BFTG - Ipswich

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

Result aside....What a day for Reading Football Club and the youth academy set up we have in place.

A bench of academy products - Stacey, Tshbola, Cooper, Kuhl, Edwards, Tanner and McCarthy.

A day to be be proud of!!

[Drew_3]

Thought hector was pretty poor today tbh kept trying to nick the ball in front of mcgoldrick and murphy and leaving us a bit exposed, ill give him the benefit of the doubt though as its his first game at cb for a while and the midfield offered very little protection today.

Sorry SC but that is one of the most ridiculous comments I've seen on this board. Hector was outstanding today.

You cant have read many posts then.

He was bailed out by gunter twice in the first half after getting caught out of position and again by cummings in the second half. I can understand fans getting carried away by a defender who can vaguely pass the ball but im blown away anyone thinks it was a performance worthy of its own thread.

Blown away.

There were a couple of times he tried to nick the ball in front and nearly got caught out I will grant you that, but they were very minor blips that he got away with in an otherwise commanding performance! The defence although not perfect today looked steadier, maybe this is what allowed Gunter and Cummings the feeling that they could come and "bail" him out as you put it.

[Royality creeps In]

I thought that considering our injury crisis and the young bench, that was a very good result. The game itself was not the best but the win was ground out through passion, commitment and pride.
I think that last season if we had said that the starting eleven today would be lining up in the opening home fixture this season we would have put our tin hats on and run for the hills.

Well done Reading, that was a very good result under the current circumstances.

By the way I have been watching Reading for 40 years and that is the first time in that 40 years that a Reading player came on who I have never heard of (Cooper?)

[Big Ern]

Result aside....What a day for Reading Football Club and the youth academy set up we have in place.

A bench of academy products - Stacey, Tshbola, Cooper, Kuhl, Edwards, Tanner and McCarthy.

A day to be be proud of!!

A proud day or a sign that a club has gone through a degree of finically turmoil.

[winchester_royal]

Result aside....What a day for Reading Football Club and the youth academy set up we have in place.

A bench of academy products - Stacey, Tshbola, Cooper, Kuhl, Edwards, Tanner and McCarthy.

A day to be be proud of!!

A proud day or a sign that a club has gone through a degree of finically turmoil.

A proud day. HTH.

[Schards#2]

Surprised to see any criticism of the performance today, following recent sales and a horrific injury list, we are down to the very bare bones having to play players out of position and field a bench with nigh on zero outfield experience.

In the circumstances, this was a fantastic result and, whilst we did not create many chances, I would not say this was boring, it was enthralling watching a massively weakened side hang on through sheer commitment and hard work. Adkins deserves credit for generating what appears to be an excellent and genuine team spirit, something that has been visably lacking. In this division, that can take you a long way.

Until we have 3-4 of players either bought or back from injury, every point we get is a bonus and today was a huge 3 point bonus. If we can nick another win on Tuesday we should have some breathing space pending the arrival of reinforcements. In the meantime, huge credit to the manager and the squad for finding a way to win.

[Martin41]

Not the best, but a win is a win!!!!
Was going to go with Cummings for motm, until 2nd half when Hector got better and better, fantastic display!!
Aside from the goal, for me I'm not sure what TAylor did. Is he not a c/m?? And obita a winger, can't they play there?
That aside, roll on TUesday!!!

[blueroyals]

Can't believe the positive comments about Akpan.

I'll just repeat what I said on Tuesday:

Akpan - 4, he looked lost, couldn't pass, missed an open goal, a complete passenger, completely lacking in confidence and needs to find a new club

Minus the open goal he was no better. He couldn't control the ball, passed constantly out of play or to the opposition, got caught in possession a few times. There was a moment in the first 10 minutes when he received the ball in the middle, in miles of space and tried to chip it out to Gunter on the wing only for it to go out of play. Why? Just fcuking pass it along the floor.

Does anybody watch him off the ball? I hope he's paid for a ticket because he just stands around watching. No marking, nothing. The only time he tracks is when the opposition have already taken it past him. Numerous times they were inside our box and he was stood outside watching. Whilst Obita, who is supposed to be the attacking complement to Akpan, had to cover for him. No wonder we looked so weak in the second half with Obita having to do the job of two midfielders. Utterly hopeless. Only redeeming moment was the block 10 minutes before the end. Get rid.

