Back from the game Derby (H)

[SWLR]

Like the Millwall game a few years back, the loss of a regular keeper makes the game a nonsense.
That game is remembered for Convoy's great goal before the keeper was off. This game we dominated up to that point.

Second-half was frustrating, with even my son calling me a grumpy old git, as I bemoaned misplaced passes, over-elaboration at times.

The goal conceeded was over a sign of over confidence. Mills trying to be Ronaldo rahter than booting it out for a throw-in... Sig did not track back on their scorer.

A 4-1 win against a team on a recent roll is a good result. Derby were poor, but then I said the same about Wednesday.... maybe we are just GOOD.

Finally, saw Savage interviewed on Sky 'goalkeeping is so boring'

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Hallelujah! Someone else with the EXACT same opinion as me, have said it the last few games and will say it again but what does Howard offer that Matejovsky doesn't? At least Matejovsky would play the occasional killer pass and with Long and Kebe (perhaps even Church) on fire and with pace to burn, let's bring him in for Howard for Saturday please.

I think i'd take Jobi back onto the wing and put Siggy back in the middle with Tabb to be honest.

Siggy is wasted on the wing and seems to be started to struggle creating anything

[Armadillo Roadkill]

Not for one second was I bored.

First half was terrific - lost count of how many good chances we created, and by playing attractive, passing football too. Long's first touch and burst of speed for his opener was really top class - he's improved no end. Kebe as just outstanding.

Second half, Derby did a fantastic defensive job - they didn't get sucked in deep but kept their shape brilliantly, their front four positioned only just inside their half. Consequently we fell back on long balls from the back four that more often than not they could cope with - however, in the end, the sheer number of balls pumped forward created goal. When we managed to keep the ball on the ground and pass it around them we made far more progress.

Last five minutes the lads were clearly buggered (Griffin looked half dead before going off earlier). In Madrid or Milan being 4-1 up and playing the ball around the back four to finish off the last five minutes of a game would be cheered as a pragmatic approach to total domination. I was happy with that.

Avoided the Villa hangover, improved goal difference, moved up the table. Job done.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Oh one more thing - I see people describing the Arsenal lad's goal as "lucky", "flukely", "a poked finish" etc.

Thought it looked a pretty skillz finish from where I was sat if i'm honest.

'greed
I thought that was quite a class goal. The guy had to change his stride and set himself up nicely for it. Well executed



///and i was bored senseless in the 2nd half

[brendywendy]

jimmy kebe. 9/10


a 1st half masterclass.

[jumpers for goalposts]

First half I thoroughly enjoyed, flukey goal by derby with their first shot on goal and we deserved to be 2-1 up at the break. Sending off killed the game and it was horrible to watch. We came out second half appallingly and thought we could play with no tempo and score at will, very complacent and very poor attitude from our players. When the opposition are down to 10 men with a midfielder in goal you want to put them under severe pressure and keep the tempo up - the opposition have one less man and will tire a lot quicker. Quite why we were pottering around and hoofing the ball forward every now and then I don't know. Howard was horrendous and has to be a candidate to be dropped after a couple of bad games now, can't believe Ivar started when Zurab has proven he's a class above also. I really hope BMD isn't going to get into the coppell habit of playing long term players out of loyalty as ivar is not in there on merit at the moment. He once again made the easy things look hard by misplacing comfortable headers and slicing passes all over the shop. Woeful against villa as has been said the other day as well.

Who was at fault for their goal, didn't see it.

Happy with the 4-1 win, sets us up nicely but if it comes down to goal diff at the end of the season we'll wonder why our players were so half arsed against a team on the ropes. Kind of wish derby never had a man sent off. Not a great performance by any means but 4-1 on paper is solid.

Fed 6 - didn't do a lot wrong
Bertrand 6 - decent finish, steady all round
Griffin 5- Poorest game for us so far
Mills 5 - passing was pretty wayward and didn't inspire the defence as much as recent games
Ivar 4- does the basics wrong consistently, the crowd hold their breath every time the ball goes near him. Why is he even playing when we have ZK?
Kebe 8- very dangerous again, looking like a solid winger
Tabb 8 - midfield dynamo, gets about the pitch, creates and defends, played well
Howard 4 - useless, looked lost out there and nearly cost us with a woeful dummy in the middle of the park. What sort of role was he even supposed to be playing?
Sig - 5 - below par, few iffy passes, shooting way off and well below par in general. The new love child so even when he plays poorly he still gets credit on BBCRB.
Rasiak -7 Did well, contributed some good link up play and looked dangerous
Long 8 - Great goal, good touch and pace, really looking a good striker at the moment. Deserves a lot of credit.

Agree with absolutely all of this

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

Interesting seeing the shape now. It really is 4 2 4, people have said Howard didn't get in the game much, but him and Tabb are doing a very important covering job.

Teams have to get tight to Kebe, he's unplayable when teams let him run at them, looking forward to McAnuff hopefully causing similar problems down the other wing. Teams will build their startegy around stopping Kebe.

