Back from the game - S****horpe.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

We played our best football at the end of last season with Tabb and Howard in midfield.

First game of the 10/11 season and McDermott selects Karacan and Gunnarson, I would like to know why?

Kebe gets marked out the game in the first half with no plan B to switch wingers in fact for the match there was no plan B.

I got the impression that the players and the management team thought it would be easy after all it was only Scunny.

[floyd__streete]

patronising idiot.....because most people didnt realise the ball had come off one of our players, even the linesman....so a big lol at you

It was painfully obvious from where I was sat in the WSU that the ball was deflected off a Reading player.

What makes me LOL the most is the inherent arrogant stupidity of Reading supporters who cannot countenance a decision apparently going against them might actually prove to be correct. You all sounded like the bunch of muppets you are singing 'we scored a proper goal' at the equaliser. Well, so did they - in fact they scored two. W@nkers, the lot of you.

[Hugo Boss]

/\

Agreed - The guy was clearly onside so the chants were just plain embarrassing.

Was a weird old game but overall, you've got the give credit to Scunthorpe for playing us well. They had a game plan and it worked - Keep Sigurdsson and Kebe quiet, defend well (10 men behind the ball) and take your chances which is exactly what they did.

Fair few things we need to improve on mind...

- Forte was turning Pearce and Mills for fun he really was. Definitely need a bit more experience at centre back alongside Mills cos Pearce is just shocking. His position and distribution are just woeful. Then again, I said the same about Sonko when he first arrived...

- Williams' lack of urgency in getting forward is a definite concern plus he looked far too hesitant for my liking but maybe it was just first game nerves, especially against his old Club.

- Long was once again very, very poor. I just don't know what these Managers seen in him. Get Church out there - He's keen, lively and looks like he actually wants to score goals.

On a positive note, it was a cracking goal from Sigurdsson, McAnuff and Church looked fairly lively, as did Kebe when he got the chance plus Antonio looked a little bit of a handful once he settled down.

[coyrls]

patronising idiot.....because most people didnt realise the ball had come off one of our players, even the linesman....so a big lol at you

It was painfully obvious from where I was sat in the WSU that the ball was deflected off a Reading player.

What makes me LOL the most is the inherent arrogant stupidity of Reading supporters who cannot countenance a decision apparently going against them might actually prove to be correct. You all sounded like the bunch of muppets you are singing 'we scored a proper goal' at the equaliser. Well, so did they - in fact they scored two. W@nkers, the lot of you.

Why do you think Reading supporters are different from any other supporters in this respect?

How often do you see a linesman's offside decision for a goal overruled by a referee?

Do you think that everybody in the stadium could see that he was onside no matter where they were sitting?

[Maguire]

I am intrigued to know why the east stand linesman got barracked, got sarcastic cheers etc, bearing in mind he actually (incorrectly) flagged offisde for the Scunthorpe goal.

[TBM]

Everyone around me was going mad about the "offside goal" but i knew it would be given - i explained to some bloke infront of me that it wasn't offside due to the fact the Reading player was the one who knocked the ball 'forward' to their man.......the initial cross was square/backwards so even if the matey was standing ahead of our defenders then he still wouldn't have been offside. Even after explaining this to him he proceeded to boo the ref at half time calling him a cheating pcunt

Anyway, Griffin was caught out of position for their first goal, had he been in line with the central defenders then the black matey wouldn't have got in round the back as the ball bounced where Griffin should have been - whether Mills should have been talking to Griffin to call him back into position is another question, so i wont lay all the blame on Griff.

2nd goal was Pearce giving away a needless corner

Long, at 5ft 10in (ish) against a defender of 6ft 7in ISN'T going to win a header, so why did we insist on lumping long balls up field to him........

Kebe is most dangerous when we get the ball out to him early and he can run at 1 defender - too many times we were laying off to him when he already had 2 men round him.

Thought McAnuff was unlucky to get subbed as he seemed the only person who was actually doing something with the ball at his feet. I would have taken Long off and put Rasiak up top to at least win some headers for Church to run on to.

Antonio had a touch like a, well you......too many times the ball was too far away from his foot upon controlling it.

[coyrls]

I am intrigued to know why the east stand linesman got barracked, got sarcastic cheers etc, bearing in mind he actually (incorrectly) flagged offisde for the Scunthorpe goal.

