Back from the game/the PC - Fulham (H)

[royalsteve]

Good game

We were good value for the first-half lead, stopped playing for 30 minutes, then turned it on again at the end with some good team spirit.

Tabb played well. Two big strikers can work at home. MacAnuff is player of the season at the moment. Kebe isn't anywhere near fit, but put in a good shift.

Team spirit is good and we have a good manager. The best thing about today was watcing 20 mins of Norwich Villa - they are no better than us. We can definitely stay up without giving a job to Harry Redknapp so that he can spunk millions on mercenary players.

thought norwich were ok, but villa scored against them with vrtually their only chance. villa were dreadful.

[royalsteve]

I thought Roberts' hold up play was good. He received the ball and controlled it well without knocking it 2 yards first, which is what made us look so awful last week. He didn't do anything spectacular, but he did the basics well.

yeh and a fantastic bit of miscontrol for the 2nd hahaha

thought he did well considering he hasnt played much, didnt quite look match fit. hell defo start next game. people say le fondre should start but he did nothing in the wba game (though he didnt have great service tbf). i just think he is better as a super sub, same with kanu

[royalsteve]

Oh dear. Second half was as poor as Tottenham, we barely had a kick of the ball for 30 minutes. Pretty abject really. And so very unenjoyable to watch. The worst 3-3 I have ever seen.

What on earth has Pearce done to fall behind the desperately poor Mariappa and Gorkss? Utter nonsense that is. Defensively we are excrutiating to watch, I think that the opposition are about to score score every time the ball comes into our half. Luckily Fulham were as poor at the back in those last 5 minutes as we were in the previous 85.

We have signed so very badly. Gunter doesn't get in the team, Guthrie doesn't get in the team. Gunter has been so bad that Shaun Cummings gets selected ahead of him. ALARM BELLS! How much have TSI really bothered investing?

The best thing about today was Chris Baird stacking it on the perimeter track after scoring . Even lying flat on his back he's probably better than Mariappa and Gorkss

have to admit dunno why pearce has been dropped, still not convinced by mariappa

[royalsteve]

Not sure whether to be annoyed or happy. We need to learn to keep the ball a bit more & defend better or we're going down. I can't fault the forwards too much but we are leaking goals like a sieve.

The spirit is obviously there to come back twice but when Fulham equalised, we completely crumbled & you knew it was a matter of time before they scored again. Only at 2-1 down did we then wake up a bit.

Pog / Roberts didn't look great to me as a partnership either. Thought McAnuff & Kebe were very good today although I'd like to see Kebe take on his man a bit more. Tabb & Legs did their jobs reasonably well but as per usual the opposition saw far too much of the ball.

That said, if we can average 1 point per game from now until Jan, we won't be cut adrift & hopefully BM will get some funds. Onwards & upwards.

you need to go to specsavers if you thought kebe played well...incredible...even the most ardent kebe fan like me would say he was rubbish

[Irvinchangeyaname]

For me, its time to see Le Fondre and Roberts partnered together.

This ^

[Barry the bird boggler]

Not sure whether to be annoyed or happy. We need to learn to keep the ball a bit more & defend better or we're going down. I can't fault the forwards too much but we are leaking goals like a sieve.

The spirit is obviously there to come back twice but when Fulham equalised, we completely crumbled & you knew it was a matter of time before they scored again. Only at 2-1 down did we then wake up a bit.

Pog / Roberts didn't look great to me as a partnership either. Thought McAnuff & Kebe were very good today although I'd like to see Kebe take on his man a bit more. Tabb & Legs did their jobs reasonably well but as per usual the opposition saw far too much of the ball.

That said, if we can average 1 point per game from now until Jan, we won't be cut adrift & hopefully BM will get some funds. Onwards & upwards.

you need to go to specsavers if you thought kebe played well...incredible...even the most ardent kebe fan like me would say he was rubbish

Agreed. Kebe was poor again. McAnuff, i have to say, has been playing well for the last 3/4 games or so though. Perhaps it's time to drop Kebe as he's not exactly the answer to any questions. Stick him on the bench and tell him to prove himself as an impact player first.

Overall though I just do not like the way we play at this level with being content to let opponents pass the ball around as much as they want. It's asking for trouble at this level given the players we have available. And all that is Brian's fault.

