Back from the game - Bristol City (H)

[Snowball]

Credit to the manager for realising their RW would have terrorised Harte

Bristol City were set up to stop us playing and they worked their nuts off in the first half
to close us down and stop us playing. But they have some very decent players.

Thought the guy who was playing alone up front (Wood) looks very promising and their RW
and one other who was similar build to Wood. Their midfield and defence worked well and
they looked dangerous for the first 45-60 minutes

Thought Tabb was excellent today. Does a lot of unsung work and wins far too many headers.
One excellent rock-hard tackle, and got into the box a few times. Karacan was as ever.
In some ways I prefer Tabb over Karacan, but we need Elwood, I think.

Griffin had a very good game, apart from the mix up with Gorks that almost gave away a goal.

Feds was excellent again. He is a top keeper IMO and still improving

Best game I've seen Antonio have. But he's only good when played wide or cutting in. The few
times he was in the middle he looked lost. I suspect he will one day be a very good player indeed.

Hunt worked his socks off and played intelligently. A couple of times there seemed to be too
big a gap between him and Roberts but overall they looked a promising partnership.

Having Roberts (half-fit) was like having an extra player compared to recent starting strike-force.
The difference between Roberts half-fit and Simon Runsalot was MASSIVE. Not trying to knock
Churchy but the difference between this raw Championship youngster and a Premiership-quality
(even if he can't get games) striker was very, VERY marked.

If Roberts copes fitness-wise either he'll be getting 2 goals every three games or the strike pair
will get a goal a game. Play it to his feet!!!

Great to see him nick a pen like Longy. We'll get a lot more pens now

[hatrick_hero]

Thought karacan was MOTM with hunt a close second. Tabb had a good game also. Roberts looked good in glimpses. Their winger (No 27 i think it was) looked good and very pacey.

[Friday's Legacy]

thought roberts was a class above today, and antonio had a superb game. some quality crosses as well.

christ knows how simon church gets picked ahead of le fondre. not only is it baffling it's very frustrating too.

[Svlad Cjelli]

Agree that Karacan was great - but I think he can't only play like that when Leighterwood is missing.

When they're both out there, Leighterwood tends to be more attacking and Karacan has to play in the more defensive role, but with Tabb it seems the roles are reversed and Jem has the freedom to go forward and attach more.

[winchester_royal]

Not a classic, but we made it count in the right areas today. Like the look of the two new guys, both will get better as the season goes on.

Mega at anyone saying either Tabb or Karacan had a good game today, we got spunked all over in midfield today, shocking stuff. Could have held each other's hand for half the game they spent so much time running into exactly the same areas. They need to be told it's not how much you run that counts, it's where you run.

Anyway, important 3 points, onwards to Donny!

[Snowball]

9 James
8.5 The Bristol City side average

Thought they were good enough for top six and unlucky to lose. Better than Hull



8 Feds. Solid and kept us in game
8 Cummings.
8 Gorks. Had a lot of the game, good headers, calm on the ball. Must average 2 points per game more than Matt Mills
7 Pearce. Don't remember much wrong
8 Griffin. Loads of support work, seemed up for it.

8 Tabb . Worked hard, loads of tackles, headers won
7.5 Karacan Everwhere esp in last 30 mins
7.0 McAnuff Plenty of decent work but nothing "great"
7.5 Antonio Decent, and will improve a lot if he plays. Got better later

8 Hunt. Worked hard, played intelligently, partnered Roberts well
7.5 Roberts. A class apart. Only lower score because not fully fit, will soon get regular 9s IMO. Tried a bit too hard at times. Poor pen but great follow up. 2-3 superb thru balls

6 Church Ran, but the step-down from Roberts was svcary

8 CRXWZXYA (or whoever) Very little time but made one great ball from the RB position, one great "skin" of a defender, and made a penalty. V Promising

[paultheroyal]

It's official, we are the worlds worst team at throw ins, penalty taking and now playing against 10 men! I am sorry, but I thought we were bloody awful yet again! We had a bright spell for 20 minutes which revolved around Jason Roberts down the left hand side but other than that we were ineffective and yet again lack creativity. Tabb had one of his poorer games and things passed him by. I do champion Antonio on here and he is definitely improving. Crossing is excellent but he is just too heavy with the pass on the deck.

I had to keep pinching myself that we were playing against ten men. With 10 mins to go it also infuriates me that we try and close out the game. Apart from Watford, time and time again we hold ball up in corner, only to lose it and they go gun ho.

Anyway we can sit back and let the results unfold come Tuesday. 4th and playing awful for a few games is not bad going.

Oh and Griffin, you are not a left back and stop bloody slowing the game down!

Poor game, poor perfornmance but three points and we progress.

URZ.

[paultheroyal]

Thought Tabb was excellent today.....

Griffin had a very good game.....

You can have 2 of these

[Royalee]

Bit of a scrappy game, particularly first half, thought we shaded it...

Roberts looked to be exactly what we need on his debut - solid, timed his runs well, held the ball up, uses the ball and always looks dangerous. Did well to win the penalty and was pleased to see him stick the rebound in. Cwyka looked alright when he came on, couple of neat touches and won a ridiculous penalty award. Defence did alright with the exception of Griffin who was woeful, taking too long on the ball and got caught several times - I know he was out of position but I think he's past it generally...could we now get Bertrand back with the new investment? Pearce, Gorkss and Cummings very professional.

