Royals v Wigan match thread

[Schards#2]

Good result but not a great performance.

Bikey was shocking, Long, sadly, is not up to it at this level and Sidwell had his worst game of the season.

If Kitson still isn't fit enough to start, Seol should be starting alongside Lita on Saturday.

[RIP ELM Park]

No Doubt Bikey was following instructions from Wally, 'If in doubt hit it as hard as you can' same advice he gave to Sonko when he first came into the team (with pretty much the same results i.e. comedy clearances). Sonko soon became more composed, hopefully Bikey will follow suit.

Bikey has the abilty, along with the dodgey clearances, there were some crucial tackles and headers as well as one magnificent cross field ball.

The potential is there let's hope the coaches can bring it out as they have with Sonko

[brendywendy]

Good result but not a great performance.

Bikey was shocking, Long, sadly, is not up to it at this level and Sidwell had his worst game of the season.

If Kitson still isn't fit enough to start, Seol should be starting alongside Lita on Saturday.

long who has scored 2 prem goals in last two starts, not good enough?enough of your madness.
and bikey didnt look any worse than sonko did when he came here, it about getting to know the back 5, and the system, and when hes comfy with that he'll be fine

[Royalwaster]

Good result but not a great performance.

Bikey was shocking, Long, sadly, is not up to it at this level and Sidwell had his worst game of the season.

If Kitson still isn't fit enough to start, Seol should be starting alongside Lita on Saturday.

long who has scored 2 prem goals in last two starts, not good enough?enough of your madness.
and bikey didnt look any worse than sonko did when he came here, it about getting to know the back 5, and the system, and when hes comfy with that he'll be fine

I agree with that - Bikey looked very shaky but not like a bad player. His clearances were dodgy but then he got there to make them again and again and again. I think he's got more ball skills than Sonko but he needs a bit practice and confidence. He's definitely not as good as Sonko in heading the ball, but then Sonko IS superman in that department.

As for Long, I think he got better and better - he's fast and good at getting to balls but lacks composure sometimes; again that's something that will come with experience. Remember Doyle's first game against Plymouth?

I think Marcus looked a bit slow for the first goal - but so was the defence - but he made up for it with a terrific reaction save about 10 minutes later. Absolutely disagree that it's time to drop him - as for KirlLOLand ... isn't he touted as a future England keeper???

I agree that Sidwell was very poor - shit happens. Our midfield got overrun in the first half. I must say that I was mightily relieved when Heskey came off - they looked a lot less dangerous after that. He was very good at holding up the ball and doing nice lay-offs to allow his team-mates to have shots on target.

Generally, I thought that we deserved to win the game but only just. I thought going forward Wigan were one of the best side's I've seen this season at the MadStad (with the exception of Arsenal). Shame their defence is shocking!

[Schards#2]

No Doubt Bikey was following instructions from Wally, 'If in doubt hit it as hard as you can' same advice he gave to Sonko when he first came into the team (with pretty much the same results i.e. comedy clearances). Sonko soon became more composed, hopefully Bikey will follow suit.

Bikey has the abilty, along with the dodgey clearances, there were some crucial tackles and headers as well as one magnificent cross field ball.

The potential is there let's hope the coaches can bring it out as they have with Sonko

Bikey barely won a single header cleanly last night and his clearences with his feet can go literally anywhere. He also needlessly conceded freekicks and we will be punished by better clubs.

As far as Long goes, yes he's scored in his last two games but they are not difficult finishes and he contributes little in the general play. Great attitude, great commitment but not good enough.

[ohagerup]

It is way to early to write Bikey off. He had a few bad clearences and on a few occassion also with his ball controll. But on other parts he was strong. No problems with his marking or control in the air as I can recall (after the first 10 very poor minuts from the whole team). And he did a few key tackles. He was not to blame for any of the goals.

With experience comes a cooler head. It's not like we haven't seen that happend before.

[brendywendy]

No Doubt Bikey was following instructions from Wally, 'If in doubt hit it as hard as you can' same advice he gave to Sonko when he first came into the team (with pretty much the same results i.e. comedy clearances). Sonko soon became more composed, hopefully Bikey will follow suit.

Bikey has the abilty, along with the dodgey clearances, there were some crucial tackles and headers as well as one magnificent cross field ball.

The potential is there let's hope the coaches can bring it out as they have with Sonko

Bikey barely won a single header cleanly last night and his clearences with his feet can go literally anywhere. He also needlessly conceded freekicks and we will be punished by better clubs.

