Back from the Southampton game...

[Rex]

I don't know what the hell that digusting load of rubbish was yesterday but it sure as hell wasn't a team looking for promotion.

Only Hahnemann could come out of that feeling that he'd done well, the rest were just not good enough. And whatever Bikey is on at the moment I hope he doesn't share it round (or perhaps he did!)

Play like that at Cardiff and we will be out the game after the first 10 minutes.

Hmmmm. Strange terminology.

[Elm Park Old Boy]

Why does Harper, in the Championship, find himself on the bench these days...courtesy of Sir Steve? Lets start there...

Um, Denver, maybe he should be on the bench, but he started - as captain - yesterday.

[The Quiet Man]

Third of the season in and we look like a play off side. Wolves consistent wins that can cover the odd blip, Birmingham doing the grinding it out, RFC a few wins followed by a defeat and some draws and we don't do come from behind. Goalkeeper OK; defence poor Rosenior is not a full back, Bikey is the character of our side at the moment great at times embarassly sh*te at others with the ability to take his eye off the ball at any time; midfield was pants almost from the start we seem where we were last season with centre backs we have plenty of them but no idea which is the best combination or indeed if any of our combinations will last more than 4 games; wingers Kebe average, S Hunt very poor stop trying to play like a premier league player cos you ain't good enough; Forwards doyle left all his energy on a ROI pitch again,NHunt anonymous non league level performance. Subs not much apart form Long who at least showed what our other forwards should have beeen doing. Coppell tactically outhought and no real ability to change the game from within the current first sixteen all in all a day to forget.

[West Stand Man]

Marcus made some good saves but at times looked well dodgy , we need a new keeper. FACT

You are a plonker - OPINION

[West Stand Man]

LOL at carlos .
Hahnemann may just as well be sitting in a deck chair !! all he does on crosses is watch the ball go over his head , get the fat yank out !!

.. and you are also a plonker, but don't let it get you down.

[IMAMATEOFJOVSKY]

Harper - bloody awful.......for the countless time this season

More worrying is that hes captain and when we need leadership when we are in a battle, Harper is the last person who would provide that - give captaincy to Ingimarsson and get haprer out and Cisse/Bryn in - Ive always said Harpers a liability and over-rated, and he doesn't fail to show that!

[howser]

This was my first mad stad game of the season, and to me was just a "bad day at the office" I think we lost this game very early on when Doyle failed to find Stephen Hunt which would have given him an open goal tap in, if that would have gone in than I would have expected us to win comfortably. Just one of those games where nothing worked, there were some odd performances though, Bikey, was very lax in the warm up period before the game very much a "can't be arsed" impression, and that seemes to run through his play during the match, also in the first half I had great sympathy for Rosenior who was constantly left with two or more Southampton players as we seemes to get drawn accross the pitch. But we need to put this one to bed now and concentrate on Tuesdays match at Cardiff. Of the rest of the side I though Ingi worked his ass of doing two peoples work, Kebe looks pretty useful and will only improve, Cisse, I thought was doing a reasonably good job, we looked a bit light when he went off and the two up front were always looking to be a threat but had pretty woeful service all afternoon. Thought the ref done a decent job, it's only when Harper gets booked for an inoquous hand ball and per referees instructions he is booked, yet Davies in the saints goal continually wasted as much time as possible and nothing happened to him. Overall Southampton looked, or were made to look, a decent young side, who it must be remembered have won four times away from home this season so they dont naturally go away from home and try to defend or prevent home sides playing.

[brendywendy]

every one was poor
thought ivar and kebe did the least harm
doyle marcus and cisse played well, but made crucial errors that cost us
and the rest were sluggish, lethargic and down right awful
just not the same team at all,dont know what happened, but we need a performance on tuesday and also need to accept playoffs as a decent season unless we can sort out the consistency issues
fair play to saints, better all over the pitch for the whole game, really went for us, and got what they deserved

Fans: not clapping or singing till we scored, booing the 1st really bad home performance of the season, then leaving with ten minutes to go
why bother?

[Royalshow]

Fans: not clapping or singing till we scored, booing the 1st really bad home performance of the season, then leaving with ten minutes to go
why bother?

