BFTG - Clinging on to 6th place

[soggy biscuit]

if i move my season ticket will it be different elsewhere?

We are actually considering accepting we are middle aged and moving to the west stand in the hope that there will be less utter bellends surrounding us

[AthleticoSpizz]

Mcanuff's chance proving costly as expected

as was Pogs (whilst we are being selective)

[Pepe the Horseman]

Unless Williams came off as a precaution

[JordCot]

Its all very obvious and we have been saying it all season but the only real difference I saw between the two teams was pace in behind. Its all well and good keeping posession and recycling back to the CBs and full backs but when you draw the opposition out there has to be someone running in behind. Everytime the ball got back to a fullback they were pressurised and knocked it forward and it got cleaned up no problem. Leicester did exactly the same but everytime the ball went to the full backs under pressure Vardy made a run beyond the CBs into the channel and they has the defense turned around. It just gave them an out ball in every situation. Not Adkins fault we have no one who can do that but from where I was sitting there was little between the two sides other than leicester had a few more options on the ball

[Victor Meldrew]

As ever good to read comments from those that went and as ever proof that we all see games differently.
Unfortunately I couldn't get there last night so had to settle for TV coverage which was longer than normal with 37 minutes before kick-off and so a good build-up to the game.

There was no comparison with the Bournemouth game because of one man, Danny Williams, a proper central midfielder.
I went to town in the BFTG thread from the Bournemouth game about central midfielders who are so different from wingers so, rather than go over that again, it was clear that Williams dictated play in a midfield 5 which took the pressure off the 2 young players Obita and Hector to the extent that some posters have said that Hector in particular was "brilliant".
I think that is a bit over the top but after an anonymous first half he showed a calm in his play especially when defending deeply.
It always looks as though Obita does more because of taking so many set-pieces whereas I didn''t notice him contributing much centrally.

These two are the future (obvious really)with Obita as a left-back and Hector as a centre-back (neither in central midfield IMHO) and along with McCarthy and Williams are the only ones that I feel (plus perhaps McCleary) that we should care about staying at our club next season as we pepare for another promotion attempt.
Again looking to next season we must surely learn to play differently-long-ball and hope is no good and hopefully Adkins will be given funds to build his own team and then we would be able to judge if it is him or the players that are lacking.
If only our players would pass AND move rather than knocking it up to somebody and expecting them to get on with it, something that was very clear from watching on TV,and treat football as a team game.

A reasonable point last night but with all the talk of play-offs we are 26 points behind the top spot , 19 points off 2nd and 23 points above a relegation position which gives the feeling of being a run-of-the-mill mid-table team.
The play-offs carrot gives a false perspective.
As with all other teams, injuries have played a big part this season as well as the lack of finance which also affects most teams and if we finish 6th that will effectively be 7 places worse off than last season so there should be no cause for elation nor for despair.

As always with our club there are interesting times ahead depending so much upon the ownership position and whether those juicy parachute payments can be put to good effective use.

BTW for those who on another thread wanted Harte back instead of Bridge they might like to know that in Saturday's game the very biased local paper (they always give high ratings) gave him a 5.5 and he was subbed after 57 minutes and described as ineffectual against the division''s bottom club-why oh why didn't we target him in last Tuesday's game?

[JordCot]

If only our players would pass AND move rather than knocking it up to somebody and expecting them to get on with it

Genuinely think this would solve most of problems, most of our wins this season have come from individuals having very good games, McCleary/Williams/Alf? Too few teams performances

[Colin Cheeselog]

Surely somebody who has played hundreds of games between Chelsea, Man City and England can do more than just HOOOOOOOOOOF the ball? It's not just yesterday, but every game he's played for us. He has no composure and evidently no idea on how to keep possession of the ball.

[TBM]

Why did we set up for the draw last night?

If we are serious about winning the play-offs then we need to go out and win our home games

[Will95]

Decent performance, McAnuff and McCleary poor though, Pog needs to stop diving and be given more support.

Decent atmosphere.

Another step closer to the end of this season.

More positives than negatives then!

[SCIAG]

Ponegbrynak should be taking a long hard look at himself, because he was an embarrassment tonight. Player of his size and build should not be going down because a player breathed near him.


