Back from the Game - Stoke City (H)

[M Brook]

We mustn't fool ourselves - yesterday was a disappointing performance against a team that we need to finish above if we are to stay up. Sure we had the better of the opening exchanges and were the better team until they scored against the run of play but after that it was like we'd had the wind knocked out of us. We let them up their game and we never really threatened until McCleary came on and we certainly were on top at the end. Despite impressive performances from Ledge and Guthrie, we looked toothless up front and the Pog in particular was a let down. There was at least one occasion when he fell to the ground appealing for a pen that he was never going to get when he could have stayed on his feet and kept the attack going. It was no surprise when he was subbed rather than Alf and we played better without him.

People seemed happy after the final whistle but that would have been relief. We should have won yesterday. Stoke are my tip for relegation and nothing I saw yesterday changed that. I know its only the first game but we need to step up a level pretty soon if the bookies are to be proved wrong.

[PieEater]

The Pog (and Roberts) are not target men to hoof the ball to, they need the ball played to their feet or through to run on to. We need to play to their strengths if we are going to see the best of them.

We're too used to Long, Doyle, or Kitson winning a large percentage of headers and linking play with flick ons. That's not what the Pog does.

[M Brook]

The Pog (and Roberts) are not target men to hoof the ball to, they need the ball played to their feet or through to run on to. We need to play to their strengths if we are going to see the best of them.

We're too used to Long, Doyle, or Kitson winning a large percentage of headers and linking play with flick ons. That's not what the Pog does.

Clearly.

[winchester_royal]

The Pog (and Roberts) are not target men to hoof the ball to, they need the ball played to their feet or through to run on to. We need to play to their strengths if we are going to see the best of them.

We're too used to Long, Doyle, or Kitson winning a large percentage of headers and linking play with flick ons. That's not what the Pog does.

Agreed, and thing Pearce/Gorkss were to blame for a lot of this yesterday. Far too often they ignored Guthrie to go long towards Pog. Just because he happens to be taller than 5ft 9 it doesn't mean he's our Andy Carroll.

[Victor Meldrew]

The Pog (and Roberts) are not target men to hoof the ball to, they need the ball played to their feet or through to run on to. We need to play to their strengths if we are going to see the best of them.

We're too used to Long, Doyle, or Kitson winning a large percentage of headers and linking play with flick ons. That's not what the Pog does.

Perhaps you should tell that to the manager and the coaching staff and remind them that we have different personnel playing up front.
Very difficult to judge how we will do based on one performance and that against the only side in the Prem. who don't play football.
It looked like a Championship game other than Walters for them and Guthrie for us.

I was very surprised to see HRK and Harte start although in Harte's case it must be an injury to Shorey.
Very pleased for McCleary and surely,like Church,HRK has run out of chances-he only ever plays well as a sub and never when he starts a game and for a big lad he really is soft.

A point and a strong finish may well have helped build confidence and looking at our squad we are certain to need plenty of that in the coming weeks.

[Ian Royal]

I think we looked good for the first half hour, in control of the game but without any real penetrating threat. Not surprising for a team with two new first choice strikers, a second choice winger and a first choice winger on the wrong flank. The set pieces were poor although Gorkss still should have scored from a corner first half.

Then we seemed to fade and stop pressing them so well, leaving space in midfield for them to start putting together passes. Hey presto, a weak defensive header from Pearce, combined with no marking from one of Jobi, Hal, Ledge or Guthrie and an absolute hwler from Fed and we're 1-0 down just before half time. That knocked the stuffing out of us and it was all Stoke until McCleary came on to stretch the game. Which he did superbly with pacey and direct running.

I thought we had two penalty shouts, but the one we were given (from MOTD - I was at the wrong end) was stonewall. I didn't even realise their player had been sent off I was so nervous about the penalty we were about to take. Up steps ALF the Great and we have a thoroughly deserved parity against a side that never seriously threatened our goal. Harte's freekick was better but the keeper was well positioned and I don't think he was ever getting it in.

