MATCHWATCH : Exeter City (a)

[Hound]

Looked great on the highlights. Vickers especially and Ballard just looks like he’ll score plenty

As mentioned, very noticeable the intensity- at 9-0 up in the 96th minute and Vickers is still pressing like his life depends on it. Brilliant stuff

Carson put in some very nice balls. If he can work on his defending he’ll be a good player

[Stranded]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnRalX-Nd4A

Quality of opposition caveats, but excellent football on display. Decision making and execution in the final third way way above L1 level. Bring a fraction of that to the league and we'll do well. But they did make it easy for us, particularly after an hour or do when their heads were gone.

For all that our team was younger, I suspect that it was considerably more experienced. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if Dean had more first team appearances than the whole Exeter XI combined.

For all that we made 11 changes, most of that starting XI has League 1 starts this season. Mbengue, Dean, McIntyre, Carson, Vickers... etc.

What excites me the most is just how up for it we were and to the final whistle it would be so easy for us to treat this competition as a waste of our time. But I haven't seen a Reading side that enthusiastic and rampaging since Coppell.

That was the most pleasing thing last night is just how ruthless the side were - it would have been very easy to take the foot off the gas at 3 or 4-0 and just coast but they didn't - every single player kept looking to get on the front foot, kept looking for space, kept looking for the right ball forward, make the right run, hassle the opposition. It really was excellent and helped you forget the off pitch crap.

The reason for that, is every single player knew they have an equal chance of getting into the League side - we don't really have an A side or B side - for the first time in god knows how long. What we have is a squad of players who seem to have committed wholehertedly to this style of play, suit it and enjoy it. They also know that a strong performance in this competition can and will lead to minutes in the league.

The players who didn't play last night know if they are off the boil then there is a player who can play their spot just as well - that should in the mid to long term lead to consistency and success.

So weird being a Reading fan, for the first time in years we have a side that excites and that I am looking forward to watching whilst at the same time worrying about the continuing existence of the club.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

When there have been a vast amount of youngsters given first team opportunities this season, a lot of the U21's and maybe even a couple of U18 players know that they are only a good performance away from being involved. We have a manager who isn't scared to give our academy a try, which goes hand in hand with the situation we are in off the field where signing players is still a bit of a struggle.

I think having that attitude reverberates around the entire club, where every single player knows they have an opportunity to develop rather than just sticking with the experienced players like Ince did last season. Not suggesting that Ince was necessarily wrong in a lot of cases with his team selection, it would have been incredibly telling to give a lot of these players a run in the Championship last season given our situation towards the bottom, but I also feel that if we had Ince this season, we wouldn't have seen a lot of these players given the chances they have so far.

[Snowball]

Not allowing for minutes played and including subs

Our 15 players averaged 21.27 years

Take out Dean and the average is 20.5


17 year old scored
18 year old scored
18 year old scored 2

Ages

17 Talan Harris (1) sub
18 Caylan Vickers (1)
18 Dom Ballard (2) Striker sub

20 Boyce-Clarke Keeper
20 Jayden Wareham
20 Michael Craig MF
20 Ben Elliott (1) MF
20 Matty Carson FB

21 Rushesha MF
21 Mbengue (MF/D)
21 Dorsett CB sub

23 Mukairu (2) Winger

24 Harvey Knibbs sub
24 McIntyre (1)CB

32 Harlee Dean CB

21.27 average
20.50 average (sans Dean)

[karbota]

LOL at the RTGS building their season on a ridiculous one-off result.

[genome]

RTGs? That's an old HNA meme

Hmmm....

[Snowball]

I was curious about the ages of the two teams.

We know that our "kids" are gaining experience
and Vickers (for example) only being 18 is slightly
misleading as he is close to an automatic choice
for the first team these days.

Anyway here are the two starting 11s

EXETER F.C ------------- READING F.C.

32 Woods ------------- 32 Dean
26 Jules --------------- 24 McIntyre
26 Fitzwater ------------- XX Spacer
24 Taylor ------------- XX Spacer
23 Scott ------------- XX Spacer

21 Watts --------------- 21 Rushesha
XX Spacer ------------- 21 Mbengue
XX Spacer ------------- 21 Mukairu
XX Spacer ------------- 20 Boyce-Clarke
XX Spacer ------------- 20 Jayden Wareham
XX Spacer ------------- 20 Michael Craig
XX Spacer ------------- 20 Ben Elliott
XX Spacer ------------- 20 Matty Carson

18 Borges ------------- 18 Caylan Vickers
18 Cox -------------
18 Beardmore -------------
17 O'Connor -------------
16 Richards

21.72 Average ------------- 21.54 Average

As I've said, age is not the only criteria. See TMac for example,
he could be 28 with his experience.

