Back from the Preston game

[brendywendy]

Snowball, in what way is that a kneejerk reaction? It's a reaction to having seen Kebe over the season.

Furthermore, in what way does detailing the amount of shots he's had in any way make the argument that he's a good finisher? Indeed, given he's only scored once, doesn't it demonstrate the opposite?

not really, since he spends all of his time on the wing, and only rarely hovers at the edge of the area, or actually in it

[brendywendy]

If we win our game in hand we go top ffs-what are you lot on about?!

oops

im unable to add up!

i meant that our goal difference is worth another point apparently!

[79Royal]

Wolves lost at home to Preston (and also away to QPR).
Birmingham lost away at Preston (and also away to QPR).

Brum play Preston at home in the penultimate game of the season and they've still got Sheff Utd, Wolves and Us to come.

Wolves have still got Brum, Cardiff and QPR to play this season.

Cardiff have still got to play Wolves, Sheff Utd, QPR, Swansea and Preston and an FA cup tie against Arsenal.

Swansea still have to face QPR, Cardiff and Sheff Utd, plus a distracting FA cup tie against Premier League opposition.

We have got Sheff U and Birmingham to play at home.

Whilst the past two games have been dull and we need Coppell to freshen the side up (Harper and Kebe need a rest for a start), I'm not going to start looking for a rope and the nearest exposed beam just yet.

Really good post. I would just add a bit of caution though in that we still have to play the like of Bristol City and Doncaster. Both are slap bang in form....so the fact that neither are in the top 6 doesn't mean they are there for the taking as our results against Soton and Charlton clearly testify.

Good point. For the record then:

Reading - Bristol City & Doncaster
Wolves - Doncaster (at home, last game of the season)
Brum - Bristol City & Doncaster
Cardiff - Bristol City & Doncaster
Swansea - Bristol City & Doncaster

Of course, with 15 games left, there is plenty of time for any side to go on a good run and make an impact on the top 8-10 clubs. We need to concentrate on winning our home games. Of the 7 we have left, 4 are against clubs currently in the top half. We play top half teams 3 times away from home. March is a big month for us, playing Tuesday-Saturday all month.

I'm not suggesting we are going to go on and win the league, I just don't think it's as bad as some people are saying. 3 clean sheets on the bounce is a solid base and I'm confident that we have enough goals in us to win more than we lose or draw.

[Woodcote Royal]

When you love Leroy, who cares if his return coincides with our worst goal drought of the season?

[Royal Rother]

Things aren't quite falling into place up front at the moment but it is surely worth remembering that, in our last 2 Home games, neither Wolves nor Preston (the highest and 6th highest scorers in the Championship) have mustered a single shot on target between them.

If our defence continues to function as efficently as it has done recently we will go up as Champions.

Once again I would not fault Lita's effort or attitude, he's just not as good a footballer as NHunt. (But his shot in the 1st half was not straight at the 'keeper, it was an excellent one handed save I thought.)

[LUX]

I always enjoy your optimism RR (I'm RTG #1)

I'm just off to the cricket thread to see how promisisng you say our batting was yesterday.

[jocombes]

I was listening to the radio yesterday and they did mention Harper a lot saying he doesn't pass it forward enough and doesn't take enough risks. Fans also texted saying that he only seems to pass it backwards and sideways and always goes for the easy option. Some other people said his time is up at Reading. What do you think Reading fans???

[Huntley & Palmer]

Forgot to say, Jon Parkin still proves that we can all be professional footballers if we put our minds to it. He is by far the fattest and most unfit footballer I have seen gracing the Madejski pitch and I include Caskey when making that remark. LOLaughable

[The Cap]

Harper doesn't seem to run around doing windmill impressions so much these days but on his day he's a worthwhile addition. Depends on who's partnering him in midfield really. As people on here have said before since Siddy departed the scene the midfield is not quite the match made in heaven that it was previously.

As for Parkin. I can't ever remember having seen a player that size, before, on a football pitch. Coupled to the fact that he was sort of mobile. Looked like he'd turned up for the wrong sport. I'd have thought somebody like that would be more suited to the egg chasing variety.

[Woodcote Royal]

It would be very tempting for some of us to come on here today and lay the blame for yesterdays dropped points largely on the selection of Leroy Lita. However, that would only serve to paper over more serious errors that have been made in recent months.

Nevertheless, whereas Coppell had few options when playing Lita at QPR, yesterday, he elected to bench 10 goal Noel Hunt; even despatching him to the right wing when summoned as desperation set in.

