Back from the game......and really angry!

[Drew_3]

Sonko didn't give the ref any option. Honestly, what else could Dean have done?

He was hardly clear on goal!! The penalty was punishment enough.
This last man rule has been abused by referees for years. That rule was meant for an entirely different offense.

Also the free kick against Harper that led to the goal was another example of players conning referees and they not being smart enough to spot it.

I thought the rule was that if he was the last man left between the opponent and the goal. If what you say is correct how come Sonko didn't get sent off against Spurs when conceding the penalty because that could also have been considered a goal scoring opportunity.

the answer to that is keane did not hit the deck as hard as benjani, harsh but thats the only real difference, isuppose also keane ran past sonks benjani was past him and sonks challenged from behind.

[Diddyroyal]

why shouldn't he be playing today ?

due to his woeful and costly display at spurs, but that could be for a few others as well

[papereyes]

Sonko let the player got beyond him and then clumsily fouled him.

Penalty.

Probably a red - let's be honest, if the roles were reversed, we'd be angry if the player didn't go.

The rest of the performance - poor. poor. poor. He tried to let the game flow but then would miss what appeared to be fouls, or give advantages when we'd stopped. The one good bit of reffing was an advantage while Cisse was down then actually booking the player once play had stopped.

[Diddyroyal]

Sonko let the player got beyond him and then clumsily fouled him.
Penalty.

Probably a red - let's be honest, if the roles were reversed, we'd be angry if the player didn't go.

The rest of the performance - poor. poor. poor. He tried to let the game flow but then would miss what appeared to be fouls, or give advantages when we'd stopped. The one good bit of reffing was an advantage while Cisse was down then actually booking the player once play had stopped.

how familiar does that statement sound?

[glass half full]

There must be better referees in the Championship than Mike Dean. Still, I would not mind betting that FIFA choose him soon.

[The Cube]

The rule (paraphrased) is "denying a clear goalscoring opportunity". In practice this means you go off if there are no other defenders nearby. So the red against Portsmouth was a correct decision if it was a foul, and I had also wondered if he might have got one against Tottenham when the only player nearer the goal was another Tottenham player.

But let's not let that distract us from a truly abysmal performance by the officials. Their first goal was offside, possibly hand-ball and all from a free-kick that should never have been given. Offside decisions were frequently wrong (a couple in our favour in the first half that came to nothing). Campbell was penalised twice for fouls on Kitson early on but then was allowed to get away with exactly the same fouls for the rest of the game.

And to cap it all, the ref couldn't even get the kick-off time right.

[eleventh earl of mar]

Why is it that every time reading lose the referee is the worst this season? It was not the referee who dropped the ball from the cross for the first goal it was Hahnemann. Not suggesting that the referee had a good game but a bit of perspective please.

[Ian Royal]

Why is it that every time reading lose the referee is the worst this season? It was not the referee who dropped the ball from the cross for the first goal it was Hahnemann. Not suggesting that the referee had a good game but a bit of perspective please.

I haven't seen a ref criticised for ages what are you talking about.

[glass half full]

Why is it that every time reading lose the referee is the worst this season? It was not the referee who dropped the ball from the cross for the first goal it was Hahnemann. Not suggesting that the referee had a good game but a bit of perspective please.

I have been in threads defending referees before but this one is indefensible.

[Alan Partridge]

Back from the game, likewise angry and bitterly disappointed.

Firstly I'm getting this out the way now because i don't want to blmae them for our shortcomings. The officials were absolutely TERRIBLE. Dean got 1 decision right all day and that was the Sonko incident.

Today really showed our shortcomings, yes playing with 10men isn't easy, it's especailly difficult when you do the basics wrong.

Our defense is absolutely laughable, a terrible terrible backline that woulnd't look out of place in the conference.

We have 2 full backs who can't defend, who are as one paced as snails and have the positional sense of Matt Robinson. We've then got a centre half that despite putting in some of the worst CB performances in years continues to be picked, continues to be useless, continues to give away penalties and has now added a sending off to his reportoire. Seriously if I never see Sonko play for Reading again i won't be disapoointed. AWFUL.

Shorey was abysmal today, it's a nonsense in many ways because we can't take him out of the team due to hisa ttacking influence. He creates so much for the team we HAVe to have him in the side. BUT he can't defend. First and foremost defenders job - defend. Stay with your man, don't make it easy for him and allow him to get crosses in. He had a 10 yard headstart on Utaka and finshed a further 10 yards behind him when he rolled the 2nd one in. I'd seriously consider taking Convey out, putting Shorey wide left and DLC in at full back.

Sorry Murty but you aren't escaping my wrath tonight either. At West Ham he was immense, but since then he was a shambles at Tottenham and was equally terrible today. Too slow, caught out of position numerous times, i looked up at times to see Doyle playing right back to cover our 33 year old skipper's legs.

This is where it's Coppell's fault. We have a team that just leaked 6 awful goals at Spurs yet he still doesn't make any changes. What do you have to do to get dropped in this team?!!!!!! There is now ay Murty and Sonko should ahve played and i would argue Doyle as well.

Doyle had his chance for the afternoon in the first half and fluffed it, I'm sure if Lita would have missed it there would be a consoling shoulder to cry on on HNA tonight...yeah right. A shocking miss at a crucial time. That doesn't mean to say I think Doyle is a bad player, on the contrary he is one of our best players but he's not playing well. He doesn't look like scoring and Shane Long deserves an opportunity. Coppell has to get tough, he is far too loyal too far too many players who were good 2 years ago. This is 2008 and half of this team aint good enough. We've got a wretched fixture list coming up and unless we can get some quality additions in and get tough with certain players i fear for us.

