Back from the game - Ipswich

[Alan Partridge]

With the deserved slathing on this thread that the team and manager truly deserve, and with his team selection and confusing substitutions and general lack of "i don't know what is going on" and "I don't know what team to pick on Tuesday"....................should Coppell go now ??

I really don't think it would be the disaster that a knee jerk reaction against Bristol or Forest would have been. It's at the stage now where even playoffs aren't guarenteed. Of course I don't think it's going to happen, I believe Coppell will be here to the end of the season, sometimes though a new manager does just give clubs a short term lift and one of those could lead to an upturn in results and a promotion. Of course it could go totally the opposite way it's the gamble you take.

I just feel Coppell has lost a lot of heart in it, not just that but for the first time he genuinely has ZERO idea of what his team should be. Certain players omissions (namely N Hunt and Bikey) need some serious explaining as well as his baffling tactics and subs.

[Royal Rebel]

Look on the bright side, Mr Mad got his knighthood this week.

[londinium]

I would like to know exactly how many people on here have ever played football if they seriously think Pearce was better than Duberry today.

All week people have been shouting for Bikey to replace Duberry... that was about the only change Coppell didn't make and in my eyes he was our MOTM by far.

As for the crap that people blurt out about his distribution being shit... I don't care... he is a defender, he is there to defend and he was by far our best defender today although Armstrong did ok.

Duberry wins ball and boots it out...mad stad moans
Pearce wins ball and boots it out.. Mad stad cheers ... Pathetic.

Duberry was great in the air as usual, covered for Rosie several times and covered for a badly out of position Pearce many more times aswell as being the only man anywhere near the ball for 2 corners in a row surrounded by Ipswich players with no other Reading player in sight, saving certain goals.

If people think that playing Bikey and Pearce is the answer, they are sadly mistaken as Bikey has the positional sence of a sausage.

It is no coincidence that out form has taken a down turn since Ivar has been out... experience over raw talent any day and Duberry has that in abundance over young but raw Pearce.

[rfcjoe]

I would like to know exactly how many people on here have ever played football if they seriously think Pearce was better than Duberry today.

All week people have been shouting for Bikey to replace Duberry... that was about the only change Coppell didn't make and in my eyes he was our MOTM by far.

As for the crap that people blurt out about his distribution being shit... I don't care... he is a defender, he is there to defend and he was by far our best defender today although Armstrong did ok.

Duberry wins ball and boots it out...mad stad moans
Pearce wins ball and boots it out.. Mad stad cheers ... Pathetic.

Duberry was great in the air as usual, covered for Rosie several times and covered for a badly out of position Pearce many more times aswell as being the only man anywhere near the ball for 2 corners in a row surrounded by Ipswich players with no other Reading player in sight, saving certian goals.

If people think that playing Bikey and Pearce is the answer, they are sadly mistaken as Bikey has the positional sence of a sausage.

It is no coincidence that out form has taken a down turn since Ivar has been out... experience over raw talent any day and Duberry has that in abundance over young but raw Pearce.

Can't take you seriously until you can spell our managers name I'm afraid, so for that reason, I'm out.

[schubert06]

I fear that the "promotion party" post has put a hex on us.

[Alan Partridge]

I would like to know exactly how many people on here have ever played football if they seriously think Pearce was better than Duberry today.

All week people have been shouting for Bikey to replace Duberry... that was about the only change Coppell didn't make and in my eyes he was our MOTM by far.

As for the crap that people blurt out about his distribution being shit... I don't care... he is a defender, he is there to defend and he was by far our best defender today although Armstrong did ok.

Duberry wins ball and boots it out...mad stad moans
Pearce wins ball and boots it out.. Mad stad cheers ... Pathetic.

Duberry was great in the air as usual, covered for Rosie several times and covered for a badly out of position Pearce many more times aswell as being the only man anywhere near the ball for 2 corners in a row surrounded by Ipswich players with no other Reading player in sight, saving certian goals.

If people think that playing Bikey and Pearce is the answer, they are sadly mistaken as Bikey has the positional sence of a sausage.

It is no coincidence that out form has taken a down turn since Ivar has been out... experience over raw talent any day and Duberry has that in abundance over young but raw Pearce.

I agree with you 100%.

Duberry wasn't even close to being Reading's worst player in fact he was one of the better ones. He was no different today than he's been for most of the season which was good at his personal job.

[londinium]

I would like to know exactly how many people on here have ever played football if they seriously think Pearce was better than Duberry today.

