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

[loyalroyal7]

Impressed with the noise last night.

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

Noise was quality yes stewards were still about but didnt get to involved . Hope the atmospere kicks on from here with a little bit more singing when we concede

[Ian Royal]

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.

Rags to riches? He came from Chelsea ffs.

He played last season in a poor team that fell apart all over the pitch and got taken to pieces by one excellent winger. Hardly a massive triumph over adversity.

[RoyalBlue]

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.

Rags to riches? He came from Chelsea ffs.

He played last season in a poor team that fell apart all over the pitch and got taken to pieces by one excellent winger. Hardly a massive triumph over adversity.

Well if rags to riches irritates you so greatly, how about zero to hero?!

Here we had a player who was absolutely mauled by large sections of his own support and the media, how must it have felt being referred to as 'Short Cummings'? The stick he got could have absolutely destroyed him and, as Mick Gooding pointed out last night, most players would have looked to have fled the club to try to resurrect their career elsewhere. Cummings didn't. He clearly knuckled down, worked really hard and deservedly won his place back in the team. Even then after nothing but good performances he promptly got dropped again to accommodate the return of an older player who IMO isn't clearly much better than him. He then faced another long period out of the reckoning but has again forced his way back in and performed even better than before. That shows a tremendous attitude for such a young player. That, and his very good performances, is what will endear him to the fans.

The guy is an exciting young player. He doesn't just defend, offload the ball to a team-mate or hoof it to safety and then sit back to defend again. He lays the ball off to a team-mate and is immediately setting off forward looking and indeed demanding a return ball. One exchange of passes often isn't enough for him as he continues to surge forward, which is exactly why we ended up seeing our right back through on goal in the centre of our opponents' area. A little more composure at that point (something that was lacking for so long this season in our strikers) and he would have scored a really well worked goal to open his account with us.

The other great thing is that he is athletic, fit and fast. That means that, unlike poor old Griff who needed oxygen and a lift back into his own half following that great surge forward in last night's second half, Cummings is able to push forward repeatedly and then quickly return to a defensive position. I think Kebe really appreciated the support that Cummings offered going forward and in turn started to reciprocate the favour by dropping back and helping out (very effectively at times) in defence far more than usual.

Cummings brings some energy and excitement to our play. Long may it continue.

[West_Reading]

A decent victory and pretty comfortable one to be fair, against a Millwall side who have been in contention for the play offs themselves. McCarthy had one save to make all night, that too straight at him from distance. Back four were solid although Ingy did look uncomfortable now and then I thought. Would still prefer to see Zurab there. Cummings was excellent. Got forward well and almost scored after a sublime piece of vision and execution of the pass from McAnuff. Griffin looked at home at LB and supported McAnuff well although his lack of left foot was telling after a great burst to the byline. Mills was excellent, winning all his headers. In Midfield I thought Kebe and Ledge ran the show, well supported by Tabb's industry and moments of magic from McAnuff. Two great finishes from our front pair, and Harris too, to be fair. Long was MOTM for me, best performance i've seen from him in a long time. Held the ball up well, ran the channels, a great finish and all round great game.

McCarthy - 6- Little to do. Needs to improve kicking.
Cummings - 8 - Excellent going forward and defensively, although should have scored.
Mills - 7 - He's becoming Mr. Consistent so I don't understand the negativity around him sometimes.
Ingy - 6 - Didn't look in any trouble but seemed to head the ball back into danger areas.
Griffin - 7 - As good defensively as he is at RB. Lack of a left foot hinders him going forward but a couple of great bursts.
Kebe - 8 - A real threat all night. Looked the most up for it i've seen from him in a while too.
Tabb - 7 - Won a lot of tackles and almost got on the end of a long ball before he was elbowed in the head.
Ledge - 8 - He just gets more and more confident every game. Pulled out some sublime touches and almost scored a cracker with his left foot.
McAnuff - 7 - Wasn't in the game for the first half but came in to it more as the game went on. Lovely ball to Cummings.
Long - 9 - Everything i've mentioned above. Class.
NHunt - 7 - Great finish for the goal and ran his socks off.

[pea]

I've been begging for Cummings to start for a long time now, as some of you may have noticed. I've picked on Griffin a lot but only because I think Cummings deserves that right back spot by right. I've been pretty fed up of us lining up with these 'stalemate' tactics this season. Others have highlighted that without Sigurdsson in the middle our only threat is two wingers who teams just double up on. This should never be the case and we've become far too easy to stifle.

I don't believe we're only suffering from losing Sigurdsson but also Bertrand. If you play two of Tabb, Karacan and Ledge in the centre you'll be very hard to beat (as has proved to be the case with Ledge becoming Mr Invincible) but you have no creative outlet. Shouldn't be a problem because in Kebe and McAnuff we have two of the most dangerous wingers in the league. Its painfully obvious that you can't get the best out of those two with a full back pairing of Griffin and Harte, who are good solid full backs. But playing those two means that there will never be an overlapping fullback so the opposition can just put two wide players marking Kebe and McAnuff each and keep them quiet. As soon as you have an overlapping full back it divides their attentions and then McAnuff or Kebe will only have one man to beat, and with one of the strikers helping them out too then you start to open up holes in the oppositions defence. Cummings is very very good at this, and Bertrand was exceptional at it. Its been one of the most painful things that a Brian McD, who is usually very astute, hasn't seen the importance of having an attacking full back in a team if you play a central midfield of Ledge and Karacan without having a creative attacking midfielder in front of them like we did last season.

