...and relax...

[Millsy]

Ok, that should be enough time for all the doom brigade and people of fickle fragile faith to have their rants, orgasms and field days.

And now relax.

Back to reality.

Cisse, whilst playing well against tough opposition most of the time, made enough silly errors to mean he should never put on a Reading shirt again. That's essentially what lost it for us. Otherwise...

We just lost at home to the 6th best side in the country.

This isn't about taking positives, it's about looking objectively at what happened. And I'll repeat. All that happened is that we (just) lost to a very good team - the 6th best in the country. We weren't battered. We weren't played off the park. We were just outplayed slighly by a team who's not only better than us but better than 13 (thirteen) other Premiership teams. So what's the big deal exactly? No, seriously, what?

This performance/ result could easily have happened last season and apart from the above rant against Cisse, no-one would have bothered complaining. It was a normal day for the Royals as far as I'm concerned. Last season we wouldn't have demanded a win at home against such a side so why on earth would we now? Why oh why is a relegation-scrapping team suddenly expected to perform like a title winning team with uproar for not beating a class team???? The mind boggles.

We didn't lose 6-0. We didn't look like we didn't match them. We did very well in the second half and thoroughly deserved our goal. We look like a Premiership side. We are a Premiership side. And if we continue to play like one there's no reason why we won't continue to be a Premiership side next season.

Again, well done boys you did good. Cisse, sorry but you were a bit clueless today. Welcome back Ivar.

Kebe - changed the game. Fantastic!

Business as normal.

I for one am not expecting us to play incredibly all of a sudden, but just normally. And a narrow defeat at home to a very strong side isn't far off normal.

OVER A QUARTER of the season to go. Back to normality and we'll be fine. We don't need more.

Calm down, there's every chance we'll be fine.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

People have said this all season long.

It's doesn't change anything though.

[Alan Partridge]

8th straight loss. That's reality.

The only 2 goals we've scored in that time were both 90minute pointless goals v Villa.

That's reality.

[shadesrwrf]

Going down.

[Victor Meldrew]

But we lost by a greater margin to Bolton who are not the 6th best and are about 16th best.
Today could easily have been a 4 or 5-1 but Villa seemed to get a bit bored by it all.
I would love to feel optimistic but we play the 4th best and about 7th best in the coming weeks and away at 'boro who seem to have found a bit of form.
By the time we get to play some 6-pointers we could easily be 5 or 6 points from safety.
Bloody hell,I feel fed up tonight,not because we look like being relegated as I've seen that so many times before but because of our ludicrously ineffective efforts to sign players means that we didn't give ourselves a chance.

This is what used to happen in the old 3rd Division days when the club had no money but to let this happen now when the club is at it's wealthiest ever has been footballing suicide.

[rob the royal]

how many shots on goal? yeah we did real good. we've created more chances in games in the past an lost by greater margins.

[papereyes]

Still, there's at least three worse sides than us. Like Bolton (3-0, 2-0). Or Fulham (3-1).

[ankeny]

Its the teams around us you should judge us on and we cant even beat them so Mr RTG where is our next win coming from?

[MR. CYNICAL]

6th best side in the country eh? So how did Fulham manage to beat them the other week?

[sucatraps]

Steve McQueen, in The Magnificent Seven quotes of the man falling from a multi-storey building saying as he passes each floor on the way down, "so far, so good" Seems to me that even the most sensible, well balanced, individuals must be worried that we are running out of time. But, so what, even if the worst happens, we just dust ourselves off and start over again. In any event it's not over yet and turning on each other, the players, manager and or chairman won't make any positive difference, will it?

[The Quiet Man]

Bugger, I thought this was the thread that pointed out that apart from Birmingham drawing and Wigan beating Derby at the JJB every other team at the bottom lost so it is same again Saturday gentlemen in the survival of the sh*ttest:oops:

[strap]

8 defeats on the bounce, in which we 've scored TWICE in the last 7 games, playing like a bunch of clueless school kids, can't cross, can't shoot, can't pass, can't tackle, keeper who can't kick a ball out of hand or from dead without sending it into straight into touch at least 3 times a game, left full back who needs 45 seconds with the ball at his feet motionless to decide what he is supposed to do with it, right winger who can't take on a defender, pass forward, cross a ball, or run..... and you tell us to relax!?!?!

Even Sir Steve was in a panic this afternoon..... I mean ... he even gave our substitutes 32 mins, 19mins and 19 mins to change the game, and even pulled off his love child AKA John Oster!!!!

Goodness, we must be in a pickle!!!

