BFTG/OTWH Derby (H) 0-3

[sandman]

He was given that remit by the old (failed) regime. He, along with Pog, is the last remnant of that regime and needs to go.

We need to start again properly without the spectre of Zingarevich hanging over us. Not only will a break be good for Reading FC but it will also be good for Nigel Adkins because no doubt he will be able to go on to a club he and his style is more suited to.

[RoyalBlue]

In the early stages of the game I was wondering why some appear to have so much hate for HRK. Unfortunately he then proceeded to give those haters two pieces of extremely potent ammunition!

I am a great supporter of Feds but he seemed too busy trying to push his own defender out of his way to come to collect the pretty soft corner from which they scored their first. However, I think it was HRK who was stood on the near post and his attempt to keep out the pretty soft header was as dire as his attempt to convert a simple tap in just a bit later on.

The defence is an absolute shambles and yet Feds doesn't seem to be communicating with and organising them. I rarely see him talking to the team during a game (and before McCarthy's supporters leap on this, he was every bit as bad).

Cox is consistently looking our best signing and did so again today. I thought it was a strange decision to take off Mackie who at least appeared to be playing with some fire in his belly. Had he still been on, I think he would have converted the chance that Pog somehow managed to miss.

Amazingly the ref and his assistant on the East Stand side managed to be even more shyte than our defence!

[Royal Lady]

I refuse to blame our players - they were playing to a game plan thought up by Adkins Out - many are out of their depth and why he hasn't dipped into the emergency loan market for an experienced defender I really don't know

[Westwood52]

Derby are the team we want to be. Balanced, powerful and with that bit of extra quality to make teams pay.

I think we'll get there in the end and I reckon Adkins is that man. He was made manager with a remit to change how we play and he's only been backed a little bit due to the ownership debacle. Norwood needs a partner in the middle, a left back so we can push Obita further on and at least one if not two centre backs. Once we have those players we can truly judge the manager.

Derby are a great team, but it's taken them 4 or 5 years to get there. They didn't totally play us off the park despite the score.

I could watch Will Hughes play football all day, kids an absolute baller. English academies seem to produce a lot of players in his mould. Reminds me a lot of Barkley on the ball.

OMG: Derby a great team-bit OTT ?

[RoyalBlue]

I refuse to blame our players - they were playing to a game plan thought up by Adkins Out - many are out of their depth and why he hasn't dipped into the emergency loan market for an experienced defender I really don't know

Perhaps you should have listened to his post match interview. Very heavy hints that, up until now, funding hasn't been available for that and may still not be. Also phrases that we have heard from every manager in Madejski times i.e. ' theyhave to add to what we have already got', 'have to be available' & 'Nick Hammond is working really hard'.

We can keep changing managers but nothing will really change whilst Madejski still exerts influence over the club with his unrealistic alternative view of football economics.

As for saying that the players are playing to Adkins' game plan - do you really think his game plan revolves around instructing his players, all highly paid professionals, not to do the basics properly??!! Were the glaring misses, the failure to keep out a soft header with your body when you are stood on the goal line and backing off players rather than putting in tackles part of his game plan?!

[PieEater]

Cox should have scored early in the first half with a free header, HRK should have scored when the ball rebounded off the keeper, murray hit the bar, and pog should have scored in the second half. We had other chances aswell. We are creating, we just the need the shambolic defence to keep us in games to take the pressure off our offensive game.

This.

The ref also didn't help and seemed to give a lot of lattitude to Derby players feigning injuries and falling over. I thought their keeper was utter shite and kept fumbling shots, then he comes for a cross and falls over his defender, Murray gets the ball and is rugby tackled and somehow that's a foul to them. IMHO that was a red card and a pen.

Time after time we didn't take our chances, didn't get the run of the ball and then defended shambolically. A special mention for Pog for missing one I could have score. Otherwise we played pretty well.