Cummings got a lot of criticism last season, but in the two games I saw him in (not WBA admittedly where it sounds like he was simply out of his depth) he actually did the important things well, O Dea was a far bigger problem defensively. But he did look the most nervous player I've ever seen and made ridiculous mistakes in a panic, often running off the pitch with the ball, being petrified of crossing the halfway line, not looking up to see where anyone was, tripping over the ball and kicking himself in the face. But you could see that if he simply took those stupid, and quite frankly hilarious mistakes out of his game, all of which were obviously a product of nerves and no confidence whatsoever, then he could be a decent defender.

[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.

Rags to riches? He came from Chelsea ffs.

He played last season in a poor team that fell apart all over the pitch and got taken to pieces by one excellent winger. Hardly a massive triumph over adversity.

In terms of his Reading career and reputation at the club (managers selections as well as the fans and media perception of him) it will absolutely be a rags to riches story if he plays enough games next season to be a contender for PotS.

[brendywendy]

just in terms of mental strength the boy is class. to come back from where he was through hard work and application, not giving up and running out, is pretty amazing
.hes pacey, techincally good, and his defensive abilities and reading of the game imporve each time i see him play.

he has it in him to be the best right back weve ever had.

you heard it here first

[paultheroyal]

just in terms of mental strength the boy is class. to come back from where he was through hard work and application, not giving up and running out.hes pacey, techincally good, and his defensive abilities and reading of the game imporve each time i see him play.

he has it in him to be the best right back weve ever had.

you heard it here first

After the recent 2 games i have seen him in, yep i would agree with that.

[Ian Royal]

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.

Rags to riches? He came from Chelsea ffs.

He played last season in a poor team that fell apart all over the pitch and got taken to pieces by one excellent winger. Hardly a massive triumph over adversity.

In terms of his Reading career and reputation at the club (managers selections as well as the fans and media perception of him) it will absolutely be a rags to riches story if he plays enough games next season to be a contender for PotS.

maybe fan's perception but we all know what that is worth.

[Hoop Blah]

He was bombed out by both Rodgers and McDermott though Ian.

Did Cummings even make the pre-season tour party?

[brendywendy]

bombed out? or they realsied his confidence was so low its would only harm it further to continue playing him.
clearly McD has been working very hard with the lad since then

[RoyalBlue]

bombed out? or they realsied his confidence was so low its would only harm it further to continue playing him.
clearly McD has been working very hard with the lad since then

Not sure that being allowed on the pre-season tour would have further harmed his confidence. I suspect it might have helped. Indications from the media reps who had involvement with that tour suggested that he had been pretty much written off at that point. If so, I suspect his comeback has more to do with what he has worked on (albeit he may have had some assistance from manager/coaches), so all the more credit to him.

[brendywendy]

or it could be that not taking him was the final kick up the arse he needed, that began this amazing comeback. who knows.

[Ian Royal]

He was bombed out by both Rodgers and McDermott though Ian.

Did Cummings even make the pre-season tour party?

Bombed out? He wasn't ready to come into a ropey defence in a team short of confidence at that point and we needed experience. We went with it in Griffin and he's been in the background waiting for his chance and taking the opportunities he's been given since.

[RoyalBlue]

or it could be that not taking him was the final kick up the arse he needed, that began this amazing comeback. who knows.

If it was motivation rather than confidence he was lacking, I'm pretty sure he would have been long gone by the start of this season.

[loyalroyaldaz]

Better Performance. Cummings very good. Just need to get Betrand back.
Stewards oxf*rd as usual. That Millwall twat at the back spent most of the game giving it the big "come on then" and trying to rip the segregation netting up and the Stewards did oxf*rd all.
Reading fans get "Told Off" for chanting an obsenity.

[loyalroyal4life]

Tbh i thought the stewards had 1 of their best game of the season, no one told anyone towards the top to sit down but they did for Watford. Strange i thought it would have been the other way round.

[Hoop Blah]

He was bombed out by both Rodgers and McDermott though Ian.

Did Cummings even make the pre-season tour party?

Bombed out? He wasn't ready to come into a ropey defence in a team short of confidence at that point and we needed experience. We went with it in Griffin and he's been in the background waiting for his chance and taking the opportunities he's been given since.

Rodgers dropped him and played Tabb and the slightly more experienced defender Gunnarsson at fullback. Cummings was struggling to even keep his place on the bench.

McDermott gave him a couple of opportunities to sit on the bench but didn't play him once. He then took a part-injured Kelly on pre-season tour and purchased Williams to play leftback. Hardly the moves of a manager looking to add experience to the back four.

Cummings was miles away from playing for Reading. Not sure why you can't accept that to be honest.

[Ian Royal]

Williams is a left back and it was obvious this summer we were trying to bring through a new generation there, but again reverted to tried and tested experience when it wasn't working.

So Kelly went on a tour. Big woop, he hasn't been near the first team since Coppell left. Try and justify it all you want. Rags to riches is a pretty stupid description.

[Hoop Blah]

Kelly's been injured for a hell of a long time, hence the extra surprise when he was included on the tour ahead of Cummings.