Arsenal: Back from the procession

[Ozymandias]

i think HRK should start against citeh as at least he can hold the ball up and pass.

how the F**K can you give POG 7, WTF!!!

Feds 5 - camera save specialist, kept the score down but doesnt do basics, too easily muscled out
Cummings 2 - skinned every time and nearly always out of positon his worst game for reading by a mile
Mariappa 2 - proved he is a championship player
Gorrks 1 - woeful league 1 at best
Shorey 6 - did ok
Kebe 5 - did ok going forward but offered cummings no cover for defence
Ledge 3 - poor
Tabb 3 - lots of running, did ok but seemed like a short andy hughes tonight
Jobi 4 - did little but did ok in middle late on
Hunt 3 - non existent
Pog -10 (MINUS 10) - must be the most overrated player to play for Reading, a cardboard donkey would be better. He is NOT the player you want in a relegation fight, roberts is.

HRK 6 - did well most of the time
McCleary 3 - didnt do much but little time anyway
Alf 6 - did well

Probably the closest to my ratings.

Hunt...why do we bother...

[royalsteve]

Wenger targeted the weakness. Kebe doesn't offer any protection

spot on, see my comments above. i think mcd should have played hrk instead of kebe for that reason alone
Did you not see the Man U game whenHal let Evra run off him every time.

and compared to kebe who did what in defence?????

[West_Reading]

Pardon the cliche, but that was men against boys. Completely outclassed and it could and should have been 11 or 12, was it not for Fed.

It was suicide though, going with two in the middle against Cazorla, Wilshere and Arteta. I'm not sure if McD's stubbornness/ego went against what was best for the team today, in not playing Guthrie. Don't get me wrong, Guthrie was out of order in what he did, but as McD has said, he's apologised, been disciplined and we move on. The position we're in, we don't have time for individual beef, and not picking players because of these issues.

We looked better in the second half with three in the middle and Kebe playing a free role by the looks of it, just because he literally was doing what he wants. Was surprised we took Pog off cos I thought he was looking dangerous and up for it. HRK and Alf looked positive when they came on too.

Overall, I don't think we can question the desire or commitment of anyone, we're simply not that good, and at the moment the boys are playing with loads of fear and nerves, which is making us look even worse. A pretty miserable recipe for disaster.

Positives - Fed, Kebe, HRK and trying to play 451.

Highlight of the night - Arsenal fans singing 'Chamakh scored two, Chamakh scored two, how sh1t must you be, Chamakh scored two', followed by chants from us of 'Brian sign him up'.

[SCIAG]

Cummings was abysmal - got utterly destroyed in the first half and for their first 3 goals.

Wenger targeted the weakness. Kebe doesn't offer any protection.

spot on, see my comments above. i think mcd should have played hrk instead of kebe for that reason alone

Clueless. Utterly clueless. Seriously, do people just guess that Kebe must be bad defensively because he's a Francophone winger?

HRK cannot defend at all. Contrastingly, Kebe tracks back and does a reasonable impression of a full back. He's possibly the best winger we've ever had for that, Stephen Hunt got a lot of praise but he was one to press rather than contain.

Any winger would have got destroyed by that combination of Gibbs, Wilshere and Walcott that were targeting Cummings today- and deservedly so, neither right back compares to Shorey.

Err yeah, we couldn't cope with their movement. Gorkss just isn't the player he was. Guthrie and Pearce must play.

[royalsteve]

Totally outclassed tonight (again) , and to mirror others looked beaten after the first went in.

Only plus points were Feds played well, and kept it under 10, Jimmy's back which means we have some threat up the field, and Bill Oddie was excellent after we scord our second.

Negative points are too many to mention in their entirity, but here's a few...

Cummings yet again totally found out with any pass inside him / runner in behind him -

Pog - what a total & utter waste of money

Played 442 against the best passing team in the UK - why oh why we dont try to shore up the mid from kick off with a 5 is beyond me - when we changed it second half we , surprise surprise, looked 'better'

Its not often I've said this about RFC in the past 10 years, but we have seriously screwed up this season - from new players, through to tactics, and coaching - I was hopeful at the begining of the season that we'd learnt from our mistakes from our last Prem campaign, but sadly not.

I just hope that the squad that starts next season (assuming we're down) , is'nt so shellshocked that we struggle again. It took us a while to get over the playoff defeat- a relegation like the one we're heading for could have a seriously damaging effect.

