BFTG - Villa

[genome]

Only Green looked decent, but he missed their best chance after a couple of mins.

Thought he was poor myself. Decent and semi-threatening on the ball, but complete lack of end of product. I think he shanked a few crosses, and scuffed a couple of shots in decent positions. That's not even counting the Piazon-flashback chance he missed.

[genome]

Oh btw, shout out to Liam Moore, absolutely imperious in the air tonight

[marlowuk]

This was my first opportunity to see Reading this season and I was impressed. The passing was swift and accurate and we looked like a team that were actually getting to know one another!! Villa were very poor - so we have to bear that in mind - but, at times, we made them look embarrassingly bad. I heard many comments from Villa supporters on 'Talk Sport' immediately after the game and they were very realistic about their performance and their future. They couldn't believe that Bruce had said that they didn't deserve to lose and were complimentary about our performance and passing game.

[FiNeRaIn]

Bruce said in his after match comments the Reading didn't deserve to win? was he watching the same game as i was? we totally dominated the whole game and Villa were pants....I understand being a little bias towards your team but to say such a thing is a joke and makes him look stupid lol.

What an absolute bell end.

Saying something so ridiculously stupid is not gonna get the fans onside

To be fair they are crucifying him for his comments on the Villa forum were than you guys. He's fooling no one.

[Franchise FC]

Absolutely cracking quotes on Heroes & Villians

Bruce. Fk right off... and when you've fk'ed off, cary on fking off and then fk off some more

Made me

[Bazooka Joe]

Enjoyef the no. 13 performance, especially the reply "he's won more than you!" lol moment

[Hound]

Villa were a mess. Spent a fortune and they are all over the place. poor signings, poor tactics, no obvious enthusiasm. Think they will be looking down rather than up this year

However we were very good. 2-1 really didn't do it justice

Our passing was much slicker than last year - some really nice pinging into feet. New pitch obv helps that. Swift back to his best, Mannone looks a good buy, Barrow could be bargain of the season - what a performance from him

Loads of options on the bench, McCleary looked very threatening up top in his cameo. Still top players coming back to fitness

Things looking up...

[bobby1413]

we bossed them and were hungrier with much more quality.

Agreed, I think we ran complete circles around them. Last year it was like we were doing it but with no purpose, more flaky, a bit unsure, plus AAH (who I love) was not as good as Vito at controlling the ball and distributing it back out. I am completely confident and happy watching Vito do this, where as with AAH I was completely on edge.

When we bring in Oliveria later in the month we will have a squad that will compete right at the top of this division.

May be a whooooosh - but is this close to happening? wasn't sure if it was one of those rumours that won't ever happen or if it does look like we're close to a deal

[CountryRoyal]

AAH (who I love) was not as good as Vito at controlling the ball and distributing it back out. I am completely confident and happy watching Vito do this, where as with AAH I was completely on edge.
l

+1

Instills me with so much more confidence.

[RoyalBlue]

I enjoyed that!

There were times when we looked really good. Yes, Villa looked poor but, as Gooding said, that was because we made them look poor.

If we can sign a proven goalscorer we are going to hammer some teams and do really well this season. I see little prospect of us 'sneaking in under the radar' this time around. The media are going to have no choice but to sit up and take notice, and I think they are going to like what they see.

Oh, and the night was made even more enjoyable because the moaning git who sits behind me in Y21 and spends the whole game abusing our players and management decided to take the night off - hopefully boycotting in disgust at Stam's refusal to revert to Neanderthal football. Long may that boycott continue!

[Royal_jimmy]

That was a decent performance last night. Barrow definitely Mom and deserved his goal. We really should have scored 4. Until we bring in a potent finisher, we will see a lot of games like this.

When we bring in more players Stam needs to work on how to kill teams off by getting the 3rd or even 4th goals.

Plenty of signs of the continued resilience of last season.

[NR_Royal]

I think I'm in love with Barrow and Popa

[CountryRoyal]

Also been very critical of Swift, however I thought he was excellent last night.

[Elm Park Kid]

Enjoyed the game and the performance.

Though we were really only one half decent free-kick away from villa getting the draw - which given how badly they played would have been been a warning sign for us. If we've learnt anything in the last 4 days is that we need to either be more ruthless when we are on top or we need to learn to kill the game off more effectively.

[LWJ]

.

Hi

[Jim Royal]

It just shows how quickly football can change. From a poor defeat at QPR to a draw against 10 men for the entire game Fulham to beating Villa. Never get carried away either way. Might end up losing again at Preston on Saturday.

[genome]

My elderly grandmother text me this morning:

"Listened to Reading on the radio last night. I didn't know Mo Farah played for Reading?!"

[Hound]

Mohammed Farah now apparently

Agree shouldn't get carried away. Villa were dreadful. And I suspect we will lose in northern Preston as we always do.

However the signs are good. What impressed me was how comfortable everyone was on the ball in tight spaces, the improved pitch makes a massive difference. The technical ability of the front 6 is outstanding. First time zipping the ball about - its very hard to counter that

Also though he isn't the best 'footballer' - impressed to see McShane making a number of bursts forward to drag players out of position. Also he adds that physicality to the back 4. Ilori prob a better bet long term, but McShane probably deserving his place currently

[Jagermesiter1871]

It just shows how quickly football can change. From a poor defeat at QPR to a draw against 10 men for the entire game Fulham to beating Villa. Never get carried away either way. Might end up losing again at Preston on Saturday.

Especially when we were so close to throwing this game away at the end after completely controlling it for 80+mins.

[Silver Fox]

Enjoyef the no. 13 performance, especially the reply "he's won more than you!" lol moment

How did they ever think that was going to end well?? Other than that misjudgment I thought the Villa fans were on pretty decent form, considering the absolute pile of guff they look like they're going to have to deal with this year, they must be praying Bruce gets the chop soon as, especially if he genuinely believes they deserved something from last night.

Which brings us to on the pitch, I thought we were excellent last night, Villa seem to be playing as if they think they just need to turn up to win games and I doubt the addition of Mr Chelsea has done anything to assuage those feelings. But we also made them look bad, with our usual possession game with added bite. As ever, if we only had a striker....

Player wise I thought JVDB was decent, maybe because he didn't drop a massive clanger, Barrow, Popa and Clement work really well together and our back 4 look solid, would anyone have Terry over McShane? I still don't know if Don Vito is any good, but I guess it would be nice for once not to have a goalie as POTS by virtue of having tons to do