BFTG - Brizzle

[billybraggsbeard]

There were a couple of good moments but generally we were really poor and showed very little quality. The worrying thing is that you'd look at our defence and defensive midfielders and we only have 1 player who probably wouldn't be first choice, and yet our defending is shambolic. Going forward we weren't up to much. So pedestrian, lots of sideways passes into blind alleys and tight spaces before eventually losing the ball. Very little movement off the ball. We were second best to most things all night long as well which is really disappointing.

Cabral 5 - Seemed intent with Moore and co to get us into trouble at the back, poor kicking (as always). Looked odd for their 3rd but did well to prevent the 4th.

Yiadom - 5 - A lot of energy but little to no end product.

Moro - 5 - Caught out several times, heavy touch and guilty of some pretty poor balls

Moore 4 - Less said about that the better, was a total liability all evening. Gets an extra point for the goal.

McIntyre 5 - Meh

Rino 4 - No real influence on the game

Laurent 5 - Looked to drive forward at times but not his usual quality and lost possession a lot.

Azeez 6 - Looked our most likely player, well taken goal but a few pretty poor touches.

Swift 6 - Only player that looks genuine quality but didn't get on the ball as much as he should have. A lot of sideways passing.

Bristow 4 - He's not ready for this level in his preferred position so to be asked to play higher up is tough on the lad. Well done on the assist though.

Puscas 2 - Waste of a shirt playing one up top.

----------------------

Not going to do subs as not much point but TDB looked decent and needs to start. Clarke didn't do anything but what was he supposed to? Why take off Puscas, why not play him off someone else? Why are we losing at home by 1 goal but not throwing the kitchen sink at it, is an extra goal - GD really going to screw us right now? More confusing Pauno shit.

Agree with most of these ratings apart from Puscas. It’s not his fault we barely managed to get the ball to him.
Pauno has to take his share of the blame. We started so poorly with no intensity against a team in hopeless form. They were encamped in our half for the first 15 minutes.

Swift needed to drop deeper. Watching Moore and Morrison pass sideways all night was painful. Swift is the only who has the ability to play a positive pass to hurt the opposition.

Once again Rafael’s distribution was shocking and watching him and Moore get into all sorts of problems with shorts passes across the penalty box was so familiar. When will we learn?

Then there is Yids. It was a typical Yiadom performance. Get into a great position but refuse to cross and then take it too far and lose the ball. Rinse and repeat.

Agree we need to play two upfront and would drop Rino. He was very poor last night and offered very little.

With Joao and Meite out injured we really need a striker on loan.

With Puscas why is it never his fault, he was poor yet again tonight central defenders must think its their birthdays playing against him, he never tries anything different. I f you are being dominated in the air change your position, try and spin him, he just stands there. The line of the fact that we don't play to his strengths, I partially agree with, but what are they. He cost us £6 or £7million pounds he is on good money but never looks like he can be arsed. The academy lads yes we can have sympathy for, but the lad that came on for him immediately gave the centre back something to think about

[Coppells Lost Coat]

Unfortunately, when balls are being clipped into you from 40 yards, you cant really change how you play, you are not given the chance to set up your position. The few times he was played into positions he is more comfortable with, he was so isolated he was muscled off the ball. He is not Joao so why play him as he is.
How about the other players adapt to play him in? Its not rocket science.

[John Smith]

Those were never pens.

Aside from letting some rough challenges go unpunished, and the hesitancy at awarding throw-ins, the only thing they really got wrong were a few GK/corner decisions.

We've seen far worse

Can you try and convince me that the 2nd Bristol goal was onside please

[Hendo]

Those were never pens.

Aside from letting some rough challenges go unpunished, and the hesitancy at awarding throw-ins, the only thing they really got wrong were a few GK/corner decisions.

We've seen far worse

Can you try and convince me that the 2nd Bristol goal was onside please

The guy runs from deep for the first header and I think Morrison is playing him onside for the second header, camera angle doesn't help here though.

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/12384184/reading-2-3-bristol-city

[Millsy]

Those were never pens.

Aside from letting some rough challenges go unpunished, and the hesitancy at awarding throw-ins, the only thing they really got wrong were a few GK/corner decisions.

