BFTG - Brum

[CountryRoyal]

Well I mostly really enjoyed that. I think Ince’s interview was spot on. It wasn’t vintage and we did ride our luck at times but you could see the marked difference already (no surprise, new manager bounce etc). We played some nice stuff at times and we’re clearly working much harder in defence. Even when we conceded we looked like we had more about us and I was fairly confident we would hold on.

That being said, defeat was harsh on Brum who carved out some really good chances. It’s not going to happen over night but it’s a really good start and no loss in 3, 2 wins on the bounce and 8 pts clear it’s starting to look promising.

I thought the fans were excellent although pissing about with the ball before their goal was just so tinpot Reading. Other clubs do that and it winds us up but it wastes time and they get away with it, we do it and fcuk it up the oppo score and we have egg on our face. That being said, surely the goal shouldn’t have stood because there were 2 balls on the pitch? Don’t particularly blame Hein, it was a fairy distracting period and I thought overall was decent.

.

It's interesting that in his interview with Sky Sports Ince did put it down to a mistake by the keeper but immediately qualified that by saying how well he'd played aside from that.

Which is probably a fair assessment overall really in short. He had a good game but he made a mistake leading to a goal and just one or two other minor issues with his distribution being a bit wayward and looking to deal with a deep ball into the box that wasn't really needed. He did play well though, just room for improvement, as with probably most that played last night.

My non-Reading supporting friend couldn’t believe that we signed a 19 year old goal keeper with 0 senior league appearances, in a relegation fight.

Unsurprisingly.

[Snowflake Royal]

It's interesting that in his interview with Sky Sports Ince did put it down to a mistake by the keeper but immediately qualified that by saying how well he'd played aside from that.

Which is probably a fair assessment overall really in short. He had a good game but he made a mistake leading to a goal and just one or two other minor issues with his distribution being a bit wayward and looking to deal with a deep ball into the box that wasn't really needed. He did play well though, just room for improvement, as with probably most that played last night.

My non-Reading supporting friend couldn’t believe that we signed a 19 year old goal keeper with 0 senior league appearances, in a relegation fight.

Unsurprisingly.

Same but multiple of them.

[Millsy]

Drinkwater. Wasn't shite last night.

Trying to impress new manager?
Incey have a chat with him?
Reflected on being a pcunt, fat b*stard, Chelsea reject by motivational away fans?
Luck?

Will it last?

[NathStPaul]

Drinkwater. Wasn't shite last night.

Trying to impress new manager?
Incey have a chat with him?
Reflected on being a pcunt, fat b*stard, Chelsea reject by motivational away fans?
Luck?

Will it last?

He is playing for a contract somewhere next season, had to turn up at some point.

[PieEater]

Oh, I forgot-the ref.
Hooper is dreadful but at least he gave us a penalty, however he bottled sending off the Birmingham fair-haired defender who had already been booked.

IIRC he hasn't sent anybody off this season which must mean that he is not following the rules (laws?) correctly and I don't think he is now doing so many Prem. games.

I found it hilarious (afterwards of course) that he gave Birmingham a corner when Gardner's shot from about 22 yards bobbled wide of the goal when nobody touched it. I think he thought Hein turned it around the corner when, in truth, he wasn't even close to it.

Also gave us a throw on the East Stand side when it was 100% never our throw-in.

Agree he bottled sending their number 3 off, who I thought was absolute garbage anyway.

I thought Peterson was pretty good, certainly first half he stopped everything.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Which is probably a fair assessment overall really in short. He had a good game but he made a mistake leading to a goal and just one or two other minor issues with his distribution being a bit wayward and looking to deal with a deep ball into the box that wasn't really needed. He did play well though, just room for improvement, as with probably most that played last night.

My non-Reading supporting friend couldn’t believe that we signed a 19 year old goal keeper with 0 senior league appearances, in a relegation fight.

Unsurprisingly.

Same but multiple of them.

I couldn't really believe it either, not to be our first choice goalkeeper anyway.

As I say though, in all fairness, he hasn't been that bad, certainly hasn't been that much worse than Southwood, if he even has at all. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is a different story. January is always a hard time though, so we probably had to pick up who was available. We may be best off getting a more experienced goalkeeper in the summer.

[Millsy]

Drinkwater. Wasn't shite last night.

Trying to impress new manager?
Incey have a chat with him?
Reflected on being a pcunt, fat b*stard, Chelsea reject by motivational away fans?
Luck?

Will it last?

He is playing for a contract somewhere next season, had to turn up at some point.

True. Whatever it is let's hope it continues.

First sign of him being shite again and I hope Incey drops him straight away.

[CountryRoyal]

My non-Reading supporting friend couldn’t believe that we signed a 19 year old goal keeper with 0 senior league appearances, in a relegation fight.

Unsurprisingly.

Same but multiple of them.

