MATCHWATCH : Blackburn Rovers (h)

[NewCorkSeth]

Ok. Moore gets injured. McIntyre gets drafted in. Where's the midfield cover? Pauno uses the same subs virtually every game. The kids are sitting there as a last resort. Obviously not yet ready for first team action.

If, if, if.

Most teams are 2 or 3 injuries away from issues, other squads are also not as big as you think. Yes most bigger than ours but still relatively small.

As it stands, we have a clear week after Saturday. Early view is that Morrison may only miss that, or even at a push be OK. So rest him and play one of Holmes/TM. Come Forest it is also likely we have Meite, MM and Araruna available and the 18 looks a lot stronger again.

I can see where LW is coming from - there does seem to be a big gap between McIntyre/Holmes and Tetek/others, at least in how Paunovic uses them. Holmes and McIntyre are fully part of the first team squad, but Tetek very rarely gets off the bench. Melvin-Lambert didn’t get any game time when we only had Baldock up front, Onen and Camara have made about one league appearance between them, etc.

I’m not jumping to any conclusions but it does feel like they’re there to make up the numbers rather than being serious options.

But you have to admit it has been managed fairly well considering the injuries we have had and being stuck with Aluko and Baldock on high wages in key positions.

It's all "if only" but Araruna, Swift, Meite, Puscas and Yiadom have all missed more than half the season so far. The depth issues are only there because of that.

Pauno seems to manage youth players quite well. He has been very careful with Olise and seems to know what he is doing in terms of tempering expectations and developing. Tetek has been both built up by Pauno while also used scantily. If he was ready I'm sure he would be involved more but he has been given a fair amount of exposure to the first team.

There is quite a few exciting youngsters coming up so I'm looking forward to seeing how he deals with their development.

[NewCorkSeth]

Also I don't want to go all "Ian Royal" but I am feeling very vindicated in my "under no circumstances should we loan out TMac" stance that I held at the start of the season.

[Stranded]

Another useful win, another clean sheet with out looking very good for large periods of the game. I viewed the subs as very negative - protecting a one goal lead from 70th minute just invited wave after wave of attacks. But we did the job, just about.... the last 20 minutes felt like we were clinging on and just clearing it with out even looking.
I am a little concerned that we have reverted to hoofing it up to the striker as a game plan....
Was that Semedos best game for us? I thought he put in a real decent shift, there was a a crazy 10 minutes when i thought he was gunna get a red but after that I thought he did very well. Still not been impressed by Moores return.

I disagree that the first sub was negative - Joao was putting in arguably his worst performance in a Reading shirt, so was right to hook him. Blackburn were already on the front foot, so made sense to me to revert to the more regular 4-5-1 esp. as Puscas was showing that his hold play is plenty good enough to be alone if needed.

I can see why it felt more negative as it was McIntyre who came on but he has come on at DM a lot this season so was the best move and allowed Semedo (who was excellent) to move forward. Plan was clearly to let them have the ball in front of us and wait or force the mistake, or hurry the shot/cross and it worked perfectly. The only real heart in mouth moment was Armstrong's miss and that only came about as he and Moore accidentally tangled but he was able to keep on his feet whilst Moore had to scramble.

Hopefully Joao shakes off what ever is holding him back.
When you see a striker off for CB you know what the game plan is, regardless if that CB has come on for a few minutes and played as a DM before. We defended deep and lumped up it to general direction to Puscas hoping something would stick.

We were comfortable, with as you say the odd heart in mouth moments - but the sheer amount of crosses and 'good' positions they found themselves in was alarming - Blackburn just lack the cutting edge. The game plan worked this time, it might not next time.

It may well not work the next time but we may not employ it the next time. Set up was clear from the start of the 2nd half and the management clearly felt that they had enough to keep Blackburn at bay.

You are right about them though, their goal-scoring has dropped off a cliff - just 12 in their last 13 games, compared to 34 in the first 20.

[John Smith]

Good win and an ugly win which is important as we get to the latter stages.

That late chance for Dack had me on the edge. As the commentator said, if he was fit he would have connected with that and probably stolen a point.

[Vision]

Ok. Moore gets injured. McIntyre gets drafted in. Where's the midfield cover? Pauno uses the same subs virtually every game. The kids are sitting there as a last resort. Obviously not yet ready for first team action.

If, if, if.

Most teams are 2 or 3 injuries away from issues, other squads are also not as big as you think. Yes most bigger than ours but still relatively small.

As it stands, we have a clear week after Saturday. Early view is that Morrison may only miss that, or even at a push be OK. So rest him and play one of Holmes/TM. Come Forest it is also likely we have Meite, MM and Araruna available and the 18 looks a lot stronger again.

I can see where LW is coming from - there does seem to be a big gap between McIntyre/Holmes and Tetek/others, at least in how Paunovic uses them. Holmes and McIntyre are fully part of the first team squad, but Tetek very rarely gets off the bench. Melvin-Lambert didn’t get any game time when we only had Baldock up front, Onen and Camara have made about one league appearance between them, etc.

