BFTG Norwich

[winchester_royal]

I appreciate Adkins sees these games as training for next season.

I'm beginning to sound like a stuck record here, but..

Just because he didn't make the substitutions that some of you felt was necessary, in no way does that mean he was either being disrespectful to the fans, nor was he not trying to get something out of the game. We had real momentum in the last 10 minutes, and almost got a point with McCleary's chance at the end. Often we see instances where the wrong tactical substitutions can have a detrimental effect on a team's flow so perhaps Nige thought we'd be better off keeping the same 11 on the pitch.

Whether or not that was the correct decision is rightly open for debate, but accusing him of disrespecting the fans merely because he made a call that you didn't agree with is a touch narcissistic.

[Ian Royal]

I can't motivate myself to giving up an entire weekend to go and see us lose when I can see every game on the internet, I just don't really plan ahead enough to be able to do it. I'm going to save my money and go next season instead.

I'm like the opposite of a glory hunter. Three seasons in the top flight and I don't think I've yet hit double figures for PL games, when that's what I'd normally manage each Champ season.

I don't really rate Karacan, so I'm trying to suspend my natural negativity for him. Thought he was one of the worst players on the pitch against Liverpool, but much improved yesterday. Still not particularly enamoured with him starting, but hey.

I agree we could have got a point or three, I agree our defending poorly for a few minutes gifted them the game. I agree McAnuff was one of the players who seemed hesitant to shoot. Bar that few minutes of madness, I think we could have got a point or three. But that's what you get when you've got a team used to losing and low on confidence and form.

Wait, weren't you the person who I debated with about McCanuff's role as captain? If I knew at the time that you didn't even go to games I wouldn't have bothered.
No wonder you claimed it was impossible to judge McCanuff's role as captain by his attitude on the pitch, because you've barely seen him on the pitch as captain.

There's this thing called the internet which means I can watch games without being at a match. I've seen the majority of games through either being there, or watching online since about 2009 or 10. In fact, this thing they have called close ups may be why I can tell that he does talk to the other players plenty.

I may well have seen more games than many of our season ticket holders in that time. Nice try though.

[Ian Royal]

Karacan has been pretty ropey last few games IMO. Did you go yesterday Ian or watch it on a stream? Only we paid for tickets to that game and though we played rather better than in some previous games, this was one game where we could have realistically got a point or 3. Norwich hadn't won in something like 10 games. Their goals were basically gifted to them thanks to our poor defending. Plus I think it was mcanuff who had one, poss 2 chances on goal but wasn't confident enough to have a go and chose to pass instead and we ended up giving the ball away.

I can't motivate myself to giving up an entire weekend to go and see us lose when I can see every game on the internet, I just don't really plan ahead enough to be able to do it. I'm going to save my money and go next season instead.

I'm like the opposite of a glory hunter. Three seasons in the top flight and I don't think I've yet hit double figures for PL games, when that's what I'd normally manage each Champ season.

I don't really rate Karacan, so I'm trying to suspend my natural negativity for him. Thought he was one of the worst players on the pitch against Liverpool, but much improved yesterday. Still not particularly enamoured with him starting, but hey.

I agree we could have got a point or three, I agree our defending poorly for a few minutes gifted them the game. I agree McAnuff was one of the players who seemed hesitant to shoot. Bar that few minutes of madness, I think we could have got a point or three. But that's what you get when you've got a team used to losing and low on confidence and form.
w

But had we got 3 points yesterday, people would be saying we can still do this! Anyhow, I'd rather be us than QPR after all the money they've spent! So it's not all doom and gloom!

Not many would have.

watched is watched.

absolutely not. Watch a game live you can see the whole game, what is happening off the ball is often more important than what is happening on the ball. You can't see that on TV. I would expect you to appreciate that.

Anyway how can going to see 90 mins of a football game use up your entire weekend...where do you live, Scotland?

I thoroughly agree you get a better picture of shape and off the ball movement / positioning at a match. But you do get quite a few wide angle shots on TV. I sit in a corner at the ground as well which doesn't give a great view of what happens at the other end of the pitch. You also get a much better look at individual incidents on the ball on TV. So it's swings and round abouts leon.

Slight exaggeration - I effectively lose an entire day. And I can't see mid-week games without taking the next day off work, because I have very little leeway in catching the last train back after the game. If I do go back I'm kinda duty bound to visit my family while I'm there, so often lose the next day as well.

[Ian Royal]

Some bizzare comments on this thread and, apparently, just as bad on BBCRB. I would assume some on here are just trolling but, sadly. not all.

