BURNLEY (H) - Match Thread

[Royal Rother]

It took some achievement really to be 3-0 down after 150 minutes of the tie to a team who hadn't even got Hahnemann's gloves dirty during that time.

+1 to that.

Last night was the Reading I know and unfortuately love; disappointing. A massively bizarre choice of Church upfront was, in my opinion, the last move of a desperately unhappy and frustrated manager (of course that wasn't the last move, the triple "threat" was). How on earth did that bunch of players go from beating Wolves and smashing Wednesday go to such inept, souless, headless chickens?

Fair play to Burnley, they got the tatics spot on. Keep it tight for the first 45 then hit them in the 2nd half. We never turned up right from the word go in that half. Tabb might have gotten stuck in a bit more, but for me, he's too lightweight for the middle. Long was hopeless and Kebe is just a complete joke.

I really fear for next season. I'd take mid-table obscurity now, it's going to be a season of transition and we better get used to the fact we're not going to be pushing promotion for a while. At least it'll be easier for me to get a ticket

Long was superb in the 1st half, and Church acquitted himself very well, looking far more lively than either Kitson or Little have since their return.

Bringing on Hunt, Kitson and Little after the 1st goal was scored was an odd thing to do I thought. Church, Matejovsky and (even) Kebe had shown more in the first half than the other 3 have in all performances combined in the last 2 months. It was almost as if Coppell had promised the old guard that they would get on the pitch if we went a goal down.

As it happens all 3 of the subs were hopeless - well not so much Little who showed a few decent passes but is so slow and immobile now that he poses zero threat to all but the most decrepit of defences.

As I've previously said I think next season's going to be a good one - transitional of course (after a good old clear out) but if our excellent bunch of young players come in and perform as well as they all have done in flashes during their occasional appearances for Reading, and have regularly whilst out on loan, and if they can really gel as a team, then we should have more to get behind than of late.

The fact that it will be with a new manager at the helm is a cause for sadness, trepidation, but no little excitement.

ITEOTWAWKI....

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Last nights performance was a summary of the season. A promising first half. A dull and bleak second. To be honest ( No Offense to Simon Church ) he should never of started. We were good in the first half. We created chances,but par as usual failed to put them away. Nothing much was created in the second and Burnley walked all over us.

My Man of the Match - Jay Tabb - Great in the tackle and put in 110% during the game.

[Royal Rother]

To be honest ( No Offense to Simon Church ) he should never of started.

Why? Who would you have started with? Kitson? After his displays in the last couple of months, to be honest another 35 minutes of him plodding around with his back to goal, trying but failing dismally to do what he used to find so easy for us until 18 months ago, was all I could handle.

I appreciate that the goal changed things but as soon as Church went off and Kitson came on we resorted to hoofball yet again and all cohesion evaporated. Mind you that might have as mjuch to do with the crazy decision to take off our only creative midfielder.

[papereyes]

What annoyed me was that the 4-3-3 was working. We had pace and we had width and we were creating half-decent chances.

That second half sapped me. Did we even get a shot on target?

[Maguire]

To be honest ( No Offense to Simon Church ) he should never of started.

Why?

Err, because he's about 12 and he'd never played in the first team before and isn't as good as some of our other players. Could've played Hunt on the left and Kebe on the right. Could've played Long on the right and Kitson up front. Anything other than that madness - it was a desperate gamble by a man who had run out of ideas. Bit like Erikkson taking Walcott to the World Cup in '06.

[Royal Rother]

It probably wouldn't have made a difference in the end but even to the last, Coppell's instinctive reaction was to fall back on the old guard, when in fact the new guard had been playing extremely well in the main.

New formation, new faces and we producd the best 45 minutes of football I've seen from the team this season - concede, ditch the gameplan, stick on the has-beens and it all falls apart.

Still, next season is going to be fun.