True! I didn't understand that either.

[floyd__streete]

Why do you think Reading supporters are different from any other supporters in this respect?

How often do you see a linesman's offside decision for a goal overruled by a referee?

Do you think that everybody in the stadium could see that he was onside no matter where they were sitting?

Probably no different to anywhere else in the country of course, but then I only ever have to suffer the insufferable droniness of Reading supporters on a regular basis. I think what annoys me most is the self-righteous expectation that any borderline decision going against us must always be wrong. Can never be down to the precious players who defended so appalingly for the goal, can it?

The linesman can only indicate that he thinks a player is in an offside position, he makes no decision as such because that is ultimately down to the referee. Who got it 100% spot on this time; in your face East Stand.

[Negative_Jeff]

[quote="coyrls"]Why do you think Reading supporters are different from any other supporters in this respect?

Reading supporters are different from other supporters in most respects.

[Maguire]

Probably no different to anywhere else in the country of course, but then I only ever have to suffer the insufferable droniness of Reading supporters on a regular basis. I think what annoys me most is the self-righteous expectation that any borderline decision going against us must always be wrong. Can never be down to the precious players who defended so appalingly for the goal, can it?

The linesman can only indicate that he thinks a player is in an offside position, he makes no decision as such because that is ultimately down to the referee. Who got it 100% spot on this time; in your face East Stand.

tbh I thought it was offside initially (I didn't notice Forte passed it backwards, not that it made a difference). However, when you see a ref overrule the linesman then you know it's 99% certain that the ref has got it correct. I don't understand why you would continue to bitch about ti afer that, particularly when you're sat in Y25 and clearly don't have a clue.

[bigmike]

It just looked like Reading were not fit.

Mcanuff should have been replaced at half time as it seemed that he picked up an injury after he was clattered by their centre back. Tab or Howard should have started instead of Karacan and we look Very Very suspect in defence... I just dont think Pearce is good enough.

But hey we are always poor in the 1st game of the season. It can only get better eh ?

[Man Friday]

What makes me LOL the most is the inherent arrogant stupidity of Reading supporters who cannot countenance a decision apparently going against them might actually prove to be correct. You all sounded like the bunch of muppets you are singing 'we scored a proper goal' at the equaliser. Well, so did they - in fact they scored two. W@nkers, the lot of you.

Why do you think Reading supporters are different from any other supporters in this respect?

How often do you see a linesman's offside decision for a goal overruled by a referee?

Do you think that everybody in the stadium could see that he was onside no matter where they were sitting?

Agreed. Steady Floyd, I love reading your comments and nearly always agree with you but I think you're overreacting on this one.

[Man Friday]

I am intrigued to know why the east stand linesman got barracked, got sarcastic cheers etc, bearing in mind he actually (incorrectly) flagged offisde for the Scunthorpe goal.

True! I didn't understand that either.

Nor me!

[Scarface]

I'm not panicking yet, but the McDermott honeymoon is over as virtually everything he did Saturday back fired. I'm sure we'll see Tabb and Howard back in on Saturday, but more importantly he has to be banging down Sir John's door to sign a CB this week.

Shane Long getting injured is a blessing in disguise, but he's McDermott's boy as he even lived with him when he first came over from Ireland.

It's vital to get off to a good start, so we need to win at Pompey to put Saturday behind us. Pompey are shit, but with Pearce in the team I can't see us keeping a clean sheet EVER.

[brendywendy]

i had a boo at the ref, despite not having a clue if it was offside or not, or why he had over ruled his lino.
both teams had no idea what was going on either, most were setting up for a free kick, fed had no idea, and it took a minute or two for the ref to make it clear what he had given.
in my view, thats enough to boo him, even if i needed an excuse.
which i dont.


lol at getting all grumpy about the fans booing the ref, or the opposition team for decisions that proved correct, or scoring goals that were contentious.
happens in every game in the world.

[Man Friday]

Everyone around me was going mad about the "offside goal" but i knew it would be given - i explained to some bloke infront of me that it wasn't offside due to the fact the Reading player was the one who knocked the ball 'forward' to their man.......the initial cross was square/backwards so even if the matey was standing ahead of our defenders then he still wouldn't have been offside. Even after explaining this to him he proceeded to boo the ref at half time calling him a cheating pcunt

Anyway, Griffin was caught out of position for their first goal, had he been in line with the central defenders then the black matey wouldn't have got in round the back as the ball bounced where Griffin should have been - whether Mills should have been talking to Griffin to call him back into position is another question, so i wont lay all the blame on Griff.

