Back from the game - Watford (h)

[Dorset-Knob]

"Can't criticise Rodgers....on balance a fair result" - you're joking right?? Of course you can criticise Rodgers - did you not see our complete lack of intelligence on the ball? The manager's job is to show the players who they're marking, what to do at set pieces etc etc. We were woeful for much of the game imo. Still, good old Brendan still managed to take some positives from it, even though he admitted he didn't know his best team yet.

If we were high up the table on a good run I think you would be looking at this game very differently. All we lack is a bit of confidence and when the wins start to come the confidence will also come. I just did not think we were that bad today, but I think the fans have got into a negative mind set and only see the problems not the good things that we are doing.

Andrew1957 you are either unrealistically optimistic or mistaken, if we were high up in the table, on a good run you would be right, we're not, so you must be wrong QED!

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Good first half. Terrible second. Carbon copy of last weekend.

Ratings :

Federici - 6 - Could of done more for the goal. Maybe it is time for Hamer to be given a chance.

Cummings - 6 - Best performance I have seen from him so far. Still a bit unsure.
O'Dea - 7 - Won headers and put in tackles. Didn't do much wrong in my eyes.
Ivar - 7 - Calm and composed. Settled straight back in.
Bertrand - 6 - A bit unsure on Bertrand at the moment. Lost the ball a few times. Doesn't look the best in defensive situations either.

Kebe - 5 - Looked alright in the first-half. Ran at the defenders, looked difficult to contain. Second half anonymous.
Karacan - 6 - Put effort into his game. Won a few tackles. A bit anonymous though.
Howard - 5 - I don't rate Howard that much. Didn't offer much. No Matejovsky again?
Sigurdsson - 6 - Didn't see much of him, to be honest. Not enough, to make a fair judgement.
McAnuff - 7 - Made some good runs. Set up Raisak's goal. Didn't look 100% though.

Raisak - 6 - Scored a goal, so I will give him a 6. But rubbish again. We have resorted to playing the long-ball, with Raisak as the target man. Yet he struggles to win headers and is too slow.

Subs :

Gunnarsson - 6 - Looked controlled on the ball. Able to spot a pass, that other's don't.
Robson-Kanu - 6 - Looked threatening when he first came on. But then he faded away in the last few minutes.
N.Hunt - 6 - Looked more of a danger than Raisak did.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

This team is simply not good enough.

There are too many players who think they can stroll though the game ball watching and not giving a 100%.

Cummings as a right back is cluless he is not good enough, Howard looks to have given up after showing promise in his first starts and as for Kebe hew is lost on the pitch not knowing what to do or where to go in the Brenda system

It was good to see Ivar back and Mcanuff put in a good stint but how long will that last before he drops his performance to the rest of the teams effort.

[mzungu_royal]

Obviously not winning is disappointing but it was definitely a point won rather than two dropped against a good Watford side that scrapped for everything. I felt we did well to hold on for a draw and really did not expect us to at one point. In the end after the sending off we could well have nicked it.

Fed - 5 - not really much to do and no chance with the goal - harsh
Cummings - 5 - some nervous touches and some poor passes but he will get better - 'greed. Looks better than Rosenior.
Ingi- 7 - calm and assured - good to see him back - 'greed
O'Dea - 7 - Calm and assured - best player on the park
Bertrand - 7 - classy player
Karacan - 8 - MOTM for me - non stop effort - not good enough, Tabb could more in 5 minutes than he does in the whole game. I've forgotten that he Tabb is part of SSC's kids.
McAnuff - 7- very good first half but tired which was understandable as he has not played for a while _ for those criticising substitutions he had to come off to protect him
Sig - 6 - good first half
Kebe - 5 - reasonable first half - frustrating second half
Howard - 5.5 - some good moments but gave the ball away a good deal
Rasiak - 6 - held the ball up ok but does look slow

Gunnar - 6 - did well
Hunt - 5 - did not get into the game much - should be playing from start
RK - 5 - mixed bag of taking people on well but some poor crosses.

Rodgers - Can't really criticise him today - it would have been a disaster if we had lost against his old team - so on balance a fair result.

Agree with some of these but I've highlighted where I can't agree.

[Terminal Boardom]

Why play 1 up front at home?

We performed really well for 15 minutes total in the first half. Scored one and could have got more.

Why does no-one attack the ball in the area when we are attacking? Every time Rasiak jumps it is from a stationary position.

The 3 in midfield did not work in the first half as too many times Wtaford were able to pick their way through unheeded.

Why were our full backs not providing extra width until the last 15 minutes of the match?

The referee was complete and utter shite and without doubt the worst I have seen in many years

Fed is a liability and switches off too often.

Regardless of the changes made this season, 7 points from 9 games IS relegation form. We have kissed goodbye to 1/5th of the season already.

MacAnuff had a tidy debut but the dross of the 8 games before has made him look like a world beater. I hope he does not turn into another Michael Meaker. By this I mean that he only ever turns on the style when up against an old team of his.

Jimmy Kebe. Oh dear.

I am thinking of going home at half time for future games as the second half is usually dreadful.

