Today's back from the game over-reaction thread.

[Noggin the Nog]

The best players have both great skill and the right attitude. The best teams have a good number of best players plus a great team attitude: all for one and one for all. Few of the Reading players could claim to be in the best category but for the past two and a half seasons they have had an over-abundance of the right attitude both individually and as a team. In yesterday's performance most players (with the notable exception of Kitson) really appeared to have a poor attitude and, on the skill front, appeared well below their normal OK standard. Of course the poor performance on the skill front is almost cetainly linked to a poor attitude. So should we worry? This was certainly their worst performance this season but they looked pretty good against Newcastle, were "unlucky" against City, actually scored four against Pompey. In those matches the attitude was right. So is the poor attitude merely a blip or is something happening behind the scenes that has caused a deterioration in attitude - individually and collectively? And can SC bring the team back on track?

[Royal Rother]

It's all about the midfield. Fix that and we'll be fine.

At the moment we don't have a passer with a semblance of vision, we don't have any real pace, we don't have a good tackler and we don't have a player who can run with the ball or even shoot on target consistently.

Sidwell provided all those attibutes in varying measures.

The absence of these skills in our midfield means there is too much work for the attack and defence to do for themselves which increases the pressure on them.

(PS Bikey put in the best pass of the day. I'm sure there's a job for him somewhere in this team...)

[holsgrove breaks a leg]

Yesterdays game epitomises where things are starting to go wrong for Reading and how several key issues need to be addressed before it gets too late. The fact is that Kitson is by far and away our best player (even having missed games through suspension),full of guile and creativity and no one else is anywhere near his performance. Players like Shorey,Doyle,Sonko who would appear to be premiership standard are not raising their game or having a sticky patch while others flatter to deceive or are simpy not good enough to now be playing for Reading at this level.

I think we have to re assess the side and be blunt enough to admit that we aren't as good as the papers had us believe last season-some fans got completely swept away by their praise. It was always going to be questionable from the outset that players ala ingi,gunnarson,murty and even hanehman were going to replicate their form on a longer term basis and so it has been proved, so for me it is hardly suprising that those players i have mentioned have struggled. Whatever the reason for his decision to keep faith with a virtual ever present side from the last 2-3 seasons, Coppell has to work with what he has got for the next month which could be crucial.

Ultimately we will not know the in depth reasons for Coppell not being able to supplement the squad during this season and last but what it does mean is that it has left us with a paper thin squad with little depth and class when things go wrong-take yesterday for example, who was there apart from maybe Long that could change the course of a game???

There is no doubt that in Jan Coppell has to get players in, and not just one or two but perhaps 4 or 5 because we have so many holes to fill which we just have made do with. The purchases in Jan could well make or break Coppell because by and large they need to be quality impact players that will go straight in and perform thus eating up our budget. It is essential to get impact players in as it is getting to a point now where players who are not good enough to play are keeping their place because of a lack of challenge or options within the playing staff. This is no good to keep a competitive squad, i remember posters saying a tight squad was essential and it created good moral, that is just plain wrong- players should be used to competition and if they are not good enough then they have to realise their own short falls.

On this point if it wasnt down to our lack of numbers,players who are simply not good enough at this level for me (gunna,ingi,murty and maybe even Hanehman) would be sold in Jan- football is a cut throat game and if players are simply not up to it they should not be carried by the club. Those players of note have made a very significant contribution in our rise over the years but nothing in life stays the same so it should be a case of thanks very much but goodbye. Whether we remain in the prem or not at the end of the season i think it will be 'watershed' moment for Reading- next season we simply cannot keep the players that have reached the end as they are now expendable. We now have to look to our young players and try to entice a couple of key players to build our team around.

[Barry the bird boggler]

Yesterday was absolutely disgraceful, given the run around by a hopeless team like Middlesbrough for most of the game.

It was only for the 10/15 minute period after Kitson hit a wonderful goal that we even vaguely looked capable of meeting previous standards we'd set.

Within 20 minutes of our goal I think the players had decided to sit back and play in our penalty box as we just were not interested in going forward. And then SC made things worse by bringing on a defensive player when he should have been looking to give us a more creative outlet (OK I know his hands were bit tied there as we had absolutely nothing that would make a difference) but putting Long on for Convey would at least given us something fresh up front and retained a right wing outlet in Doyle.

A standard of performance like that next week will see us ship double figures.

[Sharpy]

todays highlight was....walking down the steps to relieve myself in the gents just before the fulltime whistle went

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Players like Shorey,Doyle,Sonko who would appear to be premiership standard are not raising their game or having a sticky patch while others flatter to deceive or are simpy not good enough to now be playing for Reading at this level.

this is the sort of thing I find hard to understand - the continued belief that players that are off-form are really performing at that true level, and the previous 2/3/4 years of their careers were some kind of fluke.

