Back from the game (Fulham)

[Sanguine]

About as turgid a 2-2 as you are ever likely to see.
Hector was class, but you can see he is a defender playing a more advanced role. Our attack was flat and I don’t rate Norwood on the attacking side of the centre circle. He’s better, imho, in that ‘Guthrie role’.
Rakels was poor. Came on and threw himself on the floor four times.
Agreed on previous point re McCleary – but what made, say, Forster, so good was his partnership with Murty on the right. Gunter has little to no attacking flair, we can’t just give the ball to GMac and expect something Messi-like.

Talking of Messi, Ola John has something of the Rougier about his feet, seems to be able to beat his man at will. Decent crosses too. I hope we sign him in the summer.

Kermorgant worked hard, but he’s wasted up front on his own. We miss Vydra. In fact we missed the pace of Piazon and Williams too. That has to be one of the slowest Reading sides ever to have taken the field.

[Top Flight]

I agree with alot of the comments that we don't look an accomplished team at the moment. I don't think that you can blame players like Gunter and McCleary individually for this. Because of weaknesses in all sorts of areas it affects the way players like Gunter and McCleary can play and the effect that they can have on the game. I think our most effective 11, not necessarily the one with our best players, but the team most likely to get positive results consistently at the moment if everyone was fit would be this:

In a 4-4-2 shape...

GK: Al Habsi
RB: Gunter
LB: Obita
CB: McShane
CB: Hector
RW: McCleary / Kanu
CM: Williams
CM: Quinn
LW: John
CF: Kermorgant
CF: Vydra

The thing is, not everyone is fit and McDermott has to make the best of what he's got. And what he's got right now is an old man up front with no pace who is missing decent chances regularly. If he had slid the ball inside the post rather than just wide of it we'd have been 3-1 on Fulham and cruising to victory. The details matter in the end. He is having to play a 4-5-1 type formation or variants of it to cover weaknesses that we have in midfield. With players that don't have enough of an all round game.

4-4-2 is an effective formation if you have the right players who do the right things. Leicester are playing 4-4-2 and flying away with the Premier League. When Danny Williams is missing, I think we can't play a 4-4-2 with Norwood and Quinn. You need a stronger box to box man in there. Ola John doesn't defend so you have to have Hector providing additional steel. Then that means we can only use one man up front. And Kermorgant is no Nicky Forster. We just have to soldier on until the end of the season with what we've got right now and hope Brian can get the players that we need during the summer.

Anyone who thinks this side is anywhere near the 2006 team is just totally wrong. There are weaknesses everywhere in this side. They are not an all round team that can find the balance between defence and attack. They are great at some things and weak at other things and that is our problem with these players. Our midtable position is exactly where we deserve to be with this group.

[Maneki Neko]

Played well in patches. So did they.2 soft pens.2-2 about fair.

I don't think either penalty was soft. They were both obvious penalties with the ref having no choice.

I said soft, not harsh,
letter of the law, probably pens, sure.
but they just looked soft,ie players going over easy when leant on

[Maneki Neko]

Fredericks on their right wing was very quick although Obita, who had a good game, kept him fairly quiet even though he couldn't match him for pace.

every time they got the ball on that side it caused us problems, and the bloke had obita on toast for the entire game, waltzing past him at will.
(im giving Ola some of the blame here for lack of support)

Don't get the love for HRK though, he's playing well .

erm.......so you do get the love then...

[Maneki Neko]

.........really?

A game where another 3 points keeps us vaguely interested in the play-offs

Unbeaten in 6......play the players.....keep the momentum going

^^^that


but id still be rotating a little

[Nameless]

Played well in patches. So did they.2 soft pens.2-2 about fair.

I don't think either penalty was soft. They were both obvious penalties with the ref having no choice.

I said soft, not harsh,
letter of the law, probably pens, sure.
but they just looked soft,ie players going over easy when leant on

Certainly our pen was very soft given Fulham were about to get a goal kick when their centre back de died to give HRK a shove.
Their pen looked a bit more nailed on, although if Obita had any defensive brain it wouldn't have happened. he absolutely stitched Cooper up....

[leon]

having seen the replay of their penanlty and it looks even worse than it did live. What on earth was Cooper thinking?

[Maneki Neko]

having seen the replay of their penanlty and it looks even worse than it did live. What on earth was Cooper thinking?

when you have long gangly legs, theyre obviously quite hard to control

[Ian Royal]

having seen the replay of their penanlty and it looks even worse than it did live. What on earth was Cooper thinking?

when you have long gangly legs, theyre obviously quite hard to control

I'm not sure how relevant that is when it was obviously the blatant arm out holding and pulling at the guy that caused the pen. Lunacy from Cooper. As bad as their defender's blatant shove.

No way HRK was offside for his second. Ahead of the defender yes, behind John when the ball was played though based on the highlights.

HRK though at fault for losing his man at the corner for their first. Al-Habsi got hands to it and maybe could have done better.

[Maneki Neko]

having reassessed both pens on replay, id like to downgrade my assessment from soft to soft-headed, from both defenders.

[bcubed]

having seen the replay of their penanlty and it looks even worse than it did live. What on earth was Cooper thinking?

when you have long gangly legs, theyre obviously quite hard to control

I'm not sure how relevant that is when it was obviously the blatant arm out holding and pulling at the guy that caused the pen. Lunacy from Cooper. As bad as their defender's blatant shove.