We've seen far worse

Can you try and convince me that the 2nd Bristol goal was onside please

Looked offside didn't it? But watching replay multiple times with pauses, slo etc, both the kick and the header are onside... except with the header across the chap to his left was offside but nothing to do with play.

[Snowflake Royal]

Let's face it we have to be realistic. This will now be a fight against relegation. We need to adopt a far more defensive formation as most teams now will be better than us and try and pick up enough points to survive. During this time perhaps 2/3 of the young players will develop into championship quality.
Last night we gave the game away against a side that had not won in 12. We beat a poor side in Preston also.
We have to re-evaluate and accept that although we have a few good players we don't have a team and you need both. Be happy if we survive to fight for better things next season.
Having watched Reading for 59 years I'm well prepared for this!

It's not a relegation battle yet but could easily turn into one. This season goes one of two ways from here - we keep scoring fairly regularly and the defence gets sorted, we put a bit of a run together and move up the table. Our goals start to dry up and the defence remains all at sea, we're in for a long tough battle to stay up. Both are equally likely at this point.

We are, according to the club, now able to bring in loans and free's under certain guidelines, so the period up until after the break will be key for us - ideally get a few players in and use the break as a 2nd pre season.

I think that's being generous

Our goals are (from memory)
Swift - 2 - a player who struggles with fitness and has barely ever made double figures
Azeez - 2 - a kid breaking through
Moore - 2 - a centreback who rarely scores

Of our last few seasons, the players who've scored double figures or close are Joao (out for the year), Meite (out for at least the year), Olise (gone), Swift and Puscas.

I'd say our goals are almost guaranteed to dry up sooner rather than later. Whilst the defence has to improve a lot and has shown no signs of doing so.

[Snowflake Royal]

Picking up on Millsy's point.

I'd like to agree. Azeez is doing brilliantly. Bristow is being asked to step up to far out of position and doesn't look ready, but this is invaluable experience and I think he clearly has a future.

My issue is with Moore and the coaching staff. For the last three years Moore hasn't performed well enough to justify half his extravagant wage. He's the captain, and senior defender. It's his job to marshall the defence on the field and yet he's consistently one of the weak links in a disorganised mess. He gives the ball away a lot and he's constantly having to throw his body on the line because he's out of position.

And whoever is setting up the defensive tactics should be out the door. Standing static on the 6 yard box and watching the ball is no way to defend a corner.

[Hound]

And whoever is setting up the defensive tactics should be out the door. Standing static on the 6 yard box and watching the ball is no way to defend a corner.

I’d be surprised if that is the tactic to do that

But yep the defending from set pieces this season has been atrocious

[NathStPaul]

And whoever is setting up the defensive tactics should be out the door. Standing static on the 6 yard box and watching the ball is no way to defend a corner.

I’d be surprised if that is the tactic to do that

But yep the defending from set pieces this season has been atrocious

Yeah clearly help is needed on that front. Might be a good job for an ex-pro defender who has just left the game maybe? Would be affordable.

[Snowflake Royal]

Are we seeing a pattern here?

Stam does well
Reid leaves
Stam is awful.


Pauno does well
O'Shea leaves
???

[Hound]

Defending wasn’t special second half of last year tbf

[NathStPaul]

Are we seeing a pattern here?

Stam does well
Reid leaves
Stam is awful.


Pauno does well
O'Shea leaves
???

I hope Paunovic doesn't have the same stubborn streak Stam had. Things clearly weren't working for a long time with Stam yet he refused to adapt. If we see Paunovic employ the zonal marking again on Saturday I will have serious doubts about him going forward. Clearly it isn't working and I would imagine the players aren't comfortable with it based upon their efforts so far this season. Got to keep it basic imo, man mark and win the first header.

[Royal_jimmy]

Some really good points and analysis from the last 10 posts.

Whilst we can blame the defence I feel Paunovic should be doing more to stop us conceding such soft goals. It has to be the priority the squad work on in the coming weeks. We certainly have enough quality in defence to stop gifting goals so we should be working on it.

[3points]

Those were never pens.

Aside from letting some rough challenges go unpunished, and the hesitancy at awarding throw-ins, the only thing they really got wrong were a few GK/corner decisions.