All week people have been shouting for Bikey to replace Duberry... that was about the only change Coppell didn't make and in my eyes he was our MOTM by far.

As for the crap that people blurt out about his distribution being shit... I don't care... he is a defender, he is there to defend and he was by far our best defender today although Armstrong did ok.

Duberry wins ball and boots it out...mad stad moans
Pearce wins ball and boots it out.. Mad stad cheers ... Pathetic.

Duberry was great in the air as usual, covered for Rosie several times and covered for a badly out of position Pearce many more times aswell as being the only man anywhere near the ball for 2 corners in a row surrounded by Ipswich players with no other Reading player in sight, saving certian goals.

If people think that playing Bikey and Pearce is the answer, they are sadly mistaken as Bikey has the positional sence of a sausage.

It is no coincidence that out form has taken a down turn since Ivar has been out... experience over raw talent any day and Duberry has that in abundance over young but raw Pearce.

Can't take you seriously until you can spell our managers name I'm afraid, so for that reason, I'm out.

Grow up... stick to the point.. it was an obvious typo as i have probably been watching Coppell playing and managing before you were even born

[rfcjoe]

I would like to know exactly how many people on here have ever played football if they seriously think Pearce was better than Duberry today.

All week people have been shouting for Bikey to replace Duberry... that was about the only change Coppell didn't make and in my eyes he was our MOTM by far.

As for the crap that people blurt out about his distribution being shit... I don't care... he is a defender, he is there to defend and he was by far our best defender today although Armstrong did ok.

Duberry wins ball and boots it out...mad stad moans
Pearce wins ball and boots it out.. Mad stad cheers ... Pathetic.

Duberry was great in the air as usual, covered for Rosie several times and covered for a badly out of position Pearce many more times aswell as being the only man anywhere near the ball for 2 corners in a row surrounded by Ipswich players with no other Reading player in sight, saving certian goals.

If people think that playing Bikey and Pearce is the answer, they are sadly mistaken as Bikey has the positional sence of a sausage.

It is no coincidence that out form has taken a down turn since Ivar has been out... experience over raw talent any day and Duberry has that in abundance over young but raw Pearce.

Can't take you seriously until you can spell our managers name I'm afraid, so for that reason, I'm out.

Grow up... stick to the point.. it was an obvious typo as i have probably been watching Coppell playing and managing before you were even born

There we go, much better.....continue.

[PEARCEY]

I would like to know exactly how many people on here have ever played football if they seriously think Pearce was better than Duberry today.

All week people have been shouting for Bikey to replace Duberry... that was about the only change Coppell didn't make and in my eyes he was our MOTM by far.

As for the crap that people blurt out about his distribution being shit... I don't care... he is a defender, he is there to defend and he was by far our best defender today although Armstrong did ok.

Duberry wins ball and boots it out...mad stad moans
Pearce wins ball and boots it out.. Mad stad cheers ... Pathetic.

Duberry was great in the air as usual, covered for Rosie several times and covered for a badly out of position Pearce many more times aswell as being the only man anywhere near the ball for 2 corners in a row surrounded by Ipswich players with no other Reading player in sight, saving certian goals.

If people think that playing Bikey and Pearce is the answer, they are sadly mistaken as Bikey has the positional sence of a sausage.

It is no coincidence that out form has taken a down turn since Ivar has been out... experience over raw talent any day and Duberry has that in abundance over young but raw Pearce.

I agree with you 100%.

Duberry wasn't even close to being Reading's worst player in fact he was one of the better ones. He was no different today than he's been for most of the season which was good at his personal job.

Right so just remind me who was at fault for Charlton's equaliser and Plymouth's first three days earlier?
Duberry is a Championship defender. No more. No less.

[rfcjoe]

I would like to know exactly how many people on here have ever played football if they seriously think Pearce was better than Duberry today.

All week people have been shouting for Bikey to replace Duberry... that was about the only change Coppell didn't make and in my eyes he was our MOTM by far.

As for the crap that people blurt out about his distribution being shit... I don't care... he is a defender, he is there to defend and he was by far our best defender today although Armstrong did ok.

Duberry wins ball and boots it out...mad stad moans
Pearce wins ball and boots it out.. Mad stad cheers ... Pathetic.

Duberry was great in the air as usual, covered for Rosie several times and covered for a badly out of position Pearce many more times aswell as being the only man anywhere near the ball for 2 corners in a row surrounded by Ipswich players with no other Reading player in sight, saving certian goals.

If people think that playing Bikey and Pearce is the answer, they are sadly mistaken as Bikey has the positional sence of a sausage.