[windermere_royal]

Not defending the team or manager in any way, but anyone that thinks that was a dreadful performance wants their head looking at. going forward we probably created more chances than in any game this season, and with just a little luck and better finishing we may have nicked a point until they killed the game off.
That said, we have a defence that picks itself every game, and clearly it isn`t good enough. Pearce IMHO should never pull on a Reading shirt again, the guy is a donkey.
Does Federici ever command his 6 yard box, instead of giving a 6 Foot plus striker the freedom to plant an easy header past him?
pretty pissed off TBF. still think we are too good to go down, but if Blackpool beat us next week I might well change my mind

[sandman]

I refuse to blame our players - they were playing to a game plan thought up by Adkins Out - many are out of their depth and why he hasn't dipped into the emergency loan market for an experienced defender I really don't know

Perhaps you should have listened to his post match interview. Very heavy hints that, up until now, funding hasn't been available for that and may still not be. Also phrases that we have heard from every manager in Madejski times i.e. ' theyhave to add to what we have already got', 'have to be available' & 'Nick Hammond is working really hard'.

We can keep changing managers but nothing will really change whilst Madejski still exerts influence over the club with his unrealistic alternative view of football economics.

As for saying that the players are playing to Adkins' game plan - do you really think his game plan revolves around instructing his players, all highly paid professionals, not to do the basics properly??!! Were the glaring misses, the failure to keep out a soft header with your body when you are stood on the goal line and backing off players rather than putting in tackles part of his game plan?!

And there we go. See that is where unfortunately you have now fallen down RoyalBlue, because before you were making a fairly cogent pro Adkins argument but you had to go and lash out and attack Madejski again and ruin any hope you had of being taken seriously.

As for the edited part, your final two points on his game plan is down to poor defending, something which Adkins himself says he needs to improve on.

[WoodleyRoyal]

Let’s be honest until we get a ball winning midfielder back in the team, whether that be karacan or williams returning or a short term loan,we are going to struggle defensively. I looked at the team sheet today and thought Taylor and Norwood... really? Much the same as Guthrie and Norwood we can’t play these type of midfielders and not expect the defense to have a tough time. Dare I say it the last three games we have missed Akpan, - not a ball winner per se but able to be a bit more physical in the tackle and has the height to win aerial challenges.

[3points]

Can anyone really explain what formation or system we were playing today? Was it 4-2-4? It's no surprise we are creating chances but keep conceding. The balance in the team is wrong. Why was Akpan not playing instead of Taylor ?

And Gunter is getting worse each week. He didn't challenge Martin for the first goal, let Ibe drift inside without challenging for the second and I assume was at least partly at fault for the third as the guy came from the left wing.

If I was Eddie Howe I would load up the left side and keep attacking Gunter.

Thought Hector was good today except a couple of silly mistakes, and Cox and Murray do look dangerous.

We need some solidity in midfield, and fast.

[sandman]

Can anyone really explain what formation or system we were playing today? Was it 4-2-4? It's no surprise we are creating chances but keep conceding. The balance in the team is wrong. Why was Akpan not playing instead of Taylor ?

And Gunter is getting worse each week. He didn't challenge Martin for the first goal, let Ibe drift inside without challenging for the second and I assume was at least partly at fault for the third as the guy came from the left wing.

If I was Eddie Howe I would load up the left side and keep attacking Gunter.

Thought Hector was good today except a couple of silly mistakes, and Cox and Murray do look dangerous.

We need some solidity in midfield, and fast.

Exactly! So easy to play against us these days that you can almost hear the opposition team talk, "press high because their players are playing a game that doesn't suit them and load the left side because their right back does very little to try and stop crosses and shots."

[RoyalBlue]

I refuse to blame our players - they were playing to a game plan thought up by Adkins Out - many are out of their depth and why he hasn't dipped into the emergency loan market for an experienced defender I really don't know

Perhaps you should have listened to his post match interview. Very heavy hints that, up until now, funding hasn't been available for that and may still not be. Also phrases that we have heard from every manager in Madejski times i.e. ' theyhave to add to what we have already got', 'have to be available' & 'Nick Hammond is working really hard'.

We can keep changing managers but nothing will really change whilst Madejski still exerts influence over the club with his unrealistic alternative view of football economics.

