Back from the game (an armchair view)

[IceRoyalsandKDoyles]

Usa- 5 - should not have let 1st goal go underneath him
Rosenior- 5 - 1 good move in the 1st half with a ball across the face of the brum goal but apart from that woeful passing/long ball stuff as usual
Harding- 7 - wasn't bad, passing again wasn't a strong point but he looked a safe left back back-up
Bikey- 7 - concentration lapses at some points cost him today but showed some nice control, passing and skill at times
Doobs- 3 - I don't dislike Doobs, I just really feel our confidence problems have been down to a lack of any motivation at all by the guy who's supposed to be our stand in captain. Passing rating out of 10 was about a 1 as usual
Karacan- 5 - didn't have a great game, for him, today
Tabb- 7 - looked our best player at times, was brave and committed in central midfield and he distributed the ball quite nicely
Shunt- 4 - his form really has been poor and today again every time he got the ball he seems to be missing that energy we know of stephen hunt
Kebe- 5 - started the game reasonably well - even having a shot himself! - but drifted further out of the game as it went on
Kitson- 5 - ok... but nothing more... needed to get involved more
Long- 5 - had 2 great chances if he'd thrown himself... didn't seem alive and with plenty of energy today

Matejovsky- 7 - nice goal and great shot just after (why doesn't he shoot more?!) started badly, gave the ball straight to Brum 3 times but then really picked up after his goal
Doyle- 5 - needed to get involved a lot more but to be fair may not have been given the chance, with some poor passing up to him

[Chaney]

Kebe and Hunt had no idea. Thye were unable to create or deliver a decent cross beteween them.





Kitson plays like a lost sheep all over the place except where he should be in the 6 yards box to poach and score goals.

give me strength

[Blue Biscuit]

Such a disappointment.
MH at fault for the first goal and woeful distribution
LR - Two good crosses but so often a headless chicken. He and Kebe do not combine well.
AB - Makes the hard stuff look easy and the simple stuff look really difficult. Maybe a midfield role for the play-offs..?
MD - Thought he was ok but possibly at fault for the second goal, along with Bikey.
DH - I LIke him. Was unlucky to get taken off. I would be tempted to play him left midfield when Armstrong returns. He does put in a decent cross when he gets forward, which he didn't do enough today.
JK - Dreadful. No control and no end product. Also does a headless chicken routine.
JemK - Not a great performance. Out fought by the Brum midfielders. Nerves..?
JT - Battled hard esp in the 2nd half. Has bags of energy and might be the man to partner Marek to make up for his defensive shortcomings.
SH - Had several chances to put in some good crosses but always seems to take one touch too many and then messes up.
DK - Still plays too deep. Was marginally better when he spent a spell out wide on the left.
SL - Ran hard but no supply before Marek came on, and no support because Kitson was too deep.

KD - Didn't really look interested.
MM - Took the goal well, and had one other chance. Needs at least two forwards in front of him to give him options and keep the opposition guessing. Can't tackle which is a worry.

Have to hope that our recent away form continues and proves too much for Burnley, and then too much for Sheff. Utd./Preston. Just Burnley at home to worry about..!

[lovetoscore]

Oh Silly me-

Must have missed Kitson winning loads of headers against their cbs and all the good lay offs and shots on target then? Rumour has it that some strikers actually do this

So your definition of a player getting into the game is whether he has a head injury or not and whether the ref gives decisions against him then?

Well that must make you a very high calibre fan oh great one!

[quote="AthleticoSpizz"][quote="lovetoscore"]Kitson-5-rarely got in the game[/quote]You silly billy

Downed at least twice by the Brum with head injuries, penalised by the pathetic ref Webb at least 3 times for winning challenges fairly.

at the end of most of our poorly skied passes

....and yet he rarely got into the game...

oh dear, is the calibre of "fan" that we have know?[/quote]

[AthleticoSpizz]

Oh Silly me-

Must have missed Kitson winning loads of headers against their cbs and all the good lay offs and shots on target then? Rumour has it that some strikers actually do this

So your definition of a player getting into the game is whether he has a head injury or not and whether the ref gives decisions against him then?

Well that must make you a very high calibre fan oh great one!

Kitson-5-rarely got in the game

You silly billy

Downed at least twice by the Brum with head injuries, penalised by the pathetic ref Webb at least 3 times for winning challenges fairly.

at the end of most of our poorly skied passes

....and yet he rarely got into the game...

oh dear, is the calibre of "fan" that we have know?

deary deary me



not involved

[Blue Biscuit]

One other thing....I thought the referee was poor. Not particularly biased...just inconsistent.

[Murts-is-Lej]

Whinger(!!)?

Oops sorry to confuse the great & the good of the hobnob world with my spelling! It takes a deity of over 6000 posts to work out what a complete newbie is on about. And I hadn't even had half as many beers as I've had now...

[Rex]

Lucky. I had to go to work tonight. I almost sacked it and went on the lash.

[reading fc rock leroylero]

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

oxf*rd hell!

Bikey a 5!? He was MOTM!

