Opposition fans back from the game - 24/25 page 225 onwards

[Tilehurstsouthbank]

Michail Antonio?

Nope. We plucked him out of Non League obscurity. Tooting & Mitcham If I recall correctly.

[RoyallyFcuked]

Those quotes were 90% true

[PistolPete]

WIGAN AWAY

http://thisnorthernsoul.co.uk

First game. New players bedding in. Decent opponents (I thought Reading played very well ........2nd half in particular).

Interesting that we not only lost possession badly, but we were significantly outpassed too. I may have picked a good season to miss for the first time in a quarter of a century.

http://thisnorthernsoul.co.uk/mcarthur-spares-wigans-blushes-with-late-late-show/

The half time score just about reflected that performance but the second half was a very different story.

Reading tore into Wigan from the off, Wigan sat further and further back and with Riera cutting a lone figure on his own in the Reading half, totally devoid of any quality ball , the away side turned the screw against a Wigan team who seemed to be struggling in terms of stamina and fitness

We should have been dead and buried by the time we got that equaliser.

http://www.wigan.vitalfootball.co.uk/

Reading were by far the better team, tackled stronger, attacked in numbers and looked threatening all game.

Reading could easily have won that by 3 goals at least.

Still a point's a point. Reading will be right up there come the end of the season. We will play better and lose this season.

and then someone hits the nail right on the head, gets to the key issues:

I rarely eat the food in any football ground coz it's over-priced & $h!te, but on occasions, needs must - I stopped eating the pies at the DW a couple of seasons back coz although I thought they tasted nice at the time, about an hour after the game ended chronic heartburn would kick in.

There are issues with the serving of booze though - at one of the games at the back end of last season I joined the queue before half time (at the bar under ES3) & 3 minutes before the 2nd half started still hadn't been served so gave up. I think that particular problem is caused by 2 things:
1) They have the "fast pouring" machines but don't use them. They also used to pre-pour loads before half-time so they could be dished out quick but no longer do that either. Whilst I was having a pint poured by them last season I did ask the woman serving why they didn't use them fast machine & she said that they stopped using it coz people said they didn't like the taste of the beer from it. They also stopped pre-pouring coz people refused to have them & insisted on fresh ones
2) people in the queue getting served & then taking additional orders from all their mates/passers by who once spoke to em in the pub who happen to see them at the front of the queue. Happens everywhere like but it doesn't help the queue move any quicker

Read more: http://www.wigan.vitalfootball.co.uk/fo ... z3A1krfApA

[PistolPete]

IPSWICH HOME

http://www.twtd.co.uk/forum/314426/a-few-thoughts-after-my-visit-at-reading/#17

We have lost the game where our goalkeeper Gerken had literally nothing to do and we aren't going to play too many worse oppositions than Reading.
Reading fans had been bemoaning lack of arrivals, loads of injuries in their midfield yet somehow their tean handled us well. Actually handled well our stupid, pointless long ball system.

Reading players? Just pure spectators. It was so clear to see they lack quality and most they needed to do was to cope with our long balls.

I don't why such a young reading defence was able to nullify murphy and in the most part Didsy so effectively.

[biscuitman]

Fair comments to be honest.

[tidus_mi2]

Never seen an opposition fan get our situation as spot on as that first Ipswich quote, definitely did his homework.

[Nameless]

The bit about them not playing a worse opposition is probably only fair if they accept that neither will we.

And their keeper had more to do than ours, and what he did do he messed up whereas Feds didn't make any key clock ups....

[Jano]

Didn't think their keeper had a save to make other than Cox's early shot, the only other thing of note he did was pick the ball out the back of the net.

[leww_rfc]

The bit about them not playing a worse opposition is probably only fair if they accept that neither will we.

And their keeper had more to do than ours, and what he did do he messed up whereas Feds didn't make any key clock ups....

He didn't have the time too

[Nameless]

Didn't think their keeper had a save to make other than Cox's early shot, the only other thing of note he did was pick the ball out the back of the net.

And the Ipswich strikers didn't give Feds any work to do either....

Of course the main thing Gerkin did was fail to react to a header from his defender allowing Taylor to score !

[PistolPete]

Bournemouth Away

reading playing a high pressing game very well

It was really odd. That was one of the poorest halves I've seen us play for some time but the first 20 minutes of the second half were outstanding and we just blew them away. Thought Reading were far superior in the first 45 but happily like Charlton they had nothing upfront.

Despite being beaten three times, Federici had a good game in goal for Reading and he was solely responsible for the scoreline remaining respectable pulling off excellent saves first from Marc Pugh and then from Pitman denying him a deserved hat-trick.

For all of Reading's hard work off the ball, they never really threatened with it.

[RoyalBlue]

Interesting about not having anything up front - guess that's Adkins' fault too!

And the comment about us playing a high pressing game well clearly comes from a Bournemouth supporting Adkins fan.