The first thing to say is any criticism of Adkins should be divorced from opinions of Brian and the decision to sack him. It is, currently, comparing apples with oranges. Adkins has not been brought in to kick a squad, which should be performing better, up the arse, a la QPR and Sunderland. He's been brought in take the club forward in the longer term with an entirely new approach, therefore, to start passing judgement when he doesn't have a single player of his choice at his disposal and is trying to instill a new approach on the players we have is ludicrous. The time for comparisons will be an 12 - 18 months and where we are as a club then.

Brian's gone and he's not coming back, the vast majority think he did a great job overall and thank him for it and a large majority think he was shabbily treated but it's happened. For me, we were going to be relegated regardless of what manager we had, what system we played, what subs we used and when because the players simply aren't good enough at this level. The argument should be about who would be better for the longer term.

We are beginning to see the change Adkins will bring from a side that soaked up pressure and tried to snatch goals from breakaways and set pieces to a side that will try and dominate possession and win through that. That change will take time and a change of some personnel and, during the transition, it will at times be painful (certainly we are palpably not good enough to do this successfully at this level atm). Clearly, our centre halfs are not yet entirely comfortable with it and the opposition sense this and close them down. But it is getting better and a few times on Saturday we passed through the pressing Norwich team to a midfield that then had some space. The better we get at it, the less teams will press and the further up the field we can have comfortable possession. On Saturday we had 55% possession. I would guess that, perhaps with the exception of QPR away, that is the first away game we've been over 40-45%. Would I rather have won with 30%? Yes, but does losing mean there is no progress? Of course not.

My greatest fear is that the owner and fans won't have the patience to see this transition through because it will take time. Listening to the fans behind me on Saturday, their patience doesn't seem to run much beyond the concession of a goal. From being wholly supportive of our performance and approach, they were screaming that we are a clueless embarrasement in the space of 5 minutes sloppy football. God knows what it'll be like when we are 0-1 at home to Charlton next season.

The rest of this season (since Wigan at home really) and probably the first few months of the next are going to be testing. The fans need to man up, see the bigger picture and stop wallowing in self pity.

For the hattrick. A very rare 'agreed with Schards. Excellent post sir.

[paultheroyal]

Some bizzare comments on this thread and, apparently, just as bad on BBCRB. I would assume some on here are just trolling but, sadly. not all.

The first thing to say is any criticism of Adkins should be divorced from opinions of Brian and the decision to sack him. It is, currently, comparing apples with oranges. Adkins has not been brought in to kick a squad, which should be performing better, up the arse, a la QPR and Sunderland. He's been brought in take the club forward in the longer term with an entirely new approach, therefore, to start passing judgement when he doesn't have a single player of his choice at his disposal and is trying to instill a new approach on the players we have is ludicrous. The time for comparisons will be an 12 - 18 months and where we are as a club then.

Brian's gone and he's not coming back, the vast majority think he did a great job overall and thank him for it and a large majority think he was shabbily treated but it's happened. For me, we were going to be relegated regardless of what manager we had, what system we played, what subs we used and when because the players simply aren't good enough at this level. The argument should be about who would be better for the longer term.

We are beginning to see the change Adkins will bring from a side that soaked up pressure and tried to snatch goals from breakaways and set pieces to a side that will try and dominate possession and win through that. That change will take time and a change of some personnel and, during the transition, it will at times be painful (certainly we are palpably not good enough to do this successfully at this level atm). Clearly, our centre halfs are not yet entirely comfortable with it and the opposition sense this and close them down. But it is getting better and a few times on Saturday we passed through the pressing Norwich team to a midfield that then had some space. The better we get at it, the less teams will press and the further up the field we can have comfortable possession. On Saturday we had 55% possession. I would guess that, perhaps with the exception of QPR away, that is the first away game we've been over 40-45%. Would I rather have won with 30%? Yes, but does losing mean there is no progress? Of course not.

My greatest fear is that the owner and fans won't have the patience to see this transition through because it will take time. Listening to the fans behind me on Saturday, their patience doesn't seem to run much beyond the concession of a goal. From being wholly supportive of our performance and approach, they were screaming that we are a clueless embarrasement in the space of 5 minutes sloppy football. God knows what it'll be like when we are 0-1 at home to Charlton next season.

The rest of this season (since Wigan at home really) and probably the first few months of the next are going to be testing. The fans need to man up, see the bigger picture and stop wallowing in self pity.

Thank god this thread has been rescued with a post like this - spot on Schards. You should copy and paste this across other threads too.

Reading fans constantly never cease to disapoint me.....mostly in a negative way.

Adkins is here for the duration, i am prepared to be patiend and wholly looking forward to next season.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Well argued, schards.

