Back from the game (an armchair view)

[Royalee]

royalee you make no sense

you want SC out, but what if his latest signings are the start on him steadily rebuilding??? which you just pointed out is what you think we should be doing??

but by your comments you want instant success

If the likes of Kebe, Rosenior and Duberry are rebuilding, I shudder to think what he's going to construct.

[wolsey]

royalee you make no sense

you want SC out, but what if his latest signings are the start on him steadily rebuilding??? which you just pointed out is what you think we should be doing??

but by your comments you want instant success

If the likes of Kebe, Rosenior and Duberry are rebuilding, I shudder to think what he's going to construct.

Sorry, but -

What the oxf*rd do you know?

G E T S O M E T H E R A P Y

[Pumpkin]

I dont draw much consolation from the fact that neither Wolves nor Brum deserve promotion either. They are both going to be lambs to the slaughter.

[shoey]

im talking about mooney, tabb, stretch and other signings THIS SEASON, who says they aint part of rebuilding, and they are doing well

[Royalee]

Mooney's not played, Tabb's yet to prove himself and looks very average and Armstrong's nowhere near as good as Shorey although he's a reasonable Championship full back.

[John Peel]

No no, I'm rather disgusted that a few hundred idiots decided to protest last summer and hold the club back for at least a year - I've just grown used to it now and find it amusing that those same idiots can't stand up and admit that they got it wrong. Let's get one thing very clear though, I'm not taking any pleasure in watching the turgid football being served up week by week as Steve Coppell and his team of jaded coaches slowly continue to oversee the decay of all the progress made 3 years ago whilst doing absolutely nothing about it.

This is one of the ridiculous knee-jerk statements we'll have to get used to over the next few days. How has Coppell staying on held the club back exactly? Most clubs relegated from the Prem will be lucky to finish fourth in the first season back in the Championship. In true Keegan-esque style, I would love it if we won the play offs just to show up some of these unfounded statements.

I actually thought today had some real positives. Agree that Coppell needs to drop Marcus though. This HAS to be his last chance. Time for Fed. Thought Doyle showed real hunger today. I'd start him against Burnley in place of Long/Kitson (not sure who). It was great to see the team passing the ball a bit more in the second half too.

I think we're going to miss Noel Hunt in the play offs. I'm sure he would've converted one of those chances today.

[Sun Tzu]

Mooney's not played, Tabb's yet to prove himself and looks very average and Armstrong's nowhere near as good as Shorey although he's a reasonable Championship full back.

Mooney has played

Tabb has proved himself

Armstrong has been every bit as good as premiership misfit Shorey.

Other than that, spot on.

[handbags_harris]

Armstrong has been every bit as good as premiership misfit Shorey.

I'm not so sure that's correct now is it???

[wolsey]

Mooney's not played, Tabb's yet to prove himself and looks very average and Armstrong's nowhere near as good as Shorey although he's a reasonable Championship full back.

Mooney has played

Tabb has proved himself

Armstrong has been every bit as good as premiership misfit Shorey.

Other than that, spot on.

Oh MB don't encourage him (however ironically) - he'll only feel justified in spouting his nonsense.

meanwhile.....

royalee: G E T S O M E T H E R A P Y

[winchester_royal]

Once again our wingers let us down. Kebe didn't seem to want to take on anybody, and SHunt is just oxf*rd hopeless.

Apart from that we were quite good today, Marek looked a different class today and if he has half a brain he'll go in the summer (promotion or not).

Oh, and Djimi Traore has a ridiculously small head.

[Sun Tzu]

Armstrong has been every bit as good as premiership misfit Shorey.

I'm not so sure that's correct now is it???

Is Shorey getting regular games now ?

Armstrong this season has certainly been every bit as good as Shorey was last season.

I'd agree that Shorey in the title winning season was better, but it's a bit pointless to criticise players for not being as good as their replacement had been a few years ago.

[IceRoyalsandKDoyles]

How on Earth does Duberry even get in the team, let alone be captain?!?!?! When the 2nd half was drawing to a close and after somehow diving under the ball when he had a chance for a header in the 1st half, his head went down and straight away you could tell he wasn't going to motivate anyone anymore (or should that be at all, because we don't even have the pre-kick-off huddle anymore)?! It really showed today when we had sparks of making a comeback how much we miss Ingimarsson/Murty as captain.

For 5th choice captain after Murts, Ivar, Harps, and Doyle (even though I don't think Harps or Doyle should be captain), I'd definitely have to say Gunnarsson for captain - if he was picked...

Overall today though I didn't think we were that bad, created quite a lot of chances but shane and kits didn't throw themselves at the right moments...

I know it's probably been mentioned a few times on here but the game that looked like it was a turning point was the 1-0 home win v Wolves... also that was the 1st game that Ingimarsson missed through injury...

