Back from the Game / Pub

[grey_squirrel]

Some class defending here:

at Reading

OMFG !

[genome]

Fcuking hell

[The Prisoner]

My view of the game is summed up accordingly:

[BraisingsteakRoyal]

Finally plucked up the courage to watch it back on Sky. It doesn't get any prettier. The number of times we gave up possession in important areas was shocking. I'd love to be proved wrong, but i fear that Gunter may turn out to be a total dud at this level. Leigertwood too was chasing shadows and doesn't look anywhere near athletic enough for this league.

Also agree with the previous poster about utter mongtards in the South Stand on Sunday. I actually lost my temper and swore at some of our own 'fans', including a woman a few rows down who roared and laughed when their third goal went in.

Any 'second team specials' celebrating in the home end deserve to get their oxf*rd heads kicked in.

[melonhead]

Is it my eyes or have Opta completely missed the cross for Robson-Kanu's goal as an assist?

.

probably buried in that sea of red failed crosses to no one

[cmonurz]

Is it my eyes or have Opta completely missed the cross for Robson-Kanu's goal as an assist?

.

probably buried in that sea of red failed crosses to no one

I’m assuming ‘passes’ and ‘crosses’ are separate, there is a blue line in ‘crosses’ that looks like Le Fondre’s chip.

[Hoop Blah]

I can see the cross you mean, but the point was that as it was an assist shouldn't it really be yellow?

This will be the same data that drives the stats that are sometimes used on this forum to prove things as FACTs, but it looks like Mr Opta at our game failed to notice our most important outcome of the game.

[royalfanforever]

Sunday's game was poor, it was laughable and we got what we deserved. Nothing. There was no passion and leadership. We need to play a lot better then we did on Sunday.

[mr_number]

Sunday's game was poor, it was laughable and we got what we deserved. Nothing. There was no passion and leadership. We need to play a lot better then we did on Sunday.

And that's why I'm not toooo concerned. I realise we can't be profligate with chances to get points, but it was a poor performance, we know we can do better, and I fully expect Brian and his team to get them to play better this week.

[ZacNaloen]

We didn't have a game for 4 weeks and it oxf*rd looked like it.

[Man Friday]

Finally plucked up the courage to watch it back on Sky. It doesn't get any prettier. The number of times we gave up possession in important areas was shocking. I'd love to be proved wrong, but i fear that Gunter may turn out to be a total dud at this level. Leigertwood too was chasing shadows and doesn't look anywhere near athletic enough for this league.

Also agree with the previous poster about utter mongtards in the South Stand on Sunday. I actually lost my temper and swore at some of our own 'fans', including a woman a few rows down who roared and laughed when their third goal went in.

Any 'second team specials' celebrating in the home end deserve to get their oxf*rd heads kicked in.

Agree with your views about 'second team specails - we don't want them at Reading matches - and your general views about our standard of play but do you have to refer to people with Down's Syndrome and people who are retarded in such a derogatory way? What's wrong with you? I assume that you haven't got any relations that have DS (neither have I) and from being prepared to use such a term I assume you're not old enough to have your own kids yet. When you do, let's hope they're not "Mongtards".

[BraisingsteakRoyal]

Erm - I assume you're referring to my use of the word 'Mongtard'? Which is, in effect a made-up word.

Not quite sure how you managed to equate my use of a made up word to me mocking people with Downs Syndrome?

Nice try though.

[melonhead]

it is a mash up of mong and retard, mong being short for mongoloid, the old fashioned and un pc word for people with downs syndrome.


but language does change, and its pretty obvious no offece was intended(to downs sufferers at least)

[creative_username_1]

all words are made up

[pea]

all words are made up

[melonhead]

all words are made up

gr8 point

[RoyalinBracknell]

One of my main concerns about McCarthy in his previous spell in the first team was the quality of his kicking and based on Sunday this still seemed a weak area. He generally looked promising in that run though and now the decision's been made we've got to stick with him for the moment. Hopefully his mistakes on Sunday were a one-off and he can put a good run together. We really do need the defensive stability - having your goalkeeping position become a bit of a circus really isn't what you want when you've just gone up a division.

In recent weeks, I've been left wondering what Harte really brings to the team. He's certainly vulnberable defensively because of his lack of pace and he seldom offers an attacking threat in open play from overlaps, etc. We hear a lot about the quality of his deliveries but from corners/crossing positions I think he's somewhat overrated; certainly based on this season his deliveries haven't really been up to scratch. He's been very successful from direct free-kicks of course but right now I'm not sure if his strengths sufficiently compensate for his weaknesses.

I've not consistently seen Shorey's performances of late so can't say what level he's currently at. I think the Shorey of 06-07 would definitely get in ahead of the Harte of today. Although he wasn't the quickest, I didn't think he got exposed too frequently defensively and he generally offered a very significant and successful attacking outlet. Whether he can still perform to that level I don't know - but if Shorey currently isn't better than how Harte has performed thus far this season then I'd question the wisdom of that signing and be concerned about our depth in that position.

I was open to the idea of 4-5-1 following the Chelsea game, particularly considering the suggestion that it was more of a 4-2-3-1 similar to what we played with Gylfi - I think those first few months were arguably the most attractive football we've played in McDermott's reign. Yet now I think 4-4-2 is actually a more appropriate formation. It's been notable in the 2 home games so far how few chances we've really created and I'm concerned that with just 1 striker they're going to become isolated too often. Our game seems more suited to a direct and quick style so I think having 2 strikers on for any chances we might create is the way to go.

The only real problem with that formation is our lack of options from the bench without Roberts and Kebe. As soon as Le Fondre came on at half-time against Spurs I looked at the bench and couldn't really see anyone who I'd be particularly confident would come on and change a game at this level. Starting with Le Fondre and Pogrebnyak might just add to this problem but it seems the best option right now.

So far I think our best three players have been Guthrie, Pogrebnyak and McCleary. This is a positive in as much as it suggests we've generally spent well but I am concerned by the lack of players from our Championship winning season who have really made the step up so far. Le Fondre's looked bright at times but I think most of the rest have yet to really assert themselves as Premier League players.

I think some of the gloom is partly due to the timing of the fixture. It was especially disappointing following a long break when I'm sure most fans were hoping to see a decent match to get things going again. There were definitely similarities in this submissive, limp showing to that of our 4-0 defeat against Arsenal in our first Premier League season. From memory, we'd already amassed something like 13 points by that stage and so I don't think there were so many concerns about whether we could compete at that level; had that match against Arsenal come about in the first few weeks then there might well have been similar concerns back then. So losing on Sunday isn't a disaster but what was disappointing was our failure to really compete in the first half. We can't afford too many more showings like that this season, especially against teams of the quality of a very decent Spurs side. We need an improvement against West Brom, both in terms of the performance level and most notably the result.

Incidentally for those referring to matches against the top 6 or 7 teams as being 'bonus points' I'd be interested to know on average how many points the bottom 6 or 7 teams generally get against them. I suspect there are few who get 0. I recall Wigan beating Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool last season, and think QPR also beat Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool. (I know Liverpool only cae 8th but you get the point.)