BFTG - Yeovil Town

[Will95]

Another poor performance and dull game, but the best of the three this week and a win so who cares!

Le Fondre and Williams again the stand out players for me, with McCarthy making some really good stops.

Blackman took a step backwards after the Blackpool game and was again very poor today. Royston was not as good as he can be, but not bad by any means.

Yeovil were not a great side at all and will struggle this year if they squander as many opportunities as they did today.

Yeovil fans made a decent noise today, our fans did okay, but really struggled to make much atmosphere without the roof. LOVED the smoke bomb after our goal!

[JC]

It's quite simple really

1st half - rubbish
2nd half - rubbish
Both teams - rubbish

Positives - 3 points
Negatives - just about everything else

Let's take the 3 points and move on

[St. Brynjar]

Just got home, my view wasn't the best but here are my thoughts.

McCarthy - 7 - Made a few good reaction saves, kicking much improved
Gunter - 8 - Thought he played excellently, including a double block and a few last ditch tackles. Frustrated at times but was generally very good.
Morrison - 6 - Skinned a bit too easily, did what was needed mostly though
Pearce - 7 - Better than Morrison, seemed to head it whenever it was feasible - his head's his best foot. Comfortable and solid.
Cummings - 6 - Invisible for the first half. Reasonably solid.
Karacan - 6.5 - Sloppy passing, great work rate and is adding more to his forward game.
Guthrie - 8 - Beautiful passing, always made himself available when players were floundering on the ball.
Drenthe - 6 - In the full back's pocket all game.
McCleary - 6 - Didn't do a lot wrong, looked lively, surprised at the substitution at the time.
Blackman - 6 - Decent enough game, tried to skin someone and failed miserably which was funny. Good movement. Jeered off by the fans.
Alf - 7 - Some good touches and a good penalty. Had no view of the 'foul' although Yeovil fans were furious.

Williams - 7 - Very lively, looks a bit raw.
HRK - N/A - don't remember him doing anything
Akpan - N/A - likewise

Nige - 7 - poor tactics for the first half against a physical Yeovil back line, but the Williams change made a difference. Harsh on McCleary.

Lovely little ground, parking was great - £2 and right outside the ground - and the town was nice.

[Kebe's apprentice]

Just got home, my view wasn't the best but here are my thoughts.

McCarthy - 7 - Made a few good reaction saves, kicking much improved
Gunter - 8 - Thought he played excellently, including a double block and a few last ditch tackles. Frustrated at times but was generally very good.
Morrison - 6 - Skinned a bit too easily, did what was needed mostly though
Pearce - 7 - Better than Morrison, seemed to head it whenever it was feasible - his head's his best foot. Comfortable and solid.
Cummings - 6 - Invisible for the first half. Reasonably solid.
Karacan - 6.5 - Sloppy passing, great work rate and is adding more to his forward game.
Guthrie - 8 - Beautiful passing, always made himself available when players were floundering on the ball.
Drenthe - 6 - In the full back's pocket all game.
McCleary - 6 - Didn't do a lot wrong, looked lively, surprised at the substitution at the time.
Blackman - 6 - Decent enough game, tried to skin someone and failed miserably which was funny. Good movement. Jeered off by the fans.
Alf - 7 - Some good touches and a good penalty. Had no view of the 'foul' although Yeovil fans were furious.

Williams - 7 - Very lively, looks a bit raw.
HRK - N/A - don't remember him doing anything
Akpan - N/A - likewise

Nige - 7 - poor tactics for the first half against a physical Yeovil back line, but the Williams change made a difference. Harsh on McCleary.

Lovely little ground, parking was great - £2 and right outside the ground - and the town was nice.

Booing our own players?

[AirRaidSiren]

Huge 3 points to get after a tough week. Not close to fluent, but the application of the players made a mockery of Andrew's thread earlier in the week. Need to win ugly sometimes, it was a tight pitch, came out with a clean sheet and 3 points..don't understand any Reading fan who isn't happy tonight.

McCarthy - Distribution too slow and inaccurate. Couple of decent saves and commanded his box well enough. 7
Gunter - So frustrating. Does something really well and then undoes it all 2 seconds later. 5
Pearce - Solid. Led us over the line towards the end. 7
Morrison - Was in a real battle all game. Lost a few of the skirmishes though and seemed to be exposed at times.6
Cummings - Did his best and was solid enough in defence but offered nothing going forward. We missed Bridge. 6
Karacan - Plenty of effort, not much quality. 6
Guthrie - My MOTM. Put in a huge shift fot the team and was running the midfield on his own at times. 8
McCleary - Did little wrong, but change of shape was needed. 6
Drenthe - Moments of class and moments of crass. Needs someone in the middle to play off and aim for. 6
Blackman - Meh. Didn't think he was awful and does some nice stuff but just doesn't look a threat. 5
ALF - Lots of nice movement and took his goal well. 7

Williams - Made a big difference. Such a powerful runner with the ball and brough more solidity. 7
HRK - Some nice bits, looked fitter today. 6
Akpan - Mopped up nicely towards the end. 6

Adkins - Spot on with the tactitcal shift which showed him to be not afraid of contraversial decisions. Needs to work on the basics though. 7
Fans - Too much tedious negativity around for my liking but we made a decent amount of noise. 7

Do you think Adkins has definitely cemented our team tactics around Guthrie and Karacan 5 games in?

