BFTG - Liverpool

[Barney]

It really peed me off the way that Ady Williams kept harping on about us being 'lucky to get a point'! Lucky is when the ref wrongly disallows a goal that would have given the win to the opposing team. There was nothing lucky about today's point. It was the team that won it. Yes, McCarthy kept them out by playing brilliantly but that was brilliance not luck. Likewise lots of our players blocked shots etc. - that was commitment and good defending, not luck!

Ady, being lucky is not getting sent off when you used to accidentally trip over, bringing down a forward in the process and preventing a goal! Or maybe that was a great bit of deception (for which we loved you) rather than luck!

Spot on. Good post.

[Ian Royal]

On a wave of optimism I'll chuck this out there.

As a whole we were empty shirts first half with the exception of McCarthy. Much better second half. Basically, just take one mark off everyone except Karacan for the first half performance. Oh and 2 off Guthrie.

McCarthy - 10 MotM. Not much to say really. Not only did he pull off save after save, his positioning was impecable and he held shots he had no real right to keep out.
Gunter - 6 poor first half better second.
Kelly - 7 ok first half, one very good cross, decent second
Mariappa - 6 not great, but not bad.
Morrison - 6 same as Maps, both gave the ball away too much.
Karacan - 4 utterly anonymous
Guthrie - 7 terrible passing first half, much much better when Carrico came on
McCleary - 6 ok, some poor decision making and I don't feel he really threatened much
McAnuff - 7.5 poor decisions for both penalty shouts (neither were) but a (limited) threat all game and so very nearly scored
Hunt - 6 worked hard
Pog - 6 worked hard

Carrico - 8 thank fuk he's fit.
Blackman - 6 some poor decision making and crossing
ALF - 6 Liverpool came back into it so he got no service

My goodness. We almost looked like we had some belief and quality second half. Polish it a little and we might win a couple of games. Carrico and McCarthy, first names on the team sheet from now on.

Guthrie, terrible passing in the first half? You do realise he was the player wearing '20' on his shirt?!

If you do, then maybe you are judging him on one cross-field ball out to our right that had the Guthrie haters howling in anger as it was intercepted by a Liverpool player breaking forward. However, truth was that both Gunter on the right and Morrison inside him were well placed to move onto the pass, which was played into acres of space, had they been awake!

Several passes actually. The pass you refer to was too far ahead of Gunter for it to be anything other than a hospital ball, I certainly don't recall Morrison being in any position to get anywhere near it. Gunter should have been looking for it though, so he made it look worse than it was. Early first half he skewed one miles off target and out over the right touch line. Couple of very poor freekicks / corners. Some other passes that didn't work out at all. He showed a few moments of class first half and was back to his self in the second, particularly when Carrico came on.

Maybe I'm holding Guthrie to a higher standard than most of our other midfielders when it comes to passing, but that's because he should be passing to a much higher standard than them, because he's a lot better at it than they are.

[Esteban]

We shouldn't kid ourselves, Liverpool should have won comfortably. There is a lot of work and a few signings needed for the defensive unit. Thankfully, McCarthy was outstanding today.

However, after only three weeks, Adkins has us looking like a half decent side and has the foundations of a side that could look quite classy. Lets hope he's given the time and resources to see if he can achieve it.

[soggy biscuit]

McCarthy - 10
Caricco 9
McAnuff 8

The fireworks 3
Guthrie 2
Liverpool fans 'party' 1. 20 fully grown men waving balloons around. Worst looking party ever

[Rex]

Probably hard going finding party balloons in Liverpool TBH.

[soggy biscuit]

After a 2nd half like that its easy to forget just how abysmal the 1st half was.

[Tommy Youlden's Ears]

I love live sport. Buzzing now, having moped my way there expecting a drubbing.

Love it. Loved McCarthy - the Gerrard save is seared into my memory. Loved Adkins' engagement from the tech area.

And ha, the scousers...they respect only themselves. How they cannot recognise the ironic juxtaposition of their banners and the silence with their Thatcher party chant. Their ignorance rivalled only by their self-pity.

[Rex]

I had to leave with 13 minutes of normal time on the clock. . I hated leaving on this occasion.

[Brig106]

McCarthy, the absolute best goalkeeping performance I have seen for quite some time.
Caricco - probably on too long for it to be classified as a cameo - but the best 'cameo' I have seen for some time!
I hope Guthrie stays (I appreciate some of the passes were wayward, but once we have established this new style, who knows?) - I suspect NA would like this outcome too!
JMcAnuff, also very good.
Gunter, good reading of the game to stop a certain goal, and will do well next year in the championship.
The back four, much better in the second half - a little bit of luck later, but Morrison clearly injured and nothing was getting by McCarthy anyway!

