BFTG BIrmingham.

[Hound]

All the opposition need do is play a high press. Tactically inept first half yet again. While the manager has many positive attributes. The lack of experience at this level is a nagging concern,

The high press didnt really cause any problems. It was squeezing the midfield and giving no space there. They actually didnt press at all second half

And there have been plenty of occasions where we’ve struggled against teams who didn’t press (last night was one of them), or where we’ve broken the press and found it easy to get at the defence.

Our actual game plan in mainly ways is to invite the press. What we really want is Ovie, Ejaria, Swift or Rino picking the ball up in space in the midfield behind their front line.

I'm not quite sure how Brum did it last night in the first half but they managed to press pretty well and have no gaps in the midfield. I think Hogan must have been doing the pressing pretty intelligently. They did play pretty high up the pitch as well, and we weren't good enough to play it in behind their defence - in the way we did for our goal and penalty.

[Sanguine]

Said it after the Bristol City win. We aren't as good as our brilliant start, and we aren't as bad as our four defeats on the bounce. Last night's disappointing result shouldn't mask that we played very well in beating City and Forest since that cracking run came to an end. We can and should expect inconsistency - a new coach, learning English football, and a set of players who for the most part contributed to us flirting with relegation last season.

We aren't going to win the division. But we'll give the playoffs a decent go if the likes of Olise and Joao can maintain their levels over the whole season.

Shame about the missed penalty last night. Joao has looked comfortable from the spot, but you could pick where this one was going on his run up.

[Vision]

The high press didnt really cause any problems. It was squeezing the midfield and giving no space there. They actually didnt press at all second half

And there have been plenty of occasions where we’ve struggled against teams who didn’t press (last night was one of them), or where we’ve broken the press and found it easy to get at the defence.

Our actual game plan in mainly ways is to invite the press. What we really want is Ovie, Ejaria, Swift or Rino picking the ball up in space in the midfield behind their front line.

I'm not quite sure how Brum did it last night in the first half but they managed to press pretty well and have no gaps in the midfield. I think Hogan must have been doing the pressing pretty intelligently. They did play pretty high up the pitch as well, and we weren't good enough to play it in behind their defence - in the way we did for our goal and penalty.

Basically they pressed Morrison and Holmes but generally let Moore and Richards have a bit more time just making sure they had Ejaria, Olise and Meite covered. Last night was one of those games where Rino on top of his game becomes influential and we need Joao at his best. Sadly too many players had an off day at once and the first half display from Brum was probably the best I've seen this season.

One of those nights where it didn't really matter what tactics/system we employed , too many of our players were well below par.

Beaten by the better team on the night. End of.

[Hound]

I'd agree tactically they were absolutely spot on last night in the first half. tbh i was very impressed with a number of things they did - the intelligent pressing, cutting down the space etc. They also seemed to be very aware of how Joao takes the ball and often picked him off after he'd controlled it. Good controlled aggression. And looked dangerous coming forward. We needed to be at our sharpest to get through and we were a good 20% off

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

First half extremely poor with the players thinking Birmingham would be an easy three points. Better second half with a change of system. The game was very much stop, start with Birmingham committing 25 fouls and a keeper Etheridge taking an eternity to kick the ball back into play, a game plan that worked to disrupt Reading's game.

When Meite went off injured why did we not use the fourth of our five permitted subs, a management error with the new rule, maybe!

[NewCorkSeth]

Just to say Pauno is getting quite a bit of criticism for his sub use but its easy to say in hindsight that he should have brought Esteves and Aluko on at the same time.

If we only had 3 subs would you expect him to have saved a sub for injury??

[Hound]

First half extremely poor with the players thinking Birmingham would be an easy three points. Better second half with a change of system. The game was very much stop, start with Birmingham committing 25 fouls and a keeper Etheridge taking an eternity to kick the ball back into play, a game plan that worked to disrupt Reading's game.

