The Unsung Hero?

[exileinleeds]

There were times when we were on the edge of our seats tonight, and many other games...but how many times have we been saved by the discipline of the defence? Playing the off side rule can be boring (remember Arsenal of old?) but watching Reading is never boring!

I give you Wally Downes, his work with the defence, which injuries have forced to be makeshift at times, but yet again they have done the business against some of the best defenders in the world...

Stand Up for Wally!

[Royal Rother]

Good call.

[higher]

Hear hear.The defence was (again) fantasticly well drilled tonight and a credit to Wally and others working with them.

[Slinky]

agreed, brilliant display! Can i recommend another special mention for De La Cruz, he's changed my view of him and had another excellent game, understands the other players more and more and reads the game very well! Nice one!

[Wokingham via Waterloo]

Absolutely spot on. Thought the same tonight when we pulled out to a man for the umpteenth time. Risky at times - as mentioned elsewhere, Owen was deceptively sharp and could have had the benefit of the doubt but given the back five have been much more disrupted than last year, what a well-organised unit by and large.

[Warfield Royal]

De La Cruz was awesome tonight. I lost count of the number of times he snatched the ball away just before the opposition attacker made contact.

[windjammer]

agreed, brilliant display! Can i recommend another special mention for De La Cruz, he's changed my view of him and had another excellent game, understands the other players more and more and reads the game very well! Nice one!

Agree 100% about De La Cruz. He has rarely let Royals down when called upon. With Halford being one for the future, even at £2.5 million, then DLC is definitely worth keeping next year. Maybe Halford should be given a runout in midfield in at least one of the two remaining games. Apart from his centre for the goal (which owed a lot to Oster's dummy), Seol disappointed again tonight. Blakey should be first choice if fit next season. Oster should be loaned out to a Championship side initially and a decision finally taken in the Jan 2008 window.

[Archie's penalty]

agreed, brilliant display! Can i recommend another special mention for De La Cruz, he's changed my view of him and had another excellent game, understands the other players more and more and reads the game very well! Nice one!

Agree 100% about De La Cruz. He has rarely let Royals down when called upon. With being Halford one for the future, even at £2.5 million, then DLC is definitely worth keeping next year. Maybe halford should be given a runout in midfield in at least one of the two remaining games.

Yes we should definitely keep him for next year. He is experienced and does his job without any hassle - another very clever Coppell signing!

[pieface]

Ivar pure top class.

[Upper West?!?]

Shorey had an excellent match as well, and again showed he can play against international quality and hold his own. There were tackles against Owen and Dyer and excellent passes that MUST have gotten Terry V's attention.

Shorey for England.

[reading_lad]

its just a shame duberry was a bit of a donkey as usual

[paultheroyal]

Shorey staked his claim fantastically tonight....and pushed his value up to about 6 million!

[AbovetheI]

its just a shame duberry was a bit of a donkey as usual

LOL @ You

[Royalee]

The whole defence played extremely well tonight and a lot of that is down to Wally. What summed it up was De La Cruz's improvement - he was absolutely immense tonight and a contender for man of the match, which is a huge transformation given his early performances for us.

[Woodcote Royal]

Agree totally about Wally and DLC.

[Arch]

its just a shame duberry was a bit of a donkey as usual

LOL @ You

Ditto. duberry had his best game in a Reading shirt.

[Diddyroyal]

De La Cruz was awesome tonight. I lost count of the number of times he snatched the ball away just before the opposition attacker made contact.

De La has been quality for the past few weeks, very consistant performances

[RoyalBlue]

its just a shame duberry was a bit of a donkey as usual

Better sign a few more donkeys then because I don't think he put a foot or feet wrong last night!

[RFCMod]

I know that everyone still slates Seol but if you watch him now hes obviously starting to try and get a grip on the game
Hes looking around more,closing down a little more and pressurising more
Yes sometimes he can still be found wanting but he does look like hes trying to get a good understanding of where he should improve to become a Prem player

Also I thought he seemed to have a good understanding with Kitson
Maybe its because Kits is a bit slower and gives Seol the time to pick him out but along with the goal they linked up quite a few times and seemed to play off each other well

[T.R.O.L.I.]

De La Cruz = Ecuador's Pele