back from the shambles Stevenage (H)

[RoyalJames101]

Cummings is slowly going back to the player he used to be, always gives the ball away by playing it long.

Wtf? Cummings used to be a player who was scared to advance or play the ball forward.

Don't get me wrong, I still think he's good enough to be our first choice right back. But he gives the ball away quite a lot, never closes down a cross quick enough and doesn't overlap enough for me.

Still, would have him ahead of Griffin.

[tilehurstender]

Can't remember a worse performance for years. This squad just isn't good enough and anyone who started to get carried away with the recent run are living in cloud cuckoo land. Answer this, how many of our regular first team players would have even have got on the bench of the Championship winning team?

[Chaney]

Cummings is slowly going back to the player he used to be, always gives the ball away by playing it long.

Wtf? Cummings used to be a player who was scared to advance or play the ball forward.

I think the result (awful) is clouding people's view of the performance (boring and toothless, but not a disaster).

Ratings:

Feds 7.5- several good saves, first time he's had to do anything at home for a long time. Will have to see the goal again, if he could have done better I'll drop this.
Cummings 6.5- 7 defensively, Freeman didn't trouble him at all. Not so good going forward.
Pearce 6.5- a little nervy, outpaced once or twice.
Gorkss 5.5- what's happened to him lately? Still good on the ball, but not himself in defence and his heading was poor
Harte 5- not sure what the point of him being on the pitch was. Bring back Mills.

Tabb 7- would probably have been an 8 if he'd played the whole match. Won a lot of loose balls, broke up play, and looked comfortable in possession. Got kicked and shoved, didn't get protection from the referee.
Legs 5.5- not his best game, though he was bound to have a poor one at some point. He hasn't really had a bad game since we signed him.
HRK 5- offered nothing much. Little use when he isn't an impact sub.
McAnuff 4.5- the goal was his fault. No better than HRK aside from that.

Church, ALF- no point playing long ball and little point putting in crosses with these two in the side. Not going to give them ratings, it seems pointless when they barely have a chance.

Subs:
Antonio 4- long throws were good, and he was lively enough to get a chance, but his control is piss poor and he put the chance well wide. Should be behind Obita and maybe other players.
Manset 4.5- at least he can win a header, but he hasn't lived up to his early promise. Needs to improve, should probably be sent on loan.
D'Ath- I know he was barely on, but boy can he run, and his passing was crisp. Could potentially be a good impact sub if given 15 minutes because he was really getting into the box and is more creative than the other three midfielders.

cant believe some of those marks, it was possibly the worse performance of the last 2 seasons, no players were worth more than a 5

[Hoop Blah]

Legs 5.5- not his best game, though he was bound to have a poor one at some point. He hasn't really had a bad game since we signed him.

Didn't you watch the first dozen games of this season?

I like him and think he's possibly our most important/influential player but he's been quite poor at times this season.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

PI** poor performance by a lack lustred RFC team who were out muscled and outplayed by Stevenage team.

The 1 - 0 scoreline flatters us we could have lost 3-0 easily if it had not been for Federici the only Reading player who can say they performed today.

[SCIAG]

cant believe some of those marks, it was possibly the worse performance of the last 2 seasons, no players were worth more than a 5

You're the muppet who rated several players less than 3. In a 1-0 defeat. To a team one league below us.

I thought the issue was more "not doing things right" than "doing things wrong". Only Tabb, Cummings and Feds did much right. Feds and Tabb were the only two I rated higher than "average" and Pearce and Cummings (Cummings did more wrong than most, especially going forward) were the only others I rated higher than "poor".

Average rating for the eleven players I rated: 5.6. Average for yours: 2.1. Which is fairer for a disappointing defeat to a decent-ish side?

Legs 5.5- not his best game, though he was bound to have a poor one at some point. He hasn't really had a bad game since we signed him.

Didn't you watch the first dozen games of this season?

I like him and think he's possibly our most important/influential player but he's been quite poor at times this season.

He had a bad game against Watford actually, my mistake, but it was more like half a dozen where people were (mostly unjustly) flogging him. For the most part he wasn't playing that bad, better than Jem, but people would praise Jem and slag off Legs because he was an easy target.

