BFTG Hull.

[windermereROYAL]

Well 1-0 up with 10 minutes to go against a desperately poor Hull side, who else couldn`t see it coming?
Once again MBs substitutions left a lot to be desired, since he got his extended contract 4 points and no wins from 6 games.
It`s hard to mark any player more than 6.

Rafael 5, good didn`t do too much wrong but maybe a stronger hand for their goal could have kept it out.
Gunter. 5 . mediocre didn`t offer anything going forward, might be out for a while after limping off.
Morrison, Moore . Blacket 4 each for not picking up Wilks for a free strike from 10 yards out.
Obita 5 alone on the left with no overlapping options, gifted a goal by a goalkeeping error.
Pele, 6 once again our best player iin the middle of the park, picking up loose balls
Swift 3, what thhe f*ck has happened to this guy since Fulham, too casual and constantly hitting the first man with corners.
Ejaria, 3 again, early season form has deserted him, always needs an extra touch and hollywood football. on current form not worth 3.5 pounds let alone £3.5 million.
Baldock. 2 if that was Puscas he would be crucified for that non performace.
Meite 3, didn`t effect the game, should have done better with a first half one on one.

Subs
Aluko 4. normal.
Aranuna. 5, actally looked quite decent in a disjointed team display.
Richards.4 meh.

[Hound]

Tbh I think the late (lucky) equaliser clouds judgement a little

We weren’t great but we certainly weren’t awful. Just looked tired mentally and physically - and that’s no surprise after the recent workload

Obvs we were all shouting for MB to play a strong team at Cardiff - 120mins later and you get a performance like that

Two main issues for me is Swift and a Ejaria being off their best and back to conceding a sloppy goal every game. We based our successful recent run on basic the opposite of that

[Sutekh]

Think what cost us that was yet again playing 5 at the back when for the last few occasions it’s been tried Reading have been totally inept going forward. And so it proved yet again.

Then you find out that Moore has had a foot problem all week which compounds the utter nonsense of starting with 5. I can understand the issues with tiredness and injuries from the 120 minutes at Cardiff but really don’t follow the management making it unnecessarily hard for themselves and the team to capitalise against a poor Hull team with their confidence in tatters.

[Lower West]

Average performance from an average team. Still a vast improvement on what we were.

[URZZZZ]

Tbh I think the late (lucky) equaliser clouds judgement a little

We weren’t great but we certainly weren’t awful. Just looked tired mentally and physically - and that’s no surprise after the recent workload

Obvs we were all shouting for MB to play a strong team at Cardiff - 120mins later and you get a performance like that

Two main issues for me is Swift and a Ejaria being off their best and back to conceding a sloppy goal every game. We based our successful recent run on basic the opposite of that

Do you not think our goal was lucky considering it was straight at the goalkeeper? It was an OK strike, but certainly one that should have been saved

Birmingham went 120 minutes on Tuesday, yet when they played last night, they looked completely fine, so not sure we can use that as an excuse for the laboured performances out there

[PieEater]

That was a terrible result against a team that came for a 0-0 and somehow after going behind fluked a deflected goal.

We weren't great but Hull were dire and we really should be beating teams like this.

I have to ask what does Aluko add and how does he get on ahead of Puscas.

[NewCorkSeth]

Not gonna bother with a full report. Big question for me is "Why Aluko?" What does he bring in that scenario? Take off a hard working, industrious striker and replace him with Aluko?

Dont get me wrong Swift and Ejaria do their fair share in helping defensively but neither threaten in the air or are particularly strong in the tackle. A midfield with Swift, Ejaria and Aluko??? I'm surprised they didnt walk through the middle.

I am sure there will be some Aluko apologists responding to this saying "what about his pass in blah blah blah". We dont need a weak, lazy AMC coming on when we are winning. Awful choice, awful player.

[Singing Defective]

Average performance from an average team. Still a vast improvement on what we were.

Not convinced. Our “passing” was worse than I ever remember. Backtracking once again solely the preserve of the back four, apart from the odd cameo. Corner taking awful. Shots from distance comic. New boy seems good, though.

[Hound]

Tbh I think the late (lucky) equaliser clouds judgement a little

We weren’t great but we certainly weren’t awful. Just looked tired mentally and physically - and that’s no surprise after the recent workload

Obvs we were all shouting for MB to play a strong team at Cardiff - 120mins later and you get a performance like that

Two main issues for me is Swift and a Ejaria being off their best and back to conceding a sloppy goal every game. We based our successful recent run on basic the opposite of that

Do you not think our goal was lucky considering it was straight at the goalkeeper? It was an OK strike, but certainly one that should have been saved

Birmingham went 120 minutes on Tuesday, yet when they played last night, they looked completely fine, so not sure we can use that as an excuse for the laboured performances out there

No, Obita aimed for between his legs and that’s where the ball went

It’s not an excuse it’s reality. Keep piling up the games and mistakes and laboured performances happen. I’m not sure what team Brum put out against cov tbh

[Old Man Andrews]

Hull were utter dross, we should have turned the screw once we had scored but we seemed frightened of being even slightly adventurous. It was a weird display.

[leon]

Swift and Ejaria were extremely poor. They and the team, lacked any semblance of urgency, far too casual in their passing and work rate.

Ejaria really lacks end product at times and the whole team constantly wanted too many touches. Really poor.

Hull were terrible, other than Preston, (and Reading) the worst team I’ve seen at the Madejski.

