BFTG - Watford (H)

[floyd__streete]

Let me get this str8 then.....45 mins against 10 men and we forced precisely zero saves out of their 'keeper

Tbf we did miss an open goal - who else but Nick Blackman, take a bow, with the possible exception of Shaun Cummings probably the sh*ttest player ever to represent Reading at this level.

Reprehensible penalty-box dive from Gunter.

A lot of talk earlier this season along the lines of 'wait until we get McLeary and Williams back'; not only were both pretty crap today they also combined to give away possession for the weekly p*ss-weak goal against. Fantastic.

We forced a dozen corners or more today, all of them floated harmlessly into the penalty box by Norwood and dealt with with ease. No variation or imagination whatsoever.

Finally: I sat in the North East corner today, our ground has all the atmosphere of a dentist's waiting room.

[Royals and Racers]

Why didn`t Clarke tell them to try something different from corners-all season we have had Obita taking most of them-some creating chances/goals, yet Norwood took them all today with nothing much happening from them.

[Royal Ginger]

Considering they brought so many fans with them the Watford lot really didn't make much noise. It's not often an away tea gets out-shouted at the Mad Stad.

Fvcking ludicrous . Completely deluded Y26 drivel.

Was sat in the North stand and have voiced my opinion. Not a peep out of them in the first half and when they did make noise it wasn't that of 3000 plus fans. And perhaps you don't need to be such a prick about it eh? There's a good lad..

[Colin Cheeselog]

Gunter also shameful for a dive in a lame attempt to get a pen.

+1. I booed him thereafter just to add some consistency, as many fans would boo an opponent for diving.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Can't ask for more than that
Exactly the response we were after. Better manager, getting the best out of better players, etc. Losing 1-0, at home against a team with ten men, you literally cant ask for much more. Urzzzz

[Gunny Fishcake]

Total crap, pathetic gutless performance against 10 men for 45 minutes my mum is better than Blackman, new era my arse

[Royal Ginger]

The sky put in a good performance

[Will95]

Before I start, after so little time I didn't expect to see big changes from Clarke, but with that in mind:

Same old s**t we saw under Adkins, just now with energy and excitement which makes it better to watch, but still fukking useless.

Nice to see everyone busting a gut out there instead of constantly stopping with and without the ball.

Couldn't hit a barn door today.

Watford fans have the worst fukking songs ever the pcunts.

In all: still oxf*rd.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Has anyone worked out how we can put the goal on Gunter yet? Lol

[SCIAG]

Tbf we did miss an open goal - who else but Nick Blackman, take a bow, with the possible exception of Shaun Cummings probably the sh*ttest player ever to represent Reading at this level.

I'm not 100% on some of the dates they left the club but this team is worse:
----------------------???------------------------
--Mullins---Khumalo--M. Williams-----
Daley----Dobson----Akpan------Brooker
-------Tyson----Owusu---Morgan---------

Left out some players who stayed past their best (principally Gorkss, Lita and Ingimarsson) and I don't think we've had a bad goalkeeper at this level. Seems harsh to stick Young or Andersen in by default.

Worst second-tier Reading player goes to Michael Dobson imo, but there's a strong case for any of that back three.

[Lower West]

[
Blackman and Murray didn't play particularly well, but other than that, I agree with the OP.

.

How many games have they actually started together? Partnerships take time.

Williams is still going to need more games to get to full match fitness.

Radio Berks observation was the lack of quality on the bench and lack of goal threat as well.

[melonhead]

Decent game, decent atmosphere, decent performance.

Unlucky to lose, but signs of solidity and a much more reading like approach

Feds. 7 slow.some good saves
Pearce 7 solid
Gunter 6 better
Obita 6 whats Happened to him?
Hector 8 beast
Williams 5 hid a bit imo
Norwood 6 bypassed
Blackman 6 ok
Macleary 6 did alot well, but rarely beat his man
Cox 6 ok
Murray. 7 Won every flick on, held up brilliantly, couldn't finish

[catfork]

Can't ask for more than that
Exactly the response we were after. Better manager, getting the best out of better players, etc. Losing 1-0, at home against a team with ten men, you literally cant ask for much more. Urzzzz

You Sir, are a bit of a pillock.

[strap]

Tbf we did miss an open goal - who else but Nick Blackman, take a bow, with the possible exception of Shaun Cummings probably the sh*ttest player ever to represent Reading at this level.

I'm not 100% on some of the dates they left the club but this team is worse:
----------------------???------------------------
--Mullins---Khumalo--M. Williams-----
Daley----Dobson----Akpan------Brooker
-------Tyson----Owusu---Morgan---------

Left out some players who stayed past their best (principally Gorkss, Lita and Ingimarsson) and I don't think we've had a bad goalkeeper at this level. Seems harsh to stick Young or Andersen in by default.

Worst second-tier Reading player goes to Michael Dobson imo, but there's a strong case for any of that back three.

Owusu and Tyson both worse than Blackman? Seriously? And what about Carl Asaba?

No room for Paul Holsgrove or Michael Meaker?? Surely Hoslgrove was worse than Akpan?

Toss up between Steve Swales and Marcus Williams, (assuming you mean Marcus not Skittles (Martin)).

For keeper, how about Nick(y) Hammond? No, got to be Simon Sheppard. Sal Bibbo rescues himself with his subsequent coaching skills, Bobby Mihaylov with his comedy value and Nick Colgan with his subsequent career.

