MATCHWATCH : Coventry City (h)

[SCIAG]

This is my concern about the team put out yesterday. Ejaria Olise and Swift together hardly make a tackle between them. Excellent as they are going forward they will leave holes in midfield. Coventry exploited that to the max.

With Meite back you have a better tackler and someone closing the opposition down. Then you can rotate between 2 of the other 3.

This is nonsense.

Tackles per 90
Ejaria 1.1
Olise 1.1
Swift 0.3
Meite 0.3

Interceptions per 90
Ejaria 1.3
Olise 0.4
Swift 0.3
Meite 0.3

Even on clearances Ejaria (0.5) beats Meite and Olise (0.3) and Swift (0.2).

Thanks for those figures SCIAG.

I think people are getting a bit carried away by Meite's defensive qualities.
Anybody compared to Aluko would be better defensively-I think what happens with Meite is that he does chase back with great enthusiasm and just being there his physical presence can intimidate the opposition's left-sided attacker.

Going forward though Meite is the strong player that we love to see and that is his main role in the side-playing with two defensive midfielders should mean that he doesn't have to chase back too much and, like with Joao, I would sooner see him occupying the attention of an opposition defender or two than use up too much energy defending.

Agree - there’s a lot that these sorts of stats don’t capture. Sometimes good positioning doesn’t lead to you winning the ball.

Aluko also comfortably beats Meite for winning the ball (both on tackles and interceptions- although he’s well behind Ejaria) but I think his tendency to drift inside can leave the full back exposed. He helps firm up the middle but we don’t really need that help.

[bcubed]

Noticeable how Coventry as other teams have done this season. Attempted to exploit the acres of space behind Ejaria and Olise. Keeping players wide on both wings. We are defensively better with Meite in the team. As he puts a real shift in, dropping back.

This is my concern about the team put out yesterday. Ejaria Olise and Swift together hardly make a tackle between them. Excellent as they are going forward they will leave holes in midfield. Coventry exploited that to the max.

With Meite back you have a better tackler and someone closing the opposition down. Then you can rotate between 2 of the other 3.

This is nonsense.

Tackles per 90
Ejaria 1.1
Olise 1.1
Swift 0.3
Meite 0.3

Interceptions per 90
Ejaria 1.3
Olise 0.4
Swift 0.3
Meite 0.3

Even on clearances Ejaria (0.5) beats Meite and Olise (0.3) and Swift (0.2).

Don't trust stats over what I see
But thanks

[Hound]

Tbf to Holmes after that dreadful backpass he was very good on the ball, drove forward nicely and used it well. I’m not a fan of knee-jerk reactions. Remember when people were saying McIntyre wasn’t good enough after one bad game? Esteves has also been a victim of that mentality.

I haven’t seen anyone saying Araruna is as good as Yiadom. He’s got a little bit of credit in the bank after his performances earlier in the season, and he’d give us even more creativity. But Yiadom has a huge amount of credit and should be comfortable first choice when fit.

I dont think its knee jerk. He has made a number of mistakes recently, at fault for Huddersfield's goal. After that backpass he gave away a free header and could/should have been sent off. You can't do that sadly

Yes he put in a nice cross and was tidy coming forward, but he was hardly tearing the right flank apart.

The vast majority just said McIntyre had a bad game after Preston, no more.

In the Preston match thread eight people criticised McIntyre by name after the match was over. “He doesn’t look ready to start as a centre back at this level”, “too slight, too slow, positionally unaware, gaffe prone, nowhere near the standard he needs to be to get in the team”, “too slow to partner Morrison”, “McIntyre not up to it”, “not even close to ready for first team football”, “simply not good enough for this league”. And that’s not including the drunken comment that didn’t mention him by name. Three-quarters of admittedly a small sample said that he wasn’t good enough, not just that he had a bad game.

ok, but no doubts you have to take into account who these people are. The vast majority of sensible people I should have said.

Equally I dont see anyone on here writing Holmes off. Im certainly not. He just isn't the right pick at RB at this point in time and has had a few bad games with some worrying traits leaking into his game.

[Snowflake Royal]

That might be because you didn't watch the whole game and missed the 10 minutes where he looked like he was barely a Sunday league footballer?

I'm quite clear what I watched, I can hardly judge him on what I'm not aware of, and 10 minutes vs 35, I'll go with the 35 I saw.

Thats fine, but you can't really give an accurate reflection on how he played the whole game though, especially when everyone else has been giving him lower ratings. I mean, if he was playing well, would Pauno have taken him off at half time?