Federici
Kelly
Pearce
Ingimarsson
Armstrong
Henry
Tabb
Karacan
Robson-Kanu
Long
Church

with as back up

Hamer
Murty
Duberry
Bennett
Golbourne
Sigurdsson
Gunnarsson
Davies
Bignall
Mooney
Antonio

Plenty of things to look forward to.

[loyalroyal4life]

god knows why he took off marek our only hope of a creation of a goal!!

i hope we keep marek, bikey and n.hunt

s.hunt, little and kitson can go

and i would love for doyle to stay but it just wont happen

fed
rosenior
pearce
bikey
armstrong
henry
tabb
marek
New ML/Harding
Hunt
Long

something like that will do nicely

[Maguire]

Still, next season is going to be fun.

Federici
Kelly
Pearce
Ingimarsson
Armstrong
Henry
Tabb
Karacan
Robson-Kanu
Long
Church

with as back up

Hamer
Murty
Duberry
Bennett
Golbourne
Sigurdsson
Gunnarsson
Davies
Bignall
Mooney
Antonio

Plenty of things to look forward to.

I think we've got every chance of winning the reserve league again with that team, definitely.

[Royal Rother]

To be honest ( No Offense to Simon Church ) he should never of started.

Why?

Err, because he's about 12 and he'd never played in the first team before and isn't as good as some of our other players. Could've played Hunt on the left and Kebe on the right. Could've played Long on the right and Kitson up front. Anything other than that madness - it was a desperate gamble by a man who had run out of ideas. Bit like Erikkson taking Walcott to the World Cup in '06.

Gamble yes of course, he admitted it before the game - but it worked up to a point, as we looked far better when he was on the pitch than when he was off. Young, pacey and energetic - as opposed to Little and Kitson.

[RoyalBlue]

It took some achievement really to be 3-0 down after 150 minutes of the tie to a team who hadn't even got Hahnemann's gloves dirty during that time.

+1 to that.

Last night was the Reading I know and unfortuately love; disappointing. A massively bizarre choice of Church upfront was, in my opinion, the last move of a desperately unhappy and frustrated manager (of course that wasn't the last move, the triple "threat" was). How on earth did that bunch of players go from beating Wolves and smashing Wednesday go to such inept, souless, headless chickens?

Fair play to Burnley, they got the tatics spot on. Keep it tight for the first 45 then hit them in the 2nd half. We never turned up right from the word go in that half. Tabb might have gotten stuck in a bit more, but for me, he's too lightweight for the middle. Long was hopeless and Kebe is just a complete joke.

I really fear for next season. I'd take mid-table obscurity now, it's going to be a season of transition and we better get used to the fact we're not going to be pushing promotion for a while. At least it'll be easier for me to get a ticket

You must have been reading my thoughts! And you managed to get onto the server long before I could!! Church and the triple substitution (and particularly the removal of Marek, the one player who looked like he could unpick the Burnley defence) did appear the actions of a tired and desparate man. Long was disappointing but gave his best. Kebe - WTF?!!!

Nevertheless, hearing Coppell speak so positively to BBCRB after the game I began to feel a new sense of optimism for next season, only to get a shock kick in the guts when I turned on the news this am and heard that Coppell had gone.

Today is a very sad day. Good luck to whoever takes over -they are going to need it, and a great deal of ability, to successfully follow such a class act.

[Man Friday]

It took some achievement really to be 3-0 down after 150 minutes of the tie to a team who hadn't even got Hahnemann's gloves dirty during that time.

+1 to that.

Last night was the Reading I know and unfortuately love; disappointing. A massively bizarre choice of Church upfront was, in my opinion, the last move of a desperately unhappy and frustrated manager (of course that wasn't the last move, the triple "threat" was). How on earth did that bunch of players go from beating Wolves and smashing Wednesday go to such inept, souless, headless chickens?

Fair play to Burnley, they got the tatics spot on. Keep it tight for the first 45 then hit them in the 2nd half.

