Back from the Game Thread - Blackpool (H)

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Finally, a win at home. A 50-50 performance today. In the first half, it was still the same 'have all the possession and not score'. The second half, we played better and in the end we throughly deserved the three points.

We were let off in the first half by that Burgess miss.

My man of the match today, was Jobi McAnuff. Worked his socks off and put some great balls into the box. Tabb and Pearce also had good games today.

Also, great atmosphere at the end. Great to get the first home win in months. However, it's only one win and we need to build on this.

[SLAMMED]

2 well taken goals. Gutted I'm missing Crystal Palace now.

[Chaney]

could and should have been out of sight in the 1st half, played some lovely football, you think it was better in the 2nd half???

[Terminal Boardom]

Best I have seen this season. However... we have the defensive strength of a creme brulee.

MoM Macanuff just ahead of The Sig. Apart from the goals, MacAnuff's duel with their full back was the highlight of the game for me.

Don't agree with the substitution of The Sig. Why did Howard stay on. Great to see Marek lay on the assist FOR THE WINNER! More please Marek.

Entertainment 10/10
Nerves shot to pieces!

[North Eaat royal]

could and should have been out of sight in the 1st half, played some lovely football, you think it was better in the 2nd half???

agreed, thought we were much better 1st half and unlucky not to score. sig is so much better playing centrally. Church had a good game, but jobi was motm. Howard distributed well but still not convinced with marek.

great to see BR get a round of applause at the end!

[Row Z Royal]

Best I have seen this season. However... we have the defensive strength of a creme brulee.

MoM Macanuff just ahead of The Sig. Apart from the goals, MacAnuff's duel with their full back was the highlight of the game for me.

Don't agree with the substitution of The Sig. Why did Howard stay on. Great to see Marek lay on the assist FOR THE WINNER! More please Marek.

Entertainment 10/10
Nerves shot to pieces!

Agreed in full.


Special nod to the kids who did the penalties at half time. Those celebrations were sensational.

[RoyalBlue]

Best I have seen this season. However... we have the defensive strength of a creme brulee.

MoM Macanuff just ahead of The Sig. Apart from the goals, MacAnuff's duel with their full back was the highlight of the game for me.

Don't agree with the substitution of The Sig. Why did Howard stay on. Great to see Marek lay on the assist FOR THE WINNER! More please Marek.

Entertainment 10/10
Nerves shot to pieces!

You got more from Marek. Having nearly lost the ball on the edge of his box, it was his superb diagonal pass out to Jobi on the left that began the build up for the first goal. It was noticeable that quite a few of our team ran over to congratulate him after The Sig scored.

Also produced a world class pass on 20 minutes to set Church completely free on goal. Not really having a go at Church as he is young and getting better with every game, but a quality striker i.e. any of those we let go/sold over the past couple of seasons would have buried that.

With 10 minutes to go he then threaded a pass through the eye of a needle to set Hal free in a good central position in the area but once again the finish was lacking.

And finally, took a yellow for the team in injury time to prevent a quick counter-attack down our left.

[West Stand Flash]

McAnuff motm by a country mile.
Brian Howard could be one of the worse centre midfielders we've ever had.
Oh and we won, fcking miracles !!

[Ian Royal]

Can someone confirm a few things please?

Beeb have McAnuff with both assists and HRK with the late yellow. Is this wrong?
Was it defo Sig that scored our first?

Sounded very positive performance first half and a positive result second. Fans were in great voice by the sounds of it at the end.

[Readingfanman]

Can someone confirm a few things please?

Beeb have McAnuff with both assists and HRK with the late yellow. Is this wrong?
Was it defo Sig that scored our first?

Sounded very positive performance first half and a positive result second. Fans were in great voice by the sounds of it at the end.

HRK booked at the end. Defo Sig scored.

[Chaney]

amazed how many people were leaving with 5 minutes to go..1st home win for 10 months, I wanted to be there to see it.

[Royalee]

Great first 20 minutes or so, we should have been well out of sight by then. Disagreed with Kebe coming in for Rasiak although I can at least see the thinking behind it in that Blackpool play that way and we wanted to match up against them, fair play to Brendan because we won.

Nervy last 5 minutes, had my head in my hands and missed Burgess' chance at the end! Still conceded too many chances (Ivar is no longer up to scratch I'm afraid), but you can't have it all your own way and we deserved the victory over the course of the 90 minutes (plus injury time!).

McAnuff and Tabb both shone and were the main contenders for man of the match. I also thought Church had a super game before he went off injured, although I'd have kept Rasiak starting with him as he proved yet again he's the most capable of scoring goals. Marek had a poor game for the most part but put in 2 sublime passes which led to the goals, which justify his selection on their own. Howard for me was the weak link - I'd like to see Karacan come in for him.

