BFTG - Ipswich

[Glory Boy]

Very much a tale of two halves.

Very much a tale of two threads

[sandman]

Good start but fell apart after Tabb scored, did I really type that? And we were lucky to go in at 1-1.

Much different second half where we grew in confidence, pretty much ran the game bar one shot from them after sloppy defending. Lucky with the winner which took a deflection to wrong foot the keeper but deserved the win overall.

McCarthy: not much to do. Kicking improved slightly but still three or four very wayward attempts at distribution one of which went down the tunnel 6

Gunter: Still not convinced, doesn't get up field enough for someone who is supposedly an attack minded full back and almost cost us a goal in the second half where he went to sleep and allowed his man past him. 6
Bridge: Solid and showed his class. 7
Pearce: Maybe he is being punished for not signing his contract when they wanted him to as I can't think of any other reason why Morro would be skipper ahead of him especially as Pearce was the one cajoling and organising his team mates. Missed a few more in the air than you'd expect him to but solid nonetheless. 7
Morro: Surprise choice as captain. Did ok. 6

McCleary: Got more into the game as it went on. Good cross for the equaliser. 7.5
HRK: Looked short of match fitness and shouldn't have been preferred to Jobi hopefully will improve with time. 6
Drenthe: MOM. Laughed when he knocked Tabb flying in the second half with a shoulder charge, poor Jay looked like he'd been hit by a tank. Brilliant character trying to play to the crowd and get them more involved. An impressive work rate for someone with aversion for turning up to training at his previous clubs. 8
Karacan: Same as usual! Sideways passing and work rate. 6.5
Guthrie: Goal took a heavy deflection to wrong foot the Keeper. Threw a tantrum in the first half which if he truly wants to be "a dressing room leader" he needs to cut out. Some good passing some under hit and not so good. In particular when he could have put Pog through with half the pitch to aim at and it went tamely to an Ipswich player. 7

ALF: Again didn't looked comfortable up front on his own. Took the header well. 7

Subs:
Williams: Looks to have something about him. Would like to see him start instead of the limited Karacan. 7
Jobi: Should've started as HRK clearly wasn't match fit. Kept hold of the ball when we needed to. Disappointed to hear some people booing when he came on. 6.5
Pog: No confidence at all, almost put us in trouble when he ran and forgot to take the ball with him but unlucky not to be put through at the end after a poor pass from Guthrie. 5

[P!ssed Off]

Overall a good result, with much promise.

25/30 mins of the first half was dire. The dormant anger over last season's failings was slowly rising up inside me, lucky we got a goal just before HT.
Luckily our errors in the first half were so oxf*rd obvious (Gunter playing as a winger, whacking it at ALF's head, constantly passing it to Pearce), Adkins could sort them out without breaking a sweat.

Second half we were excellent. Created 3 or 4 clear cut chances and could have won by more.

The fluidity of our attacking 3 midfielders was as exciting link up play as we've ever had. The move between McCleary, Drenthe and HRK that ended in a HRK backheel just past the post was a cracking move.

Drenthe is the new Kebe, he has the ability to lift the whole stadium with a great bit of skill/run.
Guthrie MOTM for me though. He was the core of the team not only position wise, but also involved in pretty much every move. A great goal and a cracking dribble earlier as well.

McCarthy - 7
Bridge - 6
Morrison - 6
Pearce - 6
Gunter - 6
McCleary - 7
HRK - 7
Guthrie - 9
Karacan - 6
Drenthe - 8
Le Fondre - 7

Subs:
Williams - 7
McAuff - 6
Pogrebynak - 4

Teamwise, I'm glad that McAnuff is not going to be guaranteed a starting spot this season, he can work for it like the rest of them. Adkins appears to be taking the sensible approach, appointing a captain on a game by game basis, based on who's on the pitch through merit.

[P!ssed Off]

btw Sandman I just saw Guthrie's goal on SSN and I don't think it took as much of a deflection as you think.
I was also pretty much level with Guthrie when he kicked it and didn't immediately notice a deflection.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Teamwise, I'm glad that McAnuff is not going to be guaranteed a starting spot this season, he can work for it like the rest of them. Adkins appears to be taking the sensible approach, appointing a captain on a game by game basis, based on who's on the pitch through merit.

[P!ssed Off]

Teamwise, I'm glad that McAnuff is not going to be guaranteed a starting spot this season, he can work for it like the rest of them. Adkins appears to be taking the sensible approach, appointing a captain on a game by game basis, based on who's on the pitch through merit.

Cos he was so good when he came on right?

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Teamwise, I'm glad that McAnuff is not going to be guaranteed a starting spot this season, he can work for it like the rest of them. Adkins appears to be taking the sensible approach, appointing a captain on a game by game basis, based on who's on the pitch through merit.

