Well that was a terrible game that we should have won. Burton offered nothing but we weren't able to break them down.
I have to think that we'd have won that without the protest.

We played better at Blackpool but went in 3-0 down at HT, so I guess that's progress, but we really weren't on it today.

I have to wonder about Selles, does he know how he wants to play and what his best side is? It seems he is cycling players around to teach them a lesson for previous mistakes. ie no sign of Hutchison.

Any draw at home in this league is a poor result regardless of the performance

Hutch came on for last 5 minutes or so ...

Don't think there is much mystery with Hutchinson. If Wing is fit then he will be selected ahead of Hutchinson.

We were ok. Same as usual really, some bits where we look great and some bits where we looked a bit clueless

Forwards didn’t especially look like scoring - Azeez get to score this season isn’t he?

Prob should have had Ballard on sooner. Miss Smith still imo

Carson was a lot better. CBs looked comfortable enough despite the odd brain fart pass. Binden did quite well. Wing better than Hutch. Knibbs, Elliott and Savage worked hard without creating too much. Button barely touched it

Should have won. Poor final ball and finish so we didn’t. Fairly straightforward

Quite enjoyed the game actually, second half was quite lively. First half dominated by the protest and then the head injury, ruined the actual game (not that I’m against the protest, it was pretty effective)

We should have won, but didn't.

Final ball was often overhit. We were too often caught in possession on the edge of the box, or just lost it trying to dribble past one defender too many.

Our attacking players don't really read the game well enough, and make poor decisions. They are young and learning.

Well, I now have a rival for the Huddersfield v Reading play off final as the worst game I’ve attended

That was dreadful
I don’t know what Azeez brings to the party
Sadly, Savage was pretty anonymous

Positives … Abbey looks a cut above … we didn’t lose

, have you not been watching any games since that PO final? There have been many many games far far worse than that!

, have you not been watching any games since that PO final? There have been many many games far far worse than that!
I’ve seen probably 6/7 games since the final
I get one game per season and with Covid less than that recently

Not getting on Selles’ case here but genuinely feel great parts of our game were despite him rather than because of him I.e. thanks to individual moments of brilliance across the park. Players seemed clueless as a unit.

Bbcrb posed the question what would happen if you just threw those people on the pitch with no system and said “you’re good players, work it out yourself” suggesting they’d probably do better.

Sounds harsh because tbf there’s a lot of man managemen, encouragement, training, motivation etc which I’m sure Selles brings to the party but tbf I can see where the question came from.

, have you not been watching any games since that PO final? There have been many many games far far worse than that!
I’ve seen probably 6/7 games since the final
I get one game per season and with Covid less than that recently
Similar. I wasn't there today, but most of the dire Reading performances I've seen have resulted in heavy losses because the other team were better. When was the last time both teams were so shite? That the Huddersfield game resulted in one team being PL was laughable, it was sooooo bad.

Interesting view considering the ignoring of instructions that was going on

At least three times before the ball break instructions were sent out and clearly ignored as the ball went exactly where they’d been told to go and no sign … at least twice was Azeez. Happened again multiple times in the second half

, have you not been watching any games since that PO final? There have been many many games far far worse than that!
I’ve seen probably 6/7 games since the final
I get one game per season and with Covid less than that recently

Fair enough. Sounds like you’ve been lucky

Thought the second half was entertaining. Quality wasn’t great but it wasn’t dull

Selles really didn’t do too much wrong imo. Know you don’t rate him which is fair enough but we should have won the game and Burton barely had a sight of goal. Would have brought on Ballard sooner but we played best during that 50-65m period when he normally makes his first subs

I've already mentioned I wasn't there, but from what I've read their keeper was MOTM, we should have had a penalty and Button didn't make a save. And people are blaming the manager that we didn't win?

