BFT ???????????????????????????????????????????

[Hendo]

Not sure where all the Meite plaudits are coming from - totally anonymous and isn't a winger.

Sure, apart from getting a goal, totally anonymous.

[Snowflake Royal]

I don't mind if he goes 5-3-2 or 4-3-3 but stick with the bloody thing. And play players that suite the system. tbh think 4-3-3 suits us better just about.

The formation won't help because the entire team is fundamentally disorganised and disjointed.

You defend well by defending as a unit and squeezing the space the opposition has in your defensive third. We do none of this.

Our CBs are constantly split and miles apart because we try to play our. Our full backs are miles up the pitch leaving gaping holes on our flanks. A CB has to come across leaving a gaping hole in the middle, or if they both come an even bigger one on the far flank. Easy space for midfielders and wingers to attack.

We have one midfielder with any sort of remotely defensive brain and he has to cover the entire middle third of the pitch plus whatever enormous hole we have currently in defence.

You cannot play in the Championship with six or even seven attacking players.

We stand off because we're always outnumbered when defending. When we do have full backs in position they're double and tripled up on. If a midfielder or CB supports them they leave a huge gap.

We mark space and don't close down. Midfield runners rarely get tracked.

It's disgraceful. The defensive coaching and tactics are non-existent.

All true.

But the point with the formation isn't necessarily what the formation is but just that we have one that is consistent.

It's harder to sort all the issues you rightly mention when we keep chopping and changing formation (and starting players for that matter).

It can be a 10-0-0 for all I care as long as we have some consistency and do that 10-0-0 well.

I get the impression Gomes is looking for a magic formation rather than just sticking with whatever he feels is the best one and then ironing out the issues you mention within the context of that formation.

I get the feeling Gomes is so desperate to score goals and win games he's completely forgotten about defence.

One thing sums up Gomes this season.

"I switched Moore to the right side to help us going forward."

He moved his captain, most senior and main defender, so we could pass it out from the back slightly better.

Hey, Jose, do you not think that you ought to put a bit more thought into defending, and maybe emphasise the defenders' primary job.

[MelkshamRoyal]

I was at the game last night and it's safe to say that I won't be making the 3hr round journey from London anytime soon until we get a new manager or some form of stability.

For the first time in a few years I look at the opponents teamsheet and there are very little # of players that I would want to swap out for one of our own (bar Fulham's attacking players last night) and we definitely have the attacking options to play football that is enjoyable to watch as a Reading fan.

Our failings are the ability to adapt to in-game situations and failing to do the simple things right. We appear to only be able to play some form of football in the dying embers of the game when it is too little too late.

When we went down to 10 men we desperately needed attacking players that did their defensive work (aka Boye) and it appeared to take Gomes about 45 minutes to recognise this.

Our defence consistently failed to pick up any of Fulham's attackers whenever the ball was crossed in and that is rather worrying when you consider the fact that "talisman" O'Shea is meant to be our defensive coach. It should have been 6 or 7 if we had not signed Rafael.

With Swift out for the next game, I would like to see Gomes opting for a back 4, 2 CDM (Rino & Pele), Boye and Barrett on the Wing, with target man Joao (Meite impact sub) and Puscas to play off of him.

Let's hope that Gomes once again plays around with his formation and it looks something like the above. We are too lightweight at the moment.

[NewCorkSeth]

I get the impression that Gomes doesnt have faith in his attackers so is play Wing Backs to supplement our creativity. To be fair to him it does lead to plenty of goals. Just most of them are at the wrong end.

I have semi convinced myself that part of the problem is Miazgas absence but, honestly, he wasnt like he was last season.

Thankfully I have the solution. We buy Lewis Baker in January. Play:
-------------------Rafael
----Miazga---Morrison---Moore*
Yiadom------------------------Richards
-------Rinomhota----Baker
---------------------Swift
---------------Joao----Puscas

And all have some pints while the points roll in.


*Unless he continues his downward trajectory

[John Smith]

Not sure where all the Meite plaudits are coming from - totally anonymous and isn't a winger.

Sure, apart from getting a goal, totally anonymous.

Might have been too fixated on Harry Arter to notice. What a player he is by the way.

[Hound]

Not sure where all the Meite plaudits are coming from - totally anonymous and isn't a winger.

Sure, apart from getting a goal, totally anonymous.

Might have been too fixated on Harry Arter to notice. What a player he is by the way.

he's also a complete little tw@t. His reaction to get Swift sent off was disgraceful

[John Smith]

Sure, apart from getting a goal, totally anonymous.

Might have been too fixated on Harry Arter to notice. What a player he is by the way.

he's also a complete little tw@t. His reaction to get Swift sent off was disgraceful

Sounds like he had a very successful night. Premier League quality really shone through. What did we expect when playing raw, un-ready academy players and losing our heads against better players?