As for saying that the players are playing to Adkins' game plan - do you really think his game plan revolves around instructing his players, all highly paid professionals, not to do the basics properly??!! Were the glaring misses, the failure to keep out a soft header with your body when you are stood on the goal line and backing off players rather than putting in tackles part of his game plan?!

And there we go. See that is where unfortunately you have now fallen down RoyalBlue, because before you were making a fairly cogent pro Adkins argument but you had to go and lash out and attack Madejski again and ruin any hope you had of being taken seriously.

As for the edited part, your final two points on his game plan is down to poor defending, something which Adkins himself says he needs to improve on.

Not taken seriously by those fools with their heads still firmly wedged up John Madejski (OBE) One Big Ego 's arse. Fact is all of our managers have suffered from a lack of proper investment at critical times - from what I understand, McDermott himself alluded to it the other evening.

And how does poor defending form part of Adkins' game plan? Yes, he said we need to improve our defending but to suggest poor defending was part of his game plan is as ludicrous as suggesting that our managers have been given the funding that was needed.

[wingnut]

We weren't dreadful, that much is correct, but Derby were not flattered by that score - they hardly had to break sweat to win that. After their second, I thought we were on for a bigger dicking than 3-0. We looked ok up until they got their first but weren't really threatening from open play. Even when we had a couple of chances at 1-0 and 2-0 I always felt Derby had another gear and ways looked comfortable.

[muddyfeet]

I found Mackie really disappointing today, didn't support Gunter defensively or going forwards as he kept drifting inside
Maybe he is playing out of position or he doesn't really want to be here...

[tidus_mi2]

I was probably most disappointed that Derby were time wasting at 3-0 up, seemed pointless and I was basically urging them to go for a 4th because they'd absolutely killed the game and made it boring beyond belief.

[CayeneMatt]

Can anyone really explain what formation or system we were playing today? Was it 4-2-4? It's no surprise we are creating chances but keep conceding. The balance in the team is wrong. Why was Akpan not playing instead of Taylor ?

And Gunter is getting worse each week. He didn't challenge Martin for the first goal, let Ibe drift inside without challenging for the second and I assume was at least partly at fault for the third as the guy came from the left wing.

If I was Eddie Howe I would load up the left side and keep attacking Gunter.

Thought Hector was good today except a couple of silly mistakes, and Cox and Murray do look dangerous.

We need some solidity in midfield, and fast.

Yep. 4-2-3-1 up until the subs then I haven't a clue.

I actually thought this was Gunter's best game in weeks, but he's been shite most of the season. Adkins seemed to be blaming Hector after the game, but from where I was sitting, Gunter should've closed down Ibe for the 2nd. Will need to see it on TV.

[sandman]

I found Mackie really disappointing today, didn't support Gunter defensively or going forwards as he kept drifting inside
Maybe he is playing out of position or he doesn't really want to be here...

Adkins tactics are for the wingers to play narrow, not Mackie's fault. Bit difficult to support Gunter defensively when Gunter is hardly in defence, "cover for Gunter" would be more accurate.

[3points]

We weren't dreadful, that much is correct, but Derby were not flattered by that score - they hardly had to break sweat to win that. After their second, I thought we were on for a bigger dicking than 3-0. We looked ok up until they got their first but weren't really threatening from open play. Even when we had a couple of chances at 1-0 and 2-0 I always felt Derby had another gear and ways looked comfortable.

It was odd really. I was sat there at 2-0 down thinking they really hadn't threatened and had nothing up front. They only had one up front and he fell over more than the Pog.

Adkins keeps sending out attacking teams. Perhaps he should look at teams like Derby who are difficult to break down and look to score from set pieces and on the break. We are just too easy to play against, especially when your midfield two is Taylor and Norwood.

[WoodleyRoyal]

I found Mackie really disappointing today, didn't support Gunter defensively or going forwards as he kept drifting inside
Maybe he is playing out of position or he doesn't really want to be here...

Adkins tactics are for the wingers to play narrow, not HRK's fault.

[Royal Ginger]

I fear for what Matt Richie will do against them on Tuesday.