When Meite went off injured why did we not use the fourth of our five permitted subs, a management error with the new rule, maybe!

yeah it confused me at the time. You can make 5 subs but only have 3 sub windows to do this in. So you can't make 5 separate substitutions. We used our 3 with Semedo then Esteves then Aluko all coming on separately

[Hound]

Just to say Pauno is getting quite a bit of criticism for his sub use but its easy to say in hindsight that he should have brought Esteves and Aluko on at the same time.

If we only had 3 subs would you expect him to have saved a sub for injury??

Discussed earlier but yeah he might well not have still had a sub by the 87th min or whenever Meite got injured.

Still think its a mistake not to have brought on Esteves and Semedo together, rather than 2 mins apart. It might not have saved us in this, but as a general thing to consider going forward.

[URZZZZ]

Just to say Pauno is getting quite a bit of criticism for his sub use but its easy to say in hindsight that he should have brought Esteves and Aluko on at the same time.

If we only had 3 subs would you expect him to have saved a sub for injury??

Discussed earlier but yeah he might well not have still had a sub by the 87th min or whenever Meite got injured.

Still think its a mistake not to have brought on Esteves and Semedo together, rather than 2 mins apart. It might not have saved us in this, but as a general thing to consider going forward.

To be fair, if we saved a sub for Meite, it would have been Baldock on and most people have agreed it’s like playing with 10 when he comes off the bench anyway

[South Coast Royal]

Really surprised you have Richards and Ejaria as our best two players, thought they were both pretty awful, got torn apart time and time again in the first half

Birmingham are a decent side away from home, yet we turned up like it was an easy stroll in the park. They played quick neat football between the lines, used their width well (alien concept for us I know), overlapped well with Ejaria and Meite constantly in the wrong positions. Probably the best all rounded team I’ve seen so far this season, albeit they were decent here last season too and ended up having a poor season

Rafael 6 - didn’t do anything wrong

Holmes 4 - his first touch is always so concentrated back inside, repeatedly just went back to Rafael. You’d normally accept it as he’s usually solid but was beaten too many times in the first half. Really stuck out as a CB playing at RB tonight which hasn’t been the case really before tonight. Surprised he came out for the second half to be honest
Morrison 6 - defended fine, wasn’t sure of how to utilise the ball against a team such as Birmingham
Moore 6 - again, defended well, painfully slow on the ball
Richards 4 - think it’s his first real poor performance of the season, poor crosses, poor passes, poor control, beaten too easily by Sanchez in the first half

Rinomhota 6 - wasn’t his best performance in the first half, felt the midfield was slightly too open, which is unusual. Good run and pass for the goal
Laurent 6 - gave the ball away a few too many times, but was probably the only player in the first half showing anything

Meite 5 - shocking first 60 minutes, left his man behind for their goal and repeatedly gave it away. Redeemed himself with his goal and getting their red card, albeit not sure of that decision
Olise 5 - was trying to force the issue but wasn’t paying off. Think he can consider himself slightly unlucky to be subbed off, but that wasn’t really down to how well he was playing
Ejaria 4 - not his game, pockets of space he usually plays in weren’t there against a compact side. Ended up picking the ball up from too deep, trying to force the issue from there and losing it time and time again. Didn’t offer Richards enough protection either. Not sure why he was on the pitch for as long as he was

Joao 4 - worst player on the night, didn’t bother pressing, gave it away time and time again, missed a good chance at the end and missed the penalty. Gets another point for doing well for our goal

Semedo 6 - offered a bit more energy and impetus
Esteves 4 - was the right sub to make but he was really poor. Didn’t help mind that his first contribution was doing a drag back with our CB’s split and them missing a 1 on 1 as a result
Aluko 5 - one decent cross (wonder what one of those are), but gave it away a couple of times too. Ran back a few times though


Special mention to Baldock for still being out there on the sidelines even with all 3 sub windows used. Collecting the ball when they were time wasting, was geeing up the team, and helped Meite off the pitch too. An intelligent guy on and off the pitch. I have reservations but hope he can take his chance if he gets it with Meite, Joao and Puscas all likely to be out

Pretty much agree with that.
After the last two games and performances I expected us to take the game to them from the off but after 5 minutes felt as though it was going to be one of those nights because Birmingham were doing what I thought we would be doing.

