Spurs back from the Game/sofa

[Cripple Creek]

As has been said before on here the difference in class between the two sides was huge. AVB is rapidly turning Spurs into a side that are one of the joys to watch in the Prem. Interestingly I was looking at Spurs comments on the Guardian report of the match and fans start digressing (as they do) and they were bemoaning the lack of striking options they have - errr, yeah right...Adebayor, Dempsey, Defoe. Reading's passing at times was woeful and was made to look particularly bad because they were playing a side that pass so well. However, all things considered we did OK and I thought Legs did OK today and the BBC commentator I was listening to said he was MOM against West Ham. So much now depends on how much we can improve with new signings in January - and improve we must - and hope other sides stay static. Personally, I think there is a chance we will stay up and I think it is more than an outside chance but if I was a betting man I would say we've still left it too little too late. However, the rest of the season does not look as if it is going to be as horrible and humiliating as the first half was.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I think I must have been to a different game to some of the previous posters.

Leigertwood was so poor it was embarrassing, both for him and for us. Spurs noticed this too, as they seemed happy to leave him unmarked to receive the ball in midfield, knowing full well that he would give away possession almost immediately. His skill levels and fitness were both lacking. Time after time he made poor decisions about when to pass, who to pass to, and how to pass. Clearly he was utterly exhausted by the end of the match, and finally collapsed to his knees after about 85 minutes.

I find it astonishing that Brian continues to pick him. He is so clearly out of his depth in this league / past his sell-by date / insert your own cliche here.

If I never saw him wearing a Reading shirt again, it wouldn't trouble me one little bit.

I have to agree & I was actually at the game. Shame as I really like the guy but he is so out of his depth. He wins the ball & does the ugly stuff so I do have to give credit for that but he nearly always gives the ball away immediately after. I lost count of how many times he passed to someone under pressure with players around them rather than passing to someone who had a faint hope of keeping the ball.

I know we are little old Reading but I don't think it's too much to ask to find a Leigertwood style player that can also pass. In all honesty, despite the vast difference in quality between us & Spurs, none of the midfielders come out with much credit today. Thought they were all pretty poor. Guthrie in particular was not at the races at all.

I reckon the West Ham game took it out of them a bit as they seemed off the pace generally. Sometimes you just have to accept that a team is man for man vastly superior!

MOTM - toss up between Pog & Fed for me...maybe Fed just.

[Allyh84]

Agree with the above post. We came against a Premier League club blessed with riches such as Dembele/Lennon/Sandro/Defoe. I wouldn't say we were outplayed today. We had that header from a corner and Kebe's one on one. The final ball just wasn't there in the second half unfortunately, though you could see what they were trying to do.

Fed 7
Gunter 6
Pearce 7 Immense in the air as usual
Mariappa 8 Quite faultless
Harte 8 Coped with Lennon surprisingly well down the wings at least, corners were superb
McAnuff 6
Leigertwood 5 LEARN TO PASS AND STOP DRIBBLING IN AIMLESS CIRCLES!
Karacan 6
Kebe 6 Missed an utter sitter and failed to track back/tackle at certain points
Guthrie 6 Some nice ideas but poor passing at times
Pog 7

[Victor Meldrew]

Not at all phased by the result. I predicted 3-1 loss and never believed we would win that game. I think there at far bettt games out there for Reading to win, and still believe (naively?) that we have a chance.

My next game is Newcastle away, another tough one!

It looks as though we will need to win 8 or 9 of the next 17 games which is around top 8 form.
Even in this so-called mini-revival we have got 4 points out of a possible 12.
There is always a chance but it looks as though we are going to have to win 2 or 3 games against teams in the top 8-I can't see it but it will be the best ever recovery in history (even better now than West Brom's famous escape).
If Brian had undergone his revelation a bit sooner......................................................

[Big Ern]

Top 3 side beats bottom 3 side..no shocks there.

Having watched the game from the comfort of my sofa it was clear to all but the deaf and blind the difference in class between the sides. Spurs would generally find their man in the last third we we struggled to do that. We are very reliant on set plays and we will never score enough goals to give us a chance of staying up doing that. We did look more resilient, as we have over the past few weeks, and by adding a bit more quality , especially in the final third, could give us a chance, however slim.

Thought Feds improved after a nervous first 20 mins and every player did the best they could. Gunter looked more solid and Ledge was better than usual, however any midfield containing Ledge will struggle at this level. We really need to learn to stop passing the ball into dead ends and then resorting to hoofing up the pitch which is bread and butter to opposing defenders and will almost always result in losing possession and then pressure on our defense as they attack.

All in all, I am not dissapointed as I didn't expect anything from the game, but WBA is a must win as we really have no margin for error now.

Spurs didn't finish 3rd last season. or weren't3rd at the start of the day.

RattLOLed G8 M8

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Oh yes one more thing - if the 2 blokes sat in row 16, upper tier seats 269-270 are reading you really are utter utter cnuts. If football pains you that much I suggest you don't attend as you just ruin it for the rest of us. I feel sorry for any poor bast@rd that sits near them if they have ST's.