Overall another good performance (the 4th in a row!), great to get that home win and I was very pleased for Rodgers at the end. 7 points is a good return from the last 3 games, let's hope we can push on now! Come on URZ!

[winchester_royal]

It's days like this where everyone remembers why we love football. What a game.

The first 20 minutes was the best we've played in as long as I can remember. The passing, movement, tempo, etc, were all fantastic. They now seem to know what to do in the 4-3-3, and today showed just how effective it can be.

Federici - 6 - Distribution was decent, made one good save, but christ he's appalling when the ball's lumped into the box.
Tabb - 9 - Outstanding once again.
Pearce - 7 - Improved, but still not at the level of Mills or O'Dea for me.
Ingi - 7 - Solid enough.
Bertrand - 8 - Defended well, and attacked with vigour. Getting better with every game.
Howard - 8 - Don't understand all the stick he's getting TBH. Had to do a thankless role in the middle clearing up after Marek, but still got us going forward. His passion for the club is great.
Marek - 8 - Sloppy, but clinical when it mattered.
McAnuff - 10 - Outstanding once again. Worked so bloody hard, yet still produced moments of sublime quality.
Sig - 9 - Excellent, but was knackered after 60. Right decision to take him off.
Kebe - 7 - Decent while he was on.
Church - 7 - Offside too much, and missed a couple of good chances, but his all round play is superb for a guy his age.

HRK - 7 - Best performance in an RFC shirt so far.
Ras - 8 - Won every header, and took his goal brilliantly.
Kara - 7 - Did well.

We played the 5th placed team off the park for much of today, Rodgers is really starting to come good.

[PieEater]

We played well in the first half but Blackpool had the best chance and should have scored. Second half as usual we went to sleep after half time then score against the run of play. Their goal I thought Bertrand shouldn't have played them onside but I'd have to see the replay.

Ratings:
Fed - 6 nothing much to do
Plastic - 8 always looking to go forward and comfortable in defence
Ivar - 5 Ok, but always looked slow and lost out every time against Burgess
Pearce - 5 I have and irrational dislike of him, but despite passing it back to the keeper from the half way line, losing every header, and looking scared everytime he got the ball, at least he didn't totally cock it up.
Tabb - 5 quite poor today, not the usual committed performance
Kebe - 6 looked quite dangerous early on but clearly doesn;t like anything physical but actually won a few headers. HRK did ok as a replacement and if anything looks a better choice
Howard -5 maybe I miss what he does but was invisible for most of the game
Marek - 6 lots of great passes but a greater number of poor misplaced passes today
McAnuff - 8 good game from Jobi, looked our most dangerous threat and worked hard chasing
Sig - 7 not sure what he's done but the team seem to avoid passing to him. Got in some good positions and took his goal well
Church - -4 would get a higher rating but loses a point for every time he was OFFSIDE. Learn the rules and time your runs better! He's obviously got talent but seems like a total airhead who hasn't got a clue how to play an offside trap. Was OFFSIDE again for the first goal.

Subs:
HRK, 7 should probably replace Kebe
Rasiak - 7 loses a point for being OFFSIDE when he put Jobi through, but needs to start as he's obviously our lead striker.
Jem - 7 steady and did what we needed when we were clearly losing central midfield

Overall, ecstatic with the win, but don't get carried away we could of easily of lost this game, we had to rely on Blackpool's poor finishing for gilt edged chances. We had the majority of play, and chances but no real missed sitters when Blackpool had two or three. Our defence still looks really shaky.

Oh and I had to leave early as I really couldn't stand the tension after 10 months of torture waiting for this win.

[loyalroyal4life]

The potential of being world class came through with 2 goals and 3 points

Lets kick on up the table now!!


We need a striker though desparately as that game nearly ended up with the same old story!!

[JS28ZoD]

It's the first time in a long while that I've come back from a game and am now looking forward to the next one! We created lots of chances and got the ball into good areas. It's just a shame we didn't continue to dominate the rest of game like we did in the first 30 mins. McAnuff was outstanding, by far the best player on the pitch today.

