Back from the game

[Sarah Star]

I don't think they could keep up with him.

[Baines]

They could have tried.

[Sarah Star]

They could have tried.

Apparently, they got stuck in traffic on the way down to us and were tired.

[Skyline]

Oh, and Long is not useless, and neither has he 'started his last game for Reading'. He had an off day on Saturday, and deserved to be dropped. He may have to wait to get back in the starting line up, as the Doyle/ Hunt pairing looked v godd last night, but I fully expect him to rise to that challenge and pressure Coppell in to some tought decisions later this season. For me, I'd be happy to see him come on with 1/2 hr to play if he can keep making such early impact as last night (he set up the run for Convey to give Hunt goal 6, I think, within 30 seconds of coming on).

Not wanting to seem churlish after a great fun evening, but Long is not (yet) a Championship-level footballer. He's slow to react to situations that should be instinctive for a second-tier footballer. Yes he sometimes does the right thing (like yesterday when he helped set up NHunt's second goal), but more often than not he doesn't. I think the main reason he's been seen as an 'impact substitute' is that by the time he gets on the opposition are sufficiently tired that his lack of brain speed is not shown up.

Lets face it, last night SheffWed were there for the taking, Long was on for 25ish minutes, and he still managed to look out-of-sorts. Two good moments in that length of time do not a good footballer make. If he does indeed need a run in a side to get him up to speed (although I'm not convinced that will help) then he should be loaned out to a League 1 side, not given repeated starts in our side, especially not if we have any intent about promotion.

Meanwhile, there's a young lad playing down the M4 in Wiltshire who's banging the goals in for fun - 6 so far this season. Does make you wonder if the management team kept the right young striker...

[Wycombe Royal]

Meanwhile, there's a young lad playing down the M4 in Wiltshire who's banging the goals in for fun - 6 so far this season. Does make you wonder if the management team kept the right young striker...

How many times does it have to be said that it was Cox's decision to go? He wanted regular first team football which even Long wasn't guaranteed at the time. Cox wanted to be starting matches so he dropped two divisions to get it.

[Deathy]

They could have tried.

Apparently, they got stuck in traffic on the way down to us and were tired.

11 houROFLs apparently.

[Deathy]

amazing game amazing atmosphere crap stewards

'greed but love how Y25 is starting to stand anyway and for longer periods.

Let the buggers walk up all those stairs, then sit down. He goes away, up you get. LOLz

Much better atmosphere for it too!!

[John Madejski's Wallet]

I couldn't really work out what Wednesday were doing wrong.

Don't think they could figure it out either

Did anyone notice the lone Wednesday player who stayed on the pitch to watch all the goals on the screen??

Even though he was in the middle of the pitch I could tell he was more confused than gutted. As each goal went in you could see in his posture he was getting more confused and shocked as reality dawned that had just happened

....poor bloke!

[Deathy]

Also, their defensive coach. How strange was he?!

Stood infront of Y25/26, he was throwing balls to three of his defenders to header back.

The Bobby Davro lookalike took a hop, skip and a jump in throwing the ball.
He couldn't even throw the ball properly either. He was useless.

He couldn't even throw the ball properly and at that point I just looked at their defenders and had that gut feeling we'd win tonight. I didn't quite expect what we got, but talk about shocking preperation!

[Southbank Old Boy]

Meanwhile, there's a young lad playing down the M4 in Wiltshire who's banging the goals in for fun - 6 so far this season. Does make you wonder if the management team kept the right young striker...

How many times does it have to be said that it was Cox's decision to go? He wanted regular first team football which even Long wasn't guaranteed at the time. Cox wanted to be starting matches so he dropped two divisions to get it.

Cox wanted to be given a chance

He could see where Coppell's thinking was taking him and that was nowhere. If Cox had been given the amount of chances to shine that Long had (almost 30 starts and 45 sub apearances before the start of this season as opposed to Cox's 9 sub appearances) I'm pretty sure he'd still be here pushing for a place

[Wycombe Royal]

Meanwhile, there's a young lad playing down the M4 in Wiltshire who's banging the goals in for fun - 6 so far this season. Does make you wonder if the management team kept the right young striker...

How many times does it have to be said that it was Cox's decision to go? He wanted regular first team football which even Long wasn't guaranteed at the time. Cox wanted to be starting matches so he dropped two divisions to get it.

Cox wanted to be given a chance

He could see where Coppell's thinking was taking him and that was nowhere. If Cox had been given the amount of chances to shine that Long had (almost 30 starts and 45 sub apearances before the start of this season as opposed to Cox's 9 sub appearances) I'm pretty sure he'd still be here pushing for a place

I heard that he wanted more than a chance - he wanted to be a regular starter and whilst we were in the Premiership that was never going to happen. Swindon gave him that chance and it would have been wrong of the club to stand in his way.

[RoyalBlue]

I couldn't really work out what Wednesday were doing wrong. They seemed to be doing the right things,

Electing not to mark Doyle/track his runs was an unconventional approach to defending.

As is sliding in to play a gentle pass to his feet, rather than electing to hammer the ball away when it is rolling loose in your own penalty area!

[Wycombe Royal]

I couldn't really work out what Wednesday were doing wrong. They seemed to be doing the right things,

Electing not to mark Doyle/track his runs was an unconventional approach to defending.

As is sliding in to play a gentle pass to his feet, rather than electing to hammer the ball away when it is rolling loose in your own penalty area!

I enjoyed that moment - I haven't seen defending like that for years.......

[Harry Carry]

Pure comedy defending from Sheffield Wednesday last night.

[Lower West]

Meanwhile, there's a young lad playing down the M4 in Wiltshire who's banging the goals in for fun - 6 so far this season. Does make you wonder if the management team kept the right young striker

Having seen Cox play numerous times since his transfer..... stands out as a good player in a very average Div One squad. Will only benefit and improve from playing week in week out football which I doubt he would have got from playing at Reading. (If you think Sheff Weds are bad defensively you should watch Div One football occassionally! Hence Cox's six goals....)

[SWLR]

Meanwhile, there's a young lad playing down the M4 in Wiltshire who's banging the goals in for fun - 6 so far this season. Does make you wonder if the management team kept the right young striker...

ditto the 'young' man down the M23

[readingbedding]

Meanwhile, there's a young lad playing down the M4 in Wiltshire who's banging the goals in for fun - 6 so far this season. Does make you wonder if the management team kept the right young striker...

ditto the 'young' man down the M23

Ditto Doyle and Noel Hunt.

[Skyline]

Meanwhile, there's a young lad playing down the M4 in Wiltshire who's banging the goals in for fun - 6 so far this season. Does make you wonder if the management team kept the right young striker...

ditto the 'young' man down the M23

Ditto Doyle and Noel Hunt.

Sorry - when did we let Doyle and Noel Hunt go?

[Skyline]

Something else worth mentioning I think - last night's team looked to be one of the youngest we've put out for some time. The outfield players had an average age of about 24yrs 4mths, with six of them (Rosenior, Bikey, Pearce, Karacan, Kebe, and Doyle) being under 25.

[BR2]

I think only one person mentioned Marcus' performance.
Two great pieces of goalkeeping in the first half meant that our flowing forward play wasn't interrupted by losing a goal or two and the early confidence wasn't knocked back.
Marcus did the same in the 106 season ,making normally at least one good save per match meaning that our imptus wasn't affected.
Whenever the time comes for him to finish he will IMHO prove to be very difficult to replace and may only be fully appreciated once he has gone.