Bristol City have the second best form in the division. Where do our next points come from?

[Hound]

not Bristol City

[Old Man Andrews]

Sure, apart from getting a goal, totally anonymous.

Might have been too fixated on Harry Arter to notice. What a player he is by the way.

he's also a complete little tw@t. His reaction to get Swift sent off was disgraceful

Worked didn't it? Maybe if we had a few more players in our side with that kind of nous we would be better off. Harry Arter is the player John Swift wishes he was.

[NewCorkSeth]

Not sure where all the Meite plaudits are coming from - totally anonymous and isn't a winger.

Sure, apart from getting a goal, totally anonymous.

Might have been too fixated on Harry Arter to notice. What a player he is by the way.

Its embarrassing but I had no idea he played for Fulham.

[Hound]

Might have been too fixated on Harry Arter to notice. What a player he is by the way.

he's also a complete little tw@t. His reaction to get Swift sent off was disgraceful

Worked didn't it? Maybe if we had a few more players in our side with that kind of nous we would be better off. Harry Arter is the player John Swift wishes he was.

I'm not sure about that tbh. We'd be battling it out with Stoke for bottom spot without JS this year

But yes, it did work. Blatantly obvious they saw a chance to get our key man sent off and they got what they wanted. 1-0 up and Swift gone and that was that.

[URZZZZ]

Sure, apart from getting a goal, totally anonymous.

Might have been too fixated on Harry Arter to notice. What a player he is by the way.

he's also a complete little tw@t. His reaction to get Swift sent off was disgraceful

That’s convenient considering who his manager was last year...

[Sanguine]

Sure, apart from getting a goal, totally anonymous.

Might have been too fixated on Harry Arter to notice. What a player he is by the way.

he's also a complete little tw@t. His reaction to get Swift sent off was disgraceful

Agree on both parts. His second yellow (and red) a few weeks back for diving was embarassing. But when he focuses on the football, he is easily a PL player.

[RoyalBlue]

Good luck to any management team stupid enough to come to our club and face the Dellor clones (clowns) who expect success in well less than a season, regardless of the challenges the club faces on and off the pitch!

Those thinking Gomes will be gone if we lose at Bristol are deluded. Fortunately I don't believe our owners and people like Nigel Howe are the type to indulge in such knee jerk reactions. Furthermore, I think it likely that Gomes would walk before he was sacked. He made it clear to Dellor last night that he would resign if he reached the point where he felt he and his team couldn't turn things around.

Great comment, one of many made by Gomes last night, that those calling for the management team's heads should take note of: 'This is not a Playstation where you can just switch it off and start again'.

[RoyalBlue]

The formation won't help because the entire team is fundamentally disorganised and disjointed.

You defend well by defending as a unit and squeezing the space the opposition has in your defensive third. We do none of this.

Our CBs are constantly split and miles apart because we try to play our. Our full backs are miles up the pitch leaving gaping holes on our flanks. A CB has to come across leaving a gaping hole in the middle, or if they both come an even bigger one on the far flank. Easy space for midfielders and wingers to attack.

We have one midfielder with any sort of remotely defensive brain and he has to cover the entire middle third of the pitch plus whatever enormous hole we have currently in defence.

You cannot play in the Championship with six or even seven attacking players.

We stand off because we're always outnumbered when defending. When we do have full backs in position they're double and tripled up on. If a midfielder or CB supports them they leave a huge gap.

We mark space and don't close down. Midfield runners rarely get tracked.

It's disgraceful. The defensive coaching and tactics are non-existent.

All true.

But the point with the formation isn't necessarily what the formation is but just that we have one that is consistent.

It's harder to sort all the issues you rightly mention when we keep chopping and changing formation (and starting players for that matter).

It can be a 10-0-0 for all I care as long as we have some consistency and do that 10-0-0 well.

I get the impression Gomes is looking for a magic formation rather than just sticking with whatever he feels is the best one and then ironing out the issues you mention within the context of that formation.

I get the feeling Gomes is so desperate to score goals and win games he's completely forgotten about defence.

One thing sums up Gomes this season.

"I switched Moore to the right side to help us going forward."

He moved his captain, most senior and main defender, so we could pass it out from the back slightly better.

Hey, Jose, do you not think that you ought to put a bit more thought into defending, and maybe emphasise the defenders' primary job.

Maybe O'Shea should be a bit more forceful with Gomes on that latter point.

[Hound]

Good luck to any management team stupid enough to come to our club and face the Dellor clones (clowns) who expect success in well less than a season, regardless of the challenges the club faces on and off the pitch!