And the Guthrie love in can do one. He's never cut it at Prem level, so why theres this sudden Danny w@nkfest is beyond me.

agreed, apoint against the better teams is a point gained over the crap sides (like us) near us. i hope we park the bus at Citeh - a point there will be like a win - sure it wont help us in the short term but long term it might, remember we have played most of the relegation scrappers away but not at home!

we should have played like an away side today, bradford did against a weakened arsenal side and it worked until arsenals better players came on/bradford tired

[royalsteve]

Pardon the cliche, but that was men against boys. Completely outclassed and it could and should have been 11 or 12, was it not for Fed.

It was suicide though, going with two in the middle against Cazorla, Wilshere and Arteta. I'm not sure if McD's stubbornness/ego went against what was best for the team today, in not playing Guthrie. Don't get me wrong, Guthrie was out of order in what he did, but as McD has said, he's apologised, been disciplined and we move on. The position we're in, we don't have time for individual beef, and not picking players because of these issues.

We looked better in the second half with three in the middle and Kebe playing a free role by the looks of it, just because he literally was doing what he wants. Was surprised we took Pog off cos I thought he was looking dangerous and up for it. HRK and Alf looked positive when they came on too.

Overall, I don't think we can question the desire or commitment of anyone, we're simply not that good, and at the moment the boys are playing with loads of fear and nerves, which is making us look even worse. A pretty miserable recipe for disaster.

Positives - Fed, Kebe, HRK and trying to play 451.

scared rabbit seems to be the way we play, then when the other team is out sight we seem to think "ah oxf*rd lets go for them" - odd, seems to be the opposite to the usual reading mentality

Highlight of the night - Arsenal fans singing 'Chamakh scored two, Chamakh scored two, how sh1t must you be, Chamakh scored two', followed by chants from us of 'Brian sign him up'.

[Millsy]

HE ALSO APOLOGISED

Shit, must remember that the next time I kill someone.

"Err yeah, sorry about Your Honour, i'll learn from this and move on"

"Okay that'll do son, be on your way"

Not like McDermott to hold a grudge against someone is it though? Pearce, Roberts, Guthrie..... going down and it's his fault.

Sorry but I don't get this at all.

What the F*CK is these players problems with a man who takes a bunch of nobodies to the top of the Championship. What Brian did deserves ultimate respect and no poxy player should have a go at him, not just because he's their manager but because he has earned phenomenal respect. If a title winning manager says jump, you say how high. If he says you're shit, you say how can I improve. If he says you're good but I just need to experiment another system you say yes sir. If he says I want your butt to warm my bench for me you ask what temperature. You DON'T f**k with your boss, especially not one who has just given you a title.

If Roberts thinks he knows more than a title winning manager maybe he should retire now and try his luck. If Pearce is unhappy about a contract situation, well what's that got to do with Brian? And if it has something to do with him, then fine by me- perhaps he agrees that he'd be sh*t for the prem because he's slow. And if Guthrie.. actually no screw him he can just plain piss off for obvious reasons.

Where's the respect? The sooner these guys are out the better. Compare them to the likes of Cummings who was rubbish, was dropped and didn't say a word against the manager but just worked hard and got in the team. Or Pog, who just gets on like a professional despite not being started most games. I'm tired of this BS and as far as I'm concerned there's one horrible egg in the squad starting all this and it's Guthrie.

[larry1971]

that was some of the worst defending I have ever seen from a premiership side Arsenal scored their goals with such ease it was embarrassing if it wasn't for Fedders it could quite easily have been 10.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

The morning after and I do not feel any better about another defeat (or what should have been a rugby score).

We are just not good enough in many departments.

Right back Cummings is woeful yet we have given him a three year contract.

Gorkss is out of his depth, when in space he can’t head or pass to his to his own team mates.

The midfield of Tabb, Leigterwood and McAnuff are simply not good enough at this level .

Fed’s and Kebe can hold their heads high.

As McDermott continually says we move on to the next game which happens to be Man City away. If we play 4-4-2 the rugby score will happen, with a new premiership score line for the record books in the offing if City fire on all cylinders.

[soggy biscuit]

Scored 7 goals against arsenal in 2 games. Not bad for the 'whipping boys'

[urz13]

Pog's best performance in a reading shirt, didn't give the ball away once and was the only player to look like he was trying and still people criticise him

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

Headline on RFC O/S - Brian: Don't write us off.

