Back from the Game, Northampton Town 24th August

[elrey]

It's been three league games and two carling cup games so far, and already people have the knives out. Why?

The carling cup is a good excuse to let some young players have a go, who cares if we do well?

The league has been disappointing so far, but as we saw last season, it took a few games to get going and then hardly anyone could stop us. Confidence is required on the pitch and we'll be alright. But then i wonder if half of the moaning is from people who were spurs fans before we got to the premiership!

[Focher]

The carling cup is a good excuse to let some young players have a go, who cares if we do well?

apart from Taylor where were they then????????????

(and dont give me Robson Kanu, Karacan, Church, Kelly, these are experienced first team players now)

[rob the royal]

It's been three league games and two carling cup games so far, and already people have the knives out. Why?

At what point can they be allowed to come out? 6 league games - 10? half the season? People are just reacting to what they see... I don't think anyone is saying we're dead certs for relegation this year - just that currently we're pretty shit.

[Royal Lady]

The carling cup is a good excuse to let some young players have a go, who cares if we do well?

apart from Taylor where were they then????????????

(and dont give me Robson Kanu, Karacan, Church, Kelly, these are experienced first team players now)

and, as I already said, any more injuries and THAT is the team we would be putting out in the League games.

[SteveRoyal]

Just blogged my (probably stupid) thoughts on last nights game. http://wp.me/p11mg7-1a

Wicked game for the neutral, eh?
Shame I wasn't a neutral.

[Wycombe Royal]

It's been three league games and two carling cup games so far, and already people have the knives out. Why?

At what point can they be allowed to come out? 6 league games - 10? half the season? People are just reacting to what they see... I don't think anyone is saying we're dead certs for relegation this year - just that currently we're pretty shit.

RObson-Kanu and Kelly are hardly experienced Championship players are they? And neither is Antonio or Hamer.

THey may have experience at other clubs in lower divisions but they don't for us.

[West Stand Man]

I was praying for the game to end. It was, quite simply, turgid. Reading were dire in almost every respect and there was little to give any confidence that they could hold a lead - and so it turned out. Hamer had a nightmare of a game, gave no confidence to his defence (or fans). The back four put in a mixed show. I am not as critical of Williams as some of you are; he isn't yet a Shorey, Armstrong or Bertrand but neither is he useless; at times yesterday (and previously) he has shown some signs that he could be pretty good; once he had fathomed that the NTFC winger had him done for pace he improved his positioning and dealt with him much better. The centre backs blew hot and cold. Pearce saved us on a few occasions with last ditch tackles, won most of his aerial challenges and appeared to read the game fairly well. Mills had moments of real quality and then made basic errors; at least he delivered in the other penalty area. The communication between them is still suspect though. Kelly, not much to say as he was fairly anonymous throughout. Antonio was a rare highlight but he was against a poor right back; how that player didn't get penalised for his incessant fouls (which ultimately resulted in Antonio's substitution) I don't know. Robson-Kanu, again hot and cold; has pace but hasn't yet convinced me that he is ready for Championship footy; yesterday he never really set the play alight and made some pretty odd decisions (for example a delightful headed pass from the back post to the edge of the penalty area when all our players were forward of the penalty spot!). Karacan worked hard - but to little or no avail. Howard provided some playmaking but he must have been so frustrated by the lack of movement from those around him - how do you set up a forward passing move when the rest of the team are rooted to the spot and closely marked? Church, again worked hard and was our biggest goal threat for most of his time on the pitch - but even he wasn't much of a threat. Hunt is obviously not sharp enough yet and was getting very tired before he was subbed.

Taylor, out of position and it really showed. Far too often NTFC were allowed to attack at will down their left wing into a gaping hole where the RB should have been. When he was there they didn't have much difficulty getting around him. I join the queue of people wanting know why Gunnarsson wasn't put to RB again when Kelly went off; at the very least he would have provided some muscle and a fair amount of nous. Long did have an impact and the penalty incident shows that he did penetrate the defensive line. Kebe was ok, he gave the LB a less torrid time than Antonio did to be fair, but he did produce most of the opportunities we created.

I haven't seen a replay of the Long pen incident but first reaction was stonewall penalty. Mind you, I haven't seen a replay of the disallowed goal at the end of the 90 either and my initial reaction was resigned acceptance of defeat; I gather that Sky Sports News said it was a legitimate goal and that we should have been knocked out by it. Which brings me to the 5+ minutes at the end of ET. Conspiracy theory maybe, but I did get the feeling that the referee knew that he had denied NTFC a valid win by accepting the offside flag and that he was going to do all that he could to redress that. That might go someway to explaining why the penalty was not given and why he allowed play to go on so long. That 5+ mins of added time is equivalent to allowing 15+ mins at the end of a normal half of football - have you ever seen that happen? Even the 3 minutes he initially signalled for is equivalent to 9 minutes in a 45 min half - not a common occurrence in my recollection.

