Back from the Blackpool game...

[RoyalBlue]

As an aside, did anyone else notice what happened at the "offside" goal? I know the Blackpool fans were incensed by how late the lino's flag was. But it wasn't late - he tried to put his flag us as soon as the ball was played but it fell apart in his hands! He had to put the flag back on the stick before he could flag - otherwise he'd just have "sticked"

That explains it! Thanks!

I was sure I hadn't seen his flag go up when the striker ran onto the ball - and now I know it was because he hadn't put it up! Having been gutted that they had got the much feared/expected equaliser, I was delighted when my daughter pointed out the linesman now stood with his flag up!! Best bit was it took some of the Blackpool fans absolutely ages to realise that there had been no kick off and that they were still a goal down. Some of them looked pretty angry at that point!!

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Blackpool were an awful team but they still managed to outplay us in some areas of the pitch. It was a poor match and another poor performance from us. We need to improve quickly or otherwise we could be going down the table.

[SCIAG]

Don't understand the massive Henry criticsms. Sure, it wasn't a great performance, but he was easily our best player. Two or three good runs, a few good crosses. His movement allowed Rosenior to overlap more often, and he was being double marked and marked for "special treatment" after about 20 minutes, which ultimately resulted in them having a man sent off, yet they continued to double mark him.

I'd like to see Mooney involved in the next match, NHunt is on/off at the moment, Long hasn't scored for a while (though he hasn't had many chances) and Lita isn't good enough. Mooney simply hasn't been given a chance. I think he should start if he's fit, if he's not, then he should be on the bench, with either Long or NHunt starting dependant on training performances etc. I'd be tempted to simply rest NHunt regardless, surely he can't keep that work rate up all season? We'll need him more against Birmingham.

Hahnemann 6- nowt to do
Rosenior 6.5- pretty good
Doobs 5.5- alright, distribution a bit suspect
Ivar 6.5- took his goal well
Armstrong 7- best performance yet
Henry 7 MOTM- lively debut, brightened up an otherwise dull match. Minor mistakes received massive groans which wouldn't have helped.
Marek 6.5- some really nice passes, but simply doesn't see enough of the ball in our system. Good impact sub yes, starter no (though he has the ability and some).
Gunnarsson 6.5- solid
SHunt 6- some good runs, crossing was inconsistant.
NHunt 5.5- contributed little
Doyle 6- likewise but a little better

Subs:
Federici 6- knew the lineo had flagged, took crosses well under pressure (though I feared he would drop one)
Long 6- alright
Convey n/a.

[LWJ]

Marek had a poor game.

Better risky and giving the ball away than safe and sideways.
Marek's passing pushes us forwards, whereas Harpers passing seems to keep us where we are half the time.
I think Cisse is better than Gun on current form, despite Gun scoring crucial goals in the past 2 games (before this).
Cisse is a better all-round midfielder who is strong and not afraid of anyone (so it seems).

As soon as Mr USA went off, the team looked very very fragile. That man is a ROCK for our team and I wish him fitness ASAP.

I'll contradict TV there. Apparently, (because I was doing coursework - i had to listen to the match) we seemed to up the tempo once USA went off. 'Course, tempo doesn't mean performance. It's just a start to a good performance. I think if Karacan was introduced it would have livened our midfield up a bit, especially as Gun ain't our fastest player...

I wan't to be the first to say Henry was poor tonight we need Kebe back

Blimey, I'm really against you lot tonight.
I personally think - for a league debut - Henry played a miracle game. He got past his man a few times and his crosses were decent (although occasionally deep). He did seem to die down a bit in the second half, which is probably why Coppell subbed him off. Still, a decent debut for the young man.

You didn't go to the game stop commenting on how players played. Radio is so biased and a load of bollocks.

[loyalroyal4life]

Gunnar aint a 90 min man hence why cisse and marek should be given a go!!

[Wycombe Royal]

Gunnar aint a 90 min man hence why cisse and marek should be given a go!!

They probably would have been had Cisse not picked up a slight injury.

[Skin]

Blackpool Radio said sHunt was MOTM and probably the best player in the Championship. I lie not.

[Alan Partridge]

Blackpool Radio said sHunt was MOTM and probably the best player in the Championship. I lie not.

That is frightening.

[Ian Royal]

I was listening to the Blackpool commentary. They were a bunch of clueless muppets and no mistake.

[londinium]

Blackpool Radio said sHunt was MOTM and probably the best player in the Championship. I lie not.

It really is strange how people view things... I was listening to that commentary (whilst getting banned from their forum (twice)).

They said that Hunt was all over the place, was the classiest player on the pitch and was Premiership class as he is the best player in the championship.

The funny thing is that they had a completely unbiased opinion towards any Reading player and rated Hunt and Doyle, din't go too much on Henry or Marek!!!

Completely different opinion to most on here.

[Ian Royal]

The commentators sounded pretty amateurish, probably the only two they'd heard of.

Perhaps Caskejovsky was too good for them to appreciate, just like he was too good for half our team to receive passes from him.

[Hoop Blah]

Blackpool Radio said sHunt was MOTM and probably the best player in the Championship. I lie not.

It really is strange how people view things... I was listening to that commentary (whilst getting banned from their forum (twice)).

They said that Hunt was all over the place, was the classiest player on the pitch and was Premiership class as he is the best player in the championship.

The funny thing is that they had a completely unbiased opinion towards any Reading player and rated Hunt and Doyle, din't go too much on Henry or Marek!!!

