Back from the Game - Coventry City

[Royal Tezza]

^ Im pretty sure the tackle wasn't on Morrison, which is what made his reaction even more uncalled for. he got involved in the handbags in the west stand corner between Gunnarrson and Bertrand unnceccesarily, and im pretty sure i saw him sprinting over to Mills after he had made that tackle

[Rex]

All a bit confusing then. It all happened so fast with everyone rushing in.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Think Morrison may have unintentionally done Mills a favour today.


I was convinced that Mills would've been red carded for that tackle, Morrisons actions may have just distracted Woolmer enough to give him time to reconsider.........and to pacify both sides with awarding mere yellows

[Terminal Boardom]

Some of the best football seen for some time at the Mad Stad in the first half. Coventry made Sheff Wed look good

Shame Karacan did not score when he should have done, easiest pen decision I will ever see and how close was Griffin to scoring with an absolute screamer? 2 inches wide if that and I was sat behind it all the way! At least Kebeb showed Griff how it is supposed to be done.

As for the second half, Cov looked a million times better and stopped us from getting the ball wide. Couple of tidy stops from Fed. All in all, a good day at the office with the bonus of 2 youngsters getting a run late in the game.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

fed 7 - nowt to do but pulled off a great save at the start of the second half

griff 7 - the man is awesome, just so composed, and great positioning means hes always in the right place
mills 8 - captain next season please.despite the rash team fouls.
kish 7 - composed and dealt well with everything in the air and on the deck
berti 7 - good going forward and back, won pen.

kebe 8 - another stellar performance of pace and twickewy .loved the switching between him and mcanuff
macanuff 7 - more good stuff from him, works hard, and creates plenty
karacan 7 ran his socks off, had a hand in the first goal
tabb 7 another potential captain, a great volley almost into the top corner with the keeper off his line from the corner of the box

rasiak 7 - scored (just), and could have had 6 if he could shoot properly, won a fair few flick ons
church 7 - scored the pen, and played well, great pace and work rate


if only we could keep our loanees, we would only need a striker next year and well be unstoppable

Think we'll go for Griff andd Berty. Griff being from up north and with a young family would be a problem.


Kish would be good, but is on big wages. Under the impression they want a replacement for Ivar, rather than another big strong centre half like Mills.

We're walking this league next season. Remember Coventry have done well this season and we made them look a pub side. It's just that easy...

[Ian Royal]

LOL @ walking it.

Rasiak, Church and Long are all just about capable of 15 goals in a season if they play most games. But we're reliant on Kebe and McAnuff showing top form, Sigurdsson not being a one season wonder and staying, and being able to bring in 75% of a defence.

[Mr Angry]

The Coventry 17 should have gone for his over the ball challenge on Plastic, especially as he had been told 2 minutes earlier to cool it!!

The only thing I would add to what has been written before is Chris Colemans body language during the latte part of the first half, and during the 2nd; basically just stood in the technical area with his hands in his pockets - no cajoling, no encouragement, no instructions, nothing at all. He struck me as a guy who was as disgusted at his tyeams performance as he was perplexed. Also very noticeable that when their #6 came off towards the end, Coleman didn't shake his hand or offer any words of encouragement, and it seemed that a harsh word or 2 were spoken.

As for the game, easier than against Sheffield Wednesday.

[Royal Lady]

I also have no idea why the remaining Coventry fans would applaud their team at the end.

[AthleticoSpizz]

I also have no idea why the remaining Coventry fans would applaud their team at the end.

for going in 0-3 at half time and for going in 0-3 at full time

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

Ian,

So you're not confident? If the right man had got the job in the summer, I think we would have done a lot better this season, this team should have made play offs.

We've got a young improving team, who I believe will get better next season. Their characters are too strong to be one season wonders. We have a manager who I trust in the transfer market and a Chairman who will once again make enough funds avaliable (with all the cloth cutting JM still left us with a squad good enoough for promotion this summer). I actually think Church/Long/Hunt is a pretty strong front 3 and while I think we will sell Rasiak, he again proved today that he can score goals.