[old woman]

[quote="Extended-Phenotype"]We were still in with a chance to win that game. I appreciate Adkins sees these games as training for next season, but the fans are still paying full price on tickets and expect our team to battle for survival up until it's impossible.

A throw of the dice is not too much to expect in a game like that, for the players as much as the fans.

Agree with this.
Not at game so probably not allowed to comment, But Adkins has a way to go before I'm convinced by him.

[Mike Hunt]

Some bizzare comments on this thread and, apparently, just as bad on BBCRB. I would assume some on here are just trolling but, sadly. not all.

The first thing to say is any criticism of Adkins should be divorced from opinions of Brian and the decision to sack him. It is, currently, comparing apples with oranges. Adkins has not been brought in to kick a squad, which should be performing better, up the arse, a la QPR and Sunderland. He's been brought in take the club forward in the longer term with an entirely new approach, therefore, to start passing judgement when he doesn't have a single player of his choice at his disposal and is trying to instill a new approach on the players we have is ludicrous. The time for comparisons will be an 12 - 18 months and where we are as a club then.

Brian's gone and he's not coming back, the vast majority think he did a great job overall and thank him for it and a large majority think he was shabbily treated but it's happened. For me, we were going to be relegated regardless of what manager we had, what system we played, what subs we used and when because the players simply aren't good enough at this level. The argument should be about who would be better for the longer term.

We are beginning to see the change Adkins will bring from a side that soaked up pressure and tried to snatch goals from breakaways and set pieces to a side that will try and dominate possession and win through that. That change will take time and a change of some personnel and, during the transition, it will at times be painful (certainly we are palpably not good enough to do this successfully at this level atm). Clearly, our centre halfs are not yet entirely comfortable with it and the opposition sense this and close them down. But it is getting better and a few times on Saturday we passed through the pressing Norwich team to a midfield that then had some space. The better we get at it, the less teams will press and the further up the field we can have comfortable possession. On Saturday we had 55% possession. I would guess that, perhaps with the exception of QPR away, that is the first away game we've been over 40-45%. Would I rather have won with 30%? Yes, but does losing mean there is no progress? Of course not.

My greatest fear is that the owner and fans won't have the patience to see this transition through because it will take time. Listening to the fans behind me on Saturday, their patience doesn't seem to run much beyond the concession of a goal. From being wholly supportive of our performance and approach, they were screaming that we are a clueless embarrasement in the space of 5 minutes sloppy football. God knows what it'll be like when we are 0-1 at home to Charlton next season.

The rest of this season (since Wigan at home really) and probably the first few months of the next are going to be testing. The fans need to man up, see the bigger picture and stop wallowing in self pity.

Wow, top, top post.

[Mike Hunt]

We should have won this game. Adkins shouldn't have been appointed if he can't turn it around. We should never have sacked Brin bla bla ba

What utter BS.

Let me spell out the simple facts of what is going on . Anyone who disagrees with any of it needs to have a long hard think.

1- whether we like it or not, Brian is gone, so he need not be mentioned again.
2- whether we like it or not, we were realistically down before Adkins joined us
3- whether we like it or not, Adkins was brought int to change the way we play so when we do go back up we'll have a hope in hell of staying up
4- whether we like it or not this will OBVIOUSLY take time
5- whether we like it or not, that time includes now, when we have nothing else to lose and Adkins needs to experiment so he can decide what needs to be done in the summer
6- whether we like it or not, we need to have patience
7- whether we like it or not, I've decided to wrote "whether we like it or not" at the beginning of every point.

Those are pretty much all facts. You can not like it and bitch, but you can't deny those facts. Tts the way it is, so move on and put up with it.

I, for one, like it. So it's easy for me to say.

It really is this simple.

[Denver Royal]

1- whether we like it or not, Brian is gone, so he need not be mentioned again.

Yes, Brian is gone. But he will continue to be mentioned, whether you or I think he needs to be or not. If for no other reason, he will be in the same division as us next season, and so on-going comparisons will be made. (And, if Adkins is indeed the better manager, then there should be no worries or fears about any such comparisons.) In any event, thats the type of thing all footy fans of all clubs all over the country do. Not sure why that would come as a surprise or is a tough concept to grasp. But either way, like it or not as you say, Brian will be mentioned. FACT. And thats not even getting in to whether he should have been sacked, or the timing of it, etc.

[Man Friday]

Well said.

[P!ssed Off]

Wait, weren't you the person who I debated with about McCanuff's role as captain? If I knew at the time that you didn't even go to games I wouldn't have bothered.
No wonder you claimed it was impossible to judge McCanuff's role as captain by his attitude on the pitch, because you've barely seen him on the pitch as captain.

