Back From The Game: Liverpool

[Chaney]

can never understand why its always the other side were shit when we get a decent result..jesus give a bit of credit where its due sometimes.

[Tilehurst End]

Couldn't fault the effort.

Bertrand, Karacan, Sig and McAnuff probably the top performers.

Still worried about Ingi and Bryn's lack of pace especially as BM is trying to get them to defend further up the pitch. SSC mentioned more than once our "ragged" defending.

[PEARCEY]

can never understand why its always the other side were shit when we get a decent result..jesus give a bit of credit where its due sometimes.

Liverpool's own site constantly refers to how poor they were against a shit Championship side. Very few of them give any credit to how well we played. Despite their proud history and expensive signings we played the better football tongight.

[Terminal Boardom]

can never understand why its always the other side were shit when we get a decent result..jesus give a bit of credit where its due sometimes.

We had 3 shots the entire game. HTH.

Yes we played well but should have won had we shown more conviction. Defensively we are still a multiple pile up waiting to happen. This is called perspective.

[PEARCEY]

can never understand why its always the other side were shit when we get a decent result..jesus give a bit of credit where its due sometimes.

We had 3 shots the entire game. HTH.

Yes we played well but should have won had we shown more conviction. Defensively we are still a multiple pile up waiting to happen. This is called perspective.

We had plenty of conviction.......apart from in front of goal which is a confidence thing. We were not so bad defensively. Its not as if Liverpool had shed-loads of chances.

[North Eaat royal]

6 - Fed - Misjudged a through ball early on to give away a stupid free kick. His injury could be a blessing in disguise to give Hamer a decent run. He was one of Brentford's best players last year.

6 - Bertrand - Solid game, I believe it was him who played kuyt on for the goal

6 - Gunnarson - Showed glimpses of promise and glimpses of shite. Gave the ball away to easily.

8 - Mills - Best game in a reading shirt

6 - Ivar - Solid performance, was run around a bit by the liverpool strike force at the end of the 1st Half

8 - Mcanuff - Showed that touch of class that he's been missing in the last few games.

7 - Cisse - Tireless performance in the middle

9 - Karacan - Had gerrard in his pocket for 90 mins. Passed the ball well and covered every blade of grass on the pitch.

8 - Gylfi - Another great performance, he will be an awesome player. Left Gerrard for dead and was a shame his shot wasn't a bit further into the corner.

6 - Rasiak - Nice assist for the goal

7 - Church - Poachers goal, ran the channels well

Subs

7 - Hamer - Caught in no mans land at one point, but also foiled torres well

1 - Long - Obviously lacking confidence, maybe he should be out on loan instead of mooney

5 - Howard - Didn't do a great deal in the short time he was on

[Mad Dog's Ghost]

Terminal. Normally agree with a lot of what you say, but do you not think the defence was far better than normal today. Bertrand had his best game for a long time and Mills and Ingi seemed to hit it off as a defensive pairing. We probably should have had more shots .. but when you have such limited options up front you can't really expect more. Maybe the extra dosh from a replay might help us in that respect.

[SteveRoyal]

Watched it on the box.
I was mighty, mighty impressed with the team performance.

Defence: Shaky, insecure, played a high line which may have caused problems if Liverpool had used Torres' pace. However, conceding one goal against a team that boasts the likes of Kuyt, Gerrard and Torres, they can't have played badly.

Midfield: Seemed to win everything. Committed and direct.

Forwards: Chased balls, ran a lot, not much else.

Individuals:

Federici - Made a few howlers which could have made the result a bitter pill to swallow. A few good saves, however.

Gunnarsson - Not a RB, but did OK considering the level of opposition.
Mills - Clearly lacking match practice, but coped relatively well, and his "hoofs" seemed to find his teammates a lot.
Ingimarsson - Solid enough, although clearly showing his age this season.
Bertrand - Got forward well, defended when needed. Could have been MOTM.