See you in the Championship next season people! Reality is a pisser ain't it??!?!

Very, very, VERY disappointed.

Actually oxf*rd angry as hell at all the empty rhetoric bullshit NONSENSE we are being served up at the moment. Sir Steve won't make any changes as that would be a knee-jerk reaction????? oxf*rd off Sir Steve!!!!! Just what have the current team got to do to make you make some changes?!?!?!?!?!

Silly me, what changes could we make? I mean we COULD try bringing in some of the Premiership signings we made in teh last 4 transfer windows .... oh wait ..... we have intoduced our recent Frech 2nd Div loanee signing, yeah, he could do a job for us in saving our Premiership status. Or we COULD select our record signing for a change ... oh wait .... or perhaps we could actually give some of our wonderful academy players some 1st team experience ..... you know, the ones that actually showed they might actually have a bit of prode and passion ...... bugger, wonder how much Swindon would sell Simon Cox back to us for???

oxf*rd BULLSHIT RFC ..... absolute horse shit!!!!! oxf*rd total waste of time and money.

So oxf*rd angry I'm just oxf*rd typing drivel ..... so oxf*rd sue me!!!!!!!

BOLLOCKS!!!!!!!

Get a oxf*rd grip RFC you oxf*rd useless tossers.

[MR. CYNICAL]

Same again Saturday? Shit,another defeat then!!

[PEARCEY]

Ok, that should be enough time for all the doom brigade and people of fickle fragile faith to have their rants, orgasms and field days.

And now relax.

Back to reality.

Cisse, whilst playing well against tough opposition most of the time, made enough silly errors to mean he should never put on a Reading shirt again. That's essentially what lost it for us. Otherwise...

We just lost at home to the 6th best side in the country.

This isn't about taking positives, it's about looking objectively at what happened. And I'll repeat. All that happened is that we (just) lost to a very good team - the 6th best in the country. We weren't battered. We weren't played off the park. We were just outplayed slighly by a team who's not only better than us but better than 13 (thirteen) other Premiership teams. So what's the big deal exactly? No, seriously, what?

This performance/ result could easily have happened last season and apart from the above rant against Cisse, no-one would have bothered complaining. It was a normal day for the Royals as far as I'm concerned. Last season we wouldn't have demanded a win at home against such a side so why on earth would we now? Why oh why is a relegation-scrapping team suddenly expected to perform like a title winning team with uproar for not beating a class team???? The mind boggles.

We didn't lose 6-0. We didn't look like we didn't match them. We did very well in the second half and thoroughly deserved our goal. We look like a Premiership side. We are a Premiership side. And if we continue to play like one there's no reason why we won't continue to be a Premiership side next season.

Again, well done boys you did good. Cisse, sorry but you were a bit clueless today. Welcome back Ivar.

Kebe - changed the game. Fantastic!

Business as normal.

I for one am not expecting us to play incredibly all of a sudden, but just normally. And a narrow defeat at home to a very strong side isn't far off normal.

OVER A QUARTER of the season to go. Back to normality and we'll be fine. We don't need more.

Calm down, there's every chance we'll be fine.

I would have agreed with you after the Everton loss but not after today. It was very poor. We could have lost by a lot more. Yes Villa are a good side but they once again exposed the lack of pace in our side and the fragility in the heart of our defence. Once again there were hugh gaps right down the middle of the pitch...and this time there was no Gunnarsson to use as a scapegoat.
We looked pretty clueless today and were well beaten by a much sharper outfit. That was the reality today

[Gordons Cumming]

strap

get a grip!!!

You need to take some medication.

We'll be OK. Honest.....................

[Stevie G]

Disappointed with Paddy Power. They've now dropped us to third favourites for the drop. The wife and I have adjusted our points predictor against those in 'our league' and we still come out 5th from bottom. As you say, still a quarter of the season to go.

[Chaney]

8 defeats on the bounce, in which we 've scored TWICE in the last 7 games, playing like a bunch of clueless school kids, can't cross, can't shoot, can't pass, can't tackle, keeper who can't kick a ball out of hand or from dead without sending it into straight into touch at least 3 times a game, left full back who needs 45 seconds with the ball at his feet motionless to decide what he is supposed to do with it, right winger who can't take on a defender, pass forward, cross a ball, or run..... and you tell us to relax!?!?!

Even Sir Steve was in a panic this afternoon..... I mean ... he even gave our substitutes 32 mins, 19mins and 19 mins to change the game, and even pulled off his love child AKA John Oster!!!!

Goodness, we must be in a pickle!!!