That was a real low in RFC history and I hope that it is the start of a rise back to the quality that this team is capable of delivering. If things stay this poor (or, worse, decline further) then I truly despair.

Well done NTFC and I hope that you have a good run in the cup. The spirit that you showed to keep at it was admirable and it was clear that only one team out there last night really wanted the win.

[under the tin]

It's been three league games and two carling cup games so far, and already people have the knives out. Why?

At what point can they be allowed to come out? 6 league games - 10? half the season? People are just reacting to what they see... I don't think anyone is saying we're dead certs for relegation this year - just that currently we're pretty shit.

RObson-Kanu and Kelly are hardly experienced Championship players are they? And neither is Antonio or Hamer.

THey may have experience at other clubs in lower divisions but they don't for us.

But it wasn't a Championship game anyway. It was a cup game against League 2 opposition. =/=

[Wax Jacket]

nice post WSM

in defence of Taylor I thought he looked very composed on the ball last night - in a more attacked performance people might've been talking about Shorey with a bit of pace

[Hoop Blah]

the closest is Griffin yes but I'd argue the two Icelanders have always been more lead-by-example types rather the type to organise the team aroudn them. I'd have this player in CM because our problems aren't just defensive, it's a question of how the ball is arriving with the strikers in the top half of the pitch.

I agree we could do with a central midfielder who is capable of taking a game by the scruff of the neck and leading the team. We've certainly not got that kind of midfield general in the squad, but that's not surprising when you consider we haven't signed a midfielder who's actually held down a starting position since we sold Sidwell!

Coppell left us with a collection of highly average central midfielders which he couldn't decide on who to play. All we've done since then is replace the one with the best record and pedigree (Harper) with a very average player in Howard and at the same time offloaded the rest without bringing in better replacements.

I still think a centre half and a decent forward capable of scoring consistently are higher priorities though.

[facaldaqui]

Some people seem convinced that this is what happens when you don't spend the money; but that conflates two different issues. The money isn't relevant to last night, because we were playing a Division 2 side--so we should have been able to beat them with the resources we had. The blame has to go to McDermott, because it was his job to make sure we won this game. And even with the reserves we had playing, we should have done. And, anyway, we played Mills, who cost a fortune.

[Hoop Blah]

Not investing creates an environment and culture within the club which sets the tone for the team.

We saw that with the lack of ambition at the end of the first Premiership season.

McDermott has a task on his hands to keep the squad in the right frame of mind and getting the best out of their talents when other events are going against it. Momentum and the feel good factor around the club (which is what McDermott had on his side when Rodgers was sacked) plays a massive part in the on pitch success.

[facaldaqui]

Robson-Kanu, again hot and cold; has pace but hasn't yet convinced me that he is ready for Championship footy; yesterday he never really set the play alight and made some pretty odd decisions (for example a delightful headed pass from the back post to the edge of the penalty area when all our players were forward of the penalty spot!).

McDermott seemed to be saying that R-K needed the game, so maybe he wasn't strictly match fit.

[Wax Jacket]

McDermott has a task on his hands to keep the squad in the right frame of mind and getting the best out of their talents when other events are going against it. Momentum and the feel good factor around the club (which is what McDermott had on his side when Rodgers was sacked) plays a massive part in the on pitch success.

I was thinking exactly the same last night - last year the big motivating factor was, essentially, the league table, for whatever reasons. this season what is it? heads already appear to be dropping so McDermott has a hell of a task getting a run of feelgood games going.

Look at Williams - if we'd won against Scunthorpe and then drawn away at Pompey, who knows how much bette rhe might've started playing in the last week? now we're on a poor trot andyou sort of sense it'll take a minor miracle for him to start enjoying his football at the Madstad

[RobRoyal]

I debated with myself on the way home whether to make this post in the heat of the moment or whether to wait until tomorrow. oxf*rd it here goes.

First comment: all those tw@s calling for 4-4-2 have just been shown up for what they are – clueless.

442 did a pretty decent job of steering us away from relegation last season when we were playing sigurdsson on the left hand side with tabb and howard in the middle and church and long up front...

The only reason for us to continue with 451 would be to help our weak defence keep clean sheets - yet we look shaky at the back playing 451 and we score rarely so are we likely to get anywhere with that - the only way it might work for me is to replace karacan with tabb...

What are you talking about? Stop spouting rubbish.

In the 26 games following the Liverpool cup win we played 4-4-2 nine times and 4-5-1 (or 4-2-3-1, we should say) 17 times.