Rating:
Feds - 7, distribution OK, made some smart saves
Gunter - 8, fantastic defending, good going forward, really up for it
Hector - 9, MotM
Pearce - 7, quiet game but didn't do anything wrong
Cummings - 7.5, wasn't convinced after Wigan but best performance in a while

Blackman - 7, quiet but has the potential to change games
Akpan - 4, see above
Obita - 8, loads of confidence, strong on the ball, great tackle, great going forward, can't wait to have him back on the wing
Taylor - 7.5, looked up for it, good finish and hunger

Cox - 7.5, great energy, he's a very good signing and a steal for 600k. The missing link.
Pog - 7.5, won lots in the air, good link up play with Cox

Subs were all good. Putting Edwards on for the last 15 minutes is tactical genius, he's going to win a fair few points for us from the bench alone.

[Handsome Man]

Simons Church is clearly a Team Board name to watch then.

Marks
Federici 8
Gunter 8
Cummings 7
Hector 11
Pearce 7
Akpan 8
Pog 8

Didn't really notice the rest. There weren't any attacks in the second half, so I couldn't really see who was playing. Edwards brought a bit of life to proceedings for a few minutes and there was definitely a goal, but nothing much else to go on.

[Royality creeps In]

Can't believe the positive comments about Akpan.

I'll just repeat what I said on Tuesday:

Akpan - 4, he looked lost, couldn't pass, missed an open goal, a complete passenger, completely lacking in confidence and needs to find a new club

Minus the open goal he was no better. He couldn't control the ball, passed constantly out of play or to the opposition, got caught in possession a few times. There was a moment in the first 10 minutes when he received the ball in the middle, in miles of space and tried to chip it out to Gunter on the wing only for it to go out of play. Why? Just fcuking pass it along the floor.

Does anybody watch him off the ball? I hope he's paid for a ticket because he just stands around watching. No marking, nothing. The only time he tracks is when the opposition have already taken it past him. Numerous times they were inside our box and he was stood outside watching. Whilst Obita, who is supposed to be the attacking complement to Akpan, had to cover for him. No wonder we looked so weak in the second half with Obita having to do the job of two midfielders. Utterly hopeless. Only redeeming moment was the block 10 minutes before the end. Get rid.

Idiot

We won today Just fkin enjoy it. Save your angst for when we lose.

[Ian Royal]

Dreadful game. We didn't have a shot in the second half and the goal the only effort in the first. Couldn't have complained if Ipswich had equalised or even won that - certainly had two very good chances in the second half.
Still a win is a win and Ipswich are a well organised side if somewhat limited so a decent result but Christ it made for poor entertainment.

I found it very entertaining you miserable sod.

Nail biting, and not huge amounts of quality on display but I agree, enthralling and entertaining. How can anyone have not enjoyed watching Hector gobble up everything thrown at him?

[RoyalBlue]

Fantastic Freudian slip by Adkins in his post match interview with BBCRB when he referred to 'The Mistakey Stadium' (sic)

[handbags_harris]

Surprised to see any criticism of the performance today, following recent sales and a horrific injury list, we are down to the very bare bones having to play players out of position and field a bench with nigh on zero outfield experience.

In the circumstances, this was a fantastic result and, whilst we did not create many chances, I would not say this was boring, it was enthralling watching a massively weakened side hang on through sheer commitment and hard work. Adkins deserves credit for generating what appears to be an excellent and genuine team spirit, something that has been visably lacking. In this division, that can take you a long way.

Until we have 3-4 of players either bought or back from injury, every point we get is a bonus and today was a huge 3 point bonus. If we can nick another win on Tuesday we should have some breathing space pending the arrival of reinforcements. In the meantime, huge credit to the manager and the squad for finding a way to win.

This in spades.

And clubs, hearts and diamonds.