Constant moaning for the entire match, slagging every player off, slagging off McDermott, transfer policy, pretty much everything. STFU or at least moan quietly!! Totally ruined the game for us. At one point one of them moaned when Pearce passed across to Mariappa as two CB's would do quite regularly. Another classic one was "Oh McDermott what are you doing" when Guthrie misplaced a pass. Interesting..

One guy actually turned around in the 2nd half & shouted back at them so they were obviously pi$$ing everyone else off too.

[creative_username_1]

There are times when i think Leighterwood is the only one making himself available for a pass
and often receives it under more pressure than the guy who got rid of it. He'd 'improve' if he
didn't show for the ball

[Big Ern]

Or simply "didn't show for games"

ledge was immense in the Chump, and we are likley to need him again next year at that level, but he should never be let near a Prem team again.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

There are times when i think Leighterwood is the only one making himself available for a pass
and often receives it under more pressure than the guy who got rid of it. He'd 'improve' if he
didn't show for the ball

Quite possibly but he seems to panic in possession a lot more this season.

[alderdude]

I'm not a big fan of Leigertwood generally and normally would agree with him being a weak link for us, but the people on here that are saying he was shit today either didn't watch the match or know oxf*rd all about football. He was easily one of our best players on the pitch today and without a doubt our best player in midfield.

[CayeneMatt]

There are times when i think Leighterwood is the only one making himself available for a pass
and often receives it under more pressure than the guy who got rid of it. He'd 'improve' if he
didn't show for the ball

Interesting point. I'd thought the same too as he certainly isn't afraid to look for the ball. Add to this I think his decision making is a problem which leads him round in circles or up a blind alley. He gets dispossessed and looks 'shit'. Repeat this 10 times a half and you have a problem.

[AthleticoSpizz]

its mass hysteria Alder, (and people hanging on his every mistake)

Seen it all before on here, with the likes of Keith Jones/Bryn/Rouge etc

"yes he might've been motm ....but......."

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I'm not a big fan of Leigertwood generally and normally would agree with him being a weak link for us, but the people on here that are saying he was shit today either didn't watch the match or know oxf*rd all about football. He was easily one of our best players on the pitch today and without a doubt our best player in midfield.

LOL - I didn't realise your opinion was fact!! The whole midfield in general were poor today without exception including HRK when he came on. Like I said before Legs does the ugly stuff quite well but his passing is woeful & not good enough for this level IMO.

We are surrendering possession far far too easily. We can all say well it was Spurs but we've done it against every other team this season.

[jellytot]

Ok at least we were not torn to shreds. We seem to be a lot more organized now.

However, we do need more of a cutting edge. Hopefully BM plans to sign a more effective
midfielder going forward to go with Carrico as Guthrie is not enough. Also jobi and Hrk do not
frighten defenses so another class winger would be good too.

We have to get some results against the bigger boys if we want to
Stay up on occasion. Soton are doing it. We need 3 OTHER teams to go
Down if we are to stay up. QPR are one maybe villa.. The other?

[windermere_royal]

Ok at least we were not torn to shreds. We seem to be a lot more organized now.

However, we do need more of a cutting edge. Hopefully BM plans to sign a more effective
midfielder going forward to go with Carrico as Guthrie is not enough. Also jobi and Hrk do not
frighten defenses so another class winger would be good too.

We have to get some results against the bigger boys if we want to
Stay up on occasion. Soton are doing it. We need 3 OTHER teams to go
Down if we are to stay up. QPR are one maybe villa.. The other?

Wigan,

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Ok at least we were not torn to shreds. We seem to be a lot more organized now.

However, we do need more of a cutting edge. Hopefully BM plans to sign a more effective
midfielder going forward to go with Carrico as Guthrie is not enough. Also jobi and Hrk do not
frighten defenses so another class winger would be good too.

We have to get some results against the bigger boys if we want to
Stay up on occasion. Soton are doing it. We need 3 OTHER teams to go
Down if we are to stay up. QPR are one maybe villa.. The other?

Definite signs of improvement from us which is nice & we will give it a good go at the very least. However, I'm starting to thinking the current bottom 3 will be the 3 to go, in that order.

The ONLY way we will stay up is to hit a really good run of form that sees us hit say 12 points from 5/6 games.

[The Royal]

Lets be honest, yes we lost but spurs away was never going to decide our season, it what we do against the teams around us that matters. And any points against the big boys are a bonus

[AthleticoSpizz]

gave them a game, yes its nil points, but we gave them a game.

Slowly creeping away from being the pundits laughing stock, and someone will get that arse-kicking

[MmmMonsterMunch]

We won't give anyone an ass kicking if we have 30% possession. I am definitely an optimist but to say we will beat anyone comfortably this season is stretching it!

[AthleticoSpizz]

We will, then we will re-visit this