BFTS - Brighton (A)

[genome]

The play offs would be a great achievement for this team because if anyone can mess up getting into those play off places it's us.

Derby managed to fcuk it up in 14/15.

[sandman]

Yes, because the only ways of playing are ultra passing or supposed "hoofball".

[AthleticoSpizz]

Hey RAF

Good post

You're not at Brize are you?

[genome]

Jaap - I love you. Keep going - entertain us, and results will follow. And yes, I did stand on the terraces at EP in Div 4, and it's too easy to forget how oxford that was.

Forget Division 4, apparently it's too easy to forget how shit last year was.

[biff]

3 give aways, 3 goals. Some passing team...

[RAF Royal]

Jaap - I love you. Keep going - entertain us, and results will follow. And yes, I did stand on the terraces at EP in Div 4, and it's too easy to forget how oxford that was.

Forget Division 4, apparently it's too easy to forget how shit last year was.

Spot on. I'd rather walk out of the door at 2:35, park for free, spend £12 entry, get entertained, and be home by 5:05 than spend nearly £100 for two of us to watch average football. Hate losing, but some of what I watched tonight was actually quite exciting. Bring on 17/18.

That's it - my once in 5 years visit is over. Night!!

[tidus_mi2]

Jaap - I love you. Keep going - entertain us, and results will follow. And yes, I did stand on the terraces at EP in Div 4, and it's too easy to forget how oxford that was.

Forget Division 4, apparently it's too easy to forget how shit last year was.

Spot on. I'd rather walk out of the door at 2:35, park for free, spend £12 entry, get entertained, and be home by 5:05 than spend nearly £100 for two of us to watch average football. Hate losing, but some of what I watched tonight was actually quite exciting. Bring on 17/18.

That's it - my once in 5 years visit is over. Night!!

See you in 2022!

[Top Flight]

Played into Brighton's hands. Poor shape and a couple of selection errors from Stam, plus no significant attempt to address the blatantly obvious issues. Brighton blew us away barely needing to try anything, they just squeezed us and waited for the self destruct.

Mentally we were an absolute abomination. Seriously. Brighton start by pressing us high and hard with their front 4/5 and we had no clue how to respond because of Stam's insistence on patient passing football. Well it doesn't work when there are four opposition players around our 18 yard box. Then every time we started getting a foothold in the game there was a rush of blood to the head and a poor shot / cross or pass because they were all so tight from desperation to take a chance. No one with an ounce of intelligence covering for the turnover just all piling in to a tightly marked area and not looking up when passing. Too slow, too obvious, too shit.

We'll have to really try hard to play that badly again this season. Credit to Brighton, they pressured us into it, but we didn't have to run headfirst into the noose and dive off the gallows.

On the plus side, we don't look anything like good enough to win the play offs, so we get to do it properly next year.

Stam. Please play Evans, Kelly and one of Swift / Williams. Evans and Kelly are the base to build from with defensive qualities and the ability to pass and move.

This is how we play every game Ian.

Mutch isn't really helping our team. He does nothing. The Mutch experiment should end now. Send him back to Palace. We don't need him. We had Two outstanding midfielders on the bench today to make way for Mutch. We really needed Kelly or Swift on from the start.

[Gunny Fishcake]

Clearly lots of emotion after a result and performance like that. It's just bitterly disappointing that a team that's supposed to be promotion candidates and play off contenders can play so poorly. Stam has done wonders but it's very frustrating watching us play this retaining the ball deep in our own half game. We simply don't have the players good enough to play that type of game at present, any pub team player can pass five yards sideways or backwards in loads of space deep in their own half , opposition just sit back and wait for us to balls it up. We're not good enough to go up and the sooner we accept that the better and also accept Stam is trying to build something at our club..........until he clears off !

[alfie9]

How are we top 6 again? We were awful

I still believe in Stam's vision for this club, after all we're probably going to make they playoffs, and that's amazing when you consider what our expectations were at the beginning of the season. But large spells of that game were just depressing to watch.

[Stevie G]

The stats don't lie, we played far better than most of the ratings quoted in this thread suggest. We even had a greater passing accuracy than Brighton, just that they produced much better breaks from our mistakes, perhaps a little too much focus on regaining possession at those opportunities. Didn't expect anything from this or the Huddersfield game, and we were only shaded out of the latter. While I fear a Leeds + other playoff final, just a shout at the playoffs this year is a major achievement and maybe Stam is just riding out the pressure and over-expectation going into that period to get the best out of the squad. However he was clearly disappointed tonight. The Jan signings need to show they were an investment.

