Tottenham v. Reading 1/4 Match Thread (Halford in)

[holsgrove breaks a leg]

Entertaining game so far. Tough penalty decision which will cause much wringing of hobnobbers hands over the next week or so - especially now Pards has backed the ref on the telly.

Shit happens. Spurs can't do the double over us this season. We're safe in the prem.

I don't care.

To be fair Pardew seemed about as firm in his conviction that it was a penalty as he was in his conviction to stay at the Mad Stad once Brooking came calling.

Andy Gray felt it was an extremely harsh decision and he's a forward who would normally claim them!

Wiley seemed to react to Keane's shouting, blew his whistle and then for a moment seemed uncertain as to why he had blown it! His subsequent late signal that Halford had deliberately swept the ball away with his hand was laughable!

From what I heard on the radio, we were lucky not to lose 5-0.

Totally and utterly outplayed and outclassed.

Can anyone who watched the match on the 'net or who actually went confirm?

We weren't totally out-played and outclassed and that is why we weren't beaten 5-0. Our team lived up to its well earned reputation for battling away and competing throughout the game. Yes Spurs missed a lot of chances but many of them were due to the fact that there were usually several Reading players quckly onto the player in possession or throwing themselves towards the ball when players were in a position to shoot. You largely make your own luck and today I think we did just that.

The downside was that are wingers were poor by their own usually high standards and that during build ups passes too often went astray

I totally agree there. The fact the Spurs couldnt finish us off when we went to a 433 with in the introduction of Doyle speaks volumes. In fact they only began to open us up when we went 433 but that is understandable. The pen was very harsh and being 5 mins before the half, i think potentially altered the outcome of the game. I also agree our wing play was pretty poor today- we had 3 upfront for the last 3omins but could not get into the right areas to cross it. I think these run of results were inevitable- Reading fans have got to be realistic in that we might only end up with 2/3 wins out of our last 7 but thats hardly a disaster in the bigger picture of the whole season.

[Big Ern]

Just back from the game and all I have to say is the ref spoiled it with 1 very poor decision. I phoned a Spurs supporting mate at half time and even he said it wasn't a penalty.

I suppose these things even themselves up throughout the season, and on reeflection of the play, Spurs were the better team in the day.

We did look a bit toothless throughout the game and maybe it is a sign we are a bit tired and teams have worked us out now, and we do miss Murty and Sonks, especially at set peices, but all in all we would have taken our current postion at the start of the season, and we were always unlikely to get anything in these sort of fixtures

The spurs supporters were very poor throughout, and the funniest moment was the continued shouts of Handball everytime a spurs player touched the ball in the second half. I saw signs that Greg Halford could turn out to be a good pleyer for us, but still needs to find his feet at this level, and we will be a better team once we get Convey back on the left.,

All in all a good day out, WHL is a decent stadium to go to, even if a bit compact as a ground.

[M4 Junction 11]

Just back from the game and all I have to say is the ref spoiled it with 1 very poor decision.

You're being kind with the 1 poor decision. Alan Wiley was our April fool

[Big Ern]

Just back from the game and all I have to say is the ref spoiled it with 1 very poor decision.

You're being kind with the 1 poor decision. Alan Wiley was our April fool

Well he didn make a couple of strange decisions, but TBF, you always get a few of thjose during any macth. The decision that changed the game was one of the owrst penalty decision given against us since Phill Danson gave a penalty against us in a game at Colchester a few years back.

None of the spurs players appealed from my recollection, and they looked just as surpised as we were.

All I will say is that I have not seen the entire Reading team surround a referee for such a long time, and considering their normal behaviour, this tells me a lot about the decision.

[JC]

Nobody seems to have mentioned our shout for a penalty in the second half for handball. It looked more blatant than theirs

[M4 Junction 11]

Nobody seems to have mentioned our shout for a penalty in the second half for handball. It looked more blatant than theirs

It was a clear handball but Wiley might not have seen this one. He can't have the same excuse when Leroy was pulled down.

[Big Ern]

Nobody seems to have mentioned our shout for a penalty in the second half for handball. It looked more blatant than theirs

Which one. There were about 100 odd shouts for Handball in the second half from the Reading FC faithful

[Henleyensian]

Nobody seems to have mentioned our shout for a penalty in the second half for handball. It looked more blatant than theirs

It was a clear handball but Wiley might not have seen this one. He can't have the same excuse when Leroy was pulled down.

The time you merntion of Leroy being pulled down isn't the only time Wiley ignored fouls be Spurs (Dawson, mainly). The was at least one other incident st a corner when Leroy had his arms pinned to his side and he couldn't jump.

[papereyes]

My thoughts:

Hunt was very poor. Little, Sidwell and Harper were quite poor. Of Little and Hunt, both found their way inside too often, giving Lennon and the other fast bloke room to get at the full backs.

That left us with no midfield, and no width.

Which Zokora, a painfully average midfielder, and two decent wingers exploited.

We were stretched at the back but did OK. The ball never really settled when we cleared it so time and time again, they had fast players running at us.

