My Half Full Glass Appears to be Half Empty

[From Despair To Where?]

Was Mooney unavailable? People speak of our need for an out-an-out striker and he is one. OK, he's not the finished article by a long shot but at lease we'd have a chance of having a shot on target from one of our many squandered corners.

I can't remember one of our corners or set pieces actually going to one of our players.

[Arch]

What!!! Our shot on target in the first half was a header by Pearce from a corner. Surely you remember that thrilling moment?

[Royalee]

seriously worried by the bemused look on brendans face in the second half
body language was shocking

LOL

[winchester_royal]

Was Mooney unavailable? People speak of our need for an out-an-out striker and he is one. OK, he's not the finished article by a long shot but at lease we'd have a chance of having a shot on target from one of our many squandered corners.

Mooney is the last person I'd want to see up front. Weak and slow.

Bignall on the other hand....

[Gordons Cumming]

Things will be different after we beat Swansea..........................

[Deathy]

Was Mooney unavailable? People speak of our need for an out-an-out striker and he is one. OK, he's not the finished article by a long shot but at lease we'd have a chance of having a shot on target from one of our many squandered corners.

'greed, in fact half the team aren't the finished articles, so Mooney more than deserves a chance, as does Bignal.

[Old Biscuitman]

Things will be different after we beat Swansea..........................

Given that they are the only team propping us up in the league at present I certainly hope so.

[reading fc rock leroylero]

I'm seriously worried - so many 'weak links' today - Begs the question why were we so adamant that Coppell should have left? He did after all get us into the play offs.

Kebe - easy to knock the guy, but was seriously off the pace today....
Tabb - Invisible save for one excellent piece of tracking back
Long - Woeful - please just accept that on his own up front does not work
Rosy - Usual inconsistent self...
Church - did nothing all game..


Positives? Fedders looked good today, we were the victim of some awful refereeing again (Smith should have gone without question and that could have changed the game....) Bertrand looked quite useful as did HRK and Hunt when they came on - but if BR does not get to grips with this team we could end up being the next Norwich or Charlton.

Excellent - you've reminded me of the positives :

Yes - Smith should have gone and that would have changed the game
Nolan was a mile offside when he chased the ball down for their second
Shane was a little unlucky with the pen

Oh come on. That is really scraping the barrel. Awful refs etc is bollocks
A Newcastle team tonked 1-6 by Orient two weeks ago.
Players that have struggled to put a pass together
Club in turmoil, widely described as a disgrace by both the local and national press.
Fans ready to rip into them and the Chairman.
We turn up, make them look like world beaters, and manage to play the whole 90 minutes without once troubling their goalkeeper.
Comedy defending, new Captain to busy gobbing off to realise the ball is still in play, Rosenior putting huge efforts into pointing and shouting but little else, over run midfield and a strike force (?) that seemingly cannot control a ball and create a scoring opportunity.
Lots of euphoria after the win against Burton on Tuesday, I would suggest that the gap between Reading and a poor Newcastle team is the same as the gap between Reading and Burton – huge.

You do realise it is also the same team that draw with promotion favourites and arguably the strongest team in the division, away from home last week?

[cmonurz]

Was Mooney unavailable? People speak of our need for an out-an-out striker and he is one. OK, he's not the finished article by a long shot but at lease we'd have a chance of having a shot on target from one of our many squandered corners.

I can't remember one of our corners or set pieces actually going to one of our players.

Sell Steve Hunt, and this is one of the results.

I posted this last week - complete indifference to some quality players leaving the club from many, but we'll miss Hunt's set-pieces, Harper's passing, Hahnemann's command of his area, Bikey's strength and presence, Doyle's finishing.

[leon]

Was Mooney unavailable? People speak of our need for an out-an-out striker and he is one. OK, he's not the finished article by a long shot but at lease we'd have a chance of having a shot on target from one of our many squandered corners.

I can't remember one of our corners or set pieces actually going to one of our players.

Sell Steve Hunt, and this is one of the results.

I posted this last week - complete indifference to some quality players leaving the club from many, but we'll miss Hunt's set-pieces, Harper's passing, Hahnemann's command of his area, Bikey's strength and presence, Doyle's finishing.

Yes on all counts. I think everyone's got a bit carried away with what we are going to do this season. I hope I'm wrong.

