Back from the game/the PC - Fulham (H)

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Got to admire the spirit of the team, so many times under B Mc we get results that we just dont look like getting. Even if we are plainly not good enough for the Prem atm. In fact, a couple of our players are MILES away from the standard required. Tabb and Cummings completely and utterly out of their depth today.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Got to admire the spirit of the team, so many times under B Mc we get results that we just dont look like getting. Even if we are plainly not good enough for the Prem atm. In fact, a couple of our players are MILES away from the standard required. Tabb and Cummings completely and utterly out of their depth today.

I have to admit I was aghast when I saw Tabb walking out. He isn't even good enough for a top half championship team let alone the Prem.

[windermere_royal]

Got to admire the spirit of the team, so many times under B Mc we get results that we just dont look like getting. Even if we are plainly not good enough for the Prem atm. In fact, a couple of our players are MILES away from the standard required. Tabb and Cummings completely and utterly out of their depth today.

I have to admit I was aghast when I saw Tabb walking out. He isn't even good enough for a top half championship team let alone the Prem.

Thats quite ironic because on facebook fans were asked to name their MOTM, about 90% named Tabb

[Ups and Downs]

Got to admire the spirit of the team, so many times under B Mc we get results that we just dont look like getting. Even if we are plainly not good enough for the Prem atm. In fact, a couple of our players are MILES away from the standard required. Tabb and Cummings completely and utterly out of their depth today.

I have to admit I was aghast when I saw Tabb walking out. He isn't even good enough for a top half championship team let alone the Prem.

Thats quite ironic because on facebook fans were asked to name their MOTM, about 90% named Tabb

How many voted? He didn't do all that much but he always gives his all. I can't accept seeing a player starting that didnt make the grade last year but as soon as he went off we are fukked. 3 wingers?! Nice one, Brian!

[Royal91]

Have we actually tried Guthrie in a 4-4-2 with L,wood? We've seen him play alongside Karacan and seen him play in a 4-5-1.

[windermere_royal]

180 replies on FB, big majority in favour Tabb MOTM

[holsgrove breaks a leg]

For 60 plus minutes i actually thought it would end up a 1-0 game and finally we would claim our first clean sheet and 3 points. Yet again though Fulham's first meaningful attack of the 2nd half and we let in another poor goal out of nowhere. What is a major concern is that whilst in a majority of games we restrict the opposition to fairly few chances,we are consistently punished in the few that are taken. All the blood, guts, togetherness and pushing till the end won't win out if we cannot apply the basics or the finishing touches. For me today's 3-3 represents a glaring step backwards, leaking more goals and another failure to provide a clean sheet. It is a very strange one that Pearce has vanished from the starting 11 and yet the vast majority of Brian's signings have had significant problems blending into the squad. How Mcleary has not ousted Jimmy Kebe from the team though is beyond me, Kebe's confidence seems to have taken a dive of Tom Daley proportions .

I was not very impressed with Brian's tactics today i have to say, granted he had to change at 1-1 but why take out the unsung hero Tabb and shift Jobi in midfield (showing our lack of depth in centre mid on the bench), it clearly didnt work and led to a very unstable midfield and 2 further goals. Ok the subs ground out the draw with our never say die attitude but it was a case of throw everyone else on in hope for something. Roberts caused problems but seemed a little off the pace, perhaps not match fit. As for Pavel though, deary me how wooden was that performance - i would like to see Alfie and Roberts on tuesday. Granted the Pog needs much better service but currently i am very underwhelmed at his presence in a Reading shirt- has TSI's influence guaranteed his starting position come what may? The next two games has to yield at least 3 points and a clean sheet is also a must or we will be starting to play catch up in November already.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Got to admire the spirit of the team, so many times under B Mc we get results that we just dont look like getting. Even if we are plainly not good enough for the Prem atm. In fact, a couple of our players are MILES away from the standard required. Tabb and Cummings completely and utterly out of their depth today.

I have to admit I was aghast when I saw Tabb walking out. He isn't even good enough for a top half championship team let alone the Prem.

Thats quite ironic because on facebook fans were asked to name their MOTM, about 90% named Tabb

To be fair....he must have heard me slagging him off because he then proceeded to do quite well! (If of course quite well means stifling the opposition).