I'm giving him my rating, not anyone else's.

He was on a yellow card and pace was an issue. Sensible to take him off to avoid risking a second yellow and red he could have got at the end of the half. Doesn't mean he was playing badly. Which I don't think he was. You'll have to ask Pauno what his reasons were.

[Snowflake Royal]

If 6 is average ,you have given some high scores there.7 for Tom Holmes is very high.Borderline 4,but I would give him a 5 for the cross.Estevez to start Sunday.TBF to the lad he is learning his trade and will slip in and out of form.I thought McIntyre was very good last night,but he has had a couple of stinkers.

We won 3-0. I didn't seem Holmes make a single major mistake.

You missed his perfectly weighted pass to their man who was so surprised to receive it that he failed to capitalise on a simple chance to put them 1-0 up very early in the game?

Yes. As clearly stated in my comments.

[Hound]

We won 3-0. I didn't seem Holmes make a single major mistake.

You missed his perfectly weighted pass to their man who was so surprised to receive it that he failed to capitalise on a simple chance to put them 1-0 up very early in the game?

Yes. As clearly stated in my comments.

You can check it out here if you like

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/1 ... 0-coventry

actually you can't. Inexplicably doesn't show it

on here though

https://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/2021/j ... y-victory/

[Nameless]

We won 3-0. I didn't seem Holmes make a single major mistake.

You missed his perfectly weighted pass to their man who was so surprised to receive it that he failed to capitalise on a simple chance to put them 1-0 up very early in the game?

Yes. As clearly stated in my comments.

To be fair though the Holmes error wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the Rino one against Norwich. Rino was under no pressure whereas Holmes was being pressed by an attacker and had no decent options. Not excusing the error but he seems to be getting a bit more grief for it than a Rino did....

[Snowflake Royal]

That might be because you didn't watch the whole game and missed the 10 minutes where he looked like he was barely a Sunday league footballer?

I'm quite clear what I watched, I can hardly judge him on what I'm not aware of, and 10 minutes vs 35, I'll go with the 35 I saw.

I dont think he was that bad but it is interesting that in the 10 minutes you missed he made 2 mistakes both of which are things you have recently joked about Esteves being incapable of. Couldn't guard his man in the box for an aerial duel and sloppy pass that led to a great chance. Anyway I think he has been a revelation so far this season. I'm really happy with him. Just think you're a tad harsh on Esteves when Holmes makes similar mistakes.

I saw the free header just before Joao scored.

I'm not considering that a particularly big mistake and I don't think I would with Esteves. The difference with Esteves, is I don't see him contribute well in most games. Holmes has been very good in many games. And he's playing out of position so gets a bit more leeway. And he isn't supposed to be a European wonderkid.

The whole defence is moving up to create a higher line, Holmes's man who has stood off slightly, spots this and moves in the opposite direction at the perfect time for a perfect cross.

It's just really good attacking g play. The only way Holmes stops it IMO is being tighter in the first place, which means he can't attack an earlier cross in as well, or by not moving with the defence moving out, which creates an uneven defensive line and might prevent an offside being given.

First glance I thought it was bad defending. Further looks I don't really.

And as for the potential sending off. He played a dangerous game, and did just enough to impair the player without prompting the ref to make a decision. I don't think he played badly in that, he was, again, just struggling because of a good ball and imbalance of pace.

Maybe slightly misread the pace of the ball / man originally.

Morro was covering anyway.

[URZZZZ]

Tbf to Holmes after that dreadful backpass he was very good on the ball, drove forward nicely and used it well. I’m not a fan of knee-jerk reactions. Remember when people were saying McIntyre wasn’t good enough after one bad game? Esteves has also been a victim of that mentality.

I haven’t seen anyone saying Araruna is as good as Yiadom. He’s got a little bit of credit in the bank after his performances earlier in the season, and he’d give us even more creativity. But Yiadom has a huge amount of credit and should be comfortable first choice when fit.

I dont think its knee jerk. He has made a number of mistakes recently, at fault for Huddersfield's goal. After that backpass he gave away a free header and could/should have been sent off. You can't do that sadly

Yes he put in a nice cross and was tidy coming forward, but he was hardly tearing the right flank apart.

The vast majority just said McIntyre had a bad game after Preston, no more.