[bobby1413]

From http://www.gloryhorns.co.uk

Much better 2nd half - F*** knows why we didn't play like that with 11 men. Too marks to Cathcart, abdi, guidiola (sp) and paredes when he came on

We did our best to make an absolutely piss poor reading side look almost average in the first half before we realised they were Sh*t. Referee had a shocker as did one of the linos.

Fair play to reading as a club for doing out the away end like a home end - staff in Watford shirts, notices about tickets for future Watford games, videos of old Watford games. Nice touch

Enjoyable away day ( in the end)

Seem to be having a debate on their forum about how loud we were.

Very mixed views!

They should worry a bit more about how quiet they were never heard a thing from them and with 5 to go they were streaming out they deserve no success and I think they have a good manager but no passion

From http://www.wfcforums.com/

Finally, a little something for the Madejski Stadium (and for any Reading fans reading this). This is the third time I've been to the Madejski (because it's a close-ish away game) and each time I've come away thinking the same thing- thank **** we never went for the out-of-town, soulless bowl option in Leavesden that is now the Warner Brothers Studios. Yes, it would've been a lovely short walk for me to the ground, but it would've been in a place where there's next to no life (shops etc.). Give me my three (sorry four, still need to get used to the new Sir Elton John Stand) sided, old, traditional ground located in a run-down, working-class area any day of the week compared to that. It might be a **** stadium in a **** area, but at least it's got all the characteristics of a good old football ground that is in the centre of a town and is the focal point of a football club that is the lifeblood of a town and its community.

The Blue Dome or whatever it's called is the most boring stadium in the country, both in appearance and atmosphere.

I think I went to different game than the Reading fans.

Some on one of their forums Stating that for the amount of fans we took we didn't make much noise and its not often that they outsing the away fans but did today!!!!

Fecking clueless idiots.

Not long back - one thing nobody seems to have mentioned yet is the poor state the pitch was in, it reminded me of the Vic a few years back when we had the egg chasers playing there as well. Players were sliding all over the gaff and lots of bobbles also didn't help matters. I thought the sending off was a joke, Murray was all over Angella like a nasty rash, they both tumbled and he accidently hit the ball with his arm - never a yellow card offence.

I noticed the pitch was particularly poor

Superb stuff - feel even more chuffed than after the win at Fulham. Finally showing some cojones, maybe Joka is beginning to do his stuff....

As an aside, what a soul-less dump Reading is. And it took an hour to get back to the M4. Fortunately, I was able to spend the time picturing the sainted Almen taking off his shirt and throwing it into the crowd (in a totally non homo-erotic manner, of course)

[Mr.Swainey]

Imagine getting worked up by whether the opposition fans are singing or not.

[sandman]

Having been to Vicarage Road several times in recent years it would seem to be a bit of a cheek for Watford fans to talk about other clubs having a poor atmosphere at home games when they have probably the quietest home crowd in the League. Thought they could have been louder yesterday given the amount they brought down but they made a decent effort.

[Will95]

The Blue Dome or whatever it's called is the most boring stadium in the country, both in appearance and atmosphere.

This guy has never been to St Mary's, Leicester, Middlesbrough as far as appearance is concerned then.

[Hampshire Royal]

Vicarage Road is a shithole. Of the teams North of London, I prefer Kenilworth Road. Now that is a 'proper' old ground, with a good atmosphere. The way Luton came back from near extinction keeping their fans is as impressive as AFC Wimbledon.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Yawn. They were nothing special. If we'd played that game in say 3 weeks time once Clarke had done a few more sessions we'd have won it. Neither keeper had much to do but we had the 3 best chances by far & unfortunately didn't take any of them.

On that showing they'll be playing us next season.

As for atmosphere my god it's hardly a surprise it's poor. The Madejski has not been a fortress for a long long time & the life has been sucked out of the fans over the past 2 seasons. It will come back. As I said on another thread, you could see the players growing in confidence & that will have the same effect in the stands.

[Zana Badawi]

LOL. If you've been around Championship football for any real amount of time in the last two decades, you'll know that Watford have a real issue, I mean a REAL ISSUE, about being seen to be noisy. Doesn't matter if they celebrate like its their cup final or just sit there in their dozens doing nothing, they will claim they've made more noise than you. Its basically what characterises them as Watford fans.

[Big Ern]

As far as fans making noise..couldn't care less. The clubs ability to attract intellectually challenged fans that sing the same boring sings every week has no bearing on the clubs success....well lack of it at the moment. Probably says something favorable about the demographic of the area that we don't have many of these fans.

As far as criticising the Madstad, then this is a stadium named best sub 25,000 capacity stadium in Europe a few years back. Would take the madstad over vicarage road any day, and even though Elm Park had a certain sentimental attachment, I dread to think where we would be as a club if we were still there. Think jealousy actually comes into it when fans criticise new stadiums.