I think we have to re assess the side and be blunt enough to admit that we aren't as good as the papers had us believe last season-some fans got completely swept away by their praise.

it shouldn't have taken a genius to work out that on ability alone we shouldn't have been near 8th, but the system of playing we had enabled us to get better results. It shouldn't also take a genius to work out that if the system isn't working this year, results are going to be worse. That doesn't mean, as some appear to assume, that in reality we were crap last season too, but managed to fluke it for the whole year despite being championship quality. If we were chamionship quality we'd be where Derby are. The fact that we can play crap by our standards, and still be reasonably placed in the league table, actually says quite a lot about the players.

There is no doubt that in Jan Coppell has to get players in, and not just one or two but perhaps 4 or 5 because we have so many holes to fill which we just have made do with.

when things are going badly fans tend to dwell on and over-emphasise players' weaknesses. It wasn't so long ago that absolutely loads of fans on here were slating Kitson as being championship standard and saying he needed to be replaced as he wasn't up to the job. Fix the midfield and we stay up comfortably.

[Irvinchangeyaname]

And then SC made things worse by bringing on a defensive player when he should have been looking to give us a more creative outlet

Absolutely agree with this. We invited trouble as soon as we tried to be more defensive. Convey, when he was substituted, looked to at last have woken up slightly.

[Royal Rother]

It's all about the midfield. Fix that and we'll be fine.

Fix the midfield and we stay up comfortably.

It's a rare thing you know!

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Aside from the misunderstanding with Sonko (who had a f*cking nightmare), exactly what did Marcus do wrong today?? He's had some poor games but this wasn't one of them (aside from the sh*te kicking obviously!)

After the pushed away the first of those two saves in the first half, the people around me were going spastic about him. Very, very harsh if you ask me.

I'll bet that Bibbo has picked him up on that first 'save' - committed the cardinal sin, weakly pushing it back into the danger area,

For a start he tipped it sideways, not straight back into the danger area. And i'm not going to criticise him for not stopping the ball as he was at an average stretch and it was p*ssing with rain.

There have been many times to criticise Marcus, I just don't think yesterday is one. And much as MArcus probably should have called and claimed the pass, I think he was right to have a go at Sonko, who was a weight around the defence's neck all game

[Darren Caskey's Dietician]

It's all about the midfield. Fix that and we'll be fine.

At the moment we don't have a passer with a semblance of vision, we don't have any real pace, we don't have a good tackler and we don't have a player who can run with the ball or even shoot on target consistently.

Sidwell provided all those attibutes in varying measures.

The absence of these skills in our midfield means there is too much work for the attack and defence to do for themselves which increases the pressure on them.

(PS Bikey put in the best pass of the day. I'm sure there's a job for him somewhere in this team...)

I agree entirely. Every team who is worth their salt has a player like that.... Arsenal have about 15 of them!

The problem is, I don't know where that player is going to come from. It is meant to be what both Cisse and Fae are good at, but the language and style barriers are keeping them out.

I think we need to look around the Prem and Championship to find the player who can come in on loan or permanently to do this for us, but I really don't know who would come to us that would be available.

[Royal Rother]

I'm still hoping Ramos doesn't rate Huddlestone too much.

[Royal Lady]

If Coppell is saying that the players who played yesterday are the best we've got it's all rather worrying. I'd play Lita ahead of Long, even on the bench - WHY have we tracked Fae for so long and then don't play him? If Gunnarrsson is one of our best midfielders we're in real trouble. I still don't believe that we will attract anyone of any note in January - who, worth their salt, will want to join a team that could quite easily be relegated and whose manager has already publicly stated, apparently, that he thinks it might be time to move on? Again, I will repeat, if he thinks that the spat between Marcus and Sonko was a good thing, it is he who is now wearing RTGs.

[Royal Rother]

Do you think players will be attracted to Sunderland, Bolton, Wigan, Fulham, Derby, Bolton and MBoro as opposed to us?

They are all (nearly) in a worse position than us in the table and have spent many more millions getting there.

[Royal Spangle]

I would like to see us buy a New Keeper in January,two derfenders and three midfielders ( 2 wingers ) That is all....
Remember- keep smiling we are STILL in the Premier League

[rg6royal]

I would like to see us buy a New Keeper in January,two derfenders and three midfielders ( 2 wingers ) That is all....
Remember- keep smiling we are STILL in the Premier League

kasper schemicael and tom huddleston please

[Royal Lady]

Kasper Schmeichel isn't very good - if he was Man City wouldn't have sent him to Cardiff.

[The 17 Bus]

Kasper Schmeichel isn't very good - if he was Man City wouldn't have sent him to Cardiff.

Henry cant be any good or we would not have loaned him to Bournemouth.

[Royal Lady]

Henry hasn't featured in our first team league games has he? He's been sent to Bournemouth to get some first team experience under his belt. Schmeichel featured in goal for City at the beginning of the season and was pretty dire. So to you.

[g]

Thank goodness Coppell did not have Wayne Rooney on the books at Reading! He would be rotting away at Macclesfield Town.

[papereyes]

If we are to stay away from the really dirty parts of the table, then those games have to be won.

We didn't.

Will we get the points up North on the return fixture?

Beh.

I'm not sure how many poor performances we're going to have to get before people start seeing them. That's another one down. Kitson the star, as ever, and a very well taken goal.