I agree that our biggest problems lay in midfield but Hunt and Doyle, along with some sibling telepathy, have dug us out of the mire so many times throughout this campaign; creating goals from meagre scraps, not to mention expert delivery from set pieces. Doyle and Hunt have even allowed us to get away without having a target man in our ranks because, despite neither being the tallest, they aren't the worst in the air. None of this applies to Lita and whilst his die hard fan club might not see it, one can only hope that our manager will, eventually

To be fair, in the first 20 minutes it was evident that an effort was being made to play to Lita's strengths but, as time wore on, this only served to make us one dimensional against a well organised, cheating Preston side, ably assisted but yet another set of officials who were living proof of why the respect campaign is doomed until it becomes a two way street.

Week after week we are subjected to these incompetents but, unlike most of us back in the real world, rarely does poor performance appear to threaten livelihoods. It's high time assessors reports were made available to those who ultimately pay their wages with managers being allowed to make reasonable observations without being fined

I believe it's fair to say that we would have won with a referee of a standard we have a perfect right to expect EVERY week of the season but that the blame should be shared equally with our manager who, to be fair to the ref, has had months to start barking up the right tree in order to solve his problems in midfield.

As one of those who wanted Marek to get his chance when Kebe was suspended, I was still mightily relieved when it finally dawned on our manger that he and Harper were not the dream ticket he was looking for. Now, I'm praying that yesterday was the final experiment this season as far as this talented but, ill suited to the task, player is concerned. Steve Coppell needs to realise that he can have 4-4-2 0R Marek and that both is NOT an option

I, too, agreed with Mick Gooding's assessment of James Harper (has every thing in his locker, rarely uses it and often fails to go forward when he should) and understood why Coppell took him off but, frankly, we lost all shape from then on because no one was doing his job any more. James is not nearly as bad as some suggest. He has his bad days but Marek never will be a viable replacement.

Furthermore, and as Dirk alludes to, Marek is a red card waiting to happen in this league and he's currently keeping better options off the bench.

If only Byrn were 10 years younger he would be able to cope with a 46 game season but he was still the better option for yesterday's twenty minute cameo. Karacan, despite good performances in the hammering of Wolves, amongst several others, appears to have been a casualty of that time honoured Coppell Exocet "When fit, my favorites play until they decide to leave the building"

In this respect, surely there is no better example of our managers biggest weakness than yesterdays MoM Christopher "Nicky who?" Armstrong who ran his guts out all afternoon and probably wouldn't be here now had "Sulk a lot" realised before he left that some managers expect all of their players to earn a place in the team

As I've said many times, I'm no Harper hater but Karacan has done more than enough to be pushing him all the way for a place in this side and if Byrn gets the first place on the bench for his experience and versatility, Gem's performances earlier in the season should see him ahead of Marek. He was part of a midfield that created the chances that without which Lita's inclusion cannot be justified.

Successful teams always get sussed to a certain degree by their rivals and it's how their manager responds that ultimately decides their fate....................the balls in your court, Steve, take off the blinkers and get too it

Sorry for the long post but, as ever, read or ignore as you see fit

[Royal Rother]

Some will doubtless pick on individual bits in an attempt to discredit the whole, but I think that's a good post.

[79Royal]

I really don't see how hoof ball is 'playing to Lita's strengths'.

[Southbank Old Boy]

Dont often agree with WR but on the whole I think thats a decent enough post

The last few games have shown that we havent learnt that much from last season and again Coppell seems to be a little clueless when he needs to find a way to change a poor run of form

Its not too serious yet as everyone else seems to be following a similar loss in for to us, but it is alarming how much we are struggling to create and take chances

[Sarah Star]

Please sir, can we have our Karacan back?

[Dirk Gently]

Where's our Karacan, Where's our Karacan?

[Alan Partridge]

It was a hopeless game of 'football' by two very ordinary sides refereed by ordinary officials.

Fairly obvious that some would rather have a pop at Lita who in the grand scheme of things actually had a decent game Saturday I felt up there with Doyle. Both toiled away feeding off the proverbial scraps offered to them. No surprise that doyle had to drop deeper to provide the only moment of quality in 90minutes with a sumptious through ball to Lita who forced the only worthwhile save in 90minutes.

Defensively fine, another game where Federici has had precious little to do due to the excellent Duberry, Pearce and Armstrong. Rosenior hmmm thought he was a bit off yesterday.

