BFTG Brighton

[Carlos]

Well in the car anyway. Frustrating and gutted to let two points slip. Thought we'd weathered the storm after fed kept us in it. Yet again goal comes from right wing. So angry at Blackman for being so utterly selfish at 2-1.

Federici - 8 - kept us in it second half and no fault for either goal
Gunter - 5 - looked solid but found wanting in vital moments
Hector - 6 - fairly solid but lacks composure and poor distribution
Pearce - 6 - same as Hector
Obita - 6 - decent defending but poor going forward
Kanu - 3 - from two minutes onwards he was anonymous. Ran around a bit
Norwood - 5 - failed to impose on game but good cross for 2nd goal
Williams - 6 - decent but nothing special. Seems different player to one last season.
Taylor - 5 - can't remember him doing anything
Cox - 6 - decent on the ball but maybe too flashy at times
Murray - 8 - two goals and imposed himself well. Can't understand why Clarke took him off so early.

Subs:
Kelly - 5 - did very little
Cummings - 5 - not a right winger and not enough support for Gunter
Blackman - 1 - atrocious selfish player. Offers nothing and only plays for himself.

Would have taken drae before game but feels like a defeat throwing away two goal lead.

[Zana Badawi]

That's three crap substitutes right there.
Either
a) SC doesn't quite know his team yet or
b) One or more of them are going on the transfer list in January

[Royal_jimmy]

The sooner most of that team goes the better. Blackman is one that doesn't set team members up. Once again our defence holds us back. We can't keep relying on our strikers to keep scoring when our defence keeps on flopping. My MOM is between Feds and Obita. Probs Feds.

[dizzynewheights]

I'd argue federici should have come for the ball on the first goal. Struggling to think of a worse player I've ever seen in a Reading shirt than Blackman

[Forty]

I'd argue federici should have come for the ball on the first goal. Struggling to think of a worse player I've ever seen in a Reading shirt than Blackman

Oooo - I think that might spark quite a long list......... I'll start with Dean Morgan - who scored today for the Cards.

[harry]

I'd argue federici should have come for the ball on the first goal. Struggling to think of a worse player I've ever seen in a Reading shirt than Blackman

Oooo - I think that might spark quite a long list......... I'll start with Dean Morgan - who scored today for the Cards.

That's easy.
Mark Reilly.
So bad that even Tommy Burns got rid of him after a handful of games despite him being Scottish.

[BORING 1-0]

Just home.

I'm gutted. It felt like a defeat.

For forty minutes, the team were totally dominant (almost embarrassingly so from a Brighton perspective: Their fans were silent and had absolutely nothing to inspire them: they looked beaten and it looked like a question of their only ambition being to keep the score down)

Almost immediately after conceding a poor goal; the team capitulated.

It was definitely Feds error; classic error in being hesitant, then being caught neither coming for the ball or staying on his line; a totally soft goal

From that moment onwards; confidence entirely evaporated.

It was extraordinary to watch.

From then on the defence played deeper and deeper and just invited pressure.

We stopped passing; the impressive movement stopped; the crisp passing became two three touches before the pass and it was Brighton who showed the passion and the aggression.

The second half was like watching a non-league side defending a lead against a Premiership team in an FA Cup tie.

We had to retain our 2-0 lead through to half time; and didn't.

i was truly shocked but the almost instantaneous decline; we looked good and were by far the better team for 40 minutes; then we were instantly clueless; couldn't defend; offered very little threat and if it wasn't for Feds' saves in the second half, we would have lost; no doubt.

Blackman was poor, particularly when not squaring the pass and creating a clear shot on goal; but to be fair, the service to him and Cox offered little or no width and Brighton became the better side the longer the game progressed.

Astonishing.

With such fragile belief and confidence and without steel and a passion to fight; we could go down.

Brighton offered more fight today and they will be lifted by the result.

We need two full backs who can defend.
We need a central midfielder/ destroyer (I think it's referred to as a holding midfielder these days; when I played the role was to destroy; win the ball give it to your playmakers)
We need experience in the middle of the back four; to hold the team together.

Team;
Feds
RB CB Hector LB
MD
McLeary Norwood Obita
Williams
Murray (or AN other)

unless we change, I can see another hammering on the horizon and a downward spiral to relegation;

Something I do not wish to contemplate.

