BFTG - Wednesday

[NewCorkSeth]

Possibly something a new defensive coach would sort out?

[Pandoras Box]

Correct Jordcot we were getting close,but as it went on more of Wednesday sat on that far post and the chances started getting less. good day out though. Hillsborough iconic ground and at least we didn't get trounced like last year. 1-0 loss but
I think we'll make the playoffs as minimum - it's all starting to come together.

[EarleyRoyal16]

Draw would have been fair or a Reading win. Wednesday poor and can't finish. Their keepers bloody decent though. Not having all this criticism for Murray, not his best day today but he still got in behind well to win the penalty and hit the bar with a header. He'll start scoring goals on a regular basis soon, just hasn't fell for him either today or against Millwall. Very impressed with Cooper, looked assured and quite comfortable on the ball, it's amazing how good all the academy players coming through really are. Obita good as always. Blackman was OK but his end product is wasteful 9 times out of 10, good free kick though in all fairness which he was unlucky with. We need wingers, Taylor was anonymous today and Mackie is average at best. When McCleary is back and we have him and Blackman on the wings we'll look good. Thought Pog was poor, offered next to nothing, despite having a bad day, Murray really is a much better player in every aspect.

[Nameless]

Very impressed with Cooper, looked assured and quite comfortable on the ball, it's amazing how good all the academy players coming through really are. .

It shouldn't be a surprise. People who watch the academy have been saying it for several years ! And the same people said ages ago that when we got the players who entered the Academy early and had 7 or 8 years of quality coaching we would reap the benefits, and that is proving to be the case.
It's good to see that people are now waking up to the benefits of investing in our youth set up over the last decade.

[dizzynewheights]

Got to have a few more options on the set piece. The amount of corners and free kicks we had in the last qtr of the match - just meant Pearce comes lumbering up to back post, ball hit long, Pearce heads back in hoping someone gets on to it. It has worked and will work again - but doing it for the tenth time in a row when you've already been sussed is pretty pointless.

'greed with this. It beats the days of watching S Hunt continually failing to reach the near post but still incredibly frustrating watching us throw away chance after chance.

Pen was a shambles - all the managers fault that, letting Murray play billy big boll0x

We'll play a lot worse than that this season and win.

[Royal Biscuits]

Was I the only fan who went who noticed how slow the pitch was? Right from kick off it looked as there had been a torrential downpour before the game. I'm glad we didn't try to pass out from goal kicks.

Sheffield Wednesday reminded me a lot of our teams under Brian McDermott. Unspectacular, very hard to beat and, as we found out, able to grind out a win. At least we know how teams often felt losing to us in 2010 to 2012.

Big positive was Cooper. A partnership of him and Hector could be very good if they can both continue to develop.

[Royal Biscuits]

Got to have a few more options on the set piece. The amount of corners and free kicks we had in the last qtr of the match - just meant Pearce comes lumbering up to back post, ball hit long, Pearce heads back in hoping someone gets on to it. It has worked and will work again - but doing it for the tenth time in a row when you've already been sussed is pretty pointless.

'greed with this. It beats the days of watching S Hunt continually failing to reach the near post but still incredibly frustrating watching us throw away chance after chance.

Pen was a shambles - all the managers fault that, letting Murray play billy big boll0x

We'll play a lot worse than that this season and win.

But it was Murray who missed the penalty not Adkins! Surely the players should be treated and behave like adults. If Murray want to take it then let him take the responsibility. Maybe Blackman didn't want to argue and be under the extra pressure knowing that if he missed he'd look an idiot not letting Murray take it. The players should know which one of them is the best penalty taker.

[Norfolk Royal]

Guthrie got a one out of ten rating in The Sun today, Pog and Mackie both three.

Never seen ratings as low as that before. Misprint?

[Mr Optimist]

Guthrie got a one out of ten rating in The Sun today, Pog and Mackie both three.

Never seen ratings as low as that before. Misprint?

Think its a pro rata based on length of time on the pitch etc for some Championship dream team type bollux.

[Sanguine]

Are we suffering again from not having an appointed penalty taker? Blackman took them at Sheffield United and scored against Millwall - no situation should really arise then where Murray is taking it.

[Wycombe Royal]

Are we suffering again from not having an appointed penalty taker? Blackman took them at Sheffield United and scored against Millwall - no situation should really arise then where Murray is taking it.

He was the penalty taker at Palace and had an excellent record.

[Norfolk Royal]

Guthrie got a one out of ten rating in The Sun today, Pog and Mackie both three.

Never seen ratings as low as that before. Misprint?

Think its a pro rata based on length of time on the pitch etc for some Championship dream team type bollux.

Hmm, none of the subs in other games got such low ratings.

[Hoop Blah]

Are we suffering again from not having an appointed penalty taker? Blackman took them at Sheffield United and scored against Millwall - no situation should really arise then where Murray is taking it.

He was the penalty taker at Palace and had an excellent record.

Pen was a shambles - all the managers fault that, letting Murray play billy big boll0x

I wouldn't say it's the managers fault as such, but it does amaze me that Adkins leaves it up to the players to decide on the pitch.

