September

[RoyalWire]

Whilst we maybe haven't got as many points we would have like out of August, I think (from my novice view) there's definately been some positive signs.

This month we have Spurs, West Brom and Newcastle to come.

My questions:

1: How do you think we will go in these games?;
2: How many points would you see as a good job done?; and
3: With these teams, what do you see as the challenges?

I think from what I have seen so far, I would be happy if we picked up four points from these three fixtures.

[Royal Lady]

Realistically, we'd be bloody brilliant if we got more than 3 points out of those 3 fixtures.

Last night didn't exactly prove to me that we'll be ok in any of the aforementioned games. I think we might get a draw with WBA and that would be about it. Happy to be proved wrong though, obvs.

[arreff]

Well seeing that Peterborough gave Reading’s first team a fright last night I am afraid that points will be very hard to come by this season. Brian says that he is satisfied with his squad and that there are adequate replacements for injuries but I think that he is mistaken. Most of the decent players rumoured to be coming have been snapped up by other teams and they still appear to be on the lookout for more. He also said that he wanted to get the team together early so as they could knit but Kebe and Roberts have been injured for ages so that thought goes out of the window.

[sandman]

I prefer to concentrate on the Reading first team giving the Champions of Europe a fright in the Premier League last week rather than a match in the second round of the league cup against a lower league team

[LightwaterRoyal]

One game at a time people.

[Royal Lady]

I prefer to concentrate on the Reading first team giving the Champions of Europe a fright in the Premier League last week rather than a match in the second round of the league cup against a lower league team

But it was the same group of players? Are you suggesting they weren't taking the CoC seriously? After the way we played against Chelsea, we should have, rightfully, expected to demolish a team like Peterborough.

[M Brook]

I prefer to concentrate on the Reading first team giving the Champions of Europe a fright in the Premier League last week rather than a match in the second round of the league cup against a lower league team

As rousing a performance as the Chelsea game was, there were periods (first 20 mins) when we were totally outclassed and overwhelmed.

[Maguire]

I prefer to concentrate on the Reading first team giving the Champions of Europe a fright in the Premier League last week rather than a match in the second round of the league cup against a lower league team

But it was the same group of players? Are you suggesting they weren't taking the CoC seriously? After the way we played against Chelsea, we should have, rightfully, expected to demolish a team like Peterborough.

Why? It's a totally different game and a totally different scenario.

IMHO it's a bit mental to ever expect your team to "demolish" anyone else unless they're a Swedish sixth division team or Blue Square Premier or something.

[Gordons Cumming]

I prefer to concentrate on the Reading first team giving the Champions of Europe a fright in the Premier League last week rather than a match in the second round of the league cup against a lower league team

But it was the same group of players? Are you suggesting they weren't taking the CoC seriously? After the way we played against Chelsea, we should have, rightfully, expected to demolish a team like Peterborough.

The way Peterborough play it amazes me how poorly they do in the league.

Maybe it's their crappy defending........

[sandman]

I prefer to concentrate on the Reading first team giving the Champions of Europe a fright in the Premier League last week rather than a match in the second round of the league cup against a lower league team

But it was the same group of players? Are you suggesting they weren't taking the CoC seriously? After the way we played against Chelsea, we should have, rightfully, expected to demolish a team like Peterborough.

Not sure why you expect up to demolish a team who recently beat us quite comfortably and when we're playing in a competition we've struggled in.

[Royal Lady]

I prefer to concentrate on the Reading first team giving the Champions of Europe a fright in the Premier League last week rather than a match in the second round of the league cup against a lower league team

But it was the same group of players? Are you suggesting they weren't taking the CoC seriously? After the way we played against Chelsea, we should have, rightfully, expected to demolish a team like Peterborough.

Not sure why you expect up to demolish a team who recently beat us quite comfortably and when we're playing in a competition we've struggled in.

Well, pardon me, but if you're playing your 1st choice 11 players, which you've also played against Chelsea - then it would seem, to me at least, that you would expect that team to demolish a team who hadn't yet won in the league and who are in a lower league to yourselves (quite apart from the fact that the same RFC 11 played out of their skins against Chelsea for the most part and showed a lot of promise). Must be just me then.

Had we put out, as we usually seem to, a reserve team - then I wouldn't have expected much at all.

[Maguire]

Well, pardon me, but if you're playing your 1st choice 11 players, which you've also played against Chelsea - then it would seem, to me at least, that you would expect that team to demolish a team who hadn't yet won in the league and who are in a lower league to yourselves

That's because you're a woman and a stupid one at that.

[melonhead]

I prefer to concentrate on the Reading first team giving the Champions of Europe a fright in the Premier League last week rather than a match in the second round of the league cup against a lower league team

As rousing a performance as the Chelsea game was, there were periods (first 20 mins) when we were totally outclassed and overwhelmed.

