Back from the game - Cov Away

[moo]

Just hope BR sticks with the same starting eleven next weekend.

Would this be a first?

no?

[Super_horns]

Good win guys and maybe the start of seeing the McAnuff we had at the back end of last season under Rodgers which was his best spell with us.

[Rex]

We finally put in a convincing display that actually reaps three points. A stunningly quick goal in what, 1 min and before some of our support had dragged themselves from the concourse. I was fully expecting a normal run of form TBH. Coventry never really had much in the first half except one possible goal bound shot which demanded a good reaction save from Fedders. It was probably a meat and potato save but still had my heart in my mouth.

The interval came and Cov, though being contained first half did come out fighting in the second half. We were pretty well in control in the midfield with Matejovsky controlling things well,and were actually looking at going forward down both wings for a change. Kebe had a few moments of inspiration and we seemed to breeze through their defense easily. The team played with conviction and control.

A minor observation was the lack of overlapping play down the right wing. due to this Kebe was found isolated with no support on a few occasions. It broke down the pace of the game.

McANuff took the second goal well and slightly against the run of play. A slight relaxed smile came over my face until they scored a consolation goal. Luckily the team still continued to go forward when a possibly easier option was to completely shut shop. Rasiak scored again after the ball hit the upright and some woeful defending from Cov. Oh and we almost had a third from an own goal.

Overall a deserved win from a laclusture Cov team and a woeful home support. Nothing to grumble about for that game.

Are you sure you were there or are you visually challenged?

Yep visually challenged as i have a cataract. Also the third goal was as a result of the ball coming off the upright, coming straight back out, scramble for the ball and hense the third goal. Need i justify more. And yep i was indeed there.

[loyalroyal4life]

so if we can bring in a decent loan striker to play off rasiak we may actually get somewhere higher than 4th bottom

[Barry the bird boggler]

Note, that as soon as our world class manager decides to keep it simple and play 4-4-2 we start looking a bit more like a football team and a bit less like a mobile shambles.

How long have we been saying that?

Now you're onto something Brendan, keep the same side (class striker coming in aside of course), don't fiddle about and let some confidence build in the squad and supporters then perhaps you maybe able to start making slight adjustments

[Man Friday]

We finally put in a convincing display that actually reaps three points. A stunningly quick goal in what, 1 min and before some of our support had dragged themselves from the concourse. I was fully expecting a normal run of form TBH. Coventry never really had much in the first half except one possible goal bound shot which demanded a good reaction save from Fedders. It was probably a meat and potato save but still had my heart in my mouth.

The interval came and Cov, though being contained first half did come out fighting in the second half. We were pretty well in control in the midfield with Matejovsky controlling things well,and were actually looking at going forward down both wings for a change. Kebe had a few moments of inspiration and we seemed to breeze through their defense easily. The team played with conviction and control.

A minor observation was the lack of overlapping play down the right wing. due to this Kebe was found isolated with no support on a few occasions. It broke down the pace of the game.

McANuff took the second goal well and slightly against the run of play. A slight relaxed smile came over my face until they scored a consolation goal. Luckily the team still continued to go forward when a possibly easier option was to completely shut shop. Rasiak scored again after the ball hit the upright and some woeful defending from Cov. Oh and we almost had a third from an own goal.

Overall a deserved win from a laclusture Cov team and a woeful home support. Nothing to grumble about for that game.

Are you sure you were there or are you visually challenged?

Yep visually challenged as i have a cataract. Also the third goal was as a result of the ball coming off the upright, coming straight back out, scramble for the ball and hense the third goal. Need i justify more. And yep i was indeed there.

Sorry, my error. By "upright" I was thinking "cross bar". I tend to call the "uprights" "posts".
[By the way, Fed was superb and the third R wasn't offide (having watched it on BBC i Player).]

[Victor Meldrew]

Just had a look on the Coventry website and they are moaning about injuries.
It looks as though the first 8 players from their best line-up were missing and Coleman wasn't bullshitting when speaking about their back 5 -all of them were second choices.
The Quiet Man said that you can only beat what is put in front of you which is quite right and when I heard that their star keeper Westwood,Eliott Ward,Marcus Hall and the lively Sammy Clingan weren't playing I felt as though we had a chance.
Well done to the lads and it sounds as though Rodgers' signings played for him yesterday when,according to the national press,he could be on borrowed time-let's hope they can now do it week-in,week-out.
Just a little bit of gloss went off when we heard the Plymouth and Ipswich scores but Coventry and Derby look as though they have joined the relegation fight which is good news.

[LoyalRoyal22]

Really enjoyed the game yesterday. We opened up there defence time and time again, was a really positive peformance, 4-4-2 worked wonders, but we still tried to keep the ball, which helps when you have Matejovskiy in the centre.

Fed- 7
Tabb- 7
Bertrand- 7
Pearce- 7
Ivar- 7
Mcanuff- 9
Sigurdsson- 7
Howard- 7
Matejovskiy- 7
Church- 6
Rasiak- 9

[brendywendy]

Top game.shit crowd.great night out.lol at hugo and thames not leaving the concourse for the whole game.

[rg6royal]

Was very satisfied with what I saw yesterday. We did a very professional job. Hopefully this result will kick-start our season.

Fed - 7
Tabb - 7 - Looks very comfortable
Ingi - 7
Pearce - 7
Bertand - 7
McAnuff - 9 - MOTM
Marek - 7
Howard - 7
Sig - 8
Church - 6
Raziak - 8

[Ian Royal]

Really enjoyed the game yesterday. We opened up there defence time and time again, was a really positive peformance, 4-4-2 worked wonders, but we still tried to keep the ball, which helps when you have Matejovskiy in the centre.