Against Millwall I think Cox wanted to take it and it looked like he'd agreed it with Murray (or visa versa) but Blackman ran after the ball and wouldn't give it up. That kind of distraction can't help a pressure situation.

I think Coppell used to do the same thing but I do believe the players should know who's the man down for pens unless they don't want it and pass it down the line.

[Isaac Hunt]

Are we suffering again from not having an appointed penalty taker? Blackman took them at Sheffield United and scored against Millwall - no situation should really arise then where Murray is taking it.

He was the penalty taker at Palace and had an excellent record.

Pen was a shambles - all the managers fault that, letting Murray play billy big boll0x

I wouldn't say it's the managers fault as such, but it does amaze me that Adkins leaves it up to the players to decide on the pitch.

Against Millwall I think Cox wanted to take it and it looked like he'd agreed it with Murray (or visa versa) but Blackman ran after the ball and wouldn't give it up. That kind of distraction can't help a pressure situation.

I think Coppell used to do the same thing but I do believe the players should know who's the man down for pens unless they don't want it and pass it down the line.

I've not seen it mentioned, but my guess would be, with a couple (maybe more) penalty takers on the pitch, they've decided to leave it to whoever grabs the ball first...OR, whoever was fouled. Blackman won the penalty on Tuesday - Murray the penalty on Saturday.

Hopefully with that miss, we'll actually appoint a proper penalty taker going forward.

[CountryRoyal]

We didn't deserve to lose but I don't really remember testing Westwood from open play.

Anderson - 6 - did what he was asked but wasn't tested, couldn't do anything about the goal.
Gunter - 6 - only player to make obvious mistakes IMHO
Pearce - 7 - standard pierce performance IMHO
Cooper - 7 - did well for his first start, would have gotten an 8 but gave away the foul for their goal, hoofed it a couple of times when he didn't need to but he's still young so a promising starting debut
Obita - 9 - (our) MOTM, defended excellently and so mature for his age, we will have a hard time keeping him this year.
Akpan - 6 - worse than millwall but an improvement on old
Norwood - 7 - one or two ambitious one touch, cross field passes went astray but solid, hopefully he continues in his good form
Taylor - 5 - poor and not championship standard
Blackman- 7 - don't remember him doing too much tbf, but what he did he generally did well, with the free kick and unlucky not to be given another towards the end.
Cox - 6 - great effort, didn't go his way - I think he is enjoying being back at reading
Murray - 5 - didn't do much, can't miss that pen, shouldn't have even played

Subs:
Pogrebnyak - 4 - ineffectual. Didn't won a header, got out muscled, and his touch was poor
Guthrie - 4 - good appetite but largely ineffectual, poor touch and got a jammy fk
Mackie - 5 - tried hard, didn't get the luck.. Couldn't do too much

It will be interesting to see how this young team bounces back from a demoralising and undeserved loss - I think the cup game is a godsend and we should play the same-ish team.

A decent away performance, drastically improved on previous. We were the better team but didn't really deserve to win. Westwood has to be MOTM by default, even if he was slightly fortunate with the saves.
Wednesday were poor, had some decent interlink play which resulted in. Few good opportunities but we were fortunate they were shit at finishing. So many misplaced passes as well.
Referred was terrible, can't believe he missed that foul on Blackman toward the end, should have sent off their player for our pen, handball was 50/50, was close but seen them given. Lols when he fell over.

Thought our fans were in good voice, apart from those at the front, and the bellend who was bitter about Jake Cooper stealing his ball yet kept singing about him with adoration and probably nursing a semi.
Their fans were shocking, especially considering the crowd. Didn't sing until they scored in the 84th minute.. Not a single song.

Sheffield is a shithole but at £10 a ticket was good fun. On the train to Manchester sat in the only free seat next to a few of the Old boys of the Oldham firm, gave me free booze and had a laugh - was probably more entertaining than the football tbf.

[Warfield North Stand]

A quick look on their forum and apparently we were dirty and timewasted the whole game. We are cheats because of some drop ball incident ( Can't remember this , but then again I was pissed) and the Ref gave us EVERTYHING. Oh, and our support is 1/10.
As said above, I thought their support was non exsistent apart from constant berating of the ref until they scored and they all pipe up. Thought they looked poor and for an away team we did ok. Better than last year anyway. Cracking day/night though. Stayed in Worksop. Must be the most backward place in the country!!

[joeroyal]

We didn't deserve to lose but I don't really remember testing Westwood from open play.

