BF I follow Barnsley

[NewCorkSeth]

Top of the league. Thought we played like it and were class. Knew we'd get the result from the first minute - yes Barnsley were pressing well but they weren't creating much and were always going to tire whether the had the reds or not. We were just waiting for our chance to punish them. We barely had to get out of 1st gear.

I thought they created quite well down their left flank but lacked some proper movement from the striker.

[Singing Defective]

Ok not utterly convincing, but we can only play what’s in front of us, yada, yada, yada.

But, but the Olise goal. How? In that time? With his weaker leg?

Olise does everything with his left foot and scored with his left foot !!!!

My bad, apologies. The speed that thing came at him, though... Anyway, please encore, encore, encore.

[Snowflake Royal]

Amazed he got 2 bites on this..

I'm old and don't understand Twitter humour.

Just to assist you, Pepe is the one who tweeted that fact.

What a wag.

[Millsy]

Great stat doing the rounds on twitter

Since it was founded in 2004, 100% of teams who were top of the Championship after two games have gone on to be promoted #readingfc

Certainly seems legit.

Any lower than top of the league by Xmas and Pauno has to go. This is clearly a 106-breaking side he's been given and he has no excuse if he fails.

[Millsy]

That’s the sort of win that successful teams deliver - not at our best, but were patient, managed game well and ruthless enough when needed.

Obviously too early to call us a successful team and I know you're not but you're right. 'Awful' as we were and as much possession and chances as they seemed to have, we dealt with it very well indeed. Our defence and midfield to be fair did chase everything down and they were limited to one weak header and a couple of hairy moments. We definitely were patient and managed the game well. As I say in my review above we forced those red card fouls. Our game plan was clear and it works. Must be very demoralising for a team to come out all guns blazing, absolutely batter us with energy, high pressing etc and we manage to soak every up and are just ruthless with using Joao and long balls and forcing these fouls, which could have been goals otherwise. Good and well deserved win. Sign of a good team is winning when playing badly etc etc.

[Nameless]

It would irrelevant if this was the 46th game of the season.

I'm not saying the ref was wrong with the reds but we really didn't look like winning 11 v 11.

If the flag hadn't incorrectly gone up against Swift in the first few minutes, we would likely have been 1 up early and a different game. Barnsley pressed brilliantly but we kept drawing fouls, whilst the first red was a bit lucky, I think we would have seen them lose a man eventually.

Defensively we looked pretty solid under pressure, Rafael had what 1 save to make. It was a sloppy performance but with enough flashes of quality to not get too het up over. We won't face too many teams pressing with such high intensity.

Think that's a pretty optimistic view of Swift breaking given he fluffed at least 1 if not 2 breaks against Derby and there was a defender right up with him.

Plus if my auntie had bollox etc.

Same could be used to counter the ‘we’d never have won if they hadn’t had 2 sent off’. They did, and one of the cards seems to have been the direct result of a tactical ploy by the manager !

[Millsy]

I know a lot of people on here hate Aluko and would prefer to see him do badly than prove them wrong ... but I think he did really well when he came on. I'm hoping he proves all the haters wrong ...

Let's not get carried away because a) he was a pair of fresh legs against b) 9 men.

But yeah I was glad to give him a 7. Maybe his role will only be 'super'sub when we need a winger and that for me will be enough.

I think the trouble with Aluko is we cant' see past that £7.5million price tag (if true) and what we were expecting at the time of signing him, and what we ended up getting. Along with his couldn't-be-arsed attitude and touch of arrogance in interviews.

If he was just a free we picked up somewhere we'd see him in a different light.

He's no Kebe, Barrow, Meaker, Little, McCleary, McAnuff, Convey etc but he's certainly not awful and perhaps we should just see him as a useful squad winger and anything else is a bonus.

[Millsy]

A truly woeful, awful win,. The first half not a shot on target, gifted two really dubious reds especially the second.

Cabral - 7 one good save kept us in, but poor distribution.
Araruna - 5 sloppy.
Morrison - 6 better but a bit slow.
Moore - 5 not good enough.
Richards - 4 wont be here long.
Rinomhota - 6 fair, but needs to get his fitness back
Laurent - 4 cant see the point.
Swift - 4 better we cash him in quick, very poor.
Olise - 8 a great strike, classy player but needs to get more involved.
Ejaria -5 tricky but no end product
Joao - 4 Rubbish.

Meite - 7 made the difference.
Aluko - 6 a few flashes of potential, and put in some great crosses.
Puscas- 4 too greedy, not up to the championship, move him on.

Everyone has their own opinions and I respect that. But on this occasion I have to ask, are you a troll?

Welcome to existing in the world Ranty.