See you in the Championship next season people! Reality is a pisser ain't it??!?!

Very, very, VERY disappointed.

Actually oxf*rd angry as hell at all the empty rhetoric bullshit NONSENSE we are being served up at the moment. Sir Steve won't make any changes as that would be a knee-jerk reaction????? oxf*rd off Sir Steve!!!!! Just what have the current team got to do to make you make some changes?!?!?!?!?!

Silly me, what changes could we make? I mean we COULD try bringing in some of the Premiership signings we made in teh last 4 transfer windows .... oh wait ..... we have intoduced our recent Frech 2nd Div loanee signing, yeah, he could do a job for us in saving our Premiership status. Or we COULD select our record signing for a change ... oh wait .... or perhaps we could actually give some of our wonderful academy players some 1st team experience ..... you know, the ones that actually showed they might actually have a bit of prode and passion ...... bugger, wonder how much Swindon would sell Simon Cox back to us for???

oxf*rd BULLSHIT RFC ..... absolute horse shit!!!!! oxf*rd total waste of time and money.

So oxf*rd angry I'm just oxf*rd typing drivel ..... so oxf*rd sue me!!!!!!!

BOLLOCKS!!!!!!!

Get a oxf*rd grip RFC you oxf*rd useless tossers.

put into words perfectly how almost every Reading fan feels tonight..feeling so helpless at the total inept "management" that is taking us out of the premier league that most of us have waited so many years to get into,
who remembers those immortal words released by the club when the first season ticket hikes where announced?...now we are in the premer league we are determined to stay here, my f*cking arse!!!

[Richi Royal]

I agree with a few of you things about last season, where we were lucky in games and won a few games we should have lost or drawn.
But i dont think the theroy of they are better than us therefore it is ok we lost is helping anyone, and i seem to hear it from an incraseing number of people i.e. coppell, murty, madejski, hammond etc.

The top 4 - are game we should lose as we hear from coppell before and after every match against them.
Spurs are the 5th best team in the country therefore should lose against them.
Everton, Man City, Blackburn, Villa, Pompey are teams fighting for europe, it is ok we lost against them.
West ham, Boro, Newcastle are big clubs who have spent heavily, we were expected to lose against them.
That is 13 out of 19 teams where it is 'OK' we lose against them.
It is true that most of the clubs listed above are better than us on paper but as the saying goes the game is not played on paper. If we put in a good performance gave 100% and walk of the pitch at the end of the game beaten then fair enough they were/ are better than us. But for alot of this season i have walked away from games and thought, what a rubbish performance, cant defend, dont look like scoring etc and feel the game was written off as a defeat before it has even begun and the players have not put every drop of effort into the performance. In these cases it is not a case of they were better than us, rather we let them be better than us and then used the excuse at the end of the game they are higher up the table than us. I am not expecting world beating performances every week as teams go through runs of forms but the number of gameswhere the players have walked off having given everything they have got is not as high as it should be ( both united games, liverpool, spurs, west ham away are game which spring to mind). When i say that i dont mean individuals as Hunt and doyle etc rarely walk of the pitch with anything else to give, but as a collective unit.

This sends out the message that realistically there are 6 teams we should get a result against (Sunderland, Bolton, Wigan, Derby, Fulham, Birmingham) and this places HUGE pressure on these games where too often we have come off second best. We just seem to lack the extra 1% desire to get the ball. I was at fulham yesterday with a mate in their game with west ham, and they fought for every ball, if there was a 50/50 ball they made sure it was theirs, if a shot was about to be fired they put their body on the line and fought for it...no ball would not be contested for, yes they lost but they could easily have won and they were distraught when west ham scored....it was everything we lacked today which is the thing worrying me. It was exactly the same with Bolton when we played them, yes they were quite rubbish but there was not a single free shot, header or 50/50 for us as they battled for EVERY ball.

Maybe i have got it wrong and we just are not good enough to stay in this division, but i find that quite hard to accept from the same players who beat Liverpool, gave spurs a shock, and played superbly against United.

PS...Strap has shown exactly how i feel atm.

[mitty]

Mentally I'm prepared for the drop.
We're not getting crosses into the box and when we do it's Kitson/Doyle putting them in and no-one's there anyway.
Corners today were dreadful, throw in a lack of passion and urgency and it's not looking good, bring in some of the reserve players...can't do any worse & might have the passion

[AbovetheI]

8th straight loss. That's reality.

The only 2 goals we've scored in that time were both 90minute pointless goals v Villa.

That's reality.

Exactly.