Back from the miracle

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I have to say I found their fans pretty awful today. Pretty much every song was "shit on the Villa" or "you're going down with the Villa or "Shane Long's too good for you". Nothing actually backing their team.

Massively enjoyed taking the p1ss at the end. Boing boing back home with 0 points you tossers.

[joeroyal]

Seeing as I've got an absolute pasting I thought I'd put up ratings from Whoscored.com which has useful stats - although I'm not sure how reliable they are.

Federici - 6.0 - 53% pass completion, 1 save
Gunter - 6.8 - 78% pass completion, 100% airials won, 1 tackle
Harte - 6.2 - 75% pass completion, 1 tackle
Pearce - 7.1 - 78% pass completion, 100% airials won, 1 assist
Mariappa - 6.6 - 82% pass completion, 80% airials won, 1 tackle
McAnuff - 6.4 - 76% pass completion, 100% airials won
Kebe - 7.6 - 87% pass completion, 100% airials won, 1 goal
Carrico - 6.0 - 80% pass completion
Karacan - 6.3 - 76% pass completion, 2 tackles
Guthrie - 6.6 - 76% pass completion
Pogrebnyak - 7 - 75% pass completion, 8% airials won, 1 goal

McCleary - 7.2 - 100% pass completion, 1 assist
Le Fondre - 6.7 - 33% pass completion, 1 penalty

So, at least something agrees with my pick of the three best starters - and that Cayenne's wrong about Harte not misplacing any passes. But it does like like I've got Guthrie totally wrong. Which I'll take on the chin.

The thing is, the passes that Guthrie did complete were much more meaningfull than most of his team-mates. His ambition of trying to play the hollywood ball set up alot of our most promising attacks

You dear sir have not got much of a clue, may i suggest that you take up playing the game on a part time basis so you may grasp what football is all about

[joeroyal]

Passing accuracy stats are meaningless as they don't give any indication of what type of pass it was. If you go on stats alone then Leon Britton was the best midfielder in Europe last season, but the simple fact is most of his passes are under 5 yards and go backwards or sideways. Guthrie is always looking for a forward pass and as he is trying to unlock defenses with some of his passes it is not a surprise that quite a few don't make their target. But I WANT to see him making those passes even if they don't come off.

They're not meaningless, but they only tell a small part of the story.

i see another one with 1,000000s of posts get a life m8

[joeroyal]

Great result from what looked like a lost cause.

West Brom I thought were pretty ordinary apart from Lukaku who was immense and their defence which looked pretty solid. Ridgewell is an iritating twat but played pretty well. We kept pumping balls into their box but never won a header.

We had a lot of possession but seemed clueless as to what to do with it and ended up pumping balls into the channels or up to the Pog. I though Caricco was embarrassingly poor and justifiably subbed at half time. Let's hope more games get him up to speed. Fed looked suspect for their second but it was really just quality from Lukaku. Good game from Guthrie and really looks like he's on a mission. Gunter was poor with some really shit crosses and passes to nowhere, I can see why Kelly is here.

The January dryathon is well and truly over

May i ask was you or have you ever been a victim of any kind of abuse in your short term life, as there seems to be a problem, seek help urgently

[No Fixed Abode]

The main thing we can learn today is how fickle the fans are. Lol.just lol. Some of you are embarrassing.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

The main thing we can learn today is how fickle the fans are. Lol.just lol. Some of you are embarrassing.

LOL. The fans of the European champions are so loyal they resort to advertising tickets on Talksport. Sad times.

[West_Reading]

Couldn't make it to the game today as I was out of town, so gave my season ticket to my brother, only to learn he left just before Kebe scored and therefore missed our entire comeback.

I've given him endless abuse since I got back home.

He was at the game as a neutral (Everton fan) and his analysis was that Gunter was terrible, Guthrie was quality and Pearce hoofs it too much.

[Royalee]

Federici: 6
Harte: 6
Pearce: 8
Mariappa: 6
Gunter: 4
McAnuff: 4
Carrico: 5 but clearly not fit, he'll be fine
Karacan: 6
Guthrie: 6
Kebe: 6
Pog: 7

McCleary: 6
ALF: 7

You must be some sort of a sad person, with all them post's have you not got a Wife, G/freind, or Mother you can talk to

I don't read these boards or post here much any more, but it's amusing to see our fans don't get much smarter as the years go by.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Not read the thread. Thought Guthrie played very well, as did Mariappa and McCleary when he came on. Pav deserved his goal, very pleased for him after the shit he gets from people around me. Gr8 coolness from Alfie. Think my MOM was Guthrie

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Kebe's face when he wins the penalty. Brilliant acting.

[royal_ross]

The band: -10
This lot are an embarrassment to the club and I despise hearing them.

This^^

They are awful.........sorry band people.

They add nothing to our atmosphere anyways, I'd rather just the drummer tbh. No wonder other fans laugh at us.

[Gav]

The band: -10
This lot are an embarrassment to the club and I despise hearing them.

This^^

They are awful.........sorry band people.

They add nothing to our atmosphere anyways, I'd rather just the drummer tbh. No wonder other fans laugh at us.

They're woeful. Went to a college American Football match on holiday in Florida recently. They had a whole block. It was a wall of sound. Awesome. Do that or fvck off with your parpy parpy Sheffield Wednesday wannabe shite. So irritating.

