by SCIAG »
11 Feb 2017 21:20
Gunny Fishcake What a load of crap that was, far too deep and the continued passing backwards in our own half is so boring. Teams have sussed us out and just sit back and wait till we balls up and get us on the counter attack . Thankfully Barnsley were as crap as us. We simply don't play like a team that is or was third in the Championship . An afternoon to forget
I must have been at a different match.
Aside from a couple of brief periods in the first half where everyone kept giving it straight back to Blackett, I thought we were ambitious and expansive with our passing. There was a clear increase in the risk taking and forward passing; we nearly scored in the first minute with an old fashioned route-one hoof! Our movement was very fluid, so there was nearly always someone available for a pass. Unfortunately there were a few occasions when that meant players like Gunter and Moore were receiving forward passes from McCleary and Kelly. Meanwhile, although Barnsley weren't fantastic, they were very well set up and looked a genuine threat on the counter attack. I found it very compelling, end-to-end stuff.
MOTM has to be Barnsley's manager although I suspect it may have ended up being Kelly if he'd played the whole match. Beerens was the pick of our players. Very strange subs from Stam, I wouldn't have taken off Kelly or stuck a striker in midfield and McCleary should have come off much earlier after one of his worst performances of the season.
Good to see Angus MacDonald back at the Madejski - I'll hold my hands up and admit I never thought he would play at this level but he put in a solid performance.
Popa looked decent but should of been on for Beerens not GMac.
