Chelsea (H) - sponsored by kicking the ball boy

[reading_fan]

ALF's Equaliser
720P available

Cheers Ben, great video. Brought it all back again, and have a big beaming smile on my face again this morning!

[royalsteve]

http://www.theshedend.com/topic/22789-reading-v-chelsea-pl-30113-ko-2000-gmt/page-15

Hilarious

Just makes it even sweeter

the best quote, hahaha, i just HATE chelsea after the Hunt incident and clearly biased and factually incorrect reporting from all the chelsea loving media (full of deluded biased chelsea fans)

"A-f***ing-trocious marking in the box. Reading players won three or four headers before their goal and Le Fondre was one of three completely unmarked players at the far post. Traffic signs would have done a better job at that set piece."

[TBM]

Anyone got live reactions from the media when Alf scored? (Sky Sports, Football First, MOTD, Radio etc)

[BKRoyale]

Anyone got live reactions from the media when Alf scored? (Sky Sports, Football First, MOTD, Radio etc)

Sorry I don't, but I did enjoy it on MOTD yesterday "they've done it. they've only gone and done it!" I think was what I heard (or that might be my excitement-fuelled memory getting the better of me!)

[Scutterbucketz]

No Back From The Game thread?

Players I thought were excellent (other than Akpan and ALF) ; Kelly was excellent. Looked composed the whole game Nd made some great tackles.
Pearce was excellent too. He was the closest player to their first but here was little he could do.

I thought the Pog worked his socks off all game but it must be frustrating for him having balls lumped up over the top to him. He didn't get much out of Cahill.

Kebe didn't do an awful lot. Was a quiet game for him and he didn't seem to want to take too many people on.

Thought Legs was better but he still has the turning circle of an oil tanker and he punted it hopelessly high and long far too many times when he wasn't under pressure.

[Platypuss]

Kelly was excellent. Looked composed the whole game Nd made some great tackles.

Lost Lampard completely for their second though.

[Ozymandias]

ALF's Equaliser
720P available

Cheers Ben, great video. Brought it all back again, and have a big beaming smile on my face again this morning!

Emotional video, but can't help thinking that at least 5-6 people in the video seemed to spend all the time either looking at, or gesticulating, at the away fans?

I suppose you spends your money, and spend your time doing what you wish at a game, but it strikes me that it's a bit worrying for the human gene pool to see that.

[Cypry]

Kebe didn't do an awful lot. Was a quiet game for him and he didn't seem to want to take too many people on.

I thought Chelsea came with a plan to neutralise our wingers, and it worked, Jobi and McLeary both had quiet games as well...I can only remember us getting a couple of crosses in all game and we didn't win a single corner!

[melonhead]

had quiet games cos they spent most of the game chasing back and defending

[Barry the bird boggler]

Quite appalling game, took us 78 minutes to have an attempt on goal! Before then we were quite clueless then suddenly Chelsea started poncing about and time wasting and were clinically put to the sword with our only two on target strikes all night. And bl**dy good they were too, well worth the wait! Let's hope we can build on the result v Sunderland.

Oh and Le Fondre for England.....

[Royalclapper]

Ashley Cole was the reason Kebe wasn't so effective going forward, had a couple of attempts at going past him but it was like taking candy from a kid for Cole, and you would expect that from a player of his quality.

Pretty mediocre first half apart from their goal, then we got utterly roasted in the second half. Powder puff finishing by a woeful Oscar and two superb finishes from Alf allowed us to nick a point. They should of been out of sight long before our first. What a thrilling equaliser though, most enjoyable goal of the season so far to shut them chavs up

[Royal Ginger]

Ashley Cole was the reason Kebe wasn't so effective going forward, had a couple of attempts at going past him but it was like taking candy from a kid for Cole, and you would expect that from a player of his quality.

Pretty mediocre first half apart from their goal, then we got utterly roasted in the second half. Powder puff finishing by a woeful Oscar and two superb finishes from Alf allowed us to nick a point. They should have been out of sight long before our first. What a thrilling equaliser though, most enjoyable goal of the season so far to shut them chavs up

[Maguire]

Ashley Cole was the reason Kebe wasn't so effective going forward, had a couple of attempts at going past him but it was like taking candy from a kid for Cole, and you would expect that from a player of his quality.