[Ginger Ninjas]

Blackman can piss off now, his non-pass to Cummings was one of the worst things I've seen a Reading player do, absolutely disgraceful.

As alluded to above, it was quite incredible to see how quickly and dramatically the confidence drained away after such an encouraging start. Clarke's got a big job on his hands, but I still think we're more likely to hover around 16th than be drawn into a full blown relegation battle. Think today also showed why we need to keep Murray (who's come in for some stick recently) - if he plays 20 more games, he's going to get 8-10 goals, and I'm not sure if be confident of anyone else doing that.

As for the game, Feds was MOM by a mile, three or four outstanding saves in the second half, Obita pretty good.

[MeMeMe]

I'd argue federici should have come for the ball on the first goal. Struggling to think of a worse player I've ever seen in a Reading shirt than Blackman

Oooo - I think that might spark quite a long list......... I'll start with Dean Morgan - who scored today for the Cards.

That's easy.
Mark Reilly.
So bad that even Tommy Burns got rid of him after a handful of games despite him being Scottish.

+1 he was absolute shyte in every game he played

[Jackson Corner]

Please don't tell me we are to good to down. From the moment Brighton scored just before half time. We contrived from looking half decent to making the 2nd worse team in this division look like Real Madrid. The 2nd half was one way traffic and only Feds saved us from being thrashed. As pissed of as I was at conceding so late in the game it was no more than they deserved. Hecter is out of his depth at this level, Cox works hard but never looks like scoring. Taylor is a lightwieght, whilst Robson Kanu did oxf*rd all. Make no mistake Clarke has one hell of a job to turn this shower around we are in serious trouble. If we get anything from Norwich I will believe in father Christmas.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

We beat Norwich just a few weeks ago

[Big Foot]

I thought it was Obita who didn't square to Cummings, rather than Blackman? Hard to tell the difference between 2 very average players. How bad were we last season for Obita to get POTS? (Serious question as I barely went under Adkins)

We had little domination of the game, there was no sustained period of pressure from us, unlike what Brighton put us under. On that showing yesterday, you'd have said we were the side with 1 win in 18 ahead of kick off, rather than them.

Player ratings:

Federici - 8 - Great saves 2nd half but his weakness today is the same as it was 10 years ago when he first signed for us in that he's a shot stopper who doesn't command his area or control his defence well enough. Seriously wondering if he has magnets in his boots that keep him rooted to his line?

Gunter - 4 - Terrible. Shameful to think that he was our captain under Adkins. Laughable to think that anyone would want to sign him let alone a Premier League club & let alone for the kind of figures quoted in the media lately (£2.5-3m?!). Sell him immediately.

Hector - 6 - Great physically and cleared lines well at times, however this bloke has all the composure of a Jack Russell off his tits on amphetamines in a nightclub. Needs that coached out of him and then we'll have a decent CB for the future.

Pearce - 7 - don't remember him making a mistake and nor do I remember him being particularly outstanding, the sign of a good CB's performance. Absolutely the right decision for him to be club captain, IMO.

Obita - 6 - not a natural Left Back, needs to be playing further up the pitch.

Taylor - 4 - not good enough. Not a natural winger, offered nothing.

Williams - 5 - How this bloke is a US International, I do not know. Him & Norwood seem too similar to form a decent midfield partnership & so with Williams' injury record,I would flog him at the earliest opportunity.

Norwood - 6 - good passing at times but counteracted by number of times he dawdles on the ball and loses possession as a result. Needs to become slicker and have an anchoring midfielder to support him so that he can play further up the pitch.

HRK - 4 - If he was a racing horse, he'd be put down by now. What has happened to this bloke? I thought from his twitter account at the start of last season that he was #TheStrongestInTheLeague or something - performance of a wet fart yesterday, looked like the lost boy from Peter Pan. Adkins appears to have coached any kind of instinct to attack or run with the ball out of him. For the sake of his career,he needs to move on sharpish.

Cox - 5 - can't remember him doing anything of note. If he wasn't from Reading & so there was no 'affiliation' between him & the fans, he'd get just as much stick as Blackman, IMO. Shame he's a permanent signing and not a loan we can cancel.

