Back From The Game - Wigan

[floyd__streete]

I think the issue here really is that we're just set up much better to play away from home. Keep it narrow, night, and then hit them on the counter.

Hi Winch, good to see you still supporting The Royals TM. I hope you are well. Cold this morning isn't it?

Not sure I 100% agree with the highlighted text. At Wolves I thought we dominated the game and were on the front foot for most of the match, particularly second half. In that game we had Chalobah in the middle of the park and he was effective alongside Williams. Unlucky to lose Hector last night - seems this crop can't go a single match without a first teamer picking up a knock - but we could have gone with Cooper at centre-half and binned off Norwood.

[wingnut]

Without doubt one of the worst Reading performances in living memory. Worse than anything I saw under Adkins (mind, I wasn't at Birmingham or Peterborough).

Chilobah probably completed more passes to Wigan players than any Wigan player. Even Kelly was making mistakes. Norwood is broken and we should ask for our money back. McCLeary went off for a piss; that's how bad it was. Obita is the most one footed player I've ever seen - more so even than Shorey - all anybody needs to do is show him inside and he's lost. So if he can't cross, all he can do is try and double switch back onto his left foot. My Mum could probably spot how to take him out the game, so I'm sure full time managers with coaching badges can.

Every second ball they won. We back passed ourselves into trouble time after time - the most grotesque example was the back pass to Federici that gave him so little room he tried to pass it around for half an hour and ended up in a full on wrestling match with their forward in the penalty area.

11 minutes of extra time - you'd think it would be a siege mentality for the pie eaters. But no, they happily passed it around and waited for us to commit unforced errors or pointless fouls.

If Clarke wasn't new to the job the calls for him to go would be deafening. I'm usually reluctant to be overly damning in my assessment, but I have no hesitation in saying that was inept, spineless, gutless, and a disgrace to this football club, its supporters, and to be honest, the game in general.

Can't disagree with any of that - certainly up (down?) there amongst the worst performances I've ever seen.

Was saying at the time we were nowhere near any loose ball. The backpass incident, of course, led to the corner and their goal. That was preceeded by two incidents where first Obita then Williams gave Pearce an earful for wayward passes which looked to unsettle him. What clearly also unsettled him was playing alongside Chalobah - Pearce always seems to need a calming influence next to him otherwise his game goes to complete ratshit.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

Floyd_Streete wrote:but we could have gone with Cooper at centre-half and binned off Norwood

+1 to this.

Chalabah at centre half was the wrong pick on the night...... He did a job but when he got the ball he just lobbed it up for it to come back again.

Cooper must be wondering if he has a future now at RFC!!

.

[tee peg]

One plus from the game, HRK was not the worse player on the pitch.
A special mention for Norwood and Chalobah.Bloody awful.I agree with Carlos,
this "team" needs taking apart and rebuilding in the summer.

[loyalroyal4life]

At least the manager isn't trying to take the positives out of it...

Speaking brutally honestly to the press, Clarke said, "We deserved to lose. It was rubbish.

"A little bit of me is embarrassed to be coach of a team that plays like that, especially first half. Not a good game, not a good performance and obviously a terrible result.
Read more at http://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/article ... 7tVsoWM.99

Adkins would have somehow managed to take the positives out of that game!

[ayjaydee]

Can't remember the last time we played that badly. It made last week look promising.
Also, LOL at the Facebook mongs on the Reading FC Official page. If you are going to boo then stay at home, the reason the team played so badly is the fans, back the boys blah, blah, blah all said by people with names like "Sue Reading FC" and the like. Retards.

I know we live in a litigious society but

[Winston Smith]

'Eleven minutes?'

::turns to look at other bewildered fans::

[Sanguine]

Wtf has happened to Obita? Has become a complete pussy. Scared to go into 50/50s and scared to take players on.

Run. Stop. Turn around. Pass to Pearce. Repeat.

It's cause he's only got one foot. Force him onto his right foot and all he can do is switch to pass back.

Yep. Nothing has happened to him. For all his odd bright spark here and there, he has never been good enough - doesn't beat his man enough and is too one-footed to be a useful wide player.

[Elm Park Kid]

I was watching for the entire 103 minutes of that game and I truly wish I hadn't. Wigan are a shambles and we are an embarrassment.

Hopefully we can enjoy our FA Cup escapades whilst they last and then the team can be ripped apart and put back together in the summer.

[Winston Smith]

Why dont our players know how to take throw ons properly so that it works as an advantage to us?

we seem to only be able to throw it hard at someone's chest meaning they have to try and get it under control first or throw it high in the air to a teammate who has taller opposition players around him. And both of those are only after waiting ages for the opposition to all get back in position ready to defend it.