Somebody mentioned our possession stats-the sad thing is that all the possession was in our own half with Stamball football and Holmes, Morrison and Moore just passing to each other and Laurent often filling in as yet another centre-back.

It would be easy to go on and on as there was so much wrong so it was a bad night when our lads looked as though they just needed to turn up and somehow it would just happen, believing the latest publicity,but we move on as we know they can do better and the next game comes round very quickly.

Three more general points.

The defenders still think that strikers in this division won't score from outside or near the box-they can and did again-close them down.

Although Hound will not agree-we desperately need the speedy winger option as sub to get behind an organised and packed defence.
I'm not saying it is a starting strategy but a different option when needed.

This first team when firing is not far off the best at this level but, apart from not having the much-needed winger option our sub options are poor-Aluko and Esteves again, what are they and Baldock going to do to change a game?
January will hopefully see Swift return as an option but we do really need a couple more if we want to make that top 6 and maybe these owners will back the manager in doing so.

[URZZZZ]

Really surprised you have Richards and Ejaria as our best two players, thought they were both pretty awful, got torn apart time and time again in the first half

Birmingham are a decent side away from home, yet we turned up like it was an easy stroll in the park. They played quick neat football between the lines, used their width well (alien concept for us I know), overlapped well with Ejaria and Meite constantly in the wrong positions. Probably the best all rounded team I’ve seen so far this season, albeit they were decent here last season too and ended up having a poor season

Rafael 6 - didn’t do anything wrong

Holmes 4 - his first touch is always so concentrated back inside, repeatedly just went back to Rafael. You’d normally accept it as he’s usually solid but was beaten too many times in the first half. Really stuck out as a CB playing at RB tonight which hasn’t been the case really before tonight. Surprised he came out for the second half to be honest
Morrison 6 - defended fine, wasn’t sure of how to utilise the ball against a team such as Birmingham
Moore 6 - again, defended well, painfully slow on the ball
Richards 4 - think it’s his first real poor performance of the season, poor crosses, poor passes, poor control, beaten too easily by Sanchez in the first half

Rinomhota 6 - wasn’t his best performance in the first half, felt the midfield was slightly too open, which is unusual. Good run and pass for the goal
Laurent 6 - gave the ball away a few too many times, but was probably the only player in the first half showing anything

Meite 5 - shocking first 60 minutes, left his man behind for their goal and repeatedly gave it away. Redeemed himself with his goal and getting their red card, albeit not sure of that decision
Olise 5 - was trying to force the issue but wasn’t paying off. Think he can consider himself slightly unlucky to be subbed off, but that wasn’t really down to how well he was playing
Ejaria 4 - not his game, pockets of space he usually plays in weren’t there against a compact side. Ended up picking the ball up from too deep, trying to force the issue from there and losing it time and time again. Didn’t offer Richards enough protection either. Not sure why he was on the pitch for as long as he was

Joao 4 - worst player on the night, didn’t bother pressing, gave it away time and time again, missed a good chance at the end and missed the penalty. Gets another point for doing well for our goal

Semedo 6 - offered a bit more energy and impetus
Esteves 4 - was the right sub to make but he was really poor. Didn’t help mind that his first contribution was doing a drag back with our CB’s split and them missing a 1 on 1 as a result
Aluko 5 - one decent cross (wonder what one of those are), but gave it away a couple of times too. Ran back a few times though


Special mention to Baldock for still being out there on the sidelines even with all 3 sub windows used. Collecting the ball when they were time wasting, was geeing up the team, and helped Meite off the pitch too. An intelligent guy on and off the pitch. I have reservations but hope he can take his chance if he gets it with Meite, Joao and Puscas all likely to be out

Pretty much agree with that.
After the last two games and performances I expected us to take the game to them from the off but after 5 minutes felt as though it was going to be one of those nights because Birmingham were doing what I thought we would be doing.

Somebody mentioned our possession stats-the sad thing is that all the possession was in our own half with Stamball football and Holmes, Morrison and Moore just passing to each other and Laurent often filling in as yet another centre-back.