We dawdled a lot. Stood off, when we should have had a bit more zip. That gave Spurs time and space to ping theball around us.

We also had zero movement when we had the ball. Two instances spring to mind, in the second half. One was Little tried to take on the left back and the entire midfield and attack stood and watched. There was no attempt to open up a simple pass which is something we've done well throughout the season. The other was a Halford throw. Straight to Robinson.

My last thought is that the ref and linesmen were a bit mental. We were lucky on some of the offsides. Don't let their display overshadow quite an anaemic Reading one.

[Elm Park Old Boy]

None of the spurs players appealed from my recollection, and they looked just as surpised as we were.

Come on - Keane looked like a kid at a birthday party who's been missed out in the pass the parcel....

[papereyes]

None of the spurs players appealed from my recollection, and they looked just as surpised as we were.

Come on - Keane looked like a kid at a birthday party who's been missed out in the pass the parcel....

As far as I rememeber, whatever happened, happened. Keane appealed. Ref gave it.

[Woodcote Royal]

I have to add my name to the outplayed but not outclassed school of thought.

However, isn't it typical of the lack of consistency and misplaced sense of priority of modern officials that the result of such an entertaining game of football was decided by a diabolical decision from a referee

If this had been a cricket match and Halford a batsmen, any umpire would have given him the benefit of the doubt on the basis that it was impossible to say for sure that he handled deliberately.

Neil Warnock would say that he only had one decision to make and got it wrong!! I'm not that upset because, frankly, it makes little difference to us but I'm delighted that this stupid decision was witnessed by such a large audience.

James Harper seems to be heading for the same place where he ended up at the end of the season before last.........................and I have to agree that when he got the odd mention, I had totally forgotten he was on the pitch I remember him being equally anonymous up at Wigan the day they were promoted and we missed out on the play-offs.

I don't know why Hunt is getting so much stick when Glen Little was dire for the second game running. I hope his ageing legs are not starting to tire as we come to the end of the season! On this basis, I thought Coppell was spot on for introducing Doyle and Oster with enough time to make an impact.

I think the fact that we still couldn't get something out of the game says more about Spurs than ourselves.

Like Middlesbrough, they are a team from whom we should be delighted to have taken 3pts this seaon rather than upset because we lost the away fixture...............it really is no disgrace to lose 1-0 at White Hart Lane.

The afternoon took on greater interest for me with the involvement of Federici and Halford. The latter looks a great prospect but I still can't see him ending up at right back.

It was nice to watch on telly for a change even if it meant missing out on a pleasant stroll up Tottenham High Rd

[1960]

It still alway gets my goat when the ref will happily give a free kick in favour of the defence (Kitson leaning on Chimbonda), but won't give an identical or equally weighted one in favour of the attack (the two or three times Lita was leant on/pushed/barged in the back).

[Millsy]

However, isn't it typical of the lack of consistency and misplaced sense of priority of modern officials that the result of such an entertaining game of football was decided by a diabolical decision from a referee

Absolutely. I shan't drag up my thread from a few weeks ago calling for video replays for tough decisions.

However to be fair it seems like they scored a perfectly good goal, which was wrongly deemed offside so as it happens we deserved to lose anyway - possibly.

[leon]

None of the spurs players appealed from my recollection, and they looked just as surpised as we were.

Come on - Keane looked like a kid at a birthday party who's been missed out in the pass the parcel....

As far as I rememeber, whatever happened, happened. Keane appealed. Ref gave it.

Robbie Keane is and always has been, and always will be a f*cking sh*tty c*nt

[ScottishRoyal]

2WW1WC

However to be fair it seems like they scored a perfectly good goal, which was wrongly deemed offside so as it happens we deserved to lose anyway - possibly.

Well arguable not. Berbatov was clearly offside and made a definate move towards the through ball. He must have only been 4yds from the ball when Defoe shot so Federici wouldn't have been sure which angle to close down (and yes I know he'd go to the ball).

[leon]

tit tennis

[Arch]

Tough problem is going to be with the forwards. A game like this makes it clear that we really need Doyle back, but who makes way? For me, Lita offers the greater threat, but I know some will say his touch is poor (I somewhat agree) and some will say Kitson is a better complement to Doyle (I might agree). I think I'd choose to finish out the season with the two players who have done the business this season, but it's a tough choice.

[Royal Fleet]

The penalty reminded me of the one that was awarded for us against Man U. Ball bounced up and hit Neville on the arm. In no way intentional, but did interfere with the flight of the ball.

[Amongst the sheep]

The penalty reminded me of the one that was awarded for us against Man U. Ball bounced up and hit Neville on the arm. In no way intentional, but did interfere with the flight of the ball.

When you talk of things being evened up during the season I thought of that Neville penalty which whilst harsh we were delighted to take.

As for the game the only reason Spurs got their chances was because we played an open game. Many teams would have gone there and looked to frustrate and get a point. We were unlucky not to have a penalty for two similar cases of ball to hand If you add to that the fact we played with 3 of our established back 5 out injured, we did ok.