As aluded too the forwards did as well as they could, I personally felt the opposite to a few posts above. The game was crying out for Matejovsky. Preston set up 442, it was a defensive 442 but they played with 2 in the middle, neither were the most tenacious, it was crying out for someone with a bit of quality and vision to get his foot on it and try and create. Harper, again as alluded too gave a typical Harper performance. Loads of energy, loads of sideways passing, nothing achieved. Cisse again he's the more defensive, did ok in there but it was begging for someone to take the initiative and try and do something spectacular. Matejovsky would have been on at half time for me.

The two wingers were terrible, not a single decent ball in between them. The set pieces were poor throughout, and we created nothing for our forwards in 90minutes.

Maybe the pitch is having a slight effect? The players and management say it plays better than it looks but I'm not sure, it looks pretty bad. Reading at their best are a bit direct but they get it wide, the get crosses in and they try and run at teams. It's no good if the ball is bobbling or taking funny bounces because of a porr surface. It makes you wonder if the Mad Man would prefer the £30million for being in the Premiership or the peanuts in comparison that the egg chasers provide? I know what I'd prefer and they'd be on the first train back to Londonderry. (see what i did there!)

All in all to nick a phrase from Schards it was yet another 'dull and uninspiring' performance, which is a huge concern. 4 games without a goal from a Reading player could possibly say teams are finding us out? Or it could just be one of them runs. We'll see in the coming weeks. I notice some have pinned that straight at Lita's door which is frankly laughable and a desperate scrape of the barrel for a stick to beat him with. It alos doesn't take into account that he's started 2 of those and not the other 2. The problem lies straight in the midfield's door. It's misfiring, the wingers have been below par for weeks on end, and it seems Harper is having another one of his traditionally poor spells. A lot of managers would change this, I strongly doubt Coppell will change 2 of his untouchables.

[Snowball]

It was a hopeless game of 'football' by two very ordinary sides refereed by ordinary officials.

Fairly obvious that some would rather have a pop at Lita who in the grand scheme of things actually had a decent game Saturday I felt up there with Doyle. Both toiled away feeding off the proverbial scraps offered to them. No surprise that doyle had to drop deeper to provide the only moment of quality in 90minutes with a sumptious through ball to Lita who forced the only worthwhile save in 90minutes.

Oh you missed the asave against kebe, then? The game started nice and open, and with ten minutes on the clock Reading got the first meaningful shot on goal. Jimmy Kebe nipped in on a loose header inside the box and almost caught Andy Lonergan unawares at the near post with a rasping shot, but the 'keeper made a good reflex save.

The two wingers were terrible, not a single decent ball in between them. The set pieces were poor throughout, and we created nothing for our forwards in 90minutes.

and you missed the twice that Kebe got clean through on the by-line and the ball went begging in the six yard box? There was still time for another chance - and a decent penalty shout. Stephen Hunt's cross was overhit, but Lonergan still had to deal with it and backpedalled awkwardly toward his far post. Unsure whether to leave it or tip it over, he only palmed it down to Kebe, who lashed it first time and off the inside of the post. It cannoned onto Youl Mawene's arm, but penalty appeals were waved away and it was probably a case of ball to hand anyway.

All in all to nick a phrase from Schards it was yet another 'dull and uninspiring' performance, which is a huge concern. 4 games without a goal from a Reading player could possibly say teams are finding us out? .

Coppell is dead right when he says teams aren't coming to play any more.

Even when we were winning handsomely at home, early in the season, the other teams had good possession and chances,
but, by playing an open game, they played to our strengths and were punished. QPR came for a point and got it.
Preston came for a point and got it. Cardiff came for a point and almost won with that stolen goal.

We just have to face the facts that if we don't score early against defensive sides it isn't going to be pretty.

This happened to Arsenal and 80-90% of games at the Emirates are now dire because most away sides don't try to play

[Maguire]

When you love Leroy, who cares if his return coincides with our worst goal drought of the season?

Lita played better than most of the other Reading players - certainly a lot better than Doyle - and Coppell should feel vindicated at his selection.

[Royal Rother]

I think you're joking. Lita was okay but Doyle was having an excellent game until his knock.

[Snowball]

Stats don't tell the full story. I'd take a points in any form necessary but you can't tell me that with the way we are currently playing you are not concerned that we are going to be caught?


No, I don't think we'll be "caught".

We may drop into 3rd next week because we aren't playing, I think we'll win the Championship


And so do the bookies who have made us 5/4 favourites for the title