Mixed feelings after that game; we lost, we (occasionally) looked the more threatening, we have some serious rebuilding to do, we could have sneaked a draw... Ratings: Mannone: 7 Did his job well enough, would have been an 8 if he’d got lucky with their goal Gunter: 5 Needs to CLOSE DOWN. Richards: 4 At fault for the goal (perhaps?) and looked an academy player playing up a level Moore: 7 Bossed it and, had we won, he’d get an 8 -(not a centre forward though) Illori: 7 Moments of class when he steps into midfield, benefitted by Moore’s confidence. Some good blocks and good tackles. Edwards: 5 Looked like I do in midfield, can’t… More →
I have the experience of watching Reading for twenty years or so, which has given me a decent enough basis for recognising when football is good or bad. One thing I don’t have, is the experience and/or knowledge of someone who has worked in football coaching or management as a full time vocation. With all of this in mind, i am really struggling to underatand what has happened in the last four fixtures - all of which I have watched. We have come out with 6 points from a possible 12. Three of these matches have been against some teams in great form (QPR, Villa and Fulham), and the fourth against a team who have been an ever present… More →
Haha, good question. Agree!
Just back A bit disappointing that the first Fulham Attack leads to a goal. We bossed the game before that. Although not having to work their keeper much we seemed to have overall control of the game. Fulham huffed and puffed and are probably relieved to have gained three points. I have seen much better teams than them and funnily Cardiff aren't one of them. Our fans have found their Mojo again and I thought on the whole were pretty good. Fulham fans were dreadful. Worse than ever. Those stupid clappy things are just annoying. At the end of the day another game gone and the teams below have one less game to catch us up. Happy Days!
Totally disagree with this - the defence look far more assured on the ball knowing that they can hit it long if they need to. That said, it's by no means the go to option and you can see they are playing the ball out when possible. All in all, a decent defensive performance let down by one defensive lapse. At first viewing it appeared to be Richards who lost his man but I would need to see it again. We never threatened but I don't think they looked much like scoring either. Clement seems to be doing a good job of getting us organised and you can't argue much with that. The red cards are a worry, although I thought Bacuna could have… More →
Saw some helmets wearing half and half Reading/Fulham scarfs :oops:
I was very drunk and paid little attention to the game but what I did see was that whilst we didn’t do anything, we also made Fulham look distinctly fucking average and their goal was soft as shit (though they did hit the post). Wont do players but will talk about support. Thought we were for the most part excellent, really up for it and had a laugh, was like the reading of old - missed that feeling. Had a mild disagreement with a fan about his view of the piazon chants queuing up for beer. He was really affronted by them, didn’t understand it myself. The chants were against piazon, not condoning his actions, he seemed to have got… More →
You've actually made my point all the more puzzling with your assessment above. I think rather than dwelling too much on my point about how we clear out of defence, I was focusing more on how very little the style has changed under Clement yet we've managed to pick up two favourable results - you've reaffirmed that even further with the point you made. I suppose I'm just perplexed how a team who couldn't buy a win under a previous manager have made a change that has resulted in much less goal scoring chances being created, but the results have improved. :?:
Be intersting to see how we play against a lesser team (ie the next 3) particularly if we don’t get an early goal The games have panned out as they have at home due to us scoring an early goal, and away as we’ve played 2 decent teams
Defensive organisation. Keeping clean sheets gives you a chance of winning a game with a moment of magic/opposition error/set piece as has proved to be the case in the two home games.. The irony is that we looked far more likely to score prior to Clement yet fans were bored to death by the way we went about it. Seems it's far more entertaining to watch us let the opposition have the ball then defend for our lives with headers/blocks/chasing down etc. We've had more red cards than shots on target in the four games so far!!!!! Bottom line is Clement's only remit is survival. The change has got the fans onside again and that's more… More →
Yes and in Clement's defence , Villa aside, he's picked pretty attacking line ups on paper. The lack of confidence is still pretty obviously there which I guess is why he's making it less complicated at the moment. To play the way Stam wanted to it really needs everyone to be comfortable, confident and showing for the ball. When that doesn't happen it meant we had centre halves and even the keeper trying to make something happen. Not really a recipe for success. So clearly Clement has taken a lot of that responsibility away so they can concentrate more on defending. As an aside it seems evident as a general rule of thumb that… More →
Just realised that’s 2 shots on target in 4 games with 3 red cards. :lol:
Days since This Championship game took place 3067 days ago in the 2017/2018 season. ID: 1248