BFTG - Barnsley

[John Madejski's Wallet]

scrappy game, but happy with the result. And what a lovely goal to win it.
Thought Barnsley looked decent at times, but our sloppy passing kept inviting pressure.

Ejaria back to his worst today, thankfully Drinkwater, Yaidom and Dann stood tall.
Azeez should be chewing himself up with that miss


What is it with Swift? He used be a scrawny bloke with little movement who was easily bullied off the ball. Now he's fast, bulky and strong, a completely different player

[Lower West]

[quote="


What is it with Swift? He used be a scrawny bloke with little movement who was easily bullied off the ball. Now he's fast, bulky and strong, a completely different player[/quote]

Finally matured it seems.

[Nameless]

[quote="John Madejski's Wallet]
Azeez should be chewing himself up with that miss

[/quote]

Young player with a couple of games under his belt just back from 2 month jury lay off and on the pitch a matter of minutes doesn’t get it quite right.
Kind of understandable , but agreed it would have been nice if he had finished it off....

[TiagoIlori]

Swifty shaved his head last summer, I’m convinced he became a hooligan throughout the Euros and realised he needed to bulk up and get fit for that.

Think it’s obvious Pauno needs more time to work with his squad. Trying to keep the games tight and nick a goal or two so we survive this summer. I hope next summer he can at least sign some good freebies as he’s got a tough job rebuilding this side if we can’t keep hold of Swift etc.

[windermereROYAL]

Happy with the result but I feel a good side would have punished us today, Barnsley were very limited. have to be relegation candidates.
I feel desperately sorry for Puscas, he puts in a real shift but he`s crying out or a strike partner up top, when we bring on a striker it`s always him to make way. Yiadom fizzed a beautiful ball across the six yard line late on, I couldn`t help thinking George would have been somewhere in that area.
Ejaria was poor today, liked Drinkwater, he looked very cool and composed on the ball, Dann looks like he`s given the defence a bit of backbone.
Welcome 3 points but still work in progress.

[Stranded]

When you have only 13 recognised 1st team players (one making a sub app after 2 months out & 2 keepers) then grinding out wins is all that matters.

How we played or if say WBA would have taken us to the cleaners is immaterial. Our patched up side beat who were in front of them. Even with a 6pt deduction, we will be just 7 off 6th and with 9, 2 above the bottom 3. That'll do me today.

[Bigtimmeh]

Stand out performances by dann, Yeiadom, drinkwater and of course swift. I feel sorry for puscas too I like how much he tries. Nevermind azeezs miss it was to be expected he's young and coming back from injury. J thought ejarias saved shot was a better opportunity..yes ovie wasn't at his best but he didn't loose the ball too much either, just slowed us down..

[Hound]

Enjoyed the game. Was a bit knackered myself, and it was played at a pace that agreed with an pleasant bit of warm autumn sunshine. And a nice result to finish it off

Thought Swift was average today, but a cracking goal. Nice ball from Dann as well. Didn't think any of the midfield were really on it. Ejaria and Laurent had off days, TDB usual mix of good and bad and DD is clearly a very good player, but felt he wasn't quite at his sharpest. Pick of the midfield in saying that. My imagination or has Swift become slightly periphery with DD in the side?

Defence all good. Yiadom excellent, Moore a different player alongside Dann who did the job we are paying him for. Baba, bit of a mix - certainly doesn't look a 15m player but he is handy at champ level certainly. Southwood did well. Puscas did ok, thought it he was bit unlucky to be hooked on the hour - Azeez added some pace, but pretty rancid effort when he went through.

Felt very comfortable at 1-0, even when they had a few corners. Seems the defence has sorted itself out (Dann's influence?). We weren't at our best, have 10+ players out, most of the team out of contract in 8 months, and still won fairly comfortably. Pauno is currently doing a cracking job...

[Mid Sussex Royal]

When you have only 13 recognised 1st team players (one making a sub app after 2 months out & 2 keepers) then grinding out wins is all that matters.

How we played or if say WBA would have taken us to the cleaners is immaterial. Our patched up side beat who were in front of them. Even with a 6pt deduction, we will be just 7 off 6th and with 9, 2 above the bottom 3. That'll do me today.

