Back from the game - Norwich

[glass half full]

After all the post-match comments that I have heard, is it safe to say the the referee, Mr. Kettle was 'off the boil'?

Mr Kettle was somewhat fishy.

He didn't scale the heights.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

After all the post-match comments that I have heard, is it safe to say the the referee, Mr. Kettle was 'off the boil'?

Mr Kettle was somewhat fishy.

Worst Ref at the Mad Stad so far this year.

[JoebyRFC]

Now Preston have given us a great favour, the performance doesn't really matter to me

bring on the birmingham and take second

i still do think i performance lacked pace and energy which kebe and rosenior together do really well.

oh and a thumbs up to federci he did what was needed and was solid.

[Tutti Frutti]

my tuppence worth..

Fed - 7 - did what he needed to well. Good kicks. Needs to work on coming for crosses, but I suspect that is about confidence and a run in the team.
Rosie - 7 - good going forward, caught napping a bit in defence a couple of times.
Armstrong - 7 - god a proper working over from Norwich. Solid and unspectacular
Doobs - 8 - good performance all round. Should keep his place next week.
Ivar - 7- solid enough
Marek - 5 - I'm a Marek fan, but he's clearly not a right winger. We lacked width all afternoon. Brightened up once moved to CM. In both positions, some sublime passes, but also hussled off the ball too easily.
Harper - 6 - no more than satisfactory today
Cisse - 7 - develoing into a good quality defensive midfielder. I was surprised he was subbed first
SHunt - 6 - not at his best today
NHunt - 6 - Likewise, lots of effort but an off day
Doyle - 7 - all effort, good allround performance.

Henry - 8 - fantastic impact when he came on. If Coppell feels he can't yet do it for the full 90 at this level, he needs to use him earlier
Gunnar - 7 - dependable
Long - 7 - thank god he got his goal. Hope it draws a bit more out of him.

Overall, a good defensive performance, but the midfield created little before the subs. Up fornt, it is difficult to be harsh because of the lack of service, but good effort. Let's hope we were saving our best for next saturday.

Oh and LOL at our fans having a pop at th referee over giving the "corner" as a throw when it patently was a throw, and at the ref pushing rosenior back on the throw when he tried to steal fifteen yards at a throw-in for the second time in three minutes. Them's the rules kids. Kettle is still a nob, mind.

[Southbank Old Boy]

My man of the match has to be Dubbery. He cleared the ball of the line with a great header and was soild at the back again. Marek at CM changed the game. Harper was poor again and as someone said prior to my post, was more of a danger to our goal. Tbh our performance today wasn't the best. We need to improve up front as a striking unit.

Can you give a few examples of Harper being poor and a danger to our goal?

[andrew1957]

Just thawed out enough to type.

Well another poor game really but another good result.

Feders - 7 - looked largely untroubled to be fair and excellent distribution all game
Armstong - 6 - not so good today - a few poor moments
Ingi - 7 - did not put a foot wrong all game
Duberry - 7 - won everything in the air but some of his forward passing is poor. Bikey is a better player overall but Dubs is probably a better defender.
Rosenior -7 - I think he is missing Kebe but thought he did ok today
Matejovsky -6 - Putting him on the right did not work - he looked better as soon as he went back to CM
Cisse - 6 - did not seem to influence the game as much today
Harper - 6 - probably his best game for a while to be fair but he is still not playing as well as last season
Hunt - 7 - typical Hunt performance - huge effort and variable result but kept his nerve for the penalty
N Hunt - 5 - very quiet I thought.
Doyle - 7 - Ran and ran as usual and gave his all

Gunnar - 7 - We seem to have more purpose when he came on for Harper/Cisse
Henry - 7 - Super cameo performance and a brilliant cross for Long's goal - just my MOTM for changing the game
Long - 7 - For me this is why he is a super sub - he has a value that some on here fail to see

Ref - 5 - Ok to start will but frustratingly fussy. No idea if it was a valid penalty - Norwich don't think so.
Number 13 - 8- One of the better performances by the support today
Pitch -2 - I thought the appalling pitch was going to cost us 2 points as we were finding it hard to be fluent on that surface. I know the rugby helps pay the bills but lets hope it does not cost us promotion.