No way HRK was offside for his second. Ahead of the defender yes, behind John when the ball was played though based on the highlights.

HRK though at fault for losing his man at the corner for their first. Al-Habsi got hands to it and maybe could have done better.

I haven't seen the highlights but at the time it looked like a penalty in the making.
Cooper was struggling to keep up and as soon as his arm went out a penalty was inevitable

Don't think Al Habsi could have done much with the shot - it was pretty much point blank range

[Victor Meldrew]

.........really?

A game where another 3 points keeps us vaguely interested in the play-offs

Unbeaten in 6......play the players.....keep the momentum going

Nowhere near the play-offs, concentrate on the FA Cup.
Players nowadays seem to like their little rests so a fresh (and best) side for Friday night.

[Maneki Neko]

.........really?

A game where another 3 points keeps us vaguely interested in the play-offs

Unbeaten in 6......play the players.....keep the momentum going

Nowhere near the play-offs, concentrate on the FA Cup.
Players nowadays seem to like their little rests so a fresh (and best) side for Friday night.

id say that given brains record, its not sensible to dismiss the playoffs just yet.

[Kuhl_Runnings]

Thinking in terms of our biggest match of the season (so far) coming up on Friday I believe that Palace's weakness is in the two full-back positions so I hope that Brian goes with McCleary and John as the two starters out wide-I don't think McCleary is that good as an impact sub (as we saw yesterday) whereas John showed that he is now fit enough to play 90 minutes and he does make things happen.

Palace haven't won a league game since before Christmas!! They are now only 9 points above the drop zone so maybe that will weigh on their minds? Nice to see McCarthy giving us a hand in this regard by gifting Liverpool a goal today!! I don't know what is wrong with their No 1 keeper, Hennessey, but it may be McCarthy in goal for them on Friday. If so we will know to pressurise him when he has the ball at his feet!!

Hennessey is a shite keeper that's why.

[CountryRoyal]

.........really?

A game where another 3 points keeps us vaguely interested in the play-offs

Unbeaten in 6......play the players.....keep the momentum going

Nowhere near the play-offs, concentrate on the FA Cup.
Players nowadays seem to like their little rests so a fresh (and best) side for Friday night.

id say that given brains record, its not sensible to dismiss the playoffs just yet.

I would say that given this particular team's inconsistencies, past performances and position in the table, then yes, it is perfectly sensible to dismiss the playoffs.

Our recent "up turn" in form has consisted of two home nil-nil draws, admittedly one againsg Burnley, 2 narrow wins over 2 of the worst league teams in the league and a draw, at home, against a team flirting dangerously close to relegation.

I haven't seen anything to suggest we are anything but utterly incapable of winning enough games to get into the playoffs, and anyone that thinks we do purely after back to back wins and a good FA Cup performance are a tad naive.

[Maneki Neko]

Nowhere near the play-offs, concentrate on the FA Cup.
Players nowadays seem to like their little rests so a fresh (and best) side for Friday night.

id say that given brains record, its not sensible to dismiss the playoffs just yet.

I would say that given this particular team's inconsistencies, past performances and position in the table, then yes, it is perfectly sensible to dismiss the playoffs.

Our recent "up turn" in form has consisted of two home nil-nil draws, admittedly one againsg Burnley, 2 narrow wins over 2 of the worst league teams in the league and a draw, at home, against a team flirting dangerously close to relegation.

I haven't seen anything to suggest we are anything but utterly incapable of winning enough games to get into the playoffs, and anyone that thinks we do purely after back to back wins and a good FA Cup performance are a tad naive.

we looked worse and were starting from lower in his first spell.

as for position in the table? we have fewer points to make up than the number of games left.
theres always a chance.

i certainly wont be dismissing it till the number of points to make up outnumber the number of games remaining

[Ian Royal]

id say that given brains record, its not sensible to dismiss the playoffs just yet.

I would say that given this particular team's inconsistencies, past performances and position in the table, then yes, it is perfectly sensible to dismiss the playoffs.

Our recent "up turn" in form has consisted of two home nil-nil draws, admittedly one againsg Burnley, 2 narrow wins over 2 of the worst league teams in the league and a draw, at home, against a team flirting dangerously close to relegation.

I haven't seen anything to suggest we are anything but utterly incapable of winning enough games to get into the playoffs, and anyone that thinks we do purely after back to back wins and a good FA Cup performance are a tad naive.

we looked worse and were starting from lower in his first spell.

as for position in the table? we have fewer points to make up than the number of games left.
theres always a chance.

i certainly wont be dismissing it till the number of points to make up outnumber the number of games remaining

Results had picked up much quicker in his first spell and it was clear our only issues were short-term mismanagement by Rodgers. And we didn't make the play offs.

[Maneki Neko]

Yeah. I think im aware of that

This isnt a case of FACT. Its a case of a difference in outlook/attitude.

For me, with Brians past record, the ability shown by these players during our brief spell of form, the number of games left/points needed to make up
And the fact that only another brief spell of form would put us in contention, Means I wont be dismissing it yet. Thats it.

U negative nellies can do what u like

[Ian Royal]

It's not negative to have written off a pie in the sky outcome and instead focus on reality and the legitimate positives for next season.

[genome]

IN for 4 trips to Wembley this year