[Focher]

i too came out of the game on Sat a very worried man.

Obviously 1 shot in 180 mins of football is well short of satisfactory but one thing that really alarmed me was the utterly disgraceful delivery from set pieces. It really brought home how good Hunt was at it. I honestly could have taken half the corners and free kicks the Davies took, as they were no more than a light punt into the penalty area. No pace, no bend no nothing.

I fully support Rodgers in his quest to bring entertaining and attractive football to Reading, im just very worried that he has a similar fondness of certain players like Coppell that will ultimately cost us either a chance of promotion or give us a better chance of relegation. Like a poster said in another thread recently, as we sit here today we smack of Southampton last season.

[brendywendy]

seriously worried by the bemused look on brendans face in the second half
body language was shocking

LOL

thanks for your input

[West Stand Man]

I'm seriously worried - so many 'weak links' today - Begs the question why were we so adamant that Coppell should have left? He did after all get us into the play offs.

Kebe - easy to knock the guy, but was seriously off the pace today....
Tabb - Invisible save for one excellent piece of tracking back
Long - Woeful - please just accept that on his own up front does not work
Rosy - Usual inconsistent self...
Church - did nothing all game..


Positives? Fedders looked good today, we were the victim of some awful refereeing again (Smith should have gone without question and that could have changed the game....) Bertrand looked quite useful as did HRK and Hunt when they came on - but if BR does not get to grips with this team we could end up being the next Norwich or Charlton.

For fear of setting off yet another Long or no Long debate I have to disagree. Long wasn't woeful at all. He worked very hard with little or no support from midfield. He is not suited to the lone striker role and I think that is now confirmed by Saturday's showing from the team. He is still a goalscorer, given the service that he deserves.

So far as Kebe is concerned, he didn't have a good game and there is little or no room for argument there. I still see positives from the all round showing though (even though we were well outplayed!). The youngsters will have learned a lot from that experience and I have confidence that they have the nous to build on it. We still need a Smith type in midfield to unlock defences and set up chances, none on the current squad looks up to that task yet (Davies might be the man for the future and he should be developed alongside some experience).

[TFF]

For fear of setting off yet another Long or no Long debate I have to disagree. Long wasn't woeful at all. He worked very hard with little or no support from midfield. He is not suited to the lone striker role and I think that is now confirmed by Saturday's showing from the team. He is still a goalscorer, given the service that he deserves.

I thought he did OK. Like you say, not really his system and no help from either Church or Kebe. He was very unlucky when he rolled Colicini (sp?) and had a foul called against him.

[yuomi]

if,at 17, you can put in the performance of our youngsters at st. james' park on saturday then you could be forgiven for coming away with that result and the performance that went with it. the fact of the matter is, theyre now (for the most part) 20+. not to incite debate on the definition of youth but at what point do we stop apologising for these guys by citing the fact that theyre (not really that) young? what saturday said to me was that we are a club whose squad is currently woefully short of strength and depth and in need of major investment.

long, church, bignall, moody - none of these can realistically be expected to be in double figures come the end of the season (i left hunt out through sheer optimism and not wanting to make myself cry).

i desperately want my glass to be half full, i know we are two games in, but i have seen nothing in those two games to suggest to me that we are in any way equipped to deal with the challenges that await us this season.

[roberto_11]

Watching the Newcastle match again you get a totally different viewpoint than you had at the time.
I noticed when Kebe came off I was thinking "wow, was that guy on the pitch to begin with?"..
Why did nobody follow Nolan?
Then we made a total mess of a free kick, kicking the ball straight at the referee.

Honestly, how anyone can find positives from that 90+ minutes of shit is just incredible.

I remember thinking "Kebe looks like a right camel rider"

[Northern Git]

You do realise it is also the same team that draw with promotion favourites and arguably the strongest team in the division, away from home last week?

Yes I do mate, and if you had bothered to read the reports on the match you would have seen West Brom gave Newcastle the run around for most of the match with the Newcastle goalkeeper being the man of the match. The Newcastle goal was under siege for most of the game with only poor finishing by WBA and a great Dunn equaliser keeping them in it.

Don't remember us managing to force the Newcastle keeper into even one meaningful save in 90 mins on Saturday.

Don't worry though, few nice easy games against 'lesser' teams coming up.