[sandman]

Rafael - Nothing to do. Would have had the goal if not for the deflection. 6

Gunter - Did nothing. One poor pass with his left foot and lost the ball high up the pitch to give them possession. 4

Moore - Not tested by Hull. Good block to prevent a goal in the first 5 minutes. 6

Morrison - Again, not really tested. A few sloppy moments. 5

Blackett - The usual with Blackett. Poor concentration. Some good passes and some extremely sloppy and lazy ones as well. 4

Obita - Took the goal well but struggled other than that. Crossing not up to usual standard. 5

Pele - Some nice passing, defended well. 7 MotM

Ejaria - 6 Nearly scored the goal of the season just before Hull scored. Not quite his usual heights but better than...

Swift - who was absolutely dire. Back to the Swift of the last two seasons. Just like in the Bristol game he messed up a very promising opening by giving the ball away and this time Hull almost scored as they turned it into a counter. 3

Meite - Messed up a big chance in the first half. Anonymous after that, far too lightweight against defenders for a man of his size. 4

Baldock - Lots of endeavour but very little quality. 4

Subs:

Araruna- Promising debut. Looks to be technically gifted as you'd expect from a Brazilian. No way he will be able to play DM in the Championship, far too slight. 6

Aluko - A few nice touches and passes. One bad moment where he lost the ball and then gave away a free kick will cloud his performance on here. 5

Richards - Did nothing of any note. 4

[Stranded]

We have an average team playing on cruise control as we sre currently in no danger of relegation or the play-offs. Unless something shifts to change that then we have 15 similar games left this season.

Some we will nick by a goal, some we will lose by the same. The majority will be draws.

[Crowbar6753]

Why the hell are we playing 5-3-2 at home against a Hull City team who's form is dire!! Away from home, yep i get it, but we should be taking the game to teams like Hull, especially if as Bowen says "We are still going to give the play-offs a go".
Most teams play 4-2-3-1 these days and there's a good reason for this "It works".

Play a back four with Gunter, Moore, Morrison and Richards.
Play Swift and Pele as deep lying midfielders, Pele can cover the back four and Swift has time to dictate the play.
Play Ejaria off the shoulder of the striker and Obita and Meite or Timbe as attacking inside forwards.
Finally either Puscas or Baldock as the lone striker but getting plenty of support from the attacking three just behind him.

And finally we have to play with pace and tempo, today was slow and lethargic and boring as......

[URZZZZ]

Why the hell are we playing 5-3-2 at home against a Hull City team who's form is dire!! Away from home, yep i get it, but we should be taking the game to teams like Hull, especially if as Bowen says "We are still going to give the play-offs a go".
Most teams play 4-2-3-1 these days and there's a good reason for this "It works".

Play a back four with Gunter, Moore, Morrison and Richards.
Play Swift and Pele as deep lying midfielders, Pele can cover the back four and Swift has time to dictate the play.
Play Ejaria off the shoulder of the striker and Obita and Meite or Timbe as attacking inside forwards.
Finally either Puscas or Baldock as the lone striker but getting plenty of support from the attacking three just behind him.

And finally we have to play with pace and tempo, today was slow and lethargic and boring as......

It's been like this since Fulham, we attack with no pace and no tempo

We played well on the counter, which is where the majority of our goals came from in our little run, and now teams have become accustomed to it and so aren't committing loads of men forward, and we're becoming unstuck because we're too slow to break defences down

That's where you have to start getting the ball out wide, creating 2 on 1 opportunities, just like we did on Tuesday. Yet it never happened. Utterly bizarre

[Fox Talbot]

Nice that Obita scored against the team that nearly killed his career.

Otherwise usual home game misery. We never seem to get to 2-0 when we’re on top so lord knows where Ady got the idea we’d win 5-0.

[URZZZZ]

Not gonna bother with a full report. Big question for me is "Why Aluko?" What does he bring in that scenario? Take off a hard working, industrious striker and replace him with Aluko?

Dont get me wrong Swift and Ejaria do their fair share in helping defensively but neither threaten in the air or are particularly strong in the tackle. A midfield with Swift, Ejaria and Aluko??? I'm surprised they didnt walk through the middle.

I am sure there will be some Aluko apologists responding to this saying "what about his pass in blah blah blah". We dont need a weak, lazy AMC coming on when we are winning. Awful choice, awful player.

Aluko isn't lazy. He used to look lazy with Stam but that was more down to him not understanding his role rather than his attitude. It's a common misconception that Aluko is a lazy player

And he certainly isn't an awful player. He was no worse than Swift or Ejaria out there today and yet once again, after a poor 90 minutes, people are blaming a player who featured for 20 minutes of it

There's always got to be a scapegoat doesn't there? Why can't people accept this squad is massively overrated?

[John Madejski's Wallet]

I'll join the 'why Aluko', considering the other options. And taking Baldock off was a weird one for me

I don't get what had happened to Ejaria, second half there were times where was really static and didnt seem to want to attack the box

All jn that was a very bland performance. The only pluses were Obita, Pele (who is our best player now imo) and the fact the new lad looked decent

[Hound]

We have an average team playing on cruise control as we sre currently in no danger of relegation or the play-offs. Unless something shifts to change that then we have 15 similar games left this season.

Some we will nick by a goal, some we will lose by the same. The majority will be draws.

Yep this pretty much. An average, knackered out team playing on cruise control

I expect we’ll have an upturn towards the end of the season but I suspect it will be a fair few games like today before then

Tbf after seeing the highlights, their goal really was an absolute fluke. And that was pretty much their first effort of the half. The biggest problem was us not getting a second before then, and we had a few chances to do so

[Platypuss]

Just so timid. Only attacked with any pace in last 10 minutes.