^This, Reading fans "we should be beating the likes of burton" Why ?
Just to recap, for those that still think we should be challenging for the premiership.
Haven't been able to buy a player since 2021, cant buy any till 2025 at the earliest.
Playing mostly our under 21's plus some U21's on loan/frees against teams that know who to play in this league.
Oh, and we don't have a pot to piss in, what were your expectation's going into this season ?, even without the four points deduction and an owner that apparently won't even pick the phone up to Bowen.

I’ve thought this about most of our squads over the majority of the last decade ish.

Started well but it was like the game was waiting for the ball throwing and then once that’s done we can get on with the game scenario. Game died from that point on till the end of the half.

Second half thought we were decent without scoring. Certainly not dull and just the frustration in not completing moves, poor finishing or final ball all wrong. Game was made for Vickers I thought but sadly not there to make an impact.

Burton were dire. Setup for a point and in hope of a break for all 3…

Happy with selles, it has to get better surely?

Dreadful stuff. Banging long balls down the channel for Azeez to miss control over and over again. No movement or width to breakdown a team sitting deep. (Fair play to them btw they got a point)

Too many loose passes under hit and pointless flicks giving away possession.

Burton offered nothing but we were hopeless.

^This, Reading fans "we should be beating the likes of burton" Why ?
Just to recap, for those that still think we should be challenging for the premiership.
Haven't been able to buy a player since 2021, cant buy any till 2025 at the earliest.
Playing mostly our under 21's plus some U21's on loan/frees against teams that know who to play in this league.
Oh, and we don't have a pot to piss in, what were your expectation's going into this season ?, even without the four points deduction and an owner that apparently won't even pick the phone up to Bowen.

Our squad should be beating Burton at home

^This, Reading fans "we should be beating the likes of burton" Why ?
Just to recap, for those that still think we should be challenging for the premiership.
Haven't been able to buy a player since 2021, cant buy any till 2025 at the earliest.
Playing mostly our under 21's plus some U21's on loan/frees against teams that know who to play in this league.
Oh, and we don't have a pot to piss in, what were your expectation's going into this season ?, even without the four points deduction and an owner that apparently won't even pick the phone up to Bowen.

Our squad should be beating Burton at home
Man City's squad should be beating Wolves. Pep out.

Azeez has no place in this side, offers nothing apart from being greedy.

No lack of effort just quality we have to except we need a miracle to stay up. There will be more points deducted we will not win any away games this season, we can’t buy anyone and in reality the young players are not all that.

Tbf JC, if we had Haaland and Mbappe up front you would be tipping us for relegation.

Tbf JC, if we had Haaland and Mbappe up front you would be tipping us for relegation.
In his defence, can you imagine how bad the financial situation would be if we had Haaland and Mbappe playing up front in League One?

Tbf JC, if we had Haaland and Mbappe up front you would be tipping us for relegation.
In his defence, can you imagine how bad the financial situation would be if we had Haaland and Mbappe playing up front in League One?


I think we could maybe sell them for a few coins if we needed to. Not that Dai would.

I can't remember the last time I went to / watched a game and thought a manager had a plan for us scoring and winning other than hoofing it at a target man, or passing until someone does something amazing.

Nothing their keeper did was beyond the tougher end of routine.

The thing you've got to understand is there was at least a full league of difference in player quality and whilst we created chances we looked pretty insipid for large swathes. There was a lot of tripping over the ball, poorly weighted passes, misdirected crosses etc.

Had we played like 2nd half of Bolton, any of Peterborough, Exeter, Cambridge, Cheltenham, Stevenage etc we'd have trotted in 3 or 4 goals clear.

We dominated. We should still have won. There were positives to take, but we didn't play well and the set up was a big big part of that, especially first half.

