Back from the miracle

[windermere_royal]

Well that was weird.

Dreadful first half with both sides looking far from premiership until their goal, which was excellent. After that, West Brom looked streets ahead of us and we were an utter shambles. Lukaku demonstrated to Pog how to play the lone striker role perfectly, constantly giving our centre backs the absolute run-around - should have had a hatrick.

None of our players deserve more than a 5 really and I hope that's the last time I see Gunter play for us. Pog's first touch is still dreadful and he's completely unable to take on and beat a man.

Funny that, I am sure there was one point in the game where I saw him take on and beat three men! Sadly his run started in our half and was ended before he could get close enough to their goal.

He also turned his man inside the box and got to the line but his dangerous cutback was scrambled away. and I think he has a very good first touch for a big man, got to agree that Lukaku was an handful throughout,

[gazzer, loyal royal]

Have to say Guthrie was very good second half. Always wanted the ball and rarely gave it away. All the bad press he has had, thought he was excellent today.

Frederick massively at fault for their second, you can't have a go at your defenders if it goes 2 yards inside your near post

[SCIAG]

LOL @ the masses leaving Y25/26 after 80 minutes. Yes, it happened all around the pitch, but it was noticeably worst in that corner. The West Stand were probably the best for staying until the end.

Ref 8 for one!! He was one of the worst we've seen this season.

Out of interest, which referees have you seen that you would have deemed to have good matches?

I think our priority needs to be a midfielder who can support Pog. Karacan and McAnuff were both tried behind the striker and neither looked any good. Guthrie also can't do it. Even just putting Taylor or D'Ath on the bench would be a step in the right direction.

Ratings:
Feds 7- some good saves to keep us in it. Maybe could have done better for the second, will need to see again
Gunter 7- one of his better matches. Not outstanding, but not an obvious weakness.
Pearce 7- brilliant run up the pitch and then played one of the best passes of the match through to McCleary. A bit flat footed against Lukaku though.
Mariappa 8 MOTM- so quick, so composed. I think he'll be a really good partner for Pearce. Only criticism could be for the second goal.
Harte 6- poor passing. Defended fairly well, but a liability in possession.
Kebe 7.5- at the masses who wanted him to be dropped for McCleary. Excellent, won a penalty and scored a goal.
Guthrie 7.5- one fantastic pass to Kebe. A few sloppy passes. Generally dictated the tempo well. Needs to get more games alongside a ball winner.
Karacan 6.5- put some good tackles in. Not much cop going forward.
Carrico 6.5- don't get the bashing. Some good touches, shielded the defence well, and did a good job supporting the full backs and blocking crosses. One major mistake. I hope he keeps his place (barring a new signing).
McAnuff- as a left winger 6, behind the striker 4, in midfield 7.5- kept giving the ball away first half. In the second half he was all at sea at first, he didn't make himself available to receive the ball enough and doesn't look like he knows how to play behind the striker. Once Karacan went off he improved and formed a good partnership with Guthrie, spraying the ball around.
Pog 7- took his goal very well. Isolated once more, needs support from the midfield.

Subs:
McCleary 6.5- had a shot blocked, was lively. Not really enough to justify a start though.
Le Fondre 7- didn't really do much, but scoring a penalty alone is probably worth a 7.

[RoyalinBracknell]

Fantastic ending to the game. Brilliant atmosphere and loved the celebrations at the end. One of my favourite Reading games in recent times.

There's still a long way to go of course but sometimes you've just got to enjoy the victory. We showed a lot of guts and spirit at the end there. Will it be enough? Probably not but possibly. We're certainly looking in better shape than we were a month ago. Our home form's not been too bad and if we can keep getting the lucky bounces then who knows...

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Fantastic ending to the game. Brilliant atmosphere and loved the celebrations at the end. One of my favourite Reading games in recent times.

There's still a long way to go of course but sometimes you've just got to enjoy the victory. We showed a lot of guts and spirit at the end there. Will it be enough? Probably not but possibly. We're certainly looking in better shape than we were a month ago. Our home form's not been too bad and if we can keep getting the lucky bounces then who knows...

Exactly. 7 points from 9 at home is just what the doctor ordered.

