BFIFollow Brentford

[Westwood52]

Well many of us were worried that Brentford had too much for us,and all our fears came through.TBF to Reading we are very rarely totally outclassed,even against the likes of Dirty Leeds and WBA,but this evening we not only got our pants taken down,but Brentford ran off with our shoes,socks and Crown Jewels at the same time.We started brightly enough,but Brentford were just putting out feelers to see what we had.As soon as they realised that this was going to be a very easy game for them,they just applied enough pressure to crack us wide open;without overextending themselves for bigger games to come.Clearly tonight highlighted what a technically advanced coach can achieve,by intensely drilling his players as to what is required.When you have the ball,pass and move into space,when you don’t have the ball,compress and get into the agreed shape.To apply this process the team has to be really fit;worryingly so many of our guys clearly not put in the hard yucca and were struggling to achieve the required fitness levels.
IMHO

Rafael 6 Some v good saves,but at fault for the second and should have saved the third.
Gunter 5 Extremely erratic with his passing and once again kept on backing off.
Obita 5 Offered nothing other than the odd cross.Struggled to get back into position,once he got forward and a move broke down.Just not fit enough.
Morrison 6 In an abysmal team performance,probably MOM.Number of vital tackles,but screwed up a goal scoring opportunity,because he just isn’t good enough.
Moore 4 Another poor game.Must accept some of the blame for the first and second.
Rino 6 A lot of most threatening play came from him;but again didn’t look fit and his recovery times just weren’t up to it.
Swift 6 Better than of late;but his lack of pace and conditioning really got showed up.
Olise 6 We saw the best and worst of him tonight.With a young unproven player he needs help from the players round him,and carefully managed appearances in the starting line up.Needs a break.
Ejaria 6 Actually got better the longer the game wore on.But once again no end product.
Baldock 5 It really wasn’t that much more effective up front with him in the team,and disappeared 2nd half.
Meite 5;Plenty of effort as usual,but no control.

Adam Did ok;is he really our plan B though ?
Macca Nothing but a couple of flashes.Probably deserves a start against Luton.
Puskas Dreadful as usual.

Ref was pretty good.4th official dreadful .

[Zip]

Rafael. 5 Distribution poor again. Some good saves. Could have done better with two of their goals
Gunter 5 Passing good early on but then wayward. Not tight enough
Obita 5 One decent cross but little else
Morrison 6 Showed commitment. One of the few that did
Moore 4 Just had to do so much better at that corner. Poor generally.
Rinomhota 6 Worked hard. Pushed forward but no options in front of him.
Swift 4 Jogged around. The occasional decent pass but peripheral
Ejaria 5 Some nice dribbles but as always didn’t nail the final pass but again so few options to pass to.
Olise 5 One decent attempt at goal. Passing became sloppy
Meite 4 Offered no threat. Worked hard but zero quality
Baldock 4 Lively to begin with but then disappeared

Puscas 4 Offered nothing
GMac 5 The occasional decent run
Adam 5 Pinged the ball nicely at times but passed back on occasions when we needed to go forward.

No urgency at 2-0 down. Laughable really. Brentford are a better side than us so we had to more than match their work rate but failed abysmally in this respect. Too many players jogging around and not offering for the ball just isn’t good enough. They need a rocket from Bowen because with this attitude we will lose on Saturday.

[One Beer is never enough.]

Posted it in the match thread, but I can't be arsed to put in more effort than the players so I'll cut and paste it again.

That was absolutely oxf*rd embarrassing. I didn't expect us to win, I hoped we would compete. We didn't. We completely capitulated. I don't usually get angry when we lose, but that performance has pushed all of my buttons.

I have never been a fan of Bowen, and I really do hope he is replaced at the earliest opportunity - hopefully by Hughton who should've been paid whatever was necessary to get him in the hot seat.

Sat here with my Brentford supporting wife, the only good news is that she'd threatened me with sleeping in the shed if we'd knocked them off track

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Yo Leon, I got the ko time wrong again

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Yo Leon, I got the ko time wrong again

Btw can we ditch Puscas please? Shows real promise one game every six I’d say, shame. Remember his performance against Cardiff back in August! If he did that on a regular basis I would keep him, but those performances are a flash in the pan, shame, I had high hopes for him.

