2-0 and we fecked it up

[wolsey]

Let's be honest here.
Everyone knew O'Neil was going to give them a rocket at half time.
I'd be questioning BM's half time talk. Clearly the players weren't prepared for the initial second half onslaught.
We got caught cold and that's the main frustration for me.
Naivety from the manager and players cost us the game and nothing else. Apart from that 10 minutes we were the better side.

Shame about the pen as well. Ref obviousy had to give it but if ever a player went looking for a leg to fall over...

We're we really caught cold or was it simply that for that 10 mins Villa were just much much better than us.

They were always going to have a spell when their extra class would show unfortunately for us it was just too good - no need to blame anyone.

Agree totally, there was no way that Villa could have have replicated their first half ineptitude (although we did play very well and took advantage of it)

It seemed to me that if anything the players took BMcD's (probable) words at half time too much to heart - not conceding took precedence over carrying on what they were doing in the first half. I thought that Mills and Tabb in particular were outstanding in the first half - composed and generally bossing their opponents, but in the first 10 minutes of the second they looked totally fazed and looking to offload responsibility as soon as possible.

Anyway, totally enjoyed the game, proud of my team and the Manager: a bit of glorious failure now and again never did anyone any harm.

[Ian Royal]

Nah that was this season Ian, as has been mentioned by yourself and others.

Oh... has anyone mentioned Peterborough though?

[Dave the rave]

LOL at bad management

do you think BMcD didnt try to beat it into them that villa would come out hard 2nd half?
not sure that management could have stopped our defence committing suicide like that for 12 mins tbf

Bad management is no laughing matter, 'Brenders'

To back up my point though, the defence and team as a whole panicked. And not just once. This was directly after halftime so a consequence not coincidence.
I think we all know what each manager would try to instill in his players at halftime.
O'Neil got it right, BM didn't.

I'm just gutted as a win would have given me bragging rights over my two brummie cousins for years to come.

[wolsey]

LOL at bad management

do you think BMcD didnt try to beat it into them that villa would come out hard 2nd half?
not sure that management could have stopped our defence committing suicide like that for 12 mins tbf

Bad management is no laughing matter, 'Brenders'

To back up my point though, the defence and team as a whole panicked. And not just once. This was directly after halftime so a consequence not coincidence.
I think we all know what each manager would try to instill in his players at halftime.
O'Neil got it right, BM didn't.

I'm just gutted as a win would have given me bragging rights over my two brummie cousins for years to come.

So really, do you you think Brian told told them "Whatever you do, panic?". Or did he (probably) say - keep it tight, if we don't concede in the first 15 minutes we have a good chance of getting something out of this.

Who gives a shit if you don't have bragging rights over your Brummie relations?

We are are an improving Championship team who, if the right decisions are made in the next 6 months have a chance of being Play Off contenders next season - they are an established top 6 Premier League team.

We outplayed them for 75 minutes on Sunday yet lost. So what?

[Man Friday]

"so what?"? What do you mean "so what?"? You sound as though you don't care.

Agree with the first paragraph though.

[wolsey]

"so what?"? What do you mean "so what?"? You sound as though you don't care.

Agree with the first paragraph though.

Of course I cared. The first 45 minutes was the best I've seen since the first Premier League season (btw I wonder if Rodgers was watching thinking "Why couldn't they do that for ME?")

The FA Cup was never anything but a publicity stunt. Raised our profile, raised our self confidence and self belief(as a team and as supporters)

Onwards and upwards - my bet is that we'll finish nearer the play-offs than the relegation zone.

[Son of Len]

To me it was reminiscent of the Confederations Cup last year in South Africa. The US team, after beating Spain, went up 2-0 on Brazil. The superior side won, but the upstart made them sweat. Sometimes, that's good enough.

Of course, the semifinals would have been nicer, but c'est la footie.

[Man Friday]

To me it was reminiscent of the Confederations Cup last year in South Africa. The US team, after beating Spain, went up 2-0 on Brazil. The superior side won, but the upstart made them sweat. Sometimes, that's good enough.

Good enough for what? It's not good enough to win the match which is the whole point of sport. There's some right drivel coming onto the board these last few hours. I've really got to get on with something else before I lose my sanity.

[wolsey]

To me it was reminiscent of the Confederations Cup last year in South Africa. The US team, after beating Spain, went up 2-0 on Brazil. The superior side won, but the upstart made them sweat. Sometimes, that's good enough.

Good enough for what? It's not good enough to win the match which is the whole point of sport. There's some right drivel coming onto the board these last few hours. I've really got to get on with something else before I lose my sanity.

Go and find some short term interest then.

Supporting a club (especially the likes of Reading) is (and always has been) a long term thing. We are a work in progress, we would not have performed like this 6 months ago; hopefully the way we lost is a sign of progress - we took on a Premier Leagues team which cost X times ours, we gave them a scare, but we lost - so what?

[PremAddict]

To me it was reminiscent of the Confederations Cup last year in South Africa. The US team, after beating Spain, went up 2-0 on Brazil.

