Wolves - Back From The Game...

[Tommy Youlden's Ears]

Was in West Lower for a change (took Wolves colleague). Was in prime position for the sending off and Leroy's shoulder.

Sending off was great entertainment. The lino was shouting in Collins' ear as he stole ten yards for a throw. When the decison was reversed Collin's clearly swore. A lot. But the lino said something back. Would love to be a lip reader, cos it certainly started with 'F'; now he might have said 'Foul Throw', or he might have said something else, which would hardly be very professional. After that, of course, came the corner (which was correct call by Lino) and more swearing and a sending off. Letter of law says it was dissent in spades. Were it a RFC player, I'd be a bit irritated - cos it was much more about frustration and a desire to get up the other end, than a John Terry-esque lack of respect. Well that's how I saw it. Reallllyyyy funny though.

As for Leroy - to be honest, I thought that he might have faked it, Leroy being Leroy. But in the cold light of day, he can't be that good an actor. His wide eyed expression when it went back in - shock, wot-no-warning horror, and a big dollop of 'thank f***, it's stopped hurting' was startling.

As has been said here earlier. Not a great purist game. But I sat there, Stadium rocking, Collins walking to the tunnel, my Wolves chum head in hands, thinking God I love Football. A great night out.

[Vision]

Thought tactically, Coppell was right on the button -

Wolves success this season has centred on Jarvis. Ebanks 'Blake and Kightly working as a unit. Kightly was totally snuffed out of game, and without him despite Jarvis having some success first half, it took the wheels of the way they like to operate.

They are far less effective if you can nail one of the wingers and stop the supply, which Coppell succeeded in doing

I thought to a certain extent Mccarthy did that for him. They seemed so keen to "get at" Kelly that they appeared to forget all about the rest of the pitch.

[Hoop Blah]

I thought we were much the better side in the first half but might have gone in at 1-1 if Keogh hadn't missed a sitter.

It was flagged for offside anyway.

[brendywendy]

To whoever thought we were awful. We managed to dominate the first half,till doobs went,then successfully shut out the game in the second.the thing that makes it so impressive was that it was vs their strongest side,and ours consisted of a third choice child rb.a 20 year old 4th choice cb, a midfielder who wont head the ball at cb. And an old man at cm. Its no wonder we werent totally fluent was it.

[BR2]

I thought we were much the better side in the first half but might have gone in at 1-1 if Keogh hadn't missed a sitter.

It was flagged for offside anyway.

Didn't realise that especially as it was shown as one of the highlights of the first half and when it happened I turned away in relief that it hadn't gone in.

[Blue&White Mage]

I'm guessing it was just me who thought the guy who tried to steal Kebe's shirt in the first half deserved a red, as no one else seems to have mentioned it. I thought the ref was shocking in parts and only seemed to start giving us decisions after he was bowled over by a wolves player

It was a great start to the match and I would happilly sit through many more if we won them 1-0 like that.

Oh and did everyone see wolves 32 hugging Doyle everytime we had a corner when we were kicking towards the north stand? I know refs seem to always let these things slide but it was everytime and often the guy kept Doyle behind the goalline using both arms.

[Negative_Jeff]

Thought tactically, Coppell was right on the button -

Wolves success this season has centred on Jarvis. Ebanks 'Blake and Kightly working as a unit. Kightly was totally snuffed out of game, and without him despite Jarvis having some success first half, it took the wheels of the way they like to operate.

They are far less effective if you can nail one of the wingers and stop the supply, which Coppell succeeded in doing

I thought to a certain extent Mccarthy did that for him. They seemed so keen to "get at" Kelly that they appeared to forget all about the rest of the pitch.

I agree with this. Twice I have seen Wolves now and they are all pace and power and don`t play as much as us.
Birmingham keep bringing in new players and don`t play well. I cannot believe that McLeish knows what his best side is.
It`s looking good for Reading because although the best footballing side in the division, Swansea, are in a rich vein of form they have a lot of ground to make up.

[winchester_royal]

Great game, great performance, great atmosphere.