Agree with first point and with Floyd's - Reading seem to conjure up new and imaginative ways to disappoint. Don't agree that Burnley got their tactics spot on. They were lucky we weren't a couple up by half-time then got a goal out of the blue and then we pressed the self-destruct button. I've seen one goal at home since December 13th and that was only a consolation Vs Birmingham. The final pass has been poor, free kicks have been dire and corners are cleared with relative ease. Look at the chances that Long and Kitson had in the second half which were skyed over. I suspect it's lack of quality and yet the same players were putting those away before. It's a complete mystery.

[brendywendy]

To be honest ( No Offense to Simon Church ) he should never of started.

Why? Who would you have started with? Kitson? After his displays in the last couple of months, to be honest another 35 minutes of him plodding around with his back to goal, trying but failing dismally to do what he used to find so easy for us until 18 months ago, was all I could handle.

I appreciate that the goal changed things but as soon as Church went off and Kitson came on we resorted to hoofball yet again and all cohesion evaporated. Mind you that might have as mjuch to do with the crazy decision to take off our only creative midfielder.

didnt he give teh ball away for one of their goals?

again?

[RoyalBlue]

To be honest ( No Offense to Simon Church ) he should never of started.

Why? Who would you have started with? Kitson? After his displays in the last couple of months, to be honest another 35 minutes of him plodding around with his back to goal, trying but failing dismally to do what he used to find so easy for us until 18 months ago, was all I could handle.

I appreciate that the goal changed things but as soon as Church went off and Kitson came on we resorted to hoofball yet again and all cohesion evaporated. Mind you that might have as mjuch to do with the crazy decision to take off our only creative midfielder.

didnt he give teh ball away for one of their goals?

again?

He wasn't on the pitch for the second! Therefore, if he did, it can only have been for the first. I don't recall him doing that and. However, if he did, it would have been very deep in their own half, which is where they broke from, so he can hardly be blamed for that. If midfielders don't take chances deep in their opponents half, they are never going to create anything!

[Royal Rother]

Matejovsky did give the ball away - just inside their penalty area - I doubt many people would put even a tiny proportion of blame on him for the way the other midfielders and defenders who were in less advanced positions at the time allowed Paterson to advance and shoot completely unchallenged, but there you go.

[brendywendy]

just saying, maybe his repetetive giving the ball away for goals, without ever actually creating one, got on the managers nerves and he decided to take him off

[Handsome Man]

Matejovsky did give the ball away - just inside their penalty area - I doubt many people would put even a tiny proportion of blame on him for the way the other midfielders and defenders who were in less advanced positions at the time allowed Paterson to advance and shoot completely unchallenged, but there you go.

I would but I am biased
I hate Matejovsky as a player, but....

We were playing well with 433 and Kebe, Marek and Church all looking fit and full of running. Chances were being made and I felt a goal would come for us even when Burnley scored their first goal. I had been looking forward to a second half of Reading pressure as Burnley let us come at them. The substitution just killed that. Hunt, Little and Kitson looked injured, old and tired and none would be playing for us in the Championship. Coppell's last act was just mental and spoilt the last 30 minutes of his managerial career with us.

Hahneman 3

Rosenior 6
Harding 7
Duberry 6
Pearce 7

Gunnarson 7
Tabb 9
Marek 7ish

Church 7
Long 8.5
Kebe 7

Kitson 0
SHunt 0
Little -20

Riley -1,000,000

[brendywendy]

greed

[Arch]

Matejovsky did give the ball away - just inside their penalty area - I doubt many people would put even a tiny proportion of blame on him for the way the other midfielders and defenders who were in less advanced positions at the time allowed Paterson to advance and shoot completely unchallenged, but there you go.

He was dicking around while we were pressing, so there were bound to be acres of space for the counter-attack behind him. As soon as he lost it, I was ready for the goal. As the game went on, Marek tried to do more and more clever thigns and fewer and fewer basic things. In the big picture, though, he was always more likely to conjure something than any of the trio that came on.