[blueroyals]

McCarthy - Didn't have a lot to do. 6
Gunter - Average. 6
Pearce - Solid. Led us over the line towards the end. 7 (10/10 for passion after the final whistle)
Morrison - Looked sharp, won headers, solid. 7
Cummings - Average. Too many long balls. We missed Bridge. 6
Karacan - Ran around a lot. Put a few tackles in. 6
Guthrie - Without him we don't stand a chance. 9
McCleary - Played much better than Drenthe before he was subbed off. Looking good. Definitely 2nd choice winger. 7
Drenthe - Needs to get the ball more. 6
Blackman - Showed potential. 5
ALF - Lots of nice movement and took his goal well. 7

Williams - Turned the game around (again). Time he started ahead of Karacan IMO 8
HRK - Some good touches. 6
Akpan - 6

[WestRoyal]

It's not a case of being happy or unhappy but had that been Nottingham Forest or QPR we would of lost fairly convincingly.

I do think we will have easier games than today believe it or not. Can't see us struggling like that against Millwall, Barnsley or Sheffield Wednesday which says a lot for Yeovil

I hope not but If we give the chances away that we gave to Yeovil today we will

[St. Brynjar]

Just got home, my view wasn't the best but here are my thoughts.

McCarthy - 7 - Made a few good reaction saves, kicking much improved
Gunter - 8 - Thought he played excellently, including a double block and a few last ditch tackles. Frustrated at times but was generally very good.
Morrison - 6 - Skinned a bit too easily, did what was needed mostly though
Pearce - 7 - Better than Morrison, seemed to head it whenever it was feasible - his head's his best foot. Comfortable and solid.
Cummings - 6 - Invisible for the first half. Reasonably solid.
Karacan - 6.5 - Sloppy passing, great work rate and is adding more to his forward game.
Guthrie - 8 - Beautiful passing, always made himself available when players were floundering on the ball.
Drenthe - 6 - In the full back's pocket all game.
McCleary - 6 - Didn't do a lot wrong, looked lively, surprised at the substitution at the time.
Blackman - 6 - Decent enough game, tried to skin someone and failed miserably which was funny. Good movement. Jeered off by the fans.
Alf - 7 - Some good touches and a good penalty. Had no view of the 'foul' although Yeovil fans were furious.

Williams - 7 - Very lively, looks a bit raw.
HRK - N/A - don't remember him doing anything
Akpan - N/A - likewise

Nige - 7 - poor tactics for the first half against a physical Yeovil back line, but the Williams change made a difference. Harsh on McCleary.

Lovely little ground, parking was great - £2 and right outside the ground - and the town was nice.

Booing our own players?

Wasn't the majority but it was a noticeable 'Wheeeeeeeeeeey'

[Royal91]

Poor performance but a win is a win. Should have beaten Watford and Bolton but didn't

Guthrie again was MOTM.
Karacan again was completely shit.

Blackman isn't going to be good enough, but the abuse is unjustified. Not his fault we paid £1.5m for him.

Drenthe had his worst performance today, just didn't look up for it, but that goes for everyone today bar Le Fondre, Guthrie and Williams.

Adkins must realise we need to keep the same personal every week to get some consistency, but I guess we should wait until the transfer window has shut.

Morrison scares the hell out of me every time someone runs at him.

[Royal91]

Whoever brought along the blue smoke. GOOD LAD KEEP IT UP!!!

[P!ssed Off]

don't understand any Reading fan who isn't happy tonight.

The last I'll say of the matter:

Other than the penalty which the referee gifted us in the 77th minute we had ZERO shots on target. ZERO!!!!!
Worst attacking performance in recent memory.
And all of this against quite possibly the weakest team in the league.
And this was a 'response' to the biggest defeat in 15 years.
It really has been a shockingly bad week for Reading football club.

Thought Karacan, Guthrie and McCarthy were decent. WIllliams was good when he came on. Everyone else was sloppy and ineffective.
Multiple signings needed.
Agree with St. Brynjar about parking, bargain!

As for the Reading fans: there really were some inbreds out in force today.
The group of skinheads near me, halfway way up in the middle section, spent:
The first 20 mins having a petty argument with stewards about standing on the stairs.
The next 15 mins taking photos of themselves as if they were teenage girls on a night out.
10 mins before half time they buggered off for a pint.

Start of second half they once again caused a bit of nuisance with the stewards.
Then they settled down before they all left 10 mins before the end.

Bloke behind me said he sees the same fat, bald "oxf*rd skinhead" causing petty trouble every week.

[Will95]

Whoever brought along the blue smoke. GOOD LAD KEEP IT UP!!!

THISTHISTHISTHISTHISTHISTHISTHISTHIS.

[Muskrat]

Wasn't at the game but listened on BBCRB. Sounded awful, first half in particular. Some credit to NA on making a tactical change that whilst it seemed harsh on McClearly at the time, almost certainly stopped us from getting spanked by a team in the bottom 3. Smacks of not doing his homework to me.