Sign some players Brian that can play at this level and your words may come true!!

[retro royal]

What a crock of excrement that was, what the hell are the coach's doing with the players, how many goals have we conceeded to a pulled back ball, to the penalty spot, Shorey (last two games have been poor) kept pushing up into midfield, pulling Gorks & Mariappa with him, leaving Cummings to mark the winger and the centre forward shocking. When the ball comes in both defenders go towards Feds goal line and leave the penalty spot clear. I would be tempted to play 5-3-1-1 against citeh maybe inviting pressure, but we simply cant go on as we are.
<FM2013>

Feds
Cummings Mariapa Pearce Gorkks Shorey
Tabb Leigertwood McAnuff
HRK
Le Fondre/Roberts if fit

With the full backs pushing up when they can, if karacan's fit replacing Leigertwood, but too soon and probably better resting him til boxing day.

</FM2013>

[Winnershroyal]

Went down to the concourse after the third and considered carrying on through the doors back home but decided to stick it out. Didn't expect a win or even a draw but still hate seeing us comprehensively rinsed, and knowing its being watched by hundreds of thousands on TV just makes it worse for me. You're getting Effed on the telly? You bet, we've been effed on the telly more times than Linda Lovelace and its getting tedious. Unlike watching Linda.

Jobi..Jobi...didn't touch the ball until the 16th minute and then it was to come back from being caught in a schoolboy offside move. Tabb, Gorks, Ledge, mariappa, Hunt all completely lost at this level. There is no fix, I know that, I hope we don't gamble on a big name, we need 4 or 5 and that sort of quality at the budget Mcd will have will just buy journeymen dross. I say stick with what we have, and target beating Derby's points tally only.

Highlight for me was Alf goal, completely over the top celebration around me, quite enjoyed that. Other than that...got in at 5 past ten, that was good.

[muddyfeet]

Worryingly over the weeks we seem to be getting worse instead of better and for that something must be wrong in the training department, if Neville can predict whats going to happen before the game you'd hope our coaching staff had some clue

Not sure how we get back from this as the team has totally lost their confidence, heads were down as soon as we kicked off. We need to get at teams like Arsenal and not let them come at us. Teams know they just need to run at as and generally they are straight thro the midfield and central defence. Gorkss was awful, Ledge not far behind, we aren't going to be getting anywhere if they miss pass every 5 minutes

I wouldn't mind so much if we went down fighting but it looks like we can hardly muster a whimper at the moment, it's just a waste of last season.

Imo Shorey drifted into the midfield way too often exposing us on that side

[pea]

What is the record for consecutive losses in this division?

[Jano]

Didn't see Shorey getting exposed at all, everything was going down the other side!

[Alexander Litvinenko]

Worryingly over the weeks we seem to be getting worse instead of better and for that something must be wrong in the training department, if Neville can predict whats going to happen before the game you'd hope our coaching staff had some clue

Not sure how we get back from this as the team has totally lost their confidence, heads were down as soon as we kicked off. We need to get at teams like Arsenal and not let them come at us. Teams know they just need to run at as and generally they are straight thro the midfield and central defence. Gorkss was awful, Ledge not far behind, we aren't going to be getting anywhere if they miss pass every 5 minutes

I wouldn't mind so much if we went down fighting but it looks like we can hardly muster a whimper at the moment, it's just a waste of last season.

Imo Shorey drifted into the midfield way too often exposing us on that side

I think people know what's going to happen well enough - and that's part of the problem itself. Psychologically we are finished and we know it. We're completely and utterly demoralised, with no hope and no new ideas so we have no enthusiasm, energy or confidence.

The poor bloody infantry are being sent out week after week to face the opposition tanks without hope of a decent battle plan or whisper of reinforcements, and it's just sapping everything they did once have to offer.

[muddyfeet]

Just my opinion, I sit on that side and he kept drifting into the middle
Obv not as bad as the rest of the defence

[wingnut]

Not a single one of our outfield players deserves any credit for that performance, least of all any of our defence - including Shorey. Feds saved us from a rugby score more or less single handed.

Yes, we were better in the second half when Macanuff moved into the middle, but this also left us even more exposed down our left.

Our centre halves were continually caught in two minds whether to go for the man on the ball or take the runner, with the end result being that they took neither leaving acres of space for both. This was shown when Cazorla was able to score with a header for his first (Arsenal's 2nd) when 6 yards out with the ball at nut-height completely unchallenged.