After Extra Time
Full Time: 4-4

In a truly unbelievable night of football at the Madejski Stadium, Reading were dumped out of the League Cup after coming off the worst in a stunning twelve goal game. Against all the odds Reading were an incredible 4 goals up against Arsenal with just 37 minutes on the clock. A superb Reading move, and a perfect cross from the left saw the excellent Jason Roberts get Reading on their way to a dramatic early lead. An own goal was followed by Leigertwood making it 3-0 as the pressure on the keeper showed no let up. There was only 20 minutes on the clock. An impressive lead felt insane on 37 minutes when Noel Hunt's goal - another great Reading move headed home after a cross from the right - clocked up 4-0. Reading were playing excellent football and not only creating chance after chance but were actually converting them as well.

The 4-0 lead was a shock, but what followed was a bigger shock as Reading crumbled despite such a huge lead. Obviously Reading's complete domination of the fixture couldn't last and the signs were there when Walcott pulled one back before the break, breaking clear of the Reading defence through the middle to take on Federici. That goal was enough to turn the game around and set-up Arsenal's second half come back. Arsenal pulled it back to 4-2 but every fans sensed disaster as Reading attempted to cling on to the lead. It was 4-3 in the last minute of normal time. Reading took it into the far corners to try and waste some time. Church came off the bench to distrupt the game deep in injury time and it become even more desperate. The equaliser - which eventually came in the sixth minute of stoppage time after the fourth official had indicated four - seemed inevitable.

Despite Arsenal turning the game around and taking full control of the fixture, it was Reading that were the first side to threaten in extra time when McAnuff steamed through. However, the momentum stayed with Arsenal, and they looked to have won the game in the first half of extra time, making it 4-5. Reading, once again, failed to give up and Pogrebnyak made it five all with four minutes of extra time left to play. Reading pushed forward looking for the winner, to avoid penalties, only to see Arsenal make it 5-6 as the game continued end to end. With Reading throwing everything forward in the last moments of the game, and Federici off the line, Arsenal sealed it with a seventh.

Can't help but feel that 4-0 lead is utterly devalued by what followed. An inability to keep the ball, even vaguely resemble a cohesive football team, for the rest of the game. We simply fell apart, and those four goals stand out for what they were - for all the quality of two of them, they were little more than a freak set of circumstances that put us momentarily in 'dream land'.

To put my thoughts into context I want to refer back to the arguments on here about Guthrie, or the suggestion earlier on this thread that there may be 'other' reasons why Pearce isn't playing. There is much to be said for running a club with an 'ethos', but as we enter November we have rarely looked less like a team than we do now.

Gorkss was appalling almost all night - and apparently Pearce is not in the picture because he won't sign a contract?

We couldn't put our foot on the ball for the whole of the second half. And I'm supposed to accept that a ball playing midfielder signed from Newcastle shouldn't add to the team because he disagrees on things with the boss?

How we pick ourselves up now for QPR I don't know. I don't know if we'll see Federici in a Reading shirt again; part of me wonders if that might also prove true of Gorkss in the long-run. And after a nightmare second half I don't know how much Gunter will feature in the coming weeks. It's ironic that arguably our best player on the night bar Roberts was a defender, Nicky Shorey, he looked utterly composed on the ball.
cmonurz

Perspective folks. We have just seen one of the most dramatic football games of all time in HISTORY and RFC played a big part in that. If we had put 11 in defence and Arsenal had won 1-0 most on here would be happy BUT we had a go at one of the great clubs and so nearly won. If the referee had not played 96 minutes instead of 94 we would have won!! At least we showed spirit and fight - I am proud to support RFC tonight.
andrew1957

At 4-2 up with 2 minutes left it was uncomfortable viewing, that is how little confidence I have in this Reading team. Defensively just hilarious, 2 decent saves by Federici keeps it down to 9. Gunter - you make Shaun Cummings look good. Morrison - its all very well looking 'woooooldy' in League 1 m8, but you're not good enough. Gorkss - QPR bombed him out for a reason, McDermott. Shorey is the best defender in that team and he is about 5 years past his peak. Why isn't Pearce playing?

No Pearce. Fallen out with Guthrie, fallen out with Federici. No wins in the league. I suspect that the manager won't last the season and at the moment you can't argue that he - and his team - are woefully out of their depth.
floyd__streete

I reckon I've been to over 1,000 Reading games and I can count on one hand the number of times I have felt embarassed and humiliated and tonight was one of them. From 44 minutes out we lost 7-1 at home to a largely reserve team who looked like they didn't want to be there. A complete and utter shambles of a performance that's left me feeling as pissed off as I've been in decades.