Fed- 7
Tabb- 7
Bertrand- 7
Pearce- 7
Ivar- 7
Mcanuff- 9
Sigurdsson- 7
Howard- 7
Matejovskiy- 7
Church- 6
Rasiak- 9

fyi:- Matejovsky

[Kitsondinho]

Great day yesterday....I thought we played really well....fought back well to go 3-1 up, although all 3 goals were helped by some woeful defending by the Sky Blues. The Royals only really looked shakey from set pieces (as usual) and their goal was just a good strike.....Feds had little chance. Did laugh at "Rodgers give us a wave".......two guys near me moaned about how fickle the RFC fans were.....but eventually joined in that chant anyway!

[handbags_harris]

An entertaining game of football which we generally controlled. I looked at the clock immediately after the 1st went in and it showed 31 seconds. A decent build up, worked to the right to McAnuff who whipped in a good cross. Rasiak couldn't miss. We controlled the majority of the play throughout the first half, Coventry didn't look like creating anything from open play. Their only hope was a set piece, which we struggled to defend time and again. At the other end the direct running of McAnuff and the sheer ability from Matejovsky seemed to have Coventry on the back foot. Sigurdsson looked decent on the left, although practice is required with his left foot. His instinct is always to go inside, naturally, but a left sided player needs more than that. We forced their keeper into a couple of routine saves, but the fact is that we had shots on target. Special mention for Simon Church who, once again, looked woefully out of his depth.

Second half we got a reaction from Coventry, they put us under a bit of pressure which we seemed to soak up well. The second goal came as a bit of a surprise to be honest, decent cross, shoddy defending but a cracking finish from McAnuff. Cue a double substitution by Coleman and suddenly we seemed to resort to type and went to sh*t for 10 minutes. A man with acres of space in the box hit the bar, good save from Fed, then a simple long ball which Pearce failed to deal with was flicked on to a man who had only Federici to beat which he didn't. Another good save. Then 2 minutes after that Eastwood found himself 25 yards out without a Reading player within 10 yards of him, and we were rightfully punished by an excellent long ranger. Alarm bells were well and trully jangling by now, and I fully expected us to squander another two-goal lead, but credit to Rodgers and the team where credit is due, he made exactly the right substitution bringing off Howard for Karacan and it worked. We regained control of the match and regained the two-goal lead after a superb volley from McAnuff (which was just going wide) was flicked onto the post by Long, and the ball fell nicely to Rasiak who didn't have to do much to score from 5 yards. We saw the game out delightfully from then on playing nice simple passing football.

In short, a deserved win, but there are still signs of defensive vulnerability and naivety. Room for improvement, but a good performance.

MOM - Matejovsky. Ran the midfield. Has to play every week.
Drivel - Long. Absolute stinking fishflaps.

[Cookie]

Finaly a win. Not a fantastic match but we reached average championship level and stayed there and Coventry were the first side I've seen this season, apart from us, who look like relegation contenders - in fact they were sh*te with some very poor defending.

This post sums it up, we shouldn't get too excited because Coventry City were abysmal and could easily finish below us at the end of the season.

[rg6royal]

Finaly a win. Not a fantastic match but we reached average championship level and stayed there and Coventry were the first side I've seen this season, apart from us, who look like relegation contenders - in fact they were sh*te with some very poor defending.

This post sums it up, we shouldn't get too excited because Coventry City were abysmal and could easily finish below us at the end of the season.

Strange though because they started the season ever so well. They didn't have Sammy Clingan playing as he's injured, big loss for them.

[Ian Royal]

Be warned, Coventry and Derby are abysmal at them moment due to injuries. Ipswich and ourselves do not have that excuse, although we're heading towards it at an alarming rate.

Derby and Coventry get their key players back, and they'll start picking up points. Which is why we have to capitalise on their poor form NOW and get up the table.

[rhroyal]

Be warned, Coventry and Derby are abysmal at them moment due to injuries. Ipswich and ourselves do not have that excuse, although we're heading towards it at an alarming rate.

Derby and Coventry get their key players back, and they'll start picking up points. Which is why we have to capitalise on their poor form NOW and get up the table.

We've never had a fully fit Noel Hunt. Armstrong is out. We've played without Ivar a lot. McAnuff was out when we signed him. We're without Mills right now.

We've hardly been blessed with a fully fit squad ourselves. It's part and parcel of the game and not an excuse for Coventry and Derby.

As for the fact that they'll start picking up points soon - we've been chopping and changing the team all season. We've been using ineffective football for weeks and been changing the formation and style of play too. If we've finally found our strongest side and are going to be more consistent, that counts for a lot more than a couple of players.

[strap]

In short, a deserved win, but there are still signs of defensive vulnerability and naivety. Room for improvement, but a good performance.

If we play like this every week Dave, is it enough to keep us up come the end of the season?

[Terminal Boardom]

Great day yesterday....I thought we played really well....fought back well to go 3-1 up, although all 3 goals were helped by some woeful defending by the Sky Blues. The Royals only really looked shakey from set pieces (as usual) and their goal was just a good strike.....Feds had little chance. Did laugh at "Rodgers give us a wave".......two guys near me moaned about how fickle the RFC fans were.....but eventually joined in that chant anyway!

TBf Kits, ALL football fans are fickle.

[Sarah Star]

Be warned, Coventry and Derby are abysmal at them moment due to injuries. Ipswich and ourselves do not have that excuse, although we're heading towards it at an alarming rate.

Derby and Coventry get their key players back, and they'll start picking up points. Which is why we have to capitalise on their poor form NOW and get up the table.

I'm not sure we have "key" players like that. At least, I don't think we have one or two players who you'd say we'd miss that much if they were injured.