Spurs (A) *Match Thread* sponsored by Gylfi Sigurdsson

[The Beardy Man]

Slagging off Legs after he has just had perhaps his best performance of the season thus far just seems a very strange time to do it.

As for why he has retained his place, as others have said....without him our midfield all struggle to reach the top shelf of the kitchen cupboard.

Agree over the season he has been poor....but today he wasn't.

[Mr.T10]

http://www.squawka.com/players/mikele-leigertwood

Fair enough he has gone above 50% on both but Tabb by their stats is a far better performer and considering Tabb has played 8 games less, it does not look good for legs.

I still feel without legs we will perform better in midfield of the park and until McDermott actually bites the bullet and drop the undroppable I might be able to prove my point.

[Ian Royal]

Slagging off Legs after he has just had perhaps his best performance of the season thus far just seems a very strange time to do it.

As for why he has retained his place, as others have said....without him our midfield all struggle to reach the top shelf of the kitchen cupboard.

Agree over the season he has been poor....but today he wasn't.

Tabb could help Guthrie and Karacan reach the top shelf. But only if he let them use him as a kickstool.

[windermere_royal]

As usual Arsenal haven`t turned up at St Marys yet when we need a favour

[Born 'n Bred Royal]

Slagging off Legs after he has just had perhaps his best performance of the season thus far just seems a very strange time to do it.

As for why he has retained his place, as others have said....without him our midfield all struggle to reach the top shelf of the kitchen cupboard.

Agree over the season he has been poor....but today he wasn't.

i don't know what game you were watching - he hardly set the world on fire. We are p*ssed all over in midfield by Tottenham as you would expect.

I know a Crystal Palace fan who's been a season ticket holder for 15 years and he said when Legs played for them in the Premiership he was laughable - completely and utterly out of his depth.

Having Leigertwood as a first choice central midfielder is a contributory factor as to why Crystal Palace, then Sheffield United with him went down and Reading will most probably be added to that list if he continues to play. He is woeful, and in one of the most important positions in the team.

[Avon Royal]

As usual Arsenal haven`t turned up at St Marys yet when we need a favour

Nothing to do with Saints having suitable tactics and a gameplan then?

[Mr.T10]

Slagging off Legs after he has just had perhaps his best performance of the season thus far just seems a very strange time to do it.

As for why he has retained his place, as others have said....without him our midfield all struggle to reach the top shelf of the kitchen cupboard.

Agree over the season he has been poor....but today he wasn't.

i don't know what game you were watching - he hardly set the world on fire. We are p*ssed all over in midfield by Tottenham as you would expect.

I know a Crystal Palace fan who's been a season ticket holder for 15 years and he said when Legs played for them in the Premiership he was laughable - completely and utterly out of his depth.

Having Leigertwood as a first choice central midfielder is a contributory factor as to why Crystal Palace, then Sheffield United with him went down and Reading will most probably be added to that list if he continues to play. He is woeful, and in one of the most important positions in the team.

But it is ok because he scored the goal that got us up and played better than he has done in the past. We should all celeberate like this as a win...

[bcubed]

Slagging off Legs after he has just had perhaps his best performance of the season thus far just seems a very strange time to do it.

As for why he has retained his place, as others have said....without him our midfield all struggle to reach the top shelf of the kitchen cupboard.

Agree over the season he has been poor....but today he wasn't.

i don't know what game you were watching - he hardly set the world on fire. We are p*ssed all over in midfield by Tottenham as you would expect.

I know a Crystal Palace fan who's been a season ticket holder for 15 years and he said when Legs played for them in the Premiership he was laughable - completely and utterly out of his depth.

Having Leigertwood as a first choice central midfielder is a contributory factor as to why Crystal Palace, then Sheffield United with him went down and Reading will most probably be added to that list if he continues to play. He is woeful, and in one of the most important positions in the team.

