BFTG - MK Dons, home, 22 Aug 2015

[Man Friday]

Frustrating. But not so frustrating that you 'boo'.

[Readars]

I didn't go today but probably a sign of frustration of being served up 2 years of shit football

[Man Friday]

oh, and what's happened to Cox? He looked a bit on the tubster side (don't want to offend him by calling him 'fat').

[oldebiscuit]

I thought we did ok and carved out half a dozen goal scoring opportunities. We just lack a Kitson/Lita/Doyle type of player.

[bobby1413]

It was one of the first games for ages at home where I felt entertained. We had opportunity after opportunity.

Made it even more frustrating to see was shot and chance not in the back of the net.

However we all know why, a lack of support up field. I think Sa looked really decent.

Cox I don't think should be in the team as I think there are there more worthy and promising players to take his place.

Really satisfied with the back 4 but still don't quite trust Bond. However willing to give him time.

Impressed with Norwood, Williams and Tish - he was amazing today. Solid again by mcshane.

Feel we need to start finding the net fast as I don't want to still be here in 6 games saying "we should have won that"

[Willos]

It was one of the first games for ages at home where I felt entertained. We had opportunity after opportunity.

Made it even more frustrating to see was shot and chance not in the back of the net.

However we all know why, a lack of support up field. I think Sa looked really decent.

Cox I don't think should be in the team as I think there are there more worthy and promising players to take his place.

Really satisfied with the back 4 but still don't quite trust Bond. However willing to give him time.

Impressed with Norwood, Williams and Tish - he was amazing today. Solid again by mcshane.

Feel we need to start finding the net fast as I don't want to still be here in 6 games saying "we should have won that"

Totally agree with all of the above with the addition of Ferdinand, whilst McShane is clearly a class act it should also be mentioned that Anton Ferdinand is a immense player in the team right now keeping Hector on the bench and makes McShane's job an easier one. On the subject of Bond i thought he grew a bit with confidence as the game went on and the kicking got better so hopefully he'll kick on from here, watching Al-Habsi in the warm up it does seem Bond is the best of whats available tbh.

[Westwood52]

My 1st game of the season today.
It wasn't great-but at least the back four looked pretty solid.

Bond : Can't kick the ball off his left (the MK goalie couldn't kick off his right) nearly gave a goal away 1st half-Anton saved him.
Gunter: As good as you are going to get from him-must be hard for him to now realise in the 2nd half of his career that he is not good enough for the Prem-after his Spurs days.
Obita: Yeah pretty solid-better than last season-he now knows Taylor is pushing him for his place.
Ferdinand: Makes it all look so easy-class act -but one hiccup in 2nd half.
McShane: Had a tough game -but these two are the best CB (IMO) pairing I have ever seen at Reading.
Williams : Flitted in and out-without ever looking totally convincing.
Tsosh: Promising-looks as good as Chaloboah & that's saying something.1st time I have seen him play.
Norwood: From the sublime to the very poor-almost in an instance.
Quinn: A tryer-but surprisingly for someone who has spent most of his career in the Prem-his touch isn't great.
Kanu: Oh dear-same old/ same old.
Sa: Bits and pieces of a game-but the Chumpionship might be a step too far for him-dead on his feet at the end.

Blackman: Pretty good I thought-must be worth a start over Kanu-but does SC feel he can't handle the pressure ?
Cox: Waste of space.
Suarez : Unfair to rate him after 5 mins-looks a bit light weight-but can he give us some creativity?

Ref was appalling-that said its no good Radio Berks & SC moaning about the Pen-it was right in front of me & at this level they just don't give those.

A more certain Goalie & a Striker & we should have an OK season-but we just haven't got the money for a top class striker-you are talking here about £5 mill plus-£1million barely buys you adequate.

[PieEater]

I have to hope that the results will come with that sort of performance before the team gets depressed about the results.

Current form is 1 win in 14 at home which lets face it is completely shit.

[brighton_royal]

Tshibola fulfilling his potential so far, great to watch.
Williams MOTM.
Back 4 solid, McShane better than Pearce.

Did a lot right.

Robson Kanu is a useful utility winger/sub, not a striker. We need a striker.

[Oilroyal]

All together now... WE NEED A STRIKER!

[Schmeichel the dog]

This was exactly the type of game we would have lost last season (the 2-0 Leeds game comes to mind) and we should have won with something to spare. MK Dons clearly came for a point and offered almost nothing going forward. We are still a work in progress but the foundations have been laid.

Positives: Defence - especially Ferdianand and McShane, who is simply quality. The entire midfield also did well, especially Norwaood who looks back to his best. Although we're struggling to score at present I like Sa who is strong and has good technique (far more so than Pog) but who was too often was drawn out wide when we needed him in the box. Also, seemed to tire toward the end.

Negatives: Bond (possibly harsh as he had so little to do. I really want him to do well but he looks like he needs a couple of good games to build his confidence). We also lack any real width and desire to take on and beat the opponent. We really need McCleary back and Hurtado match fit. Finally, HRK (just ). If only we'd managed to have got Callum Wilson at the beginning of last season.......