As far as Long goes, yes he's scored in his last two games but they are not difficult finishes and he contributes little in the general play. Great attitude, great commitment but not good enough.

Ruhubbish

he was there to finish them off, no -one else was, great goal poaching
strong in the box, quick in the channels, and his general play improving with each game, go and support Man u if you want a team full of finished articles.

and bikey won hundreds of headers cleanly, he also won a fair few uncleanly, and whenever he scuffed a clearance he was in there to get it away at the second attemprt, big strong, good feet and geeting there

[RoyalBlue]

Good result but not a great performance.

Bikey was shocking, Long, sadly, is not up to it at this level and Sidwell had his worst game of the season.

I thought Sidwell looked very subdued. Hope he didn't have other matters on his mind and that the arrival of Halford doesn't see us receive some shock news later today!

[papereyes]

I must say that I was mightily relieved when Heskey came off - they looked a lot less dangerous after that. He was very good at holding up the ball and doing nice lay-offs to allow his team-mates to have shots on target.

Am I allowed to say that Heskey looked like a guy with international ability and experience today? Really played well, linked well with the other forward and gave us a lot of problems.

Bikey looked like a guy playing centreback in the Premiership for the first time. Murty kept telling him to talk, so he must have done eventually. Murty did well. Shorey less so. Ingimarsson was solid.

Long ... good finish ... doesn't really do much else but is fast and does work the channels. So like a Sea Cat, really. On the other hand, I thought Lita had a good game. A very good game. There's so much more to his all round game at the moment, holds the ball up, runs onto through balls. Got another goal. No complaints there. And good to see Kitson back - brave attempt on goal for the second.

Hunt was exactly the same as every game this season - good running, good industry, moments of genius (touch for second goal) but could have got two or three. Sidwell and Harper worked well as a team, even if Sidwell didn't have the greatest of games.

And Little, imo, was good. Has cme back into the side since his early season injury and really made it his.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

The problem with people saying Bikey's no different to Sonks when he first came in, is we're not mid table in the Championship. Better teams than Wigan would have made him pay for his weaknesses. Too many fouls, too many times out of position, woeful on the ball at times. Another center half is still needed, as the less we hear about Sonks the more you know it's more serious than they are letting on....

[Schards#2]

No Doubt Bikey was following instructions from Wally, 'If in doubt hit it as hard as you can' same advice he gave to Sonko when he first came into the team (with pretty much the same results i.e. comedy clearances). Sonko soon became more composed, hopefully Bikey will follow suit.

Bikey has the abilty, along with the dodgey clearances, there were some crucial tackles and headers as well as one magnificent cross field ball.

The potential is there let's hope the coaches can bring it out as they have with Sonko

Bikey barely won a single header cleanly last night and his clearences with his feet can go literally anywhere. He also needlessly conceded freekicks and we will be punished by better clubs.

As far as Long goes, yes he's scored in his last two games but they are not difficult finishes and he contributes little in the general play. Great attitude, great commitment but not good enough.

Ruhubbish

he was there to finish them off, no -one else was, great goal poaching
strong in the box, quick in the channels, and his general play improving with each game, go and support Man u if you want a team full of finished articles.
and bikey won hundreds of headers cleanly, he also won a fair few uncleanly, and whenever he scuffed a clearance he was in there to get it away at the second attemprt, big strong, good feet and geeting there

What's your point here? That if you consider the team to be anything other than perfect then you are not a worthy supporter?

This is a football discussion board, not Pravda. If anyone feels there are areas where there can be some improvement, they should be perfectly entitled to voice that opinion without having their support questioned.

[Seal]

Lita man of the match for me. Last night's performance really emphasised the change in his game over the course of the season. Lots of great work off the ball, including a couple of Doyle style runs down the left side to receive long passed from Nicky Shorey. Plus another goal, really pleased with how he's developed.

Agree about Wigan going forward, thought they were very good with a lot of nice one touch stuff and little flicks and movement – understandable that Bikey would have trouble dealing with that. Their problems definitely seem to be at the back, as there was a 20 minute period in the first half where we were creating chance after chance without really having to do much, and you just knew we would score in the end.

[AbovetheI]

Reminded me of Sonko when he first joined.

When his first clearance at Ipswich went out for a throw in the complete opposite way to where he was kicking.