^ Thing is, at his peak this season, he wasn't going down at all - not sure why he's reverted to it now...

i think its cos if he doesnt go down he never gets the free kick, even when its deserved. cos hes a big man.
its like the crouch effect

This. He also doesn't get it when he goes down, even though he's nearly always fouled. People keep making him out to be Shane Long, which is a load of rubbish. Never seen a player get treated so harshly by referees.

I'd draw comparisons with Kevin Doyle in his final season for us. Best when running at goal, but too often forced to play with back to goal. Often ends up running the channels rather than getting in the box. Neither strong enough to hold off challenges, nor quick enough to escape them. Constantly fouled, but rarely are opposition defenders pulled up for it. In both cases it (has) cost us.

[Maguire]

Mahrez looked a very useful player for them.

Yeah he was good.

I massively agree with JordCot's thoughts - Leicester had what I shall call "the Shane Long ball" in their locker. Just dropped it into the channels for Vardy to spin off our slow centre-halves and get possession high up the pitch. Leicester used it repeatedly as a genuine tactic in the same way we used to with Shane Long. I hope people understand this is not "hoofball".

[melonhead]

if i move my season ticket will it be different elsewhere?

We are actually considering accepting we are middle aged and moving to the west stand in the hope that there will be less utter bellends surrounding us

they will merely be bellends of a different flavour

[floyd__streete]

Seems very likely we'll miss out in top 6 now given our run-in. Good news is that we surely won't be able to keep highly paid wasters like Drenthe and Bridge. Bad news is the likelihood of going into administration.

Fair play to Adkins. Kept us in the top 10 all season despite having one of the biggest wage bills in the division. Nothing sort of miraculous, Reading Borough Council should name a street after him.

[SCIAG]

Leigerwood - As soon as he was red carded I looked at the manager, He walked to the far side of his technical area and didn't make eye contact with the player, I assume he was unimpressed - no handshake/pat on the back there.... which presumably means we're not going to chance our luck and go for a 3rd red card overturn...

You cannot appeal two yellows.

[Handsome Man]

if i move my season ticket will it be different elsewhere?

We are actually considering accepting we are middle aged and moving to the west stand in the hope that there will be less utter bellends surrounding us

The upper west can be twat central at times - you really would imagine that Jobi McAnuff is at least the worst footballer ever to have played for the club, and probably a murderer as well, if you believed all the nonsense I hear from behind me - but overall it is a nicer more reasonable crowd up there.

[TBM]

Leigerwood - As soon as he was red carded I looked at the manager, He walked to the far side of his technical area and didn't make eye contact with the player, I assume he was unimpressed - no handshake/pat on the back there.... which presumably means we're not going to chance our luck and go for a 3rd red card overturn...

You cannot appeal two yellows.

Plus the fact Adkins had turned away before the foul was committed so didn't see it and he was already at the far side of his technical area

[Mr Angry]

I thought Hector oozed class; when Williams went off we lost all coherence, Obita is an excellent crosser of a ball from a set piece, and Bridge's awful misplaced pass when in Leicester's half led to their goal.

Overall a draw was a fair result.

[Cureton's Volley]

As I've said before, Drenthe and Pogrebnyak are perhaps the two biggest cheats ever to have played for Reading. They need to oxf*rd off quickly because I'm not keen on Reading's Plan A to be 'dive and win a free kick or penalty, nor do I want us to be known as 'that team that cheats'.

Le Fondre deserves a mention too for his diving in the box and 'hand of nob' antics

[BraisingsteakRoyal]

Leigertwood has always been a "leggy" tackler - sticking out a limb to break up play, but you would have thought that being a professional he'd have:

1) accepted that he was a bit off the pace due to lack of games
2) already on a yellow
3) had players getting across to cover
4) winger was tight to the line and didn't need to be stopped "at all costs"

F*cking abysmal challenge to make under those circumstances imho. Left us ridiculously light in central midfield with 4 games left.

For that reason alone I hope he gets let go in the summer. He'll struggle to find a club of the same level.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Unless Williams came off as a precaution, NA bottled it by bringing him off, could of got rid of the useless bridge and moved obita to his favourable LB position. We look a better unit with him playing there.

I thought that was a good substitution. Reading were losing possession and beginning to get overwhelmed - Legs comes on and we regained a bit of control of the game.

Shame Legs got redded but I thought he'd done well up until that.