We've seen far worse

Can you try and convince me that the 2nd Bristol goal was onside please

Looked offside didn't it? But watching replay multiple times with pauses, slo etc, both the kick and the header are onside... except with the header across the chap to his left was offside but nothing to do with play.

yep, agree with this. The No 16 looks like he would have been offside had he played the ball, but Martin came from behind him. Good decision by the lino I think. My concern with that goal is that Laurent didn't track the initial runner and gave him a free header. That's where the problem started.

Looking at the third goal on the highlights. That was by far the worst of the three imo. Morrison gets bullied by Martin and loses the first phase header. which shouldn't happen. Moore is nowhere near Weimann who is his man for the flick on. McIntyre then slow to get across to Weimann, but should have clattered him and taken the foul. If he'd done that then Weimann is then rolling on the floor and isn't able to get into the box for the return ball. Also, McIntyre needs to be closer to Weimann and tracking him after Weimann's flick on. It looked like McIntyre was running through treacle trying to get back. My son & I commented on a couple occasions in the stadium last night about how slow McIntyre looked when chasing back. Perhaps he spent too much energy running all over the place, trying to play left wing, left forward, centre forward to then be able to do his defensive duties properly.

Genuinely think we will look better and more balanced with two centre backs and a proper left back. All the defenders just looked half a yard off the pace - is that down to a lack of match fitness, desire or being slightly cautious because of covering an inexperienced left back?

Also, heard a rumour last night that Moore has handed in a transfer request

[windermereROYAL]

So far out of the 7 league goals we`ve conceded, 2 were free kicks, one was a long throw, one was a pen. two deflections, city`s third goal was lax defending.
You could argue deflections are unlucky but when somebody passes it through you or scores a 30 yard worldie you can hold your hands up, it hasn`t happened yet.

[3points]

I also think Ejaria's defensive work is underrated on here and by fans generally. Watch him closely in a game and you see he's got a good footballing brain; providing cover for a LB that gets caught out of position and chasing back hard when we lose the ball in transition. Not all the time of course, but more often than not. Bristow or McIntyre would be better at LB with Ejaria in front of them

[RoyalBlue]

For the handball the ref could not have been closer, he indicated the defender had his arms down by his side, correct decision in my view.

You've seen the picture on the OS? His arm is clearly not flat against his side. Therefore he has, under the current guidance, made his body 'unnaturally bigger' and IMO it should've been a penalty. That interpretation is why you see so many defenders unnaturally positioned with their hands behind their bodies!

[Hound]

I also think Ejaria's defensive work is underrated on here and by fans generally. Watch him closely in a game and you see he's got a good footballing brain; providing cover for a LB that gets caught out of position and chasing back hard when we lose the ball in transition. Not all the time of course, but more often than not. Bristow or McIntyre would be better at LB with Ejaria in front of them

Yep good point

[3points]

For the handball the ref could not have been closer, he indicated the defender had his arms down by his side, correct decision in my view.

You've seen the picture on the OS? His arm is clearly not flat against his side. Therefore he has, under the current guidance, made his body 'unnaturally bigger' and IMO it should've been a penalty. That interpretation is why you see so many defenders unnaturally positioned with their hands behind their bodies!

but it was also hit at him from point blank range. I thought I'd seen somewhere that those ones where it is nigh on impossible for a defender to get out of the way will be more sympathetically refereed? I may be wrong though. Sat right behind this last night in the ED and my initial view was it hit his hand but he had no chance of getting out of the way.

There was one later on though where the defender stooped towards the ball and it looked like it hit him on the upper arm or shoulder. For me, that looked like a penalty. I also felt the challenge on Clarke towards the end was close - definitely seen them given in the past. Clear contact and no real effort to play the ball.

Finally, we had a corner where their sub with the Afro totally blocked Puscas. At no point did the Bristol player look at the ball - he just faced Puscas throughout and blocked his run with his arms and body. But they are rarely given. But it was so obvious, even when Swift was standing waiting to take the corner, that the guy had zero intention to play or challenge properly for the ball.

[Zip]

Unfortunately, when balls are being clipped into you from 40 yards, you cant really change how you play, you are not given the chance to set up your position. The few times he was played into positions he is more comfortable with, he was so isolated he was muscled off the ball. He is not Joao so why play him as he is.
How about the other players adapt to play him in? Its not rocket science.

Yep. We barely managed to get the ball up to him anyway.