BFTG - Rov'rum

[OLLIE KEARNS]

Playing two different front 4's in the past three days made a lot of sense. Playing Williams in the "quarterback "role made no sense but credit to Stam for changing it at half time. Having Kelly moving the ball quickly and having Williams and McCleary playing higher up the pitch changed the tempo of the game completely.
Sad for the half time boo boys. Spoilt children mentality ! This is professional sport, it doesn't always go to plan. When a team delivers the kind of season this team has then maybe some encouragement might be the order of the day ?

It could have gone right from the very start. But Jaap sometimes likes to mess about with his team and try different things. Coppell never messed around with a winning formula. When it ain't broke don't try to fix it.

Yeah, lucky he didn't try Mendes or anything crazy like that huh ? He tried Williams in that role and it didn't work. He recognised that and changed it so fair play to him. There were a lot of tired bodies at Villa on Saturday so making changes was the right thing to do. Getting one wrong in a difficult situation is not exactly incompetent is it.

[Elm Park Kid]

The first half was f**king awful but then the second half was f**king great.

[Top Flight]

The one good thing about Stam is that he knows when to experiment. He's taking every opportunity to learn about his players. Of course when you play around with the team suddenly things stop working. It's normal.

Most of you nobbers had no tolerance for McDermotts experimentation at the end of last season when results no longer mattered with 6 games to go. You called for experimentation and getting the youngsters in the team and when McDermott did that and results suffered you heavily slammed him.

[Top Flight]

Playing two different front 4's in the past three days made a lot of sense. Playing Williams in the "quarterback "role made no sense but credit to Stam for changing it at half time. Having Kelly moving the ball quickly and having Williams and McCleary playing higher up the pitch changed the tempo of the game completely.
Sad for the half time boo boys. Spoilt children mentality ! This is professional sport, it doesn't always go to plan. When a team delivers the kind of season this team has then maybe some encouragement might be the order of the day ?

It could have gone right from the very start. But Jaap sometimes likes to mess about with his team and try different things. Coppell never messed around with a winning formula. When it ain't broke don't try to fix it.

Yeah, lucky he didn't try Mendes or anything crazy like that huh ? He tried Williams in that role and it didn't work. He recognised that and changed it so fair play to him. There were a lot of tired bodies at Villa on Saturday so making changes was the right thing to do. Getting one wrong in a difficult situation is not exactly incompetent is it.

Stam's selection at Villa was genius. Mendes and Grabban were outstanding. Popa was good too. That was a tactical masterclass from Stam. Don't worry he knows what he's doing. Sometimes like the first half today he experiments a bit. I'm cool with that. It was still his balls up that cost us the first half.

[Woodcote Royal]

Playing two different front 4's in the past three days made a lot of sense. Playing Williams in the "quarterback "role made no sense but credit to Stam for changing it at half time. Having Kelly moving the ball quickly and having Williams and McCleary playing higher up the pitch changed the tempo of the game completely.
Sad for the half time boo boys. Spoilt children mentality ! This is professional sport, it doesn't always go to plan. When a team delivers the kind of season this team has then maybe some encouragement might be the order of the day ?

Spot on.

For the most part he juggled his resources extremely well this weekend and has , in effect, gained 2 players thanks to the performances of Grabban and Mendes. While I wish he had more faith in Evans, does it really need explaining to some people that you can't expect your whole midfield to play 2 games in 48 hours and that that might be why Kelly played just the second half?

And, yes, to add insult to injury, our resident cretins booed the team off at half time

Perhaps some of those who have been bricking it over whether our protracted ownership issues might cause Stam to look for pastures new should consider whether he might be more concerned about the ongoing abuse his team receives for following the tactics he instills in them.

Despite almost starting from scratch this summer and having been on the end of several hammerings, tonight we sit just 6pts behind 2nd placed Newcastle who, along with Leeds, lost today while Huddersfield could only manage a drawer....................what is wrong with you fcuking morons

[Lower West]

Stam's selection at Villa was genius. Mendes and Grabban were outstanding. Popa was good too. That was a tactical masterclass from Stam. Don't worry he knows what he's doing. Sometimes like the first half today he experiments a bit. I'm cool with that. It was still his balls up that cost us the first half.

If you listen to Stam's after match interviews. Sounds as if knows and accepts the current squad's limitations. Adding quality to the squad is a longer term project. At Villa (like Wigan) the game plan worked much better.

[WestRoyal]

Playing two different front 4's in the past three days made a lot of sense. Playing Williams in the "quarterback "role made no sense but credit to Stam for changing it at half time. Having Kelly moving the ball quickly and having Williams and McCleary playing higher up the pitch changed the tempo of the game completely.
Sad for the half time boo boys. Spoilt children mentality ! This is professional sport, it doesn't always go to plan. When a team delivers the kind of season this team has then maybe some encouragement might be the order of the day ?

Spot oxf*rd on!