McAnuff - Looked up for it, ran circles around Insua and Arbeloa and caused havoc down the right. E.On's MOTM, but not mine.
Karacan - Ran, ran, ran, got stuck in and gave up nothing. Exactly what Reading have been calling for lately. My MOTM.
Cisse - Got stuck in well.
Sigurdsson - A threat, although clearly doesn't want to hit much with his left. Set pieces exceptional, a talent.

Church - Showed his killers instinct today with his goal. Chased a lot, but also seemed at a loss at times.
Rasiak - Target man. Heads a lot.

Hamer - Made a howler in the dying minutes, giving Torres a massive opportunity to score.
Howard - Added a more attacking threat in midfield, also got stuck in. Gave the ball away a bit, though.
Long - Didn't notice him much. Hassled the defence.

Fantastic performance, same v. Newcastle and we should win, or at least draw.
Good determination and spirit shown today.

[Terminal Boardom]

can never understand why its always the other side were shit when we get a decent result..jesus give a bit of credit where its due sometimes.

We had 3 shots the entire game. HTH.

Yes we played well but should have won had we shown more conviction. Defensively we are still a multiple pile up waiting to happen. This is called perspective.

We had plenty of conviction.......apart from in front of goal which is a confidence thing. We were not so bad defensively. Its not as if Liverpool had shed-loads of chances.

What I meant was if we had been braver in getting forward and getting shots on goal which has been the story of the last 12 months. If it helps, they had 9 efforts on goal. Maybe not a shed load but certainly a decent lean-to's worth

[AthleticoSpizz]

I seem to recall a shot from us that went wide accross the face of the goal, that hasn't been credited with a "shot off target" in our stats


not that it helps much

[paultheroyal]

North East royal: lose all credibility with your scores when you giv hamer a 7, higher than some of our stars you rate tonight.

[Platypuss]

Torres' poor second touch was a stroke of fortune, perhaps, but given that our first-choice keeper had twice demonstrated his propensity to errors of judgement (the clumsy slide out of the box while clutching the ball, a headed backpass confusion which a decent keeper would've managed better) before limping off, I was pleased to see this instinctive movement. Hopefully, reflection on the clean sheet will boost Hamer's confidence no end.

Enough of this bollox - that was Ingi's best touch all game.

[howser]

Watched from the comfort of my living room, albeit 700 miles away !! very impressive, hard working display, where did that come from ??

Fed----------5-------------------------Not yet convinced, maybe he should have got more of a hand on Gerrards shot ??

Gunnar------6-------------------------Simply isnt and never has been a full back, but just like him he will do what he is asked to do

Ingi----------5-------------------------Think his time is near, great club servant, but now struggles to impress

Mills---------6-------------------------Here he is at last, needs matches but I thought he did ok, not match sharp

Plastic-------7-------------------------A quality young full-back, needs to tidy up defending a little but looks sound, great attacking tempo

McAnuf-------8------------------------This guy has got it all, caused 'pool lots of trouble, very impressive

Cisse---------7------------------------What an enigma, some matches dire and dreary, today.... excellant shut ' pool midfield down

Karacan------9-------------------------M.O.M only one word needed...............Brilliant !!

Sigss---------8-------------------------This lad is going to be a top class player, confident good shot gave 'pool problems (shud have had a pen)

Rasiak-------7--------------------------Quite impressed with him today, worked hard and put himself about

Church------7---------------------------Like Rasiak worked hard unselfishly, good future prospect



Subs
Hamer-----5
Howard----5
Long-----=-5

[Basingstoke Royal]

At last mills comes in and shows how much better he
is than pearce. Just need ibu sonko alongside him instead of a poor ingi and we will
be safe in this league.

Sorry but ivar and pearce are shite

[leon]

Watched from the comfort of my living room, albeit 700 miles away !! very impressive, hard working display, where did that come from ??

Fed----------5-------------------------Not yet convinced, maybe he should have got more of a hand on Gerrards shot ??