Federici - 4 didn't have a lot of import to do, but made the worst mistake he's done in years. I am confident we won't see more of that this season.
Gunter - 6 didn't notice him a lot, was hoping he'd get forward more.
Harte - 5 positioning, set pieces and pace were all weak. Stoke caused us problems down that flank. In defence, I'm not sure how much HRK helped.
Pearce - 6 clumsy but solid. I am concerned about whether he's good enough at this level. It's a big step up.
Gorkss - 5.5 missed a good chance and didn't seem to play well, but was pulled all over the place by Harte's poor game.
Ledge - 7.5 quality interceptions and tackles, good use of the ball in midfield
Guthrie - 6.5 excellent on the ball and offers a lot more in the middle, but a bit too casual sometimes
McAnuff - 5.5 quiet game, some nice touches but not a lot, should have started on the left
HRK - 5.5 beat his man a few times only to be scythed down, but was too quiet and should have started on the right or on the bench.
Pog - 6 big man with good feet, I could see what he was trying to do a lot of the time, but he was trying to do it through one player too many.
ALF - 7 wayward shooting, but getting himself oportunities, and scored the penalty well

McCleary - 8 tricks, pace and direct runign, exactly what we needed
Hunt - 6.5 got involved and made himself a nuisance.

Team Perfroamance - 7
McDermott - 6.5

May want to drop ALF and HRK for Chelsea and bring in McCleary and Karacan. I think Mariappa may well be in the side within the next three to five games.

All in all a decent start with a game we should probably have won but for the howler and that we did well to get back into and get a point. Play to the whistle like that and we should rescue too many points to go down.

[LongThrowSpecialist]

a stoke fan explaining what footballs all about

Sorry, football's about clapping to modern pop songs as part of the pre match routine.

Better?

[loyalroyal4life]

All in all, it was a fair point.

McCleary to start the next game.

HRK is not good enough to start in the prem, needs to be mcleary then kebe to challenge for 1 of the 2 spots on the wing along with Jobi (although cant see him ever getting dropped)

[St Pauli]

a stoke fan explaining what footballs all about

Sorry, football's about clapping to modern pop songs as part of the pre match routine.

Better?

The point my northern friend is that many on here think all of the things you mention are crap too. But they have no control over these decisions. I can think of only one club (in this country) where the fans have managed to reverse a decision like introducing post goal music and that was Torquay.

People can go on about little old plastic Reading but it happens to big traditional 'proper' football clubs too- see Cardiff and Blades.

[LongThrowSpecialist]

Never said you weren't a 'real' club, however I saw the whole ground taking part in the clapping and karaoke games, that says to me that the majority do like it.

If you didn't take part they wouldn't do it.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Never said you weren't a 'real' club, however I saw the whole ground taking part in the clapping and karaoke games, that says to me that the majority do like it.

If you didn't take part they wouldn't do it.

You'll find the majority on here find this massively embarrasing and have long lobbied the club to stop with shitty PA techniques. They won't listen.

But at the end of the day we go along to the stadium to watch Reading win, not gorge on what other fans are doing with annoying clappers.

[RedRum]

Never said you weren't a 'real' club, however I saw the whole ground taking part in the clapping and karaoke games, that says to me that the majority do like it.

If you didn't take part they wouldn't do it.

You'll find the majority on here find this massively embarrasing and have long lobbied the club to stop with shitty PA techniques. They won't listen.

But at the end of the day we go along to the stadium to watch Reading win, not gorge on what other fans are doing with annoying clappers.

+1. Reading will never stop being a family club and continue to embarrass us. At the end of the day, it may create a 'fake' atmosphere but the manager and team all come out praising it and if it helps motivate them then fair enough...

Doesn't mean we don't have 'proper' fans though

[LongThrowSpecialist]

Never said you weren't a 'real' club, however I saw the whole ground taking part in the clapping and karaoke games, that says to me that the majority do like it.

If you didn't take part they wouldn't do it.

You'll find the majority on here find this massively embarrasing and have long lobbied the club to stop with shitty PA techniques. They won't listen.

But at the end of the day we go along to the stadium to watch Reading win, not gorge on what other fans are doing with annoying clappers.

[edinburghroyal]

I think McAnuff is not adding any value on the pitch and should get dropped. Same goes for bloody Queensley.

[Kebe Cummings]

I think McAnuff is not adding any value on the pitch and should get dropped. Same goes for bloody Queensley.

Very agree. Useless brainless chicken.