[Avon Royal]

Number 13 - 8- One of the better performances by the support today.

You what?

The crowd today were awful. Normally Reading v Norwich games have a cracking atmosphere. This one was lame.

[bishbosh92]

Just thawed out enough to type.

Well another poor game really but another good result.

Feders - 7 - looked largely untroubled to be fair and excellent distribution all game
Armstong - 6 - not so good today - a few poor moments
Ingi - 7 - did not put a foot wrong all game
Duberry - 7 - won everything in the air but some of his forward passing is poor. Bikey is a better player overall but Dubs is probably a better defender.
Rosenior -7 - I think he is missing Kebe but thought he did ok today
Matejovsky -6 - Putting him on the right did not work - he looked better as soon as he went back to CM
Cisse - 6 - did not seem to influence the game as much today
Harper - 6 - probably his best game for a while to be fair but he is still not playing as well as last season
Hunt - 7 - typical Hunt performance - huge effort and variable result but kept his nerve for the penalty
N Hunt - 5 - very quiet I thought.
Doyle - 7 - Ran and ran as usual and gave his all

Gunnar - 7 - We seem to have more purpose when he came on for Harper/Cisse
Henry - 7 - Super cameo performance and a brilliant cross for Long's goal - just my MOTM for changing the game
Long - 7 - For me this is why he is a super sub - he has a value that some on here fail to see

Ref - 5 - Ok to start will but frustratingly fussy. No idea if it was a valid penalty - Norwich don't think so.
Number 13 - 8- One of the better performances by the support today
Pitch -2 - I thought the appalling pitch was going to cost us 2 points as we were finding it hard to be fluent on that surface. I know the rugby helps pay the bills but lets hope it does not cost us promotion.

Long Value for money, Scores once ervery 10 or so games and rarely makes an impact.

Yh great value for money he is

[handbags_harris]

Decent game I thought considering the conditions, Norwich came to try and play despite the state of the pitch and actually carved us open on more than one occasion. On another day we could have found ourselves 2 down within half an hour. I thought both teams played well though, and we could also have found ourselves at least 2 up at the break. On balance of play I thought we just deserved it, not by 2 goals though. The quick 2nd killed the game off as a contest. Federici did everything that was asked of him. He didn't have too much to save all afternoon, a close range header and two good efforts from 20 yards that he held onto well. His kicking was immaculate, but to me that wasn't a surprise as that is a feature of his game.

Quick mention to the moronic tossers who cheered when Harper was subbed. Obviously unintelligent idiots who clearly haven't noticed, after over 300 matches in a hooped shirt, just how much play goes through him from deep. He is not a blood and thunder ball winning midfielder, he never has been, he never will be. He will always be a deep lying ball playing midfielder looking to pick the ball up off the centre backs and laying it wide, long, or spreading the ball. If we didn't have him picking the ball up off the likes of Doobs and laying it simple or spreading the play, we'd really struggle. I don't think I could live with Doobs distribution, which is straight out of the Sonko school of ball control.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

. He will always be a deep lying ball playing midfielder looking to pick the ball up off the centre backs and laying it wide, long, or spreading the ball.

that's really the crux of it with harper. If the wide men are doing the business then he's great, setting up attacks etc. If they aren't, and you are looking at him to create something instead, he rarely seems to have it.

[glass half full]

Decent game I thought considering the conditions, Norwich came to try and play despite the state of the pitch and actually carved us open on more than one occasion. On another day we could have found ourselves 2 down within half an hour. I thought both teams played well though, and we could also have found ourselves at least 2 up at the break. On balance of play I thought we just deserved it, not by 2 goals though. The quick 2nd killed the game off as a contest. Federici did everything that was asked of him. He didn't have too much to save all afternoon, a close range header and two good efforts from 20 yards that he held onto well. His kicking was immaculate, but to me that wasn't a surprise as that is a feature of his game.