I’m not jumping to any conclusions but it does feel like they’re there to make up the numbers rather than being serious options.

The sheer volume of players on the bench u=in Covid times means there are definitely players just making up the numbers who know they aren't getting on unless there's a freak injury run in one specific position.

I do think we missed a trick by not bringing Tetek on with either of the McIntyre or Esteves changes. His use of the ball is very good from the little I've seen of him and we were crying out for a bit more ball retention in those last 10 minutes . Also despite his size he's pretty tenacious too.

In general I think one of the main positives from last night was it seemed like a lesson partly learned from the Brentford game. Like then we pressed them very high up the pitch 1st half making it hard for them to get out and were the better side first half. Sadly against |Brentford we tried to do the same all game but eventually tired. Last night when we got naturally tired we dropped off and denied Blackburn the space to play their little "Give and Go's" in behind us.

It's not perfect and we certainly need to find a way to be a threat in some way rather than just absorbing the pressure but when I read that people think Blackburn lacked a "Cutting Edge" it was very much a job well done. Aside from Brentford (and possibly Bournemouth on their day) I think they're the most potent Passing/attacking threat in the Division.

I think the point is we need to understand there are different ways of closing out games. I think we're getting there slowly but surely.

[South Coast Royal]

I think we have to get used to the manager's approach of seeing a game out.
As fans we want to see the side go for a 2nd or 3rd but many managers take, what we fans may feel, the riskier approach of holding on to what you have got.
Also we are not used to seeing a Reading side that we would trust to hold on for a 1-0.

I thought that both our full-backs were superb last night and the rest did ok without doing anything spectacularly right or wrong.
I think it was strategy , not tiredness, that made us play the way that we did against a very middle of the road side in Blackburn.
"There are no easy games in The Championship" we are told so often because there is so little between most of the sides.

One other thing, we are seeing the benefit of game time for both Holmes and McIntyre from earlier in the season witnessed by the fact that nobody seems that worried by our steady-as-a-rock regular centre-back now being injured.
I am not so confident but much more so than if Morro had been injured back in September or October.

[Hound]

yes Holmes was very good. Been slightly critical of him at times (with the caveat he is still learning and often out of position) but he has loads of potential as a very good CB. Interesting he came on before McIntyre - realise its the RCB/LCB thing but pleased he was trusted rather than moving McIntyre or Moore over to RCB

The performance reminded me of some of the early season games like Watford. Not exciting but well controlled and disciplined

[tidus_mi2]

yes Holmes was very good. Been slightly critical of him at times (with the caveat he is still learning and often out of position) but he has loads of potential as a very good CB. Interesting he came on before McIntyre - realise its the RCB/LCB thing but pleased he was trusted rather than moving McIntyre or Moore over to RCB

The performance reminded me of some of the early season games like Watford. Not exciting but well controlled and disciplined

My biggest criticism of Holmes and I've seen him do it a lot at Right Back is he will be running parallel to a winger on the attack and then go towards the ball, at which point the winger just changes his pace and gets past him easily.

Seen it less recently when he's played right back so maybe he's learning.

[NewCorkSeth]

yes Holmes was very good. Been slightly critical of him at times (with the caveat he is still learning and often out of position) but he has loads of potential as a very good CB. Interesting he came on before McIntyre - realise its the RCB/LCB thing but pleased he was trusted rather than moving McIntyre or Moore over to RCB

The performance reminded me of some of the early season games like Watford. Not exciting but well controlled and disciplined

I reckon Moore has made it clear he plays better on the left so it was a sensible move imo. I'm glad he is doing well as he seems a lovely bloke. Can't wait for the 2 Tom's to be starting next to each other in our inaugural Champions League campaign in 2 years time.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Haven't seen much praise for the manager. After being rightfully criticised for the Millwall and Wycombe team selection/subs, think he deserves a lot of credit for once again getting us back on track after a couple of poor results.

[NewCorkSeth]

Haven't seen much praise for Pepe for being the best poster on the board. Seriously guys. Up your game.

[Lower West]

Haven't seen much praise for the manager. After being rightfully criticised for the Millwall and Wycombe team selection/subs, think he deserves a lot of credit for once again getting us back on track after a couple of poor results.

Next few games are the key to the whole season. Only then would it be fair to pass judgement.

[Nameless]

Haven't seen much praise for the manager. After being rightfully criticised for the Millwall and Wycombe team selection/subs, think he deserves a lot of credit for once again getting us back on track after a couple of poor results.

Next few games are the key to the whole season. Only then would it be fair to pass judgement.

As fans I suspect we’d judge him pretty positively. We’ve had a much better season than we could have expected.
However it is the judgement of the owners that matters. Will they see this season as sufficient progress to give Pauno the green light to continue or will they see us failing to win the league by a new record margin as a sackable offence ?