But Exeter played more genuinely senior players, four or five
of them versus Reading's 2 (Dean and McIntyre)

But RFC packed the 20-21 age group with highly skilled
highly-motivated youngsters who have been successful
as a group

Exeter certainly played a too-weak side 18-18-18-17-16
and that made a big difference. They simply weren't ready

Replace 1-2 of those with a 23 or 24 year-olds and they
might not have been quite so exposed.


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

When we add in the subs, Exeter become slightly younger
than Reading FC, but that's not very meaningful, IMO
and may have been a sleight-of-hand by the Exeter manager
preparing his excuses.

18 Stanford-Daniels ------------- 24 Knibbs
18 Edgecombe ------------- 22 Abrefa
17 Cutler ------------- 21 Dorsett
17 Joce ------------- 18 Dom Ballard
17 Cunningham ------------- 17 Harris

20.38 Average ------------- 21.19 Average

[South Coast Royal]

Although I saw most of the game on i-follow it kept on crashing so I missed some of the action.
I am envious of those that made the trip-I thought our 6-4 win there was something I would not see again but last night was something else.

I very much agree with stranded that we no longer have a first and second team.
Apart from Kelvin all positions are covered well by similar players of similar ability which is probably a good thing unless they all turn out to be middle of the road.
Early signs are that some will be better than that and the two that look classier than the rest are IMHO Abbey and Elliott (as good an early pedigree as Olise).

Words like "amazing" are overused but the performance and result last night were both truly amazing so let's enjoy it especially as Blackpool and Burton might pan out as both 0-0. .

[Stranded]

All this and we still have Smith and Wing to come back in the next couple of weeks, who are both proven performers at this level. Christ, even Ejaria could become a decent option if he is ever fit and his mind is in the right place.

So many positives on the pitch right now.

[Snowball]

"LOL at the RTGS building their season on a ridiculous one-off result."


ONE RESULT?

0-9 Win Away at Exeter - the club currently second in our league
0-4 Win Away at Millwall - a mid-table Championship side
2-1 Win Home v Bolton - 7th in our league with a game in hand
2-0 Win Home v Stevenage - 5th in our league just a point off top
1-0 Win Home v Cheltenham

2-2 Home Draw v Ipswich - currently second in the Championship

Played 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th and 8th 5 games, 6 points 5F 5A

Our four defeats include the first two games with a makeshift side
but, nevertheless we have lost those four all by a single goal and
could easily have got points at Exeter (League), v Peterborough,
v Cambridge... and at Port Vale we were on top, missed a penalty at 0-0
(but we did have a dreadful second half

Four clean sheets in ten games. We are joint third-best in goals conceded
(just league)

50% win record

22 Goals for
Just 8 goals against (6 league, 2 cup)

11 different players scoring in 10 games

The team clearly getting better and better

Not the slightest RTG-ing

[WestYorksRoyal]

I wonder who will keep their place from last night for Saturday. I'd say Carson and Elliott most likely. LB is yet to be nailed down by anyone, while Elliott also had a big impact off the bench against Bolton and has generally shown a touch of class in all his appearances.

[WestYorksRoyal]

All this and we still have Smith and Wing to come back in the next couple of weeks, who are both proven performers at this level. Christ, even Ejaria could become a decent option if he is ever fit and his mind is in the right place.

So many positives on the pitch right now.

A win on Sat and people will genuinely start discussing promotion.

[URZZZZ]

All this and we still have Smith and Wing to come back in the next couple of weeks, who are both proven performers at this level. Christ, even Ejaria could become a decent option if he is ever fit and his mind is in the right place.

So many positives on the pitch right now.

A win on Sat and people will genuinely start discussing promotion.

There’s part of the problem - people are easily swayed by individual results (whether that’s a win or a loss) to a point where expectations flutter all over. Shouldn’t be demanding unrealistic targets for these players.

This season is about building a clear, identifiable style and incrementally improving. Our pressing, for example, has improved tenfold from the start of the season where we’re now hunting in packs, as opposed to just having the front four press at the start of the season leaving a huge gap between the attack and midfield.

Next step would be working on getting past a well drilled defence. We seem very apt when scoring the first goal but we don’t quite have the guile to break a team down yet who are defending deep. Bolton was a good start and you could see the work that was put in during the international break.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

All this and we still have Smith and Wing to come back in the next couple of weeks, who are both proven performers at this level. Christ, even Ejaria could become a decent option if he is ever fit and his mind is in the right place.