Holmes has been quite poor the last month at RB - the reaction certainly isn’t knee jerk to one game

Birmingham - had a poor game
Huddersfield - at fault for the goal
Yesterday - gave away their only two real chances

Then obviously part of a ropey defence against Brentford which conceded three goals in 30 minutes

Don’t think people are writing off Holmes per se. It’s a case of recognising that he looks like a CB playing at RB (which is understandable) when we have a natural RB on the bench

Weak comparison between Esteves and McIntyre too, as he rightly points out, McIntyre was bizarrely victimised after one poor performance whereas Esteves put in a string of ropey performances in a row. Not sure Esteves is the long term answer especially when Yiadom is back but I think he should be ahead of Holmes in the pecking order at RB

[Hound]

You missed his perfectly weighted pass to their man who was so surprised to receive it that he failed to capitalise on a simple chance to put them 1-0 up very early in the game?

Yes. As clearly stated in my comments.

To be fair though the Holmes error wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the Rino one against Norwich. Rino was under no pressure whereas Holmes was being pressed by an attacker and had no decent options. Not excusing the error but he seems to be getting a bit more grief for it than a Rino did....

nah, he could have put it to Morrison to put up the line, or used Rafael. Equally as crap as Rino's effort. Also the 'pressing' was a half arsed jog in his direction from their attacker.

[NewCorkSeth]

I'm quite clear what I watched, I can hardly judge him on what I'm not aware of, and 10 minutes vs 35, I'll go with the 35 I saw.

I dont think he was that bad but it is interesting that in the 10 minutes you missed he made 2 mistakes both of which are things you have recently joked about Esteves being incapable of. Couldn't guard his man in the box for an aerial duel and sloppy pass that led to a great chance. Anyway I think he has been a revelation so far this season. I'm really happy with him. Just think you're a tad harsh on Esteves when Holmes makes similar mistakes.

I saw the free header just before Joao scored.

I'm not considering that a particularly big mistake and I don't think I would with Esteves. The difference with Esteves, is I don't see him contribute well in most games. Holmes has been very good in many games. And he's playing out of position so gets a bit more leeway. And he isn't supposed to be a European wonderkid.

The whole defence is moving up to create a higher line, Holmes's man who has stood off slightly, spots this and moves in the opposite direction at the perfect time for a perfect cross.

It's just really good attacking g play. The only way Holmes stops it IMO is being tighter in the first place, which means he can't attack an earlier cross in as well, or by not moving with the defence moving out, which creates an uneven defensive line and might prevent an offside being given.

First glance I thought it was bad defending. Further looks I don't really.

And as for the potential sending off. He played a dangerous game, and did just enough to impair the player without prompting the ref to make a decision. I don't think he played badly in that, he was, again, just struggling because of a good ball and imbalance of pace.

Maybe slightly misread the pace of the ball / man originally.

Morro was covering anyway.

As you can see I'm not attacking you or Holmes. I do think the "I dont see him contribute well in most games" and "European wonderkid" are very revealing comments however. Youre holding him up to a higher standard that I initially thought. Next time you watch him just forget he's on loan and forget big things are expected of him. If he came through our academy we would be very, very happy. 18 years old and developing very nicely.

[Pepe the Horseman]

I dont think he was that bad but it is interesting that in the 10 minutes you missed he made 2 mistakes both of which are things you have recently joked about Esteves being incapable of. Couldn't guard his man in the box for an aerial duel and sloppy pass that led to a great chance. Anyway I think he has been a revelation so far this season. I'm really happy with him. Just think you're a tad harsh on Esteves when Holmes makes similar mistakes.

I saw the free header just before Joao scored.

I'm not considering that a particularly big mistake and I don't think I would with Esteves. The difference with Esteves, is I don't see him contribute well in most games. Holmes has been very good in many games. And he's playing out of position so gets a bit more leeway. And he isn't supposed to be a European wonderkid.

The whole defence is moving up to create a higher line, Holmes's man who has stood off slightly, spots this and moves in the opposite direction at the perfect time for a perfect cross.

It's just really good attacking g play. The only way Holmes stops it IMO is being tighter in the first place, which means he can't attack an earlier cross in as well, or by not moving with the defence moving out, which creates an uneven defensive line and might prevent an offside being given.

First glance I thought it was bad defending. Further looks I don't really.

And as for the potential sending off. He played a dangerous game, and did just enough to impair the player without prompting the ref to make a decision. I don't think he played badly in that, he was, again, just struggling because of a good ball and imbalance of pace.

Maybe slightly misread the pace of the ball / man originally.

Morro was covering anyway.

As you can see I'm not attacking you or Holmes. I do think the "I dont see him contribute well in most games" and "European wonderkid" are very revealing comments however. Youre holding him up to a higher standard that I initially thought. Next time you watch him just forget he's on loan and forget big things are expected of him. If he came through our academy we would be very, very happy. 18 years old and developing very nicely.