Feds - 6 - Didn't inspire confidence or command the box but didn't make any glaring mistakes
Tabb - 8 - Good workrate as usual. Offered another option down the right, wanted the ball and was solid defensively. I worry about his height but he won the important headers today.
Pearce - 6 - Good distribution and a calming influence on the ball. But lacks pace and got caught the wrong side of the striker a number of times today.
Ingi - 5 - Losted the majority of headers and mistimed his jumps for a number of the bread and butter headers. I'm worried about Ingi, he looks like he's struggling at the moment.
Bertrand - 8 - Good support for Jobi down the left. Solid defensively and didn't put a foot wrong all game.
Sig - 9 - A great athlete and has quality on the ball. He always showed for the ball and covered the ground a good centre mid needs to in order to help out defensively and provide an attacking threat. Good composed finish after running the length of the pitch to get in the box. Marek and Howard could learn a thing or two from this lad.
Howard - 4 - I have never seen a professional footballer run so little. He gave the ball away cheaply and did not get tight to the opposition midfielders. He was a passenger the whole game. Plus points were the majority of his corners and a lovely through ball he played to the offside Church.
Marek - 7 - Set the tempo for the game and covered a lot of ground in the first half. Faded out in the second half but was wanting the ball and tried to make things happen. Great cross for the winner.
Kebe - 7 - Looked dangerous down the right and created chances. Won headers, tracked back and tried to make something happen. Good volley which was well saved. Shame he had to go off with a suspected injury.
McAnuff - 9 (MOM) - Had the blackpool right back beat from the first whistle. Every time he got the ball something happened. Fantastic workrate both defensively and offensively. Created a bundle of chances. He is our main man at the moment.
Church - 5 - Tried hard but got caught offside to easily at times. His control and passing wasn't the best and I think he lacks the pace to be a top striker. Missed a number of chances.

Subs
HRK - 7 - Ran at the full back and got a couple of good shots away.
Rasiak - 7 - Doesn't look like much of a player but he's in the right place at the right time and took his goal very well under the circumstances.
Karacan - 7 - Injected much needed energy to the midfield after Sig was taken off. Covers a lot of ground and wants to get on the ball. I would like to see him in the team ahead of Howard.

All in all I feel we were deserved winners today but we look suspect at the back. I personally think O'Dea and Mills are better centre backs than Pearce. I love Ingi but I would feel more comfortable with Mills and O'Dea at this moment in time.

[rg6royal]

Crackin' win today and fully deserved too.

[John Peel]

We're obviously watching completely different games. Best performance for a year IMO. Only thing I'd criticise is our need to get to the ball a bit quicker and force errors from the opposition a bit more. Put them under pressure (I question some of their fitness levels). Also, one or two shaky defensive moments (Pearce doesn't know how to hold the line for one).

Fed - 6. Good stopper and distribution fine. It's a brown pants job when a cross comes in though.
Bertrand - 7. Got forward a bit more today, which is great.
Pearce - 6. Fine, apart from above.
Inga - 7. Fine performance but I'd still play O'Dea and Mills.
Tabb - 8. Got stuck in and was solid.
Kebe - 7. Was doing OK until taken off. And actually made one or two challenges!
Marek - 8/9. See below.
Howard - 7/8. Starting to no longer dislike him! Getter better by the game.
Jobi - 9/10. Actually kept up his performance for the whole game. Excellent.
Sig - 7/8. Took the goal well but too lightweight at times. Also think he should've closed down Blackpool player that started the move for their goal. He just backed off, despite having team mates around him.
Church - 7. Got into great positions but offside more times than I've seen him this season. I still believe in the Church though!

Subs
Rasiak - 7. What can you say? Looked gangly when first came on but grew as the half went on.
HRK - 7. Again, grew as the game went on. Had no support when going down the wing though.
Karacan - 6. Not on long enough to make a significant impact but would still play ahead of Howard the next time the latter has a poor game.

Starting to question my own opinion after reading some of the comments about Marek. People need to realise someone of his ilk will always make passes that go astray. That's the case of any playmaker though! And actually, I thought he made less erroneous passes than any other game this year. Some of the passes were world-class FFS, defence splitting. Guess we have to just concede that Marek is always going to divide opinion. Still think people don't understand the role of a playmaker though.

[AthleticoSpizz]

[quote="JS28ZoD"]Howard - 4 - I have never seen a professional footballer run so little. He gave the ball away cheaply and did not get tight to the opposition midfielders. He was a passenger the whole game.



To give an assessment like that, I truly believe that you

(a) weren't there

(b)were confusing him with someone else

(c) should check with your optician...Howard wasn't wearing white boots today

[Royalwaster]

Agree about Marek - what you can see with him is that he's always trying to play a good pass. So, sometimes he thinks too much and that's how he gets caught on the ball or if no options are available he finds himself doing a bad pass. Also, sometimes he's just unlucky or the player he was planning to pass to didn't read it, so it looks like a pass into nowhere. Thought he was brilliant in first 20 minutes btw.

My biggest concern re. Marek - he just can't tackle.