BFTG - Ipswich

[THE HUMAN BISCUIT]

Was there goal music today?

You bet. And there I was giving it the full bounce of happiness! Come on. It's cheesy, but it works!

Agree totally about Hector. I don't think we would have won that game with Morrison at centre half. He would have been exposed and outpaced. They would have scored.

The main thing about Ipswich was how BIG they were. Apart from the player without a name or number in the first half - No Name Tabby! - they were huge. All those long throw-ins, Stoke style, tell you all you need to know about Mick McCarthy's football brain. Compared with Adkins, he's a Neanderthal. That said, what a good call by Adkins to bring on our own whopper - Jake Cooper - to see out the end. He was just what was needed for all that busy heading.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if Adkins turns out to be the Best Reading Manager Ever. Fingers crossed.

[winchester_royal]

Jake Cooper - What a prospect he is. 19 years old and stood up against the most physical team in the league. For those who haven't seen much of him he's also pretty quick across the ground, good on the ball, and reads it well. All the attributes to to be a top player..like so many of the younger guys in the squad.

You can hear the excitement in Nige's voice every time he talks about the 'future' of RFC, and you can't blame him or the club for not wanting to spend ££££'s. Keep the spirit right, and maintain the type of environment that will bring the young players along in the best possible way, and we'll go a long way.

[3points]

First time I'd seen Cooper in the flesh. He's enormous, particularly when warming up next to Kuhl and Tanner!

[SydenhamRoyal]

Rating:
Feds - 7, good distribution, and looked pretty solid
Gunter -7, much improved crossing, now zips them in rather than floats them
Hector - 8, MotM
Pearce - 7, very solid
Cummings - 7, very solid

Blackman -6, got frustrated today, but I think he is finally turning into a good player for us
Akpan - 4,as per everyone who watched the same game as me
Obita - 6, ok - i know he prefers centre midfield, but he proved last season he's a left back
Taylor - 7, ok, but +1 for the goal

Cox - 7, great movement off the ball, and makes us look dangerous going forward - as someone else said, the missing link.
Pog - 7, led the line well


when we get our midfield back we might be quite good

Subs were all good. Putting Edwards on for the last 15 minutes is tactical genius, he's going to win a fair few points for us from the bench alone.

That's a bit optimistic from you so early in the season?

Seeing us 14th instead of 23rd is where my optimism places us
Thanks for the seat by the way

[RG7Fan]

Pog I thought was awful. He didn't win a single heading challenge the entire game

He'd won two within about ten seconds of kick off you clown

And for the other 89 minutes and 50 seconds?

It was the usual Pog 'not win many in the air' performance - I'm not saying he had a bad game, just that as usual he didn't win much in the air. I even turned to my neighbour and pointed it out.

[Nameless]

Pointing out that Pog didn't (in your opinion) win many in the air is a bit like saying Pearce didn't put in any decent crosses or Taylor didn't make any good saves.
While Pog is a big strong guy he is not an old fashioned centre forward. He is very good with the ball at his feet and whilst he makes nuisance of himself in the air and does win a decent number of headers it is not what he is good at, or how we should be using him.
I suspect that he and Cox will develop a good understanding, and hopefully that will be based on accurate passing to feet, clever layoffs and movement, not just hitting high balls because we happen to have a tall bloke up front.

[windermere_royal]

Pog wasn`t allowed to jump most of the time, the centre back was all over him with no protection from the ref .
That said the big F*cking russian`s strength is on the deck not in the air

[Pandoras Box]

Some observational questions.
1) Why does Fedders insist on carying the ball an extra ten yards to boot it those ten yards ahead of Pog and ultimately to the opposition defenders?
2) Why, when we have a free kick well inside the opposition half does Akpan pass it backwards, and then the ball gets passed around the back line for someone to ultimately hoof it downfield to the opposition's feet five yards away from where the free kick had been taken in the first place? Why doesn't he simply cut out the middle men and pass it to the opposition defender standing in front of him?
3) I'm all for the youngsters getting a chance- but when you're massively under pressure, don't we want the game played out? Another four minutes extra time for no obvious hold up apart from the added substitution time.
Didn't we learn from the Wigan match?

[If you still hate Futcher]

Some observational questions.
1) Why does Fedders insist on carying the ball an extra ten yards to boot it those ten yards ahead of Pog and ultimately to the opposition defenders?

The only real noticeable one was in the second half when everyone was trying to kick it as far down field as possible

2) Why, when we have a free kick well inside the opposition half does Akpan pass it backwards, and then the ball gets passed around the back line for someone to ultimately hoof it downfield to the opposition's feet five yards away from where the free kick had been taken in the first place? Why doesn't he simply cut out the middle men and pass it to the opposition defender standing in front of him?