It would be easy to go on and on as there was so much wrong so it was a bad night when our lads looked as though they just needed to turn up and somehow it would just happen, believing the latest publicity,but we move on as we know they can do better and the next game comes round very quickly.

Three more general points.

The defenders still think that strikers in this division won't score from outside or near the box-they can and did again-close them down.

Although Hound will not agree-we desperately need the speedy winger option as sub to get behind an organised and packed defence.
I'm not saying it is a starting strategy but a different option when needed.

This first team when firing is not far off the best at this level but, apart from not having the much-needed winger option our sub options are poor-Aluko and Esteves again, what are they and Baldock going to do to change a game?
January will hopefully see Swift return as an option but we do really need a couple more if we want to make that top 6 and maybe these owners will back the manager in doing so.

Re. Aluko - put two balls on a plate against Wednesday which weren’t taken and a decent cross again yesterday and against Forest too

Don’t think the opposition are paralysed with fear when they see him come on but he’s not an awful option

Esteves is at least a natural FB, and offers slightly more going forward than Holmes does

Earlier on in the season, we seemed to bust a gut to close down shots from the edge of the area. Didn’t seem bothered yesterday, strikes me as a bit of complacency creeping in

[NewCorkSeth]

Just to say Pauno is getting quite a bit of criticism for his sub use but its easy to say in hindsight that he should have brought Esteves and Aluko on at the same time.

If we only had 3 subs would you expect him to have saved a sub for injury??

Discussed earlier but yeah he might well not have still had a sub by the 87th min or whenever Meite got injured.

Still think its a mistake not to have brought on Esteves and Semedo together, rather than 2 mins apart. It might not have saved us in this, but as a general thing to consider going forward.

To be fair, if we saved a sub for Meite, it would have been Baldock on and most people have agreed it’s like playing with 10 when he comes off the bench anyway

Look, i like Baldock, all I said about him was when he is brought on in games when we are chasing or looking for a goal all my confidence that we will score goes out the window. Is it fair? Probably not but it is an instant reaction. I cant help it.

My Birmingham supporting mate just messaged me to say Etheridge was well off his line for the pen too

Still. They deserved their win.

[Hound]

Although Hound will not agree-we desperately need the speedy winger option as sub to get behind an organised and packed defence.
I'm not saying it is a starting strategy but a different option when needed.

I could have seen the use of a quick forward of some sort yesterday certainly to get behind their high line. But the balls through still needed to be there.

Thing is we actually got behind them a few times on the left anyway. Joao had a shocker but put two nice balls in behind for the goal and penalty. We needed more of that.

I just think the speedy winger goes a bit into cliche land again. There just isn't many about, I dont think its a big part of the game anymore. I'm not sure a) there are that many available and b) you'd get much more from one that you don't get from pushing up Richards or Esteves (though he needs to get his confidence back to take people on on the outside)

You just need quality out on the flanks as you do anywhere else. The quality to get a decent ball in or time the run to get in behind. I can't think off to many times I've seen a winger run past a FB regularly this year - that chap at Bournemouth yes - but he is just a good all round player.

Fully accept others will see it differently mind you.

[NewCorkSeth]

Although Hound will not agree-we desperately need the speedy winger option as sub to get behind an organised and packed defence.
I'm not saying it is a starting strategy but a different option when needed.

I could have seen the use of a quick forward of some sort yesterday certainly to get behind their high line. But the balls through still needed to be there.

Thing is we actually got behind them a few times on the left anyway. Joao had a shocker but put two nice balls in behind for the goal and penalty. We needed more of that.

I just think the speedy winger goes a bit into cliche land again. There just isn't many about, I dont think its a big part of the game anymore. I'm not sure a) there are that many available and b) you'd get much more from one that you don't get from pushing up Richards or Esteves (though he needs to get his confidence back to take people on on the outside)

You just need quality out on the flanks as you do anywhere else. The quality to get a decent ball in or time the run to get in behind. I can't think off to many times I've seen a winger run past a FB regularly this year - that chap at Bournemouth yes - but he is just a good all round player.

Fully accept others will see it differently mind you.

I stand with hound.

