Back from the game - D&R (A) Cup

[The 17 Bus]

Sadly if you look back over his USA performances, and most of his time at RFC that's about all he has, injuries have not helped, but he is not my idea of a class winger.

[Vision]

Odd that on the radio Convey and Henry seemed to be having quite a good game...or as good as it gets anyway.

Shame they were on the radio, doing it on the pitch is whats needed.

Convey's contribution last night consisted of:

- Receiving the ball from Hahnemann
- running with his head down until he ran into a defender
- stopping, turning round and passing the ball back Cisse/Harper

Repeated ad infinitum

Woeful

Improvement on Sunday though where it ended up with a speculative shot 20 yards high/wide.

[Ian Royal]

He did also cross for the first goal and have a shot on target. So he's clearly improving.

[CMRoyal]

The most worrying thing is the gaping chasm where our central midfield should be - Coppell cannot be so myopic that he can't see this needs to be filled with Karacan immediately?

On paper this should be one of our strongest areas – a £3-4m rated captain, a Czech international and a Malian international with a decent French and Portuguese pedigree, backed by a burgeoning young talent and a solid, Championship-experienced Icelandic international. What the oxf*rd’s going on in there!

[papereyes]

None of them can tackle?

Sidwell was the balls that underpinned it all?

[cmonurz]

Bring back Neil Smith?

[winchester_royal]

Ingimarsson is past it. There were signs of it last year as well.

Harper and Cisse do not cut the mustard as a partnership. I cannot understand Coppell, Karacan was awesome against Villa and he has not featured since.

[Dirk Gently]

Still it was worth it. Nice, compact terrace, piss-ridden toilets, dodgy burger bar and friendly stewards. I'd be quite happy watching my football at places like this again. Only downside was no pubs (that I could see) anywhere near the ground...

If you turned right out of the station instead of left there was one almost immediately - a real East End boozer! Didn't think I'd be allowed in because I don't have any tattoos - and they even had Chas 'n Dave playing on the jukebox (honestly!!)

As to the match ..... well, you know me, I usually try to focus on the positives. So I've got absolutely nothing to say about it.

[brendywendy]

we still have a very bad relegation hangover as i see it.
and i can see this season going one of two ways:
we buy a couple of decent players, the side uses its defensive strengths to grind out the results, slowly building its confidence and togetherness until we start really firing around christmas time
or we buy another couple of dudds, and struggle to find any rythym all season.
i wouldnt like to bet on which way it will go.
a good home performance and a win is vital this weekend
and we really need to get that malfunctioning midfield sorted. karacan needs to play this weekend IMO.

[Southbank Old Boy]

Ingimarsson is past it. There were signs of it last year as well.

Harper and Cisse do not cut the mustard as a partnership. I cannot understand Coppell, Karacan was awesome against Villa and he has not featured since.

It's funny how some players can play until their late 30's and others just seem to lose their legs or confidence, or both, much earlier on.

Ingimarsson has the look of a player who's suffering an early loss of his game. Hopefully it's just a form thing, but I'm worried that it's the start of a rapid decline.

[Alan Partridge]

we still have a very bad relegation hangover as i see it.
and i can see this season going one of two ways:
we buy a couple of decent players, the side uses its defensive strengths to grind out the results, slowly building its confidence and togetherness until we start really firing around christmas time
or we buy another couple of dudds, and struggle to find any rythym all season.
i wouldnt like to bet on which way it will go.
a good home performance and a win is vital this weekend
and we really need to get that malfunctioning midfield sorted. karacan needs to play this weekend IMO.

Or the more likely event, 'we'll go with what we've got' which will be the final nail in Coppell's coffin.

[Sarah Star]

It sounded on the radio like we did gain more confidence after the first goal went in, only to lose it again when D&R equalised. I don't know if that's true or not.

[Alan Partridge]

It sounded on the radio like we did gain more confidence after the first goal went in, only to lose it again when D&R equalised. I don't know if that's true or not.

