BFTG - Ipshit H

[Zip]

Anybody else see when Meite's shirt was grabbed tightly in the first half. Another day would have been a penalty.

Yes, There was also a handball leading up to Barrow’s chance and of course the Barrow penalty appeal.

[muirinho]

Not going to rate because I'll get mad all over again, just to say the only thing worse than Reading's first half, was the referee's performance.

Clement hanging on by the skin of his teeth I reckon.

[Lower West]

Clement hanging on by the skin of his teeth I reckon.

I like his honesty. Unlike Stam is totally upfront about the team's performance. Calling the first half performance embarrassing live on radio was spot on. Sending a clear message to some of the players.

[Kitsondinho]

Clement hanging on by the skin of his teeth I reckon.

I like his honesty. Unlike Stam is totally upfront about the team's performance. Calling the first half performance embarrassing live on radio was spot on. Sending a clear message to some of the players.

Nothing is changing though. He may be honest, but he is also doing a poor job.

[Lower West]

Clement hanging on by the skin of his teeth I reckon.

I like his honesty. Unlike Stam is totally upfront about the team's performance. Calling the first half performance embarrassing live on radio was spot on. Sending a clear message to some of the players.

Nothing is changing though. He may be honest, but he is also doing a poor job.

Disagree. Last year we scored 48 in 46 games . 13 of which were against the relegated teams. Which is a net 35 in 40. Less than one a game.

So far 24 in 17 games. That's a vast improvement. Saw many games last year where we didn't just didn't look like scoring at all!

[Zip]

I like his honesty. Unlike Stam is totally upfront about the team's performance. Calling the first half performance embarrassing live on radio was spot on. Sending a clear message to some of the players.

Nothing is changing though. He may be honest, but he is also doing a poor job.

Disagree. Last year we scored 48 in 46 games . 13 of which were against the relegated teams. Which is a net 35 in 40. Less than one a game.

So far 24 in 17 games. That's a vast improvement. Saw many games last year where we didn't just didn't look like scoring at all!

That’s negated as we are conceding more goals this season.

[URZZZZ]

Ratings:

Jaakkola - Maybe should have done better for the first goal, second was unlucky. Kicking was atrocious 4

Yiadom - Really poor yet again 3
Moore - Dreadful. His defending for the second goal was abysmal and his play on the ball is so poor and why is he insistent on passing the ball to Blackett when he's being marked 3
O'Shea - Few decent moments, looks a bit past it now 4
Blackett - Arguably our worst player in the first half, looked like he couldn't care less. Second half was my MOTM, some nice passes sprayed around and a fantastic last ditch tackle 5

Kelly - Just don't see it with him, Stam's football is too ingrained in him, him along with Moore seem obsessed with three yard short freekicks to someone in a worse position than them 4
Bacuna - Didn't do much, fantastic ball for Meite's goal 5
Rinomhota - Don't mean to be harsh but if he's the best the academy can offer right now, then no wonder Clement doesn't play them. Unfortunately, he was predictably poor and miles too lightweight 3

Barrow - I give up trying to criticize him, the bloke's useless with a bad attitude, and to top it off missed a near open goal but some fans are insistent he's as good as Messi. Getting to the Aluko stage in terms of uselessness now 2
Baldock - Just as bad as Barrow but with an assist, needs to be dropped 3
Meite - He's not as quick as you think, he's not as strong as you think, but if everyone had the same desire as Meite, we'd be a lot higher up. Don't think he had that good a game today tbh but he's scored two goals, both neat finishes 6

Subs :
McCleary - Really good, offered width and linked the play well 8
Swift - Didn't really do much, should be ahead of Kelly 5
McNulty - found some pockets of space really well, impressed 7

