Reading V Chelsea match thread

[Kes]

Game of two halves.

reading were good in the first, chelsea good in the second.

Readings goal was offside but still a terrible flap by Cech. Chelsea showed their class after the break with two great goals. Lampard carving straight through the middle of the defence. And what a superb second goal by Drogba.

I felt Reading struggled with the strength,pace and touch of Drogba and Kalou at times.

Cisse sending off was a bit harsh - but there were quite a few early bookings and it was expected really.

You sure about that? No Chelsea players claimed for it and it looked to me that Bikey just wandered into the box unmarked. Poor Chelsea defending, wouldn't have happened if Terry was on the pitch though.

Doyle was offside as confirmed on Match of the day.

by about an inch in a crowded penalty box.

So he was offside.

[Alan Partridge]

Absolutely furious with the second half performance, no pride/belief or passion. Reading we're a man short of a game- Steve Sidwell

What a load of rubbish. Chelsea made brilliant changes (one of which being to take the useless Sidwell off and replace him with Mikel) at half time and caught us cold. They then kept the ball very well and played some decent football before Dean decided to ruin the contest by handing out a joke of a red card.

...Actually, it's a shame Sidwell wasn't on the pitch for the game - if he'dve stayed on we'dve won because he absolutely ruined their midfield as Lampard couldn't bomb and score (like he did the minute Sidwell came off) with Sidwell abandoning defensive duties, forcing Lampard to sit back.

Sidwell > Cisse

in fact Robert Codner > cisse on that performance, utter utter GASH.

Long DUMP

no attacking options, and no way of changing the game. DUMP

Don't need the likes of Healy with LOLong about. 2 in 2 for Healy, how many Prem goals has Long got?

Andy RFC and Alan Partridge - words nearly fail me.

What complete and utter tools.

You are an embarrassment to RFC supporters everywhere.

As you are officially bored of Lita and slate Seol at every opportunity

POT. KETTLE. BLACK

[Royal Lady]

Fair comment actually!

[Royal Rother]

It's complete bollox actually, but say it enough times and some fools will believe it.

[brendywendy]

Game of two halves.

reading were good in the first, chelsea good in the second.

Readings goal was offside but still a terrible flap by Cech. Chelsea showed their class after the break with two great goals. Lampard carving straight through the middle of the defence. And what a superb second goal by Drogba.

I felt Reading struggled with the strength,pace and touch of Drogba and Kalou at times.

Cisse sending off was a bit harsh - but there were quite a few early bookings and it was expected really.

You sure about that? No Chelsea players claimed for it and it looked to me that Bikey just wandered into the box unmarked. Poor Chelsea defending, wouldn't have happened if Terry was on the pitch though.

Doyle was offside as confirmed on Match of the day.

by about an inch in a crowded penalty box.

So he was offside.

yes well done young man
youll go far with a keen mind like that.
but luckily we dont have slo-mo robot replay refs who spot everything down to the smallest micrometer

[mini _dariusz]

Game of two halves.

reading were good in the first, chelsea good in the second.

Readings goal was offside but still a terrible flap by Cech. Chelsea showed their class after the break with two great goals. Lampard carving straight through the middle of the defence. And what a superb second goal by Drogba.

I felt Reading struggled with the strength,pace and touch of Drogba and Kalou at times.

Cisse sending off was a bit harsh - but there were quite a few early bookings and it was expected really.

But the ball didn't get to Doyle and it was more the story of Chelsea's players being in Cech's way.

Doyle was offside just as Pizarro was in the second half when the ball was laid across only for it to be cut out.

[Tilehurst End]

Re: Cisse

Many comments on here reminisent of those directed at Sonko after his debut.

Whatever happened to that failure?

[brendywendy]

thought cisse did ok 1st half

some good tackles, kept sidders quiet and robbed him of th evball a couple of times
looked composed, with a nice touch

just let his concentration drop a couple of times second half, and was probably surprised by thge relentless pace of th egame
was hamstrung by th e1st booking for a daft challenge
second was barely a foul let alone another yellow.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

Coppell will not have been impressed with Cisse. Seem to remember Bikey spending quite a time out of the 1st team squad after his sending off last season, Cisse needs to learn his lessons too, was just a stupid challenge to make. I really hope Fae's a bit better on the ball too, don't understand why Bryn was dropped.

Long needs regular 1st team football and he needs it now, week in, week out or he'll never improve to the level he needs to get at. I really don't understand Coppell not wanting another more experienced striker so Long can go out on loan and to cover for an injury prone Kitson.