[Royalwaster]

Good first half. Terrible second. Carbon copy of last weekend.

Ratings :


Karacan - 6 - Put effort into his game. Won a few tackles. A bit anonymous though.


Subs :

Karacan anonymous - you're having a laugh are you? That was an excellent performance by him - he won headers, tackled all game. Best I've seen him play and MOTM by far for me.

[mzungu_royal]

Why play 1 up front at home?

We performed really well for 15 minutes total in the first half. Scored one and could have got more.

Why does no-one attack the ball in the area when we are attacking? Every time Rasiak jumps it is from a stationary position.

The 3 in midfield did not work in the first half as too many times Wtaford were able to pick their way through unheeded.

Why were our full backs not providing extra width until the last 15 minutes of the match?

The referee was complete and utter shite and without doubt the worst I have seen in many years

Fed is a liability and switches off too often.

Regardless of the changes made this season, 7 points from 9 games IS relegation form. We have kissed goodbye to 1/5th of the season already.

MacAnuff had a tidy debut but the dross of the 8 games before has made him look like a world beater. I hope he does not turn into another Michael Meaker. By this I mean that he only ever turns on the style when up against an old team of his.

Jimmy Kebe. Oh dear.

I am thinking of going home at half time for future games as the second half is usually dreadful.

'Greed for most of the post Terminal, but Kebe is not as shite as you say he is. And becoming like a Meaker could be worse.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Good first half. Terrible second. Carbon copy of last weekend.

Ratings :


Karacan - 6 - Put effort into his game. Won a few tackles. A bit anonymous though.


Subs :

Karacan anonymous - you're having a laugh are you? That was an excellent performance by him - he won headers, tackled all game. Best I've seen him play and MOTM by far for me.

For me he was anonymous. He did put together some good passes and some good tackles, but not that many.

[Fluff]

Had been due to go to todays game, however the boss phones me up and says i'm needed at work. He pays me my ticket money back, i get 6 hours double bubble, and am in the pub at 3.30 to see Wigan beat Chelsea.

Result

[Terminal Boardom]

Nobody likes a smart arse

[Fluff]

Nobody likes a smart arse

I was cursing my boss at first, but then we reverted to form

[Wycombe Royal]

Good first half. Terrible second. Carbon copy of last weekend.

Ratings :


Karacan - 6 - Put effort into his game. Won a few tackles. A bit anonymous though.


Subs :

Karacan anonymous - you're having a laugh are you? That was an excellent performance by him - he won headers, tackled all game. Best I've seen him play and MOTM by far for me.

So according to some his last home match he was MOM and put in his best performance in a Reading shirt, and now his performance today has surpassed that.

All i can say is that must mean all his previous performances must have been complete toilet.

My view on Karacan is he runs a lot, he puts in a few tackles, and makes a few short passes. However he has very little quality and when we have him as the starting point for building our moves from the back that shows why we are so crap at it.

[Terminal Boardom]

Make of this what you will:

We started well but didn't push on from that and control the game as I'd have liked. Watford are a good side, they did very well, they have good young players, that's why they have won games and you can see the confidence level they have.

Guess who

[Terminal Boardom]

Stats from the game according to the BBC

Possession 45% - 55%
Shots on 6 - 3
Shots off 8 - 5
Corners 2 - 9
Fouls 11 - 8

Draw your own conclusions.

One manager said

"We made a real good start to the game, just as we did last week at Peterborough, and I thought we were outstanding in the first 15 to 20 minutes.
"But we go up in games then relax and let other teams get back in. We started well but didn't push on. Watford are a good young side, with good young players.
"We just need to get this disappointing run at home nailed and then we can push on."

The other one said
"I'm proud of the way we played to come back from the first 10 minutes, compose ourselves and go on to get the point.
"I am also delighted with the way we managed the game when we were down to 10 men near the end. I thought both of the yellow cards for Nathan were justified."

Fair do's to Malkay for his comments about Ellington's two yellows.

[Fluff]

Make of this what you will:

We started well but didn't push on from that and control the game as I'd have liked. Watford are a good side, they did very well, they have good young players, that's why they have won games and you can see the confidence level they have.

Guess who

but were they world class?

[Ian Royal]

Well that was probably the best I've seen us play this season. We have clearly got the players to not only survive but finish quite easily safe. But do we have the manager?

Federici - 6 fantastic save to keep them out just before they scored, but half came for the goal and left himself in no man's land giving an easy header to their player.
Cummings - 7 the boy is coming good. Solid defensive display on the whole and some pretty good crosses and moves giong forward
Bertrand - 6 one of is weaker games. Some moments of quality, but also though he could have done more and better
O'Dea - 7 every time I see him he impresses me.
Ivar - 6.5 struggled whenever he had to come out to their winger as he's slow, but a solid performance coming back. We still look weak at set pieces though.
Karacan - 7 good display, an excellent little player
Howard - 4 did nothing right and made loads of mistakes. I am not a fan.
Siggurdsson - 7.5 another excellent game
McAnuff - 8 total revelation and gives us that little something we've been missing.
Kebe - 5 wasted many a good position, he does not have a footballing brain despite all his elastic legged tricky skill. Poor on the right this season
Rasiak - 5 he may have scored a goal, and put in a decent first 20 minutes, easily his best in a Reading shirt, but he was poor again