Murray - 7 - 2 goals but offered nothing else. Don't care how many goals he's scored on this loan, he is not the kind of striker we need. I think back to my last visit to the Amex and we got smashed that night but walked away with a 1-0 win, thanks in large to a Mr Roberts being a nuisance up front, hustling their back line, holding the ball up, winning free kicks etc. All the stuff Murray doesn't do. Add in his dodgy knee and you have "disaster" written all over him. Pull out of the transfer deal, send him back to Palace and use any available transfer money to spend elsewhere.

Substitutions:

Cummings again looked scared of the ball whenever it was within 2 feet of him, a return to the days under Rodgers.
Blackman, offered nothing,
Kelly, looks as confused to be out there as we were. Not sure why he came on instead of Cooper, who would've offered a much bigger physical presence to ward off the long throws.




All in all, this squad is an absolute f*cking shambles, with no balance, very few characters, leaders or creative players. Nigel Adkins' managerial reputation should be in tatters for creating this clusterf*ck of a squad over the past 20 months.

I've watched Reading nearly every week since 2000/01 (bar the Adkins years) and never seen a squad so dull or lethargic as this. We have always been about playing with 2 effective wingers, getting the ball out wide and having 1, if not 2, good strikers in there to take our chances. There was none of that yesterday, I dribbled over the lovely chicken & ham pie at Half Time more than any of the players dribbled down the wings; and I hope that McCleary sorts his body out and we can bring in a couple of wingers ASAP.

[Pandoras Box]

Blackman can piss off now, his non-pass to Cummings was one of the worst things I've seen a Reading player do, absolutely disgraceful

Trouble is I've seen it from him more than once now.
He's like the tw@t at 5 aside who runs around in circles for five minutes and refuses to pass the simple ball and your team ends up losing.
Still, if he does ever score again I suppose we can look forward to his 'fvck off you lot' stance as per his scuffed goal at Derby away.

[Handsome Man]

I'd argue federici should have come for the ball on the first goal. Struggling to think of a worse player I've ever seen in a Reading shirt than Blackman

Drenthe, Pogrebnyak, Guthrie

[winchester_royal]

A very accurate summary there BF..it's good to have you back.

Would only argue with you saying that Obita is more comfortable up the pitch, which is sadly just not true..but as you've been in exile these last few months and not have to witness his performances on the wing that can be forgiven.

My own summary is that we were well on it for the first 30 mins but then we started dropping far too deep and putting no pressure on the ball which invited the onslaught. Don't think the substitutions did much good tbh, but with the options at his disposal I'm not sure you can place too much blame at Clarke's feet.

There were positives, and when we actually get 2 decent wingers on the pitch we'll be okay (I hope)

[RoyalBlue]

I


All in all, this squad is an absolute f*cking shambles, with no balance, very few characters, leaders or creative players. Nigel Adkins' managerial reputation should be in tatters for creating this clusterf*ck of a squad over the past 20 months.

.

You seem to be overlooking the very important fact that thanks to the idiotic antics of our owners (x2, possibly 3) and the board, Adkins hands were firmly tied behind his back and there was little he could do to alter the squad. What's more, most of the signings that he actually made are among the better players that we have.

[Ian Royal]

This. He underperformed, but to lay the make-up of the squad at his door is a poor criticism.

If BF hadn't thrown his toys he'd know that Williams had been an excellent player who's been done by injury for example. Cox, bar the last couple of games (under Clarke) has mostly been a bright spark.

In fact most of the worst and most disappointing players were all here under McDermott. HRK, Gunter, Akpan, Blackman (who looked dangerous early season but was too greedy - now he looks shit and greedy again).

I'm seeing the same problems under Clarke as Adkins. If that continues, still early days, clearly the big problem wasn't Adkins.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Fcuking hell lets give Clarke a chance. I'd wager we'd have got fcuk all from yesterday under Adkins. A point away from home is decent even if the performance was shit 2nd half.

We will get better & Clarke will have already done some homework on some players he can bring in I'm sure.

[Ian Royal]

Fcuking hell lets give Clarke a chance. I'd wager we'd have got fcuk all from yesterday under Adkins. A point away from home is decent even if the performance was shit 2nd half.

We will get better & Clarke will have already done some homework on some players he can bring in I'm sure.

Not blaming Ckarke in the least. Adkins record when ahead was actually pretty good, we just rarely got there.

[Wycombe Royal]

Obita - 6 - not a natural Left Back, needs to be playing further up the pitch.

You obviously didn't see him playing further up the pitch then under Adkins this season.....