Couple of points:

First of all can I just say once again how good Cisse was, particularly in the first 30 minutes when he played in CM. He is gonna be a RFC legend.

As will Pearce. The fact that Ebanks-Blake did not get a sniff all game shows just how well he did. Armo also had a great game, Kites did oxf*rd all.

[Woodcote Royal]

To whoever thought we were awful. We managed to dominate the first half,till doobs went,then successfully shut out the game in the second.the thing that makes it so impressive was that it was vs their strongest side,and ours consisted of a third choice child rb.a 20 year old 4th choice cb, a midfielder who wont head the ball at cb. And an old man at cm. Its no wonder we werent totally fluent was it.

Especially when we were playing on a surface that even Brazil would struggle to look like world beaters on.

[Tommy Youlden's Ears]

Love Boris - as a club man, a trier and what appears to be decent bloke. But thought last night that he looked very old.

[winchester_royal]

Love Boris - as a club man, a trier and what appears to be decent bloke. But thought last night that he looked very old.

'Greed. Good guy, but if we offer him a new contract at the end of the season, regardless of whether we go up or not, Coppell has lost it.

[Dirk Gently]

Thought tactically, Coppell was right on the button -

Wolves success this season has centred on Jarvis. Ebanks 'Blake and Kightly working as a unit. Kightly was totally snuffed out of game, and without him despite Jarvis having some success first half, it took the wheels of the way they like to operate.

They are far less effective if you can nail one of the wingers and stop the supply, which Coppell succeeded in doing

Which is also similar to the way to stop us playing - mark the wingers and stop the full-backs joining the attacks.

Hence yesterday's match was always going to be short of goals and attacking play.

[Dirk Gently]

Thought tactically, Coppell was right on the button -

Wolves success this season has centred on Jarvis. Ebanks 'Blake and Kightly working as a unit. Kightly was totally snuffed out of game, and without him despite Jarvis having some success first half, it took the wheels of the way they like to operate.

They are far less effective if you can nail one of the wingers and stop the supply, which Coppell succeeded in doing

I thought to a certain extent Mccarthy did that for him. They seemed so keen to "get at" Kelly that they appeared to forget all about the rest of the pitch.

I agree with this. Twice I have seen Wolves now and they are all pace and power and don`t play as much as us.
Birmingham keep bringing in new players and don`t play well. I cannot believe that McLeish knows what his best side is.
It`s looking good for Reading because although the best footballing side in the division, Swansea, are in a rich vein of form they have a lot of ground to make up.

Not to mention them putting a player almost literally on Fed's toes at every corner so he couldn't come for the ball.

When it came to gamesmanship and cynical little touches like that Wolves were world class.

[StevenKelliher]

Just seen the sending off...still think it's harsh.

You can lipread?

No, but his outburst was brief so I dread to think what he said to the lino. If it'd had been the full hair dryer treatment then it would have made more sense. Oh well.

I was sat near the bottom of the South stand to the left of the goal and saw the incident quite clearly. The player was gobbing of at the linesman about 5 minutes before the sending off and was pretty much told to wind his neck in. He then gobbed of again and got red carded. Seemed pretty fair to me.

[Deadlock]

I'm guessing it was just me who thought the guy who tried to steal Kebe's shirt in the first half deserved a red, as no one else seems to have mentioned it. I thought the ref was shocking in parts and only seemed to start giving us decisions after he was bowled over by a wolves player

Certainly a case for Ward to be sent off there. What I thought was bizarre was in the second half when another Wolves player committed the same offence on NHunt we only got a free kick. There was also the bit where a Wolves player launched himself at Boris, which the ref initially gave us a free kick for, only to change his mind when he realised the Wolf had injured himself!?

I enjoyed the bit where the two Wolves players head-butted each other. Didn't enjoy missing the goal because I was one of the 200 or so still queueing at Gate 7 to get in.

[Maguire]

If Pearce isn't a future Reading captain and defensive legend in the future then I'll eat my hat.

Kelly I thought did his job well, Jarvis was mostly ineffectual and once he was taken off Kelly was allowed to go forward and we saw the excellent attacking abilities.

