Back from the Luton game

[rg6royal]

LOL @ the Luton fans!

what about them?

Doing the Conga and singing " who the oxf*rd hell are you " to us.

[floyd__streete]

FLTLR doesn't care for analysis - we won 5-1 - lets enjoy it..!!!

(I certainly did, FLTLR watching a football match at Madejski Stadium, brilliant!!!)

"It was a can-do performance. Moving up not down, moving forward not back."

[floyd__streete]

Doing the Conga and singing " who the oxf*rd hell are you " to us.

Wacky. I hope they enjoy conga-ing around Histon next season.

[PREMIERSHIP_ROYAL]

going by tonights performance this is probably our best looking 11 right?

hahnemann
rosenior
bikey or pearce
ingimarsson
golbourne or armstrong
s. hunt
harper
karacan
henry
n. hunt
lita


federici
mooney
doyle
golbourne or armstrong
cisse

[Rex]

Thought myself that the Luton support were fantastic. Excellent banter, and place ourselves in their shoes. We don't even come lose to that level of passion. Without sounding trite, this was their big game of the season. Getting thumped on the pitch by a team that had most of the control of the games pace.
Trying to come back from a 30 point defecit without getting relegated is a big ask.
And we moan about the price of parking and beer. Puts football into perspective concerning passion, commitment and support really.

Agree with all on here, sharp passing, decisive passing, patience andfor once a convincing display. totally different from the Dagenham shambles.

[weybridgewanderer]

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 ??

sonko was suspended for tonights game

i believe he can play saturday

[Alan Partridge]

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 ??

sonko was suspended for tonights game

i believe he can play saturday

[Woodcote Royal]

Overall excellent, thoroughly enjoyable performance, full of pace swagger and end product...well apart from Shane Long. OK some perspective is needed it WAS only Luton Town, but you have to go out and beat whats in front of you, just how often have we seen throughly average opposition test Reading and give them a real game? Quite a few times, including the last round for one.

The one downer on the night was Duberry hobbling off, he was immense in the first 25 minutes, they weren't going to beat him tonight and for him to get injured just gives Coppell the slight opportunity he needed to bring back Sonko.

Back to the positives, gonna start with the main man Jem Karacan, this boy has got so much going for him it's untrue. His two absolutely crunching tackles in the first half show he aint afraid to mix it and whenever he got the ball he looked calm, assured and likely to create, got a well deserved goal.

I thought Pearce was absolutely outstanding, a real centre half that heads it further than most can kick it, throws his body in the way and his a threat at set pieces as shown by his goal. The only slight ? I have over him is his lack of pace, which for someone so young is a fairly big worry.

Noel Hunt showed tonight exactly what we've missed in the first few games. Tenacity, spiriti and flair to steal one of Pards old phrases. He works his nuts off, he's got an excellent first touch, a good leap for a little un and he looks like scoring, he gets in good positions and unlike his brother he gets his head up and is able to produce well timed crosses.

Tbf despite that cheap pop Stephen Hunt was very good again tonight and him and his brother combined really well on numerous occasions.

I could literally go through every player on show and write a glowing reference for them, the one blot was Long who got some great chances, 2 fabulous one on one opportunities and didn't take them, really poor finishing. He had a little spell before half time where everything he did went wrong. He contributed in a good performance but his finishing was really poor tonight.

Whilst I was delighted with that, really impressed I just can't see Coppell making any changes apart from the obvious one. You know these lads have come in played exactly how Reading demand and the played the sort of football I think everyone wants to see, yet we won't see Karacan saturday...Cisse back in. We won't see Henry as Kebe comes back into the side, We won't see Pearce, back come Ivar and Sonko. We MIGHT see Noel Hunt but Doyle will continue on his merry dump way. If I was a betting man, I would bet on Armstrong coming in at left back with S Hunt replacing Convey in our only change. Which in my opinion is absolutely tragic and sends out the completely the wrong message. Well done lads, you absolutely destroyed the opposition in the week put in the best individual performances of the season so I am dropping you again for someone who hasn't done anything to warrant selection.

Coppell there is the challenge, the youth have staked the claim, do you have the bottle to give these lads the opportunity they deserve or will you go back to Coppell's Clique for your selection Saturday? I know where my money is.

Spot on AP, could have written that myself.

This was the best game I've seen this season by a country mile.

Forget the fact we were playing Luton, this was a Reading team packed to the gunwales with youngsters and playing in a style that we've only dreamt about for more than a year.

Only Shane Long should feel less than pleased with his performance but that was mostly down to his finishing. He was still far more threatening than either Doyle or Lita have been over the first 3 league games.