[Stevie G]

I have to be honest-I was ashamed of that performance.
Some of the team need to take a long hard look at themselves.
I think this is the first time I have seen them on TV this season; so maybe my player ratings are a bit skewed-however, I believe these are the lowest ratings I have ever given.

Al Habsi 1: I am all for retaining possession ; but he put his back four under real pressure seven or eight times.And an absolute wuss at corners.
Gunter 1: Shameful really. Totally gutless all evening.
Moore 2: Our best defender-totally outclassed.
McShane 2: Looked a Pub footballer.
Blackett 5 : At least he showed a bit of spirit-worth four just for the tackle on Knockeart-who was taking the p***.
Shame he didn't catch him properly.
Evans 3: For a professional footballer , his lack of pace is alarming-tried but out of his depth.
Williams 4: Tried hard-but really should have buried those chances-at least he showed some spirit
Mutch 0: Stealing a living-should donate his wages after that performance.
Joey 6:MOM-at least he showed a bit of quality
Kermit 3:Compare our strike force with theirs.
Macca 0: What's wrong with the guy? He get's paid a fortune to put in a performance like that-he'did't care. At least he could have looked as if he was trying. What get's in his head-beats me.

Swift 6: Flitted around a bit but no end product.
Kelly 3: Horror pass for their third goal
Grabham 1: Got a right charmer here=another one stealing a living.

Hopefully we can keep in touch with the top six until after Saturday & Tuesday-our run in isn't too bad.If we get into the play offs we have probably over achieved.

Stam has to read the riot act-on Monday-if they really want this then they are going to have show some commitment.
Ref was pretty good-although should have stamped on Seagull's habit of kicking the ball away. Sidders and Stephens (?) lucky to stay on.

Joey did not start or come off the bench.

[Gunny Fishcake]

Hate losing, but some of what I watched tonight was actually quite exciting.

Had you taken any substances while watching that game ?

[bcubed]

Thought we played ok in large parts of the game without threatening too much

But just shows what can be done when you have people that can finish

Five on target for Brighton v Three for Reading
Three great finishes were the difference

[bobby1413]

Not read this thread but wanted to post before doing so...

Abysmal, terrible, and I can't think of a positive thing to say. I thought Kelly should have started, and I'm also sick to death of seeing Blackett starting the game. I didn't think much of Mutch (pun avoided).

Brighton firstly (and I really hate to say this) looked great. We did play sh1t but genuinely they look well organised, dominated, had lots of movement and good passing.

Don't we (Reading) have like a 70% possession in every game? I'd be interested to know what it was in this game as it seems as though we barely touched the ball. When we did have the ball we did fook all with it, passed it to AAH, passed it to back four, passed forward and lost possession again.... again... and again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Atmosphere in away end flat after half time and not surprising. LITERALLY nothing to cheer. DId anyone see Liam Moore waving his hands at RFC end to get some noise generated?. I do like to see that... although it's difficult when we really had ZERO impact in the game. It was Men vs Boys.

Our back four crumbled each and every time they attacked. Our midfield lost the ball and the strikers never had a chance.

We made Brighton look World Class. They are unfortunately a very good team and I do think they will go up as Champions.

I think the OP is not wrong to say "They should have a good long hard look at themselves". That's not harsh or a cliche... they can do better. We are 5th (are we still?) for a reason. We're a decent team at times, and we do well in general. Today was by far the worst performance I've seen this season.

For Reading, finishing in the playoffs this year would be a massive achievement, and I'll be happy with that.

Agreed. Very easy to forget this - as I have. My reaction is purely as it's hard to accept such a convincing defeat when it's a game many fans turned out for and were looking forward to.

[Top Flight]

Clearly lots of emotion after a result and performance like that. It's just bitterly disappointing that a team that's supposed to be promotion candidates and play off contenders can play so poorly. Stam has done wonders but it's very frustrating watching us play this retaining the ball deep in our own half game. We simply don't have the players good enough to play that type of game at present, any pub team player can pass five yards sideways or backwards in loads of space deep in their own half , opposition just sit back and wait for us to balls it up. We're not good enough to go up and the sooner we accept that the better and also accept Stam is trying to build something at our club..........until he clears off !