[RockheadRumple]

Kebe's face when he wins the penalty. Brilliant acting.

Working that cry-baby face to perfection. Gotta love him.

[If you still hate Futcher]

So was there a fire drill or not?

There were in fact 2 - one between 70-80 mins for Reading supporters and another around the 90th minute for the Baggies fans

[leon]

Federici: 6
Harte: 6
Pearce: 8
Mariappa: 6
Gunter: 4
McAnuff: 4
Carrico: 5 but clearly not fit, he'll be fine
Karacan: 6
Guthrie: 6
Kebe: 6
Pog: 7

McCleary: 6
ALF: 7

tbf you got the ratings about right. I think I'd mark Carrico and McAnuff down. McAnuff was utter sh1t.

You must be some sort of a sad person, with all them post's have you not got a Wife, G/freind, or Mother you can talk to

I don't read these boards or post here much any more, but it's amusing to see our fans don't get much smarter as the years go by.

your ratings are about right, apart from McAnuff who deserved a 2. (for the whole season)

[Gav]

So was there a fire drill or not?

There were in fact 2 - one between 70-80 mins for Reading supporters and another around the 90th minute for the Baggies fans

There's a process improvement to be had there; if it's a matter of public safety we should really all leave together. Safely. And without stopping to gather our belongings.

[bcubed]

Wow wow wow
Unbelievable unexpected ridiculous stupendous
Don't care about player ratings, don't care about first 80 minutes, don't care about freezing cold
What a turnaround
Thank you Reading, thank you Brian, thank you to the people leaving early next to me leaving space for me to run up and down in a slightly mental fashion, thank you to Y26 for an amazing atmosphere at the end and scenes of celebration which will take some beating and mainly thanks to the guy in front of me who found and handed me my house keys and car keys
I didn't even notice them being flung out of my pockets as I leapt around and people all around me jumped up and down hugging each other and knocking each other over!
A day that reminds you why you follow football and why it tastes even sweeter when you have experienced the pain of previous disappointments
Just brilliant if not a little

[Gav]

Wow wow wow
Unbelievable unexpected ridiculous stupendous
Don't care about player ratings, don't care about first 80 minutes, don't care about freezing cold
What a turnaround
Thank you Reading, thank you Brian, thank you to the people leaving early next to me leaving space for me to run up and down in a slightly mental fashion, thank you to Y26 for an amazing atmosphere at the end and scenes of celebration which will take some beating and mainly thanks to the guy in front of me who found and handed me my house keys and car keys
I didn't even notice them being flung out of my pockets as I leapt around and people all around me jumped up and down hugging each other and knocking each other over!
A day that reminds you why you follow football and why it tastes even sweeter when you have experienced the pain of previous disappointments
Just brilliant if not a little

I ended up in a heap of people in the row behind me and the guy next to me lost his phone. Ah, football. Bloody brilliant.

[RockheadRumple]

Federici - 6 Could have done better with the second, but it was hard to predict. Still improving.

Gunter - 8 Solid at the back, stong on the attack (besides one horrendous cross). Only composed defender today along with Maps. Just gets Reading's MOTM for me.
Mariappa - 8 Calm and efficient. Cleared it when no one else would and made some fine tackles. Stood off Lukaku for the second.
Pearce - 7 Panicky but strong. Hoofs too much. Loved his run to the edge of the box. Brilliant assist for the winner.
Harte - 5 Inconsistent delivery and slow. Decent.

Kebe - 8 Not doing much until the final 10 mins where he was running the game. Inspired performance. Good opening 20 mins. Plus mark for the 'cry-baby' face.
Karacan - 6 Decent passing but failed to quite get around as much as usual.
Carrico - 6 Not the best touch due to not being match fit yet and also lost Lukaku for the first. Good passing, physicality makes up for Mikele's absence and shows plenty of promise.
Guthrie - 8 Along with Kebe, ran the game from midfield in the final ten mins. Composed and precise.
McAnuff - 5 Flashes of brilliance, long phases of mediocrity. Looking a bit better though.

Pogrebnyak - 8 Does a lot of work up front that goes un-noticed. Fantastic finish and celebration.


LeFondre - 8 Opens up the game so much, really stretches the defence. Should be rotated with Pogrebnyak more often.
McLeary - 7 Ran at his man and scared the opposing defence into making mistakes. I love his confidence.


The match is a solid 10 out of 10 for me. It had everything that one could ever love about football.

[Millsy]

That felt like the worst 80 minutes we have played this season, but I've said that now on a few occasions. Is 4-5-1 really going to keep us up? .... The change to 4-4-2 made all the difference.

Great post.

Just wanted to respond to this. Remember early in the season we played 451, weren't picking up enough points, and everyone called for 442. Sure we started scoring. But we were so bad at defending we were crushed time and time again in big scoring games. Initially it was great but we are just not good enough. So then we went back to 451 and it seems to have steadied things. Boring yes, not scoring as much, no, but a safe bet. Now some people are calling for 442 again.

I think we need to start 451. If it pays off and we get a counter then we stay. If we're losing or nt winning then we change and hit them. But it's always a bit of a risk.

It just so happened those 10mins got us more goals. It could easily be the other way round. It's a fine gamble for a short period but I wouldn't play a whole game in it.

As you say the change to 442 made the difference.

We cant start games 442. We're not good enough.