[Sutekh]

The high press didnt really cause any problems. It was squeezing the midfield and giving no space there. They actually didnt press at all second half

And there have been plenty of occasions where we’ve struggled against teams who didn’t press (last night was one of them), or where we’ve broken the press and found it easy to get at the defence.

Our actual game plan in mainly ways is to invite the press. What we really want is Ovie, Ejaria, Swift or Rino picking the ball up in space in the midfield behind their front line.

I'm not quite sure how Brum did it last night in the first half but they managed to press pretty well and have no gaps in the midfield. I think Hogan must have been doing the pressing pretty intelligently. They did play pretty high up the pitch as well, and we weren't good enough to play it in behind their defence - in the way we did for our goal and penalty.

Reading’s main problem is a lack of tempo, passing needs to be quicker which means players really need to have an understanding of where each other will be on the pitch at any point when Reading is in possession of the ball. There needs to be rather more risk taken in and around the opponents penalty area rather than continually trying to walk the ball into the net.

Also the crowd was already getting on players backs, after just 135 mins back, with a few boos at half time apparently.

[Hound]

And there have been plenty of occasions where we’ve struggled against teams who didn’t press (last night was one of them), or where we’ve broken the press and found it easy to get at the defence.

Our actual game plan in mainly ways is to invite the press. What we really want is Ovie, Ejaria, Swift or Rino picking the ball up in space in the midfield behind their front line.

I'm not quite sure how Brum did it last night in the first half but they managed to press pretty well and have no gaps in the midfield. I think Hogan must have been doing the pressing pretty intelligently. They did play pretty high up the pitch as well, and we weren't good enough to play it in behind their defence - in the way we did for our goal and penalty.

Reading’s main problem is a lack of tempo, passing needs to be quicker which means players really need to have an understanding of where each other will be on the pitch at any point when Reading is in possession of the ball. There needs to be rather more risk taken in and around the opponents penalty area rather than continually trying to walk the ball into the net.

Also the crowd was already getting on players backs, after just 135 mins back, with a few boos at half time apparently.

There were a couple of boos no more. Certainly no getting on their back. It was a pretty punishing first half tbf

[South Coast Royal]

And there have been plenty of occasions where we’ve struggled against teams who didn’t press (last night was one of them), or where we’ve broken the press and found it easy to get at the defence.

Our actual game plan in mainly ways is to invite the press. What we really want is Ovie, Ejaria, Swift or Rino picking the ball up in space in the midfield behind their front line.

I'm not quite sure how Brum did it last night in the first half but they managed to press pretty well and have no gaps in the midfield. I think Hogan must have been doing the pressing pretty intelligently. They did play pretty high up the pitch as well, and we weren't good enough to play it in behind their defence - in the way we did for our goal and penalty.

Reading’s main problem is a lack of tempo, passing needs to be quicker which means players really need to have an understanding of where each other will be on the pitch at any point when Reading is in possession of the ball. There needs to be rather more risk taken in and around the opponents penalty area rather than continually trying to walk the ball into the net.

Also the crowd was already getting on players backs, after just 135 mins back, with a few boos at half time apparently.

Am not one personally for booing but perhaps it was just out of disappointment.
We know from postings by Zip and others after Saturday's game that the fans were euphoric to see the team after all this time and to see a good attacking performance.

Last night it was a case of the clock being turned back to slow motion football and the players somehow just hoping that something would happen.
Even with only a few minutes left Richards was still turning the ball inside to Moore who passed to Morrison etc., etc........then ..the final whistle.

In our current system Laurent and Rinho have it quite easy-I would like to see them taking the ball off Moore and Morrison much more often and bringing the ball forward into the opposition half and then let our creative players create.

Also, as with the goal, for either of them to push on out wide now and again especially as we play with no winger.
It just adds another dimension and speeds up play- both are athletic and quick and quite capable of doing that bit more.

[Hound]

In our current system Laurent and Rinho have it quite easy-I would like to see them taking the ball off Moore and Morrison much more often and bringing the ball forward into the opposition half and then let our creative players create.