Oh, and the ref was sh1t.

[Oilroyal]

Having watched the game and read all the posts....This is the sort of game we should have won. The message from the Thai's is "we want premier league football and we want to stay there". Well lady Thai and consortium, a decent striker currently costs between 5 and 10 million. If you can't or won't pay the fee for a striker then shut up and I'll carry on reading these forums. End of.

[Struggle Pig]

Defence today was superb, haven't seen us look this solid at the back for a few seasons now and the Centre back pairing fills me such confidence, that when ever a cross comes in, i'm not even slightly concerned (Almost as at ease as having Sonko & Ingimarsson 10 years ago).

Bond's kicking ability has a lot to be desired, I genuinely got worried nearly everytime the ball was passed back to him, hopefully won't always be like that, he is decent enough in other areas and will keep us in matches, defenders need to head the ball back to him to so he can pick the bloody ball up instead.

Midfield is solid if uninspiring at times and Sa has a great touch and does have some great vision, but we are lacking that "spark" that you need. I'm not too concerned at the moment, once we have McCleary and Hurtardo and Fosu available on the wings to give us some genuine pace on the counter attack and that "spark", I'm sure things will start going our way.

We are solid and at the moment that is a huge improvement on last season.

The ref today was truly awful and that's not just a biased opinion, he gave us throw ins, free kicks and corners we shouldn't of had, but he made so many more bad decisions against us and would not be surprised if a complaint was lodged, Clarke's post match response sums it up. He will probably get fined by the FA knowing our luck with that absolute joke of a referee.

I know, people are entitled to express their views as they see fit, but I do wish there wasn't any booing at the end of the match. 4 games in and still trying to find our flow with a vastly overhauled squad, i wish the boo boys would give it at least 10 - 15 games before getting on the players backs. Yes it was uninspiring but worthy of booing, not yet in my opinion.

[melonhead]

Having watched the game and read all the posts....This is the sort of game we should have won. The message from the Thai's is "we want premier league football and we want to stay there". Well lady Thai and consortium, a decent striker currently costs between 5 and 10 million. If you can't or won't pay the fee for a striker then shut up and I'll carry on reading these forums. End of.

Massive lol.

[Ian Royal]

Having watched the game and read all the posts....This is the sort of game we should have won. The message from the Thai's is "we want premier league football and we want to stay there". Well lady Thai and consortium, a decent striker currently costs between 5 and 10 million. If you can't or won't pay the fee for a striker then shut up and I'll carry on reading these forums. End of.

Just because Rhodes and McCormack went for crazy money doesn't mean that's the actual going rate that you have to pay for most good Championship level strikers.

Daryl Murphy and Chris Martin both scored lots of goals last season. Free transfers. Deeney's been knocking in goals for ages ad didn't cost Watford big bucks. Then there's Danny Ings who cost Burnley nowt. Nugent for Leicester the same. Plus a host of undisclosed fees.

I'd have thought Reading fans would have learnt by now that breaking transfer records is no guarantee of quality.

[percy_freeman]

Robert Beric 5 million euros come on.....

[CountryRoyal]

Karl Robinson's (who?!) comments about the game more than insinuated we were set up defensively to try and nick a point or something, and they were closer to scoring a goal with their 3 shots (none on target) than we were with our 20.

What a knob jockey.

[Sutekh]

Have we changed our name to Readingnil when we play at home yet?

Thank god the next two games are away and there's a vague chance of scoring.

That's also 4 league games I think we would have won had we a decent striker or two - or a decent winger - or more likely both.

[tidus_mi2]

Karl Robinson's (who?!) comments about the game more than insinuated we were set up defensively to try and nick a point or something, and they were closer to scoring a goal with their 3 shots (none on target) than we were with our 20.

What a knob jockey.

He was making those comments about his own team, I just listened to his post match interview and he was pretty honest.

[Oilroyal]

Having watched the game and read all the posts....This is the sort of game we should have won. The message from the Thai's is "we want premier league football and we want to stay there". Well lady Thai and consortium, a decent striker currently costs between 5 and 10 million. If you can't or won't pay the fee for a striker then shut up and I'll carry on reading these forums. End of.

Just because Rhodes and McCormack went for crazy money doesn't mean that's the actual going rate that you have to pay for most good Championship level strikers.

Daryl Murphy and Chris Martin both scored lots of goals last season. Free transfers. Deeney's been knocking in goals for ages ad didn't cost Watford big bucks. Then there's Danny Ings who cost Burnley nowt. Nugent for Leicester the same. Plus a host of undisclosed fees.

I'd have thought Reading fans would have learnt by now that breaking transfer records is no guarantee of quality.

The same was said when Reading had a reported interest in Calum Wilson. Coventry wanted what was then thought to be big money for a lower league striker, we got frighten off and Wilson went to Bournemouth for 1 million. The general consensus on here still seems the same, "you don't need to spend money to be successful" and we're still plodding along nicely while Wilson's value has tripled and we're still searching for that gem of a striker on a free.