Back from the Luton game

[chilipepper91]

Great performance really, if Noel Hunt doesn't start Saturday I will be very disappointed.

Federici - 7 - not much to do, good distribution, made 1 great save
Kelly - 7 - solid
Pearce - 8 - commanding, fully deserved his goal, calm on the ball. No problems if he starts Saturday
Duberry - 7 - imperious when he was on, went off early though
Golbourne - 7 - solid
Henry - 8 - so calm on the ball, made some fantastic throughballs, can see him coming into the reckoning as the season progresses
Karacan - 7 - him and Harper didn't really work IMO, once Harps went off he came into his own though
Harper - 7 - usual self, though see above
S. Hunt - 8 - usual performance, kept running, great performance. Wasted at LB.
Long - 6 - Nothing went right today
N. Hunt - 9 - Fantastic. Set up 3, scored 1 - deserves to start Saturday

Ingimarsson - 7 - solid as ever
Mooney - 6 - didn't make much of an impression
Sigurdsson - 7 - enforced well

Ref - 4 - inconsistent, booked N. Hunt (rightly) for a rash slide tackle, but didn't book Nicholls for persistent fouls. Seemed hypocritical.

All in all, worth it to see the youngsters get a run out, and I'm renewed with confidence!

[rg6royal]

Good to result but in fairness Luton are pretty w@nk.

Anyone know what's wrong with kelly? Looked like a shoulder injury.

Unless he brings Bikey in instead of Cisse

[The whole year inn]

exemplifies why S. Hunt is wasted in defence really.

I think the best we can hope for is 2 changes max; Armstrong and N. Hunt starting. Imagine the centre midfield will remain the same.

[Bill Oddie's Beard]

Good to result but in fairness Luton are pretty w@nk.

Anyone know what's wrong with kelly? Looked like a shoulder injury.

Unless he brings Bikey in instead of Cisse

Apparently sometimes his shoulder just pops out of it's socket . Coppell said it popped back in when he was walking down the tunnel. Weird. Doobs on the other hand is prob gonna be out for a good few weeks.

[woodley_royal_124]

Coppell doesnt expect Doobs to be back for a few weeks. So who will cover for Sonko this saturday ? Thought it was going to be Doobs but not now. What's happened to Bikey these days ??

[Royal Lady]

Coppell also wouldn't be drawn on changing the team for Saturday I noticed.

N Hunt has got to start on Saturday - Coppell needs to drop some of the more complacent members of the team and put a couple of the younger, hungrier players in imo.

Coppell also said btw that there 1 or 2 players here who would still rather be playing for other teams - Harper and Doyle??

I thought the whole team played well, I wasn't looking forward to going, but they all played out of their skins and the Hunt brothers really play well together. N Hunt scored one and made 3 didn't he? It will be a travesty if he doesn't get the nod ahead of Doyle or Lita on Saturday.

[rg6royal]

Coppell also wouldn't be drawn on changing the team for Saturday I noticed.

N Hunt has got to start on Saturday - Coppell needs to drop some of the more complacent members of the team and put a couple of the younger, hungrier players in imo.

Coppell also said btw that there 1 or 2 players here who would still rather be playing for other teams - Harper and Doyle??

I thought the whole team played well, I wasn't looking forward to going, but they all played out of their skins and the Hunt brothers really play well together. N Hunt scored one and made 3 didn't he? It will be a travesty if he doesn't get the nod ahead of Doyle or Lita on Saturday.

'greed

Yes he set up 3 goals and did well on each occasion to pick out the player.

Oh I just love Stephen Hunt!

[rfcjoe]

So refreshing to see pace, effort and passion from the youngsters.
Pearce should replace ingi who imo shouldn't play again for us.
Karacan should play alongside Harper ( only with harper as we have no one else )
NHunt for doyle or lita as hunty was absolutely superb tonight.
Henry for kebe is a must aswell-henry was quality tonight.


Oh yeah , spotted RL and Schards.

[premiership_bound]

Apparently sometimes his shoulder just pops out of it's socket .

A bit like the ball pops off his boot in the opposite direction where it was intended.

But bless him he was solid and I do believe he will be a good player for us.

[readingfc13]

Agree pretty much with all of your ratings and have just a few things to add. S Hunt has got play at left midfield instead of Convey, I lost count of the number of quality balls he put into the box and his tracking back was fantastic as well. As said I would have no problems with Pearce coming into the first team and the same goes for Karacan who looked composed on the ball and didn't mind getting stuck in as well. In truth all the youth players were fantastic and it was so refreshing to see a Reading side play one touch passing in triangles, try to pass the ball up the pitch, get the ball into the channels and not rush the build up play. A lot of this improved play is credit to Pearce who always looked for a short pass out of defence. I thought our worst player was Long who managed to get into some good positions but time and again his touch or vision let him down. After that performance, N Hunt MUST start against Palace. He made many good off the ball runs, held the ball up well and pulled the ball back for a number of the goals, if Doyle gets in ahead of him it will be an absolute farce! One final question; how on earth was their goal allowed to stand? From where I was sat it looked like a blatent foul on Kelly who immediately had to go off with what looked like a dislocated shoulder.