[IceRoyalsandKDoyles]

Usa- 5 - should not have let 1st goal go underneath him
Rosenior- 5 - 1 good move in the 1st half with a ball across the face of the brum goal but apart from that woeful passing/long ball stuff as usual
Harding- 7 - wasn't bad, passing again wasn't a strong point but he looked a safe left back back-up
Bikey- 7 - concentration lapses at some points cost him today but showed some nice control, passing and skill at times
Doobs- 3 - I don't dislike Doobs, I just really feel our confidence problems have been down to a lack of any motivation at all by the guy who's supposed to be our stand in captain. Passing rating out of 10 was about a 1 as usual
Karacan- 5 - didn't have a great game, for him, today
Tabb- 7 - looked our best player at times, was brave and committed in central midfield and he distributed the ball quite nicely
Shunt- 4 - his form really has been poor and today again every time he got the ball he seems to be missing that energy we know of stephen hunt
Kebe- 5 - started the game reasonably well - even having a shot himself! - but drifted further out of the game as it went on
Kitson- 5 - ok... but nothing more... needed to get involved more
Long- 5 - had 2 great chances if he'd thrown himself... didn't seem alive and with plenty of energy today

Matejovsky- 7 - nice goal and great shot just after (why doesn't he shoot more?!) started badly, gave the ball straight to Brum 3 times but then really picked up after his goal
Doyle- 5 - needed to get involved a lot more but to be fair may not have been given the chance, with some poor passing up to him

[Royal Rother]

oxf*rd hell!

Bikey a 5!? He was MOTM!

I was just going to post a similar comment - Bikey was excellent in defence and in my (slightly exaggerated) opinion was, after MM, our most threatening creative option.

Anyone giving him the same mark as Hahnemann today has some issues.

[reading fc rock leroylero]

He was an absolute rock at the back and a threat going forward. For the first 45mins he had Phillips in his pocket.

[Royal Rother]

I know I've already commented on this but I still can't believe someone thought he was our worst outfield player. Bizarre!

[Royal Boil]

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

A View from the South Stand:

USA - 5 - Yes, he made that bllunder, but his distribution was relatively okay (Only rememer one poor clearance) and he was relatively safe. apart from the second. Or the one that hit the post. Okay, make that a 4.
Bikey - 6 - immense at the back, but atrocious passing. Didn't look that interested overall. What happened to the player that outran and out-muscled Rooney last season? Interestingly, he was playing as a forward during the latter stages of the game today..
Doobs - 6 - A single moment summed it up with a superb stop followed by a ball that sailed out of play when under no pressure.
Harding - 6 - I'll go with this, simply because I don't remember him doing anything really good or really bad.
Rossy - 2 - Atrocious passing, poor display. But he's another one that can really perform when he wants to - I'm sure I've seen it, though I can't remember when.
Tabb - 3 - Out-muscled too easily, outthought too easily and the only complete passes made were Harper-esque across the midfield. At least he managed to get the odd one to a teammate though, which is more than can be said of the rest of them.
Karacan - 3 - has anyone told this guy to try and even do the simple passes on the ground? Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, because it's hard watching talent play like sh*t.
SHunt - 3 - And that's mainly down to the onfield kit change entertainment value. Everything he did was so laboured and predictable that there was always an opposing defender there to close it down with a block. Whatever happpened to the winger that used to terrorise Premiership defenders?
Kebe - 3 - Too often standing in space and not being used, then when he was used, a waste of space. I've been an advocate for this guy, and he has talent, but even I'm close to giving up after seeing him fall on his backside yet again and the ball heading for row Z. He's such an infuriating player because he could be so good.....
GWinger - 1 - Sorry, but all I saw was, erm, nothing.
Long - 9 - Ran his heart out again and did whatever was asked of him. Started off up front, then helped defence and ended up as right winger, doing a better job than either SHunt or Kebe. Would have gotten a 10 from me if he'd scored.

Tofsky - 8 Brought some guile to the game, scored a nice measured goal, yet still too many misplaced passes and lost tackles. Too many errors from a player that is supposed to be so good for the CCC.
Doyler - 7 - I actually thought that we looked more dangerous when he came on. He diddn't do a lot per se, but he definitely unruffled their feathers. Shame it didn't happen earlier....

[cmonurz]

Clearly Long must have had his willy hanging out in the second half, to have scored a 9.

[Arch]

I've posted 4000+ times and i still dont get any respect

[Rex]

[loyalroyal4life]

One other thing....I thought the referee was poor. Not particularly biased...just inconsistent.

what do you expect, it was Howard Webb so obviously he was going to be shit

[RoyalBlue]

From NOTW:

"Blues goalkeeper Maik Taylor, 37, heads back to Reading ready to make them pay for rejecting him at the start of career. Taylor (below) was in the army at the time and playing non-league football for Farnborough when he was invited to Reading for a trial.

He recalled: "I was only there for a week and they decided not to pursue their interest in me. I had followed my dad into the army and I was 19 before I played in goal for the first time. And that was by accident."

Well he certainly made us pay with that great save from Marek. Had that shot gone in, I genuinely think we would have been celebrating getting back to the PL today. Having been pulled back from 2-0 to 2-2 Brummie nerves really would have kicked in, whereas with the Mad Stad crowd roaring them on, I think our players would have gone on to grab the winner.

[PlasticRoyale]

From NOTW:

"Blues goalkeeper Maik Taylor, 37, heads back to Reading ready to make them pay for rejecting him at the start of career. Taylor (below) was in the army at the time and playing non-league football for Farnborough when he was invited to Reading for a trial.

He recalled: "I was only there for a week and they decided not to pursue their interest in me. I had followed my dad into the army and I was 19 before I played in goal for the first time. And that was by accident."

Well he certainly made us pay with thatgreat save from Marek. Had that shot gone in, I genuinely think we would have been celebrating getting back to the PL today. Having been pulled back from 2-0 to 2-2 Brummie nerves really would have kicked in, whereas with the Mad Stad crowd roaring them on, I think our players would have gone on to grab the winner.

If i had a bigger penis i might just have the confidence to lose my virginity