Honourable mentions to Mathieu Manset, Andy Legg, Dave Cowling, Steve Blatherwick (great name), Mark Robson, Jimmy Crawford, Mark Robins, Nigel Vaughan, Michael O'Neill (current N Ireland manager), Robert Fleck, Robert Codner, Barren Barnard, Dan Harding.

Jesus, the list is endless!

Steve Sutton, Darius Henderson, Tomasz Cywka, Benik Afobe (although doing well at Franchise FC currently), Anton Ferdinand (yes he qualifies with 45 mins under his belt), Graham Stack, John Halls, Dicky Boland (ask your great grand father!), Eric Obinna Chukwynyely (sp?), Dean Gordon, David Bass, Alan Carey, Jamie Young, Sekou Baradji, Nicholas Bignell (is he still playing??), Andy Freeman, Ben Smith, Darren Campbell, Peter Castle, Scott Golbourne, Michael Murphy, Neville Gordon, Alex Smith, Jock Wilson, (another one for your grand father), Gunnar Thorvaldsson, Michale Thorp, the deadly Paul Bayson, , Neville Roach, Patrick Kelly ....

We have had some SH!T 2nd tier players haven't we?!?! Makes the current shower almost acceptable!

[strap]

Tbf we did miss an open goal - who else but Nick Blackman, take a bow, with the possible exception of Shaun Cummings probably the sh*ttest player ever to represent Reading at this level.

I'm not 100% on some of the dates they left the club but this team is worse:
----------------------???------------------------
--Mullins---Khumalo--M. Williams-----
Daley----Dobson----Akpan------Brooker
-------Tyson----Owusu---Morgan---------

Left out some players who stayed past their best (principally Gorkss, Lita and Ingimarsson) and I don't think we've had a bad goalkeeper at this level. Seems harsh to stick Young or Andersen in by default.

Worst second-tier Reading player goes to Michael Dobson imo, but there's a strong case for any of that back three.

Just expanding my previous post on 2nd tier players, Alex Pearce and Adam Federici could soon overtake current record holder Marcus Hahnemann - assuming we don't get relegated this season or they don;t get sold.



Just to complete the picture, the chart below shows the current apps in the second tier by our current players:

[bcubed]

Bit harsh. They were pretty lively.

Not harsh at all. They were crap I thought. Didn't even sing until the 2nd half.

From my end of the stadium they were the loudest and liveliest of the season

Took a while to get going but thought they made a lot of noise

[Mike Hunt]

Actually hoping for an active January with players going out allowing others to come in.

Don't be too hopeful of that Sir.

http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/footb ... ct-8225688

Wow, I hadn't read that article before.

What a great article. Confirms to me that Nick Hammond is a legend. Also - Charles Watts has to be the best reporter for RFC in my time supporting.

[Millsy]

Listened to parts of it yon the radio and although we lost it certainly seemed like it was a more positive performance.

That's all I could ask for after only 2 days trainig the boys.

Let's see what happens but I have a good feeling.

[WestRoyal]

Like other games this year, we weren't bad, but we weren't good either. Bad mistake from McCleary for the goal - left people out of position.

Can't see why Watford are pushing at the top of the table. Thought they were decidedly average even when they had 11 men on the pitch. Couldn't work out their formation at all in the first half.

McCleary looks to have lost a yard of pace, but Gunter played better with him in front of him. Williams runs into too many blind alleys, doesn't look up or play the simple ball. There were a number of times when he could have slid a ball into Murray or Blackman to run into but he either never saw the pass or over hit it.

Obita poor going forward today and Cox's touch was crap as well. Not sure why Blackman went up front. Thought he was more effective when playing on the wing. His chance was a lot harder than people think. McCleary blasted the ball across the face of the goal and Blackman was always struggling to get there due to the pace on the ball.

Defence looked more aggressive today. Attcked the ball a lot more, even Gunter. Hector had a decent match. He makes the odd mistake but I think he generally does many more good things than bad.

Federici was playing for the cameras today with his hollywood dives and saves. One was going wide and the second he could have stood up and caught it was so close to him. His kicking and distribution was slow and inaccurate. Gomes was kicking it much further than Feds.

We still should have got something out of that game. I really expected Watford to be better than they were. Vydra has good movement but Deeley looked pretty average. Bassong is a complete lump. How did he ever play Premier League football?

It was a near on perfect (side footed pass not blasted) ball across to blackman who got to it easily but had not set his feet right for which should of been a tap in. He seemed to break his stride at the last second then had to react when it was too late hence having to stretch with his left making it look like he couldn't get to it because the ball was played too quickly. If mccleary had delivered that cross any slower the keeper would have come out to it or the defender inside of blackman would have cleared it. I'm not saying the chance was an absolute sitter but the cross and the pace of it was not the reason or should not have been the reason why it was not taken.

Deeney and Vydra looked a real handful and complimented each other well. I look forward to Karacan's return and it was good to see Gunter playing with some confidence again.

[West Stand Man]

Decent game, decent atmosphere, decent performance.

Unlucky to lose, but signs of solidity and a much more reading like approach

Feds. 7 slow.some good saves
Pearce 7 solid
Gunter 6 better
Obita 6 whats Happened to him?
Hector 8 beast
Williams 5 hid a bit imo
Norwood 6 bypassed
Blackman 6 ok
Macleary 6 did alot well, but rarely beat his man
Cox 6 ok
Murray. 7 Won every flick on, held up brilliantly, couldn't finish

Norwood bypassed! He was the go to man for every defender for the full 90, sprayed almost perfect passes and was the conduit for just about everything we managed to achieve. You may have issues with him, but don't invent criticism. Your mark of 6 is about right but the comment is well astray.