Well that happens in every game of football anywhere. We had a little spell of 5-10 minutes in the first half where we did alright, just after we scored, Henry should have scored again, Roberts (Tredder) made a decent block, then in the 2nd half we were back to AWFUL

[Streets]

Having listened to the game its hard to pass judgement so this is open to anyone who went. Who, if anyone would you play on Saturday based on what you've seen tonight?

Keith Scott if we can sign him in time.

And you'd have been about 8-9 when he played here!

[leon]

we still have a very bad relegation hangover as i see it.
and i can see this season going one of two ways:
we buy a couple of decent players, the side uses its defensive strengths to grind out the results, slowly building its confidence and togetherness until we start really firing around christmas time
or we buy another couple of dudds, and struggle to find any rythym all season.
i wouldnt like to bet on which way it will go.
a good home performance and a win is vital this weekend
and we really need to get that malfunctioning midfield sorted. karacan needs to play this weekend IMO.

Or the more likely event, 'we'll go with what we've got' which will be the final nail in Coppell's coffin.

We've needed a ball winner midfielder for as long as I can remember. I mean even Sidwell wasn't one really - but it worked because we harried in midfield and then got it down the wings on the break and that really disturbed a lot of teams, even in the Prem.

Getting overrun by D&R really shouldn't be happening. I'm utterly baffled by Coppell. I just don't understand it -it's shocking, self indulgent and frankly lazy management. I really want to be proved wrong - I'm convinced now that I won't

[Ginger Ninjas]

It sounded on the radio like we did gain more confidence after the first goal went in, only to lose it again when D&R equalised. I don't know if that's true or not.

That was about right, Henry and Convey looked much better in the period from our goal to half time.

In general it was a very worrying display considering the number of first teamers who played. Harper was nothing short of a disgrace, Cisse wasn't much better and Ivar's star is certainly on the wane.

There were at least some bright points. The youngsters didn't look out of place in the side (not sure what that says though) and I was impressed with N Hunt's movement and endeavour. If Pearce was a bit quicker he'd have all the makings of a top class centre back, as it is he'll probably just have to settle with being a Scottish international at some point!

[papereyes]

and i can see this season going one of two ways:
we buy a couple of decent players, the side uses its defensive strengths to grind out the results, slowly building its confidence and togetherness until we start really firing around christmas time
or we buy another couple of dudds, and struggle to find any rythym all season.
i wouldnt like to bet on which way it will go.

There is a third way where we do nothing and are less likely to see any improvement.

So either you stick with what you've got. Its not great, its solid, it probably won't go down but it won't be pretty. Or you make a small risk, nothing big, just the right players for the job, and you are more likley to improve. IMO, it isn't 50:50 between success and failure there, not if we do it with a bit of deliberation, thought and effort

With the right scouting and right signings, we will improve our chances.

With doing nothing, we guarantee to ourselves that we won't.

[Sarah Star]

It sounded on the radio like we did gain more confidence after the first goal went in, only to lose it again when D&R equalised. I don't know if that's true or not.

Well that happens in every game of football anywhere. We had a little spell of 5-10 minutes in the first half where we did alright, just after we scored, Henry should have scored again, Roberts (Tredder) made a decent block, then in the 2nd half we were back to AWFUL

If only we could get that confidence going right from the start though...

[West Stand Man]

It's funny how some players can play until their late 30's and others just seem to lose their legs or confidence, or both, much earlier on.

Ingimarsson has the look of a player who's suffering an early loss of his game. Hopefully it's just a form thing, but I'm worried that it's the start of a rapid decline.

Martin Allen once told me that when the decay starts (and it usually obvious) it is rapid and irreversible. He was commenting on the impending end of Parky's career at the time. His observation was that there comes a time when that ball that is a couple of feet out of normal reach is the one that you just can't reach at all. I haven't seen Ingimarsson this year so I couldn't comment on whether it is happening yet to him though.

[frimleygreen_shotspur]

the shots away in the second round should see all the reading boys getting a good run