[rg6royal]

So refreshing to see pace, effort and passion from the youngsters.
Pearce should replace ingi who imo shouldn't play again for us.
Karacan should play alongside Harper ( only with harper as we have no one else )
NHunt for doyle or lita as hunty was absolutely superb tonight.
Henry for kebe is a must aswell-henry was quality tonight.


Oh yeah , spotted RL and Schards.

Nooo...Henry on the bench yes but not starting ahead of Kebe.

[rfcjoe]

Yes please henry can cross a feckin ball and dribble the ball within the perimeter of the pitch.

[rg6royal]

Agree pretty much with all of your ratings and have just a few things to add. S Hunt has got play at left midfield instead of Convey, I lost count of the number of quality balls he put into the box and his tracking back was fantastic as well. As said I would have no problems with Pearce coming into the first team and the same goes for Karacan who looked composed on the ball and didn't mind getting stuck in as well. In truth all the youth players were fantastic and it was so refreshing to see a Reading side play one touch passing in triangles, try to pass the ball up the pitch, get the ball into the channels and not rush the build up play. A lot of this improved play is credit to Pearce who always looked for a short pass out of defence. I thought our worst player was Long who managed to get into some good positions but time and again his touch or vision let him down. After that performance, N Hunt MUST start against Palace. He made many good off the ball runs, held the ball up well and pulled the ball back for a number of the goals, if Doyle gets in ahead of him it will be an absolute farce! One final question; how on earth was their goal allowed to stand? From where I was sat it looked like a blatent foul on Kelly who immediately had to go off with what looked like a dislocated shoulder.

it popped out and then popped back in

The thing was that he was walking off the pitch and the referee didn't notice and Reading had kicked off again!

[OLLIE KEARNS]

Very impressed with Noel Hunt tonight. Very good in the air, uses the ball well and keeps it. Looks a great buy for us. Also thought Pearce and Karacan really pressed a claim tonight. I think Cisse is a centre back so unless Bikey comes into CM on Saturday then I'd go with Karacan. Pearce in for Sonko also maybe although it's difficult to drop someone who's scored 3 in 2. Even if he can't defend ! Ah yes, can't defend. Pearce in for Sonko then.
If Doyle stays then Long will go on loan somehwere. He almost tried too hard tonight and touch and distribution just got worse and worse. He needs a run of games and he won't get that here at the moment.
Hunt and Doyle would be a very good pair as Hunt works the back four as much as Doyle. Leroy doesn't which is one reason why Doyler has struggled in recent times. He has had to do all of the donkey work for 18 months now.
Good night for RFC tonight despite reality check given the weak opposition.

[gazzer, loyal royal]

Federici--7Nothing to do all game apart from a save from point blank. Distribution good and keen to throw out
Kelly-7-Good defensively, unlucky with the goal where he dislocated his shoulder after a pull, poor crossing but defending is his main job
Golbourne-7- Caught up field a few times, but 90 mins for someone who hasn't played for 5 months
Pearce-8.5- A real rock, barely troubled and never looked to lump the ball long, clam and composed and definately ready for first team football
Doobs-Commanding for the 25 mins he was on
Henry-8-excellent touches but tries to hard sometimes to beat a man when a cross is on
S Hunt-8-good delivery from set pieces, tenacitiy was there and bravery, needs to stop getting involved with opposition players
Harper-5- Barely got involved with the game and passed him by
Karacan-7.5- Lively and put himself into tackles, the burst for his goal, a good 50 yards was fantastic to see, outshone his more senior partner
Long-6.5- Bit headless and created nothing apart from a chance he should have scored,won his fair share of flick ons
N.Hunt-9- MOTM, excellent, a goal and three assists, two marvelous crosses for goals and one staying onside, his header was very much like sonkos first against plymouth.

Ivar-7- typical ice man, everything done with minimal fuss
Mooney-6- Hard to adapt to pace of the game when we have 10 men and playing up front on your own
Gylfi-5.5- did ok, nothing special, some nice touches

[rg6royal]

LOL @ the Luton fans!

[winchester_royal]

A thoroughly refreshing game.

We played football as opposed to hoofball, and all the youngsters impressed.

Fed - 7 - Distribution good, and made 1 decent save.

Kelly - 8 - Very impressive
Pearce - 9 - Solid as a rock.
Doobs - 7 - Loosing his pace, but still solid.
Golbourne - 6 - Suspect defensively IMO

Henry - 9 - The guy just oozes quality. He has the raw talent to go as far as he wants.
Karacan - 9 - Looks 10 times better than Cisse.
Harper - 8 - Best game of season so far.
Hunt - 8 - Much better in midfield.

Long - 6 - Not good enough.
Hunt N - 10 - Brilliant.

[The 17 Bus]

Team and tactics did the job, no hoofball from us really, we had possession, and IMHO that really helped.

Young lads were solid, and did not look like boys against men, anyone who was there must have taken heart from that foir the near future.

[rg6royal]

A good performance overall and it's positive but we have to consider we are playing a league 2 side who lack in confidence due to their status as a Club.

[The 17 Bus]

For those that think Harper does nothing can you explain why we looked off the pace after he went off??