Based on what I've seen of WBA they wouldn't have taken us to the cleaners.

[AthleticoSpizz]

...agree, a bit like champions elect Fulham really

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Yes today wasn't a great performance but need to remember we have 10+ first team players injured and have for some time. Do the same with every other championship team over a six week period and see what results they'd get....we've just won 5 out of 6.

[Marcus Crassus]

When you have only 13 recognised 1st team players (one making a sub app after 2 months out & 2 keepers) then grinding out wins is all that matters.

How we played or if say WBA would have taken us to the cleaners is immaterial. Our patched up side beat who were in front of them. Even with a 6pt deduction, we will be just 7 off 6th and with 9, 2 above the bottom 3. That'll do me today.

Based on what I've seen of WBA they wouldn't have taken us to the cleaners.

[PieEater]

Back from the Swift show. He really was the difference between the teams. First half look pretty even first half where and we could have gone ahead but I thought we totally dominated the second half and worked a well deserved goal.


we would be utterly fooked without Swift.


I hope we have no more injuries, roll on Blackpool.

[Gunny Fishcake]

" No pictures on a scorecard".......dire game illuminated by a fantastic goal by Swift.

Just wondering, has a team that's a received a points penalty during a season ever been promoted ?

[Zip]

I thought Barnsley played some nice stuff. Haven’t seen the foul count but it felt like we were giving away a number of free kicks in dangerous positions.

Pauno said that TDB wasn’t offside for the ruled out goal. The offside call on Puski also seemed very tight. I do feel for Puscas. He is feeding off scraps and looks a forlorn figure.

Lovely goal from Swifty. He deserves top flight football

[Royal_jimmy]

That was an unusual game. I felt we were hot and cold throughout both halves. At the start of today we looked excellent and full of energy but made some mistakes. So overall I thought we played ok, we didn't play brilliantly but perhaps edged them out on the balance of play.

I wanted to pay some credit to Barnsley who came here and had a good go. They played well and made it hard for us, didn't give us much and had their own chances. If they can be consistent in that level of performance they will stay up easily if they find a cutting edge.

Southwood again was a rock between the sticks. I'm really liking this guy and hope we can keep him for a while. We need to get him tied down to a new contract!

Drinkwater, Rahman and Moore were pretty good. The other 7 starters were short of their best including Swift who wasn't quite at it today. Credit to him for a great goal though! We are lucky to have him with us.

Need to win Wednesday night and then go and see how we do with Blackburn! I'd be happy with 4 points. Even 3 would be ok.

[Crowbar6753]

This season is becoming pretty surreal!! we have huge financial issues, an impending points deduction looming, and the worst injury crisis that i can remember in the 40yrs of watch Reading since i was a kid!!
And yet, here we are sitting 7th in the league just outside the playoffs as if nothing has happened. If we can just hang in there until the New Year and get our bench looking respectable again and hopefully we only recieve a 6 point deduction i really thing we could do the impossible and get into the play-offs which would be just crazy.

[Zip]

Back from the Swift show. He really was the difference between the teams. First half look pretty even first half where and we could have gone ahead but I thought we totally dominated the second half and worked a well deserved goal.


we would be utterly fooked without Swift.


I hope we have no more injuries, roll on Blackpool.

Funny how we all see things differently. I thought Barnsley were all over us for the first 10/15 minutes of the second half. We gradually got back into it and finished the stronger of the two sides but dominate it....not for me.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Back from the Swift show. He really was the difference between the teams. First half look pretty even first half where and we could have gone ahead but I thought we totally dominated the second half and worked a well deserved goal.


we would be utterly fooked without Swift.


I hope we have no more injuries, roll on Blackpool.

Funny how we all see things differently. I thought Barnsley were all over us for the first 10/15 minutes of the second half. We gradually got back into it and finished the stronger of the two sides but dominate it....not for me.

Yeah I'm with you Zip

[Jagermesiter1871]

Yiadom - game of his life today. Was something else. Dann also quality. Drinkwater hit and miss, hit for the most part though.