2 of the 3 clubs coming down will be in dire straights (although we all said the same for Newcastle) and we've seen just how poor the Championship is this season. PLus while I don't believe the profits of doom, there's not gonna be many clubs spending money this summer.

While walking is of course a laughable comment and was meant in jest. I am very, very confident going into next season.

[Ian Royal]

Given the right ins and outs I think we'll at least challenge to get into the play offs. But like virtually every season in this division it will be a long hard slog. We could as easily finish 14th as 2nd IMO.

[Terminal Boardom]

Reading fans make me laugh! This season was a complete right off and we were doomed with a clown of a manager. Sure BMcD has turned things around but we rely too much on loan players. I winced when Zurab went down in the second half. The prospect of a central defensive partnership of Pearce and Cisse had me reaching for the valium! We will need to strengthen in the summer. Much depends on who leaves and who stays. And don't expect any favours from SJM. The budget will be set and that will be that!

Being optimistic is one thing and there is no harm in that. However, being completely dillusional and devoid of rational thought another.

[Fox Talbot]

Groundhog thread?

[Dirk Gently]

The budget will be set and that will be that!

So you'd rather have no budget seat and the manager able to spend whatever he likes? Isn't that what happened at Portsmouth?

A few quick thoughts about today :

Someone in the video box has said that Karacan's shot was going wide, so it's a damn good thing that Rasiak got in the way - deliberately or otherwise.

Morrison ows McAnuff big-time - they're still m8s from their days at Palace, and if Jobi hadn't taken him to one side and calmed him down things might ahve been even worse.

Matt Mills is rapdily turning into a Royals-hero!

[RG30]

The only thing I would add to what has been written before is Chris Colemans body language during the latte part of the first half, and during the 2nd; basically just stood in the technical area with his hands in his pockets - no cajoling, no encouragement, no instructions, nothing at all. He struck me as a guy who was as disgusted at his tyeams performance as he was perplexed.

I was sat by the away dug-out aswell and did spend much of the 2nd half observing Coleman and agreed with the point you raised, he looked completely dejected and could barely muster an instruction during the 2nd half until Morrison done what he done by which point he pointed to his head and told Morrison to calm down. It was very unusual of a manager in that way.

[Sun Tzu]

Thought Mills was going to walk, and if he had he should have kept going down the M4....

I think a red would actually have been harsh, it was a deliberate foul to stop their attack so definitely a yellow but many refs would have been more harsh. Not sure why Zuba had charged up field, left us badly exposed as he laid on the ground feeling his hamstring. Nightmare scenario arose of us having ONE centre back for the remainder of the season as a red for mills could have meant a 10 match ban

Amazing sight to see the 4th official marching on to the pitch to stop the handbags. The referee had zero control and why he was letting things carry on as long as he did I have no idea. Morrison deserves an FA charge for his behaviour, an utter lack of self control all for an incident in which no one was hurt and he wasn't even the victim !

[AthleticoSpizz]

Thought Mills was going to walk, and if he had he should have kept going down the M4....

I think a red would actually have been harsh, it was a deliberate foul to stop their attack so definitely a yellow but many refs would have been more harsh. Not sure why Zuba had charged up field, left us badly exposed as he laid on the ground feeling his hamstring. Nightmare scenario arose of us having ONE centre back for the remainder of the season as a red for mills could have meant a 10 match ban

Amazing sight to see the 4th official marching on to the pitch to stop the handbags. The referee had zero control and why he was letting things carry on as long as he did I have no idea. Morrison deserves an FA charge for his behaviour, an utter lack of self control all for an incident in which no one was hurt and he wasn't even the victim !

as already said elsewhere, I reckon Morrisons little paddy did Mills a favour

[Rex]

READING FC 3-0 COVENTRY CITY BY KEV MONKS

Team
Westwood, Wright, Hussey (Cranie 46), McPake (Wood 89), Barnett, Clingan, Gunnarsson, Deegan, Bell (Baker 71), Sears, Morrison. SNU Konstantopolous, Hall, Jeffers, Clarke

