Opposition fans back from the game - 24/25 page 225 onwards

[NewCorkSeth]

It was nice of Norwich’s defence to not go within 6 yards of Andy when we played the ball up to him, certainly helped him avoid injury last night.

Tbf I wouldn't try if I was them either. Would ruin their aerial duel win % stats for the season.

This happened last year as well but it seems odd how we suddenly become so reliant on Carroll when he plays. We looked a much better team when he was playing and not knackered (ie first hour) than we did when he went off

Not sure we adapted very well to Joao replacing him

seemed like they asked Joao to play like Carroll. he won 4 or 5 headers in a row which was unusal to say the least..

[windermereROYAL]

My lappy has been down for a few days and just caught up on a game 2 days ago, astonishing how blinkered other fans can be outside of their RTGs,
What would they be without Pukki who hardly had a kick? one on target in the entire game?
We didn`t win a game we were expecting to in a canter, boo fucking hoo, get the fuck over it.

[Vision]

Tbf I wouldn't try if I was them either. Would ruin their aerial duel win % stats for the season.

This happened last year as well but it seems odd how we suddenly become so reliant on Carroll when he plays. We looked a much better team when he was playing and not knackered (ie first hour) than we did when he went off

Not sure we adapted very well to Joao replacing him

seemed like they asked Joao to play like Carroll. he won 4 or 5 headers in a row which was unusal to say the least..

We definitely missed a trick there I think.

Norwich were standing off Joao as if he were Carroll. If the quality into Joao had been better, he had time to turn and run at them, playing to his strengths rather than shadowing Carroll's.

[NewCorkSeth]

This happened last year as well but it seems odd how we suddenly become so reliant on Carroll when he plays. We looked a much better team when he was playing and not knackered (ie first hour) than we did when he went off

Not sure we adapted very well to Joao replacing him

seemed like they asked Joao to play like Carroll. he won 4 or 5 headers in a row which was unusal to say the least..

We definitely missed a trick there I think.

Norwich were standing off Joao as if he were Carroll. If the quality into Joao had been better, he had time to turn and run at them, playing to his strengths rather than shadowing Carroll's.

unless im mistaken Joao was very good at holding the ball up in hisfeet in his second season for us, odd we didnt adapt to play the ball into his feet. is because we dont have onyone on overlapping runs?

[Mr Optimist]

My lappy has been down for a few days and just caught up on a game 2 days ago, astonishing how blinkered other fans can be outside of their RTGs,
What would they be without Pukki who hardly had a kick? one on target in the entire game?
We didn`t win a game we were expecting to in a canter, boo fucking hoo, get the fuck over it.

I thought Pukki looked laboured, but I guess it is just him now being 32 and playing games every four days or so in the Championship he is going to need managing carefully through the season to keep him fit for most games. Especially if he is still playing internationally too. I suppose this is where they hope Sargent will take some of the dependency away from Pukki.

Must be a strange existence every other season, being the small fish that the big boys expect to beat, to being one of the big boys expecting to beat smaller clubs like Reading when they come down in a role reversal.

[Royal Rother]

It was nice of Norwich’s defence to not go within 6 yards of Andy when we played the ball up to him, certainly helped him avoid injury last night.

Tbf I wouldn't try if I was them either. Would ruin their aerial duel win % stats for the season.

This happened last year as well but it seems odd how we suddenly become so reliant on Carroll when he plays. We looked a much better team when he was playing and not knackered (ie first hour) than we did when he went off

Not sure we adapted very well to Joao replacing him

Keep going. You’re nearly there.

[CountryRoyal]

This happened last year as well but it seems odd how we suddenly become so reliant on Carroll when he plays. We looked a much better team when he was playing and not knackered (ie first hour) than we did when he went off

Not sure we adapted very well to Joao replacing him

seemed like they asked Joao to play like Carroll. he won 4 or 5 headers in a row which was unusal to say the least..

We definitely missed a trick there I think.