[zac naloen]

don't understand why Bryn was dropped.

Because he's in his 30's and played 95 minutes only 3 days before perhaps?

[The whole year inn]

Long needs regular 1st team football and he needs it now, week in, week out or he'll never improve to the level he needs to get at. I really don't understand Coppell not wanting another more experienced striker so Long can go out on loan and to cover for an injury prone Kitson.

I wholeheartedly agree. I find it absolutely baffling that we are effectively using Long as a 2nd choice striker as our main three are rarely all available at the same time.

[ayjaydee]

don't understand why Bryn was dropped.

Because he's in his 30's and played 95 minutes only 3 days before perhaps?

Exactly, comment in the paper after Saturdays game that no-one was going to play the full 90 in all 3 opening games. Guess that may change now with a thin squad.

[brendywendy]

Long needs regular 1st team football and he needs it now, week in, week out or he'll never improve to the level he needs to get at. I really don't understand Coppell not wanting another more experienced striker so Long can go out on loan and to cover for an injury prone Kitson.

I wholeheartedly agree. I find it absolutely baffling that we are effectively using Long as a 2nd choice striker as our main three are rarely all available at the same time.

but i thought it was pretty obvious that long has improved alot since last season as it is, by staying here at reading
played really well last night in the 1st half IMHO

[zac naloen]

Long needs regular 1st team football and he needs it now, week in, week out or he'll never improve to the level he needs to get at. I really don't understand Coppell not wanting another more experienced striker so Long can go out on loan and to cover for an injury prone Kitson.

I wholeheartedly agree. I find it absolutely baffling that we are effectively using Long as a 2nd choice striker as our main three are rarely all available at the same time.

but i thought it was pretty obvious that long has improved alot since last season as it is, by staying here at reading
played really well last night in the 1st half IMHO

I had thought Long played very well, unfortunately Doyle and Long are the essentially the same player, I assume Simon Cox is injured he could have been the player needed to mix things up a bit more in there based on his peace cup work.

[Royal Lady]

He's not injured. He was hoping to be at least on the bench for the Chelsea game.

[Gatecrasher]

Why do people expect us to have infinite levels of cover in all positions? At least Long is a forward (although not a very effective one at this level)
Man Utd had to put John O'Shea upfront on Sunday, not to mention Chelsea ending up with SWP at right back and Glen Johnson at centre-back, infact playing him at all.

[Royal Rother]

Well said.

[Adrian's Fool]

For a bit of perspective - quote from Chelsea fan site http://www.chelsea.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=78698

We slaughtered Hunt all game but to be fair he played well I thought, and it didn`t affect him. Reading went at us first half and the lad they played up front with Doyle - dunno his name - looked lively

[andrew1957]

For those criticising the team don't forget that virtually the same players lost 2-1 to Plymouth in our first league game just 2 years ago. It is testament to how far we have come that we are now playing one of the best teams in the World and bemoaning a lack of finishing in the first half for depriving us of at least a point. I am extremely proud of all the players and looking forward to another potential to 10 finish.

As for the players I thought Cisse did ok in the first half and was extremely unlucky to get sent off. It was certainly a better debut than many other in our cuurent squad. Frankly if you had told me a couple of years ago that Hunt would be man of the match against Chelsea I would have laughed - look how well he has come on. Sonko was dreadful to start with as was BIkey - both are now well established and the same is true of others. Give the guy a chance - I saw a lot of potential last night.

As for Shane Long I really cannot understand those who knock him - I actually thought he outshone Doyle for much of the time he was on - thought they looked a good combination.

We were out skilled and out muscled in the second half but frankly if a multi million pound team cannot do this it would be very strange indeed.

Finally I actually felt that on balance Chelsea deserved it. Felt far more aggrieved last year when Chelsea were awful cheats and the game had a very unpleasant atmosphere - came away thinking Reading had been cheated out of at least a point. This year it was a good well contested match and frankly if I am honest the best team won. Even if we had scored 2 goals in the first half I think Chelsae would have pressed on and scored 3 in the second - they did control the game in the second half to be fair. I don't think Reading were particularly poor in the second half - Chelsea were just better.

Now we have a run of winnable games and that will define our season - not the last 2 matches.

[BR2]

Cracking game.
We were terrific in the first-half and went to sleep at the start of the 2nd.
Jonny Oster is the most Jekyll and Hyde player of all time.
BTW where is Fae?