Back from the Game - Burnley

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Shane Long and Mikele Leigertwood - 10/10.

Two players who put in a non-stop shift and looked a class apart. Karacan and Leigertwood is proving a decent centre-mid partnership.

Good performance today. Burnley were pretty poor and only really turned up during the last 5 minutes. Mills and Pearce looked very solid at the back.
Few negatives though. Ian Harte is not good enough. Turned every time and generally poor. Only really adds experience and prowess from set pieces, but it's not enough to warrant a starting place in this team.

Decent atmosphere in the 2nd half as well - 'One Shane Long'

[biscuitman]

It s frankly all about Shane Long.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Shane & Mikele indeed a class above and Harte was too appaling for words

[Big Foot]

We're still unbeaten with Elwood aren't we?

Long was brilliant and displayed some sublime touches to control the ball. Today was one of his days when he was causing mayhem for the Burnley defence. Gutted for HRK that he lost control of the ball when he ran it the length of the pitch at the end.

Not a clue how Thompson wasn't sent off for his elbow on Karacan - thought the officials were distinctly average throughout.

McAnuff looks better in centre mid than on the wing and also seems a lot happier now that he's got his mate Elwood at the club with him.

Shame the FA Cup is on Saturday in all honesty but we should keep a fairly similar side and keep up some of this momentum.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

McAnuff should have had a penalty in the first half. Terrible decision by another poor referring performance.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Porr old Harte. 3 games in less than a week, he looked like he was playing in calipers.

[NR_Royal]

John Salako was pretty much masturbating over Shane Long throughout the match.

[Kitson12]

John Salako was pretty much masturbating over Shane Long throughout the match.

Snowball in disguise?

[Tilehurst Blue]

First half was quite poor in all honesty.
Second half was ... better. Long had a good game and took both goals well, great corner from Mcanuff for the second goal.

Thought the atmosphere was poor and also why do the stewards record y26/25 even if nobody seems to be standing up?

[floyd__streete]

Yeah, good game that wasn't it. Credit to Burnley, probably the best side I have seen this season. But their finishing was Reading-esque! Four glorious chances first half as they carved us open and an absolute sitter missed after we had gone 2-1 up. Eagles ran Harte ragged and their midfield of Wallace, Cork, Marney and Elliott were a joy to watch in the first half. Second half Reading imposed their game on Burnley, moving the ball into the channels and getting the ball into the box. Good to watch from both sides. Long and Leigertwood the pick for Reading. Good six points against a very decent side.

[loyalroyal4life]

Porr old Harte. 3 games in less than a week, he looked like he was playing in calipers.

The guy is plain awful at defending and will always get beaten by a half quick striker/winger.

Personally would like to see us compete with Forest for Bertrand on perm basis

Elwood was quality MOM closely followed by Long although had it not been for some woeful finishing from Burnley that came could quite easily of ended in a 5-2 defeat

[No Fixed Abode]

Who is Elwood?

[Royals-lad14]

feds 7- didnt have to do that much made one decent save in 2nd half
griff 8- calm, sure and compossed a usual griffin performance
mills 7- done some good tackles at important times, but needs to stop hoofing the ball and start to play it into our midfield instead of straight up to the strikers
pearce 7- solid as usual
harte 5- looks disinterested at times, gets done too easily, is only in the team for set pieces
kebe 7- much better today, starting to get back to his usual self
karacan 7- energetic, played a superb ball through to long who should of scored, suprised he got taken off
elwood 9- MOM, Superb today, broke up the burnley moves and was decent going forward as well, a must buy!
mcanuff 7- his usual energetic self, was effective at times, but needs to learn when to release the ball at the right time
hunt 7- lovely assist for our first goal, got out muscled alot today though
long 9- another 2 goals, really starting to find his feet now, he has been superb for the last 5-6 games now and at the moment is unstoppable

church 6- didnt really do that much
hrk- same as church

ref 3- another poor ref should have had a stone wall penalty in the first half and missed alot of blatent decisions

[who are ya?]

[PremAddict]

Who is Elwood?

In case you're serious:

Leigertwood --> L' Wood --> Elwood

[chilipepper91]

Federici - 7 - nothing wrong, a couple of necessary saves
Griffin - 7 - didn't really notice him, guess that means he was quietly efficient
Pearce - 7 - as above
Mills - 6 - looked very shaky to begin with, tried a few of those horrible killer balls, about 20% of which come off. Grew into it
Harte - 5 - skinned every time, in the end he retreated and let Ledge and McAnuff take on Eagles
Kebé - 7 - when he got the ball he looked dangerous, but wasn't in the game much. Missed/had 2 great chances blocked
Ledge - 9 - bossed the midfield, calm in possession, he looked leggy towards the end but still managed to get up to support Hal for the breakaway
Karacan - 7 - solid performance, outshone by Ledge really
McAnuff - 8 - thought he was REALLY good today, always looked to take his man on, and took the corner we scored from
Hunt - 7 - quietly efficient as ever
Long - 9 - scored 2, could have had 5 in reality. Looks confident, you always think he's gonna win the ball now.

Robson-Kanu - 6 - did alright, lack of composure for the breakaway
Church - 6 - added energy

Very weird game. First half, a draw was probably fair. Two very different styles of play - Burnley lots of nice touches and quick passing, us with the long ball over the top. They should have scored just before their goal but for a very poor shot. We hit back almost immediately, great flick from Noel and Longy finished well. They had clearly identified our left side as their attack point - Harte was continually overlapped/skinned/beaten for pace.

Second half, we totally dominated until the inevitable backs-to-the-wall for the last 10 or so. Wallace (who I believe scored that thunderbolt against us in the play-offs two years ago) hit the bar last minute with a freekick. Overall I think we were worth the 3 points but as ever, it could have gone the other way on another day.

Encouraging that our last two wins have been after conceding first too (though obviously not encouraging that we concede first )

[M-U-R-T-Y]

Moment of the match: Y25/26 telling that bloke on his phone to 'SIT DOWN!'

Nah. Decent performance, first half was poor and should have been about 4-1 down but Burnley were so wasteful!

Second half better, just about deserved to win by virtue of our chances. Was cacking it at the end but Feds never had a save to make.

Federici 6
Griffin 6
Mills 6
Pearce 7
Harte 6
Kebe 7
Leigertwood 8
Karacan 7
McAnuff 7
Long 9
Hunt 7

Robson-Kanu 6
Church 6

[NR_Royal]

So basically, we're only playing Harte because we have no FK takers?

We need a left back.

[Kitson12]

Wallace (who I believe scored that thunderbolt against us in the play-offs two years ago) hit the bar last minute with a freekick.

Paterson. Wallace didn't play for Burnley back then.

[chilipepper91]

Wallace (who I believe scored that thunderbolt against us in the play-offs two years ago) hit the bar last minute with a freekick.

Paterson. Wallace didn't play for Burnley back then.

Fair one, cheers!