Back From The Game - Chelsea *Moderated* (H)

[Woodcote Royal]

Shaun Cummings returns to the line-up, Reading win in the league for the first time in over a month

Ian Harte gets replaced and (as Brian said on Radio Berks)we play at a quicker tempo-well what a surprise!!
It's taken the manager nearly 6 months to realise this.
As an ex-winger you would have thought he would know a thing or two about full-backs but with Williams and Harte as two mistakes he clearly doesn't and has a blind spot.
Still,in his time in charge and the limited resources available to him he has got most things right.

This is my position,too.

Didn't go last night (so thanks for all the reports) but whilst I rate McD very highly, I think his selection of full backs has, and will, cost us very dearly in this campaign.

He clearly has problems at left back but it's taken him far too long to give last night's combination an outing. No one gets everything right and it's very unfortunate that he appears to have signed two duds for this vital position.

However, I haven't seen Cummings have a bad game this season (or many suggesting he was poor in those I've missed) and for a man closely linked to our youth set up, I'm surprised he has so stubbornly resisted an opportunity to add some much needed youth to his back line.................................is this a mild case of Coppellitis

As a former left back, I know how Ian Harte feels but when your defensive positioning starts to resemble the French retreat in Normandy and the opposing winger becomes a one man blitzkrieg, believe me, it's time to buy a season ticket in the Upper West!!

Whatever else you do between now and the end of the season, Brian, please give this combination a fraction of the time you've given the once very decent Ian Harte.

[brendywendy]

harte hasnt been nearly as exposed as you seem to think, and offers alot going forward.
its happened a little more recently, and as a result Mcd has changed it

[Row Z Royal]

thought tabb played well, won plenty on the deck and in the air(?!)
broke up play well, and also offered something going forward. much better corners than howard

Brendy: Hobnob's post-match sage.

& onion

Ain't gonna argue with the resident herb expert.

[Woodcote Royal]

harte hasnt been nearly as exposed as you seem to think, and offers alot going forward.
its happened a little more recently, and as a result Mcd has changed it

Couldn't disagree more...................he has been hopelessly exposed all season and whatever he offers going forward (very little of late) makes him an even greater liability as a defender because, as the slowest player on the pitch, he's one of the last to get back.

Age comes to us all and Cummings is clearly ready for the first team.................................the time to move on has long since passed.,

[Svlad Cjelli]

Brendy: Hobnob's post-match sage.

& onion

Ain't gonna argue with the resident herb expert.

Stuffing!

[Row Z Royal]

Oh, ftr, their left back last night was DUMP.

[RoyalBlue]

One more thing on Cummings.

If he now gets the prolonged run in the team that he has now more than proven he deserves, I reckon he'll turn out to be a very good bet for Supporters Player of The Season 2011/12.

That's assuming we don't cash in on him during the January 2012 window!!

[Handsome Man]

Harte just stopped venturing forward enough becuase he knew he was too slow to get back, so the ball would get stuck, leaving Mills no option but to hoof it. With Cummings playing everything seemed a bit sharper, and the ball was getting forward quickly enough with proper passing. I hope he gets a run now, and people forgive him his first errors - all the defence have made some this year.

Overall: it was crap at times and really quite good at other times. We won, and I loved the second goal - such a cool finish. So no complaints at all. Before the game we were hoping that they wouldn't just let the next 15 games slip away. We still have something to play for.

The referee was dreadful. Everytime one of our players broke free and set off on a good run he was taken out so I was glad Millwall lost as well.

[Focher]

New Keep did OK. Didn't look to have much chance with the goal (yet again we start the second-half badly). His kicks were a bit flat, but only one was dodgy.

^this. What a completely useless and idiotic comment.

McCarthy was adequate on his debut, and fair play his handling when called upon was good.

His kicking was well short of league 2 standard let alone the championship. Bibbo (whom i must add i shared a communal shower with at the Reading FC golf day and its like a Siberian Packhorse) needs to do a lot of work with him to get him anywhere near the standard of Federici.

[Irvinchangeyaname]

One more thing on Cummings.

If he now gets the prolonged run in the team that he has now more than proven he deserves, I reckon he'll turn out to be a very good bet for Supporters Player of The Season 2011/12.

That's assuming we don't cash in on him during the January 2012 window!!

RoyalBlue, your post sums up what I find so frustrating about fans / our fans / this forum (delete as appropriate).

At the start of the season most had decided that he wasn't good enough and that he was one of the club's worst ever purchases. This opinion was based on a handful of games.

