Back from the game - Cardiff (A)

[Big Foot]

Poor day all round, not 1 player can take much credit from that display IMO

Federici should've done better for the 2nd goal and flapped at crosses for the rest of the afternoon as a result
Cummings gave the ball away A LOT and positioned himself poorly on a number of occasions
Harte put in several poor deliveries from good positions / set pieces
Pearce & Gorkss looked shaky and unconfident - v surprised and disappointed with their performances
Karacan and Elwood totally bypassed by the constant long balls and barely won a second ball. Elwood conceded more than his fair share of fouls
Kebe - pedestrian. One good run for the goal but was about it.
Jobi took his goal well but did little of note rest of the game. Completely ineffective in the middle.
Church & Hunt - non existant up front, every time the ball was hoofed up to them it was soon catapulted back at us

All round a bad day - a defeat has been on the cards despite our good results. First 10 mins we started brightly, poor decision for 1st goal but should've kept it tight and conceded the 2nd from a soft corner after panicky defending from Pearce. Feds shoulda done better for 2nd. All downhill from there.

[urz13]

Feds - 8
Cummings - 5
Gorkks - 5
Pearce - 5
Harte - 4
Kebe - 6
Leigertwood - 5
Karacan - 5
McAnuff - 6
Church - 5
Hunt - 6

HRK - 5
ALF - 5

[Big Foot]

Not sure how Federici can get an 8....one v good save when the game was already lost was about it.

[Victor Meldrew]

I listened to commentary on Radio Wales and had to laugh at their commentator when he said that Church stayed on rather than Hunt because he is stronger in the air!!
At the same time he also said that Church was ineffective and his first touch was poor.

[urz13]

Not sure how Federici can get an 8....one v good save when the game was already lost was about it.

Meant to give a 7 but miseries on my phone and it's so slow it's a nightmare to change. But I thought he made a couple of top saves

[loyalroyal4life]

What a shit game, poor performance and generally a miserable away day out!

All players looked off the pace and at the back we looked a mess, surprising given we had 4 clean sheets prior to this one. Kebe was dire throughout not sure what he was whinging to noel hunt about towards the end when it looked like a perfectly decent pass through to him.

Just hope with a week off (sure most will be rested for stevenage) they can regroup and go again.

[RoyalBlue]

Feds - 8
Cummings - 5
Gorkks - 5
Pearce - 5
Harte - 4
Kebe - 6
Leigertwood - 5
Karacan - 5
McAnuff - 6
Church - 5
Hunt - 6

HRK - 5
ALF - 5

From what my son told me, the only thing he'd disagree with here is the 8 for Feds as being over generous. Felt Feds was very much at fault for the second goal, although did say that we should have had a defender between their man and Feds. Does not believe Feds was fouled in any way and in effect helped the ball into his own net.

Was a handball for their first but our 'defenders' still had opportunities to clear. Their man slipped but still had time to recover and score!

ALF a complete waste of money given the style of football (in the loose sense of the word) that we persist in playing. Far too many hoofs into the channels and when the opposition don't clear it is one of our 'central' attackers who is chasing the ball down, leaving few options in the centre.

Kebe totally disinterested apart from one run, and rushed off the pitch at the end rather than go over to the fans like the rest of the team (clearly peed off that we turned the bid down!). Seems he is preparing for a 'strike' like the last time his employer wouldn't do what he wanted. Thanks for 'the socks' Jimmy but if that's your attitude either p*ss off or rot in the reserves.

[kwik-silva]

Feds - 7
Cummings - 5
Gorkks - 5
Pearce - 5
Harte - 4
Kebe - 5
Leigertwood - 4
Karacan - 4
McAnuff - 5
Church - 6
Hunt - 5

HRK - 5
ALF - 5

Shocking performance. Not sure what's going on with Kebe. The one run he did make we scored from. Didn't look interested at all.

[RoyalJames101]

Cold, wet and depressing game. All played poor, never got going at all today, but you can't win them all. On to the next one.

[Carlos]

Whats the point in clapping off the fans when he was getting abused constantly in the second half. Reading fans do like to whinge during the game. The last half hour was not good on the pitch, but the fans should be getting behind the players, but everytime a pass went astray it was 'Kebe you oxf*rd useless twat', or Harte you massive piece of shit etc Its like we were in the bottom three the amount of negativity in the crowd. People say Kebe did nothing but what did anyone do. At least he laid it on a plate from a brilliant run for our goal. If anyone can find a player who played better than him i'd like to know, so why single him out for abuse on this forum?

Everyone was abysmal. Le Fondre is clearly off form, and Robson-Kanu wasted his chance when he came on. I miss Ninian Park, this new gorund is so soulless. It wasn't a good game for us but its only one game, and Cardiff looked a class apart. Whittingham is a brilliant player. I think they will get automatic promotion if that game is anything to go by.

[urz13]

Immediately following their 2nd I turned around and looked at the replay, Gunnarsson had his hands all over Feds and his shirt. Gorkk's was disallowed at Palace for far less

[RoyalBlue]

Immediately following their 2nd I turned around and looked at the replay, Gunnarsson had his hands all over Feds and his shirt. Gorkk's was disallowed at Palace for far less

Funny, my son (who is a keeper himself) said that he did exactly the same and couldn't see anything worth Feds moaning about.