I couldn't really believe it either, not to be our first choice goalkeeper anyway.

As I say though, in all fairness, he hasn't been that bad, certainly hasn't been that much worse than Southwood, if he even has at all. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is a different story. January is always a hard time though, so we probably had to pick up who was available. We may be best off getting a more experienced goalkeeper in the summer.

I really don’t think we need to go down that route. Maybe I watch a different game to others but at no point did I ever think Southwood was the problem. He’s still a young, inexperienced keeper who is only going to get better (provided he plays). He’s faced 128 shots on target in the league saving 86 for save % of 67. Obviously it’s far from the best metric as it doesn’t factor in mistakes, and more importantly the quality of chances conceded - which is huge. I can’t quantify it but from the chances he’s faced I really don’t think he’s made more mistakes than expected, certainly not enough to warrant being replaced.

Regarding distribution, for what it’s worth (not much) Southwood had the 5th highest pass completion stats of any keeper in the league.

[Snowflake Royal]

Same but multiple of them.

I couldn't really believe it either, not to be our first choice goalkeeper anyway.

As I say though, in all fairness, he hasn't been that bad, certainly hasn't been that much worse than Southwood, if he even has at all. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is a different story. January is always a hard time though, so we probably had to pick up who was available. We may be best off getting a more experienced goalkeeper in the summer.

I really don’t think we need to go down that route. Maybe I watch a different game to others but at no point did I ever think Southwood was the problem. He’s still a young, inexperienced keeper who is only going to get better (provided he plays). He’s faced 128 shots on target in the league saving 86 for save % of 67. Obviously it’s far from the best metric as it doesn’t factor in mistakes, and more importantly the quality of chances conceded - which is huge. I can’t quantify it but from the chances he’s faced I really don’t think he’s made more mistakes than expected, certainly not enough to warrant being replaced.

Regarding distribution, for what it’s worth (not much) Southwood had the 5th highest pass completion stats of any keeper in the league.

I want to see Southwood as No. 1

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I couldn't really believe it either, not to be our first choice goalkeeper anyway.

As I say though, in all fairness, he hasn't been that bad, certainly hasn't been that much worse than Southwood, if he even has at all. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is a different story. January is always a hard time though, so we probably had to pick up who was available. We may be best off getting a more experienced goalkeeper in the summer.

I really don’t think we need to go down that route. Maybe I watch a different game to others but at no point did I ever think Southwood was the problem. He’s still a young, inexperienced keeper who is only going to get better (provided he plays). He’s faced 128 shots on target in the league saving 86 for save % of 67. Obviously it’s far from the best metric as it doesn’t factor in mistakes, and more importantly the quality of chances conceded - which is huge. I can’t quantify it but from the chances he’s faced I really don’t think he’s made more mistakes than expected, certainly not enough to warrant being replaced.

Regarding distribution, for what it’s worth (not much) Southwood had the 5th highest pass completion stats of any keeper in the league.

I want to see Southwood as No. 1

Just in response to both - I agree. I also want to see Southwood as number 1 and I want to see him have more playing time to improve. I don't believe he is the problem - but someone at the club may say different because he may have been expected to save 74% of shots for example whereas it's only 67%. So it depends if someone sees a 7% difference as significant or not, depending on what they compare to.

For the record, that's only a hypothetical situation (Southwood may well be outperforming his expected saves ratio), but I suppose only the club know and act on that.

[paultheroyal]

My non-Reading supporting friend couldn’t believe that we signed a 19 year old goal keeper with 0 senior league appearances, in a relegation fight.

Unsurprisingly.

Same but multiple of them.

I couldn't really believe it either, not to be our first choice goalkeeper anyway.

As I say though, in all fairness, he hasn't been that bad, certainly hasn't been that much worse than Southwood, if he even has at all. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is a different story. January is always a hard time though, so we probably had to pick up who was available. We may be best off getting a more experienced goalkeeper in the summer.

At 19 he is showing amazing qualities and no surprise Arsenal are watching closely and keen for his development. With our predicament its hopeful that this arrangement will help with other loanees from Arsenal next season or released academy players.

[URZZZZ]

Drinkwater. Wasn't shite last night.

Trying to impress new manager?
Incey have a chat with him?
Reflected on being a pcunt, fat b*stard, Chelsea reject by motivational away fans?
Luck?

Will it last?

He is playing for a contract somewhere next season, had to turn up at some point.

Or potentially, as strange as it seems, he was never as bad as people made him out to be?