[OLLIE KEARNS]

Having skimmed the comments I have to say that 1) we are not lazy, you won't see a harder working side in this league and 2) we don't go to sleep in the second half. To assess the game you have to look at Fulham as opposed to us. I couldn't believe our luck in the first half when I saw the best player on the pitch by a mile playing in midfield for Fulham instead of up front. Even then the warning bells were ringing as Richardson got constant space down the left and got crosses in at will, poor ones for the most part thankfully.
Second half we didn't change but Fulham did and that's the key. Ruiz came on and Berbatov pushed on and played in an area where he could hurt us. Duff tucked inside and their right back bcame a winger in the space that he'd left. And our shape stayed the same regardless and we got pulled all over the place.
So, in summary, we have a side to be proud of in terms of effort and commitment, something we knew anyway. But we are sadly lacking in quality and dare I say tactical flexability. On that score, the jury has to remain out for a while on Brian because he has limited tactical options given what he has to work with at present. Janaury will be very interesting in that respect.
Aside from that, Shorey is quality, was before and still is now. And trying to get Sidwell would be well worth a go. Sidwell in our midfield today instead of the admiarble Jay could have made 2 points difference.

[Royal91]

For me Cummings positional play is awful; he always comes in to centrally leaving far too much room for the winger. Thus giving himself no chance of closing down the cross and forcing our defence into positions they shouldn't be. A couple have noted that our two CB's run out leaving large pockets for attackers to fill.

Next week I would go for

_________McCarthy__________

Gunter__Pearce_Mariappa__Shorey

McCleary_L,wood_Guthrie_McAnuff

_________Pog___Roberts_______


Not sure what the situation is with Guthrie but it doesn't look good.

I would seriously bring HRK on earlier as again he's showed a bit of something. We lack a left footed left winger. And please McDermott stop putting frigging McAnuff in CM.

[chilipepper91]

Tabb was MOTM today in a team which actually showed very little IMO. Yes we were comfortable at 1-0 but we didn't create too many clear-cut chances in that time either - only Pog's first-half header springs to mind.

Why McD took him off after 60 minutes was totally puzzling to me - we were being totally dominated in midfield and so he took off a battling tackler for a winger and sent Jobi into the middle who is totally ineffectual on the wing, let alone in the middle of the park?

Guthrie won't be playing for us for a while if rumours I've heard are true, and this is probably the time we need an actual CM the most, especially when being overrun by a middling PL team in the middle of the park.

Kebe didn't take on Riise all game - whether this was orders from McD or he just didn't want to, it took away arguably our most exciting and creative outlet.

Roberts... I just don't like him as a player. He never jumps for headers, instead he goes for the backing-in and winning free-kicks approach which seldom works as referees wise up to it.

I feel empty after that performance, mainly as for half an hour between 55-85 minutes we were spanked into oblivion. If we hadn't grabbed that late equaliser the mood on here would be very, very different.

[RoyalBlue]

Tabb was MOTM today in a team which actually showed very little IMO. Yes we were comfortable at 1-0 but we didn't create too many clear-cut chances in that time either - only Pog's first-half header springs to mind.

Why McD took him off after 60 minutes was totally puzzling to me - we were being totally dominated in midfield and so he took off a battling tackler for a winger and sent Jobi into the middle who is totally ineffectual on the wing, let alone in the middle of the park?

.

Effing hell, totally ineffectual? Missed our first goal did you? Along with the fact he has provided more assists than any of our players this season?

And whilst Tabb may be a battling tackler, look how slow he is at recovering if he is beaten or wrongfooted by a player. We need a battling tackler of the quality of Sidwell in our midfield, not a Championship level player.

[chilipepper91]

So he made one simple pass in-field for Ledge to scream it in? Otherwise contributed very little. My posts on TTE have actually been quite complimentary of his contributions, and he does seem to pop up with passes for goals quite frequently, but today he didn't deliver.

I'd rather have a battling Championship central midfielder in central midfield, than a questionable Premier League winger in central midfield.

[Cripple Creek]

People here keep alluding to "rumours I hear about Guthrie". Can someone please just say what they are. I accept they are rumours and won't slag anyone off if that is all that they turn out to be but I am genuinely curious. It is a little worrying that one thing - clutching at straws here a bit - Reading do appear to have is "togetherness" and, hazarding a guess that Guthrie is deeply unhappy, then even this now seems to be not entirely hunky dory.

[Turns8]

Guthrie won't be playing for us for a while if rumours I've heard are true, and this is probably the time we need an actual CM the most, especially when being overrun by a middling PL team in the middle of the park..

Care to share or are you merely being a WUM?

[RoyalBlue]

So he made one simple pass in-field for Ledge to scream it in? Otherwise contributed very little. My posts on TTE have actually been quite complimentary of his contributions, and he does seem to pop up with passes for goals quite frequently, but today he didn't deliver.