Those thinking Gomes will be gone if we lose at Bristol are deluded. Fortunately I don't believe our owners and people like Nigel Howe are the type to indulge in such knee jerk reactions. Furthermore, I think it likely that Gomes would walk before he was sacked. He made it clear to Dellor last night that he would resign if he reached the point where he felt he and his team couldn't turn things around.

Great comment, one of many made by Gomes last night, that those calling for the management team's heads should take note of: 'This is not a Playstation where you can just switch it off and start again'.

He has a win percentage of 25% from 37 games. Its the second worst start to the season for 20 years. The crowd for a 'local' derby was 13k.

I don't think they'd view it as knee jerk

[Old Man Andrews]

Good luck to any management team stupid enough to come to our club and face the Dellor clones (clowns) who expect success in well less than a season, regardless of the challenges the club faces on and off the pitch!

Those thinking Gomes will be gone if we lose at Bristol are deluded. Fortunately I don't believe our owners and people like Nigel Howe are the type to indulge in such knee jerk reactions. Furthermore, I think it likely that Gomes would walk before he was sacked. He made it clear to Dellor last night that he would resign if he reached the point where he felt he and his team couldn't turn things around.

Great comment, one of many made by Gomes last night, that those calling for the management team's heads should take note of: 'This is not a Playstation where you can just switch it off and start again'.

If we lose another game in the same way we did last night any time in the next 3 games he will get sacked imo.

It wouldn't be a knee jerk reaction, we could be in the relegation zone by 5pm Saturday.

We aren't that challenged off the pitch. We have spent money and have a very wealthy owner.

No manager would ever resign in this day and age.

[Whore Jackie]

All true.

But the point with the formation isn't necessarily what the formation is but just that we have one that is consistent.

It's harder to sort all the issues you rightly mention when we keep chopping and changing formation (and starting players for that matter).

It can be a 10-0-0 for all I care as long as we have some consistency and do that 10-0-0 well.

I get the impression Gomes is looking for a magic formation rather than just sticking with whatever he feels is the best one and then ironing out the issues you mention within the context of that formation.

I get the feeling Gomes is so desperate to score goals and win games he's completely forgotten about defence.

One thing sums up Gomes this season.

"I switched Moore to the right side to help us going forward."

He moved his captain, most senior and main defender, so we could pass it out from the back slightly better.

Hey, Jose, do you not think that you ought to put a bit more thought into defending, and maybe emphasise the defenders' primary job.

Maybe O'Shea should be a bit more forceful with Gomes on that latter point.

I'm beginning to wonder whether O'Shea's appointment had been a positive or negative. Only non-portuguese on the coaching staff, and from my East Stand vantage point, seemingly much more influential on the last three home matches, than Mendonça in particular.

[URZZZZ]

Good luck to any management team stupid enough to come to our club and face the Dellor clones (clowns) who expect success in well less than a season, regardless of the challenges the club faces on and off the pitch!

Those thinking Gomes will be gone if we lose at Bristol are deluded. Fortunately I don't believe our owners and people like Nigel Howe are the type to indulge in such knee jerk reactions. Furthermore, I think it likely that Gomes would walk before he was sacked. He made it clear to Dellor last night that he would resign if he reached the point where he felt he and his team couldn't turn things around.

Great comment, one of many made by Gomes last night, that those calling for the management team's heads should take note of: 'This is not a Playstation where you can just switch it off and start again'.

Not many people expect instant success. They expect progress and they expect the manager to learn from his mistakes. The simple matter is performances are regressing rather than progressing and he’s not learning from his mistakes

It’s all well and good Gomes talking the talk with his inspirational quotes but if he can’t back that up with substance, he’s made to look an arse

Keep harping on about it but why does he play that midfield three when it’s clear it’s overrun. Why drop Richards for Obita when Richards is doing nothing wrong? Why do our fullbacks/wingbacks constantly play so high up the pitch, leaving a massive gap?

[Jackson Corner]

I keep thinking we are living the same season year on year, managers change but performances don`t, just short of 50% losing record for the last 28 games at home with only 9 wins in that time, not easy being a fan of this lot is it?

Since McDermott took us up we've won less than 10 home games every season bar one.

Exclude that and our record is:
P139, W42, D46, L51, F168, A175, GD -7, ppg 1.24, w% 30, D% 33, L% 37

It's been a God awful best part of a decade.

It’s amazing anybody turns up given those stats. For many years under Pards, SC and Brian. The Mad stad was bit of a fortress. Now it’s just a great day out for away fans and we only charge them 20 quid for the pleasure of rubbing our noses in it. For the last four seasons I am going to games expecting to lose once we go a goal down I just sit there unable to raise any enthusiasm and except the inevitable defeat.