Anderson - 6 - did what he was asked but wasn't tested, couldn't do anything about the goal.
Gunter - 6 - only player to make obvious mistakes IMHO
Pearce - 7 - standard pierce performance IMHO
Cooper - 7 - did well for his first start, would have gotten an 8 but gave away the foul for their goal, hoofed it a couple of times when he didn't need to but he's still young so a promising starting debut
Obita - 9 - (our) MOTM, defended excellently and so mature for his age, we will have a hard time keeping him this year.
Akpan - 6 - worse than millwall but an improvement on old
Norwood - 7 - one or two ambitious one touch, cross field passes went astray but solid, hopefully he continues in his good form
Taylor - 5 - poor and not championship standard
Blackman- 7 - don't remember him doing too much tbf, but what he did he generally did well, with the free kick and unlucky not to be given another towards the end.
Cox - 6 - great effort, didn't go his way - I think he is enjoying being back at reading
Murray - 5 - didn't do much, can't miss that pen, shouldn't have even played

Subs:
Pogrebnyak - 4 - ineffectual. Didn't won a header, got out muscled, and his touch was poor
Guthrie - 4 - good appetite but largely ineffectual, poor touch and got a jammy fk
Mackie - 5 - tried hard, didn't get the luck.. Couldn't do too much

It will be interesting to see how this young team bounces back from a demoralising and undeserved loss - I think the cup game is a godsend and we should play the same-ish team.

A decent away performance, drastically improved on previous. We were the better team but didn't really deserve to win. Westwood has to be MOTM by default, even if he was slightly fortunate with the saves.
Wednesday were poor, had some decent interlink play which resulted in. Few good opportunities but we were fortunate they were shit at finishing. So many misplaced passes as well.
Referred was terrible, can't believe he missed that foul on Blackman toward the end, should have sent off their player for our pen, handball was 50/50, was close but seen them given. Lols when he fell over.

Thought our fans were in good voice, apart from those at the front, and the bellend who was bitter about Jake Cooper stealing his ball yet kept singing about him with adoration and probably nursing a semi.
Their fans were shocking, especially considering the crowd. Didn't sing until they scored in the 84th minute.. Not a single song.

Sheffield is a shithole but at £10 a ticket was good fun. On the train to Manchester sat in the only free seat next to a few of the Old boys of the Oldham firm, gave me free booze and had a laugh - was probably more entertaining than the football tbf.

Old boys of the Oldham firm, How old are you 10 ? best laugh I have had all day

[handbags_harris]

A quick look on their forum and apparently we were dirty and timewasted the whole game. We are cheats because of some drop ball incident ( Can't remember this , but then again I was pissed) and the Ref gave us EVERTYHING. Oh, and our support is 1/10.
As said above, I thought their support was non exsistent apart from constant berating of the ref until they scored and they all pipe up. Thought they looked poor and for an away team we did ok. Better than last year anyway. Cracking day/night though. Stayed in Worksop. Must be the most backward place in the country!!

Well it's funny that really given the amount of f*ckwittery that ensued particularly in the first half of the game at the Madejski in February. Obviously all 29000 of them couldn't be there that day but deary me, they want to take a look at their own team first before berating others for doing it. As usual though, the sun shines out of their club's arse (not just Wednesday, but most opposition fan's clubs). And why would we time waste when we've set out to actually win the game and play with pace? Timewasting just wouldn't make any sense when we're looking to play with intensity.

I actually didn't think their support was too bad tbh, and yeah the ref wasn't brilliant but he was pretty sh*t for both sides and missed some big decisions. Penalty called correct, the yellow card not (don't give me all this double jeopardy sh*t, a denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity is punishable by a red card regardless of where it is on the pitch). We should have had a second penalty late on, and they should have been down to 10 men for their right back going down in the area just after half time (the speed he was going, if there's contact it's a foul because he simply wouldn't have been able to stay on his feet and our defender didn't play any of the ball. If he went down without contact then it's a dive, and a yellow, but there were two clear incidences where the decision made rendered the challenge a dive that went unpunished). Having said that, I thought Stevie May was fouled in the second half and also Alex Pearce clearly handled at 1-0 as well, Chris Gunter was "clever" with some of the fouls he won in the corner, just nicking the ball and going down, the referee was that weak he was always going to give them. It just seemed to me that once the penalty decision had been made he wanted to avoid controversy at all costs...which only serves to make it worse.

And what is going on with our wall-set ups? Why on earth our keepers don't set them up I don't know. Cox lining it up in the first half, Chris Maguire being a bit of a pr*ck (him's the penalty taker at the Madejski in February with the needless baiting of our fans) and pushing him away, their fans getting all het up because it's unusual when in fact Cox wasn't actually doing anything wrong but it just drives that extra bit of needle into a crowd. And a keeper should be setting his wall up anyway!

[Walkers1867]

Well I thought I'd let you all settle down before I posted.

Let's be right Saturdays game was pretty poor, well compared to last season, and a draw would have been a fair result in my opinion, we struggled to get into the game and test Andersen whilst you pressed and harried us into mistakes that on another day would have got you in front.

Our goal was a fortuitous one but sometimes you need that bit of luck.

The referee was bloody awful for both teams, his decision making and insistence on the game being more about him than either team infuriated the life out of me. There were several incidents he just didn't take control of.

You lot looked a strong team and will definitely be up there come the end of the season, just hope we can maintain our form to be up there too.

Fair play to the Reading fans that travelled, expected a few more given the ticket price but hey ho, vocally I don't think either set of fans can claim any credit it was quiet,

[Ian Royal]

Fair play for coming on and giving your view walker - appreciated.