Matt Mills

[Southbank Old Boy]

Mills did alright yesterday, as he has everytime he has managed to get in the side

Because of the reputations of the opposition it will go down as a better performance, but I think he needs games to get sharp and fell settled in the side. All good sides have a settled pairing at the back and as much as I think that should be Pearce and Mills I can understand Ivar keeping his place whilst we are struggling

Ivar has been poor this season, but I cant see a Mills/Pearce combination being very solid

[Snowball]

Rumour has it though that Pearce and Mills despise each other.

Pearce and Mills came to the game together.
They looked fine when I met them outside the ground.

I asked Mills if he was starting. He told me he was and Pearce grinned.

If they "despise each other" they are fantastic actors.

[rhroyal]

Yeah, I think it's just one of those things where people want to believe it is true.

I agree, although your comment earlier that Sojskjaer and Sheringham were better than Cole and Yorke is, for the record, laughable.

[loyalroyal4life]

at leats mills can ping a ball from the back with games gone by his distribution will get better

[handbags_harris]

Pearce and Mills came to the game together.
They looked fine when I met them outside the ground.

I asked Mills if he was starting. He told me he was and Pearce grinned.

If they "despise each other" they are fantastic actors.

Got any stats to back that up?

[Bath Hoops]

I think you need to give the guy a chance, considering it was his first game in ages I thought he did well. Certainly seems more assured on the ball than Ivar or Pearce. Sometimes you have to give someone a run in the team, I remember when Upson came to us he took him awhile to settle in and when he did look at the difference it made.

[Wongle]

For what it is worth, i heard recently the BR had done a deal with QPR to offload Mills for only £1m, which contributed to his demise. Its typical friend of a friend stuff but may answer why he hasn't featured much.

[Southbank Old Boy]

For what it is worth, i heard recently the BR had done a deal with QPR to offload Mills for only £1m, which contributed to his demise. Its typical friend of a friend stuff but may answer why he hasn't featured much.

Did they just read that on here?

[winchester_royal]

Rumour has it though that Pearce and Mills despise each other.

Pearce and Mills came to the game together.
They looked fine when I met them outside the ground.

I asked Mills if he was starting. He told me he was and Pearce grinned.

If they "despise each other" they are fantastic actors.

Like I said...'rumour'.

But thanks for clearing that up.

How are Shane's stats looking BTW?

[Stranded]

Thought he was more than solid and it may be coincidental but Ingimarsson had his best game in ages as well.

[Alan Partridge]

Thought he was more than solid and it may be coincidental but Ingimarsson had his best game in ages as well.

I too thought Mills was easily good enough. Ivar not so sure on that, Liverpool didn't have many chances so he must have done something right i suppose but I can certainly see why on that evidence he's struggled a bit this year. Cisse did a job in midfield but his sloppy play outdoes all his good stuff. Works hard, wins the ball back then fails to make a 5 yard pass, so frustrating. I'd like to see Cisse replaced in the middle and also Ivar if Reading are looking to push on, 2 weak links for me.

[Stranded]

Fair points - not saying Ingi is back to his best or anything like that - I just got the feeling that having Mills there gave him more confidence and saw an improvement as a result as if he felt he could trust his partner more - I wouldn't be adverse to seeing these two continue for a while unless we can find a better CB on loan.

[Alan Partridge]

Fair points - not saying Ingi is back to his best or anything like that - I just got the feeling that having Mills there gave him more confidence and saw an improvement as a result as if he felt he could trust his partner more - I wouldn't be adverse to seeing these two continue for a while unless we can find a better CB on loan.

I still prefer Ivar to Pearce. He was ok, I thought Liverpool got their tactics so horribly wrong on the day it really played into Reading's hands. They have players like Benayoun and Babel, ok not world beaters, but they have a turn of pace or a bit of trickery and in effect they played two left backs down their left hand side. Despite us having a 34 year old makeshift right back playing. In fact their entire midfield was defensive, even Gerrard played deep. (I thought he was awful ftr, couldn't have been more disinterested). It smacked of a club that probably didn't even bother to have Reading watched and thought they could just turn up. If they'd done their homework they'd have played Gerrard up with Torres, and either Benayoun or Babel on the left hand side.

It's an area of the park Reading might look to improve in January if they can especially with O'Dea going back. I wouldn't mind seeing Cisse play there to be totally honest.

[M-U-R-T-Y]

Cisse could be a decent shout at CB. He's hard working, not afraid to chase down like a nutter and good in the tackle. His distribution can be sloppy though and we'd do well to have someone like Karacan come deep to get the ball off him.

[Ian Royal]

Thought he was more than solid and it may be coincidental but Ingimarsson had his best game in ages as well.

I too thought Mills was easily good enough. Ivar not so sure on that, Liverpool didn't have many chances so he must have done something right i suppose but I can certainly see why on that evidence he's struggled a bit this year. Cisse did a job in midfield but his sloppy play outdoes all his good stuff. Works hard, wins the ball back then fails to make a 5 yard pass, so frustrating. I'd like to see Cisse replaced in the middle and also Ivar if Reading are looking to push on, 2 weak links for me.

Yep.

I'd guess that where we differ is that I'd have Pearce (but I'd be ok with Cisse) in place of Ivar.

When it comes to distribution at Centreback I think people would find Cisse to be pretty good. He may be poor at passing for a midfielder, that still makes him pretty bloody comfortable on the ball for a centreback.

[Elm Park Old Boy]

Him and Pearce are both players with potential, and obviously they need games to realise that potential. Both have different qualities, Mills is quicker than Pearce and would add something different to the backline than the past-it Ingimarsson does. It just seems logical to have him and Pearce as first choice centre backs.

Pearce will never forfil his potential because 1 thing will catch him out for the whole of his career, he cant run.

Astonishing that so many experienced and well-paid professionals, who have spent their lives in football, and are employed to make judgements on it, have not noticed this basic point yet. Have you applied for the manager's job yet?

[andrew1957]

The problem with Cisse is he can't head the ball and has horrendous positional sense, the two single most important things a central defender needs to be good at!

Cisse was MOTM against Man Unt at CB a couple of seaosn ago so not sure he is that bad in the position!!

[Ian Royal]

Oh yeah, do you remember his next matches in that position? The ones where he couldn't head the ball and had no positional sense? I don't think you have a very good memory.

I remember everyone blaming him for Villa taknig us apart when it was the whole team that played badly and not just down to him.