Harper was the conductor (for which I note he gets a "5" above ) with Karacen excellent alongside. Hunt and Henry caused mayhem down the flanks and the Hatters couldn't live with either Long or Hunt junior upfront. If Shane had bought his shooting boots with him we might have threatened double figures but, the longer he failed to join in the turkey shoot the more frustration affected his play.

Whilst I don't blame the absent thousands for electing to stay away, I have to say that you missed a real treat, not to mention solid evidence that this club has some excellent players waiting in the wings to make their mark.

No, AP, I'm not expecting many, if any changes on Saturday, either (I wouldn't even bet against Hunt starting at left back ) but that says more about the mind set of our current manager than the players at his disposal.


As far as I'm concerned; If Coppell elects to play the same side on Saturday that lost to Charlton, apart from his new left back, and we fail to win convincingly, it could well be the last time I take my seat at the Mad Stad until we have a new manager (and I fcuking MEAN!!!!!!!! that )

Frankly, Steve, after 12 awful months of watching your stuttering favourites drive this club down the league, I've had enough.........................sort it out or fcuk off.

[SpaceCruiser]

Noel Hunt was great tonight, I reckon he was the man of the match....

[rfcjoe]

'greeeeeeeeeeed.

[rollsy]

saw noel hunt play at tanerdice a couple of seasons ago, he was fantastic then too, will work well, hard working like his brother, fearless, perhapps lacking a little penache but will fit into the reading set up well. from what i heard about the game tonight, he was one of the shining lights. I have nothing but good things to say about the man, and i know as a couple of my mates are dundee fans they are gutted to see him go.

[Rex]

saw noel hunt play at tanerdice a couple of seasons ago, he was fantastic then too, will work well, hard working like his brother, fearless, perhapps lacking a little penache but will fit into the reading set up well. from what i heard about the game tonight, he was one of the shining lights. I have nothing but good things to say about the man, and i know as a couple of my mates are dundee fans they are gutted to see him go.

2 goals in two full games. Cannot argue about his commitment level at all. With Steven,i just wish he would cool down slightly. Tonight he lost it a few times. Both chips off the same block in work effort and tenacity.

[firstdivision]

Well impressed by the overall mperformance tonight, and definitely cheered me up after Daggers and Charlton. I expect modest change against Palace, probably from the bench.

Also good to see Kevin Watson stil playing, liked his style of play when he was with us.

The Luton support was impressive got to admire their commitment to come and watch their team, and a pretty decent number of them, when their team are pretty much dead and buried before they start.

ROFL at those who decided not to come tonight. you missed a cracker.

[Shaka's Giant Hands]

LOL @ the Luton fans!

what about them?

Doing the Conga and singing " who the oxf*rd hell are you " to us.

Yeah..LOL at the 1000 (ish) fans that turned out to support their club that are bottom of League 2, playing away on a Tuesday night in a mickey mouse cup.

Tables turned...how many Reading fans would go? Barely 7000 turned up tonight, including the Kid for a Quid offer and we were at home! The East Stand looked more like a youth centre last night than a football ground.

So I won't 'LOL' at them, I will applaud them. Supporting the club that they love in the way they see fit......for possibly the last season in their league history.

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

Looking back its so bizarre
It runs in the family
All the things we are

[paultheroyal]

Anyone witness the woman / collapsing in the east stand - halfway up ish on the halfway line.

Big LOL at the idiot shouting "stewards take any longer she will be dead" - whilst doing nothing himself except standing over her as she wriggles on the floor.

PS - she recovered and was back in her seat but missed rest of the game as she had to fill out an accident form!!!!

[philM]

Anyone witness the woman / collapsing in the east stand - halfway up ish on the halfway line.

Big LOL at the idiot shouting "stewards take any longer she will be dead" - whilst doing nothing himself except standing over her as she wriggles on the floor.

PS - she recovered and was back in her seat but missed rest of the game as she had to fill out an accident form!!!!

She was a few rows behind me. The "big-boned" female steward who came to assist looked like she needed medical attention after climbing up all those steps.

[Bucks Dave]

Although there have been one or two criticisms of the Dagenham game on here, it was precisely the academy young guns who tried to play football there, constantly looking to play a passing game. It was the older pros who resorted to hoofball. This time hoofball was kept to a minimum all round and it was just so much more enjoyable. AP is right, Luton were dire but we have struggled many times against dire teams in the past.

And now we have Crystal Palace, another dire team, so let's see what we've learnt.

[rg6royal]

The funny thing is that our youth players look a better footballing team and show a lot more ambition.

[Stranded]

Thoroughly enjoyed that last night, glad I went.

Was very impressed with N.Hunt, Karacan & Pearce. Decent performances from Henry & Golbourne as well I thought.

Echo the thoughts that Hunt has to start on Saturday, with Karacan on the bench at worst if not starting.