[skipper]

The average were Harte, Pearce, Gorkks, Cummings,

The defence who let 14 shots register and let in a goal, were average?

If we let another team this season have 14 shots over the course of the game, it's time to change the defence!

[Hoop Blah]

He had a bad game against Watford actually, my mistake, but it was more like half a dozen where people were (mostly unjustly) flogging him. For the most part he wasn't playing that bad, better than Jem, but people would praise Jem and slag off Legs because he was an easy target.

Have to disagree. It took him a long time to get up to speed this season and if he wasn't the only midfielder we had with some physical presence I think he would've been axed. He was a shadow of the player he was last season and for me that constitutes a bad set of games.

[marcusopp]

The last 2 games have been gash.
What on earth happened at the RFC new years eve party?
I reckon Todgers turned up and spiked all their drinks!
I didn't go today, but it sounded like last seasons league cup defeat to barnsley, total shite, and a flattering 1-0 loss.

I'm not sure why we have these random off days, but we usually bounce back.
I reckon Manset will be let go soon.
My mate met McD and he said he's a bit disapointed in his development.

Totally agree about signing a striker. I still don't rate church. Is jimmy quinn still playing?

[sandman]

Is jimmy quinn still playing?

Bizarrely... yes. Re-registered as a player and has featured on Nantwich's bench this season.

[FiNeRaIn]

I'm not sure why we have these random off days, but we usually bounce back.

They are not off days when they consistently happen, its just the sign of a mediocre team.

[9165]

My first visit to `Fortress Madjeski` since November - what a disappointment. Would roughly agree with others on here, though Feds was lucky not to concede a second when he mis-controlled badly just before half time. Their goal looked like it was deflected - why didn`t Mcanuff pass it back when he had plenty of time to do so ? As for Leigertwood- what does he actually bring to the team ? He always seems to square his body up when he gets the ball and if he is not tackled (which he often is) he just plays a square pass about 10 yards. Church was absolutely hopeless today (I`m a big fan normally) and nobody in the first half seemed bothered at all, it looked like a case of turn up, do the job, go home. I have to say that Stevenage were a cynical bunch - `dying` every time they were tackled and getting the game stopped, until the ref sussed them out. However, their midfield particularly looked well organised for the whole game. We badly missed Karacan today - was he injured or `rested` ? The only plus point for me was giving D`Ath his debut, he looked energetic if nothing else !

[RoyalBlue]

Stevenage enjoyed 81% of the possession in the first 23 minutes of the game.

Absolutely effing disgraceful!!

Now I know our players aren't the highest paid but, on the basis of today's disgrace, none of them (with the exception of Feds) deserves paying. The same could be said for the management. McDermott said afterwards that he knew that if the team weren't in the right frame of mind we would be in trouble. We weren't and we were! That's the second game in succession. Players need to be changed/dropped but we don't have any quality in depth in the squad for that to happen.

[RoyalBlue]

Tbh, the markings today should in all honesty read like binary

And you don't mean 10....

Based on his tackling, distribution and particularly the late shot that went into row Z I believe Leigertwood was under instructions to make sure we did not progress. Concentrating on the League, I suspect.

Probably thinking about what he was having to eat after the game! Caskey got stick for his bulk but at least he could create opportunities and score plenty of goals.

[jesusisaroyal]

Absolute waste of a fiver and a Saturday afternoon...

Federici 5 - pulled of some reasonable saves but awful distribution overshadowed
Cummings 2 - dissapointing to say the very least
Pearce 3 - couldn't follow up recent performances, not good enough
Gorks 4 - won a few headers but far too clumsy
Harte 2 - doesn't warrant a return to the side based on that performance
Tabb 3 - probably tried hard but didn't really notice him
Legs 0 - did virtually nothing all game, worst player on the pitch IMO
McAnuff 1 - why is this man still our captain?
HRK 0 - quite simply appalling
Le Fondre 4 - did nothing wrong but yet again no service from midfield, possibly need to start building the team around him a tad more?
Church 0 - never rated him - shocking, as ever

Subs 1 - Antonio is not good enough for this side, Manset ineffective and D'Ath looked lively at best

[reading_fan]

Very disappointing display today, agree with most of the comments on here, but let's not hang, draw and quarter the players just yet. However, what is more concerning than the defeat today is the slide in performances of late. We were great at Leeds, had a great first 25 mins against Brighton and then got away with a result which on another day could have been 3-3, we scraped past Ipswich, and we got tonked at Cardiff. I don't believe we are the 5th best team in this division, but on our day we can be, and we have shown we can beat anyone. However, what the last two results have shown is that in order for this to happen is that we need most of our players to be on their game as we are fairly average otherwise.