Quick mention to the moronic tossers who cheered when Harper was subbed. Obviously unintelligent idiots who clearly haven't noticed, after over 300 matches in a hooped shirt, just how much play goes through him from deep. He is not a blood and thunder ball winning midfielder, he never has been, he never will be. He will always be a deep lying ball playing midfielder looking to pick the ball up off the centre backs and laying it wide, long, or spreading the ball. If we didn't have him picking the ball up off the likes of Doobs and laying it simple or spreading the play, we'd really struggle. I don't think I could live with Doobs distribution, which is straight out of the Sonko school of ball control.

Doobs hasn't cleared the stand yet!

[Thomas L'Heureux]

Ingi - 7 - did not put a foot wrong all game.

Yes he did. Off the top of my head, I remember him giving the ball straight to a Norwich player standing just outside the area when trying to clear from our six yard box, and he also put Armstrong under a lot of pressure when he nodded the ball to him over on the left.

Armstrong had to receive the ball with his back to goal with nowhere to go, and was robbed blind as a result. A cross came in and luckily the header was put wide but we should've gone 1-0 down. Ingimarsson was out of position when he should've just put the ball into touch in the first place.

[Elm Park Old Boy]

We really missed Kebe IMO.

[Elm Park Old Boy]

Number 13 - 8- One of the better performances by the support today.

You what?

The crowd today were awful. Normally Reading v Norwich games have a cracking atmosphere. This one was lame.

To be fair, I could barely move, from the wet and cold (mind you I am in the front row and the roof doesn't seem to do much....)

[Bubbly4Me]

For me, the best part of today was coming away seeing a good performance from Fed. He must have been under massive pressure; even considering the opposition today. Although he wasn't really tested in any big way, he did what was needed and showed some very nice distribution. Love the low, accurate kicks. If he's playing against Brum, today’s game was exactly what he needs to settle in.

I thought Armstrong had some great moments. Definitely money well spent. Doobs was on form too.

As much as I like the bloke, SHunt should NEVER take another spot kick, he's O*ford useless. He really shouldn't be taking our free kicks either. Generally he floats the ball straight to their keeper. Today, he managed one decent kick - low and fast, a few yards in front of the keeper. (Was just a shame nobody was there to connect). I worry when I see the way he grabs the ball for a penalty; it's like watching schoolboy football. The Blackpool game incident was simply ridiculous. SC needs to give some firm instructions as to what should happen. He SHOULD, however, take our corners - they are, on average, very good.

9 from 9 though!

[gazzer, loyal royal]

again, not the fluent football we saw at the start of the season, however we are now grinding results out, something we did the year we went up.

Thought CIsse was fairly anonymous today, as well as Noel Hunt, neither had good games.
The pace that came on set us up for the victory, Henry chased everything today and looked very lively and surely has to start next week.

All in all 3 points is three points, and heading into next weeks game winning our last four and only conceding 1 gives us the momentum we need.

[AlexY25]

Federici - 8 - Not much to save, but good distribution

Rosenior - 7 - Average
Doobs - 7 - Quite good, silly mistake now and then
Ivar - 7 - Decent game
Armstrong - 8 - Gives every 50/50 ball his all. Very good game today

Marek - 7 - Moments of class but still not 100%
Cisse - 6 - Solid but didnt get too involved
Harper - 6 - Did okay.
S.Hunt - 6 - Scored but apart from that wasn't that good

Doyle - 7 - Didnt stop running but wasnt his best game
N.Hunt - 6 - Kept quiet today.

Long - 7 - Very good goal
Bryn - 6 - Not much to do when he came on
Henry - 8 - Very good sub today, made a difference

[Royal Lady]

I'd agree 100% with Alex Y25 there. SHunt was far too selfish at times and his free kicks were rubbish.

[rfcjoe]

Hunty has never been the best crosser of the ball tbh.

[Royal Lady]

Yes - so he shouldn't be taking the free kicks then.