[Kebe Cummings]

I think McAnuff is not adding any value on the pitch and should get dropped. Same goes for bloody Queensley.

Very agree. Useless brainless chicken.

But do not agree regarding Queensley. She looks much smarter than McAnuuf

[RedRum]

I think McAnuff is not adding any value on the pitch and should get dropped. Same goes for bloody Queensley.

Disagree. He made a few good runs yesterday and has good link up play with Harte + also at some points Gunter. Stoke were cynical in blocking off that part of our attack, so to consider dropping him for that would be ridiculous.
He always put 100% effort in and that must be a fantastic motivator to the rest of the team to see your captain never giving in. Also constantly tries to shout and motivate the team.

Anyway he is our captain and will not be dropped unless injured.

Queensley can do one though.

[Esteban]

We mustn't fool ourselves - yesterday was a disappointing performance against a team that we need to finish above if we are to stay up. Sure we had the better of the opening exchanges and were the better team until they scored against the run of play but after that it was like we'd had the wind knocked out of us. We let them up their game and we never really threatened until McCleary came on and we certainly were on top at the end. Despite impressive performances from Ledge and Guthrie, we looked toothless up front and the Pog in particular was a let down. There was at least one occasion when he fell to the ground appealing for a pen that he was never going to get when he could have stayed on his feet and kept the attack going. It was no surprise when he was subbed rather than Alf and we played better without him.

People seemed happy after the final whistle but that would have been relief. We should have won yesterday. Stoke are my tip for relegation and nothing I saw yesterday changed that. I know its only the first game but we need to step up a level pretty soon if the bookies are to be proved wrong.

I think you need to re-evaluate your expectations for this season, or you'll spend most of your Saturday evenings feeling disappointed. It was the first PL game for a lot of our side and of the ones that have played in it before, only Guthrie and Pogrebnyak have recent experience.

The difference was McCleary coming on, it nothing to do with Pogrebnyak going off. You try winning a header when you've Shawcross in front of you and Huth all over your back. When the ball went to his feet, Pogrebnyak did what we brought him here to do.

As I said, McCleary made the difference. He linked up with Gunter down the right, McAnuff came over to the left hand side with Harte and we had a lot more balance. Ledge and Guthrie in the middle need time to develop as a partnership. On a few occasions, they stood still waiting for each other to go towards the ball, but that will improve. When Gorkss flicked the header out before their goal, either Ledge or Guthrie should have been there to tidy up. Cast your mind back to when Karacan and Leigertwood first played together, it was a similar story then. There were a lot of new partnerships in that side for the first 70 minutes and it showed. It will get better with time.

It's way too early to be saying whether we'll be staying up or going down, but I thought yesterday was satisfactory, given the circumstances. But for an error you can't legislate for, we'd have won the game. We've showed we can compete with the most physical side in the league and for the most part, played the better football. Stoke are a team who know what they are about, they play to their strengths and they don't care if they get slated for it. More power to them. We'll need to show the same attitude if we are to fight our way to 17th or higher by the end of the season. We have a side trying to develop and we should be providing an environment to allow them to do that, not complaining at a 1-1 draw with an established PL side on day one of the new season. Would you rather we were thumped 5-0? We were ok, nothing more, nothing less, but there is room for improvement and that's the most important thing. We have a foundation to work from now.

[windermere_royal]

We mustn't fool ourselves - yesterday was a disappointing performance against a team that we need to finish above if we are to stay up. Sure we had the better of the opening exchanges and were the better team until they scored against the run of play but after that it was like we'd had the wind knocked out of us. We let them up their game and we never really threatened until McCleary came on and we certainly were on top at the end. Despite impressive performances from Ledge and Guthrie, we looked toothless up front and the Pog in particular was a let down. There was at least one occasion when he fell to the ground appealing for a pen that he was never going to get when he could have stayed on his feet and kept the attack going. It was no surprise when he was subbed rather than Alf and we played better without him.

People seemed happy after the final whistle but that would have been relief. We should have won yesterday. Stoke are my tip for relegation and nothing I saw yesterday changed that. I know its only the first game but we need to step up a level pretty soon if the bookies are to be proved wrong.

