BFTG - Fulham

[biff]

That was utterly vvank and in no way entertaining.

worst than QPR?

Better but still an utter waste of everyones time. Football is meant to be enjoyable. This wasnt and continues to not be.

[Oilroyal]

That was utterly vvank and in no way entertaining.

worst than QPR?

Better but still an utter waste of everyones time. Football is meant to be enjoyable. This wasnt and continues to not be.

Disappointed after today's result then? Same I was after QPR but having voiced my concern was berated on here with cries of, “it’s only the first game FFS” … Foresight and insight is a heavy cross to bare when communicating with EastEnders fans and twitter kids.

[biff]

I'm disappointed at how safe we play this game. Too many occasions where a player could be skipped in order to stretch the game further, but all the passing is to the nearest man. Thats no way to play this style. The appreciation of possession is all well and good, but as professionals, basic ball retention is more or less the least we should expect of them. Too safe, too frustrating to enjoy.

[CountryRoyal]

Would we have taken a point before kick off? Absolutely. Sometimes going down to 10 men can have a galvanising effect and as has been said it probably worked against us, regardless you would have thought over the game we could have made the extra man advantage count.

Anyway we're up and running now. I think we should be grateful of any points we can get whilst we have a lot of injuries and haven't finalised brining in new players. Will be a struggle for a little bit I think but it's a long season and all you need is a couple of good runs to be in with a chance.

Nothing to worry about.

[biff]

Quinn needs to be given a chance.

[Oilroyal]

I see we're still wearing rose-tinted on here.

Let’s just be honest with each other for one moment, just for once. Unless Jaap gets some serious additions, Jaap and the team is always going to be experimental, which in parts yielded some currency last season. We are currently miles off the pace as was proven against weakened 10 men Fulham team today, and QPR last week. I’m a Reading fan, but guys, we’re nowhere near where we need at the start of a season unless we sign a PROVEN striker and as a team start to move the ball quicker with some propose up to the final third.

[Oilroyal]

Quinn needs to be given a chance.

Clutching straws

[CountryRoyal]

I see we're still wearing rose-tinted on here.

Let’s just be honest with each other for one moment, just for once. Unless Jaap gets some serious additions, Jaap and the team is always going to be experimental, which in parts yielded some currency last season. We are currently miles off the pace as was proven against weakened 10 men Fulham team today, and QPR last week. I’m a Reading fan, but guys, we’re nowhere near where we need at the start of a season unless we sign a PROVEN striker and as a team start to move the ball quicker with some propose up to the final third.

I don't think I could ever be described as an RTG but you said it yourself "unless Stam gets some additions".

There's still 2 and a half weeks left of the transfer window. If by then we haven't recruited any quality and or still playing poorly then it's something to be concerned about, but until then what's the point?

Even with the squad the same as it, performances will start to pick up the more we play id suggest. We're effectively having our pre season now.

[Oilroyal]

We now have a decent squad, a decent “YOUNG” manager who will hopefully add and attract quality to the squad but for god sake, if things are not going our way (like now) then we will need to stand up as supporters and shout loudest. Loudest to what we want for our team, what we want for our town club! otherwise why would these Chinese billionaire people care to invest if we continue to turn up every week, smiling regardless!?! The time of our local businessman"made good" investing in his local club has long gone so take those rose-tinted glasses off and support of YOUR club. YOU/WE ARE MORE POWEREFUL THAN YOU THINK ... Get vocal or face becoming another Blackburn Rovers.

Why would you accept this from billionaires owners? We're pissing about with 1.5m signings in hope of returning them a profit, but let's not complain... it's not the Reading way? ... my arse....Dont get me started!

[Nameless]

We now have a decent squad, a decent “YOUNG” manager who will hopefully add and attract quality to the squad but for god sake, if things are not going our way (like now) then we will need to stand up as supporters and shout loudest. Loudest to what we want for our team, what we want for our town club! otherwise why would these Chinese billionaire people care to invest if we continue to turn up every week, smiling regardless!?! The time of our local businessman"made good" investing in his local club has long gone so take those rose-tinted glasses off and support of YOUR club. YOU/WE ARE MORE POWEREFUL THAN YOU THINK ... Get vocal or face becoming another Blackburn Rovers.

Why would you accept this from billionaires owners? We're pissing about with 1.5m signings in hope of returning them a profit, but let's not complain... it's not the Reading way? ... my arse....Dont get me started!