I'm going to leave at half time next time.I will get home earlier so it's really worth it.BTW Fans were oxf*rd shit....with the exception of the drummer

[earleyroyal]

Surprised no one has mentioned the inexcusable lack of pressure on the cross for the first goal - good tackle by Armstrong (I think) then time stood still as the ball ambled slowly towards the edge of the pitch giving the Soton player all the time in the world to tee-up the cross.
Hahnemann should still have come for it, but that was awful and illustrative of our entire approach to the game,

You're right - half the people around me were shouting to get out to it and yet the whole team stood still waiting for it to go out. Epitomised our lazy approach yesterday.

[brendywendy]

Fans: not clapping or singing till we scored, booing the 1st really bad home performance of the season, then leaving with ten minutes to go
why bother?

I'm going to leave at half time next time.I will get home earlier so it's really worth it.BTW Fans were oxf*rd shit.

really oxf*rd me off again yesterday
im getting really riled by it every game.
we dont sing when we are 6-0 up, we dont sing when we are 1-0 down when the crowd can get behind the team and make a bit of a difference, we boo at the slightest hint of a poor performance, leave early, no matter what the state of the game, its a shambles.
and i know the team need to perform to lift the crowd, but it was dead from teh 1st whistle

and what made it even worse was the noise we generated for 5 minutes after scoring, a massive roar
which only went to make the rest of the game look even more embarrassing.
applauded the saints fans out of the ground while they mocked me, and deservedly so
i know tghey struggle to get 15k at theirs sometimes, but they must have left thinking reading=tinpot, and sometimes i ruddy well agree with them.

[Royalshow]

Yesterday was very bad in my opinion.If any other club scored in the 57th minute,eg 33+ minutes to go the crowd would be willing them on for an equalizer.Not the case at yesterday.Is is possible that the majority of reading fans simply turn up and expect a convincing win week in week out.Deep down whenever someone said are fans were awful i would disagreed.Now i'm starting to realize that sitting in silence quietly conforming to the unspoken laws of public gatherings is the way forward.

[Ian Royal]

Yesterday was very bad in my opinion.If any other club scored in the 57th minute,eg 33+ minutes to go the crowd would be willing them on for an equalizer.Not the case at yesterday.Is is possible that the majority of reading fans simply turn up and expect a convincing win week in week out.Deep down whenever someone said are fans were awful i would disagreed.Now i'm starting to realize that sitting in silence quietly conforming to the unspoken laws of public gatherings is the way forward.

Reading fans are having a bit of a cultural issue right now. It's diffcult coming off the back of a couple of seasons playing so well and then suddenly being back in the normal grind of football.

Saints, Wolves, Ipswich, Birmingham Sheff Utd and co. are no longer big games for us. We've had a taste of the real big boys. Expectations will take a while to settle down, especially for a lot of the newer supporters.

We will never see another season like '05/06, but every time we get a couple of good wins in a row or a big result, there seems to be a subconcious tendency to think "here we go again" and get excited.

It's hard to accept very good with a few poor reverses when you've had awsome dished up for you so much in the last 4 years.

[S09Royal]

Yesterday was very bad in my opinion.If any other club scored in the 57th minute,eg 33+ minutes to go the crowd would be willing them on for an equalizer.Not the case at yesterday.Is is possible that the majority of reading fans simply turn up and expect a convincing win week in week out.Deep down whenever someone said are fans were awful i would disagreed.Now i'm starting to realize that sitting in silence quietly conforming to the unspoken laws of public gatherings is the way forward.

Reading fans are having a bit of a cultural issue right now. It's diffcult coming off the back of a couple of seasons playing so well and then suddenly being back in the normal grind of football.

Saints, Wolves, Ipswich, Birmingham Sheff Utd and co. are no longer big games for us. We've had a taste of the real big boys. Expectations will take a while to settle down, especially for a lot of the newer supporters.

We will never see another season like '05/06, but every time we get a couple of good wins in a row or a big result, there seems to be a subconcious tendency to think "here we go again" and get excited.

It's hard to accept very good with a few poor reverses when you've had awsome dished up for you so much in the last 4 years.

I fully agree with what you posted. It seems like we've arrived back to earth with a bump. Tho, we are actually doing pretty well for a team relegated. Look at Charlton, this is their second season in the CCC and they've pretty much crashed out of the play off runnings, let alone automatic promotion! So for us to come down from potentially, the greatest league of all, and to be sitting in 3rd place, is not bad at all.