Gunnar------6-------------------------Simply isnt and never has been a full back, but just like him he will do what he is asked to do

Ingi----------5-------------------------Think his time is near, great club servant, but now struggles to impress

Mills---------6-------------------------Here he is at last, needs matches but I thought he did ok, not match sharp

Plastic-------7-------------------------A quality young full-back, needs to tidy up defending a little but looks sound, great attacking tempo

McAnuf-------8------------------------This guy has got it all, caused 'pool lots of trouble, very impressive

Cisse---------7------------------------What an enigma, some matches dire and dreary, today.... excellant shut ' pool midfield down

Karacan------9-------------------------M.O.M only one word needed...............Brilliant !!

Sigss---------8-------------------------This lad is going to be a top class player, confident good shot gave 'pool problems (shud have had a pen)

Rasiak-------7--------------------------Quite impressed with him today, worked hard and put himself about

Church------7---------------------------Like Rasiak worked hard unselfishly, good future prospect



Subs
Hamer-----5
Howard----5
Long-----=-5

Got to agree with most of that. I thought Karacan was excellent and on that form is exactly what we need in midfield in our current situation. McAnuf was a real f*cking pest. Rasiak I thought, held the ball up well and Sig looked very good on the ball as usual. Mills was dreadful, his clearances were shocking and he looks incredibly slow in thought and movement. Gunnar and Ingi look past their sell by date - which as others have pointed out is sad to see as they have have both been key to Readings success in recent years.

Despite what certain Coppell hating delusional simpleton revisionists might like to pretend.

Cisse, strangely had a good game as well. I can't explain that.

[The whole year inn]

Jem Karacan has to play in our relegation battle - top top drawer and he loves the club

[Kitson12]

can never understand why its always the other side were shit when we get a decent result..jesus give a bit of credit where its due sometimes.

We had 3 shots the entire game. HTH.

Yes we played well but should have won had we shown more conviction. Defensively we are still a multiple pile up waiting to happen. This is called perspective.

Stop f*cking moaning for once, jees!

[rhroyal]

Comments:

Karacan - Why has he been out of the team so long? He must stay in.

Mills - Had a decent game.

Ivar - Looked like a liability, although he was up against Torres. Even Vidic struggles there.

Defence as a unit - Not bad at all against a dangerous attacking side. It was obvious they were being pushed to their absolute limit, but our keepers barely had saves to make. A few rushes off their line.

Hamer - Indecisive and nervy when he came on. Understandable in the circumstances and I hope he can be a good keeper for us.

McAnuff and The Sig - I thought something might happen whenever these 2 got the ball out wide.

Bertrand - You can see why Chelsea want to keep him.

Church - Good instinct for his goal and worked tirelessly. Good movement. Looked out of his depth against Carragher - hardly a criticism.

Rasiak - Shocker.

Delighted with the performance and proud of the team today. My issue is that this could be a flash in the pan for a big, televised cup game. Only time will tell I suppose. For Newcastle I would leave the team largely unchanged following that. Mills deserves his place in the team. Karacan should never have been dropped in the first place - McDermott should face criminal charges if he leaves him out for Newcastle after today's performance. Rasiak had a poor game today and appears to offer little to our team. He also has a decent scoring record this season and I would leave him in against Newcastle because he can get goals no matter how crap he is everywhere else. Thor on the bench instead of Long possibly. In other words, identical line up with the possible exception of right back. We have no solution to the right back problem yet, but I'm not sure Bryn is it.

[rhroyal]

I'm also tearing my hear out at negative posts on here. Some are saying that a decent Championship side would have beaten Liverpool today. Lets be serious, this team is still 7th in the Premiership with some world class players and, whilst they are at the lowest they have been for years, a draw was a great result and a great performance. Just enjoy the night.

[leon]

I'm also tearing my hear out at negative posts on here. Some are saying that a decent Championship side would have beaten Liverpool today. Lets be serious, this team is still 7th in the Premiership with some world class players and, whilst they are at the lowest they have been for years, a draw was a great result and a great performance. Just enjoy the night.

hmm we didn't actually win though did we? And that is what it is all about...