[Royal91]

Federici - 7 super save at 0-0, beaten at the near post for the second, but I'd lay more fault on Mariappa.
Gunter - 6 ok, our problem wasn't down the right today... needs to cross better.
Harte - 5 poor set pieces, gave the ball away easily too often
Pearce - 8 Only defender with any real credit in the bank today, checked by Lukaku for the first goal, great run to their box
Mariappa - 5 ok on the whole, but absolutely gifted Lukaku number two, stood off and just stepped across so he could cut inside and shoot at the whole goal.
Carrico - 5 touch and passing on the whole not bad, not up to speed and poor positioning.
Karacan - 6.5 poor first half, chasing shadows and mis-using the ball, second half winning second balls and keeping pressure up before subbed.
Guthrie - 5 loose telegraphed passing, weak shots, generally just poor
McAnuff - 5.5 as usual, out of the game once moved inside, some flashes, but just so short of confidence its frightening.
Kebe - 8 MotM first half poor, slowed down attacks not really in the game, second half excellent, scored, won a pen and supported the attack
Pog - 7 worked hard, but got stupid service he had little chance with, some loose passes and then a super finish to win the game

McCleary - 8 some poor crossing but stretched them with pace and started getting space as they switched off, ended up putting in dangerous balls we could win the clearances off.
ALF - 8 superb dummy for Kebe for the first, such a cool penalty. I love this guy.

McDermott - 7 not sure his decisions were all right, but I put most of the poor performance mainly down to the players for a change and even if I didn't think he necessarily got both subs 100% right, they bloody worked, and that's all that matters
Ref - 8 don't think he got a lot wrong at all.

You really dont help yourself at times Ian! Quite possibly the most ridiculous ratings I have ever seen on this site! I could take issue with at least 7 of them and Guthries is plain embarrassing.

Haha these ratings are simply laughable. Guthrie with loose passing and generally poor. He was oxf*rd immense today, easily his best performance. Why because he was dropped deeper.! Easily our best player along with Mapps!
Kebe was oxf*rd useless along with McAnuff. Don't let his goal blur your vision. He is not a premier league player

[Winnershroyal]

Winnable Homes - Rangers, saints, Wigan, villa, Sunderland 15 points there.


Few draws and it just could be on.

Could.

[Maquisard]

Federici - 7 super save at 0-0, beaten at the near post for the second, but I'd lay more fault on Mariappa.
Gunter - 6 ok, our problem wasn't down the right today... needs to cross better.
Harte - 5 poor set pieces, gave the ball away easily too often
Pearce - 8 Only defender with any real credit in the bank today, checked by Lukaku for the first goal, great run to their box
Mariappa - 5 ok on the whole, but absolutely gifted Lukaku number two, stood off and just stepped across so he could cut inside and shoot at the whole goal.
Carrico - 5 touch and passing on the whole not bad, not up to speed and poor positioning.
Karacan - 6.5 poor first half, chasing shadows and mis-using the ball, second half winning second balls and keeping pressure up before subbed.
Guthrie - 5 loose telegraphed passing, weak shots, generally just poor
McAnuff - 5.5 as usual, out of the game once moved inside, some flashes, but just so short of confidence its frightening.
Kebe - 8 MotM first half poor, slowed down attacks not really in the game, second half excellent, scored, won a pen and supported the attack
Pog - 7 worked hard, but got stupid service he had little chance with, some loose passes and then a super finish to win the game

McCleary - 8 some poor crossing but stretched them with pace and started getting space as they switched off, ended up putting in dangerous balls we could win the clearances off.
ALF - 8 superb dummy for Kebe for the first, such a cool penalty. I love this guy.

McDermott - 7 not sure his decisions were all right, but I put most of the poor performance mainly down to the players for a change and even if I didn't think he necessarily got both subs 100% right, they bloody worked, and that's all that matters
Ref - 8 don't think he got a lot wrong at all.

Ian, I love you dearly but... how can you possibly give Carrico and Guthrie the same score. Carrico looked like he'd never played football before - missed the ball twice, sent it swirling into the sky for no reason a few times and was generally embarrassing - played like me, in fact! Guthrie contributed much much more and was certainly not worse than Jobi.