I'd rather have a battling Championship central midfielder in central midfield, than a questionable Premier League winger in central midfield.

Another ludicrous comment! Questionable?! Strike off Jobi's assists this season and we would be much deeper in the shyte than we already are. Contributed very little? Try watching again - quite a few good runs and crosses as well as a lot of defensive work.

And for you and those who claim Tabb was MOTM, guess who it was who decided to stop chasing back and have a little jog, allowing Ruiz to run free and have room to score?!

[windermere_royal]

For 60 plus minutes i actually thought it would end up a 1-0 game and finally we would claim our first clean sheet and 3 points. Yet again though Fulham's first meaningful attack of the 2nd half and we let in another poor goal out of nowhere. What is a major concern is that whilst in a majority of games we restrict the opposition to fairly few chances,we are consistently punished in the few that are taken. All the blood, guts, togetherness and pushing till the end won't win out if we cannot apply the basics or the finishing touches. For me today's 3-3 represents a glaring step backwards, leaking more goals and another failure to provide a clean sheet. It is a very strange one that Pearce has vanished from the starting 11 and yet the vast majority of Brian's signings have had significant problems blending into the squad. How Mcleary has not ousted Jimmy Kebe from the team though is beyond me, Kebe's confidence seems to have taken a dive of Tom Daley proportions .

I was not very impressed with Brian's tactics today i have to say, granted he had to change at 1-1 but why take out the unsung hero Tabb and shift Jobi in midfield (showing our lack of depth in centre mid on the bench), it clearly didnt work and led to a very unstable midfield and 2 further goals. Ok the subs ground out the draw with our never say die attitude but it was a case of throw everyone else on in hope for something. Roberts caused problems but seemed a little off the pace, perhaps not match fit. As for Pavel though, deary me how wooden was that performance - i would like to see Alfie and Roberts on tuesday. Granted the Pog needs much better service but currently i am very underwhelmed at his presence in a Reading shirt- has TSI's influence guaranteed his starting position come what may? The next two games has to yield at least 3 points and a clean sheet is also a must or we will be starting to play catch up in November already.

i thought Pav had a decent game, missed a guild edged header early on i know, but he was always trying to link the play, hes got good control on the floor, and he had a big hand in Ledges goal, there are obvious issues because he never finishes a game, strange when we had Roberts who was not match fit by any means and failed to feature much apart from one good turn and shot in the 2nd half.

[windermere_royal]

Having skimmed the comments I have to say that 1) we are not lazy, you won't see a harder working side in this league and 2) we don't go to sleep in the second half. To assess the game you have to look at Fulham as opposed to us. I couldn't believe our luck in the first half when I saw the best player on the pitch by a mile playing in midfield for Fulham instead of up front. Even then the warning bells were ringing as Richardson got constant space down the left and got crosses in at will, poor ones for the most part thankfully.
Second half we didn't change but Fulham did and that's the key. Ruiz came on and Berbatov pushed on and played in an area where he could hurt us. Duff tucked inside and their right back bcame a winger in the space that he'd left. And our shape stayed the same regardless and we got pulled all over the place.
So, in summary, we have a side to be proud of in terms of effort and commitment, something we knew anyway. But we are sadly lacking in quality and dare I say tactical flexability. On that score, the jury has to remain out for a while on Brian because he has limited tactical options given what he has to work with at present. Janaury will be very interesting in that respect.
Aside from that, Shorey is quality, was before and still is now. And trying to get Sidwell would be well worth a go. Sidwell in our midfield today instead of the admiarble Jay could have made 2 points difference.

Sidwell wrote on twitter he was overwhelmed with the welcome he got when he came on, i would take him back in a heartbeat

[MmmMonsterMunch]

So he made one simple pass in-field for Ledge to scream it in? Otherwise contributed very little. My posts on TTE have actually been quite complimentary of his contributions, and he does seem to pop up with passes for goals quite frequently, but today he didn't deliver.

I'd rather have a battling Championship central midfielder in central midfield, than a questionable Premier League winger in central midfield.

"He does seem to pop up with passes"

As well as the first assist, he also started the very last attack where we could have nicked it 4-3. Most of our attacks started on his side in the 1st half too. I genuinely am bemused by those on here that don't see what he contributes but I guess that's the joy of football....everyone has their own opinion.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Just have to at anyone critising the McAnuff switch to CM with 20 mins to go. Where have you been the last 2 years?