I don’t even know what Paunovic was asking him to do the last few months because he was all over the place but I don’t think it’s a coincidence he played better yesterday with a bit more graft around him. Was telling that Ince basically admitted very little work had been done on the defensive side of the game for a while

[Larry_Parnell]

Hein's distribution last night was a significant step up from the two previous games but is worryingly bad in recent matches according to whoscored statistics...
Pass success %
vs Peterborough 25% (Peterborough's keeper 56%)
vs Preston 27% (Preston's keeper 73%)
vs Birmingham 52% (Birmingham's keeper 53%)

[Hendo]

I'm not sure if I would count the Posh game in the stats, the wind was just crazy. I know his % is much lower than their 'keeper, but I guess you might expect that from a more experienced player. Plus it looked like we were trying to go to Meite pretty much every one.

[Stranded]

I'm not sure his stats were helped by the fact that once Meite was on, it seemed to be a tactic to hit to his wing for him to either flick it on or bring it down. If it wasn't spot on, the ball would fly out of play.

[Hendo]

I'm not sure his stats were helped by the fact that once Meite was on, it seemed to be a tactic to hit to his wing for him to either flick it on or bring it down. If it wasn't spot on, the ball would fly out of play.

+1. It was very obvious there was a switch in tactics when he came on.

[Hound]

I'm not sure his stats were helped by the fact that once Meite was on, it seemed to be a tactic to hit to his wing for him to either flick it on or bring it down. If it wasn't spot on, the ball would fly out of play.

+1. It was very obvious there was a switch in tactics when he came on.

I thought the kicking to Meite was actually pretty good at the time.

I’d rather Southwood - he is better with the ball at his feet - but not a lot in it

I think the reason Hein was brought in was because Southwoods lack of height was being targeted with crosses and set pieces. Hein is better at crosses imo. Esp with Holmes not being great in the air, and not a lot of height elsewhere

I’m really not that bothered in terms of solely having the best side atm. Obvs be nice for Southwood to come back in before the end of the season though

[Snowflake Royal]

I'm not sure his stats were helped by the fact that once Meite was on, it seemed to be a tactic to hit to his wing for him to either flick it on or bring it down. If it wasn't spot on, the ball would fly out of play.

+1. It was very obvious there was a switch in tactics when he came on.

I thought the kicking to Meite was actually pretty good at the time.

I’d rather Southwood - he is better with the ball at his feet - but not a lot in it

I think the reason Hein was brought in was because Southwoods lack of height was being targeted with crosses and set pieces. Hein is better at crosses imo. Esp with Holmes not being great in the air, and not a lot of height elsewhere

I’m really not that bothered in terms of solely having the best side atm. Obvs be nice for Southwood to come back in before the end of the season though

Not convinced Hein is better at crosses, though I admit the gale at Posh is making that somewhat unfair.

Also think Southwood would look a lot less bad at crosses with a team that can defend them around him. Isn’t the Southwood is bad at crosses thing basically because he landed badly under pressure and spilled one?

Hein certainly has a more reassuring height about him though.

[3points]

+1. It was very obvious there was a switch in tactics when he came on.

I thought the kicking to Meite was actually pretty good at the time.

I’d rather Southwood - he is better with the ball at his feet - but not a lot in it

I think the reason Hein was brought in was because Southwoods lack of height was being targeted with crosses and set pieces. Hein is better at crosses imo. Esp with Holmes not being great in the air, and not a lot of height elsewhere

I’m really not that bothered in terms of solely having the best side atm. Obvs be nice for Southwood to come back in before the end of the season though

Not convinced Hein is better at crosses, though I admit the gale at Posh is making that somewhat unfair.

Also think Southwood would look a lot less bad at crosses with a team that can defend them around him. Isn’t the Southwood is bad at crosses thing basically because he landed badly under pressure and spilled one?

Hein certainly has a more reassuring height about him though.

he also fumbled the ball for Derby’s first so he has dropped two crosses resulting in goals.

If Hein can’t kick accurately by the age of 18, then he’s never going to be great with his feet. He reminds me of Anssi Jaakkola

[Orion1871]

I thought the kicking to Meite was actually pretty good at the time.

I’d rather Southwood - he is better with the ball at his feet - but not a lot in it

I think the reason Hein was brought in was because Southwoods lack of height was being targeted with crosses and set pieces. Hein is better at crosses imo. Esp with Holmes not being great in the air, and not a lot of height elsewhere

I’m really not that bothered in terms of solely having the best side atm. Obvs be nice for Southwood to come back in before the end of the season though

Not convinced Hein is better at crosses, though I admit the gale at Posh is making that somewhat unfair.

Also think Southwood would look a lot less bad at crosses with a team that can defend them around him. Isn’t the Southwood is bad at crosses thing basically because he landed badly under pressure and spilled one?

Hein certainly has a more reassuring height about him though.

he also fumbled the ball for Derby’s first so he has dropped two crosses resulting in goals.

If Hein can’t kick accurately by the age of 18, then he’s never going to be great with his feet. He reminds me of Anssi Jaakkola

They put a lot of crosses in against us at the SCL. Likely because Southwood got caught underneath the goal at Pride Park and they recognised crosses as his big weakness.