BFTG - Bradford

[RoyallyFcuked]

It was a dire game of football and really frustrating to watch. We were probably the better side in the first half but certainly not in the second, we got worse. The amount of hoofball particularly second half was a joke and quite frankly embarrassing. They still haven't realised that when you do that it nearly always gives the ball back to the opposition and you're straight back to defending again. Half the time it isnt even aimed at anyone. The state of the pitch isnt really an excuse either, it was the same for both teams (dont care how much they play on it). I'm sure we could have taken them apart if we really attacked them.

In the second half it seemed we were far more interested in holding on for the replay instead of winning the match, and I suppose I can understand that, because if we'd conceded at that point we almost certainly would have lost and been out. But, if we'd really kept going for it we probably wouldn't have needed a replay. Bradford weren't very good but we didnt show we were any better. Based on that performance we shouldnt be a league above them. Not sure about the "hard work" we put in. Defensively yes, but a bit more desire and thought in attack and we would have won the game because when we occassionally play a bit of football we look half decent.

I'm pretty sure Feds didnt have a proper save to make? He came for a few crosses and things but wasnt really tested. Did well when called upon but his distribution was sometimes poor. Got a bit lucky along with the defence after that cross from the left went through and hit the post. The defence was pretty solid though (most noticebly Hector), but could have easily conceded early in the second half when Obita missed a cross but their player kicked it straight back at him rather than kicking it in the net. Also when Stead pulled back for Hanson to knock it just wide was a let off. They are all guilty of needlessly giving the ball away (and/or hoofing), Kelly made a couple of mistakes but did make one superb tackle on Stead.

Going forward some big changes need to be made. As I've said before we are just seriously lacking in quality and that really showed today. Even when the players have time on the ball they still choose to hoof, it's pathetic. We were playing like a fcuking pub team for much of it.

Chalobah was probably the pick of the midfield, maybe our best player in the first half. He was winning pretty much everything in the air and is one of the few players who actually (however occasionally) looks to make a decent pass. Williams as well is one of few RFC players that sometimes looks good on the ball. Norwood is a decent ball winner but gives it away far too much. Can't fault Mackie for effort but not for the first time when I've seen him live was quite clumsy, twice he let the ball go out of play off him when he should have kept it in. Also just seen he did this in the build up to Pog's chance but it went unoticed! Speaking of unoticed, where was HRK? Poor show from him in a game that was made for him to produce.

I'm not Pog's biggest fan by any stretch but I thought he did pretty well today. We really don't play to his strengths though, I'm sick of the ball being hoofed up to him all the time. His touch isnt always there and he doesn't win much in the air or use his strength enough for a big guy but at times he held it up and layed it off well. He just needs time on the ball and he very rarely gets it. The lose lose situation we have with him is, he doesn't make the right runs, and we dont play the right balls.

Yakubu should have been brought on earlier (so should McCleary although he didnt look great). Yak might well have scored after Norwood's free kick hit the post were it not for a vital touch from a defender, although I think he was offside anyway (or someone was) but we didnt realise this at the time. A couple of times at the end he looked to make a dangerous run and if we had anyone good enough we could have played him in behind, which would have led to a clear one on one a very possibily a goal. Sadly, instead the ball was kicked up in the air for the 1000th time and the Yak was left thinking that the standard of football was actually better in China and Qatar.

Our fans weren't bad but considering how many there were I didnt think they were that great. Then again, there wasn't much to sing about. A goal from us and it could have really took off though.
I'm happy that were still in it of course but I can't be happy with the team performance today, over 4300 of us made the long journey to watch what was, in all honesty, another shower of shit. Not good enough. Sone of you may be easily satisfied but I want to see us play well. I went to the Derby away cup game and that was the best I've seen from us this season. It wasn't great, but it was far better than it was today.

I was talking to a couple of Bradford fans before the game and told them we are better away from home at the moment, and they said the same about their team. We have a better pitch at home yes, but when have we played well there recently? We could have our work cut out in the second leg, today was a big opportunity missed imo. Having said that, we still have a good chance of getting through, but I think its my turn to watch on TV.

[18urz71]

Well that was the best away game I've been to in terms of atmosphere. Pretty much the whole away end and most of the home end were standing and singing for the whole game. It was fantastic to be a part of.