In the last 13 games of the season we started with two strikers in just one game.

[Focher]

there are quite a few people called Rob who post on here ive noticed

[weybridgewanderer]

cutting the size of the squad, lackof competition for places

last night showed that

we have no suitable cover anywhere except perhaps the right wing

so why do the incumbents need to perform if they can;t lose their place in the team?

[LWJ]

We embarrassed ourselves on and off the pitch, what’s with the banging the seats every other minute then going URZ? We do have some mugs in our fans as well... I’m glad I will be going to the away games rather than the home. If i go to any at this rate.

Where do you sit for the games pal

I sat in Y25 yesterday m8.

[sandman]

That was a real low in RFC historyand I hope that it is the start of a rise back to the quality that this team is capable of delivering. If things stay this poor (or, worse, decline further) then I truly despair.

Almost going out of business twice, relegations and Play off heartbreak those are real lows in the clubs history not a loss to a lower league team in a meaningless competition. We're not the first and we certainly won't be the last.

[PEARCEY]

I debated with myself on the way home whether to make this post in the heat of the moment or whether to wait until tomorrow. oxf*rd it here goes.

First comment: all those tw@s calling for 4-4-2 have just been shown up for what they are – clueless.

For the most part, what an absolute shambles, and I know that we’ve seen some shit over the past couple of years but that, honestly, wasn’t even close to any of the poor performances in that time. It was much, much worse, but for the first 20 minutes things were so comfortable it was as if Reading & District Sunday League Division 3 East team Hobnob were the opposition! The opening goal was a mere matter of time, lo-and-behold there it is after 15. Decent at best free-kick, and a big centre half completely and utterly unmarked 6 yards out. And then a moment it was apparent we never recovered from, not one attempt at catching but two, both fumbled, and he then has the gall to look and blame a defender for getting in his way!! Seriously, Hamer can look back at tonight and be utterly embarrassed because if that is our competition to Federici then please, Federici for me every day of the week. If that is Hamer’s standard of play, please just oxf*rd off.

The defence, well Williams was once again absolutely rinsed by a League 2 right winger. Julian Kelly looked distinctly “ok” at best. Pearce was Alex Pearce, slow, ponderous, read the game well at times and got into good blocking positions but missed too many headers. Matt Mills, two well taken goals but again missed too many headers against players he has 3 inches on. Distribution from the defence all night – just awful. Williams’ customary loft down the line all too easily cut out, Kelly offers nothing, Pearce is, again, Pearce and Mills similar. And I think we can all look at Jake Taylor after tonight and say that he is not a full back. I feel a bit for him because despite obviously looking a particularly promising player he was nowhere to be seen for the second equaliser and was rinsed for the third. Am I doing him a disservice? No, I don’t think so.

The midfield – It seemed a decent balanced set-up. Two attack-minded out and out wingers, a midfielder in Karacan who’s game is all about breaking up play who sits back and the all action playmaker in Brian Howard, but the performance as a unit actually shocked me. There was a complete lack of cohesion, a complete lack of any idea in attack, and positionally we were poor throughout. The defence, in fairness to them, had precious little cover which can partly attribute to their poor performance, however how many times did a Northampton forward just drop off the back four into the gaping cavern between them and midfield and pick a simple long ball out of the air, turn, and set up a dangerous move? Somebody has to make a decision there – midfielder drop back or defender move forward to challenge. Basics!! The wingers offered little defensive support to the full backs which, again, can sometimes make a defender look worse but on the left tonight that wasn’t the case. The positive for the night was Michail Antonio and I said at half time I was massively disappointed he’d gone off because he had Marcus Hall in his pocket all half. On the left though, Hal Ronson-Kanu didn’t look like unlocking any doors. His passing is all too often shabby, he no longer looks like beating a man and never gets a cross in. He is the new Michael Meaker. Jimmy Kebe came on and did very little. Again. In the middle, Karacan was positionally awful, Howard was marginally better but it seemed to me that Howard was continually attempting to cover for Karacan’s mishaps.

Up front I hope we can attribute Noel Hunt’s poor performance to a complete lack of “match practice”. What’s Church’s excuse? Shane Long was Shane Long when he came on, or in other words offered precious little goal threat.

Now I don’t know whether to look for positives in that performance (were there any), berate those around me for seemingly having a go for having a go’s sake at times (Floyd, you know who you are), or just leave it at that. I have so much to say, but I don’t know how to say it, so I’ll just leave it here and say that I think we learnt a lot about Reading FC tonight.

Why is someone a clueless twat wanting to see the team play 4-4-2? In our last 5 home League games when we have played this formation we scored 15 goals and won all 5 games. It worked in those games last season so there is no reason why it shouldn't this season.