skipper It is painfully clear that Oxford are a 1 man team. Remove Brannagan and they're nothing. Head and shoulders the best midfielder in the division, and it's truly amazing that he has stayed with Oxford despite multiple offers from Championship clubs for the past 4 seasons. Credit to himself and Oxford.
I think most teams in this division are fairly ordinary, but the top sides have one or two players who make a real difference - Peterborough had a winger who really stood out, for example. I thought Oxford looked poor today, with their #8 (who I assume is Brannagan) being the only player who stood out for them.
skipper BBC stats didn't feel accurate. (How did we have more possesion?).
I feel we had more possession myself. We had more of the attacking play and Oxford's passing did seem dreadful. I can't remember many sustained spells of possession for Oxford, whereas we had a few.
skipper 10 minutes prior to their goal, we were excellent. And straight out of the traps in the 2nd half. Shame we can't start a game like that.
We play very slowly.
I don't know if it's tactical or due to not having enough energy, but we look so much better when we press teams and play with some intensity. I understand you can't play at full intensity for a full ninety minutes, but we only seem to do it for fifteen/twenty minutes each game. Increasing that would be great to see.
skipper Overall, we could have nicked it in the last 15. Both our respective league positions are lying. (Admittedly they are currently 9 first team players down)
Oxford did have a good start to the season, but have fallen away - especially since their manager left for Bristol City. Over the past few months we've both been on fairly similar form. Based on the two games we've played against them, I don't think Oxford will get into the play-offs although they may sneak in with a bit of luck or an improvement (perhaps those players coming back could be a factor).
Seems like the top six will be the current top five, plus one of Oxford, Stevenage or Blackpool. We play Stevenage on Tuesday, so will be interesting to see where they are compared to Oxford right now.
skipper Would rather sit with the away fans. Steward did clock me before sitting down and had a quiet word about being well behaved. I was and he made a big effort to thank me after. Good stewarding and I *don't* think there was any trouble? (Edit: not including the flare incident)
Funny banter on the busses into the city centre after the game. Their fans are pretty quiet really. Not a lot of shouting/chanting, unless in reaction to us.
I think (in general) stewards can tell who's likely to cause problems. Ultimately, they appear to have been sensible in regards to any Reading fans in the home end - let them be unless they start to cause problems.
Their fans did sound really quiet from the away end, although it's always for the noise to leave the ground when you've got an open end and no corners. How did the away end sound from where you were?