[windermere_royal]

Alfie said on Twitter that Ben Foster asked him before the penalty where he normally puts them. Alfie's response to him: "In the net."

[SydenhamRoyal]

It was almost as if he was asking Jimmy whether he should give a penalty or not.[/quote]

Seems appropriate: "You're Jimmy Kebe, I'll do what you want"

[CayeneMatt]

Federici - 7 super save at 0-0, beaten at the near post for the second, but I'd lay more fault on Mariappa.
Gunter - 6 ok, our problem wasn't down the right today... needs to cross better.
Harte - 5 poor set pieces, gave the ball away easily too often
Pearce - 8 Only defender with any real credit in the bank today, checked by Lukaku for the first goal, great run to their box
Mariappa - 5 ok on the whole, but absolutely gifted Lukaku number two, stood off and just stepped across so he could cut inside and shoot at the whole goal.
Carrico - 5 touch and passing on the whole not bad, not up to speed and poor positioning.
Karacan - 6.5 poor first half, chasing shadows and mis-using the ball, second half winning second balls and keeping pressure up before subbed.
Guthrie - 5 loose telegraphed passing, weak shots, generally just poor
McAnuff - 5.5 as usual, out of the game once moved inside, some flashes, but just so short of confidence its frightening.
Kebe - 8 MotM first half poor, slowed down attacks not really in the game, second half excellent, scored, won a pen and supported the attack
Pog - 7 worked hard, but got stupid service he had little chance with, some loose passes and then a super finish to win the game

McCleary - 8 some poor crossing but stretched them with pace and started getting space as they switched off, ended up putting in dangerous balls we could win the clearances off.
ALF - 8 superb dummy for Kebe for the first, such a cool penalty. I love this guy.

McDermott - 7 not sure his decisions were all right, but I put most of the poor performance mainly down to the players for a change and even if I didn't think he necessarily got both subs 100% right, they bloody worked, and that's all that matters
Ref - 8 don't think he got a lot wrong at all.

Good God. If you want to stop half the posters on here thinking you're a total cock end, you need to go to the games and watch. Feds was more to blame for the second. Harte didn't give away the ball once that I saw tho most of his set pieces were shite. Mariappa was far superior to Pearce, Guthrie had a great game and got better, but McAnuff actually improved when he moved in to the middle and supported McCleary well.

Apart from all that Ian, you were spot on.....

[cpmurph]

I got my leg stuck in the chair when Pog made it 3-2, no clue how....guess that's what happens when you just go apesh*t

We played terrible for most of the game but it's the win that counts.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I got my leg stuck in the chair when Pog made it 3-2, no clue how....guess that's what happens when you just go apesh*t

We played terrible for most of the game but it's the win that counts.

Football is just awesome sometimes.

[Royal91]

I got my leg stuck in the chair when Pog made it 3-2, no clue how....guess that's what happens when you just go apesh*t

We played terrible for most of the game but it's the win that counts.

That is true. Cut my bloody knee going mental!

[Friday's Legacy]

That felt like the worst 80 minutes we have played this season, but I've said that now on a few occasions. Is 4-5-1 really going to keep us up? Yes we've tightened up at the back, although we're still conceding too many goals, however offensively we are struggling with it. Continuously lumping it forward for Pogrebnyak to try and hold it up rarely seems to work for us, and for all his efforts, he really struggles with it too. We're also still failing to get bodies forward to support him, so when we do get a rare opportunity to hurt the opposition, we're all too often wasting it. The change to 4-4-2 made all the difference. Le Fondre's work-rate is often unappreciated judging by the comments online, but he continues to make the difference when he's out there, and could be forgiven for feeling a little aggrieved at starting from the bench at the moment. For me he is a lot more effective than Pogrebnyak.