[OldBiscuit]

Dreadful game. We didn't have a shot in the second half and the goal the only effort in the first. Couldn't have complained if Ipswich had equalised or even won that - certainly had two very good chances in the second half.
Still a win is a win and Ipswich are a well organised side if somewhat limited so a decent result but Christ it made for poor entertainment.

Incredible comment! I (we) found todays game entertaining. The team spirit and will to win was impressive.

Also, the fact that we were playing so many youngsters gave it an even more interesting aspect.

[genome]

Federici 9
Gunter 9
Cummings 8
Hector 10
Pearce 9
Akpan 7
Pog 9
cox 10
Obita 8
talyor 9
Blackman 8

Calm down

[RoyalBlue]

A rare outing for me, but I made the game today.

I'm not going to bother rating each player, but mentions to Akpan who tried to control and play every hoof ball that came his way, my only criticism of him is he is far to slow. Takes an age to actually do it. Needs to be sharper and quicker with his decisions.

Pog I thought was awful. Also slow, and I took a special note of his ariel display. He didn't win a single heading challenge the entire game.

Blinkered or blind? No, it's not his strongest point but today he won as many heading challenges as he lost. And perhaps his apparent lack of pace had something to do with defenders frequently slowing him down by grabbing onto his shirt! He's not the fastest but he is a very long way from being the slowest.

[Ian Royal]

The kiddie winkies are showing that enthusiasm, desire and determination mixed in with some confidence can take the place of experience nicely.

We look so up for it. Once we've finally got a midfield we could really do something.

As for Simons Church saying Hector was poor. That must be why virtually the entire stadium was chanting his name after the match. No one is that stupid, must be wumming.

[bobby1413]

Ok, first thing to say is, we won. It was 3 points to Reading and that's paramount to anything.

I was very impressed with the team spirit. I felt at times we struggled to really create any full on scoring opportunities, but I often feel like that, even when we do end up winning by 2-3 goals so no biggie.

I'm happy with today's performance. The people around me who seemed overly negative I think are entirely misguided. I'm so excited by how the squad are going to take shape, both this season and the next season (and after). I think we're going to do really well.

[Victor Meldrew]

The earlier poster who said it was an entertaining game must have a really dull life-one shot on target IMHO is not entertaining football.
Our one tactic, particularly in the first half was to hit Blackman as often as possible with long balls from the back presumably for him to flick on to somebody who might happen to be around which generally they weren't.
This was Jim McIntyre all over again-whatever happened to the passing game that Adkins was going to bring to our club?

Allowances have to be made because of the lack of choices that he has but I thought the whole club at all levels was going to play the quick passing game-the youngsters do it but for some reason the first team still don't.
Mick Mills was asked on BBCRB what he thought of the game and he was honest enough (unlike most media types) to say that he was unimpressed with the game and both sides and expected them both to be in the 10th to 6th spot this season but no better.
That might be acceptable to Ipswich fans as the club has sold it's best player but spent nothing to improve last year's team.

With all that has gone on at our club is that the limit of our expectations?
I am asking the question without comment other than to say that with these recurring injuries will we ever have a settled side?

Regarding today's game which could easily have been a draw or worse with the Ipswich miss early on and then hitting the bar right near the end but we got away with it and it is a bit sad that our star man was our centre-back when we are playing at home and expect the bigger contributions to be in attacking areas.
I agree with others that Hector had a great game and covered the number of mistakes that Pearce made, often tidying up behind him and showing what a decent centre-back can and should do-well done Michael it looks as though you could be there to stay.

As usual Akpan was very limited and the two wide men again played mainly ineffectively on the wrong side-there was an incident when, on one of our rare breaks in the second half the ball came out to Taylor perfectly for him to cross with his left but he had to check back onto his right and all impetus had gone.
The worst moment in the game for me was Blackman complaining about the sun being in his eyes and making no attempt to challenge for the ball leaving their young left-back to have a free header-I fear that Blackman is of the same ilk as Kanu-good physique but frightened of his own shadow.
I hope the manager saw it-we don't want non-triers at our club even though he might argue that coming from Sheffield he has not seen the sun very often.

[leww_rfc]

Side note to Pogrebnyak, decent performance again, he's become one of our most consistent performers and is always one of our hardest workers, him and Cox could have a good partnership this year.