Given the time of the post presumably there were a few beers involved ?

Lol at the Blackburn reference . Been endless fan protests, boycotts etc to absolutely no effect. No owner is going to throw stupid money around because someone posts on the internet that they should and if you are suggesting protests in the ground Imwish you well because I really don't think there is anything to paint a banner about.
Fans will,ALWAYs want more money spent (and the sort of fan who demand money spent rather than the right players are brought in just typifies the Soccer AM/ Sky type of fan)

We've got lots of the injured players coming back, we've got transfer deals happening and I suspect in a month we'll the extreme emotions that have bubbled up from a few will have died down.

This is a squad that we're seconds away from promotion, that is no weaker and probably slightly stronger than last season that has taken a point off the greatest footballing team in history ! Maybe some people need to get a little perspective. I know it's an internet thing to massively over react to something in order to try and come back a few months later to claim to have been 'proved right' but really, way too soon to be calling for protests ....

[Platypuss]

That's some hideously entitled shizzle right there.

[Nameless]

From me ??

[Jackson Corner]

Let's face it we are boring we were last year and from what I've seen so far nothings changed. When you win boring which we managed a lot last season then you forget how crap the game was and take the 3 points. Today was awfull to watch against 10 men we just kept passing sideways and backwards created nothing apart from the odd pop from range at goal. Once we got the goal we persisted in playing this way until the enevitable mistake was punished.

[CountryRoyal]

We now have a decent squad, a decent “YOUNG” manager who will hopefully add and attract quality to the squad but for god sake, if things are not going our way (like now) then we will need to stand up as supporters and shout loudest. Loudest to what we want for our team, what we want for our town club! otherwise why would these Chinese billionaire people care to invest if we continue to turn up every week, smiling regardless!?! The time of our local businessman"made good" investing in his local club has long gone so take those rose-tinted glasses off and support of YOUR club. YOU/WE ARE MORE POWEREFUL THAN YOU THINK ... Get vocal or face becoming another Blackburn Rovers.

Why would you accept this from billionaires owners? We're pissing about with 1.5m signings in hope of returning them a profit, but let's not complain... it's not the Reading way? ... my arse....Dont get me started!

Oil I have a lot of time for a lot of the stuff you post but you're making yourself look a bit silly here. A post that would not look out of place on the Charlton, Blackpool, Leyton Orient...etc message boards.

I can semi understand the frustration except for the fact that we're two games into the season succeeding a playoff final appearance in our manager's first season at the club, we've barely had a preseason (a problem by itself tbf though). My gripe is with the bemoaning of lack of signings. It's a standard football fan demand "spend some money". We are spending money, we're not going to be spending £15m on player after player and put our club in a potentially precarious financial position, we operate pretty close to the limits as it is. We've proven time and time again that you can be successful without spending a lot on transfer fees so it honestly surprises me that so many Reading fans still have this attitude, it does tend to rear it's head more when we aren't doing so well.

I guess maybe this is to be expected, considering the amount of discord and dissatisfaction last season, a season where we were practically in the playoffs all year, consistently proved people wrong, made it to Wembley and to being within a couple of kicks of the Premier League, then perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that protestations would be more prevalent and vehement.

It's crazy. We're two games into the season ffs.

[LWJ]

If Fulham play with 10 men behind the ball, then there won't be as much space for us and it will be harder to create an opening.

If we attack with 6-8 men then when Fulham counter there will be lots of space for them and it will make it look easy to create an opening. Especially with their pace.

We were unlucky today, really should have been 2-4 up by the time a stupid mistake happened. Buttons tip round the post against Swift and Mendes, his 1v1 save against Kelly, the amount of last ditch blocks by Fulham defenders... am I the only person remembering these?!?

Also Swift MOTM for me. Don't get the hate for Swift or love for Kelly. Swift was always getting on the ball and looking for it on either wing, giving an option to the wide men. He created a number of chances purely with his tackling which was outstanding today. Yes he could have shot more, but you don't want him to be greedy, you would hope stam teaches him to find the right balance.

Kelly on the other hand was slow distributing the ball first half, hardly ventured forward (maybe part of the game plan?) and he only gave an outlet to the CBs. That's what Evans role is. For me Kelly doesn't have enough impact in games when he plays deeper.

On to Villa on tuesday who seem be in a bit of a crisis at the moment. Glad to hear all the belmonts are still around on BBC Berkshire.