Norwich were standing off Joao as if he were Carroll. If the quality into Joao had been better, he had time to turn and run at them, playing to his strengths rather than shadowing Carroll's.

Yeah this. They adapted against Carroll to just not challenge, but clearly forgot to revert tactic when Joao came on. Mick and Dellor were creaming themselves at every header “he won”, despite having no one around him and bringing the ball down would have retained possession instead of flicking it on to no one.

I’m not sure if Joao really knew that though and he looked enthusiastic, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he would have challenged in the air even if he had defenders around him. I guess we will find out tomorrow.

[leon]

Tbf I wouldn't try if I was them either. Would ruin their aerial duel win % stats for the season.

This happened last year as well but it seems odd how we suddenly become so reliant on Carroll when he plays. We looked a much better team when he was playing and not knackered (ie first hour) than we did when he went off

Not sure we adapted very well to Joao replacing him

Keep going. You’re nearly there.

no one can ever accuse you of being arrogant.

[Royal_jimmy]

Having listened to fake hoop fans on the train back they seem to be getting carried away about beating us

[CountryRoyal]

Having listened to fake hoop fans on the train back they seem to be getting carried away about beating us

That would explain their lap of honour, a quarter into a season.

[Royals and Racers]

Surely there are Bristol City fans saying how rubbish we are ??

[Mr Optimist]

Surely there are Bristol City fans saying how rubbish we are ??

We have progressed slightly from rubbish to “limited”….oh the irony!

[URZZZZZZZZ]

Most of the reviews I saw from Bristol fans were focussed on how poor they were, and oddly, it wasn't followed up by how bad we were too.

[windermereROYAL]

Yet another team that were crap when we beat them, strange how often that happens.

[Hendo]

Is it really that surprising though?

I would argue that 75% of the wins in the Championship aren't down to the losing team playing well and the winning team being even better, its usually the losing team are pretty poor and the winning team does enough to win the game.

[Sutekh]

Is it really that surprising though?

I would argue that 75% of the wins in the Championship aren't down to the losing team playing well and the winning team being even better, its usually the losing team are pretty poor and the winning team does enough to win the game.

Exactly. Quite often a club beats another because all it has basically done is nullify the way te other side plays effectively and sometimes that means the winning club doesn’t look all that while the losing club looks worse.

The best managers react to teams doing that and can adjust formation and/or tactics of their sides accordingly. Clubs that don’t do that are either heavily limited by the players available in their squads (either financially or through unfortunate injuries) or just have poor management.

[Hendo]

Indeed - I'm sure that we've also said after defeats we've been crap as well - rather than how good the opposition were. WBA being the prime example of that.

[Snowflake Royal]

Indeed - I'm sure that we've also said after defeats we've been crap as well - rather than how good the opposition were. WBA being the prime example of that.

There are only a small handful of clubs in the Championship that regularly play notably well imo. Everyone else has the odd great game and is otherwise decent and organised or a bit shit.

[bcubed]

Indeed - I'm sure that we've also said after defeats we've been crap as well - rather than how good the opposition were. WBA being the prime example of that.

Although at least there was some acknowledgement that WBA were pretty good in the first 20 minutes or so

[muirinho]

Indeed - I'm sure that we've also said after defeats we've been crap as well - rather than how good the opposition were. WBA being the prime example of that.

There are only a small handful of clubs in the Championship that regularly play notably well imo. Everyone else has the odd great game and is otherwise decent and organised or a bit shit.

Same with all Championship players. Mostly decent, occasionally a bit shit, occasionally exceptionally good.
Any successful Championship team is that way either because it is actually full of PL players because they've just been demoted,
OR the particular blend of decent Championship players, loanees/young players on the way up and ex-PL players on the way down, combined with the manager and coaching staff, has become a team where the sum of the parts etc....

Regularly successful Championship teams have a back-of-house team that recognise the players and managers that will gel - they are Alchemists.
I'm really hopeful that Mark Bowen will stay at Reading, IMO, he is more important than any one player or coach.