Reading
Federici, Mills, Tabb, Griffin, McAnuff, Kebe (Robson-Kanu 83), Karcan (B.Gunnarsson 67), Bertrand, Khizanishvil, Rasiak (Bignall 77). SNU Hamer, Long, Siguardson, Pearce

HT RFC 3-0 CCFC FT RFC 3-0 CCFC
ATT 17, 435
Referee A. Woolmer
Booked Gunnarsson, Mills, Morrison, Barnett, Deegan, Robson-Kanu
Goals Grzegorz Rasiak (14), Simon Church pen (21), Jimmy Kebe (39)
Man Of The Match. The City supporters for watching this garbage.
___________________

There were calls for the dismissal of Chris Coleman and/or Steve Harrison amongst some of the very disgruntled Sky Blues support as Coventry City conceded three first half goals to lose 3-0 at Reading.

Chris Coleman made four changes to the side, which had been beaten on Saturday for a game played on a pitch resembling a beach.

The heavily sanded surface must have given the City players the idea they were on their holidays, rather than involved in a football match against a side whose recent run of form under Brian McDermott has given the Royals an outside chance of a play-off place.

Reading, had like most clubs, sussed that Stephen Wright is susceptible and attacked down his side from the start.

As the City support which numbered about a thousand and included three from Norway plus a good number of supporters from London and the Home Counties, Sussex, Southampton, South Wales, Cambridgeshire, and the rest from the Midlands, taunted those from a town full of Chelsea fans, Gary Deegan, had to clear a corner off the line, conceded in the sixth minute when Jobi McAnuff had got past Wright.

Freddie Sears never got the ball when the Sky Blues did go forward and although Morrison fired well wide and Gunnarsson blasted over, the Sky Blues went a goal down in the 14th minute.

Jobi McAnuff ripped Wright to shreds, following a surging run before he crossed and Grzegorz Rasiak reacted to a blocked shot to send the ball into the corner of the net from six yards.

Jay Tabb, who was reasonably well applauded by the City support volleyed over and McAnuff beat Wright again for another corner before the hapless right back conceded a penalty when he fouled Ryan Bertrand in the 21st minute.

Simon Church was given the task of taking the spot kick and although, Westwood guessed right, the ball just beat him into the net.

Church had the ball in the net again two minutes later. It was ruled out but it did not stop the City fans from demanding that Chris Coleman sorted things out with immediate effects.

By now, Reading were queueing up to shoot, meaning that James McPake who was the only City defender who seemed to know what he was doing, had to do plenty of clearing his lines.

In the 39th minute, it was 3-0, when a long ball over from Church, was stroked home by the unmarked Jimmy Kebe at the edge of the area.

Some City fans headed for the bar and one was ejected at the interval, that saw Chris Hussey replaced by Martin Cranie.

Womble may have been blamed for the third goal but there were questions being asked by the City support as to why Wright had not been replaced as well.

Within twenty seconds of the restart, David Bell had won a corner, sparking cheers from the City fans. Then in the 49th minute, there was a massive cheer as Aron Gunnarsson fired a shot directly at Federici.

There were more cheers and songs from the City following as the Reading keeper dived to his right to push away a volley from Sears.

On the hour mark, Matty Mills, who was only playing due to Reading appealing against his dismissal against Ipswich, hacked down Sears. There followed a melee, which saw the fourth official on the pitch in the penalty area in front of the City fans. The former City loanee got away with a caution as did Clinton Morrison for some pushing and shoving, incited by known sledger Andy Griffin.

Carl Baker was sent on in place of David Bell and spent most of the time covering Gary Deegan who today was more of a poodle than a pitbull.

"We're sh#t and we're sick of it" sang some of the City supporters as Leon Barnett wasted a good chance. Like Barnett, Sears wasted another good chance with four minutes before McPake was replaced by Richard Wood.

The end of a miserable afternoon came and the look on Keiren Westwood, who threw his red keepers jersey into the away end, matched those of a very unhappy Sky Blue Army who had wasted another day following the Sky Blues.

Taken from Coventry MAD.

[AthleticoSpizz]

incited by Griffin?

[Man Friday]

Why was Rasiak's header disallowed? Couldn't be offside as it came off a Cov player.