Completely different opinion to most on here.

Sounds a bit like the days when Sidwell was voted the best player outside the Premiership purely because he'd recently come out of Arsenal and had the most column inches in the papers.

[Tommy Youlden's Ears]

Shunt does my head in. Late in the match, in the south west corner, he did a Ronaldo-esque show pony kick thing followed by a botched heel-flick-and-fall-on-arrrse routine that, whilst it made me laugh, also drove me nuts. He has enough talent do be decent - his pace, energy, determination and scoring knack. Yet he seems to think he's got something of the Best-Ronaldo-Cruyff about him. He doesn't. Last night he had something of the hobbit-on-a-hot-tin-roof about him.

If that bloke would just keep it simple, learn to look around, and forget the court jester act ('Shall I finish with a simultaneous leap, whistle and fart sire?"), he'd be worth that £5m, or more.

Doyle was clearly MoM last night. Whoever said it was Henry wasn't there, or shouldn't be allowed back in. Henry did ok, just.

[Ian Royal]

Shunt does my head in. Late in the match, in the south west corner, he did a Ronaldo-esque show pony kick thing followed by a botched heel-flick-and-fall-on-arrrse routine that, whilst it made me laugh, also drove me nuts. He has enough talent do be decent - his pace, energy, determination and scoring knack. Yet he seems to think he's got something of the Best-Ronaldo-Cruyff about him. He doesn't. Last night he had something of the hobbit-on-a-hot-tin-roof about him.

If that bloke would just keep it simple, learn to look around, and forget the court jester act ('Shall I finish with a simultaneous leap, whistle and fart sire?"), he'd be worth that £5m, or more.

Doyle was clearly MoM last night. Whoever said it was Henry wasn't there, or shouldn't be allowed back in. Henry did ok, just.

The reason Hunt was good in the prem is because he had the balls to try anything despite his limited talent. If you have a go it frightens defenders and is difficult to predict what'll happen. Yeah a lot of the time it doesn't work or you look an arse, but it does result in some very memorable chances and goals, that wouldn't otherwise have been created.

[Handsome Man]

Blackpool Radio said sHunt was MOTM and probably the best player in the Championship. I lie not.

Difficult to argue with that really

[winchester_royal]

Henry 7 MOTM- lively debut, brightened up an otherwise dull match. Minor mistakes received massive groans which wouldn't have helped.
.

I was startled by this comment, until I looked up and saw who the poster was.....

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Back home now so i thought i would extend my review. We didn't play too well. It was the same sort of balls over and over again and that made it easier for Blackpool. They knew where the ball would end up. In the 2nd half two many people where bunched up on the left. We had about 5 or 6 players in a small confined space. Thus leaving only 1 person in the box. How can you score goals with 1 person in the box whom is not a striker? This player was most of the time Stephen Hunt while Doyle and Noel Hunt where going out of place. Doobs showed us again that he is a mistake prone player. He gave Blackpool the ball one time too much. However though there were some positives out of yesterday's game. Matejovsky played well and looked a player of Premiership class. A player who can create things and is not afraid to move forward with the ball.

My Man of the Match - Ivar Ingimarrson - He kept a clean sheet at the back and scored our goal.

[West Stand Man]

As an aside, did anyone else notice what happened at the "offside" goal? I know the Blackpool fans were incensed by how late the lino's flag was. But it wasn't late - he tried to put his flag us as soon as the ball was played but it fell apart in his hands! He had to put the flag back on the stick before he could flag - otherwise he'd just have "sticked"

That explains it! Thanks!

I was sure I hadn't seen his flag go up when the striker ran onto the ball - and now I know it was because he hadn't put it up! Having been gutted that they had got the much feared/expected equaliser, I was delighted when my daughter pointed out the linesman now stood with his flag up!! Best bit was it took some of the Blackpool fans absolutely ages to realise that there had been no kick off and that they were still a goal down. Some of them looked pretty angry at that point!!

It is a great story - but total fiction. That lino was right in front of me at the time and he signalled as soon as the Blackpool player touched the ball. The lateness was simply the time it took the Blackpool players and fans to spot that.

[Dirk Gently]

As an aside, did anyone else notice what happened at the "offside" goal? I know the Blackpool fans were incensed by how late the lino's flag was. But it wasn't late - he tried to put his flag us as soon as the ball was played but it fell apart in his hands! He had to put the flag back on the stick before he could flag - otherwise he'd just have "sticked"

That explains it! Thanks!

I was sure I hadn't seen his flag go up when the striker ran onto the ball - and now I know it was because he hadn't put it up! Having been gutted that they had got the much feared/expected equaliser, I was delighted when my daughter pointed out the linesman now stood with his flag up!! Best bit was it took some of the Blackpool fans absolutely ages to realise that there had been no kick off and that they were still a goal down. Some of them looked pretty angry at that point!!

It is a great story - but total fiction. That lino was right in front of me at the time and he signalled as soon as the Blackpool player touched the ball. The lateness was simply the time it took the Blackpool players and fans to spot that.

I stand 100% by what I said, and I was right behind the lino too - he put the flag up, the flag flew off the stick and he caught it before it flew completely off - then he had to push the flag part back down the stick before he could raise it properly.

[Billy The Fish]

He seems to think he's got something of the Best-Ronaldo-Cruyff about him. He doesn't. Last night he had something of the hobbit-on-a-hot-tin-roof about him.

Thank you. I've had a sh1t day (still in the office) but that made me laugh out loud.