Back from the game

[Stooper]

Are you also responsible for the Quins good start to the season?

Nope, support the League side of Quins, not the Union

[PEARCEY]

Listening on BBC berks in the car on way back from the match and they said:

"Reading managed to win 6-0 while only playing with 10 men as Kebe was anonymous"..........forgive me if i'm wrong but both of the opening goals came about from fantastic work from Kebe. Beautiful little dink round the defender to NHunt for the first and a great mazy run setting up the defensive panic that allowed the 2nd.

WTF were the commentators on about?

Quite right. The first goal came after he was initially dispossessed, regained the ball, back heeled a delightful pass to Rosenior, who passed to Hunt to set up Doyle. It would not have happened without Kebe's persistence and excellent vision. The second goal was a direct result of an incisive run by Kebe in from the right wing and a lovely set of triangles with Doyle that pressurised the defence. That said, he was not as influential as he was v Palace, but I guess his contribution was telling enough anyway.

As for Harper, he was not as directly influential last night as he has been. He didn't need to be though, so I wouldn't criticise too harshly.

... and the halfwits who wrote off Pearce and Karacan after the Ipswich game must be crying into their soup at the moment. I repeat what I said after Xtal Palace. They are not yet great, or even brilliant, but they both look comfortable and capable at this level. And they are both young enough to get much better if they keep developing at this rate. The future looks pretty good from where I am sitting.

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).

Totally agree about Long. He came on the pitch robbed their player of the ball and slid an excellent pass through to Convey and the rest as they say...he also hit the cross bar so all in all he made an impact. He may not be good enough to be in the starting line-up but he is well worth keeping for impact from the bench purposes.
Lay off him hobnobbers.

[rg6royal]

Long isn't good enough to start matches and I think that is pretty clear to see. It was only a matter of time before N.Hunt got his start he deserves and he put in a great performance. Long though will be a good squad player to have to bring on for the last 15/20 minutes as he adds pace and determination to the game.

[howser]

Long should have been given the chance to go out on loan over the past couple of years, a season in Division one and a second in the Championship would have given him the self confidence that he showed in his first season here, big opportunity missed there, he came to us a young lad with massive promise and potential, his 2 goals against Derby in our championship season gave us a glimpse of what he was capable of, also the loans would have given him regular first team football, something of which Reading would now be seeing the value of, in this case it has been bad management born from an unwillingness to bring another forward in to counteract his loan period, and his self belief and confidence have suffered because of this, I sometimes think he is trying too hard to impress and is not the instinctive striker we had a couple of years ago.

[Archie's penalty]

Long should have been given the chance to go out on loan over the past couple of years, a season in Division one and a second in the Championship would have given him the self confidence that he showed in his first season here, big opportunity missed there, he came to us a young lad with massive promise and potential, his 2 goals against Derby in our championship season gave us a glimpse of what he was capable of, also the loans would have given him regular first team football, something of which Reading would now be seeing the value of, in this case it has been bad management born from an unwillingness to bring another forward in to counteract his loan period, and his self belief and confidence have suffered because of this, I sometimes think he is trying too hard to impress and is not the instinctive striker we had a couple of years ago.

You may be right. Coppell seems to think that Doyle was trying too hard last year. I think Long is a bit similar at the moment.

If the team starts to make ground this year, he will come on with less pressure to do well and may surprise people.

[Platypuss]

He's not really going to develop much more as a player when coming off the bench though.

[Friday's Child]

Maybe part of the reason we now have 5 strikers? With Mooney as yet unproven, and Lita seemingly out of the picture, Long is not fifth on the list at the moment. If Lita gets his act together, and Mooney steps up to be in contention, I could see Long going out on loan to another Championship club, if we get a clear gap up the top (wishful thinking of course!), and a lower mid/bottom side needs a striker desperately.

However, with Doyle's form at the moment, it looks fairly difficult to keep him after January unless we experience some great loyalty borne out of an elevated league position. Who knows.

[Stooper]

Shock horror, I actually attended last night and am being begged to go again as the last few games I've been to have been convincing wins/high scoring games.

Recent games include: Darlington 3-3, Liverpool 3-4, West Ham 6-0, Norwich 4-0....

Whilst it was a good game and I really enjoyed, it did still make me realise why I turned my back on football.

Why?

Ticket prices: Could have got two tickets and two pints (with change!) for £27 at the Stoop.

Respect: For the officials, opposing and fellow fans - some ten year old a few rows in front of me leaning over the fence to call the Wednesday fans w*nkers while his dad laughed was just weird. Don't get me wrong, I swear with the best of them but is it really necessary at a match unless it's borne out of frustration and emotion? Also, seemingly every decision was a cue for players to go up and moan at the ref. I'm used to the ref sending away any player that isn't the captain when someone questions a decision. At the end of the game, I turned to the Wednesday fans that had stayed and gave them a light applause as they'd travelled all that way on a Tuesday night only to lose 6-0 and some still stayed to the end - when I did this, I got yelled at by a Reading fan: "What you clapping them c*nts for, it's not like they f*cking deserve it" Yes, well said. Do your knuckles get cut when you drag them all day?

The entertainment value, even with the 6 goals left a little to be desired. Something was missing and I just don't know what.

I was a season ticket holder from 94-02, missed on average 3 games a season, home and away, and loved Reading Fc and football. But now when I go, I just can't believe what a nasty atmosphere it can be, what unwashed miscreants attend and how much you have to pay for the privilege of doing so.

I'll still attend if I'm offered a ticket, but sitting in the East (which I had done so for 4 years as a season ticket holder in Y25) just unnerved me. Maybe I've just grown up....

[Mr Angry]

Claim political asylum and move into the Upper West Stooper!!

[Stooper]

Claim political asylum and move into the Upper West Stooper!!

Strangely that's where I've sat for some of the more recent games I've been to

[Mr Angry]

Ah - that would explain the unwashed miscreant comment then; me and Woodcote!