Reality check

[floyd__streete]

Well maybe that thrashing today will do us some favours in the long term. We're not Brazil - we were closer to being Barnet today - so we were never going to go through the long season unbeaten at home in such a competitive league. It might bring some amongst us down to earth too; three wins on the spin had already toasting promotion it seemed and some of the fanciful predictions on another thread belied Southampton's good away form and the fact that we simply aint nowehere near as good as some of you think we are.

Southampton were one of the few teams to come to Reading and try and pass the ball about, and just like against Doncaster and the second half against Swansea we truly struggled. Some of their movement, passing and little flicks were a joy to behold and they were a class above us all game. No complaints at all today - the referee performed well and Southampton played honestly and openly. My only reservations tonight are with the management; Harper on for 80 anonymous minutes? No half time changes having been played off the park in an ineffective opening 45 minutes? Long on for half an hour of the usual honest endeavour with negligible quality? The players can take a look at themselves too; Hahnemann inexplicably failing to come for the first cross for the opening goal for instance, Bikey's showboating bordering on sloppiness. And there is a complete absence of leaders on the pitch for Reading when things go badly wrong as they did today. Not good to watch, but a timely reminder that we aren't head and shoulders above this division like we were 3 years ago.

I fail to see why Jimmy Kebe is hyped up so much to be honest. From a winger you want end product and I cannot recall a single decent cross from him today. Sure, he's pacy but he runs himself down blind alleys and struggles to stay on his feet half the time; if you want to watch a pacy athlete go to Crystal Palace for the sprints, give me a footballer like Glenn Little every time. Luckily for Kebe, as long as Rosenior is playing he won't be the worst player on the pitch; England's right back was atrocious in every department again today, if only he could play football half as well as he talks to the media. Our right side today failed throughout ninety minutes with the exception of any unusually accurate finish at the end of some excellent work by the industrious Doyle who was a class above anything else we had today.

This season was always going to be one of transition and I comfortable and satisfied with where we are the moment. We will finish in the top six and we will win many more than we lose, which is a pretty decent effort. Our squad is a decent one at this level but would we cope in the Premier League? Absolutely not, this isn't remotely as good a side as the one we had three years ago - James Harper's performances, for instance, show what a good player Steve Sidwell was/is. Wolves are pulling away and the difference between us and Birmingham is that when they are 2-1 down their impact sub is Kevin Phllips. And ours is Shane Long.

[Chaney]

. Wolves are pulling away and the difference between us and Birmingham is that when they are 2-1 down their impact sub is Kevin Phllips. And ours is Shane Long.

quote of the day and sums up most fans thinking

[Mr. Reading]

. Wolves are pulling away and the difference between us and Birmingham is that when they are 2-1 down their impact sub is Kevin Phllips. And ours is Shane Long.

quote of the day and sums up most fans thinking

'greed

[Wiggypop]

Well maybe that thrashing today will do us some favours in the long term. We're not Brazil - we were closer to being Barnet today - so we were never going to go through the long season unbeaten at home in such a competitive league. It might bring some amongst us down to earth too; three wins on the spin had already toasting promotion it seemed and some of the fanciful predictions on another thread belied Southampton's good away form and the fact that we simply aint nowehere near as good as some of you think we are.

Southampton were one of the few teams to come to Reading and try and pass the ball about, and just like against Doncaster and the second half against Swansea we truly struggled. Some of their movement, passing and little flicks were a joy to behold and they were a class above us all game. No complaints at all today - the referee performed well and Southampton played honestly and openly. My only reservations tonight are with the management; Harper on for 80 anonymous minutes? No half time changes having been played off the park in an ineffective opening 45 minutes? Long on for half an hour of the usual honest endeavour with negligible quality? The players can take a look at themselves too; Hahnemann inexplicably failing to come for the first cross for the opening goal for instance, Bikey's showboating bordering on sloppiness. And there is a complete absence of leaders on the pitch for Reading when things go badly wrong as they did today. Not good to watch, but a timely reminder that we aren't head and shoulders above this division like we were 3 years ago.