[Old Man Andrews]

Yo Leon, I got the ko time wrong again

Congratulations on missing the game, envy you.

[Hound]

Yeah definitely did well to miss that one. We were crap, they were good and 3-0 was about right

[paultheroyal]

Absolutely shambolic. Such a turgid display. Nothing else on that needs to be said.

What I would say though is, if that was a half packed Madjeski they would get roundly booed. The players would come out and moan about fans and demand support. They have no excuses or to blame anyone else but themselves for how shit they were. Let’s be honest they have been shit for the 3 games.

One win should be enough but oxf*rd me, I can seriously see us struggling to get that win!!

[leon]

Yo Leon, I got the ko time wrong again

Ha ha you dodged several bullets.

Next game I’m PMing you until you show up. You can’t expect us to do this all ourselves...

[URZZZZ]

Didn’t look up for it at all today other than the first five minutes and unfortunately it’s all on Bowen once again with his strange selections and tactics

To keep playing Baldock/Puscas upfront by themselves is daft when it doesn’t work, especially against two tall physical defenders in Jansson/Pinnock. The ironic thing is that when they played together this season, at QPR, at home to Luton and at home to Millwall, we looked dangerous but then Baldock got injured and he hasn’t reverted to those two once (other than two 10 minute spells against West Brom and Sheffield). Really strange

Of course, the reasoning for all this is fitting Ejaria, Olise and Swift in the same team. But when you combine those three and Meite, there’s a serious lack of intelligence in the team, too many raw, inconsistent players, unlike the likes of Rino, who’s made the position his own with a string of top class displays. Bowen needs a serious rethink in this department, if he has to drop 1/2 of those 4 aforementioned, then so be it
Someone like Pele, screening the defence may have been useful in there tonight, but clearly there was no room for him tonight

Onto the defence, struggled with the pace and athleticism of Brentford’s front three which isn’t surprising given their front three has outscored our entire team. The Obita of old may have been able to deal with it all that time ago but he badly struggled tonight and I’m becoming more and more sceptical of his future with us. It’s the same situation with Moore, don’t feel he is progressing as a player here and may be wise to cash in this summer and develop McIntyre

All in all, another disappointing night for Bowen and whatever you think of him, his record since signing the contract is looking quite poor, needs some results in the next few games

[gazzer, loyal royal]

Once again a very strange team selection. I know we’ve lost Joao but why oh why is Swift not playing further forward and Pele playing as a holding midfielder with Rino next to him. We look so weak and soft, and our decision making yesterday was atrocious.

[NewCorkSeth]

Its never fun to watch a game where, not only are we playing terribly but the other team plays really well.

There are the obvious notes but one thing I want to mention is currently when we pass it round the back we seem to pass into space rather than to the feet. Certain players like Swift and Olise have the ability to do something with a split second decision, certain players like Meite and Puscas are very poor when the ball is played to their feet but what I cant help but focus on is Moore and Morrrison, who often pass into space when passing to each other. Both take longer than most to get the ball under control, both have a poor range of passing for the most part and both have the difficult task of having nobody up top to smash it long to.

It hard to watch. We are set up to play with modern ball playing defenders but at best they can get the ball to Swift. And thats only when they don't overcommit each other to move 15 yards because of the pass. The number of times we have to watch them play it to their full back who has to play it forward because the opposition have had enough time to close down everyone is getting ridiculous. It works occasionally but only because one of Swift, Olise or Ejaria (less and less frequently) pulls some skill out their arse.

Other than that thought Rinomhota looked OK. Adam had some nice crossfield balls when he came on. Rest of the team looked like they were playing for a relegated side with 15 games to go.

[Millsy]

Players didn't care for the game, so I won't care to rate them.

Talking points for me:

Adam - a couple of good balls that did help us, but then everything went backwards or kicked into touch. As awful as his first few games and certainly not the saviour we needed when chasing the game.

Two-nil football Gooding says it's "easy to play two-nil football and he's right. Except even that was too much for the lads last night.