NSS

[arreff]

There seems to be a lot of differing opinion about the strength of the team but in about three weeks time we will know whose opinions are correct. By that time however the transfer window will be closed and it will be too late to do anything until the next window. If the pessimists are right then we may be so far behind that even panic buying will be futile!

[RoyalWire]

I think the first two PL games have shown us to be ok.

Stoke are famously difficult to break down, we scored against them and got a well earned point.

We held our own with Chelsea, the champions of Europe.

We will get much easier games in the PL than we have had already, a positive start when put in perspective.

With regards to the League Cup, well, it's not the first time a top flight club has got in to an arm wrestle with a lower league opposition and it wont be the last. I don't think that this is something we should base our conclusions on.

[Esteban]

I don’t think it’s worth getting too upset by that performance against Peterborough. Sometimes in games, you get a strange 20 minutes and goals just fly in out of nowhere. They probably only had half a dozen chances and a few half chances. We hit the post a few times and if we had gone 4-4-2, I think we’d have scored more. However, we’ll see plenty of games in the PL where the midfield is packed and I understand we had to practice with that formation.

What was concerning, though, was our defensive display. McDermott was right (as he often is) when he said that we weren’t good enough without the ball and that was especially true of the back five. There is a noticeable loss of confidence across the back and that is beginning to affect them now. I thought it was due to nerves against Stoke, but there are signs that they just don’t trust themselves. We all know about Federici’s errors and that obviously exacerbates things, but it’s not just down to that. Gorkss and Pearce haven’t looked themselves, Gunter is still getting to grips with the PL and Harte has his limitations, as we all know. However, I do think that they are all capable of playing PL football and what they all need right now (Federici included) is time to develop together and support from the fans. It’s McDermott’s job to pick the team and if he feels that any one of them should be dropped, he’ll do it, as he showed early on last season. We’re lucky to have players like McCarthy, Shorey, Mariappa and Cummings waiting in the wings if called upon.

They all deserve their chance playing in the PL and last night’s game was part of their development. I’m confident McDermott will find the right team and make any tough decisions as necessary.

[Dare to Dr£am]

We need at least 4 points from the next 9.

Brian looks stressed, and you can understand why. This is a different type of pressure than he is used to. Anton's ambitions for the club are all dependant on us staying in the Premiership. If we're in the bottom three come November/December, I wonder how loyal AZ will prove to be then. How long before he panics and decides to make a change himself?

We're very lucky that he came in and stuck by Brian. You very rarely see that happen. But so much rests on our staying up; Brian needs results and quick.

[RoyalJames101]

Not really worried too much about last night, although we do need to play a lot better in the league. We were terrible when we played Stevenage last year yet we still managed to win the league.

[Ian Royal]

Whilst we maybe haven't got as many points we would have like out of August, I think (from my novice view) there's definately been some positive signs.

This month we have Spurs, West Brom and Newcastle to come.

My questions:

1: How do you think we will go in these games?;
2: How many points would you see as a good job done?; and
3: With these teams, what do you see as the challenges?

I think from what I have seen so far, I would be happy if we picked up four points from these three fixtures.

All of those teams are beatable. Spurs and Newcastle are strong, but we're at home and both are prone to duff results and aren't as consistently good as the likes of Chelsea, Utd, Citeh or (against us) Arsenal. West Brom are really one of the clubs we should be looking at as our peers, but it's away.

I'd like to see us playing 2 upfront against all but the really big boys, but given our formation against Posh it's looking more likely we'll go with 1 up, even though we've conceeded 6 goals in two games in that formation.

Obviously Win Next Game - so aim for 9 points, 4 points'll be satisfactory, but really I want to see us manage 5 or 6. 2 points will just about do but we'll need to pick it up in the few after, less than that and things look grim indeed.

Newcastle and Spurs have great attacks, so it'll be about nullifying that and punishing their slightly weaker defences... like we did against Chelsea until Feds dived over Cahill's effort. West Brom will be a case of not letting Long bully our defenders and just trying to out play them in general - just take the approach that it's a top end Championship tie from last season.

[Ian Royal]

I prefer to concentrate on the Reading first team giving the Champions of Europe a fright in the Premier League last week rather than a match in the second round of the league cup against a lower league team

But it was the same group of players? Are you suggesting they weren't taking the CoC seriously? After the way we played against Chelsea, we should have, rightfully, expected to demolish a team like Peterborough.

Why would we demolish a team who gave us a lot of trouble last season, just because we gave Chelsea a fright, are PL and signed a couple of new players?

Fundamental lack of understanding of football there.