Gunnarsson - 6 didn't do a lot wrong
HRK - 5 didn't really have much impact
Hunt - 6 didn't have a great deal of impact

Ref - 2 awful display, obviously never heard of advantage and really really picky. Got several decisions totally wrong

Rodgers - starting eleven and formation 6.5
- in game tactics 4

Not as bad a managerial display as against P'boro, but awful substitutions and once again allowed us to let the game drift away from us in the second half. Why oh why did he take off Siggurdsson for Gunnarsson, one of the two best players on the pitch and one of the only two providing any attacking threat or creatvity. That was enough to send us to panic stations on it's own. It also took away any chance of coherant display and any intelligent attack.

As for taking off McAnuff... ludicrous! How on earth Kebe, Rasiak and Howard stayed on the pitch despite being awful I'll never know. It's almost like Rodgers has coeme in expressly to do a sabotage job on us.

[It Is What It Is]

McAnuff - 8 total revelation and gives us that little something we've been missing.

Got to agree with you there about what we have been missing, he gave us a wide option and always looked dangerous to the oppositions defense with his quick bursts of pace and could see the play build up before it actually did

[Terminal Boardom]

Well that was probably the best I've seen us play this season. We have clearly got the players to not only survive but finish quite easily safe. But do we have the manager?

Federici - 6 fantastic save to keep them out just before they scored, but half came for the goal and left himself in no man's land giving an easy header to their player.
Cummings - 7 the boy is coming good. Solid defensive display on the whole and some pretty good crosses and moves giong forward
Bertrand - 6 one of is weaker games. Some moments of quality, but also though he could have done more and better
O'Dea - 7 every time I see him he impresses me.
Ivar - 6.5 struggled whenever he had to come out to their winger as he's slow, but a solid performance coming back. We still look weak at set pieces though.
Karacan - 7 good display, an excellent little player
Howard - 4 did nothing right and made loads of mistakes. I am not a fan.
Siggurdsson - 7.5 another excellent game
McAnuff - 8 total revelation and gives us that little something we've been missing.
Kebe - 5 wasted many a good position, he does not have a footballing brain despite all his elastic legged tricky skill. Poor on the right this season
Rasiak - 5 he may have scored a goal, and put in a decent first 20 minutes, easily his best in a Reading shirt, but he was poor again

Gunnarsson - 6 didn't do a lot wrong
HRK - 5 didn't really have much impact
Hunt - 6 didn't have a great deal of impact

Ref - 2 awful display, obviously never heard of advantage and really really picky. Got several decisions totally wrong

Rodgers - starting eleven and formation 6.5
- in game tactics 4

Not as bad a managerial display as against P'boro, but awful substitutions and once again allowed us to let the game drift away from us in the second half. Why oh why did he take off Siggurdsson for Gunnarsson, one of the two best players on the pitch and one of the only two providing any attacking threat or creatvity. That was enough to send us to panic stations on it's own. It also took away any chance of coherant display and any intelligent attack.

As for taking off McAnuff... ludicrous! How on earth Kebe, Rasiak and Howard stayed on the pitch despite being awful I'll never know. It's almost like Rodgers has coeme in expressly to do a sabotage job on us.

Sig came off pretty much the same time as Howard as we switched to 442. MacAnuff's first real action for over a month may have something to do with it. Yes, he "played" in the ressie game Tuesday but it was not as if he was pulling up any trees in that one. The guy was shagged out but would still have been better than that useless streak of piss called Kebe.

[handbags_harris]

For 10 minutes we didn't just outplay them, we battered them. I am struggling to remember a team showing so much disarray as a direct result of our play. It was a battering, and if the ol' chaos theory didn't play a part we should have been 3 up.

After that, absolute mince. It was almost as if Watford expected to concede, and composed themselves after. We had no answer once again. Massively disappointing.

On the positive side, it wasn't the 3-0 hammering I fully expected us to suffer.

[Ian Royal]

I understand McAnuff will have been tired, but even knackered he still looked much better than Kebe, Howard and Rasiak.

I thought Siggurdsson found his role today. He's been average when played wide and I simply can't understand the person posting earlier saying he should be kept out there. He's the one player we've got in midfield who has actually got forward and joined the striker in attacks. He's very creative and skillful, but athletic and hard working too. He's got a good shot and he's excellent at set pieces.

Unlike Matejovsky he looks like the complete package to me. Just lacking a little of experience.

Another reason subbing him was idiocy, we then had no one to take our set pieces, as demonstrated by the awful freekick and corner late on, that couldn't have been more accurately passed to a Watford player if the taker had tried to.

The first signs today that I've seen that with a bit more work and some confidence that formation could work. I'd still rather play a 4-4-2 with wide players, if not two genuine wingers. I think someone like Davies could do a job on the right in those circumstances. Then we get to play two of Hunt, Long and Church upfront.