back in the car from the Brighton (H) game

[Maguire]

Our home support is diablolical. Our atmosphere is flat and no wonder away supporters take the piss out of our ground all the time.

lol, almost every home support is flat. Away fans are louder no matter where you go. Some of the great arenas of football in the UK are so quiet you could prolly yell to a mate in the other stand.

And one more thing - no matter how loud away fans think they are, you can hardly ever hear it down the other end of the ground.

[Brum Royal]

2. If we had been slinging it in to the mixer and ALF had been losing headers then yes I would agree with you, but my point is that most of the crosses don't seem to be hitting the right areas - either being well over hit or not getting past the first man.

a cross is a percentage ball. when you only have 1 or two in the box, its almost always going to miss your target

Of course it is brendy. But I think you may be taking me a little too literally on "the right areas" here. But too often yesterday, with eg. ALF on his own in the middle of the box, the ball would go sailing over his head and bounce pretty much on the touch line behind him, that's not down to lack of bodies in the box, or hoping a winger will get on the end of it. That's a bad cross. Either that, or it would go crashing in to the first man.

My point is, there were not enough crosses going in to the right areas/vicinty of our 1 or 2 men in the box for them to get anywhere near, ie heads/chest or feet.

[Brum Royal]

1. Surprised to see Jem getting low r8ings from most people, he was everywhere, in particular back tracking and making recovery tackles when we got hit on the counter a couple of times second half. Had a few good shots, and worked well with Guthrie. I would have had him MotM ahead of McCarthy tbh. A bit like with James Harper, a lot of Jem's work seems to go unnoticed by the majority, but he is actually one of our more influential players

Agreed.

I'm really not a big fan of Karacan but thought he had a decent game yday, got through tonnes and tonnes of work, and troubled the keeper a couple of times too.

Indeed. Several good blocks and recovering tackles up and down the pitch, troubled the keeper, passing was assured etc

Not an issue with his performance at all. I imagine he went off because he was knackered.

Definitely. I was a little concerned when he did go off though, as Brighton were just starting to look threatening at the time.

[melonhead]

2. If we had been slinging it in to the mixer and ALF had been losing headers then yes I would agree with you, but my point is that most of the crosses don't seem to be hitting the right areas - either being well over hit or not getting past the first man.

a cross is a percentage ball. when you only have 1 or two in the box, its almost always going to miss your target

Of course it is brendy. But I think you may be taking me a little too literally on "the right areas" here. But too often yesterday, with eg. ALF on his own in the middle of the box, the ball would go sailing over his head and bounce pretty much on the touch line behind him, that's not down to lack of bodies in the box, or hoping a winger will get on the end of it. That's a bad cross. Either that, or it would go crashing in to the first man.

My point is, there were not enough crosses going in to the right areas/vicinty of our 1 or 2 men in the box for them to get anywhere near, ie heads/chest or feet.

i would simply point out that it was a very windy day, and in those conditions the cross becomes an even smaller percentage ball

agree totally on your point about ALF never having any chance in there
but id also say that we tried forcing our way down the middle for ages and got nowhere near.
at least the hopeful crosses had some sort of chance of working, no matter how small

[No Fixed Abode]

My 2p worth from watching the game yesterday.

General play - You can see Reading are trying to play the passing game. However, some of the players simply aren't comfortable enough on the ball. There would be about 4 or 5 passes in triangles, then they would play themselves into trouble which resulted in a rushed long ball, giving away possession.

I was fairly impressed with the way the team look like they're trying to press the opposition and give them less time on the ball.

Reading looked a little dodgy at the back and Pearce struggled with Ulloa until he was sent off. Morrison, although a presence at the back, doesn't look comfortable on the ball at all. Bridge looked better than Kelly at left back. Gunters crossing was terrible.

Drenthe - looks like he's carrying too much timber.

Guthrie did ok - although some of his passing, especially simple 10 yard balls were awful.

Karacan and Williams - they run about a lot, but never really had a major impact on the game.

Le Fondre - didn't get much service.

Pog - Embarrassing

McCarthy - questionable on crosses, good shot stopper.

Overall - a draw was a fair result as you finished the game stronger although Brighton had the better of the clear cut chances. The worrying thing this season for you is, the lack of options from the bench. No real game changers.

[Brum Royal]

Must admit I'm yet to be convinced by Williams. Not really seen him do a lot in the 4 games I've seen this season.

[melonhead]

My 2p worth from watching the game yesterday.

General play - You can see Reading are trying to play the passing game. However, some of the players simply aren't comfortable enough on the ball. There would be about 4 or 5 passes in triangles, then they would play themselves into trouble which resulted in a rushed long ball, giving away possession.

I was fairly impressed with the way the team look like they're trying to press the opposition and give them less time on the ball.

Reading looked a little dodgy at the back and Pearce struggled with Ulloa until he was sent off. Morrison, although a presence at the back, doesn't look comfortable on the ball at all. Bridge looked better than Kelly at left back. Gunters crossing was terrible.

Drenthe - looks like he's carrying too much timber.