Also, as with the goal, for either of them to push on out wide now and again especially as we play with no winger.
It just adds another dimension and speeds up play- both are athletic and quick and quite capable of doing that bit more.

yeah its a fair point. Rino did actually come wide quite a bit last night, not just for the goal. Noticeable because it was right in front of us in the stand. (Laurent dropped into CB a fair bit). He was definitely playing right sided 2nd half. Though agree one of him or Esteves could have provided attacking width more than they did

[Snowflake Royal]

And there have been plenty of occasions where we’ve struggled against teams who didn’t press (last night was one of them), or where we’ve broken the press and found it easy to get at the defence.

Our actual game plan in mainly ways is to invite the press. What we really want is Ovie, Ejaria, Swift or Rino picking the ball up in space in the midfield behind their front line.

I'm not quite sure how Brum did it last night in the first half but they managed to press pretty well and have no gaps in the midfield. I think Hogan must have been doing the pressing pretty intelligently. They did play pretty high up the pitch as well, and we weren't good enough to play it in behind their defence - in the way we did for our goal and penalty.

Basically they pressed Morrison and Holmes but generally let Moore and Richards have a bit more time just making sure they had Ejaria, Olise and Meite covered. Last night was one of those games where Rino on top of his game becomes influential and we need Joao at his best. Sadly too many players had an off day at once and the first half display from Brum was probably the best I've seen this season.

One of those nights where it didn't really matter what tactics/system we employed , too many of our players were well below par.

Beaten by the better team on the night. End of.

Yep.
They also did a really good job of managing their defensive line so it wasn't so high we could go over the top, and wasn't so deep it left a pocket of space between midfield and defence. Plus their defenders were all big and strong and could dominate Joao and Meite.

Squeeze the middle and press the weak links as you say.

[Millsy]

The only real disappointing thing about last night really other than the result is the injuries.

They wanted it more, our players seemed absolutely shattered but tried hard. Unlucky with penalty. We move on.

By now we have to realise that we are a team who soaks up and lures with 7 then attacks attacks with 4. Although I knocked the passing-it-across-the-back thing, I accept that we seem to invite the high press, deal with it, and create space up the pitch for our attackers to do their thing. It means some games we demolish teams, sometimes we get demolished. If our attack is stronger than our defence is weak then we win, otherwise we lose. So far it's doing fine for us. I'd rather it be this way round going for either 0 points or 3 points than playing it crap and safe and getting a bunch of draws. We hardly draw - only Preston have drawn more games than us.

Some comments though

1 - Rafael and long shots. Someone above (can't remember who sorry) queries Rafa with the long shots. I know he's had his round of being scapegoat but I do see the point. The first goal again it looked like he wasn't interested. Is it him? Is it something about our defensive unit that doesn't close down people on the edge of the box and so he doesn't expect the shot? Both goals very annoying and just seem too easy. How come there are so many world class goals scored against us? Probably because we give them time to do it and our keeper doesn't ever expect long shots for some reason.

2 - Ejaria. No homo but... my boyfriend, love him. But last night for the first time I'm just pissed off with him. How many times did he have the ball and do his little bit but then just lose it or not lay it off when he could He's meant to be the dribbling attacking exciting player. So why is just getting it, doing bugger all and then losing it or passing it to safety like Harper would? He's always wasted on the left. He's also shattered it looks like.

3 - Richards I don't understand the stick he's getting. One of our better players last night I thought. Really tried hard.

4 - Aluko - again don't get people knocking him, he did very well I thought, tracked back and worked his socks off and got probably our best cross in despite being on for only a short time. I never thought I'd witness anyone say this let alone me but next game I think I'd prefer Aluko to start than Ejaria Am I nuts? Probs.

5- their keeper Total tosser. Slowed play down whenever he could. Inexplicably held the ball and wouldn't let Meie have it when he scored. And I don't know but the way i see that Meite Incident is he came out pretty heavy on poor old Meite and probably thought it might be another penalty as he ran into him and injured him, but flung himself on the floor thrashing his leg around like he was on the verge of death only to mysteriously be completely fine when he learned he wasn't being penalised for it and Meite was instead. Tosser.