Karacan was probably my man of the match, he chased the ball down well, was improved in possession and was often having to make up for the ineffectual Tabb beside him. McAnuff was average, I was quite impressed with Antonio's delivery which is something I haven't found myself thinking before - hopefully he'll get a run of games if he can string a few performances like that together.

Up front Hunt was pretty average which is a shame because I really thought he'd kick on a bit once injury free - the excellent Roberts and Le Fondre should start next week.

All in all a good result, hopefully McDermott will bring in a couple more players before the deadline and I'm quietly optimistic.

[bobbybottler]

Difficult to disagree with most of what's already been said BUT that second penalty was a fantastic save, not a shit pen.

The goal, I'd like to state, just for the sheer wtf happened there was the funniest I think I've ever seen us score.

I thought Bristol were good, 2-0 would have been an outrage, they've got some good players to build on if they hang onto them.

Royalee - I agree with ALF Roberts to start next week.

[Arch]

I hope no one was expecting a magical change today. We're still unlikely to get promoted this season, but the really good news is that where not going up would have meant further retrenchment in the old regime, now it's not that significant as we can expect a better-constructed push next year.

*no back-from-game-o*

[grey_squirrel]

Today

Why was Griffin preferred ahead of Harte? We would have had 2 converted pens, not just a half of one, had he been in the pitch.

Roberts did okay.

Their No 27 was quality.

Thats all to say.

The rest was as was.

[Sarah Star]

Wasn't sure about Roberts before the match, but he won me over. Love the way he's unselfish enough to lay the ball off to someone else in a better position to score. Looked a class act although he tired near the end.

Halfway through the second half, the guy next to me remarked that Karacan was having a bad game... at which point he suddenly began to have a good game - getting forward more, finding some good passes, out-running everyone else. Perhaps he overheard.

Who coaches our strikers? Can they work on their penalties a bit more - even if James did make two good saves?

[grey_squirrel]

Difficult to disagree with most of what's already been said BUT that second penalty was a fantastic save, not a shit pen.

Rubbish, With a 3 yard run up Jobi couldn't have sign-posted it better. Easy for James

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I thought we were worse today than last week yet today we got the points. I suppose Bristol City are 19th for a reason....

Thought Roberts, Cummings, Karacan & McAnuff were the brighter players today - Roberts & McAnuff linked up well in the 1st half.

My god do we miss Legs - Tabb yet again anonymous & looks out of his depth.

As for Griffin - looks a shade of the player we had when we signed him. What's happened there? Truly awful today.

Thought Cwyka played a few neat little balls - quite excited about what he could do & if I were Brian I'd drop Tabb & stick him in the centre. I fail to see how he can be any worse.

As for Roberts well - I liked the cut of his jib! Just oozed quality for me - the hold up play & 1st touch is so so much better than anything else we have. If we really want to challenge for promotion, this man needs to stay fit. Some great passes too.

All in all a crappy performance but we are 4th!

[Ian Royal]

LOL @ Roberts goal. A finish not even Church could have made look more difficult or lucky.

Welcome to the club Jason and thanks for the 3 points!

*no back-from-game-o*

[MmmMonsterMunch]

For the record just seen both the pens on Sky again & Church's looks more stonewall than the 1st pen yet I didn't think that at all seeing them live..

[SCIAG]

I thought it was the opposite to last week when we played well but lost, this week we were poor but won.

Ratings:
Feds 7- not too many shots to save, dealt with those though
Cummings 8 MOTM- the only player to play especially well. Attacked and defended well.
Pearce 7- meh. Not great, not bad.
Gorkss 7- as above, good on the ball.
Griffin 5- poor. Very lucky not to cost us a goal when he played what was either a terrible backpass or a massively overhit pass to Gorkss. Why on Earth wasn't Mills playing? Much like Cummings last season, he was playing well, got injured and can't come back in even though his replacements are doing poorly.
Antonio 7- not very effectual, but at least he didn't lose the ball as often as their right winger. Delivery is improving, as is his touch.
Karacan 6- anonymous.
Tabb 6- likewise.
McAnuff 5- I'm normally a fan, but that was his worst game in a Reading shirt.
Roberts 6- used his strength well, but often squandered possession. Could be a really good foil for a proper goalscorer like Alf or Church.
Hunt 6- got about, but shouldn't have played. He and Roberts are both "support men", one of them needs to play with someone who'll stretch the play or stick the ball in the net.

[Simon's Church]

lolz at a 34 year old who can't get into a team bottom of the prem being SO much better than our other strikers.

Antonio pretty good again, we defended alright and got the 3 points. Onwards and Upwards

[MmmMonsterMunch]

lolz at a 34 year old who can't get into a team bottom of the prem being SO much better than our other strikers.

Antonio pretty good again, we defended alright and got the 3 points. Onwards and Upwards

That's not strictly true though. He could get in their team if they weren't trying to avoid giving him a contract extension. Other than that I agree.