Back from the game: MK Dons

[LWJ]

Meite must have got injured in the warm up because Kelly started the match in his place and the team looked reasonably balanced.

Was never in the squad, nor did he warm up

[East Grinstead Royal]

Btw, I can remember a game when the crowd were booing Matt Mills for playing it long out of defense all the time (he reacted badly as I recall) so you cant please all the people all the time.

It wasn't so much that he was booting the ball long that got the crowd to boo Mills, it was the fact that the ball kept ending up in the Lower West Stand.

[SCIAG]

Meite must have got injured in the warm up because Kelly started the match in his place and the team looked reasonably balanced.

Was never in the squad, nor did he warm up

He was announced as being in the team 30 minutes before kick off. I didn't count the players warming up but there was definitely a plan to play him at some point.

[TBM]

Meite must have got injured in the warm up because Kelly started the match in his place and the team looked reasonably balanced.

Was never in the squad, nor did he warm up

He was announced as being in the team 30 minutes before kick off. I didn't count the players warming up but there was definitely a plan to play him at some point.

I was in the 1871 and the team sheet came round - his name wasn't on there....

[Hendo]

Was never in the squad, nor did he warm up

He was announced as being in the team 30 minutes before kick off. I didn't count the players warming up but there was definitely a plan to play him at some point.

I was in the 1871 and the team sheet came round - his name wasn't on there....

It also wasn't tweeted out by RFC an hour before kick-off.....

[SCIAG]

Well that's all very strange. Either I was hallucinating (did anyone else notice this?) or the announcer and scoreboard were working off a very old teamsheet (in which case why not ask pick a replacement?). But I'm convinced he was announced as starting and Kelly was on the bench.

[Snowball]

Strange game, and IMO any criticism is unwarranted.

We started with a very new side, raw, many not played before
And we're frankly. Ravaged by injuries

I thought Rakels was doing OK until his injury, change 1.

Kelly was easy MoM until his nasty injury

Then we lost Cooper from the back four. He had to stay on and played up front. Also new boy Moore did his groin and our right back struggled with cramp. That is a hell of a lot for a scratch side to cope with, but cope with it they did. Last year we would have lost that 0-2

Harriet was excellent, up for it all game, not scared to shoot and got two good goals.

The new keeper looked very solid. A presence. One great double-fist punch clear, a few decent saves and a VG double save.

Some of our wing play was sublime and I have never seen so many opportunities to cross. Had their crosses been any good we would have scored six. Needless to say the crosses were awful. Except for a few.

The CF looked raw, needs a season on loan I thought. Maybe he was just. Unfit. Also seemed to lack confidence.

Thought The HULK, Gravenberch was fantastic at keeping the ball. If he could play the DM spot I'd love to see him there.

We need to get the crosses right, get a good goal scorer and we will do very decently this year

[LWJ]

Well that's all very strange. Either I was hallucinating (did anyone else notice this?) or the announcer and scoreboard were working off a very old teamsheet (in which case why not ask pick a replacement?). But I'm convinced he was announced as starting and Kelly was on the bench.

Apparently Fosu was meant to be on bench but was injured a few hours beforehand.. wasn't ever on team sheet though

[tmesis]

Some of our wing play was sublime and I have never seen so many opportunities to cross. Had their crosses been any good we would have scored six. Needless to say the crosses were awful.

surely the part in bold rather contradicts the "sublime" description.

The CF looked raw

Who is "the CF"?

[Lower West]

Mendes

[Nameless]

What was Fosu doing a few hours before ko to get injured ?
Did he pull a muscle in his jaw eating lunch or fall out of bed during his nap ?

[GazzTheSpaz]

Jaakola - 7 did fine really, a few good saves.
Watson - 6.5 one of our better players until he got knackered.
Moore - 5.5 put in the two best crosses all night but wasn't that impressed defensively
Cooper - 4 liability, always looked for the sideways pass first
Obita - 4 he's turning from a decent attacking fullback into a poor mans version of Gunter
Quinn - 5 runs around a lot and covers for players out of position well but lacks any real talent
Gravenberch - 6 was quite tidy and impressive bar his awful shooting
Kelly - 6 nice on the ball but delivery from corners was very poor
Rakels - 5 nothing to say really
Harriott - 6.5 two good goals but lacks a football brain; far too often he didn't see easy passes, played the wrong option, passed to offside players or slowed the play down unnecessarily. Still, could be a useful signing.
Mendes - 1 absolute carthorse. Missed 3 sitters, hold up play was very poor, every time a low cross came along the 6 yard box he was nowhere to be found - usually just plodding around the edge of the box. Seriously dreadful.

That's a harsh verdict on what was a patchwork side that was collectively short of match practice.

Pleasing to see that we have at last a style of play. With competition of places. The future looks a lot brighter.

Mendes may just be what we need.

What fkin game were you watching? Mendes was an absolute bag of schit! As other people have said he didn't come to meet any of the short crosses from Harriott (or anyone for that matter), he didn't find space to get the headers, he didn't get a shot on target from his feet and his fkin header was dreadful! I've never seen such an awful performance from a Reading player! If we had some half decent in that role we would have put the game to bed much earlier on.