After 0-6 against Bristol Rovers I could never get behind Burns again, after that abject performance at QPR, Rodgers was finished for me, and after the utter embarrasement of that showing tonight I really think I'm going to struggle to believe in McDermott and this team again. Sadly, I suspect there will only be one further game to struggle with this as I can see another thumping coming on Sunday which would surely be curtains.
Schards#2

In all the many many years I've been watching Reading football club, there have been some amazing highs, but these have been offset but so many lows and disappointments, last nights defeat against Arsenal was right down there in the sewer of despair. There's not a lot you can say really, embarrassing, pathetic, humiliating, woeful etc etc. I'm not interested in patronising sycophantic drivel like "Reading played their part, what a game, unlucky Reading"

We've never beaten Arsenal in a competitive game, ever, and we'll probably never will, but to be 4-0 up and lose the way we did is both unbelievable and inexcusable. I knew the moment Wallcott got the goal on the stroke of half time we were in trouble, you see it, sense it, feel it. I've never seen a team look so scared and shocked, just like the manager after the game. Our defence may as well wear tutus, kids could defend better, forget it was second choice team, they are supposed to be professional footballers for gods sake.

This win would have been a massive boost to everybody connected with the club from fans to players, it would have set us up for Sunday, instead we're shell shocked and demoralised. McDermott looks a broken man to me, something is not right behind the scenes at the club and it's reflecting on the pitch. Ten goals in the last two games and we lose both, five time now we lead in a game and lose. Why has Pearcy been ostracised, when last night a game like that was made for him. This is a results business and there's no room for sentimental waffle, if there are to be changes they must take place soon before or if not it's too late. Well having said there's not a lot you can say I've said quite a lot, good old Reading, possibly the best professional pub team in the world.
Nick Newbury

The League Cup may not be a priority for Arsenal but dignity obviously is. After a humiliating opening 37 minutes in which they allowed Reading to canter into a seemingly insurmountable lead, Arsène Wenger's men mounted a phenomenal fightback to turn a night of ignominy into one of glory. Amid absurdity.

The improbability of what unfolded at the Madejski was underlined by the fact that the goal which crowned Arsenal's 7-5 victory was scored by the much-mocked Marouane Chamakh during a period of extra-time that several Arsenal players had not realised was necessary, removing their jerseys and celebrating a supposed replay after Theo Walcott had scored the second goal of his hat-trick to make it 4-4 at the end of regular time.

That was just one of the freak occurrences on a night that fluctuated unforgettably between fantasy and farce. After watching their team flounder as they shipped four goals without reply in the first period, dozens of angry Arsenal fans left the stadium in protest while others stayed to chant their disdain for the team's showing, wailing: "We want our Arsenal back." How those who left must regret that decision.

But no one will rue events more than Brian McDermott, whose Reading side were so rampant early on but who was left to wonder what ramifications this result could have for his players' confidence and the season ahead.

Arsenal, booed off at the interval, emerged buoyed. Neutral spectators, meanwhile, savoured a staggering helter-skelter match...
The Guardian

This was one of the epic cup ties, a classic of a game that saw Arsenal amazingly recover from 4-0 down to reach the quarter-finals of the Capital One Cup. Atrocious for 40 minutes, Arsenal finally found some pride in their shirt and pulled off one of the great escapes thanks to Theo Walcott’s hat-trick.

This was one of the craziest of cup ties, the Mad Stad living up to its nickname. Walcott equalised five minutes into second-half stoppage-time, angering Reading players who pointed out only four minutes had been signalled. Two of the Arsenal players thought it was all over, that there would be a replay. Olivier Giroud and Francis Coquelin threw their shirts into the jubilant Arsenal fans before sheepishly having to request them back for extra time.

Few would have put their shirts on the hitherto anonymous Marouane Chamakh to strike in extra time but he did, a fine finish. Pavel Pogrebnyak levelled but there was Walcott and then, unbelievably, Chamakh, making it 7-5 and making a mockery of their earlier travails. Arsenal forced extra time with an amazing fight-back here, Theo Walcott equalising in the fifth minute of injury-time much to the fury of Reading, who pointed out that only four minutes had been signalled.
The Telegraph