Sometimes we are good enough to play this system very well. It happens when either Evans or Van den Berg line up in midfield with Williams and Kelly or Swift.

Stam has been messing about with the lineup a lot in recent weeks and that inconsistency is feeding through to inconsistent performances and results. I think we should send Mutch back to Palace or sub let him to Wealdstone FC. We really don't need him. We had Swift, Kelly and Van den Berg on the bench today. I'd rather play Josh Barrett than Mutch as well. He ain't Mutch good old Jordan.

If a Stam goes back to the winning formula then we'll get across the playoff line. If he keeps experimenting then we'll probably mess it up.

In any case, even if we do make the play offs as Ian said we don't really look good enough to win them anyway.

[bobby1413]

Get over your self and your self righteous bullshit. Anyone that says that was anything less than an awful performance is deluded. Tbh my ratings are probably generous.

I'm not arguing that it wasn't a poor performance. It's simple, we didn't create enough and didn't take our chances when we got them (and particularly before they scored their 2nd), we were sloppy in the middle of the park on 3 occasions and Brighton, who are the best side in the league and far further into their plan than us, punished us mercilessly for them.

We are a team 8 months into playing an entirely new system. Results like these will happen - it's up to Stam to figure it out in the future. It's his first job in management.

Throwing your toys out of the pram in such a fashion is frankly an embarrassment. Go and have a lie down, then come back and try and look at the bigger picture.

I agree with you both.

I think CR's analysis is right, fair and correct. But I also think you're right. I'm pragmatic about this whole season and I think most sensible fans are.

My view is that we're doing really well, but it's building towards next season and the one after that. I think we really can succeed and if we were to get promoted in the next 2-3 years I wouldn't be surprised as we're doing everythign right on the whole. If we can keep stam, keep building, I really think we'll go up automatically (but not this season - even by in play offs).

[Humanistic]

Played into Brighton's hands. Poor shape and a couple of selection errors from Stam, plus no significant attempt to address the blatantly obvious issues. Brighton blew us away barely needing to try anything, they just squeezed us and waited for the self destruct.

Mentally we were an absolute abomination. Seriously. Brighton start by pressing us high and hard with their front 4/5 and we had no clue how to respond because of Stam's insistence on patient passing football. Well it doesn't work when there are four opposition players around our 18 yard box. Then every time we started getting a foothold in the game there was a rush of blood to the head and a poor shot / cross or pass because they were all so tight from desperation to take a chance. No one with an ounce of intelligence covering for the turnover just all piling in to a tightly marked area and not looking up when passing. Too slow, too obvious, too shit.

We'll have to really try hard to play that badly again this season. Credit to Brighton, they pressured us into it, but we didn't have to run headfirst into the noose and dive off the gallows.

On the plus side, we don't look anything like good enough to win the play offs, so we get to do it properly next year.

Stam. Please play Evans, Kelly and one of Swift / Williams. Evans and Kelly are the base to build from with defensive qualities and the ability to pass and move.

This is how we play every game Ian.

Mutch isn't really helping our team. He does nothing. The Mutch experiment should end now. Send him back to Palace. We don't need him. We had Two outstanding midfielders on the bench today to make way for Mutch. We really needed Kelly or Swift on from the start.

Agree with that - not sure what Mutch brings to the party that our other young midfielders don't. Perhaps Jaap wanted the experience or something.

As commented on the match thread there was no Academy graduate in the starting 11 today, quite a rare occurance in the last 7 or 8 seasons I would have thought?

[bobby1413]

Makes me smile when you hear the words abysmal, atrocious, embarrassing etc when we have just played champions elect and we were one of the favourites to go down.

Genuine question - were we really one of the favourites to go down?

I think abysmal and pathetic are not unfair descriptions of today. It wasn't that we were beaten but we just didn't turn up. Ok, we can't penetrate (hehe) their defence, or midfield even. But even balls at the back were sh1t. The players looked shakey. In fact they looked more drunk than I am now.

McShane looks like he's coming back from injury (I know he is... but it's bad it's that obvious).

[leon]

We looked like a bunch of nancy boys out there today.

Which was ironic.

Absolutely no mental strength. It's all very well wnaking on about Stam and this great passing game of ours but it seems when it comes to the crunch we're just as piss poor as when Adkins or Clarke were in charge.