It is no coincidence that out form has taken a down turn since Ivar has been out... experience over raw talent any day and Duberry has that in abundance over young but raw Pearce.

I agree with you 100%.

Duberry wasn't even close to being Reading's worst player in fact he was one of the better ones. He was no different today than he's been for most of the season which was good at his personal job.

Right so just remind me who was at fault for Charlton's equaliser and Plymouth's first three days earlier?
Duberry is a Championship defender. No more. No less.

Please tell me you sit : y22, row gg?

[Man Friday]

Agree with positive comments about Duberry. He was fine today. Better than many anyway.

[Platypuss]

But no, we should be happy with 3rd, we've two games in hand. Well, we've still got 2 games in hand but we don't go top if we win them and we don't even go second if Birmingham win theirs.

Or Cardiff.

[Elm Park Old Boy]

I think you should calm down. Some serious overreaction. I thought we played wel for most of the first half, and I was confident we'd win.

Unfortunately that's pretty much how I felt at the Forest game: and conceding straight after half time seemd to deflate the team like a balloon. You could see the confidence drain away and they became anxious and nervy. The mistakes multiplied and Ipswich grew in confidence.

Sadly couldn't see us scoring however long the game went on.

Some oddities for me: Kebe had one run that panicked the Ipswich defence, after that he never seemed to get the ball again, despite being in acres of space on the left. Kitson looked good first half - some nice linking up with Little, harper etc. But in the second half he seemed to be moaning too much and moving too little. Harsh to take off Long instead of Kits, I agree.

I though USA being back seemed to tighten up the defence, at least until later when we were chasing the game.

Thank goodness we have soem away games - they seem to hate the Mad Stad at present, and the crowd are nervy too.

We were mugged again. Agreed that has now happened too often, but we can turn this round. It's now a battle - promotion is still possible. We just need to grind out some results and it will turn.

[Alan Partridge]

I would like to know exactly how many people on here have ever played football if they seriously think Pearce was better than Duberry today.

All week people have been shouting for Bikey to replace Duberry... that was about the only change Coppell didn't make and in my eyes he was our MOTM by far.

As for the crap that people blurt out about his distribution being shit... I don't care... he is a defender, he is there to defend and he was by far our best defender today although Armstrong did ok.

Duberry wins ball and boots it out...mad stad moans
Pearce wins ball and boots it out.. Mad stad cheers ... Pathetic.

Duberry was great in the air as usual, covered for Rosie several times and covered for a badly out of position Pearce many more times aswell as being the only man anywhere near the ball for 2 corners in a row surrounded by Ipswich players with no other Reading player in sight, saving certian goals.

If people think that playing Bikey and Pearce is the answer, they are sadly mistaken as Bikey has the positional sence of a sausage.

It is no coincidence that out form has taken a down turn since Ivar has been out... experience over raw talent any day and Duberry has that in abundance over young but raw Pearce.

I agree with you 100%.

Duberry wasn't even close to being Reading's worst player in fact he was one of the better ones. He was no different today than he's been for most of the season which was good at his personal job.

Right so just remind me who was at fault for Charlton's equaliser and Plymouth's first three days earlier?
Duberry is a Championship defender. No more. No less.

Which is exactly why he's done a very good job for Reading this season.

He got it at times today, brought it forwards, looked up and his dickhead team mates were stood still in front of him so he put it into an area forward. Some idiots got on his back. They miss the superb last ditch headers he made to cut out crosses that were bound for Ipswich heads or when he got left 1 v 1 only to comfortably hold the forward up as help arrived. I thought defensively Doobs was spot on today. I felt sorry for him as londinium rightly says the double standards employed by Reading fans are laughable.

You name 2 incidents in 2 games out of the 20 odd he's probably played, no one is perfect and the two goals you actually mention were hardly directly his fault anyway. Especially the CHarlton one which the goalkeeper should have caught the cross from.

[Bubbly4Me]

I thought Harper worked his socks off today. Can't see why people are slagging him.

I also don't understand why SHunt was removed. I'm not his biggest fan, but I couldn't fault him for effort today. I really don't understand why he was removed, He was obvioulsy pissed at being subbed last match and responded correctly. He's not the best player on the pitch, for sure, but when he (and his brother) get going, they at least stir things up a bit and put the away teams in their place.

Gunner was shite today, I'm not sure he even knew which way he was playing.

Doobs was great, as usual, in stopping attacks, but what's with all the hoofball? Surley he can pick someone out occasionaly? start a move going maybe?