Valencia's hair WTF was that weird cube haircut? Does he really think it will hide that he's 3 foot tall? Great goal though.

Ejaria+Puscas Two of my boyfriends. But I have to say I was disappointed. Yes as usual Ejaria did a couple of flashes of brilliance, in one going past three players into the box and passing to Puscas, but again it almost resulted in a goal. Almost because Puscas f**ked up. Yeah ok it was a bit behind him, but the trouble is when you miss our only chance the game before, there's less sympathy when you miss our only chance this game.

leads me nicely onto..

Service and wingers I've harped on about this as have a lot of us, and mentioned this in the "more strikers" thread, but Stam's anti-winger "let's just have a bunch of generally good midfielders running around like headless chickens generally in the middle of pitch somewhere" philosophy is bullshit. When Parj joined us the first thing he said is "I don't care how we do it, we need to get the ball to the byline and put more crosses in." He said, iirc, that he almost didn't care how many goals were scored, all he wanted was balls in the box. That was his focus. He said get enough balls in the danger area and goals will naturally happen. Almost doesn't matter who the strikers are. Lo and behold that's exactly what happened. We now seem to be playing this system where we're not focussing on service first, but trying to walk or tippy-tappy or hoof the ball into the goal.

Defence Shit. Moore falling asleep for their first. What is going on back there? Morrison was immense. But what system are they using for set pieces ffs. I'm not going to bring up the set piece zonal marking thing yet again. Oh look I just did.

[leon]

The teams not balanced at all.

Play pele anchoring midfield and rino as starters. Swift, Olise and Ejaria can battle it out for one or two positions. We can’t fit them all in

[NewCorkSeth]

Sorry, one other talking point for me and it is regarding Tim and Micks favouritism. It was very obvious in the first half and so frustrating to listen to.

Whenever one of their preferred players does something wrong it is "thats not like them" or "shame that didn't come off" and they absolutely lambast the players they dont like for similar mistakes.

Case in point we have endlessly heard Mick have a go (often correctly) at Puscas for his hold up ability. He goes on and on about it. Talks about the requirements of a modern striker. However last night whenever the ball was played up to Baldock and he had a poor touch or was out-muscled the reaction was "oh well, thats a mismatch against the CB".

And their favourites get praise for the faintest of things. Baldock made a routine run off the shoulder of a defender last night, didnt get to the ball and they talked about how superb it was for a good minute!

I can guarantee that anyone who listens to their commentary is not getting a true sense of the game. They frequently brush over poor incidents from players they like and will talk endlessly about the shortcomings of the ones they dont.

Tim is worse though. Mick says his piece and will occasionally criticise his favourites when necessary but Tim acts like Micks little brother, for ever agreeing and often scornfully addressing certain playera Mick criticised the last game as if to win brownie points. I dont know why I listen.

[Old Man Andrews]

We are currently 80/1 to get relegated. Got to be worth a fiver.

[Hound]

Sorry, one other talking point for me and it is regarding Tim and Micks favouritism. It was very obvious in the first half and so frustrating to listen to.

Whenever one of their preferred players does something wrong it is "thats not like them" or "shame that didn't come off" and they absolutely lambast the players they dont like for similar mistakes.

Case in point we have endlessly heard Mick have a go (often correctly) at Puscas for his hold up ability. He goes on and on about it. Talks about the requirements of a modern striker. However last night whenever the ball was played up to Baldock and he had a poor touch or was out-muscled the reaction was "oh well, thats a mismatch against the CB".

And their favourites get praise for the faintest of things. Baldock made a routine run off the shoulder of a defender last night, didnt get to the ball and they talked about how superb it was for a good minute!

I can guarantee that anyone who listens to their commentary is not getting a true sense of the game. They frequently brush over poor incidents from players they like and will talk endlessly about the shortcomings of the ones they dont.

Tim is worse though. Mick says his piece and will occasionally criticise his favourites when necessary but Tim acts like Micks little brother, for ever agreeing and often scornfully addressing certain playera Mick criticised the last game as if to win brownie points. I dont know why I listen.

they are unlistenable at times. the last 20 Mick started talking a bit of sense and wasn't going overboard. Dellor is abysmal.