[bennno]

Immediately following their 2nd I turned around and looked at the replay, Gunnarsson had his hands all over Feds and his shirt. Gorkk's was disallowed at Palace for far less

Was at match and saw the complaints, but watching the highlight clips on sky he wasn't fouled.

[SCIAG]

Some Cardiff fans I've spoked to said that both the first two goals came from handballs

[SHORT AND CURLY]

Its a funny old game!

I actually thought we were toe to toe with them for most of the match, without a cutting edge. We started where we left off in the Play off game, very much on the front foot. They get a break away with a Cardiff player playing basket ball and the ball ends up in the back of the net.
A short while after they get a corner, Feds is definitely impeded as they score again, might have even been from the corner direct.
Here on in we are chasing the game. They get their third from a right defensive mess up and find ourselves 3-0 down.
Kebe did his one and only thing by setting up the goal.(He was DUMP for the other 89 minutes.)

Second half we were the better team without really threatening as they were happy to play more on the break. Feds made a couple of excellent saves and was probably our MOM
Kebe aside the rest were all huff and puff.

Good away crowd, silent home crowd, shite weather and getting out of the ground and area took an hour

[grey_squirrel]

The bubble was going to burst sooner or later.

A bad day all round. It happens - and will happen - every now and again. Over the season so far - which is what counts - we are still punching massively above our weight.

I expect an early exit for our reserves against an impressive Stevenage side next week and a return to form, with recharged batteries, against Watford and Hull in the weeks following

[Cypry]

After the other festive games a big disappointment today, although the first half of the Ipswich game should've run some alarm bells.

First goal, yes here was a handball in the build up but it was in their half!!! Pearce most at fault, backed off the tackle outside the area, scared to make the tackle inside the area, Feds didn't stand a chance.

For the second Feds ended up in the back of his own net - more often than not I think the ref would've given a foul on the keeper, looked like he was pushed to me, but I guess that's the way it goes sometimes.

Their third was another poor effort from Pearce / Gorkks through the middle, but by that point the whole team looked massively on the back foot.

Generally the whole back four looked off colour in the first half, Harte looked defensively the most solid of the lot, that in itself tells a story....don't think the awful weather helped, but it was the same for Cardiff...

Well taken goal by Jobi, his only contribution of note in the game, from a decent cross by Kebe, also his only noteworthy contribution....

Everything looked much tighter in the first part of the second half, Karacan and Leigertwood picked up their game (until Karacan went off his feet into a challenge and got himself booked, after which he looked scared to make a tackle).

We got several corners early on second half, Hartes delivery was nothing like we've come to expect, and all were wasted...

Brian made early changes today, HRK for the booked Karacan (meaning moving Jobi into the middle), and ALF for Church....
Got to say, I think ALF was enormously disappointing today, got himself into some good positions, but got knocked off the ball far too easily, and his one shot was way off target - seems to be massively lacking confidence at the moment. HRK offered little, and Jobi looked lost in the middle (as he so often does - I'll never understand why Brian persists in moving him there, it rarely, if ever, works out...).

After the changes the game pretty much fizzled out from our perspective - Cardiff had two or three chances, forcing a couple of goods saves from Feds who, in honesty, kept the score respectable...

Feds - 7 - no major howlers and kept the score respectable.
Cummings - 5 - poor defensively, got forward to support Kebe reasonably, but Kebe more often than not chose to ignore him
Pearce - 4 - at fault for their first and possibly third, seemed to be massively affected by the poor performance of
Gorkks - 4 - couldn't have contrasted more from his solid recent performances
Harte - 6 - defensively probably our best player but of the six or so corners he took only 1, perhaps 2, provided any threat.
Kebe - 4 - created the goal, but really, really looked like he couldn't be bothered, either to chase 50/50 balls, or to help out defensively.
Karacan - 5 - Cardiff dominated the midfield first half, and whilst he started the second much better, as soon as he got booked
Leigertwood - 5 - also poor, won a few tackles then immediately lost the ball, offered little or nothing going forward.
McAnuff - 6 - well taken goal, hence 6, but largely anonymous...offered nothing once moved to the middle..
Church - 6 - worked hard, won a few and offered a bit of a threat, but received little or no service.
Hunt - 7 - worked really hard, won a lot in the air (sure he has springs on his boots) and put some good balls through for ALF later on - unlucky with a near post header early in second half...

ALF - 5 - weakest of the three strikers - got the ball in a couple of good positions, but got knocked off e ball too easily and offered no end product.
HRK - 4 - only saw him touch the ball three or four times in half an hour on the pitch..


All in all, one to be put behind us, write it off as a bad day, and look forward (?) to Watford....

[old woman]

Not at game.

What about the penalty shout early in the 2nd half? was it or wasn't it?

[PieEater]

I thought we did ok for most of the first half and Cardiff just got lucky with their 3 chances, the third of which was taken very well.

There was very little response and the second half I can't recall a real chance, Harte was particularly wasteful with poor deliveries from crosses and corners. Our lightweight attack was never going to get much change from their massive centre halves. They doubled up on the wingers and that was it, no plan B.

I think we've over achieved to get to 5th, and after that display I'm really not optimistic on getting anything from Watford or Hull.

A poor day was capped off by us getting soaked as it pissed down with rain all the way back to the station, a 25minute walk.

[PieEater]

Not at game.

What about the penalty shout early in the 2nd half? was it or wasn't it?

Never, not that Foy would have given it even if it had been stonewall.