[Snowflake Royal]

From me ??

You can't see him for all the toys flying around his pram, but I'm pretty sure it was aimed at Oil and his never ending tantrum.

[LWJ]

to stretch a team and pull them out of position, we need to be skipping a player more often. So Ilori to Moore, rather than Ilori to McShane to Moore. We also need to fizz the ball a bit more, so it gets to the player quicker. On top of that we need to make sure we play the ball into the recipient's path more, encouraging them to drive forward. There was too much right to feet where you need to control before you can do anything too often. Finally, we need to have someone on each side who is prepared to hug the touchline in these sorts of situations, and when we switch it to them, it can't be an airy hanging ball to their feet or chest, it has to be a ball ahead of them into space with a decent pace on it so the opposition don't have the chance to just shuffle across whilst it's in the air.

All of these are small adjustments, but they'll turn a good if rather pedestrian system, into a really really good one. It'll come.y

Completely agree

[royalsroyalsroyals92]

If Fulham play with 10 men behind the ball, then there won't be as much space for us and it will be harder to create an opening.

If we attack with 6-8 men then when Fulham counter there will be lots of space for them and it will make it look easy to create an opening. Especially with their pace.

We were unlucky today, really should have been 2-4 up by the time a stupid mistake happened. Buttons tip round the post against Swift and Mendes, his 1v1 save against Kelly, the amount of last ditch blocks by Fulham defenders... am I the only person remembering these?!?

Also Swift MOTM for me. Don't get the hate for Swift or love for Kelly. Swift was always getting on the ball and looking for it on either wing, giving an option to the wide men. He created a number of chances purely with his tackling which was outstanding today. Yes he could have shot more, but you don't want him to be greedy, you would hope stam teaches him to find the right balance.

Kelly on the other hand was slow distributing the ball first half, hardly ventured forward (maybe part of the game plan?) and he only gave an outlet to the CBs. That's what Evans role is. For me Kelly doesn't have enough impact in games when he plays deeper.

On to Villa on tuesday who seem be in a bit of a crisis at the moment. Glad to hear all the belmonts are still around on BBC Berkshire.

Probably the first reasonable assessment of the game I've seen.

It's still early - we probably haven't quite found the rhythm yet, but the support around is certainly the worst aspect of watching a match at the Madejski.

SO sick of negative fans, shouting and slating the team - I honestly don't know why some of them bother to come to games as it seems to cause them more upset and stress than anything else! Remember, this club was 19th 18 months ago, and looked as if we were on a large downward spiral!!

The game was average - we didn't go for it as much as we could, but Fulham did what we ended up doing when we went down to 10 men last season - parking the bus and just taking whatever little chances they had. Big shame not to get 3 points, but there were signs of encouragement.

Definitely need to just work on the final ball (which is blatantly obvious), and the only thing that frustrated me was the passing around the edge of the box before sinking the ball in when there was no runner and no where near the ball. Surely someone would've given a shout?? That being said - a little more consistency and a driving force somewhere on the pitch and I think we'll be back in gear.

[genome]

worst than QPR?

Better but still an utter waste of everyones time. Football is meant to be enjoyable. This wasnt and continues to not be.

Disappointed after today's result then? Same I was after QPR but having voiced my concern was berated on here with cries of, “it’s only the first game FFS” … Foresight and insight is a heavy cross to bare when communicating with EastEnders fans and twitter kids.

rofl

I can't believe you're acting all high-and-mighty after the second game, where we actually made a marked improvement on QPR.

Personally, I would've saved the I-told-you-so's until at least few more games in.

[Sutekh]

worst than QPR?

Better but still an utter waste of everyones time. Football is meant to be enjoyable. This wasnt and continues to not be.

Disappointed after today's result then? Same I was after QPR but having voiced my concern was berated on here with cries of, “it’s only the first game FFS” … Foresight and insight is a heavy cross to bare when communicating with EastEnders fans and twitter kids.

I absolutely detest this style of play. it is utterly tedious and lacks any passion or real excitement (and that in turn effects the generally poor atmospheres at home games). To get to that level the play it needs to be quicker and more direct and that will only come from better coaching and buying technically better players (which I think we have failed to do this summer so far).

However I still support this club and will get behind the team at every game despite the perceived shortcomings and hope the results continue like they did last season, as though the style is awful it seems to work for some reason.