2nd goal was Pearce giving away a needless corner

Long, at 5ft 10in (ish) against a defender of 6ft 7in ISN'T going to win a header, so why did we insist on lumping long balls up field to him........

Kebe is most dangerous when we get the ball out to him early and he can run at 1 defender - too many times we were laying off to him when he already had 2 men round him.

Thought McAnuff was unlucky to get subbed as he seemed the only person who was actually doing something with the ball at his feet. I would have taken Long off and put Rasiak up top to at least win some headers for Church to run on to.

Antonio had a touch like a, well you......too many times the ball was too far away from his foot upon controlling it.

You make some excellent comments. Particularly regarding the substitions. In fact, McD made a number of peculiar selection/substitution decisions. Hope he's not losing it already!

[Maguire]

it took a minute or two for the ref to make it clear what he had given

Those of us not on drugs realised he'd given it within about 10-15 seconds.

[Hoop Blah]

I'm not panicking yet, but the McDermott honeymoon is over as virtually everything he did Saturday back fired. I'm sure we'll see Tabb and Howard back in on Saturday, but more importantly he has to be banging down Sir John's door to sign a CB this week.

Shane Long getting injured is a blessing in disguise, but he's McDermott's boy as he even lived with him when he first came over from Ireland.

It's vital to get off to a good start, so we need to win at Pompey to put Saturday behind us. Pompey are shit, but with Pearce in the team I can't see us keeping a clean sheet EVER.

Agree with pretty much all of that.

It's a lot easier coming in half way through the season and replacing a failing manager that the players seemed to have been pleased to see the back of than being the main man from the off.

Last season he was everbodies mate and the pressure was off them all to a certain extent. Now we'll start to see his long term quality and prospects, but like Coppell before him, I get the feeling he won't be too demanding on the Chairman and that might be a weakness.

A bit worrying if the players are already ignoring his instructions though.

[handbags_harris]

Probably no different to anywhere else in the country of course, but then I only ever have to suffer the insufferable droniness of Reading supporters on a regular basis. I think what annoys me most is the self-righteous expectation that any borderline decision going against us must always be wrong. Can never be down to the precious players who defended so appalingly for the goal, can it?

The linesman can only indicate that he thinks a player is in an offside position, he makes no decision as such because that is ultimately down to the referee. Who got it 100% spot on this time; in your face East Stand.

tbh I thought it was offside initially (I didn't notice Forte passed it backwards, not that it made a difference). However, when you see a ref overrule the linesman then you know it's 99% certain that the ref has got it correct. I don't understand why you would continue to bitch about ti afer that, particularly when you're sat in Y25 and clearly don't have a clue.

Well when you're sat in Y25 you tend to trust a Linesman's judgement on offsides. A lot of my personal angst was that I felt that a) the linesman can't get it so wrong and b) the referee was in no position to make a judgement on offside. I honestly felt that we'd been hard-done-by in this instance, however clearly I've been proven wrong. Doesn't make b) any less easier to take though despite the right call being made.

And shut up floyd, your constant barracking of anything to do with Reading fans does you a disservice sometimes. If you were up in Y25 with us instead of stuffing your face with Asda Value corned beef sandwiches and drinking barely adequate and overpriced Guinness you'd have been of the same opinion as the rest of us in that instance, or at least reserving judgement until you'd seen it again. Nobody around where we sit, absolutely nobody, could believe the referee had overruled the linesman given his positioning.

[Deadlock]

Just to clear up the reason for the first goal being allowed, having watched it at half time, the ball in from their guy was actually going backwards until it hit Mills. You can't be off-side from a ball going away from goal.

I don't think that's right. What about most crosses from near the by-line with a player not receiving the ball in an active position?.

Perfectly correct - the ball must be played forwards for a player to be offside. END OF!

Would you like to back that assertion up? As far as I am aware the Offside Law merely states that a player commits an offside offence if he is in an offside position when the ball is touched or played by one of his teammates, and then gets actively involved in play. It says nothing about the direction in which the teammate plays the ball.