Guthrie did ok - although some of his passing, especially simple 10 yard balls were awful.

Karacan and Williams - they run about a lot, but never really had a major impact on the game.

Le Fondre - didn't get much service.

Pog - Embarrassing

McCarthy - questionable on crosses, good shot stopper.

Overall - a draw was a fair result as you finished the game stronger although Brighton had the better of the clear cut chances. The worrying thing this season for you is, the lack of options from the bench. No real game changers.

about right i reckon

[Magic Hat]

Thought McCarthy’s distribution looked much better yesterday.

[ZacNaloen]

He did look much more comfortable, whatever choice of distribution he chose.

[loyalroyal4life]

Our home support is diablolical. Our atmosphere is flat and no wonder away supporters take the piss out of our ground all the time.

lol, almost every home support is flat. Away fans are louder no matter where you go. Some of the great arenas of football in the UK are so quiet you could prolly yell to a mate in the other stand.

And one more thing - no matter how loud away fans think they are, you can hardly ever hear it down the other end of the ground.

Our home fans have always been quiet, a chanting atmosphere is rarely created. Fair to say yesterday did not have much to chant/cheer about.

Am sure Leeds will be a better atmosphere

[kwik-silva]

Karacan and Williams - they run about a lot, but never really had a major impact on the game.

I honestly don't understand people's opinions for Kara, he made a few crucial blocks, test the opposition keeper well, and was the only player I saw to actually take a guy on.

Must admit I'm yet to be convinced by Williams. Not really seen him do a lot in the 4 games I've seen this season.

Pretty much single-handedly set up our 3rd goal against Watford and he hasn't exactly had a whole lot of time to prove himself.

[Kebe's apprentice]

Must admit I'm yet to be convinced by Williams. Not really seen him do a lot in the 4 games I've seen this season.

Changed the game v Ipswich
One of our better players v Yeovil
Did well against Watford

[Norfolk Royal]

I thought Karacan was the pic of our outfield players yesterday, pretty much the only one who played to his optimum level. Seems to have added a bit to his game since Adkins took over.

[Cureton's Volley]

Our home support is diablolical. Our atmosphere is flat and no wonder away supporters take the piss out of our ground all the time.

lol, almost every home support is flat. Away fans are louder no matter where you go. Some of the great arenas of football in the UK are so quiet you could prolly yell to a mate in the other stand.

And one more thing - no matter how loud away fans think they are, you can hardly ever hear it down the other end of the ground.

Our home fans have always been quiet, a chanting atmosphere is rarely created. Fair to say yesterday did not have much to chant/cheer about.

Am sure Leeds will be a better atmosphere

Agree that no-one should have been surprised that a reduced crowd, many either hungover or knackered from Sunday league, watching that shíte wasn't going mental 'Green Man' style...

LOL @ Brighton slating us on their forums. Sat in the North Stand at the Amex when they beat Peterborough to go top of the league in 2011 and it was a yawnfest. Very quiet except immediately after each goal obviously (good pies at HT tho).

[Brum Royal]

Must admit I'm yet to be convinced by Williams. Not really seen him do a lot in the 4 games I've seen this season.

Changed the game v Ipswich
One of our better players v Yeovil
Did well against Watford

I probably should have caveated that was my first home game of the season, having been to the Bolton, Blackpool, P'Boro and Yeovil games. So I can't comment on 1 and 3 there, but I thought at Yeovil he looked largely ineffective in the midfield, despite putting in a lot of effort. Bolton and Blackpool he got late sub appearances so difficult to judge on that, and against P'Boro he (alongside admittedly most of the others) was terrible, and looked lost at central midfield. I don't think he really did a lot yesterday either, despite seeing quite a bit of the ball.

I'm obviously not saying he's going to be a failure, or that he's not good enough, just simply commenting on what I had seen at matches so far. Very much happy to give him the benefit of the doubt as he settles in.

[St. Brynjar]

Watched the highlights back, looks pretty harsh on Pog. Lua Lua took two clear steps after the minimal contact for the first, and he was being held for the second. It was more the way he threw himself to the ground.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Who can actually say they enjoy this style of football?

It's a yawnfest as the back four struggle to pass the ball and we give possession away cheaply.

At least we won games under McDermott.

Nigel 'Cliché' Adkins has a lot to work on.

[AirRaidSiren]

Who can actually say they enjoy this style of football?

It's a yawnfest as the back four struggle to pass the ball and we give possession away cheaply.

At least we won games under McDermott.

Nigel 'Cliché' Adkins has a lot to work on.

It took Steve Coppell nearly a season to get it right for us, he was given time, we finished ninth in his first season, seventh in his second season and the rest is history, or is your memory that short? Give it a oxf*rd rest with your shite.

[handbags_harris]

Don't give him the time of day ARS, he's one of the many totally unrealistic fans that now pervade RFC that want the moon on a 24 carat gold stick...now.

[AirRaidSiren]

Don't give him the time of day ARS, he's one of the many totally unrealistic fans that now pervade RFC that want the moon on a 24 carat gold stick...now.

You're so right.