Back from the Game - Hull (H)

[Victor Meldrew]

Agree with most of what others have written.
I think MR Angry sits in the West Stand so would not have been able to see clearly what happened with Long near half-time.
As I saw it he had lost control of the ball and just kept running and in fact the two Hull players collided with each other as well as with Shane and he wasn't hurt and may not even have been fouled.
I do feel that he is now overdoing the diving-yes he does take knocks for the team and his bravery is without question.
Fortunately for RFC any scouts watching would have seen his terrible air-shot when through on goal to the left side and early on he dribbled across goal and ended up losing possession when he should have shot first time with his right foot.
His tussle with their centre-back (I gather it was only his 2nd game) was one of the few interesting aspects of a typical mid-table championship game.

Does anybody know what has happened with Antonio and Armstrong?
HRK comes on for 20 mintes and usually has one good run and then does nothing else.
I have said my piece before about having a proper left back and yesterday for an experienced player it was unforgivable,unprofessional and probably cost us 2 points.

As for Church I know that Pearcey stands up for him because he is Welsh but how ineffective was he yesterday?
The new lad looked more dangerous and more in tune with the team (he hasn't even trained with them)in 30 minutes than Church ,who has trained and played with them for years,did in 60 minutes.

Brian McD blamed the pitch for the performance-Brian I like you but we don't use the pitch with our long ball game.

Finally regarding Griff,Mills and Pearce-they have all been really solid these past few weeks.
Cardiff,QPR and Norwich will be real tests for them but if they keep up recent form we have a real chance of not getting beaten by all three.
The performances of those three plus Leigertwood and Long have been the plus marks recently but the rest do need to step up if we are to make the play-offs although FWIW I feel 10th or thereabouts is our likely finishing position unless our mini spending spree carries on and we bring in two or three more to (as Hoop Blah always says)improve the team rather than just fill out the squad.

[PEARCEY]

In fairness Victor I have defended Long(Irish), Kebe (Malian) and Pearce (Scottish) just as vigorously Its more than just a Welsh thing. Honest guv.

[Victor Meldrew]

In fairness Victor I have defended Long(Irish), Kebe (Malian) and Pearce (Scottish) just as vigorously Its more than just a Welsh thing. Honest guv.

I'll believe you if you tell me that Adie Williams wasn't your favourite Reading player of all time and that Andy Legg wasn't one of our best ever signings along with Nigel Vaughan?
Those are the only Welsh players (Bodin doesn't count as he was never a footballer) I can think of this morning and our Welsh keeper,Dave Jones,was just a bit before your time.

[RoyalBlue]

he, quite simply messed up

it happens

Yes it does, and far too frequently with Harte.

List the goals this season that Harte has been directly/solely responsible for. It's a very short list.

Of course it is, IF you exclude a left back failing to keep track of his man or being left dead for pace/turned inside out from your selective statistics! The guy is not good enough (on a consistent basis) for this level.

The 'mistake' yesterday was absolutely shocking. More lack of brain and intelligence than ability or a straight forward 'error' like a keeper fumbling a shot or cross.

We seem to be falling into the trap of going more for increased numbers of cheap players rather than fewer, more expensive and better quality ones. We now have three left backs, none of whom are probably good enough on a consistent basis.

[RoyalBlue]

Interesting that McDermott was bemoaning the condition of the pitch in his post match interviews yesterday. Once again our tenants appear to be causing us some problems.

There were definitely occasions yesterday when bobbles caused us problems.

And before people state the wear isn't down to the rugby, look at the tv pictures and note, for example, the wear on the left side of the six yard box (looking at the goal,) which very definitely would not be a typical high wear area for football.


Fact: The more you use something, the greater the level of wear on it. What's more, if your carpet already has tatty patches on it, the quicker it will deteriorate with further use!

[muddyfeet]

Does anyone else have an irrational hatred of Koren, for some reason he just makes me

[PEARCEY]

In fairness Victor I have defended Long(Irish), Kebe (Malian) and Pearce (Scottish) just as vigorously Its more than just a Welsh thing. Honest guv.

I'll believe you if you tell me that Adie Williams wasn't your favourite Reading player of all time and that Andy Legg wasn't one of our best ever signings along with Nigel Vaughan?
Those are the only Welsh players (Bodin doesn't count as he was never a footballer) I can think of this morning and our Welsh keeper,Dave Jones,was just a bit before your time.

Gilksey has always been my favourite player followed closely by Fozzy. Although Michael Meaker runs them both close(oh and Gareth Davies)

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Does anyone else have an irrational hatred of Koren, for some reason he just makes me

Very good player at this level.

Continuing on Hull players, James Chester at centre-back was very good.

[Ian Royal]

In fairness Victor I have defended Long(Irish), Kebe (Malian) and Pearce (Scottish) just as vigorously Its more than just a Welsh thing. Honest guv.

I'll believe you if you tell me that Adie Williams wasn't your favourite Reading player of all time and that Andy Legg wasn't one of our best ever signings along with Nigel Vaughan?
Those are the only Welsh players (Bodin doesn't count as he was never a footballer) I can think of this morning and our Welsh keeper,Dave Jones,was just a bit before your time.