Jarvis was their only effective player ! Got behind Kelly two or three times in the first half and should have scored in the second half. Kelly did okay against a good player but no more than that.

I's say that Kelly started a little nervous (understandably) and so was a little shaky in the first half-hour.

But after that his confidence and composure visibly grew so that in the second half there were no signs he was so new.

I disagree entirely I have to say. The early stages of the second half I'd fear for us every time the ball went near him. At one point he needed to stick it in the stands whilst facing his own goal, but tried to take a touch and got robbed in a dangerous position. He also looked a bit scared and backed off when they played the one-two round him for Jarvis' (?) shot that passed near the top corner.

Still, no point in slamming a player who clearly isn't good enough yet but has stepped up and helped keep a clean sheet against a free-scoring side.

Pearce I thought was very good but I imagine him to be a bit of an Adi Viveash type player in years to come - solid, good in the air, but a bit flat-footed and lacking in pace to cut it at the top level.

[readingbedding]

I thought their right-back was very nervous, in fact Wolves tried to impose anything and everything on us, but we were comfortable.
We were harder, faster, stronger and better!

[LoyalRoyalFan]

A good performance from the lads last night. It was scrappy and the ball spent too much in the air but it was a good defensive display and that is all we needed. Alex Pearce put in a brilliant performance at the back and against one of the best attacking teams in the league, he excelled. There are however one or two things we could do to improve our game. We play far too much long ball. We struggled to put together two or three passes on the ground. These in turn caused few chances in the second half. So to Coppell.. More direct football and less Long Ball.

[Hoop Blah]

I'm guessing it was just me who thought the guy who tried to steal Kebe's shirt in the first half deserved a red, as no one else seems to have mentioned it. I thought the ref was shocking in parts and only seemed to start giving us decisions after he was bowled over by a wolves player

Certainly a case for Ward to be sent off there. What I thought was bizarre was in the second half when another Wolves player committed the same offence on NHunt we only got a free kick. There was also the bit where a Wolves player launched himself at Boris, which the ref initially gave us a free kick for, only to change his mind when he realised the Wolf had injured himself!?

I enjoyed the bit where the two Wolves players head-butted each other. Didn't enjoy missing the goal because I was one of the 200 or so still queueing at Gate 7 to get in.

It was a cynical challenge yes, but I'm not sure how you could justify sending him off for it. Have a stab at it if you like though....

I've no idea what the ref gave a freekick for for the challenge on Gunnarsson though and even less of an idea of why he changed his mind. He was only a couple of yards form the incident in the first place.

[facaldaqui]

[quote="Bucks Dave"]There is a phrase that people outside the club are starting to use about us and I see Coppell used it last night. We hunt in packs. That was particularly true every time one of our players made a mistake or was beaten by one of their players in a forward position. Immediately a couple of other players closest by would move fast to close the situation down to neutralise the mistake. No yelling at each other or eyes skywards in mock disgust, just a concentration on getting things back under control again with everyone taking responsibility.

What I loved about this match more than anything was the team approach to dealing with Wolves and neutralising them. It didn't make for fluent flowing football but for a match of this importance and with a new back four it did the trick.[/quote]

This is part of Reading's secret. In some ways, what we do is very unorthodox. This team shows that there is worth in a half tackle, a quarter tackle, a flailing jostle, a toe in. What happens is that by buzzing around the player in possession, he is put off and loses full control of the ball. As soon as the ball goes a foot or two loose, our hasslers and hustlers are there to pick up posssession, and they scrap their way out with the ball. This happens again and again. Opposition defenders are particularly frustrated by having Doyle, the Hunts, and Kebe (yes, he does it too) up their bollocks, so that bringing the ball out of their defence becomes a battle. It's a great tactic, a percentage game. Our style may not be the beautiful game, but I love it; and I'm so glad that Hunt looks not to be going, because he epitomises this terrier-like mentality. (I even think it could work in the Premier: the draw away to Man U last season was won on the same tactics. But team spirit needs to be absolute; when we lost that last season, it was goodbye tiger.)