Hahnemann I felt a bit sorry for, it was an awful mistake, 1 which with 10men can't happen if you are going to get something but it comes with that postion on the field. Sometimes you make errors like that. After that he responded well and had a decent game. Cisse I thought was ok, Hunt and Harper ok, Kitson good.

Time for a shake up Coppell, have you got the guts to drop some of the old favourites?

[Chillitsphil]

If he'd have only booked Sonko and they'd missed the penalty then your result is: goal scoring opportunity stopped by foul, yellow card for defender, which isn't really enough of a punishment.

[Boston Royal]

The ref got the decision spot on. The rules are that you have to punish the person twice (i.e. penalty and red card) for a clear goalscoring opportunity. If you only got punished once (penalty only), then defenders would handball away a certain goal / foul a striker almost certain to score, exchanging a near certain goal for a penalty. But I agree that this was his only correct decision the whole game. Dean, and his assistants, were shocking.

I am truly angry. This was my one game of the season (when I'm not in the US) and Sonko, who hadn't learned from the Spurs and Sunderland games, ruined the game as a spectacle for me and the 20k+ people who paid good money. Hopefully he returns to being Superman after the ANC.

Playing with 10 men is hard, especially with such a crammed fixture schedule, but we were jaded and uninventive. There was little movement up front, and defenders often passed sideways to each other. Just before Hunt had that air shot, we had the ball on the left wing and Kitson (in the box) threw his hands up in frustration as we took too long to play the ball forward.

A disappointing last 105 minutes of football, but we had a great December until the end of the Spurs game and hopefully we can recapture that form soon.

[From Despair To Where?]

Why is it that every time reading lose the referee is the worst this season? It was not the referee who dropped the ball from the cross for the first goal it was Hahnemann. Not suggesting that the referee had a good game but a bit of perspective please.

I haven't seen a ref criticised for ages what are you talking about.

Because until Saturday, we hadn't lost for ages.

Just to pick up on a point made by AP. Whilst I admit Doyle hasn't been at his best, it wasn't a bad miss, it was a good save by James.

[floyd__streete]

AP right as always in his post there to be honest. The only point I would make to the contrary is due to our weakness in depth I am afraid there is very little quality we can bring in to replace those who are performing poorly. Playing Shorey further forward is an option but I am afriad I do not rate DLC defensively either.

[Platypuss]

AP right as always in his post there to be honest. The only point I would make to the contrary is due to our weakness in depth I am afraid there is very little quality we can bring in to replace those who are performing poorly.

Brick-by-brick.

[Arch]

A bit harsh on our defence on the day. Once Bikey was in, he and Ingimarsson held up pretty well in the middle against some tough forwards. Shorey was ill, but as has been pointed out, any Reading defender would have been ripped by Utaka in that move. Murty was clumsy and outpaced, agreed. Bottom line, the game was up after Sonko went off.

By the way, what a thoroughly unloveable side Portsmouth are. They're just the kind of side that give Premiership football a bad name. Give me Spurs any day.

[M U R T Y]

AP right as always in his post there to be honest. The only point I would make to the contrary is due to our weakness in depth I am afraid there is very little quality we can bring in to replace those who are performing poorly. Playing Shorey further forward is an option but I am afriad I do not rate DLC defensively either.

But surely dropping/resting someone for 1 game might buck their ideas up?

Murty has been poor - why have we not seen rosenior for at least 1 game over christmas??

Sonko has been poor - Why not Bikey/doobs i fit for 1 game?

Doyle, as hard as he is trying, things just aren't quite working for him at the mo - why not lita or long for more than just 10mins at the end of a game?

we've played four games over xmas with the same 12 players and they were all knackered today when they needed the extra energy to compensate for being down to 10 men.

As much as I love Coppell, if plan A doesn't work, theres not much of a plan B

[Diddyroyal]

AP right as always in his post there to be honest. The only point I would make to the contrary is due to our weakness in depth I am afraid there is very little quality we can bring in to replace those who are performing poorly. Playing Shorey further forward is an option but I am afriad I do not rate DLC defensively either.

Golbourne?

[Arch]

AP right as always in his post there to be honest. The only point I would make to the contrary is due to our weakness in depth I am afraid there is very little quality we can bring in to replace those who are performing poorly. Playing Shorey further forward is an option but I am afriad I do not rate DLC defensively either.

Golbourne?

Like Rosenior has dropped completely off the face of the earth.

[Gunny Fishcake]

[quote="Alan Partridge"]Back from the game, likewise angry and bitterly disappointed.



Our defense is absolutely laughable, a terrible terrible backline that woulnd't look out of place in the conference.

We have 2 full backs who can't defend, who are as one paced as snails and have the positional sense of Matt Robinson. We've then got a centre half that despite putting in some of the worst CB performances in years continues to be picked, continues to be useless, continues to give away penalties and has now added a sending off to his reportoire. Seriously if I never see Sonko play for Reading again i won't be disapoointed. AWFUL.

Totally agree and don't forget Coco the clown in goal who gives the defence as much confidence as having Bambi in goal . Poor Murty has had his day , his legs have gone and poor Sonko deserves a rocket up his asre for his woeful tackle that let the team down , shame Bikey is off to the Africa Cup too because he deserves a chance , way Sonko's been this season he'd not get in Brentfords team !