BFTG - Leeds

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Left early as couldn't take the boredom. The whole 'experience' was just fcuking dreadful. Flame throwers at the start with Thai people kicking balls into the crowd.

The song was an utter shambles as was the attempt by Sassima to give a rousing speech pre kick-off & the Leeds fans just sang all the way through.

She still tried to persevere with the speech.....it dragged on for so long the Leeds fans then started booing. Didn't hear a thing she said.

They played the dreadful song again at HT. And we also got treated to a new Thai Airways ad with a strapline "smooth as silk". Oh the irony as the football certainly wasn't.

Left early & walked past the Royals Family Area. At this point I started to slit my wrists.

WTF has happened to this club?!

CBA to give ratings. It was a shit game between two sh1t sides that will be nowhere near promotion.

[Royal Ginger]

Defence good (not convinced by Bond), midfield not bad, Sa, very good, screaming out for Hurtado and Mcleary.

Was the ref wearing a flat cap?

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Agree that Bond looked ropey. Sa probably impressed me the most but he had no service.

I can sense it's going to be another painful season at home. Fortress Madejski my arse. Hey everyone come to the family fun zone where we play Thai pop songs & put the words on a screen.

Just horrendous. Quite possibly the worst home matchday I've ever had the misfortune to attend.

[windermere_royal]

Take a f*cking chill pill FFS. it`s only a game of football. he don`t think watching Reading is a good idea in your condition

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I'm inclined to agree that watching Reading isn't a good idea.

[Royal Ginger]

Thought the pre-match shambles was hilarious personally, especially when the marketing person leant in and told Sasima to give up. No idea what she was trying to say, but she seems to mean well and I like her money.

I don't mind the drummer, I actually think he's crucial to getting SOME noise out of that corner, but the trumpets can do one.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

The atmosphere is just appalling on a match day & without doubt it affects the players. How can it have got SO bad since McD left? I just don't know how they'll ever sort it out now TBH.

We've gone past the point of no return I feel which is rather sad.

[Soul Man]

It will all be good, players come in and we will soon start winning more than we lose . We are good at the back.

[sandman]

Someone sack that awful tannoy tw@t or at least tell him to tone down the faux Partridge delivery.

[RG30]

Roar for the Royals from the East Block

[blueroyals]

Somehow they've made the match day experience worse than last season. oxf*rd dreadful. Stupid speeches, stupid music, stupid flame thowers, roar for the royals, what the actual oxf*rd? And then ice cream vans whilst walking to the car park. It's not a oxf*rd circus.

Don't get me started on the game. It's not strikers we need, it's some creative midfielders/wingers.

[WAZZOCK]

Out of interest, what would you lot do to improve the atmosphere?

[SCIAG]

An uninspiring performance, but at least they didn't sneak a goal.

Clarke on the Radio emphasised that we should take the positives, but other than Leeds also not being very good, I don't think there are really many to take.

Robson-Kanu started well, but faded. Obita ran the flank well, although he still has issues with niggling fouls. Norwood had a good game, but he's never going to win us matches single handedly.

Tactically we were all wrong. Blackman and Robson-Kanu were playing very narrow and struggled to influence the game. Williams and Quinn pulled wide to compensate, but neither of them are suited to that. I don't understand why Stacey didn't come on - if he isn't ready to play, why have him on the bench? Similarly, why bring on Hector to play in midfield? Clarke doesn't seem prepared to use Novakovich or Stacey, so why not have Kuhl on the bench? Tshibola had a good game when he came on, but I can't really fault Clarke for choosing Quinn ahead of him and we can't pick all four. I've seen Quinn have better games, hopefully he comes good and gives us a little more creativity.

Not sure what to think about Sa, he probably needs to get a goal before he'll show us what he can do. It's a pity he's completely lacking in competition.

We need to play proper wingers. HRK is OK, but not with Blackman on the opposite flank - they're too similar. I prefer Blackman as a striker. On the basis of today, Obita would be a better winger than defender.

[RoyallyFcuked]

Atmosphere bad since McD left? LOL the atmosphere has been shite whenever I've been there since about 2009, was great in the east stand nearest the away fans from 2005-2007, can't comment on how it was in the latter part of 2011/12 as I hardly went to home games then but I think unless its a massive game or the team is doing really well in the league we're always gunna have a pretty poor atmosphere at the Mad Stad.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

I can save you all time. Just copy and paste the following.

Solid in defence. Hard working but lacking in creativity in midfield. Toothless in attack.

Repeat for 3 pages until too bored to continue.

[BonBoh]

Some positives:
At least we have now kept a clean sheet for about 250 minutes of competitive football.
Hurtado will soon be available for selection - We have a number of wide players injured so we can't expect to buy more just to cover injured players who will be back soon.

[SCIAG]

Out of interest, what would you lot do to improve the atmosphere?

It doesn't need to be improved.

Have the guy who does the sub and goal announcements also read out the teams and give perhaps some minimal encouragement. Some hype man getting excited and American-style pitchside fireworks will just put people off.

If everyone's quiet - so what?

There's one foolproof way to improve the atmosphere - improve the quality of the football. If we win and score, the crowd will respond.

[Lacoste]

It's taking everything I have to give Clarke the benefit and wait until we have our wingers back before judging him. Realistically though, a decent manager would be getting some kind of tune out of this bunch. Just have to hope that when this Spaniard and our wingers are back things will start to improve.

I think Clarke got it all wrong tactically today, while the wingers are a miss, things could have been better.

I have no doubt that Clarke will fail here, he should have been gone end of last season but hey ho, he has until the middle of September with me.

[WAZZOCK]

Out of interest, what would you lot do to improve the atmosphere?

It doesn't need to be improved.

Have the guy who does the sub and goal announcements also read out the teams and give perhaps some minimal encouragement. Some hype man getting excited and American-style pitchside fireworks will just put people off.

If everyone's quiet - so what?

There's one foolproof way to improve the atmosphere - improve the quality of the football. If we win and score, the crowd will respond.

I agree with all of that, particularly the bit in bold.

It's just that a lot of supporters seem to bemoan the lack of atmosphere yet have no suggestions as to how to improve. I'm very much of the opinion that people should stop moaning about it and get on with their lives.

[Hogmeister Royal]

My trick has always been to stay on the concourse and drink beer until just before kick-off - they can have a Sasima-led karaoke band with choreographed Thai ladyboy dancers every week for all I care, so long as they are off the pitch by 2:58

But even so... yes, the whole build-up thing was excruciatingly embarassing. Let's hope it gets toned down from now on.

Re the match - a close game between two well-matched sides, we had the better of the second half, but lacked the creativity/firepower to get a goal. We looked very solid at the back (I agree Bond is a question mark), and if we added McCleary and Hurtado (assuming he's any good) to that line-up, plus a decent striker, and I think we could have a good season ahead of us.

So yes it was pretty dull fare, but I've seen a lot worse and there was enough there to keep me positive - for now, at least.