Pretty mediocre first half apart from their goal, then we got utterly roasted in the second half. Powder puff finishing by a woeful Oscar and two superb finishes from Alf allowed us to nick a point. They should of been out of sight long before our first. What a thrilling equaliser though, most enjoyable goal of the season so far to shut them chavs up

Good summary (although admittedly I saw the first half on my phone with intermittent success). Chelsea much the better side second half and should have been out of sight were it not for some poor finishing and decision making in the last third. Our defence looked very ragged and there was a lot of space.

We got lucky last night and it's very much a bonus point but hopefully we'll put in a better performance on Saturday.

[Croydon Royal]

Dire first 85 minutes, incredible last 10. I didn't think the celebrations after the WBA match would be beaten this season but that came pretty damn close. Thought Kelly was MOTM, an excellent performance. Obviously Le Fondre and Akpan changed the game, and Pearce and Pog were very good too. Kebe always seems to struggle against the very best full backs, I know it's mainly because of just how good those full backs defend, but I also think he gets intimidated when he is up against a big name...his first instinct against a Cole or an Evra is to look to pass it back to the full back rather than cut inside or take them on. For Chelsea, Mata is easily one of the best players I've seen at the Madejski this season.

Hate to dwell on any real negatives after that, but last night the drummer + band were even more of an embarrassment than usual. Some of the shit the drummer was coming out with (particularly in response to Chelsea's Rafa and Waitrose songs) was unbelievable, and when you respond to Chelsea's "shall we sing a song for you" songs with a brass band playing a verse of Vindaloo you can't help but cringe. I also love the way the drummer tries to make it seem like he's a hardcore Reading fan surrounded by Chelsea fans (he was actually shouting "come on Chelsea fans in the North Stand you can sing along to this one" a couple of times) when in reality everyone was just ignoring him because he's embarassing himself. I go to 90% of Reading away games and can count on one hand the amount of away matches I've actually seen him at. A friend who worked in the Megastore even told me once that he tried to demand a discount "because as the drummer he's a part of the club."

But worst of all, and what sums a lot of Reading fans up, is when an absolute Reading hero in Trevor Senior was introduced to the crowd at half time, he was too preoccupied with w@nking over the possibility of free pizza and singing songs about Kingsley to even care. I've never been one to completely moan about the drummer (although I've despised the band since day one) but yesterday was just cringeworthy.

[floyd__streete]

Just back from the game.

Left after 70 minutes, how did we get on?

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Spot on, get rid of the bloody band. Embarrassing.

[soggy biscuit]

Haven't read this thread but

Lol @ all the empty seats in the away end
Lol @ 'Champions of Europe' chant instantly stopping when we scored
Lol @ all the Chelsea timewasting only to get done after 5 minutes added time
Lol @ Chelsea fans spitting at each other

[BR2]

Mata showed what we are up against in this division and he doesn't even get in the Spanish side.
Although we were incredibly negative for most of the game we do have to accept that (unlike the 2005/6 side) it is very difficult to match the opposition when we play any of the top sides and it is understandable that Brian sets the team up in the way that he does.
Even doing that it is a high risk strategy that has worked v Everton,WBA,Newcastle and now Chelsea-we could quite easily be adrift at the bottom but for the comebacks and the marvellous finishing by the little man.
Brian's dilemma now must be whether to go 4-4-2 from the off against the likes of Sunderland,Wigan etc because we win our games (or recover) when we end up playing 4-4-2.

This 4-5-1;I feel sorry for strikers who have to play as the 1 as they are inevitably marked by 2 central defenders all game and it is a very difficult and unrewarding task and presumably in growing up these players have been used to having lots of shots at goal but under this system they probably have less shots than the supporting midfielders.

Pluses from last night:-
Obviously Alf
Apkan-I'm sure he'll be sent off a few times but looks composed and confident especially considering the big step-up
Kelly (apart from allowing Fat Frank a header for the goal) is our new Griff and a steady Eddie
Jobi being substituted and Brian at last realising that he is not a central midfielder
Feds maintaining his form
Minus:-
Ian Harte-I thought he couldn't get any worse but that first half showing was abysmal,time to bring back Shorey.

Am thinking of jacking in my season ticket..........and turning up for every game 20 minutes before the end and getting in free so that I can watch the best team in England-I wouldn't have to put up with the dross of the first 70 minutes of games and it wouldn't cost anything.

[melonhead]

i didnt notice harte being overly raped by chelsea

was just thinking how, considering his age and lack of pace, ive not had to moan about at all him since hes come back.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Thought he played quite well tbf.