Ooh I thought the same thing when we went-in 2 up. Really nice stuff from Long, Kebe, Griffs, and Mills. But at the same time Downing and Young were invisible and I was really expecting them to come-out second half and play hard. Then Griffin was really exposed for his lack of pae which led to the first goal. After that, I thought we battled ok and then started to show some good stuff again, but it was too late - we were chasing the game.

Regardless, Villa are 7th in the EPL and we showed we could hang with them and outplay them for a good portion of the game. I would've been a LOT more angry had we done lost this way in a league match.

[Snowball]

It may sound bizarre but I felt LESS comfortable when we went 2-0 up.

I had a tenner at 60-1 Long first goal and 2-0 (even tho' I thought we'd lose)
but at half-time I was hoping to sell the ticket to the bookie because it just
all felt "too good to be true".

I felt like I wanted 1-0, us hammered for 45 minutes
but holding out and nicking a late killer second goal.

I do think an air of disbelief can affect players and crowd.

We deserved 3-3 for sure.

[PEARCEY]

It may sound bizarre but I felt LESS comfortable when we went 2-0 up.

I had a tenner at 60-1 Long first goal and 2-0 (even tho' I thought we'd lose)
but at half-time I was hoping to sell the ticket to the bookie because it just
all felt "too good to be true".

I felt like I wanted 1-0, us hammered for 45 minutes
but holding out and nicking a late killer second goal.

I do think an air of disbelief can affect players and crowd.

We deserved 3-3 for sure.

Yes I fully agree with all of that.

[Man Friday]

Supporting a club (especially the likes of Reading) is (and always has been) a long term thing. We are a work in progress, we would not have performed like this 6 months ago; hopefully the way we lost is a sign of progress - we took on a Premier Leagues team which cost X times ours, we gave them a scare, but we lost - so what?

Patronising. I've followed Reading for nearly 40 years so don't need any advice from you. Again, it's not a case of "so what?" to most of us as we care about our club's results. If you don't and can say "we lost, so what?" then I guess that's your prerogative.

[Dave the rave]

LOL at bad management

do you think BMcD didnt try to beat it into them that villa would come out hard 2nd half?
not sure that management could have stopped our defence committing suicide like that for 12 mins tbf

Bad management is no laughing matter, 'Brenders'

To back up my point though, the defence and team as a whole panicked. And not just once. This was directly after halftime so a consequence not coincidence.
I think we all know what each manager would try to instill in his players at halftime.
O'Neil got it right, BM didn't.

I'm just gutted as a win would have given me bragging rights over my two brummie cousins for years to come.

So really, do you you think Brian told told them "Whatever you do, panic?". Or did he (probably) say - keep it tight, if we don't concede in the first 15 minutes we have a good chance of getting something out of this.

Who gives a shit if you don't have bragging rights over your Brummie relations?

We are are an improving Championship team who, if the right decisions are made in the next 6 months have a chance of being Play Off contenders next season - they are an established top 6 Premier League team.

We outplayed them for 75 minutes on Sunday yet lost. So what?

Stupidest. post. ever.

[Plymouth_Royal]

Oh well.

The only thing I'm baffled by is why the hell he brought on gunnarsson. I'd rather we brought on an attacking option, matejovsky or hrk, and went for it. Never mind. Let's hope McDermott's first 3 months weren't a flash in the pan and he can steer us out of trouble now.

[fruits]

After, we never convinced, despite having two cleared off the line.

I think that's very unfair.

Many teams would have folded completely having let in 3 like that but we rallied and for 15 or 20 minutes more than matched Villa again. We were creating chances (3 or 4 in addition to the one off the line and the one cleared from 3 or 4 yards out after Friedel spilled it)

Their 4th goal gave the scoreline a flattering look, it could have been 5-4 to us with just a little more luck, a little more composure or the smallest lack of concentration from Villa.

When Villa scored their third I really thought we would lose 6 or 7-2, we did really well to come back and make a game of it again.

[wolsey]

Bad management is no laughing matter, 'Brenders'

To back up my point though, the defence and team as a whole panicked. And not just once. This was directly after halftime so a consequence not coincidence.
I think we all know what each manager would try to instill in his players at halftime.
O'Neil got it right, BM didn't.

I'm just gutted as a win would have given me bragging rights over my two brummie cousins for years to come.

So really, do you you think Brian told told them "Whatever you do, panic?". Or did he (probably) say - keep it tight, if we don't concede in the first 15 minutes we have a good chance of getting something out of this.

Who gives a shit if you don't have bragging rights over your Brummie relations?

We are are an improving Championship team who, if the right decisions are made in the next 6 months have a chance of being Play Off contenders next season - they are an established top 6 Premier League team.

We outplayed them for 75 minutes on Sunday yet lost. So what?

Stupidest. post. ever.

In what way was it stupid?

Should we interested in your bragging rights?

Are we not improving as a team? It would have been good to have won the game, but the quality of our performance have given me a huge amount of confidence for the future (regardless of the result)

The reason we conceded 3 quick goals was that our players weren't good enough against a Premier League team who for 15 minutes were playing somewhere near the top of their game- nothing to do with bad management.

Or am I missing something?