[morganb]

Haven't seen much praise for Pepe for being the best poster on the board. Seriously guys. Up your game.

His next few posts are the key to the whole season. Only then would it be fair to pass judgement.

[URZZZZ]

Good win and an ugly win which is important as we get to the latter stages.

That late chance for Dack had me on the edge. As the commentator said, if he was fit he would have connected with that and probably stolen a point.

Very good win especially considering our next away game is up against the best midfielder in the league

[Stranded]

Haven't seen much praise for the manager. After being rightfully criticised for the Millwall and Wycombe team selection/subs, think he deserves a lot of credit for once again getting us back on track after a couple of poor results.

Next few games are the key to the whole season. Only then would it be fair to pass judgement.

Many, not saying you LW, were quick to judge him negatively after the recent run, ending with the Wycombe debacle - he'd lost it etc, etc - the fact that we have flipped that to 2 wins with clean sheets should be praised. Hopefully this momentum continues.

[URZZZZ]

Another useful win, another clean sheet with out looking very good for large periods of the game. I viewed the subs as very negative - protecting a one goal lead from 70th minute just invited wave after wave of attacks. But we did the job, just about.... the last 20 minutes felt like we were clinging on and just clearing it with out even looking.
I am a little concerned that we have reverted to hoofing it up to the striker as a game plan....
Was that Semedos best game for us? I thought he put in a real decent shift, there was a a crazy 10 minutes when i thought he was gunna get a red but after that I thought he did very well. Still not been impressed by Moores return.

I disagree that the first sub was negative - Joao was putting in arguably his worst performance in a Reading shirt, so was right to hook him. Blackburn were already on the front foot, so made sense to me to revert to the more regular 4-5-1 esp. as Puscas was showing that his hold play is plenty good enough to be alone if needed.

I can see why it felt more negative as it was McIntyre who came on but he has come on at DM a lot this season so was the best move and allowed Semedo (who was excellent) to move forward. Plan was clearly to let them have the ball in front of us and wait or force the mistake, or hurry the shot/cross and it worked perfectly. The only real heart in mouth moment was Armstrong's miss and that only came about as he and Moore accidentally tangled but he was able to keep on his feet whilst Moore had to scramble.

Hopefully Joao shakes off what ever is holding him back.
When you see a striker off for CB you know what the game plan is, regardless if that CB has come on for a few minutes and played as a DM before. We defended deep and lumped up it to general direction to Puscas hoping something would stick.

We were comfortable, with as you say the odd heart in mouth moments - but the sheer amount of crosses and 'good' positions they found themselves in was alarming - Blackburn just lack the cutting edge. The game plan worked this time, it might not next time.

Ultimately sometimes you need pieces of luck to help you get through games. Not suggesting yesterday was a lucky win by any means but there were a couple of times the ball bounced favourably to us, but yet compare it to Millwall’s equaliser (deflection perfectly into the path of Smith) or Boro’s first (wasn’t a freekick from which they scored)

Said before the importance of momentum. Brentford went on a 20/21 unbeaten streak (or something similar), lost one and then lost another couple in a row. The same sort of thing has happened to us this season, so whilst we’re scraping through at the moment playing within our shells a bit, it should bode us well for future games, with (A) - a win streak behind us and (B) - injured players to return to strengthen the squad

[Pepe the Horseman]

Haven't seen much praise for Pepe for being the best poster on the board. Seriously guys. Up your game.

His next few posts are the key to the whole season. Only then would it be fair to pass judgement.

Will be interesting to see how I deal with this kind of pressure. Pretty poorly I expect.

[Stranded]

Haven't seen much praise for Pepe for being the best poster on the board. Seriously guys. Up your game.

His next few posts are the key to the whole season. Only then would it be fair to pass judgement.

Will be interesting to see how I deal with this kind of pressure. Pretty poorly I expect.

Not the strongest start.

[Brain Traysers]

One benefit of having a few injuries this season, is the likes of Meite, Yiadom, Moore and Puscas should be really fresh and firing. obviously its a manic season and mentally and physically 2 games a week takes its toll I'm sure.

Add Swift in if (big if) he comes back soon and fully fit and you have 5 fresh players who are up there with the best in the division in their positions. Its a big plus. Noticed the likes of Swansea were bemoaning their strikers looking jaded (1 goal between them in 9 I think) with no one else to turn to

When I looked at it a couple of weeks ago Swansea and Brentford were the 2 teams in the top 10 that had a higher concentration (specifically measured using HHI) of minutes across their squad (i.e. they rotate even less). It doesn't surprise me their form has dropped off, given their strength was their solid defense, leaving less margin for a drop off as 1 goal wins rapidly turn to draws.

Add in the games in hand to squeeze into an already intense schedule and a complete Swansea implosion isn't impossible