[blueroyals]

McCarthy

Gunter
Pearce
Mariappa
Shorey

McCleary
L.wood
Tabb
McAnuff

Roberts
ALF

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

Good team spirit to come back from 2-1 and 3-2 down.

Have to agree with the comments about Cummings, not only was his defending poor his chipped up balls he keeps playing never found anyone.

Gunter for me a right back please,

[windermere_royal]

McCarthy

Gunter
Pearce
Mariappa
Shorey

McCleary
L.wood
Tabb
McAnuff

Roberts
ALF

No way was Roberts better than Pog yesterday

[Royal Ginger]

For me, its time to see Le Fondre and Roberts partnered together.

This ^

Not really this, Alf has been largely ineffective when he's come on, and was non-existent against West Brom when he started. Its a combination of Pogrebnyak/Roberts/Hunt.

[Simon's Church]

ALF - Average Little Forward

[winchester_royal]

McCarthy

Gunter
Pearce
Mariappa
Shorey

McCleary
L.wood
Tabb
McAnuff

Roberts
ALF

No way was Roberts better than Pog yesterday

'Greed. Plus the ALF/Roberts partnership has never showed any sign of working from the start before.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I think we should stop chopping & changing & give the same 11 a run of 3-4 games. Tweaking it constantly doesn't help either IMO. I've seen nothing to convince me that Gunter will do better than Cummings either.

[Royal Lady]

And yet how much did we pay for Gunter?

[MmmMonsterMunch]

And yet how much did we pay for Gunter?

I think it was about £1.5m up to £2m with add-ons. He's not impressed me particularly I have to say. You win some you lose some though I guess. Mariappa & McCleary have done well.

If you are scratching around for bargain bin players then it stands to reason that some of them won't be an awful lot better than what you have already. I agree though that sort of money is a lot for us to fork out on back up.

[RoyalBlue]

Not sure whether to be annoyed or happy. We need to learn to keep the ball a bit more & defend better or we're going down. I can't fault the forwards too much but we are leaking goals like a sieve.

The spirit is obviously there to come back twice but when Fulham equalised, we completely crumbled & you knew it was a matter of time before they scored again. Only at 2-1 down did we then wake up a bit.

Pog / Roberts didn't look great to me as a partnership either. Thought McAnuff & Kebe were very good today although I'd like to see Kebe take on his man a bit more. Tabb & Legs did their jobs reasonably well but as per usual the opposition saw far too much of the ball.

That said, if we can average 1 point per game from now until Jan, we won't be cut adrift & hopefully BM will get some funds. Onwards & upwards.

you need to go to specsavers if you thought kebe played well...incredible...even the most ardent kebe fan like me would say he was rubbish

Agreed. He just does not seem to believe that he can take on and beat defenders at this level. Cummings did more in that respect yesterday.

[RoyalBlue]

Love the criticism of McAnuff - Surefire way to spot someone who's utterly clueless about football. Last season's top assister. 5 assists from 8 league games this season. Apparently he's crap. He's about the only Reading player anyone sane would even consider for their fantasy team.

OMG! Ian Royal and I totally at one on this!

I thought Cummings looked completely out of his depth today, and to be honest with most of the goals recently I've been thinking he could've done more. I'd definitely be inclined to give Gunter another go.

Tabb was good today, but we really need a midfielder who's happy to get the ball on the deck and look for a pass.

You mean a player like Sidwell? Bet we could have got him in the summer too!

[RockheadRumple]

Love the criticism of McAnuff - Surefire way to spot someone who's utterly clueless about football. Last season's top assister. 5 assists from 8 league games this season. Apparently he's crap. He's about the only Reading player anyone sane would even consider for their fantasy team.

Got an assist yesterday, in my team

[sandman]

In MOTD's team of the day as well.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Was interested to see how Roberts and Pog would work together .... not very well by early indications

Roberts looked a different player when he had Alf next to him


As for Brian's tactics... the weird sub of putting Gareth on the left and leaving Kebe on, to them bring on HRK and swap Gareth back over... what was the point? Just make a double sodding change. All that was achieved in that interlude was Kebe was still on the pitch being ineffectual, Gareth was on the left being ineffectual, and we went 2-1 down

Last season I though Brian was brave in his subs, making them early (~60min mark), but its almost like he become reactive instead of proactive. And I hate to say it, he seems scared