[Royality creeps In]

Perhaps Reading players can add conducting a throw in to the list of other essential requirements that are part of the criteria for being a professional footballer.

These include
A Shooting
B Passing
C Tackling

Not much to ask is it?

[PieEater]

I think the game play of teams coming here is pretty clear. Mark McCleary out of the game, press us, and timewaste/frustrate us. We then have to resort to hoofball.

If I can see that then why can't the manager, and why do players commit such stupid fouls when they know the opposition players are waiting to be tapped on the shoulder and the ref has shown he'll blow for any sort of contact.

It really was appalling but a special mention for a great save from Al Habsi, and a Williams header that went just wide. We were shit but we didn't deserver to lose.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Perhaps Reading players can add conducting a throw in to the list of other essential requirements that are part of the criteria for being a professional footballer.

These include
A Shooting
B Passing
C Tackling

Not much to ask is it?

And learning to kick with your wrong foot.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Why dont our players know how to take throw ons properly so that it works as an advantage to us?

we seem to only be able to throw it hard at someone's chest meaning they have to try and get it under control first or throw it high in the air to a teammate who has taller opposition players around him. And both of those are only after waiting ages for the opposition to all get back in position ready to defend it.

Yep. And they never take a quick one, always wait for the full back.

[Big Foot]

A truly uninspiring and deflating performance last night

What the hell Federici thought he was playing at in the build up to conceding the corner they scored from, I do not know. Thankfully he's so fat he was able to wrestle the player away and concede a corner instead of one of the most embarrassing goals of all time. Then failed to command his box at a set piece again - 2 goals in 7 days conceded at home directly due to his faults. Piss off now.

Chalobah absolutely terrible at CB, him and Norwood must have had single digit pass completion stats as every time they touched the ball, Wigan were on the attack next.

Not really sure what Simon Cox does? How has anyone ever paid a 7 figure sum for him in his career? Said it before and will say it again - he's not a pacy player, not strong in the air, doesn't work the channels well and isn't a fox in the box. He is average Joe who doesn't excel in any area & so as a result, is incredibly easy to play against

McCleary seems to play a lot better with Gunter behind him than Kelly, but Kelly (IMO) makes us more solid at the back than Gunter. Will be interesting to see what's sacrificed once Gunter is back from injury - given Clarke's defensive/tight stance, I'd suspect Kelly has the shirt for a while now.

All in all, really really dull night! I've seen better atmospheres at the Madejski for a Reading Schoolboys under-15s game than last night - not helped by Wigan's pitiful support, I'd estimate at 150 fans tops - but still, the Madejski Stadium is a shadow of what it was even 5 years ago. Think Reading Rock Festival and their trend to become the new V Festival over recent years - we are in the midst of the same transition at the Madejski and it's little wonder home performances are so tepid.

[Maguire]

Just read four pages trying to find something to disagree with but you're all completely correct about everything.

Just an appalling performance with no redeeming features whatsoever. The most notable thing about the entire match was the 11 minutes of stoppage time, although I was sat on the bus long before the end of that.

Utter toss.

[winchester_royal]

I think the issue here really is that we're just set up much better to play away from home. Keep it narrow, night, and then hit them on the counter.

Hi Winch, good to see you still supporting The Royals TM. I hope you are well. Cold this morning isn't it?

Not sure I 100% agree with the highlighted text. At Wolves I thought we dominated the game and were on the front foot for most of the match, particularly second half. In that game we had Chalobah in the middle of the park and he was effective alongside Williams. Unlucky to lose Hector last night - seems this crop can't go a single match without a first teamer picking up a knock - but we could have gone with Cooper at centre-half and binned off Norwood.

Some fair points there Floyd, but I still feel our dominance at Wolves came from being set up in a way that took advantage of Wolves throwing men forward. Likewise Fulham and Derby. It's the same old failings though when we have to tackle teams playing deep, and for me yesterday that was because we were far too narrow and relying on the counter when we should have been making the pitch as wide as possible and really stretching a poor Wigan team.

[TheWhisper]

From the very beginning last night something was amiss, I wouldn't be surprised if it was behind the scenes. A lot of the players just seemed to be niggling each other. Pearce within the first 30 seconds gave one of the ball boys a bollocking for not being quick enough and then mouthing "for fcuks sake", bang out of order,

[Readars]

We were shit but we didn't deserver to lose.

The only thing I can disagree with on the whole thread. We didn't deserve to win or draw with that performance.

Send Chalobah back to Chavski, surely we have academy players better than him.

[Pepe the Horseman]

We were shit but we didn't deserver to lose.

The only thing I can disagree with on the whole thread. We didn't deserve to win or draw with that performance.

Send Chalobah back to Chavski, surely we have academy players better than him.

What did we deserve then, Readars?