So many positives on the pitch right now.

It's funny isn't it how the narrative changes. A couple of weeks ago people were fearing relegation because we'd only beaten a side who have yet to score a goal this season through an own goal and beat a newly promoted side who were down to 10 men. Suddenly now it seems as if we are on the way up again.

It's getting there though bit by bit, some players are coming to the fold a little bit more now and once Wing and Smith are fit, I'm hoping their experience and quality will knock us up a level. Inconsistencies are still there for sure, but a few things on the field are still moving in the right direction. You can see the fitness is there for most and the understanding is coming together amongst the group.

[windermereROYAL]

All this and we still have Smith and Wing to come back in the next couple of weeks, who are both proven performers at this level. Christ, even Ejaria could become a decent option if he is ever fit and his mind is in the right place.

So many positives on the pitch right now.

A win on Sat and people will genuinely start discussing promotion.

Woaaaah, hold your horses boy, we are all on cloud 9 after last night but lets not let expectations run away with us, no doubting we`ve got an extremely talented bunch of kids here, but first and foremost consolidation is the number 1 aim with all the uncertainty hanging over us regarding possible future point deductions.
If we start panning teams in the league on a regular basis it will bring back the feel good factor that has been missing for more than 10 years, that`s all I ask at this time.

A promotion charge would be an unexpected bonus mind.

[WestYorksRoyal]

All this and we still have Smith and Wing to come back in the next couple of weeks, who are both proven performers at this level. Christ, even Ejaria could become a decent option if he is ever fit and his mind is in the right place.

So many positives on the pitch right now.

A win on Sat and people will genuinely start discussing promotion.

There’s part of the problem - people are easily swayed by individual results (whether that’s a win or a loss) to a point where expectations flutter all over. Shouldn’t be demanding unrealistic targets for these players.

This season is about building a clear, identifiable style and incrementally improving. Our pressing, for example, has improved tenfold from the start of the season where we’re now hunting in packs, as opposed to just having the front four press at the start of the season leaving a huge gap between the attack and midfield.

Next step would be working on getting past a well drilled defence. We seem very apt when scoring the first goal but we don’t quite have the guile to break a team down yet who are defending deep. Bolton was a good start and you could see the work that was put in during the international break.

It's how narratives work in football and sport. Follow PL reporting, and the likes of Man Utd and Spurs lurch from crisis to successful rebuilds on the back of 3 or 4 results.

I do see this as a rebuild season and expect us to be inconsistent. That being said, win on Saturday and I can definitely see a 6 game run or so where we pick up a lot of points and gets us excited. It's just that we may have a similar bad run later in the season

[Stranded]

Last night was a welcome change but it doesn't alter the fact that a top half finish will be an excellent season and just being well away from relegation would be welcomed.

If this squad is capable of getting on a run then who knows but anything higher than 12th will be a massive bonus.

[Snowball]

I wonder who will keep their place from last night for Saturday. I'd say Carson and Elliott most likely. LB is yet to be nailed down by anyone, while Elliott also had a big impact off the bench against Bolton and has generally shown a touch of class in all his appearances.

Who'd be a manager?

Definitely think Elliott should be starting. But then drop who?

I think TMac has shown up well and could do a good job,
maybe as the water-carrier in midfield. But that means dropping
Hutch or Savage?

I think, ATM, Yiadom is probably best for RB but the cover is very decent.

Mukairu looks special but it's probably him v Azeez for the place?

Ballard looks like a natural goal-scorer, but it would be hard to drop
Special-K or Vickers.

Individually we have how many players that could slot in
to the first team

01 BUTTON
02 McIntyre
03 Yiadom
04 Dean
05 Mbengue
06 Savage
07 Hutchinson
08 Wing
09 ELLIOTT
10 Knibbs
11 Ballard
12 Azeez
13 SPECIAL-K
14 Mukairu
15 VICKERS
16 BINDON
17 ABBEY
18 Carson (slightly dodgy defending but great going forward)
19 NGW as above, but in the manager's plans or not?
20 Rushesha
21 Camara
22 Mola? (Not seen enough to be sure...)

=========

Sam Smith
Ovie Ejaria
Tom Holmes?????

=============

Jayden Wareham
Basil Tuma
Jahmari Clarke
Taylan Harris


The mind boggles.

I think it will be more about balance, who works best with whom etc

Or might Selles play a hard core and start different players with it?

I can't remember so many choices (watching since 2005-06)

[NathStPaul]

NO

[Royal_jimmy]

Still can't believe that last night, sensational performance. Shows what we're capable of if we have a good day. Until we're consistent I'm keeping my expectations grounded.