Some concerns:
1. What has happened to Ledge? A very poor start to the season, immense against Brighton and seemingly gone off the boil again
2. Jem's injury. We need him back again. He makes us tick
3. The wingers. McAnuff's been poor for a while now (barring the goals v BHA) and he is such a confidence player, but being captain seems to make him impervious to being subbed. Is Kebe staying or going?
4. Creativity (and lack thereof). With a struggling McAnuff, and questions over Kebe, we have very little coming from wide and without Jem even less through the middle.
5. The forwards. Relatively small blokes, who have the ball lumped forward at them and are expected to win headers, keep the ball, lay it off against man mountain centre backs like Sonko. It's all very well criticising them for not doing a lot, but exactly how much do you expect from them in these circumstances?

[sandman]

Absolute waste of a fiver and a Saturday afternoon...

Federici 5 - pulled of some reasonable saves but awful distribution overshadowed
Cummings 2 - dissapointing to say the very least
Pearce 3 - couldn't follow up recent performances, not good enough
Gorks 4 - won a few headers but far too clumsy
Harte 2 - doesn't warrant a return to the side based on that performance
Tabb 3 - probably tried hard but didn't really notice him
Legs 0 - did virtually nothing all game, worst player on the pitch IMO
McAnuff 1 - why is this man still our captain?
HRK 0 - quite simply appalling
Le Fondre 4 - did nothing.
Church 0 - never rated him - shocking, as ever

Subs 1 - Antonio is not good enough for this side, Manset ineffective and D'Ath looked lively at best

Corrected.

[leon]

Very disappointing display today, agree with most of the comments on here, but let's not hang, draw and quarter the players just yet. However, what is more concerning than the defeat today is the slide in performances of late. We were great at Leeds, had a great first 25 mins against Brighton and then got away with a result which on another day could have been 3-3, we scraped past Ipswich, and we got tonked at Cardiff. I don't believe we are the 5th best team in this division, but on our day we can be, and we have shown we can beat anyone. However, what the last two results have shown is that in order for this to happen is that we need most of our players to be on their game as we are fairly average otherwise.

Some concerns:
1. What has happened to Ledge? A very poor start to the season, immense against Brighton and seemingly gone off the boil again
2. Jem's injury. We need him back again. He makes us tick
3. The wingers. McAnuff's been poor for a while now (barring the goals v BHA) and he is such a confidence player, but being captain seems to make him impervious to being subbed. Is Kebe staying or going?
4. Creativity (and lack thereof). With a struggling McAnuff, and questions over Kebe, we have very little coming from wide and without Jem even less through the middle.
5. The forwards. Relatively small blokes, who have the ball lumped forward at them and are expected to win headers, keep the ball, lay it off against man mountain centre backs like Sonko. It's all very well criticising them for not doing a lot, but exactly how much do you expect from them in these circumstances?

agree with this. Although to be fair, setting ourselves up with two defensive midfielders means that we can concede fewer goals (as we have prior to the last two games) but we need the wingers to do the creativity. McAnuff just doesn't do enough for me - especially when Kebe fails to fire - which this season has been quite a lot.

[Elmer Park]

Federici 7
Cummings 6
Gorkss 5
Pearce 5
Harte 6
McAnuff 4
Tabb 5
Leigertwood 3
Kanu 4
Le Fondre 5
Church 3

Although it is always in the end down to each individual player to make sure they are motivated for each match McDermott has to take some of the blame too for failing to get them up for the game.

[AthleticoSpizz]

yip...far too strong a team

should've started with the stiffs....for example, why was Feds playing when we have three decent keepers on the fringes...and on and on and on