Few thoughts :
1. Harsh on Walker, I could understand if Jaakkola was a lot better, but all the keepers are similar ability
2. Fullbacks, none can defend, would be tempted to recall Gunter to link up with McCleary, or try Ilori as RB again. Whilst I think Blackett was a scapegoat last season, you know you're in danger when he's been one of the POTS candidates so far and people are calling for him to start each week, he simply lacks a brain
3. Some players (Yiadom, Ilori and Barrow in particular) seem to get an easy ride from the fans, Yiadom hasn't had a good game since Hull now and people are calling for Ilori to start every week not forgetting how bad we were at the back with him there as well
4. We need a CDM, our midfielders are bullied
5. McNulty > Baldock, really good in his brief spell and Baldock just isn't performing
6. Starting to think there's a clause on Aluko's contract saying he has to be in the squad, that's now six games he's been on the bench and only played 6 minutes. Surely Sims or even Loader would be a better option?
7. Still Clement in, I would only really sack him if there was someone pre arranged to step in, there's no point changing in the hope it'll get better because most probably it won't. Had a few games where we looked half decent with Ezatolahi, Bacuna and Swift as a midfield three, really missing Eza. I still think Clement can turn it around

[Snowflake Royal]

We don’t have to play 3 in the middle. Why just pick 3 underperforming players for the sake of it

Bacuna + Kelly or Swift and play 4-4-2 with McCleary wide right and Sims/Barrow wide left

Bacuna has been the best of our midfield (excepted Eza) by a distance this season imo

Bacuna's rarely impressed me tbh, but he has certainly contributed to our goals.

[Snowflake Royal]

Kelly's problem is his height. He's so short he simply can't cover ground quick enough compared to most players because of his little legs.

Where do you play him then. Has to be in a midfield three. As too lightweight to win his battles.

He's fine in midfield. Just don't expect him to carry the ball forward, that's going to be someone else's job.

[Snowflake Royal]

We don’t have to play 3 in the middle. Why just pick 3 underperforming players for the sake of it

Bacuna + Kelly or Swift and play 4-4-2 with McCleary wide right and Sims/Barrow wide left

Bacuna has been the best of our midfield (excepted Eza) by a distance this season imo

Exactly. Heaven forbid we should play two upfront at home against the team bottom of the division.

This is a bit of a silly comment, given our current shape is basically three upfront.

[Zip]

We don’t have to play 3 in the middle. Why just pick 3 underperforming players for the sake of it

Bacuna + Kelly or Swift and play 4-4-2 with McCleary wide right and Sims/Barrow wide left

Bacuna has been the best of our midfield (excepted Eza) by a distance this season imo

Exactly. Heaven forbid we should play two upfront at home against the team bottom of the division.

This is a bit of a silly comment, given our current shape is basically three upfront.

I’m talking about playing two strikers. Barrow is not a striker and I don’t consider Baldock to be an out and out striker.

[Snowflake Royal]

Exactly. Heaven forbid we should play two upfront at home against the team bottom of the division.

This is a bit of a silly comment, given our current shape is basically three upfront.

I’m talking about playing two strikers. Barrow is not a striker and I don’t consider Baldock to be an out and out striker.

Well I can't help you if you think Baldock isn't a striker, especially seeing as he's blatantly the one who'd be playing with Meite if we played 4-4-2, as in fact he did second half when we played 4-4-2.

[Jackson Corner]

For those who said Ipswich played well in the first half they did. But we make every team look good, the defending and our sheer inability to keep hold of the ball was just embarrassing. For the 2nd week running we conceded two goals that would not look out of place in the Reading Sunday league. Whilst we are scoring some terrific goals and Mietie is starting to look a real handful. Unless we can improve defensively I really can’t see us staying up.

[Zip]

This is a bit of a silly comment, given our current shape is basically three upfront.

I’m talking about playing two strikers. Barrow is not a striker and I don’t consider Baldock to be an out and out striker.

Well I can't help you if you think Baldock isn't a striker, especially seeing as he's blatantly the one who'd be playing with Meite if we played 4-4-2, as in fact he did second half when we played 4-4-2.

Baldock has been played on the flank in most recent games in a 4-5-1 formation.