I fail to see why Jimmy Kebe is hyped up so much to be honest. From a winger you want end product and I cannot recall a single decent cross from him today. Sure, he's pacy but he runs himself down blind alleys and struggles to stay on his feet half the time; if you want to watch a pacy athlete go to Crystal Palace for the sprints, give me a footballer like Glenn Little every time. Luckily for Kebe, as long as Rosenior is playing he won't be the worst player on the pitch; England's right back was atrocious in every department again today, if only he could play football half as well as he talks to the media. Our right side today failed throughout ninety minutes with the exception of any unusually accurate finish at the end of some excellent work by the industrious Doyle who was a class above anything else we had today.

This season was always going to be one of transition and I comfortable and satisfied with where we are the moment. We will finish in the top six and we will win many more than we lose, which is a pretty decent effort. Our squad is a decent one at this level but would we cope in the Premier League? Absolutely not, this isn't remotely as good a side as the one we had three years ago - James Harper's performances, for instance, show what a good player Steve Sidwell was/is. Wolves are pulling away and the difference between us and Birmingham is that when they are 2-1 down their impact sub is Kevin Phllips. And ours is Shane Long.

boring

[Chaney]

Well maybe that thrashing today will do us some favours in the long term. We're not Brazil - we were closer to being Barnet today - so we were never going to go through the long season unbeaten at home in such a competitive league. It might bring some amongst us down to earth too; three wins on the spin had already toasting promotion it seemed and some of the fanciful predictions on another thread belied Southampton's good away form and the fact that we simply aint nowehere near as good as some of you think we are.

Southampton were one of the few teams to come to Reading and try and pass the ball about, and just like against Doncaster and the second half against Swansea we truly struggled. Some of their movement, passing and little flicks were a joy to behold and they were a class above us all game. No complaints at all today - the referee performed well and Southampton played honestly and openly. My only reservations tonight are with the management; Harper on for 80 anonymous minutes? No half time changes having been played off the park in an ineffective opening 45 minutes? Long on for half an hour of the usual honest endeavour with negligible quality? The players can take a look at themselves too; Hahnemann inexplicably failing to come for the first cross for the opening goal for instance, Bikey's showboating bordering on sloppiness. And there is a complete absence of leaders on the pitch for Reading when things go badly wrong as they did today. Not good to watch, but a timely reminder that we aren't head and shoulders above this division like we were 3 years ago.

I fail to see why Jimmy Kebe is hyped up so much to be honest. From a winger you want end product and I cannot recall a single decent cross from him today. Sure, he's pacy but he runs himself down blind alleys and struggles to stay on his feet half the time; if you want to watch a pacy athlete go to Crystal Palace for the sprints, give me a footballer like Glenn Little every time. Luckily for Kebe, as long as Rosenior is playing he won't be the worst player on the pitch; England's right back was atrocious in every department again today, if only he could play football half as well as he talks to the media. Our right side today failed throughout ninety minutes with the exception of any unusually accurate finish at the end of some excellent work by the industrious Doyle who was a class above anything else we had today.

This season was always going to be one of transition and I comfortable and satisfied with where we are the moment. We will finish in the top six and we will win many more than we lose, which is a pretty decent effort. Our squad is a decent one at this level but would we cope in the Premier League? Absolutely not, this isn't remotely as good a side as the one we had three years ago - James Harper's performances, for instance, show what a good player Steve Sidwell was/is. Wolves are pulling away and the difference between us and Birmingham is that when they are 2-1 down their impact sub is Kevin Phllips. And ours is Shane Long.

boring

5 posts in 3 years, are they all as entralling as this one?

[Jerry St Clair]

Spot on Floyd, as always.

[bcubed]

Obviously you didn't go to Sheffield where the same team played sublime football, something acknowledged by Blades fans as well. Rosenior Kebe and Harper (amongst many) were all excellent against Sheffield
So as far as I am concerned, today's perfomances (awful throughout) doesn't make them bad players, just inconsistent
Having said that we are always going to be vulnerable to crosses as Marcus has no clue whether to come and collect - never has.
And Bikey needs to stop believing the accollades he has had of late

Based on the Sheffield perfomance and several others this year we can look better than the 05/06 model, but there is a lack of consistency and a lack of spine when up against it
You are probably right that we look top six at best

[Skin]

It's fooball. We're bound to lose occasionally. We're still top 3. With plenty of the season left. What's the problem?