[Top Flight]

Playing two different front 4's in the past three days made a lot of sense. Playing Williams in the "quarterback "role made no sense but credit to Stam for changing it at half time. Having Kelly moving the ball quickly and having Williams and McCleary playing higher up the pitch changed the tempo of the game completely.
Sad for the half time boo boys. Spoilt children mentality ! This is professional sport, it doesn't always go to plan. When a team delivers the kind of season this team has then maybe some encouragement might be the order of the day ?

Spot oxf*rd on!

+1

[Top Flight]

Also though the players shouldn't be so sensitive or precious. If you play sh*t there will be people that boo you. It has always been the case in football. They should also respect the opinion of the fans and think about how they can do better. The second half response from Stam and the team was great so perhaps they got the message and reacted appropriately. Maybe the motivational booing worked today.

[Woodcote Royal]

Japp Stam was one of the best defenders to grace the Premiership and is first season in management is already drawing top flight attention.

By contrasting his views on our peristant boo boys with yours it's quite clear one of you is delusional to say the least.

[From Despair To Where?]

Most of you nobbers had no tolerance for McDermotts experimentation at the end of last season when results no longer mattered with 6 games to go. You called for experimentation and getting the youngsters in the team and when McDermott did that and results suffered you heavily slammed him.

I seem to remember most fans being quite upbeat about the likes of Barrett getting games and I don't remember results suffering heavily as a result. They were pretty shambolic long before then.


I would also imagine that the players do respect the opinion of the majority of fans who are patient and don't boo rather than the opinions of the Muppets who boo because they aren't spoonfed a constant conveyor belt of success.

Fair enough, boo if we've been playing shite for a month or the players clearly don't give a toss but not because of an iffy 45 minutes when you've played 2 games in 3 days.

[Top Flight]

I agree with you guys. I think if there was any booing it's unfathomable. None of the players or Jaap Stam deserve any booing whatsoever. If people can't see that Jaap was doing a bit of experimenting and giving a player a chance then they are dumb fu(ks.

I'm also saying that booing has been going on in English football since football begun and it happens everywhere. Not all fans are as intelligent as you and me and can see the big picture. A lot of fans are fickle and just react to what's before them. So, it's good to have a thick skin and not be so sensitive to some of these tw@ts.

[Hound]

I don't think many people booed yesterday. It's become kind of the 'done thing' in football it seems to boo if your team is losing at half time, it's certainly not restricted to Reading

I think Jaap would be better praising the support for the patience and encouragement shown second half to be honest, but it obviously strikes a bit of a nerve with him, and he clearly isn't one to hide his emotions and that is fair enough

[Platypuss]

Indeed, heard only a smattering of boos, and were probably only audible due to the dearth of any other noise.

For all those criticising the booers, what did YOU do to encourage the team off at HT?

[CrowthorneRoyal]

Williams spent half the game limping or grimacing - prob mix of tiredness and some very niggly tackles

I'd give him the next game off to recover - a very impt player for our play off chances. Pretty sure McCleary still a way from 100%, saw him grabbing his stomach a few times and still not as explosive as he was early season

McCleary had a bag of ice on his stomach at full time

[From Despair To Where?]

For all those criticising the booers, what did YOU do to encourage the team off at HT?

Certainly not booing them, something along the lines of "Come on, you can turn this around".

Even in a situation like Norwich last week, given the context of the season my response would still be "What the fcuk happened there" rather than to boo.

Admittedly my reaction might have been different had it been on the back of 3 months of shiteness like the second half of the last two seasons. Don't get me wrong, there's a place for booing, particularly if the players are just going through the motions but that evidently is not the case this season.

[Hampshire Royal]

My biggest worry last night was when Williams appeared to headbutt their number 4 after 2 very robust 'tackles'. I thought "what a oxf*rd, he's going to get sent off". If the ref saw it (and how couldn't he), he let it go and booked number 4.
Other than bringing on Kelly, that was the real turning point of the game.

[Schards#2]

My biggest worry last night was when Williams appeared to headbutt their number 4 after 2 very robust 'tackles'. I thought "what a oxf*rd, he's going to get sent off". If the ref saw it (and how couldn't he), he let it go and booked number 4.
Other than bringing on Kelly, that was the real turning point of the game.

He chest bumped him rather than head butted him

Still stupid though

[Hampshire Royal]

Fair enough. It dinarf look like a head butt from where I was sitting!!

[Top Flight]

It wasn't really a proper headbutt. He kind of just leaned his head forward maybe looking to go head to head and shout in the Rotherham players face. But the Rotherham player went down like a little baby and tried to make a meal out of it and was rightly booked for the original challenge that incensed Williams.

It was very good refereeing in the end. But, I had to admit, I was also worried that Williams was going to end up getting red carded for the incident. You can't even lean your head in these days. Players play act and get you sent off and many refs fall for the theatrics. Credit to the referee. He saw it the right way. He could have done more though to deal with Rotherhams regular time wasting tactics from even the first half.