[Snowflake Royal]

I’m talking about playing two strikers. Barrow is not a striker and I don’t consider Baldock to be an out and out striker.

Well I can't help you if you think Baldock isn't a striker, especially seeing as he's blatantly the one who'd be playing with Meite if we played 4-4-2, as in fact he did second half when we played 4-4-2.

Baldock has been played on the flank in most recent games in a 4-5-1 formation.

4-3-3 IMO. But for the entire second half today, when McCleary came on for Rinomhota he played as a striker. And is a striker.

[Zip]

Well I can't help you if you think Baldock isn't a striker, especially seeing as he's blatantly the one who'd be playing with Meite if we played 4-4-2, as in fact he did second half when we played 4-4-2.

Baldock has been played on the flank in most recent games in a 4-5-1 formation.

4-3-3 IMO. But for the entire second half today, when McCleary came on for Rinomhota he played as a striker. And is a striker.

I knew you would say that. The trouble is you can blur the two formations.
I prefer Baldock out wide. He isn’t prolific enough to be an out and out striker.
Maybe time to give McNulty a start ahead of him.

[bcubed]

Anybody else see when Meite's shirt was grabbed tightly in the first half. Another day would have been a penalty.

Yes it was right in front of me and I commented in the match thread at the time. It's the sort of thing that VAR was picking up in the World Cup. Unfortunately you need to go to ground to get the decision and Meite stayed on his feet

[Cape Town Royal]

Elphick conceded 3 today

We were appalling first half, though was impressed with Ipswich. The back 4 and keeper - Jesus they were sh1t. Time for the O Shea experiment to end. Yiadom is on dreadful form and that was Blackett at his worst (but he did well at CB later on)

Midfield was rancid - though Kelly kept his head and did ok. Rino utterly invisible and rightly subbed. Front 3 did ok

How and why do were keep putting in halves like that?

Second half - McCleary coming on have us so much better shape. Said a couple of times recently that we should go 4-4-2 and miss out the midfield. Decent second half from Bacuna and Kelly. Barrow didn’t have a great day and Baldock was poor second half I thought inc some poor missed chances

Basically
3s Yiadom, Moore, O Shea, Rino
4s Blackett, Jaakkola, Baldock, Barrow
5 Bacuna
6 Swift, McNulty
7 McCleary
8 Meite

Meite is becoming one hell of a player

Need to be a lot lot better in the next month

+1 Agree with pretty much all that including the ratings.. Only thing I would add was I thought we made them look good by standing off them for most of the first half... if you give players time and space, they will knock it about... They are bottom of the league, we should have started fast and never given them time to get settled.. when we upped the pace in the second half their playing style crumbled, they started going long and at times looked panicked and we saw how poor they are... We blew that game in the first half!

Good half time change.. Shape was better and McCleary gave us much better balance...

[John Madejski's Wallet]

That was horsesh*t.

Swift gently knocking a corner to the first man when we were trying to get back into the game with a few mins left really summed it up for me. Clueless performance from most of them. I particularly enjoyed O'Shea going off and Blackett & Moore spending ages shrugging at each other and trying to figure out what they were all supposed to do.

I really want a 442 but would be tempted to have Blackett left wing tbh.

[leon]

That was horsesh*t.

Swift gently knocking a corner to the first man when we were trying to get back into the game with a few mins left really summed it up for me. Clueless performance from most of them. I particularly enjoyed O'Shea going off and Blackett & Moore spending ages shrugging at each other and trying to figure out what they were all supposed to do.

I really want a 442 but would be tempted to have Blackett left wing tbh.

For all the Blackett hate I think he was ok today. Better the the rest of the defence who were shit. He also at least is mobile and looks to get forward. Puts in a decent cross,

Yet again no midfield.

Yeah Kelly did a couple of decent passes but the rest of the game he was lightweight, off the pace and lacked any movement to give the defence an out ball.

It was shit.