Button - 6 absolutely nothing wrong and not a lot to do. Dim and Mick were on his case for getting frustrated at having nothing in front of him to bowl out quickly and saying he should calm down. In actual fact he did have options to start a quick break but Burton hassled him and got in the way every time. One even ran into him and knocked the ball out of his hands. THAT is why he was agitated.
Bindon - 5 love him, mindless decision to play him RB. He got better second half, but we were trying to send all our attacks down the right first and he didn’t know where to be or what to do. He's not used to crossing or taking a man on or playing risky attacking passes. Got roasted by their 24 a couple of times.
Carson - 6 did ok defensively, althoygh not tested, not really involved first half. A couple of wicked looking crosses second half. I think I prefer this chap on set pieces than Savage.
Dean - 6 defensively solid, couple of iffy passes, didn’t have much to test him.
McIntyre - 6 looked completely composed, not tested.
Savage - 6 I really like him, but he just doesn't really impose himself enough. I'm not really sure what his role is.
Wing - 7 MotM big improvement on Hutchinson. He can get up and down. He looks to drive, can do the dirty work and he's got a solid long shot that can make things happen.
Knibbs - 6 looks good in flashes, works hard out of possession but I want to see him more involved.
Elliott - 6 very talented, but didn't happen. Too narrow, too high. Not involved enough, because nothing progressed down the right because Bindon wasn't comfortable at RB. I want to see him in the middle of the pitch turning players and bursting into space and causing mayhem.
Azeez - 6.5 nothing came off really, there were some poor decisions as usual. But he caused Burton the kost problems and looked the most lively to me. Conundrum. I see why he plays, but it's not happening.
Ehibhatiomhan - 6.5 holds up the ball so well. Strong, good feet, decent pace. Smart. Just tries to do a little too much some times, tries to beat defenders a little too intricately and in too close proximity... get the ball a little further out from under your feet and do your tricks stood a little further off and you'll smash it.

Abbey - 7 looked back to his former self, admittedly against a very weak forward line.
Ballard - 6 should have had a pen, we looked more likely when he was on.
Mukairu - 6 bit disappointing, was expecting him to be really attacking and take people on, but not so much.
Yiadom - 6 iffy, but tryingvto make something happen and on his less comfortable left side.
Hutchinson - 6 solid
Rushesha - n/a not much time didn’t notice him. Put out of position.

Selles - 4 shape doesn't work. Selection for RB doesn't work. Two slow CBs is a risk. Front libe too narrow. Unforced subs too late.


Our formation relies on fullbacks providing width because the wide players like Knibbs, Azeez and Elliott want / are instructed to be narrow and come inside. That falls apart when your LB is nervous and your RB is a teenage CB who looks like he's never played FB in his life.

Could and should have been a comfortable win. Burton were the worst side I've seen.

I'll take the draw and a cleansheet. Though I wouldn't read much into either given how bad Burton were.

Nothing their keeper did was beyond the tougher end of routine.

The thing you've got to understand is there was at least a full league of difference in player quality and whilst we created chances we looked pretty insipid for large swathes. There was a lot of tripping over the ball, poorly weighted passes, misdirected crosses etc.

Had we played like 2nd half of Bolton, any of Peterborough, Exeter, Cambridge, Cheltenham, Stevenage etc we'd have trotted in 3 or 4 goals clear.

We dominated. We should still have won. There were positives to take, but we didn't play well and the set up was a big big part of that, especially first half.
Plenty of teams struggle to break down inferior opposition in games they're expected to win, and I go back to how inexperienced Selles and the squad are. It seems like Selles' changes were a reaction to Blackpool and made us more cautious, when actually this was a game to twist. He got it wrong, but we should expect him to learn on the job.

I think the cup wins and flashes of good play such as the last 20 against Bolton have raised expectations beyond what's realistic. It's a young, talented, inconsistent team. You can say that if staying up is the aim then we have to be beating Burton at home, but the talent in the squad means we'll probably win a few games against teams at the top too. We already have. It's not like last season where we had an untalented squad and simply had to beat the lower teams because we couldn't compete against others. I think staying up this year is enough but we'll get there through ups and downs.