USA was fine, except for his distribution. I love Fed's kickouts but I'd rather have USA in goal. I'm glad he played again, and hope he starts again next match.

Little was good, skillfull on the ball, but he's not match fit and is costing us because he can't run with the ball. We make chances through speed, getting the ball down to corner flag and forcing set peices (or, if not, a chance to cross in a dangerous ball)

Kitson, again, is not fit. He looks skilfull, but has no movement or pace.

I understand SC's reasons for their return but they're not the answer. Maybe bring them on for the last 20 or so, but the team has less shape than it had at Christmas. Maybe we should accept that we just had a 'good start' in a random league? I think we're plucking at straws now; looking for a miracle cure. We need a 'unit' and swapping like this (like leaving Doyle and NHuntout) is not going to help that.

The main difference I've noticed is that we're playing hoofball now. We didn't do that in the first half of the season at all. OK, we played a few high balls forward, looking for a decent flick on, but now the ball spends most of the time in the air in a sad game of head tennis. We no longer play the ball out from our area - it's a continuous 'up in the air' job now.

Ah well,

URZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!

[AthleticoSpizz]

Marcus 6 - No chance for the goal, no complaints (tough call on dropping Feds tho'), you could hear him shouting and commanding his area.

Rosie 5 - some good tackles, but very poor distribution

Doobs 6 - tired legs, give Bikey the position next game Sir Steve

Pearcey 6 - adequate but tied the red ribbon onto the ball once or twice

Stretch 6 - Mr Reliable, tried to get involved up front

SHunt 5.9 - excellent in the first half......doing what he used to do....dispocessing the opposition etc, poor in the second

Harps 7 - My MOM, pointed, crabbed and all of those cliches. However tackled and pumped a few decent balls about.

Bryn 6 - Mixed it as always...thought that he could've tried a shot or two instead of doing the square ball. Everywhere all game (but tired)

Glenda 6 - Played some great balls into the box in the first half........obviously tired in the second

SLong 7 - Did nothing wrong, glad to see him tackling too. Wrongly subbed

Kits 5 - Great to see him back, BUT, did the acrobats that we loved him for, yet won virtually nothing. Probably worth another start tho'.


( Doyler 5 - Added presence but no substance

JK 6 - brought the false dawn to the team today.....but at least he wasn't shot shy.

Marek 4 - One awesome pass, One pass to the "vacant" corner flag and another pass to the linesman. Whilst a lot of our players are admittedly not on the same wavelength as him, he seems to be on another planet sometimes ...and that worries me)


Incredibly, not that bad a performance, the first half was all ours (but without the goals), the second half we were outmuscled/outnumbered everytime that we got into their box.

Why oh why do we always seem to have three or four players clawing at our strikers everytime that we get the ball into the 18 yard box???


Thought the Ref (and assistants) were better than what we have had recently

[PEARCEY]

AP


Many of your observations re the performance of the team are spot on....and usually expressed in eloquent terms.
I also take your point re Duberry..but for me Bikey is the better player of the two and should be in the side ahead of Doobs.
Its how I see it.

[Alan Partridge]

AP


Many of your observations re the performance of the team are spot on....and usually expressed in eloquent terms.
I also take your point re Duberry..but for me Bikey is the better player of the two and should be in the side ahead of Doobs.
Its how I see it.

I believe he should be in the team too, alongside him.

[cmonurz]

When is the next fans' forum? I'm getting seriously hacked off with Coppell's non-sensical team selections. Imho, Coppell, and his management team, is 100% responsible for our current problems, by poor team selection and inflexible tactics. What exactly do we do at training?

Dull and uninspiring sums it up perfectly.

Harper and Gunnarsson? No Bikey again?

Absolutely laughable.

Bikey would be ever-present in any other Championship side, and some Premier League teams.

[PEARCEY]

When is the next fans' forum? I'm getting seriously hacked off with Coppell's non-sensical team selections. Imho, Coppell, and his management team, is 100% responsible for our current problems, by poor team selection and inflexible tactics. What exactly do we do at training?

Dull and uninspiring sums it up perfectly.

Harper and Gunnarsson? No Bikey again?

Absolutely laughable.

Bikey would be ever-present in any other Championship side, and some Premier League teams.

Its difficult to comprehend how Gunnarsson wasn't good enough to make the side three years ago....however three years older and three years slower he starts matches...bizarre.
Bring him on for the last 20 minutes sure but to start him knowing he will be well spent after 60 minutes is difficult to understand.