[bobby1413]

It was freezing today

[2.8 lita injection]

First time we have lost at home & now this.

I now realise why i dont post on here, the place is full of manure supporters.

I would like to point out that reading fc are in a brilliant position and doing rather well overall.

[Ian Royal]

Agrred, I had a lengthy post saying why it ain't so bad, but it failed to register. I'm not typing it all again so you'll have to settle for:

Not many will beat us at home, good game by Saints, nowhere near a thrashing. Long way to go yet and only a few points between 3rd and 2nd

[urz_1871]

One bad day and it's all doom and gloom. I will prob be called a RTG but one bad day and suddenly the team are crap.

Yes i was frustrated as everyone else today, but c'mon reality check? Your having a laugh.

What annoyed me the most about today is the home crowd failed to get behind the team. On days like this we need everyone to get behind the team and shout/sing encouragement. Not just moan everytime a pass is misplaced. Everyone knew we were having a rubbish first half, but all they could do was moan about it, which makes the players nervous as they can hear everyone's frustration. Oh and don't get me started on the booing at half time,disgraceful.

[The whole year inn]

Bringing on a player of Shane Long's negligible ability when chasing a game is not what a team chasing promotion to the Premiership should be doing.

Can't remember where I saw it mentioned but I echo it; Matejovsky linking up with Lita would offer so many more alternatives in a situation like todays.

[Very near...far away]

It is the end of the world.
How will we survive.

[Scrappy]

To be honest, before the game we were talking as if we had already won. Now this has happened and hopefully it's a real smack in the balls!

[papereyes]

One bad day and it's all doom and gloom. I will prob be called a RTG but one bad day and suddenly the team are crap.

Yes i was frustrated as everyone else today, but c'mon reality check? Your having a laugh.

Erm. I think 'reality check' might be the best phrase available.

We are a good side but we aren't going to storm the league and if we go into a game complacent (and, perhaps, this board showed the wrong attitude about things), we will get done over.

Its not the end of the world. Note carefully that he hasn't even pretended to say that. I think, personally, that people pointing out that we're third are ignoring that, at this stage of the season, points and performances might be better indicators. We were, what, 'midtable' last season but only ever two bad games from being in the dogfight. But, yes, we are doing well. Playoffs should be the minimum attainment this season and we're well on track from that.

Personally, I think people would be better served reading posts like this and having a bit of a think rather than jumping up and down whenever someone dares suggest we're not the greatest team ever.

Oh, and lastly:

Our squad is a decent one at this level but would we cope in the Premier League? Absolutely not

I would be surprised, nay, shocked if anyone tried to argue that it was.

[Rex]

As ever Papereyes - the voice of reason. Yes we had a shocking game, yes we've droped off the top two but purple patches come and go for any team in the league. There is no run away success at the moment. Just a relative consistancy for Brum and Wolves which is currently hard to haul back.

This after all is the closeness / fight and almost level playing field that is lacking within the PL.
Enjoy the frustration and success. It's all interesting.

The frustration of yesterday was almost a complete reversal and likened to Notts Forest.
The team need to up the ante.

[PieEater]

I didn't mind losing today, but what really surprised me was what a good team Southampton were, they played us off the park. Quite why they are down near the bottom of the division is a mystery if they can play like that.

When we got back into it and had some momentum they just kept the ball, pass after pass, and throw in after throw in until our frustration showed and we just gave the ball back to them.

Their tactics stifled our wingers, and then we look like an ordinary team with fragile confidence that is incapable of making the simplest pass.

Having said that, Doyler could of equalised it with this free header at the end, but in fairness that would have been a travesty given how we'd played.

[PlasticRoyale]

I didn't jump on the band wagon to watch Reading get beat at home.

On other news, gutted we only got the draw against Villa...

[Einstein agogo]

Pay attention to me

we had players away on international duty and this always happens following international games... don't know why BUT i feel there is now a psychological effect on the players such that they have already lost( in their minds ) before the game kicks off. It something that I would personally deal with , with some kind of sports psychologist if I was coppell . I'm sure it's not tiredness , i'm 80% sure it's a mental issue