Now, after an equally small handful of games, he is a candidate for Player of the Season.

Maybe, just maybe we should judge a player over a season?

[Scarface]

Apart from the last 10 mins I thought defensively we were very poor in the air and Morrison dominated both Ingimarson and especially Mills.

Other than that it was a battle and on balance of the game I think we deserved a 2v1 win.

Long and Legs were excellent, the rest were average and Mills was poor.

[papereyes]

We had a game last night?

[TFF]

One more thing on Cummings.

If he now gets the prolonged run in the team that he has now more than proven he deserves, I reckon he'll turn out to be a very good bet for Supporters Player of The Season 2011/12.

That's assuming we don't cash in on him during the January 2012 window!!

RoyalBlue, your post sums up what I find so frustrating about fans / our fans / this forum (delete as appropriate).

At the start of the season most had decided that he wasn't good enough and that he was one of the club's worst ever purchases. This opinion was based on a handful of games.

Now, after an equally small handful of games, he is a candidate for Player of the Season.

Maybe, just maybe we should judge a player over a season?

I'm far from RoyalBlue's biggest fan but all he's doing here is saying that Cummings looks like he'll be a decent player next season, not that he's going to win it this year.

[Hoop Blah]

If he plays enough games to be in contention next season then his rags to riches story and vast improvement will make him a strong candidate for it.

I imagine that's more the point that was being made than 'wow he'll be the best ever' kind of stance.

[RoyalBlue]

One more thing on Cummings.

If he now gets the prolonged run in the team that he has now more than proven he deserves, I reckon he'll turn out to be a very good bet for Supporters Player of The Season 2011/12.

That's assuming we don't cash in on him during the January 2012 window!!

RoyalBlue, your post sums up what I find so frustrating about fans / our fans / this forum (delete as appropriate).

At the start of the season most had decided that he wasn't good enough and that he was one of the club's worst ever purchases. This opinion was based on a handful of games.

Now, after an equally small handful of games, he is a candidate for Player of the Season.

Maybe, just maybe we should judge a player over a season?

It's a hunch, not a certainty. And it's true that he has only had a few good games but they have come on the back of having been somewhat harshly dropped for quite a few games, despite playing well in the game before. That's not that easy to do.

Sometimes you see enough of a player in just a few games to be pretty certain they have something about them. Oldies might remember players like Tommy Jenkins and then, of course, god himself!! I was absolutely certain Robin Friday was going to turn into something special the first few times I saw him play for us but maybe it was just a lucky guess!

The most noticeable thing about Cummings when he first appeared for us was that he was a good athlete, with good technical skills but very short of confidence.

He has now also shown that he is an incredibly strong guy mentally (not quite sure how that sits with the lack of confidence referred to above!) with a great work ethic and self discipline.

All of the above are very good building blocks and why I still reckon he will turn out to be a star and fans' favourite.

[Ferris]

Apart from the last 10 mins I thought defensively we were very poor in the air and Morrison dominated both Ingimarson and especially Mills.

Other than that it was a battle and on balance of the game I think we deserved a 2v1 win.

Long and Legs were excellent, the rest were average and Mills was poor.

Mills again had a better game than Ingi and won plenty in the air. Seems some people just wanna have a dig at him for the sake of having a dig. He's a much better player than most people on here give him credit for.

[If you still hate Futcher]

Apart from the last 10 mins I thought defensively we were very poor in the air and Morrison dominated both Ingimarson and especially Mills.

Other than that it was a battle and on balance of the game I think we deserved a 2v1 win.

Long and Legs were excellent, the rest were average and Mills was poor.

Mills again had a better game than Ingi and won plenty in the air. Seems some people just wanna have a dig at him for the sake of having a dig. He's a much better player than most people on here give him credit for.

If you cut Morrison's hands off he wouldn't be able to play football - he had hold of his marker all the time and got away with countless little pulls and pushes which the ref and his assistants seemed oblivious to.

[Hoop Blah]

All of which is part and parcel of the physical side of the game.

It went on all over the pitch last night and the ref was pretty blind to it from both sides.

I like the look of Morison. He's a real handful and I still wouldn't mind seeing him here.

[swansea jack]

Impressed with the noise last night.

Stewards were a little sheepish in Y26...is this a new (and welcome) phenomeneonenen?

[biscuitman]

Stewards were a little sheepish in Y26...is this a new (and welcome) phenomeneonenen?

Still active though just didnt work, didn't see any stewards going up to Millwall fans to tell them to sit down. Sums them up completely when we face clubs/fans like that.