[Millsy]

Sorry, one other talking point for me and it is regarding Tim and Micks favouritism. It was very obvious in the first half and so frustrating to listen to.

Whenever one of their preferred players does something wrong it is "thats not like them" or "shame that didn't come off" and they absolutely lambast the players they dont like for similar mistakes.

Case in point we have endlessly heard Mick have a go (often correctly) at Puscas for his hold up ability. He goes on and on about it. Talks about the requirements of a modern striker. However last night whenever the ball was played up to Baldock and he had a poor touch or was out-muscled the reaction was "oh well, thats a mismatch against the CB".

And their favourites get praise for the faintest of things. Baldock made a routine run off the shoulder of a defender last night, didnt get to the ball and they talked about how superb it was for a good minute!

I can guarantee that anyone who listens to their commentary is not getting a true sense of the game. They frequently brush over poor incidents from players they like and will talk endlessly about the shortcomings of the ones they dont.

Tim is worse though. Mick says his piece and will occasionally criticise his favourites when necessary but Tim acts like Micks little brother, for ever agreeing and often scornfully addressing certain playera Mick criticised the last game as if to win brownie points. I dont know why I listen.

I like them. I take your points yes there are irritations but people know what they're getting with these guys.

Love or hate them personally, Mick is an absolute legend of the club and is generally quite conservative, underspoken, gentle and fair. You can be pretty sure if he gives an opinion as a pro footballer and Reading manager he knows wtf he's talking about and it's absolutely great to hear. And Tim obviously won't be as knowledgable as an ex-pro but the thign with him is he's a true fan and wears his heart on his sleeve. Yes his emotion turns into rants about some players and favouritism because he's human like the rest of us, but you're getting the real deal there. The one thing that would stop me listening in an instant would be two totally neutral level headed people who didn't show any of their human side or their passion of being Reading fans. If I want a cold clinical accurate description of what's happening on the pitch I'll just read text updates or a neutral match report the next day. I like having a passionate Reading fan describe the game to me - warts and all - in s/he sees it. I feel like I want to listen alongside a fellow fan. I do take your points though, not everyone might like that.

[paultheroyal]

We are currently 80/1 to get relegated. Got to be worth a fiver.

Worth 3 quid to pay for league 1 season ticket to soften the blow perhaps!

[NewCorkSeth]

Sorry, one other talking point for me and it is regarding Tim and Micks favouritism. It was very obvious in the first half and so frustrating to listen to.

Whenever one of their preferred players does something wrong it is "thats not like them" or "shame that didn't come off" and they absolutely lambast the players they dont like for similar mistakes.

Case in point we have endlessly heard Mick have a go (often correctly) at Puscas for his hold up ability. He goes on and on about it. Talks about the requirements of a modern striker. However last night whenever the ball was played up to Baldock and he had a poor touch or was out-muscled the reaction was "oh well, thats a mismatch against the CB".

And their favourites get praise for the faintest of things. Baldock made a routine run off the shoulder of a defender last night, didnt get to the ball and they talked about how superb it was for a good minute!

I can guarantee that anyone who listens to their commentary is not getting a true sense of the game. They frequently brush over poor incidents from players they like and will talk endlessly about the shortcomings of the ones they dont.

Tim is worse though. Mick says his piece and will occasionally criticise his favourites when necessary but Tim acts like Micks little brother, for ever agreeing and often scornfully addressing certain playera Mick criticised the last game as if to win brownie points. I dont know why I listen.

they are unlistenable at times. the last 20 Mick started talking a bit of sense and wasn't going overboard. Dellor is abysmal.

When Mick talks about tactical nous or the intricacy of defending man to man he is a fountain of wisdom. He does have real insight but Tim just doesn't get any of it out of him. I honestly think Ady would do a better job. Tim just pulls as much "grumpy old man" out of Mick as possible.

"What do you think of the goalkeeper kit?" "Look at that haircut Mick" "Ohh Swift and Blackett are wearing gloves Mick, thats important".