Gilksey has always been my favourite player followed closely by Fozzy. Although Michael Meaker runs them both close(oh and Gareth Davies)

Horah! It's not just me and Donface who like the Meaks then.

[PEARCEY]

^ Sorry to disappoint Ian but Meaker was nothing more than a fancy dan.

[brendywendy]

I thought we deserved the point as Hull certainly didn't deserve to win after Harte had gifted them their goal.

I thought Church and Kebe, in particular, looked like they hadn't turned up and it worried me that they might both know they are off soon - but hopefully that is not the case at all. I don't know what is wrong with Kebe - he didn't even watch the ball from goal kicks and seemed disinterested in really taking people on yesterday. Church needs to learn the offside rule asap. Why was Long on the wing for much of the second half and even taking throw-ins? He should have been getting in the box and having service to him, looked to me like he was thinking he had to do Kebe's job.

Mills, Pearce and Leigertwood were all solid - but again, I'd struggle to name a MOM.

Ref was abysmal. Same for the Linos.

How someone can give Hull Fans 7 and ours 5 I don't understand - Hull fans only woke up after they scored.

i got the feeling kebe was gagging to come off after hge took a couple of knocks. limped around alot. looking att the bench, and looking huffy when his number wasnt on the board- also think thats why kebe went in the middle for a bit, cos his legs had gone, so long had to do his running for him.

[brendywendy]

I'll believe you if you tell me that Adie Williams wasn't your favourite Reading player of all time and that Andy Legg wasn't one of our best ever signings along with Nigel Vaughan?
Those are the only Welsh players (Bodin doesn't count as he was never a footballer) I can think of this morning and our Welsh keeper,Dave Jones,was just a bit before your time.

Gilksey has always been my favourite player followed closely by Fozzy. Although Michael Meaker runs them both close(oh and Gareth Davies)

Horah! It's not just me and Donface who like the Meaks then.

i also list the meaks as a guilty pleasure.
misunderstood footballing genius

[brendywendy]

dominated the game, but created little.didnt deserve to lose-especially with that goal. bad mnistake from harte. but fair play for putting it right.
pearce and mills looking pretty awesome, griff solid.legs, pretty awesome, apart from tenty mins in the 2nd half.
karacan again pretty good, but its noticeable that legs achieves more with much less bustle.
they are looking a good combo though.
jobi and kebe both blew hot and cold- but did ok- im happy that jobi tried a few shots from distance- we need more of that sometimes.
lomng worked his tits off, and managed to carve opportunities through only his effort,but won very little in th eair
church- offside.
ref/lino- very poor
crowd/atmosphere-decent

Fortunately for RFC any scouts watching would have seen his terrible air-shot when through on goal to the left side and early on he dribbled across goal and ended up losing possession when he should have shot first time with his right foot.

ball was bouncing horribly and couldnt get it under control, didnt look like an air shot to me-just scuffed it didnt he?- harsh imo

His tussle with their centre-back (I gather it was only his 2nd game) was one of the few interesting aspects of a typical mid-table championship game.

i didnt think long won single thing off him in the air

HRK comes on for 20 mintes and usually has one good run and then does nothing else.

thought he posed a constant threat, and beat rosenior 3-4 times

i have said my piece before about having a proper left back and yesterday for an experienced player it was unforgivable,unprofessional and probably cost us 2 points.

he did well for the whole game, switched off for 2 seconds- terrible error, and he knows it, if he made them alot he wouldnt be playing

[Ian Royal]

WTF did Harte think he was doing for their goal?

[Sarah Star]

WTF did Harte think he was doing for their goal?

Exactly what I was saying - well, almost - at the time.

Church didn't have a good game, but maybe that's to do with getting match time on the pitch. Good to know we can draw a match like that when we don't play well, but what was the thinking behind having Manset as a sub when he'd only just met the team?

[handbags_harris]

Hull got the point they came for. Set up with a 4-6-0 formation and rarely ventured into the Reading half for the first 45 mins.

Meanwhile we have total control of the game, pass it around nicely but only create a few clear chances.

And there, sir, is exactly why we didn't create many clear cut chances. You will not see many clear cut chances created in a game where one team packs midfield and defence and literally asks for their hosts to come onto them. I really don't understand why people expect Reading to carve open an equally matched team at will when they set themselves up like that. We're really not that good!!!

[brendywendy]

greatest teams in the world can struggle with those tactics sometimes

[Snowball]

Absolutely, Handbags

Be prepared for more games like this, with away sides not being prepared to play.

We will have to try harder to win away, scoring goals on the break

[Victor Meldrew]

Absolutely, Handbags

Be prepared for more games like this, with away sides not being prepared to play.

We will have to try harder to win away, scoring goals on the break

We tend to play on the break both home and away.
Yesterday Hull did not push up that far so we couldn't hit them on the break.
Now if we had that passing midfielder that you and I have been on about for ages........

[Millsy]

In fairness Victor I have defended Long(Irish), Kebe (Malian) and Pearce (Scottish) just as vigorously Its more than just a Welsh thing. Honest guv.

I'm a fan of the Welsh and have called Churchy a hero for his vital goals (in Welsh!) but I can't defend his performance yesterday. Judging by his post-match interview neither can he. Doesn't mean he's bad, it just means he had a bad day.