Anyway... bring on the Play-offs

[Murts-is-Lej]

Yes I'm not happy that we could have won it but we came up against a better side on the day. BC just seemed to handle the occasion better, as most away teams seem to have done at the Mad Stad in 2009. And there was no way we could blame the pitch given that we very rarely passed the ball on it! So here's how the players rated when you were being influenced by 24,000 other people rather than just a bored looking wife doing the ironing:

USA - 5 had very to do little apart from make the biggest howler of his season!
Bikey - 5 seemed to think the ball boys were playing as he kept passing to them...
Doobs - 6 pretty solid but didn't get close to Phillips when it mattered
Harding - 6 defence was OK but didn't offer much on the overlap
Rossy - 7 tried bit harder on overlap than Harding but nothing much came off (except the one everyone missed)
Tabb - 8 worked really hard in midfield especially in the second half when he was covering the back 4/3
Karacan - 6 closed down pretty well but was missing the telling balls
SHunt - 6 worked hard as usual but didn't get the ball past the 1st defender often enough
Kebe - 6 seemed too afraid of taking anyone on
GWinger - 6 ran around a lot (mainly off the ball) but none of it was very effective
Long - 7 ran his heart out but didn't get much change from a couple of good CBs

Tofsky - 9 actually saw him tackle back as well as the usual good passing. Goal capped an excellent display
Doyler - 6 well marshalled out of the game, not exactly an impact sub

[Gordons Cumming]

The council should hang their heads in shame for letting the traffic lights fail outside of B & Q..

Took over an hour to get out of the car park.

As for the players......................

[John Peel]

My East Stand view is certainly closer to this than the other one!

[The Royal We]

USA - 5 had very to do little apart from make the biggest howler of his season!

Generous! I'd give him 0. For being fat, shit and keeping a far better keeper out the team. I hope he never plays for us again.

[handbags_harris]

Armstrong has been every bit as good as premiership misfit Shorey.

I'm not so sure that's correct now is it???

Is Shorey getting regular games now ?

Armstrong this season has certainly been every bit as good as Shorey was last season.

I'd agree that Shorey in the title winning season was better, but it's a bit pointless to criticise players for not being as good as their replacement had been a few years ago.

No criticism of Armstrong at all my friend. I merely made a point of disagreeing with your statement that, as I interpreted it, Armstrong is as good a player as Shorey. I've no problem with him for that, in fact I've had very little problem with Armstrong all season, but Shorey has been playing at a much higher level this season and there is only one way of comparing the two players and that is to see them performing at the same level. No matter how you dress it up, the Championship is an infinitely inferior division to the Premier League, and Shorey would have continued to have been a star in our team, and in this league. Armstrong has come in and fitted in well, has looked solid yet unspectacular, certainly not a star (although he fully warranted his POTS award, but let's face it, James Harper has won that before!). Armstrong is an adequate replacement for Shorey in this league, but if we were to go up I am firmly in the "Armstrong would need to be replaced" camp.

[Archie's penalty]

I'm glad that most Reading supporters, judging by conversations in the ground and on the radio - 'we were unlucky today, roll on the playoffs!!!' - are flag waving, clapper-banging mongoloids who would find a straw to clutch at in absolutely any situation. Not only are the players shit, which is forgivable, they largely don't seem to care, which isn't. No brains, no hearts, no guts - all we had to do today was not be rubbish, and we would be a Premiership team by now (albeit one that would get beaten every week); given our 94th chance to make amends we failed again. The standard of the league is awful this year, we have had so many opportunities to get promoted and whenever the pressure has been on, well

No positives at all to take, most games I can find something if I search hard enough but today nothing. In the long run it will be best to go up so we can take the money; hands up anyone who thinks that if we don't go up this year we'll go up next year? Coppell should go at the end of the year, he has been our best manager ever and deserves all the stands, statues and so on that we can make for him, but the same mistakes have been made this season as they were last time.

At least there was a little bit of the passion and defiance from the stands today after the first goal that was common from about 2005-2007, but the life seems to have been sucked out of the club, and it's probably because the fans don't see the players trying hard enough.

Roll on the playoffs

I've got some rope you can use...where were you when we were shit?

He was 10. No offence Earley Royal.

[Stevie G]

Hunt 6, not from the East stand from which he pretty much ran along the line for both halves, 3 at best. When injured, he slowed down and took part even less, how he stayed on I don't know.

[The Cap]

The Royal We wrote

Generous! I'd give him 0. For being fat, shit and keeping a far better keeper out the team. I hope he never plays for us again.

Wouldn't put it quite as bluntly but me and bruv were saying how we reckon his days have got to be numbered. Any coincidence that he hasn't been offered another contract yet?

Surely it's got to be Fed for the numero uno slot next season with a decent understudy.