Cos he was so good when he came on right?

The first post just shows your ignorance.

[RedRum]

Teamwise, I'm glad that McAnuff is not going to be guaranteed a starting spot this season, he can work for it like the rest of them. Adkins appears to be taking the sensible approach, appointing a captain on a game by game basis, based on who's on the pitch through merit.

What's so about that?

[ManchesterRoyals]

Wheres the Guthrie haters now?

[P!ssed Off]

Teamwise, I'm glad that McAnuff is not going to be guaranteed a starting spot this season, he can work for it like the rest of them. Adkins appears to be taking the sensible approach, appointing a captain on a game by game basis, based on who's on the pitch through merit.

The first post just shows your ignorance.

Ignorance?
Adkins is appointing a captain based on who is the team through merit rather than guaranteeing a 'squad captain' a place regardless of form.
This season McAnuff will have to work for a starting role, with competition very high for places.
Which part do you disagree with?

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Teamwise, I'm glad that McAnuff is not going to be guaranteed a starting spot this season, he can work for it like the rest of them. Adkins appears to be taking the sensible approach, appointing a captain on a game by game basis, based on who's on the pitch through merit.

What's so about that?

Phrases like 'he can work for it' and 'through merit' are things we can associate with McAnuff, clearly the original poster doesn't agree, but to suggest otherwise is harsh on a player who has contributed so much to Reading's success. I read into it that you felt that McAnuff didn't deserve his recent inclusions in the team, whether it be under McDermott or Adkins, and that he didn't 'work for it'.

[P!ssed Off]

Teamwise, I'm glad that McAnuff is not going to be guaranteed a starting spot this season, he can work for it like the rest of them. Adkins appears to be taking the sensible approach, appointing a captain on a game by game basis, based on who's on the pitch through merit.

What's so about that?

Certain forum members who have been assuring us all summer that McAnuff will remain captain and is the best player in the team are clearly a) upset that Adkins disagrees with them and b) upset that other fans agree with Adkins.

[AthleticoSpizz]

I silly old me thought that captaincy was all about constant field-time with his charges

I'm assuming Morrison is a constant now?

[P!ssed Off]

I silly old me thought that captaincy was all about constant field-time with his charges

I'm assuming Morrison is a constant now?

The Adkins interview post match seemed to suggest that there is a small pool of 3 or 4 suitable captains. (Including at least Morrison and McAnuff I would presume).
Based on who's in the starting line up a captain will be picked from this pool.
There won't be a case of, 'he's the captain so he has to play' (not having a dig at McAnuff so don't bother ).

[ManchesterRoyals]

Im going to throw this in there, what about Drenthe as Captain?

Might make him more level headed

[John Madejski's Wallet]

If one thing should have been learned from last year, it's that Pearce and Morrison is our worst centreback pairing. Today just reaffirmed that. Too similar, too plodding and too slow. Individually great, but an awful pair.......... and Günter is not our best right back

Really impressed with Williams' runs through the middle. Something we've been really lacking

Overall not too bad tbf

[PieEater]

I thought we were totally outplayed in the first half and were lucky to be level.

Second half I think we looked better because Ipswich tired, the work they put in to close us down in the first half started to show and then we had more time and space to play. I really don't understand the tactics of punting in the channels or to Alf who's marked by someone 2ft taller.

Impressed with Drenthe and Williams. Guthrie was chalk and cheese, a lot of misplaced passes and tackled dwelling on the ball and other times got us going. I guess they just need more game time. The difference Williams made was forward passing and movement, the entire team seemed incapable of that until he came on.

[royal_ross]

What has McAnuff actually done to deserve the amount of crap he got last season and is still getting now?

Totally undeserved, he works bloody hard for the team and is a good player. I'm glad when he walked over to take a corner by the North Stand quite a few people clapped him, he in return clapped back.

[One8Seven1]

Pleased to see McAnuff dropped.

Poor decision.

Yeah you could see that when he came on and ran the ball out of play after an awful first touch. McCleary and HRK are both better wingers. It was the correct and long overdue decision. IMO.

[Esteban]

We all know we need another striker, but the lack of confidence in the first half was the thing that held us back the most. When we've got some confidence, we'll be a match for anyone in that league.

Do not understand the boos for McAnuff or Pog. Jobi came on, was the experienced head we needed and was better than the unfit HRK. If Pogrebnyak had an ounce of confidence, he'd be a much better player. His total isolation last season has shot his confidence to pieces.

Overall, a decent start and once we've shaken off the nerves and augmented an already strong squad with another striker or two, we'll be a force.

Anyone know if Mariappa is injured?