There's this thing called the internet which means I can watch games without being at a match. I've seen the majority of games through either being there, or watching online since about 2009 or 10. In fact, this thing they have called close ups may be why I can tell that he does talk to the other players plenty.

I may well have seen more games than many of our season ticket holders in that time. Nice try though.

How are you able to watch Championship games on the internet may I ask? besides the 2-3 Reading games shown either domestically or abroad per season.
I'm missing a trick here.
Nice try though.

[RoyallyFcuked]

LOL @ the Danish fellas sat near me who seemingly had attended an English Premier League game expecting Green Street and ending up with something closer to Terry & June. 26k Norwich fans with their clap-banners and the usual mute away following from Reading.

Yeah our fans were quite mute. I thought the noise would improve as it went on but even after McCleary's goal we still didnt get behind them enough. I mean there hasn't been much to cheer about all season, and even less now that we are virtually relegated, but I was disappointed with that. I was at the Everton away game in March and despite losing 3-1 our fans were really good. Maybe it was partly to do with the stand we were in, you could make alot more noise in there. Still, the usual songs that mock how quiet the opposition fans are came out which is always great fun of course, but there were some witty new chants and hilarious banter most of which was directed at one fat Everton supporter who ended up joining in with it

I want it the fans to be like that game at every awayday so could the guys who were a few rows behind me at the Everton game please make sure they are in attendance at every Reading away game please Come to think of it they might have been actually been at Norwich, because after we scored the chant "How shit must you be, we just scored a goal" started, which brought me back to the Everton game where I heard it first, except on that day, before HRKs goal, "How shit must you be, we just had a shot" was also heard. Not to mention "You're nothing special, we lose every week"

[RoyallyFcuked]

Wait, weren't you the person who I debated with about McCanuff's role as captain? If I knew at the time that you didn't even go to games I wouldn't have bothered.
No wonder you claimed it was impossible to judge McCanuff's role as captain by his attitude on the pitch, because you've barely seen him on the pitch as captain.

There's this thing called the internet which means I can watch games without being at a match. I've seen the majority of games through either being there, or watching online since about 2009 or 10. In fact, this thing they have called close ups may be why I can tell that he does talk to the other players plenty.

I may well have seen more games than many of our season ticket holders in that time. Nice try though.

How are you able to watch Championship games on the internet may I ask? besides the 2-3 Reading games shown either domestically or abroad per season.
I'm missing a trick here.
Nice try though.

LOL. I agree with P!ssed off. You cant watch Championship games on the internet, and you certainly cant see how bad a captain Jobi McAnuff is on your 240p live stream.

And no, you cant see if he is talking to the players by watching on TV. He doesn't shout instructions or encouragement at his team mates, in fact I don't think he talks on the pitch anymore than our other players. Some of the games I've been to this season, our fans have got on his back not only because of his poor performances but also because of questionable leadership ability. He is doesn't know how to motivate the players or pick them up and not let their heads drop when we concede a goal. Plus, he is the biggest example of a distinctly average player in the whole of our distinctly average squad. Maybe that is why he is the captain, despite certainly not being captain material. Nice try though.

[Royal91]

Reading FC player uploads the full 90mins on a sunday night! So technically you can watch it via the internet!

[Mike Hunt]

Reading FC player uploads the full 90mins on a sunday night! So technically you can watch it via the internet!

This.

It is how I survive also. Not the greatest quality, but it is watchable.

[BKRoyale]

the chant "How shit must you be, we just scored a goal" started, which brought me back to the Everton game where I heard it first, except on that day, before HRKs goal, "How shit must you be, we just had a shot" was also heard. Not to mention "You're nothing special, we lose every week"

I HATE these chants!!

[Schards#2]

the chant "How shit must you be, we just scored a goal" started, which brought me back to the Everton game where I heard it first, except on that day, before HRKs goal, "How shit must you be, we just had a shot" was also heard. Not to mention "You're nothing special, we lose every week"

I HATE these chants!!

+1

[RoyallyFcuked]

the chant "How shit must you be, we just scored a goal" started, which brought me back to the Everton game where I heard it first, except on that day, before HRKs goal, "How shit must you be, we just had a shot" was also heard. Not to mention "You're nothing special, we lose every week"

I HATE these chants!!

+1

I was saying I liked them. Hopefully the players don't hear too much of it, as it cant do much good for there already rock bottom confidence.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Still think It's pretty stupid for fans, demanding a better performance, to slate their team or player. It's like hitting your kid because they got into a fight.