Derby were terrible though, how Buxton gets in that team is beyond me, shocking every single time I see him.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

Howard ends up doing what Harper did only without the constant waving - he fills the gaps, covers the ground, harasses people, makes himself available at every throw in and corner. It's the sort of job that managers love a player for doing well but that (excuse me if I belittle anyone here) those that maybe don't enjoy the whole shape and rhythm of the game but live for crunching tackles and fast-flowing moves may not notice, and so undervalue.

Tabb my MOTM, by the way.

[Lower West]

Lowest league crowd in many years, 14,000 which proves that the Reading public are losing faith in the McDermott regime.

I'd love to attend every game but can't afford to.

Remember we've had a few cup fixtures this year including replays.

[bigshaka'away']

Kebe MOM - Long's goal was also class, fantastic touch and run before a cool finish. Tabb also impressed. No idea why people are moaning - the first half display from Reading was brilliant - one touch, pass and move, looked confident after they equalised that they could score again. the sending off ruined the game.

However if you were all so bored in the second half, try singing next time...

[brendywendy]

amen to that brother


atmosphere was appaling apart from Y25
embarrassing at times

especially given the circumstances

[Wycombe Royal]

I think the lacklustre 2nd half display was because we weren't really going for it. We had a tough game on Sunday, played last night, play again Saturday and then again on Tuesday.

Why run themselves into the ground for a result that was never in doubt?

[Wimb]

an a wise old calm head who wasnt going to just keep lumping forward.
plus resting players for sat

Can somewhat understand that Brend but given the state of the game why not give Marek a run out? or put Henry/HRK on and move Sig into the centre?

I like Gunnar and if it was against 11 men who were going for it I'd understand that move every time but last night it seemed a bit needless.

But if its all part of a masterplan then I'm all for it

[Negative_Jeff]

Howard ends up doing what Harper did only without the constant waving - he fills the gaps, covers the ground, harasses people, makes himself available at every throw in and corner. It's the sort of job that managers love a player for doing well but that (excuse me if I belittle anyone here) those that maybe don't enjoy the whole shape and rhythm of the game but live for crunching tackles and fast-flowing moves may not notice, and so undervalue.

Tabb my MOTM, by the way.

Every now and again on here someone lets the cat out of the bag and shows he understands football. Actually if you could combine Harper`s fitness and athleticism with Howard`s brain and feet you would have some player.
Older supporters may remember John Collins who had great vision but far beyond what he was physically capable of.

[Sarah Star]

Howard ends up doing what Harper did only without the constant waving - he fills the gaps, covers the ground, harasses people, makes himself available at every throw in and corner. It's the sort of job that managers love a player for doing well but that (excuse me if I belittle anyone here) those that maybe don't enjoy the whole shape and rhythm of the game but live for crunching tackles and fast-flowing moves may not notice, and so undervalue.

Tabb my MOTM, by the way.

Every now and again on here someone lets the cat out of the bag and shows he understands football. Actually if you could combine Harper`s fitness and athleticism with Howard`s brain and feet you would have some player.
Older supporters may remember John Collins who had great vision but far beyond what he was physically capable of.

I think he's had better games than last night, but he does still create some killer passes. I read before the match that he's been suffering from"flu-like symptoms" so perhaps he's not at the top of his game atm.

[Sun Tzu]

McDermott seems to have made a lot of good decisions in the last 3 months.

I'm happy to accept his decision to play Howard is another good one.

It's not as if we haven't been winning games....

[rabidbee]

Something odd happened last night. It's like the players knew it was meant to be a cake walk but didn't want to muck things up, and ended up being really unsure how to play. Was Griffin playing with an injury, because he looked totally unconfident - refused to bring the ball forward, and consistently refused to play Kébé into space. Derby did what they had to do after the red, contracting to protect the space in front of the goal. How often did we actually get a clear shot on Savage? If we had just trusted in fast wing play and quick crosses into the centre, I think we'd have racked up more. Still, a comfortable 4-1 win is a massive bonus considering the number of games we have coming up. Can't complain that it was a bit slow - I expected it to be much more pedestrian after Sunday. Can't knock 18 from 21 points either.

[Wycombe Royal]

I'm happy to accept his decision to play Howard is another good one.

I'm not sure what Reading fans are expecting from him. He had a spell at Barnsley when he couldn't stop scoring but that was just a purple patch for him.

His workrate is fantastic, he tackles, he makes forward runs, he closes down opponents quickly - isn't that what we have needed from a central midfielder for quite a while?

Sure he puts some passes astray, but who doesn't? And his passing is FAR FAR superior to that of Karacan.

[ZacNaloen]

I think I'd only like the see Sig playing in the midfield is it's the more forward player in a 4-4-1-1/4-5-1 formation rather than as a two man midfield.

A two man midfield won't play into his strengths, because he can't tackle for shit and he's not the most athletic of players.

He's a play-maker, like Matejosky, but... seemingly more versatile.

[FiNeRaIn]

Oh one more thing - I see people describing the Arsenal lad's goal as "lucky", "flukely", "a poked finish" etc.

Thought it looked a pretty skillz finish from where I was sat if i'm honest.

'greed
I thought that was quite a class goal. The guy had to change his stride and set himself up nicely for it. Well executed



///and i was bored senseless in the 2nd half

I called it flukey because it was the first time they got near our box and mills messed it up with the clearance. The finish was good I would agree, but should never have been scored and was completely against the run of play.