The last ten minutes are just a blur. I couldn't find it in me to celebrate Kebe pulling it back to 2-1, I was just fed up with the poor performance up until this point; and then suddenly we have the penalty and we're 2-2 and on the front foot. The atmosphere was absolutely fantastic, and the smugness wiped off the Baggies faces was great to see. I can't comment on the winner. I saw the ball sit up in the box and then bang, all hell broke loose as Pogrebnyak put it away. It was one of those moments where your heart races so much so that you can't catch your breath when you try and sing and enjoy sticking one up at the opposition fans. In fact, I think I may have got a little carried away, as royalexile appeared to catch on camera.

Stand-outs for me we're McCleary again, who is a far greater threat than McAnuff, who continues to frustrate. Guthrie was also superb today. He has a fantastic range of passing, and he put himself about a bit as well. You could see he wanted the ball, rather than hide, and on several occasions he was talking to the bench and taking instructions; and Brian commented after the game he was delighted with how he took them on board and Guthrie's patience paid off in those final minutes. Mariappa also continues to impress me. His pace especially. I'm a fan of Morrison, especially for set-pieces, but it's hard to justify dropping Pearce or Mariappa to make room for him.

Delighted with the result, but it papers over a lot of cracks.

[rhroyal]

LOL @ Steve Clarke complaining at the penalty decision in his interview. It was the definition of stonewall.

[Royal91]

I thought we kept the ball shorter today which was a positive and the stats back that up.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/live ... 1778/stats



4-5-1 is still the way forward now we just need to get more support to the Pog. I won't have my mind changed because of 8mins of 4-4-2!

[CayeneMatt]

That felt like the worst 80 minutes we have played this season, but I've said that now on a few occasions. Is 4-5-1 really going to keep us up? Yes we've tightened up at the back, although we're still conceding too many goals, however offensively we are struggling with it. Continuously lumping it forward for Pogrebnyak to try and hold it up rarely seems to work for us, and for all his efforts, he really struggles with it too. We're also still failing to get bodies forward to support him, so when we do get a rare opportunity to hurt the opposition, we're all too often wasting it. The change to 4-4-2 made all the difference. Le Fondre's work-rate is often unappreciated judging by the comments online, but he continues to make the difference when he's out there, and could be forgiven for feeling a little aggrieved at starting from the bench at the moment. For me he is a lot more effective than Pogrebnyak.

The last ten minutes are just a blur. I couldn't find it in me to celebrate Kebe pulling it back to 2-1, I was just fed up with the poor performance up until this point; and then suddenly we have the penalty and we're 2-2 and on the front foot. The atmosphere was absolutely fantastic, and the smugness wiped off the Baggies faces was great to see. I can't comment on the winner. I saw the ball sit up in the box and then bang, all hell broke loose as Pogrebnyak put it away. It was one of those moments where your heart races so much so that you can't catch your breath when you try and sing and enjoy sticking one up at the opposition fans. In fact, I think I may have got a little carried away, as royalexile appeared to catch on camera.

Stand-outs for me we're McCleary again, who is a far greater threat than McAnuff, who continues to frustrate. Guthrie was also superb today. He has a fantastic range of passing, and he put himself about a bit as well. You could see he wanted the ball, rather than hide, and on several occasions he was talking to the bench and taking instructions; and Brian commented after the game he was delighted with how he took them on board and Guthrie's patience paid off in those final minutes. Mariappa also continues to impress me. His pace especially. I'm a fan of Morrison, especially for set-pieces, but it's hard to justify dropping Pearce or Mariappa to make room for him.

Delighted with the result, but it papers over a lot of cracks.

Post of the thread. Can't disagree with any of that.

[Optimist]

Just can't comprehend how we managed to pull it off. Absolute sh!t for 82 mins then outstanding for 8.
Carrico was clearly not match fit, so I'm not bothered about his performance, he will only get better, and well done to Brian for having faith.

Atmosphere today was dreadful, other than Y25 & 26 it was like a graveyard until we made it 2-2. The north and west seemed to have even giving up clapping along to the drummer.

The ten-man pile up after Pog's goal shows how much this means to the players, it's a pleasure to support them.

[ZacNaloen]

I thought we kept the ball shorter today which was a positive and the stats back that up.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/live ... 1778/stats



4-5-1 is still the way forward now we just need to get more support to the Pog. I won't have my mind changed because of 8mins of 4-4-2!

Those stats definitely suggest we were deserved winners tbh