[PEARCEY]

Yesterday was very bad in my opinion.If any other club scored in the 57th minute,eg 33+ minutes to go the crowd would be willing them on for an equalizer.Not the case at yesterday.Is is possible that the majority of reading fans simply turn up and expect a convincing win week in week out.Deep down whenever someone said are fans were awful i would disagreed.Now i'm starting to realize that sitting in silence quietly conforming to the unspoken laws of public gatherings is the way forward.

Reading fans are having a bit of a cultural issue right now. It's diffcult coming off the back of a couple of seasons playing so well and then suddenly being back in the normal grind of football.

Saints, Wolves, Ipswich, Birmingham Sheff Utd and co. are no longer big games for us. We've had a taste of the real big boys. Expectations will take a while to settle down, especially for a lot of the newer supporters.

We will never see another season like '05/06, but every time we get a couple of good wins in a row or a big result, there seems to be a subconcious tendency to think "here we go again" and get excited.

It's hard to accept very good with a few poor reverses when you've had awsome dished up for you so much in the last 4 years.

Really good point about the likes of Ipswich, Wolves, Brum etc Ian. They have always been much bigger clubs than us but are not seen that way anymore. It shows how much greater the expectations are these days.
There is a long way to go and whilst Wolves are now well ahead Brum remain very catchable.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Hahnemann - Must have forgotten to down his redbulls, just before the first goal there were two balls into the box that went unchallenged, he should have been on them. The second one lead to the goal. Armstrong - Worse performance for the club, run ragged by a right winger who wasn't anything special

Bikey - Playing cameron football and got caught out at least 3 timesHunt - great touches, unfortunately he didn't take time to actually see where he was passing it, at times to a red and white striped shirt. Needs to learn when to take time and see a pass before making one. Needs a rest

Kebe - Didn't break sweat to get lose balls, Didn't keep the ball much. Good goal

N Hunt & Doyle - Didn't get much of the ball, in fact I didn't even notice Hunt was playing. Harper - By far the best player on the pitch, assuming it was an arm waving competition and not a football match. Didn't add anything in midfield just passing from left to right - might as well have had the two players either side wellie to each other. Shocked me by actually putting in a big challenge and winning the ball. Resenior - Okay but gave Murty some hope of getting a game when fit

Ivar - Gogot caught out a few times but only when covering left back

Cisse - Got stuck in, a few good touches and a few bad ones... great tackle to get the ball but cancelled out by the fact it was his miskick that gave that player the ball. Perhaps the best player on the pitch in a Reading shirt before the subs. can't understand why he was taken off and Harper left on.

Gunnarsson - Came on late in the game, first two touches were both to give the ball away, the second being a short pass to Hunt on the wing which took so long to start that everyone knew that was where the ball was going including the Sants player who casually ran onto the end of it before it rolled slowly to Hunt

Long - Lively when on, perhaps pushing for a starting place

Matejovski - Brought the game alive, cracking pass though the field to the right wing for Kebe to run onto and a few other great passes... Did seem to be piggy in the middle at times running back and forth after the ball in our half when getting in space and allowing a closer player to try and win it and pass to him or just staying with one player might have worked best. Could prove to be the best player to ever wear a Reading shirt.[b]Sorry, ineffective and in recollection...wasn't his first touch a ball back to the Scummers in our penalty area?[/b]

James Henry - Unlucky to remain on the bench, must be wondering why.

[cmonurz]

Hello from Egypt. So, I leave the country, we lose to Southampton at home, and Jimmy Kebe scores a goal. In fact, I'm not believing all this until I return home and see it on UK interweb.

[brendywendy]

LOL


joy when he scored, kind of made up for the rest of the game being shite for me
good finish too

get off tinternet anyway, back to the cocktails!

[Royalshow]

LOL


joy when he scored, kind of made up for the rest of the game being shite for me
good finish too

get off tinternet anyway, back to the cocktails!

Did you see Doyle trying to claim it on the Championship? NO YOU DON"T.We're got Jimmy Kebe!

[brendywendy]

didnt watch the chumpionship highlights, got up too late

was the other goal offside?
was marcus awful for their first?