Stats don't tend to lie and they had 13 shots against our 5 and we only won through a dubious penalty while they had an appeal turned down (small teams don't tend to get decisions against bigger ones).

All in all not convinced by any means.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

I am not sure the players today knew what they were meant to do resulting in a poor performance.

We need a striker badly who is six foot and can hold the ball up Blackman is not good enough.

Reading have Alex McCarthy to thanks today as Yeovil should have had the three points in the bag with the number of chances they created before we were awarded the penalty.






.

[AbovetheI]

Poor game really. Yeovil had plenty of shots but most were pot shots and they created little. We had the better possession and Drenthe is miles ahead of anyone in the team, so much that he appeared isolated at times.

Gunter is shit

Guthrie MOTM

Atmosphere was dead

[JC]

Whoever brought along the blue smoke. GOOD LAD KEEP IT UP!!!

Could not agree less

[SPARTA]

We were terrible, again! Drenthe's worst game, Williams again looked superb and made a big difference when he came on. We are 3-4 decent players away from nailing a play-off spot. Right now I don't fancy us for top 6 at all.

[M Brook]

I thought it was a poor game that neither team deserved to win. Although we had the majority of play there was little of any quality and no one stood out as anywhere near impressive. How anyone can suggest a MOTM is beyond me! There is clearly something not right at the club at the moment. The ridiculous situation with Kebe, and the ongoing saga with Mapps and now Jobi is quite worrying, especially if we fail to attract any new blood in the next 48 hours. Any pre-season optimism has long gone. Adkins has a big job to do. Has he got the stomach for it? Has Anton got the patience to stick with him? Nothing is certain any more.

[Cape Town Royal]

Having recently lived in Somerset this was an important game for me, was pleased with the fans turnout both in the Reading and Yeovil stands.


Game was terrible, Yeovil looked an average team who worked hard but the lack of quality probably prevented them getting a better result. Their fans / Johnson said after they were by far the better team. I thought we started brightly, lost our way and they grew some momentum. I thought the change was a good one because we were losing the midfield and Williams made a big difference when he came on both in terms of adding steel to the midfield but also with his energy. we seemed to link better.

The second half we got better and some of the link up play amongst the midfield showed some nice touches. My worry was it did not create anything.. Boy do we need a striker who can lead the line and give Le Fondre someone to play off / give the midfield creatives something to link with. I was in the home end near the Reading Fans so did not have a god view of the penalty, though after the game they were fuming and claiming they have history with Trevor Kettle, going back to their Conference days... Am i right in saying the penalty was our first shot on target?

Either way, i thought we showed better control as the game went on, but seemed to let ourselves down by simply giving the ball away which gave them a chance to break on us... Scrappy ga,e but a welcome 3 points after a an awful week..

MaCarthy - 7 - Some good but comfortable saves, good handling / kicking and a stong come and take through a crowd of players late on.
Gunter - 5 - I want to like him, but for me his passing today was terrible and it allowed them to break into the space he had left behind them
Cummings - 6 - steady, did a job.. but no bridge.
Pearce - 7 - Thought he looked the most solid of the defence and was strong at the end.
Morrison - 6 - Was got at several times but not helped by the ease we lost possession of the ball and the way Yeovil exploited the space behind the full back.

Karacan - 7 - I thought he was at it for the 90 minutes and is beginning to link with the more creative players.
Guthrie - 8 - Man of the match for me, the best passer by a mile and worked very hard when they had the ball - just gets better under Adkins
Drenthe - 7 - He's quality and you could tell they were worried about him. Put a great cross in when surrounded by 3 Yeovil players. Worked hard and his enthusiasm must run off on others, even jumped into the crowd to get the ball back.
McCleary - 6 - Has all the tools, but his decision making is so frustrating and shafted Cummings in the first half by leaving him exposed when not tracking back. We looked better when he went off.

Blackman - 4 - Slow of thought, a lot of moaning to the ref, lacks a cutting edge... He is no Doyle/Kitson et al
Le Fondre - 7 - good pace and worked really hard almost on his own up front - Was excellent late on when we were trying to close the game out against the Yeovil twin peaks.. Deserved his goal, whether or not it was a penalty.

Subs

Williams - 8 - Excellent energy and linked up really well with Guthrie, Drenthe and Karacan - gave us a cutting edge from Midfield. Close to being MOM.
HRK - Did he touch the ball?
Akpan - 6 - Some good defensive work late on to cut out the Yeovil attacks.

Adkins - 7 - Was slightly surprised at starting line up, but McCleary decision was spot on and gave us more in the game. Also sent a strong message to a team beaten 6-0 in midweek that mediocrity is not tolerated. Also thought taking Blackman off and putting Drenthe and his pace further forward was a good move as they were slow at the back which prevented them pushing up as far.. would like to have seen that play out for a while longer.

Humorous point of the day: The Yeovil Cider song before the game... A true wtf moment

[Cape Town Royal]

Whoever brought along the blue smoke. GOOD LAD KEEP IT UP!!!

Could not agree less

Ditto