Wenger, who during half-time of Arsenal's League Cup match at Reading, managed to hoof Damián Martinez, Carl Jenkinson, Johan Djourou, Ignasi Miquel, Laurent Koscielny, Theo Walcott, Francis Coquelin, Emmanuel Frimpong, Serge Gnabry, Andrey Arshavin and Marouane Chamakh around the dressing room, in perpetual motion off the walls, ceiling and floor, all 11 at once, non-stop for 15 minutes, issuing snippets of beneficial advice as he did so. That takes some doing, even when the funk-o-meter's cranked all the way up to Bootsy. Yep, unforgettable football.

So well done, Arsène, and well done to Arsenal's players, who pulled their effing fingers out after their seminar with Prof Wenger and his Educational Hobnails, and put in a shift for at least the second half. Admittedly Reading assisted them by capitulating in the abject fashion, and Theo Walcott's regulation-time equaliser was scored in the 63rd of the four extra minutes added on by the referee, but a four-goal recovery is a four-goal recovery is a four-goal recovery. "That's the first set to us," quipped Wenger after the eventual 7-5 extra-time win, as he polished and buffed his Big Persuasive Shoes, although that's technically the second set, because Arsenal beat Coventry 6-1 in the previous round. Celebrity fan Andy Murray, a gentleman tennis player who keeps an eye on the Gunners in order to ease the pain of supporting 1902 Scottish Cup winners Hibs, will probably not be particularly interested in that small statistical quirk, but let's say that he might be, because he does tennis and that.

As for Reading, well, everyone has their off days, like Arsenal did when shipping eight at Old Trafford last season, or like Arsenal will when shipping eight at Old Trafford this coming Saturday, unless they get their act together sharpish. But nevertheless, having become the first-ever team to score five times in an English domestic cup game yet still lose, the crumbling Biscuitmen could take some time to get over this. "It's embarrassing for us all," stuttered Reading boss Brian McDermott, who has given his players two days off to recover, during which they have been advised to go home and sit in the shower while holding their knees and rocking quite a lot. "I might throw the DVD of this game in the bin," McDermott added, eschewing professional analysis in favour of going home and sitting in the shower while holding his knees and rocking quite a lot.

[mr_number]

My mum's texted me to let me know that Chris Evans says people shouldn't feel sorry for Reading fans, they should feel sorry for the Arsenal fans who left early and tore up their tickets and couldn't get back in.

Thanks Chris.

[RoyalBlue]

Just to add, I have now assumed a pathological hatred of the majority of Arsenal supporters, who I realise fully warrant the first four letters of their club's name.

How many texts did I get from Arsenal supporting 'friends' and colleagues when they were 4-0 down? Just one from a decent guy who asked for today off and expressed the hope that they might still win 5-4! The rest of the spineless fairweathers kept quiet, not even a peep at 5-4. Only when the final whistle went did the crowing, arrogant texts pour out.

Maybe Reading should be embarrassed by last night's performance but the Arsenal supporters should be even more ashamed of the performance from their pricey, overpaid, stars.

[Ian Royal]

Guardian's Fiver newsletter reviews the match in it's usual style:

MADEJSKI MADNESS LEADS TO MCDERMOTT MADNESS
Last night, the Madejski Stadium was the scene of some unforgettable football, the like of which will probably never be played again. So all hail Arsène Wenger, who during half-time of Arsenal's League Cup match at Reading, managed to hoof Damián Martinez, Carl Jenkinson, Johan Djourou, Ignasi Miquel, Laurent Koscielny, Theo Walcott, Francis Coquelin, Emmanuel Frimpong, Serge Gnabry, Andrey Arshavin and Marouane Chamakh around the dressing room, in perpetual motion off the walls, ceiling and floor, all 11 at once, non-stop for 15 minutes, issuing snippets of beneficial advice as he did so. That takes some doing, even when the funk-o-meter's cranked all the way up to Bootsy. Yep, unforgettable football.

So well done, Arsène, and well done to Arsenal's players, who pulled their effing fingers out after their seminar with Prof Wenger and his Educational Hobnails, and put in a shift for at least the second half. Admittedly Reading assisted them by capitulating in the abject fashion, and Theo Walcott's regulation-time equaliser was scored in the 63rd of the four extra minutes added on by the referee, but a four-goal recovery is a four-goal recovery is a four-goal recovery. "That's the first set to us," quipped Wenger after the eventual 7-5 extra-time win, as he polished and buffed his Big Persuasive Shoes, although that's technically the second set, because Arsenal beat Coventry 6-1 in the previous round. Celebrity fan Andy Murray, a gentleman tennis player who keeps an eye on the Gunners in order to ease the pain of supporting 1902 Scottish Cup winners Hibs, will probably not be particularly interested in that small statistical quirk, but let's say that he might be, because he does tennis and that.

As for Reading, well, everyone has their off days, like Arsenal did when shipping eight at Old Trafford last season, or like Arsenal will when shipping eight at Old Trafford this coming Saturday, unless they get their act together sharpish. But nevertheless, having become the first-ever team to score five times in an English domestic cup game yet still lose, the crumbling Biscuitmen could take some time to get over this. "It's embarrassing for us all," stuttered Reading boss Brian McDermott, who has given his players two days off to recover, during which they have been advised to go home and sit in the shower while holding their knees and rocking quite a lot. "I might throw the DVD of this game in the bin," McDermott added, eschewing professional analysis in favour of going home and sitting in the shower while holding his knees and rocking quite a lot.

[Stuboo]

[Gordons Cumming]

My feelings exactly.

[royalfanforever]

Football is a funny game and last night had shown that. I am however still in shock, as I would never had thought with a 4-0 lead, and that we would threw it away like we did. To people who is currently calling for Brian's head, needs to remember that he was the person who did stopped us going to League one.

[AthleticoSpizz]

...and I was less shocked to lose that 4 goal lead than I was to get it

[Winnershroyal]

...and I was less shocked to lose that 4 goal lead than I was to get it

Funny thing was, the atmosphere wasnt all that even at 4-0, most of the crowd seemed stunned. As soon as walnuts first goal went in I feared the worst. I left when they got 4-4 because I couldn't stand was was about to come.

[Ian Royal]

...and I was less shocked to lose that 4 goal lead than I was to get it

says it all really.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

what pissed me off (beyond the obvious) was spotting you could get 33/1 for Arsenal winning the 2nd half 3-0, and not bothering with an insurance tenner to cover it.