Because he's been told to, that's the way Adkins wants us to play and long may it continue

3) I'm all for the youngsters getting a chance- but when you're massively under pressure, don't we want the game played out? Another four minutes extra time for no obvious hold up apart from the added substitution time.
Didn't we learn from the Wigan match?

Not quite sure what point you're making here. If it's against making the late subs, we needed the extra height at the back given the way Ipswich were lumping it in and also the extra legs as the players were getting very tired

[SCIAG]

3) I'm all for the youngsters getting a chance- but when you're massively under pressure, don't we want the game played out? Another four minutes extra time for no obvious hold up apart from the added substitution time.

I think this post contains a fundamental misconception about the nature of added time. The referee is not extending the length of the match, instead he is replacing time lost due to stoppages. Bringing on substitutes might make the number on the board a bit bigger, but it doesn't actually mean we're playing any extra time.

[Ian Royal]

Really I thought Blackman won his fair share of headers in the first half, flicking them on down the right hand touchline, was just no one getting on the end of them most of the time.

Me too. I saw him win quite a lot. As shown by Whoscored.com's 62% Aerials Won for him.
http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/829910/Live

Don't trust those stats, says cooper didn't win any aerials when that is all he did when he came on and attributes Cummings header off the line to obita.

They're obviously not a 100% reliable. Individual moments and cameos are going to be more prone to be skewed by errors in them.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Obita cleared one off the line in the first half.

[ZacNaloen]

id forgotten that tbf, but still cummings header onto the bar was pretty key as well was pretty key as well

[Ian Royal]

Obita cleared one off the line in the first half.

THought that might be the case, but my view wasn't good enough to say for sure.

On the subject of Pog's headers, the same site says he won 33%, so none is also bollocks. As anyone actually watching objectively could also tell anyone.

[Royal Lady]

I thoroughly enjoyed that - the players really did seem to be up for it. Have to mention Federici's goal kicks though - almost every time he took one, he still had the ball in his hand when his feet were out of the area - the lino didn't notice because he'd run on ahead, but if he keeps doing it, it will get noticed at some point and could cost us.

I thought everyone had a pretty good game, I've always championed Simon Cox, and thought he did well - got into some good positions etc - surprised he was subbed tbh. For me, possibly the only weak link there yesterday was Jake Taylor - but he's young and the more this lot play together, the more they will gel. Looking forward to Tuesday now. When you consider the players we have out injured, then imagine would this squad will be like when they're all fit. #believe

[Ian Royal]

I thoroughly enjoyed that - the players really did seem to be up for it. Have to mention Federici's goal kicks though - almost every time he took one, he still had the ball in his hand when his feet were out of the area - the lino didn't notice because he'd run on ahead, but if he keeps doing it, it will get noticed at some point and could cost us.

I thought everyone had a pretty good game, I've always championed Simon Cox, and thought he did well - got into some good positions etc - surprised he was subbed tbh. For me, possibly the only weak link there yesterday was Jake Taylor - but he's young and the more this lot play together, the more they will gel. Looking forward to Tuesday now. When you consider the players we have out injured, then imagine would this squad will be like when they're all fit. #believe

I thought Cox had faded badly second half, and we'd also been penned back so he was far less use. Plus, he'd possibly got a yellow for those shenanigans with their left back.

[skipper]

Pog I thought was awful. He didn't win a single heading challenge the entire game

He'd won two within about ten seconds of kick off you clown

If you're right, two headers in 2 minutes, and nothing for the further 88 is still poor.

I'm not being negative, just point out, as a target man, he doesn't do that job for us. In my opinion, of course.

[Ian Royal]

Pog I thought was awful. He didn't win a single heading challenge the entire game

He'd won two within about ten seconds of kick off you clown

If you're right, two headers in 2 minutes, and nothing for the further 88 is still poor.

I'm not being negative, just point out, as a target man, he doesn't do that job for us. In my opinion, of course.

He's not a target man. HTH

[JordCot]

I actually think Jake Taylor could be pretty good out on the left with the right style and team. He clearly is not an out and out winger and doesn't relish running at defenders but what he did do was creep in from the left and sit behind the striker when cox moved up or out right and there were a few chances where had the right ball been played he we would have completely bypassed their midfield and been 3 on 4, 30 or so yards from goal. Happened once or twice but was on a lot.

We don't want a lop-sided team but with Blackman looking confident (or GMac when he is fit) driving at players from one side and taylor making clever runs from the other whilst also tracking back and retaining possession better than most wingers it could work well. Look at Southampton last year when they played Steven Davis out on the right most of the 2nd half of the season because he worked hard, retained posession and allowed the attacking full-backs to bomb on whilst he packed the midfield

[JordCot]

Oh and some of Cox's first touches were brilliant