[Millsy]

..i'm a troll...

Glad I have Karbota on Ignore given how rubbish his marks !

The trouble with people quoting him is the rest of us then have to read it.

I'm on the verge of putting anyone who quotes him on ignore too, it's the only way as HNA have no interest in dealing with this problem.

To be fair though with OMA it was a blessing, as I ignored him just because he came across a tit but he's actually alright and I wouldn't have known that was it not for quotes. But in cases like this, it's annoying AF.

[Snowball]

We are a sad lot

100% in the league, Perfect record, no goals conceded 4-0

50% wins in the cup, only defeat 0-1 playing 11 team-changes 3-2

3 wins in 4 games, 75% win-rate overall. Goals 7 For 2 Against



and we are moaning.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Good win.

Yes - the high press and direct play caused us issues in the first half but they had 2 chances, one a routine save and the other a header from a corner I think that probably should have been put away.

Sending off 1 - wasn't harsh, they were undone by a decent pass and it was a goal scoring opportunity - correct decision.

We wore them down in the end - its a good win by not playing particularly well and will have given the manager food for thought coming up against their system which we will have to regularly at home.

[RoyalBlue]

Win yes but awful performance overall. Swift looked like he didnt want to be here never once chased a lost ball. Very sloppy midfield and no pace until Meite came on.

We won 2-0. Everything else you have said is irrelevant.

It would irrelevant if this was the 46th game of the season.

I'm not saying the ref was wrong with the reds but we really didn't look like winning 11 v 11.

I rarely agree with Dellor but I did when even with 11 players on the pitch he said that Barnsley would run out of energy due to the high-intensity pressing tactics that they were adopting. The only real risk to us would've been had they snatched a goal then parked the bus. With them not scoring, I believe the gaps would've opened up as they tired (even with 11 players on the pitch) and we would've exploited them and gone on to win.

Good teams tend to win even when they don't play well.

[windermereROYAL]

and we are moaning.

You do know this is Reading fans we`re talking about right?

[Snowball]

and we are moaning.

You do know this is Reading fans we`re talking about right?

True, they don't even know what a vowel is

[Millsy]

TBF I don't really think anyone's seriously moaning here.

But even if we were, using stats after 2 league games ?

[Millsy]

For me the real question is a) does he have a plan B for when Joao is injured and b) does he have a plan B for when we're found out. Time will tell.

Yes, excellent points. I am open minded and give Panko my full support and it’s started well but the points you make are very valid and will define whether he is successful

Thing is, if you play a target man who's good

then, if they press you ping the long one to Joao

Simples...

Today's game proves that Pauno's strategy is to listen to Snowball.

God help us.

[Silver Fox]

I stopped reading after the OP said false first, bloody idiot. Just wanted to check though, we’re definitely going up aren’t we?

[Ranty McRantface]

A truly woeful, awful win,. The first half not a shot on target, gifted two really dubious reds especially the second.

Cabral - 7 one good save kept us in, but poor distribution.
Araruna - 5 sloppy.
Morrison - 6 better but a bit slow.
Moore - 5 not good enough.
Richards - 4 wont be here long.
Rinomhota - 6 fair, but needs to get his fitness back
Laurent - 4 cant see the point.
Swift - 4 better we cash him in quick, very poor.
Olise - 8 a great strike, classy player but needs to get more involved.
Ejaria -5 tricky but no end product
Joao - 4 Rubbish.

Meite - 7 made the difference.
Aluko - 6 a few flashes of potential, and put in some great crosses.
Puscas- 4 too greedy, not up to the championship, move him on.

Everyone has their own opinions and I respect that. But on this occasion I have to ask, are you a troll?

Welcome to existing in the world Ranty.

It's great to be here Millsy. I probably should have picked a different year to exist though.

[Crowbar6753]

Today typified that old saying, if you play badly and win, that can't be a bad thing. Today wasn't pretty but it was job done. Good teams learn how to win when playing poorly, and today was that.
Barnsley pressed high and frustrated us, but they never really looking to threatening themselves, however they are a very tidy team and played good passing football and i'm pretty sure they will have no issues this season.

Back to us, Swift had a shocker today and i wonder if his head isn't quite in it at the moment what with all the transfer talk. I would personally let him go as i really do believe Ejaria would be best suited to play behind the forward and not out on the left. Maybe olise can play left and this may seem a bit controversial but i think Aluko could do a job there!! He put in an exceptional cross today and with a run in the team and a new manager backing him we might see a player finally!!

[Snowball]

TBF I don't really think anyone's seriously moaning here.

But even if we were, using stats after 2 league games ?

Not “starting” but the those who are moshing are doing it based on a single game

Personally, I think perfection is clearly under-achieving