[Royal Ginger]

My thoughts:

Feds - 8 - Confident, played well when tested
Kelly - 6 - Tried a little, but didn't offer much. Positioning was ok.
Pearce - 8 - Controlled Stead well, looked a little dodgy at times but clean sheet so all good
Hector - 6 - Miscontrolled the ball far too many times, kicking it into dangerous positions. Got better as the game carried on.
Obita - 6 - Tried hard but lets a few too many crosses in.
Mackie - 8 - One of the few players who looked like they wanted to score/assist today. Hard worker.
Chalobah - 5 - Constantly kicking the ball upwards and panicking when in space - Infuriating to watch today
Williams - 7 - Tried getting the ball down most, looked like he cared.
Norwood - 6 - Not great but not bad. Set pieces weren't awful.
Robson-Kanu - 5 - Is this guy a winger or a striker??? The amount of times we had no-one on the LW was annoying.
Pogrebnyak - 7 - Tried really hard today, unlucky with the post shot.

Yak - 7 - Looks dangerous at times, but didn't have enough impact
McCleary - 6 - Improvement on HRK but needed to play on the wing, not upfront.
Akpan - I'm convinced he's no worse than Chalobah.

Disagree with this. I thought Chalobah was class in the middle and probably our MOTM. Sure a couple went straight up, but he was a calming influence and won everything in the air.

Noticed this during the Forest game. He'd often be way too central making Obita look bad with no attacking support

[melonhead]

Cracking blood and thunder. Cup tie imo
Defence were immense, specially hector
Very low on quality, but to be expected playing On a ploughed field.
Job done, drew the sting out of that pitch, and Bradfords Big day out.

Reminiscent of the football that got me into reading in the first place, and a game parky would have loved, and thrived In

[Ouroboros]

I think we can all agree that the only real winner today was Pepe and his ridiculous stag-do shenanegans.

[tidus_mi2]

You can tell the plan today was number one, to make sure the defence was solid, it's a terrible pitch and while Clarke played it down, it was always going to have an effect on the match. As a result the shot count was low but hopefully the players know what's at stake and will be able to complete the job at the Madejski, especially since we will know our potential Semi-final opponents at that point as well.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

This type of game was made for the likes of Pearce.

Its when people run at us or play pass-and-move that him and Hector get torn apart

[bcubed]

I was concerned we'd be 433 when I heard the team, but we came out as 4141. Have to give Clark a lot of credit though, he got the defensive side of the game spot on. When you consider Bradford's home record, especially in the cups, it was probably sensible to set up not to lose. I enjoyed the game, despite the poor quality.

Bradford worked so hard to close us down, Mackie and HRK had to work even harder to get into the game. Mackie achieved it, HRK didn't. He did his defensive duties ok, but we had no threat from the left.

Chalobah has his best game for us, sat in front of the defence. Given our squad and his performance in that position, I wouldn't mind seeing how we didn't in a 343 formation. Hector was excellent. Pog worked tirelessly from the first minute to the last, often chasing aimless balls thumped to no one in particular. Was unlucky to hit the post with the only moment of real quality in the match.

Best element of a dire game was the passion and commitment shown today. Steve Clark needs to get his teams showing more of that between now and the end of the season.

Agreed

Don't usually think so but today Clarke got the team right and subs right
Picking Mackie ahead of McCleary was definitely the right call and I think Mackie is absolutely up for a fight which it was. Probably his best game for us?

Pog was excellent and unlucky not to score

Everyone put in a shift, except for HRK, and a draw was a good result.

Atmosphere was great and I had a real sense of anticipation before the start. Their fans made a lot of noise and the place was quite intimidating - that's the only reason I can think of for some of the refs decisions. But if you make a lot of noise you can expect to get more than your fair share of decisions

Anyway enjoyed the whole experience, even if second half was backs to the wall. Bring on the replay

[JR]

Ref was shocking, no idea what him/linesmen were playing at but I don't remember a game when so many decisions were ignored/overturned. One second we give a way a foul on the edge of our box, then he takes it back for a foul throw on the edge of theirs... Numerous ogre head scratching moments.

Are you really serious on your views in the ref??!! I thought he was excellent. Let the game flow as much as could in difficult circumstances, avoided brandishing unnecessary yellows and kept a good lid on it.