The Direction: I personally believe if we continue like this, we have a very good chance of promotion next year (and by playing some very attractive football).

The Liverpool fans: zero, lack of grace and wholly inappropriate.

[Pandoras Box]

A really enjoyable football afternoon. First one for ages where I've come home with a buzz of optimism.
Aaaaaaaaaaah.......all is looking well in this beautiful world tonight.

[SydenhamRoyal]

A quick sensible summary for those unable to attend today. And I'll ignore the Liverpool fans antics !

For the first time in many many weeks, you could sense the belief in the stands. OK, Liverpool had a few chances, but we played with passion and pride and commitment.
This was something that was sadly lacking in the recent home games versus Wigan and Villa.

Adkins is making a difference. He has installed some belief. There is no question that man for man Liverpool are better than us. That isn't up for debate. They are homing in on a top 6-7 finish, and we are going down. But today was the first time for many many games this season that I can say I enjoyed our performance.
We tried. We battled.

The previous ratings are accurate. McCarthy was sensational, but just about everyone else did as best as they can...and that is all you can ask.

We are going down this season, and in recent weeks it was hard to see how we could mount a challenge to come straight back. Personally, I now feel that under Adkins, we COULD do it.

Total respect today to the players, fans and officials of our club today. Well done Reading.

Yeah pretty much sums it up.

[Alexander Litvinenko]

A couple of milestones today :

- first point we've ever taken off a Brendan Rodgers side since we sacked him.

- off 23 points after being stuck there for a whole ten weeks - I don't ever remember being becalmed for a whole 70 (seventy) days without getting a point before.

[boycey]

Liverpool fans , I feel embarrassed for you.

[BenSmith91]

Can't say anything about McCarthy that hasn't already been said. He was outrageously good today. Can't quite get over how he held that Suarez shot. oxf*rd criminal! Roll on Norwich.

[Norfolk Royal]

Thought there was something a bit different about the performance today, ie better.

The first half all the old failings were there, giving the ball away, limited movement, defensive frailty.

The defensive frailty was still there in the second half but something seemed to lift the crowd. I can't agree with a previous poster who said the fans were quiet today, it was very evident on the feed I watched that the crowd were really warming to it and getting behind the lads in the second half.

Carrico's performance was encouraging, McAnuff ran himself into the ground today, but McCarthy, just wow.

[royalfanforever]

I thought the performance was there. Okay, the first half could have been better but it was better than the Wigan game. Today, I saw the passion that was missing in the last few weeks, had returned. I feel so positive for next season, that I could see us getting back up, only if we continued the progress of learning and adapting the new style.

[Jay o/]

Highlights - http://liverpoolreds.co.uk/26-goal-atte ... v-reading/

[glass half full]

Not even talking about that. They were setting off fireworks & flares. You lot don't help yourselves.

In fact I've never seen Liverpool come to Reading & not have any fans kicking off. You are without question the most badly behaved away fans I've seen. Even Cardiff have cleaned up their act these days.

It depends if the toilets have been ripped out. Not bothered about the flare or the bangers. Just lol at the ineffective stewarding when the bangers did go off. Liverpool were tidy at times and woefully ineffective at others. Sounds familiar.

To be fair, a section of Liverpool fans applauded Alex McCarthy.

[PieEater]

As others have said McCarthy was awesome, the only time I've ever seen the majority of the East Stand stand up to applaud a save, it was that good.

I liked Blackman and Carrico's contrubtion, I can some future in them. Still not sure about Guthrie, some woeful set pieces and misplaced passes, I'm waiting for something to support the hype that he is actually any good. We should have lost that game by 3 or 4 but Reina made at least 2 outstanding saves to keep it 0-0.

Liverpool fans were a disgrace with their flares, firecrackers and over loading the front area, I bet they can't see the irony of that on the 24th anniversary of Hillsborough.

[Scutterbucketz]

Not even talking about that. They were setting off fireworks & flares. You lot don't help yourselves.

In fact I've never seen Liverpool come to Reading & not have any fans kicking off. You are without question the most badly behaved away fans I've seen. Even Cardiff have cleaned up their act these days.

In terms of trying to make trouble with the home fans they were extremely well behaved. Unlike a lot of big teams who've come to the Madejski this year, they had little interest in trying to wind up little old Reading and, really, why would they?

However, The bangers and Thatcher songs were an absolute disgrace! It's obvious they just like making a nuisance of themselves, with themselves. The bangers were just a select few of arseholes, but I would say 90% of them sung the Thatcher song with glee.

Shame, really. After 24 years they were finally, and rightly, given the moral high ground. It's just unfortunate that they are too classless to take it.