Try this

If you have only 35 to 40% possession you spend a lot of the game trying to get the ball
He is our best tackler and has most interceptions
Without him we would have even less possession

[LoyalRoyal22]

Ledge is not cut out for Premier League football. This has been proven. How he played today is irrelevent in my eyes. Should be back up for us at the very most

[Millsy]

Slagging off Legs after he has just had perhaps his best performance of the season thus far just seems a very strange time to do it.

As for why he has retained his place, as others have said....without him our midfield all struggle to reach the top shelf of the kitchen cupboard.

Agree over the season he has been poor....but today he wasn't.

i don't know what game you were watching - he hardly set the world on fire. We are p*ssed all over in midfield by Tottenham as you would expect.

I know a Crystal Palace fan who's been a season ticket holder for 15 years and he said when Legs played for them in the Premiership he was laughable - completely and utterly out of his depth.

Having Leigertwood as a first choice central midfielder is a contributory factor as to why Crystal Palace, then Sheffield United with him went down and Reading will most probably be added to that list if he continues to play. He is woeful, and in one of the most important positions in the team.

But it is ok because he scored the goal that got us up and played better than he has done in the past. We should all celeberate like this as a win...

I'm in the fence in this one. I think we need to look at the good he does too, like winning balls, but I dunno.

I'd love to believe this is a weak spot that we can fix. I'll let Brian be the judge of that.

[The Beardy Man]

Slagging off Legs after he has just had perhaps his best performance of the season thus far just seems a very strange time to do it.

As for why he has retained his place, as others have said....without him our midfield all struggle to reach the top shelf of the kitchen cupboard.

Agree over the season he has been poor....but today he wasn't.

i don't know what game you were watching - he hardly set the world on fire. We are p*ssed all over in midfield by Tottenham as you would expect.

I know a Crystal Palace fan who's been a season ticket holder for 15 years and he said when Legs played for them in the Premiership he was laughable - completely and utterly out of his depth.

Having Leigertwood as a first choice central midfielder is a contributory factor as to why Crystal Palace, then Sheffield United with him went down and Reading will most probably be added to that list if he continues to play. He is woeful, and in one of the most important positions in the team.

Did he set the world alight? No, he didn't.

What he did do today was more or less what you hope for from a defensive midfielder. Get tackles in, break up opposition play and (today at least) not give it straight back to the other team.

It was a solid enough effort in a perfectly reasonable team performance.

I agree that he has been poor this year, but today he was fine....If this marks the turning of a corner for him in form he has a contribution to make this year yet, if not then not.

[NR_Royal]

I have to admit, Leigertwood wasn't too bad today. Actually made a lot of tackles and distributed OK (Albeit backwards or sideways). He does need replacing fast though.

Best players today for us were Federici, Pearce and Karacan

Worst players today were Harte, Kebe and McAnuff.

All IMO of course.

[Mr.T10]

Try this

If you have only 35 to 40% possession you spend a lot of the game trying to get the ball
He is our best tackler and has most interceptions
Without him we would have even less possession

But we haven't tried to put someone else as a CDM so of course he is going to have more... Well actually, Karacan, Kebe, Tabb and McAnuff are all better tacklers with a better tackle percentage.

Legs might have loads of interceptions but he also gives the ball away loads so he does all the hard work but whats the point he will just give the ball away. In the West Ham game I was literally counting the seconds we had the ball to West Ham getting it again, I think we managed a high of 20 seconds and most of the time I stopped counting was because of Legs. He does more harm than good.

Look at the city goal, who was marking Barry before he ran in the box to then be unmarked? Guess who....

[Rex]

Tottenham simply bossed us tactically and very astutely. Closing each player down and harrying each to make mistakes or shoot their confidence down. The match programme had us tactically sussed and to print it so openly meant it was always going to be open season. Switching to 4-4-2 meant we had to go for it and despite three successive corners which was our only real pressure all match we couldn't break the back four by our wingplay. That was desperate to watch today but expected.

[bobby1413]

Cuunt.