I think you need to re-evaluate your expectations for this season, or you'll spend most of your Saturday evenings feeling disappointed. It was the first PL game for a lot of our side and of the ones that have played in it before, only Guthrie and Pogrebnyak have recent experience.

The difference was McCleary coming on, it nothing to do with Pogrebnyak going off. You try winning a header when you've Shawcross in front of you and Huth all over your back. When the ball went to his feet, Pogrebnyak did what we brought him here to do.

As I said, McCleary made the difference. He linked up with Gunter down the right, McAnuff came over to the left hand side with Harte and we had a lot more balance. Ledge and Guthrie in the middle need time to develop as a partnership. On a few occasions, they stood still waiting for each other to go towards the ball, but that will improve. When Gorkss flicked the header out before their goal, either Ledge or Guthrie should have been there to tidy up. Cast your mind back to when Karacan and Leigertwood first played together, it was a similar story then. There were a lot of new partnerships in that side for the first 70 minutes and it showed. It will get better with time.

It's way too early to be saying whether we'll be staying up or going down, but I thought yesterday was satisfactory, given the circumstances. But for an error you can't legislate for, we'd have won the game. We've showed we can compete with the most physical side in the league and for the most part, played the better football. Stoke are a team who know what they are about, they play to their strengths and they don't care if they get slated for it. More power to them. We'll need to show the same attitude if we are to fight our way to 17th or higher by the end of the season. We have a side trying to develop and we should be providing an environment to allow them to do that, not complaining at a 1-1 draw with an established PL side on day one of the new season. Would you rather we were thumped 5-0? We were ok, nothing more, nothing less, but there is room for improvement and that's the most important thing. We have a foundation to work from now.

very good evaluation of the game as I saw it, well done newbie

[winchester_royal]

We mustn't fool ourselves - yesterday was a disappointing performance against a team that we need to finish above if we are to stay up. Sure we had the better of the opening exchanges and were the better team until they scored against the run of play but after that it was like we'd had the wind knocked out of us. We let them up their game and we never really threatened until McCleary came on and we certainly were on top at the end. Despite impressive performances from Ledge and Guthrie, we looked toothless up front and the Pog in particular was a let down. There was at least one occasion when he fell to the ground appealing for a pen that he was never going to get when he could have stayed on his feet and kept the attack going. It was no surprise when he was subbed rather than Alf and we played better without him.

People seemed happy after the final whistle but that would have been relief. We should have won yesterday. Stoke are my tip for relegation and nothing I saw yesterday changed that. I know its only the first game but we need to step up a level pretty soon if the bookies are to be proved wrong.

I think you need to re-evaluate your expectations for this season, or you'll spend most of your Saturday evenings feeling disappointed. It was the first PL game for a lot of our side and of the ones that have played in it before, only Guthrie and Pogrebnyak have recent experience.

The difference was McCleary coming on, it nothing to do with Pogrebnyak going off. You try winning a header when you've Shawcross in front of you and Huth all over your back. When the ball went to his feet, Pogrebnyak did what we brought him here to do.

As I said, McCleary made the difference. He linked up with Gunter down the right, McAnuff came over to the left hand side with Harte and we had a lot more balance. Ledge and Guthrie in the middle need time to develop as a partnership. On a few occasions, they stood still waiting for each other to go towards the ball, but that will improve. When Gorkss flicked the header out before their goal, either Ledge or Guthrie should have been there to tidy up. Cast your mind back to when Karacan and Leigertwood first played together, it was a similar story then. There were a lot of new partnerships in that side for the first 70 minutes and it showed. It will get better with time.

It's way too early to be saying whether we'll be staying up or going down, but I thought yesterday was satisfactory, given the circumstances. But for an error you can't legislate for, we'd have won the game. We've showed we can compete with the most physical side in the league and for the most part, played the better football. Stoke are a team who know what they are about, they play to their strengths and they don't care if they get slated for it. More power to them. We'll need to show the same attitude if we are to fight our way to 17th or higher by the end of the season. We have a side trying to develop and we should be providing an environment to allow them to do that, not complaining at a 1-1 draw with an established PL side on day one of the new season. Would you rather we were thumped 5-0? We were ok, nothing more, nothing less, but there is room for improvement and that's the most important thing. We have a foundation to work from now.

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