100% this. He came with ridiculously high expectations, and people forget he's only a kid.

[royalp-we]

Pauno suggesting Olise could be out for a long while. It didn’t look too bad. It effectively ensures he won’t be moving anywhere this month though.
Meite and Yids back at the end of the month. Moore next month.

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I reckon he'll be back fit very early next month.

Probably a good time to bring up how good the recruitment has been. All of Ejaria, Swift, Olise, Meite, Aluko and Semedo are almost all rotational. We haven’t got the biggest first team squad, but we truly do have players who can play a number of positions compared to some of those around us.

Since Jan 2019 every transfer bar Virginia has been a hit for me (maybe Ezatolahi due to injury as well, with Pele & Boye being neutral), which is a ridiculous record.

Free transfers:
Yids
Adam
Morrison
Rafa
Araruna
Laurent

Promoted from Academy:
Holmes
Olise
McIntyre
Rino
Richards

Fees:
Ejaria (£2.5m)
Joao (£5.0m)
Puscas (£6.5m)

Loans:
Oliveira
Ejaria x2
Baker
Miazga x2
Martinez
Gibson
Semedo
Estevez

bUt SkY sAiD oUr OwNeRs HaVe InVeStEd ThReE hUnDrEd MiLlIOn On ThE pLaYiNg SqUaD

[Zip]

Esteves is definitely improving. He is learning and now looking the part. It takes time to adapt to the Championship but he is doing just that. I expect he will start on Sunday.
Holmes has done well. He is a centre back playing out of position. He has a future at the club but as a centre back.

[Hound]

Esteves is definitely improving. He is learning and now looking the part. It takes time to adapt to the Championship but he is doing just that. I expect he will start on Sunday.
Holmes has done well. He is a centre back playing out of position. He has a future at the club but as a centre back.

yep exactly that. my concern with Holmes is he is starting to do things that we really don't want him to be doing as a CB. Possibly because of concentrating on trying to be a RB. The Hudders goal, the great Rafa save at Swansea, and the free header last night - all examples of being beaten way too easily in the air from good if not brilliant crosses. He needs to get that sorted.

Good player, done a great job, but time to now go back and work at being the best at what you'll be for the rest of your career

[Sanguine]

Well, I for one am starting to get excited. Seven points off the top, comfortably six points inside the playoffs with a game in hand on the team in 7th place. But we've got a tough run of games coming up, at Stoke and Bristol City, and with the visits of Bournemouth and Brentford. If we are in a similar place when Middlesbrough visit near the end of Feb, we can really start dreaming.

I don't read this forum a lot, but it really doesn't feel that Paunovic and his team are getting the amount of credit they deserve for turning this team into promotion contenders, it really is quite astounding that we are challenging at the top whilst regularly playing kids (Olise, Holmes, Esteves), whilst suffering a huge number of injuries, and broadly with the squad that struggled last year.

[Westwood52]

Holmes and McIntyre are still learning.Holmes is the more physical of the two.Both have had good and bad games;which you would expect given their lack of experience.In a year or so,they may well be our starting CBS.Moore has made a couple of mistakes this season,Morrison after a poor start last season has since been very solid.When Gibson started a month or so back,He reminded me of Upson when he was with us,very assured.Then he cocked up big time.
There can be little doubt that Yids is our first choice RB.I expect Estevez to start on Sunday,his errors last night were less calamitous than Tom Holmes.I just think Araruna is too small to play RB.He is however very tidy on the ball at CM.But we have five potential CMs,plus Tetek and Pendlebury.
Yakuo has to start up front when fit.He takes a lot of pressure of Jao,who started to get very frustrated last night.Plus Yakou has an eye for goal,despite a terrible first touch.
The Puskas situation is of concern,as there seems no prospect of him returning any time soon.Given that Baldock is all over the place in terms of performance,we should get another striker this month, just to keep the impetus going.

[Snowflake Royal]

I'd rather have a small full back than DM

[Nameless]

I'd rather have a small full back than DM

In terms of benefit to the squad a back up midfielder for Laurent /Rino is way, way more important than a 4th right back.

[Snowflake Royal]

I'd rather have a small full back than DM

In terms of benefit to the squad a back up midfielder for Laurent /Rino is way, way more important than a 4th right back.

Translation for Nameless:

I think fullback is more suitable a position for a short player, than defensive midfielder.

Also, Araruna was second choice RB.