That's addressed to the guy behind me. The person who CONTINUALLY abused BrianMc throughout the game. Regardless of anything that actually happened. The person who sarcastically was shouting "it's a matter of time", "you haven't a clue" etc...

He is not solely to blame for our position. And anyway, I think we have achieved what we deserve to achieve. We have a decent ish squad but one which isn't totally up to scratch. I know, sack the manager, that'd help! Idiots.

[Born 'n Bred Royal]

He's o*ford sh*t end of. Does a job in the Championship where you have more time space so his clumsiness isn't punished as much as it is in the Premiership.

McDermott is saying Carrico is to be used primarily as a midfielder - dropping a big hint that either Leigertwood, Guthrie or Karacan will be dropped. I bloody hope it's Leigertwood to be fair as I'm fed up of seeing us giving the ball away as soon as we win it, and all too often it's his fault. Not his fault all the time but as his pass completion rates show it is more often than not him.

[Born 'n Bred Royal]

Cuunt.

That's addressed to the guy behind me. The person who CONTINUALLY abused BrianMc throughout the game. Regardless of anything that actually happened. The person who sarcastically was shouting "it's a matter of time", "you haven't a clue" etc...

He is not solely to blame for our position. And anyway, I think we have achieved what we deserve to achieve. We have a decent ish squad but one which isn't totally up to scratch. I know, sack the manager, that'd help! Idiots.

Just another Reading fan who has a memory like a fish. Hopefully they are in the minority.

[bcubed]

Try this

If you have only 35 to 40% possession you spend a lot of the game trying to get the ball
He is our best tackler and has most interceptions
Without him we would have even less possession

But we haven't tried to put someone else as a CDM so of course he is going to have more... Well actually, Karacan, Kebe, Tabb and McAnuff are all better tacklers with a better tackle percentage.

Legs might have loads of interceptions but he also gives the ball away loads so he does all the hard work but whats the point he will just give the ball away. In the West Ham game I was literally counting the seconds we had the ball to West Ham getting it again, I think we managed a high of 20 seconds and most of the time I stopped counting was because of Legs. He does more harm than good.

Look at the city goal, who was marking Barry before he ran in the box to then be unmarked? Guess who....

No he tops tackles and interceptions table

[bcubed]

Try this

If you have only 35 to 40% possession you spend a lot of the game trying to get the ball
He is our best tackler and has most interceptions
Without him we would have even less possession

But we haven't tried to put someone else as a CDM so of course he is going to have more... Well actually, Karacan, Kebe, Tabb and McAnuff are all better tacklers with a better tackle percentage.

Legs might have loads of interceptions but he also gives the ball away loads so he does all the hard work but whats the point he will just give the ball away. In the West Ham game I was literally counting the seconds we had the ball to West Ham getting it again, I think we managed a high of 20 seconds and most of the time I stopped counting was because of Legs. He does more harm than good.

Look at the city goal, who was marking Barry before he ran in the box to then be unmarked? Guess who....

No he tops tackles and interceptions table

[The Beardy Man]

He's o*ford sh*t end of. Does a job in the Championship where you have more time space so his clumsiness isn't punished as much as it is in the Premiership.

McDermott is saying Carrico is to be used primarily as a midfielder - dropping a big hint that either Leigertwood, Guthrie or Karacan will be dropped. I bloody hope it's Leigertwood to be fair as I'm fed up of seeing us giving the ball away as soon as we win it, and all too often it's his fault. Not his fault all the time but as his pass completion rates show it is more often than not him.

As it goes, I do think his speed of thought on the pitch is too slow at this level...and that's why he tends to be caught in possession or rushing his pass so often.

I too hope we are able to upgrade this position on the pitch.

However to say "He's o*ford sh*t end of" is nonsense. He is a top end championship midfielder who has not quite been up to it at this level. He would still walk into most Reading sides across our history. As a squad player at this level he may yet have a part to play still