He only overturned decisions because the linesmen were rubbish and he was brave enough to overrule.

Sometimes fans have got to get real on their referee assessments. A definite 9/10 from me today.

[Maguire]

Appalling game but that was down to the pitch more than anything else. Reading clearly weren't going to take any chances and in truth most of them put it a good honest shift today.

First half was shaded by Reading, second half by Bradford. Draw the right result.

I thought Pogrebnyak really worked hard today. Mackie was a bustling menace in the first half but faded badly. Williams has a kind of bustle which suits matches like this. Pearce, for whatever his limitations are, is a hugely dedicated professional and probably deserves a bit more respect.

Last thing - I like Valley Parade and its asymmetric weirdness. Nice counterpoint to the raft of new stadia.

[Maguire]

Ref was shocking, no idea what him/linesmen were playing at but I don't remember a game when so many decisions were ignored/overturned. One second we give a way a foul on the edge of our box, then he takes it back for a foul throw on the edge of theirs... Numerous ogre head scratching moments.

Are you really serious on your views in the ref??!! I thought he was excellent. Let the game flow as much as could in difficult circumstances, avoided brandishing unnecessary yellows and kept a good lid on it.

He only overturned decisions because the linesmen were rubbish and he was brave enough to overrule.

Sometimes fans have got to get real on their referee assessments. A definite 9/10 from me today.

Overall he was fair and decent IMHO, no complaints at all.

[Royal Ginger]

Match of the day just reminded me of Akpan's air kick. Any other player would have got any kind of poke on that and we'd be on our way to Wembley.

[1976Bantam]

Match of the day just reminded me of Akpan's air kick. Any other player would have got any kind of poke on that and we'd be on our way to Wembley.

True, he should have scored but it would have been scandalous for you to win it that way given Pogrebnyak's blatant handball moments before.

[Maguire]

Match of the day just reminded me of Akpan's air kick. Any other player would have got any kind of poke on that and we'd be on our way to Wembley.

True, he should have scored but it would have been scandalous for you to win it that way given Pogrebnyak's blatant handball moments before.

Can't disagree with this - only just seen the handball, at the time we though he's headed it against the post.

[Jagermesiter1871]

Think we should do them easy back at our place. We looked a step up when we got the ball down and attempted to played. On a grass pitch as opposed to the unplayable allotment from today think we'll be fine.

[Huckleberry Hound]

Match of the day just reminded me of Akpan's air kick. Any other player would have got any kind of poke on that and we'd be on our way to Wembley.

True, he should have scored but it would have been scandalous for you to win it that way given Pogrebnyak's blatant handball moments before.

Can't disagree with this - only just seen the handball, at the time we though he's headed it against the post.

Becoming Pog's signature move. He's been booked for it a couple of times already this year.

[Ian Royal]

He went down like a cheap hooker for the freekick leading to it as well...

Who'd have thought a Russian would ignore the law to his own advantage?

Put a good shift in as usual though.

[Silver Fox]

Pog was immense today, I'm not surprised he went down so easily for that free kick at the end, he must have been as knackered as I was after trying to get to my seat. Mackie also impressed me tons with his work rate. Otherwise agreed with those who've said it was pretty attritional viewing.

One thing nobody seems to have mentioned was that the dick with the flare must have been pleased about the one man Bradford pitch invasion, totally got him off the hook as Belmont of the day

[handbags_harris]

Think we should do them easy back at our place. We looked a step up when we got the ball down and attempted to played. On a grass pitch as opposed to the unplayable allotment from today think we'll be fine.

Err, have you seen our pitch recently? If not, let me enlighten you - it's just as bad as theirs.

[bcubed]

Ref was shocking, no idea what him/linesmen were playing at but I don't remember a game when so many decisions were ignored/overturned. One second we give a way a foul on the edge of our box, then he takes it back for a foul throw on the edge of theirs... Numerous ogre head scratching moments.

Are you really serious on your views in the ref??!! I thought he was excellent. Let the game flow as much as could in difficult circumstances, avoided brandishing unnecessary yellows and kept a good lid on it.

He only overturned decisions because the linesmen were rubbish and he was brave enough to overrule.

Sometimes fans have got to get real on their referee assessments. A definite 9/10 from me today.

Definite homer - see Refwatch