As for the ref he was similarly as good at his job last night, what a uuanker!

[Caversham Royal]

Good end result against a fit and motivated MK side. The fitness levels of our players was a little concerning but other than that it was ok.

Some of the negativity on here is just outstanding. Urz13, royalty creeps in; I hope you get aggressive bollock cancer so you actually have something justifiable to whine about.

Aggressive bollock cancer is nothing to be making a 'little witticism' about.........

[John Smith]

Well that's all very strange. Either I was hallucinating (did anyone else notice this?) or the announcer and scoreboard were working off a very old teamsheet (in which case why not ask pick a replacement?). But I'm convinced he was announced as starting and Kelly was on the bench.

Apparently Fosu was meant to be on bench but was injured a few hours beforehand.. wasn't ever on team sheet though

There was a piece in GetReading saying Meite was injured on Monday, I believe

[Nameless]

Possibly the best value for money ever. I think there was +3, +8, +1, +3 minutes of additional time (although the stadium announcer is unintelligible and by the time he's said "The Fourth Official has indicated there will be Splsfdf minutes of additional time" he's usually just switched his board off). So that's 135 minutes of, well, let's call it football, for the princely sum of £7, that's only about 5p per minute! Plus a penalty shoot-out with a satisfactory result thrown in to boot. Bargain!
.

I'm sure I'm heading for a whoosh, but there was 120 minutes of football. You cannot have more than 90 (or 120) minutes.
It's not added time, it's just making up for time that has been lost.

[Sutekh]

Well that's all very strange. Either I was hallucinating (did anyone else notice this?) or the announcer and scoreboard were working off a very old teamsheet (in which case why not ask pick a replacement?). But I'm convinced he was announced as starting and Kelly was on the bench.

Meite was never anywhere near playing. He picked up an ankle injury on Sunday so the club knew from the off he was never going to be involved v the franchise

As has been mentioned Fosu was going to be substitute but picked up a minor knock late on and they never selected a replacement

Fosu is expected to be fit to play for the U23s v Man City though

[Hendo]

Jaakola - 7 did fine really, a few good saves.
Watson - 6.5 one of our better players until he got knackered.
Moore - 5.5 put in the two best crosses all night but wasn't that impressed defensively
Cooper - 4 liability, always looked for the sideways pass first
Obita - 4 he's turning from a decent attacking fullback into a poor mans version of Gunter
Quinn - 5 runs around a lot and covers for players out of position well but lacks any real talent
Gravenberch - 6 was quite tidy and impressive bar his awful shooting
Kelly - 6 nice on the ball but delivery from corners was very poor
Rakels - 5 nothing to say really
Harriott - 6.5 two good goals but lacks a football brain; far too often he didn't see easy passes, played the wrong option, passed to offside players or slowed the play down unnecessarily. Still, could be a useful signing.
Mendes - 1 absolute carthorse. Missed 3 sitters, hold up play was very poor, every time a low cross came along the 6 yard box he was nowhere to be found - usually just plodding around the edge of the box. Seriously dreadful.

That's a harsh verdict on what was a patchwork side that was collectively short of match practice.

Pleasing to see that we have at last a style of play. With competition of places. The future looks a lot brighter.

Mendes may just be what we need.

What fkin game were you watching? Mendes was an absolute bag of schit! As other people have said he didn't come to meet any of the short crosses from Harriott (or anyone for that matter), he didn't find space to get the headers, he didn't get a shot on target from his feet and his fkin header was dreadful! I've never seen such an awful performance from a Reading player! If we had some half decent in that role we would have put the game to bed much earlier on.

As for the ref he was similarly as good at his job last night, what a uuanker!

Was Tuesday night your first game?

[Sutekh]

TBF to Mendes he was injured over the summer and is not at the fitness levels of the other players currently, which may explain some of his poor showing. Thought he had a couple of really good touches in the game where you could think he is going to be pretty useful but the rest of the time he was hardly noticeable at best.

Hopefully another run out at Brighton next round and few more sub appearances will get him more in tune with things.

[Hendo]

TBF to Mendes he was injured over the summer and is not at the fitness levels of the other players currently, which may explain some of his poor showing. Thought he had a couple of really good touches in the game where you could think he is going to be pretty useful but the rest of the time he was hardly noticeable at best.

Hopefully another run out at Brighton next round and few more sub appearances will get him more in tune with things.

When you consider his limited game time, I think I pretty much agree with this. He did have some really nice touches and held the ball up pretty well.

Its going to take time to bed in and get up to speed with the English game, it isn't easy for everyone. But our mong fans obviously write him off as being shit as he didn't score 3 in his first start.

I still think it was a shame he didn't scuff the effort right at the end as it would probably have gone in and would have given him a big confidence boost.

[Lower West]

What fkin game were you watching? Mendes was an absolute bag of schit!

Obviously not the one you were. Never one to write a player until he's had time to settle in and adjust. Watching closely in the first half from where I was sitting. Mendes was constantly moving into space and playing on the shoulder of the last defender. Pointing to where he wanted the ball played. Returning from injury he's well behind in terms of match fitness. So won't see the best of him for another half a dozen games at least.