Astounded by what I’ve listened to from the tactical dinosaurs on BBC radio Berkshire just now...

We battered Millwall today; other than the sending off and a decent free kick, I was very impressed by the 10 (9) men.

We were extremely courageous in playing from the back and more often than not, made good attack’s out of it. I accept some people think short passing is boring/stupid/better done by foreigners, but it’s the way we’ve decided to play in appointing Gomes. If you didn’t like Stam... bad news; if you didn’t like Stam...stay away! (Good riddance to you)

Anssi: 7 - Could have done better on the FK? Also needs to learn when to hit it long, and when to stick to the plan
Blackett: 3 - Terrible error, left us in the sh1t
Yiadom: 7 - Grew into the game despite having to play on the right of a 3; deserves to play in better teams than Reading and Barnsley
Moore: 8 - Marshalled the ‘defence’ well; not afraid to send it long
Richards: 5 - Frightening defensively, but great passing and attacking
Bacuna: 6 - Ok. Would like to see the sending off again
Rino: 7 - Played many positions it seems, but fit and willing everywhere and knows when to run with the ball
Loader: 5 - A bit out of it, not the right time to be coming into a team!
Barrow: 6 - So much more talented than what we’re seeing right now; need to see him run at players whatever happens
Swift: 8 - Began to run the show, and that’s with 10 men. Didn’t agree with his substitution.
Meite: 7 - Never stops running, jumping, showing. Lacks the quality, but an asset for a team in the relegation positions.

In summary, we need some luck! If we get it, I think we could become a very decent side under Gomes. Without luck, and a few bad results, we’ll be how we were at the end of Stam- timid and toothless!

Thanks Pete for a quick and helpful report.

It sounded from the commentary like we were playing very well even with 10 men with some significant changes in our style. But yeah they didn't seem too excited about it at the end focussing instead on the bad result.

58% possession away from home, with only 10 men, but unlike Stam's possession it seems like we were doing something with it.

Gomes' record hasn't excited me but from what I've heard this was very good despite the result.

Ps not the first time Liability Blackett has cost us a game....

Some very generous ratings.

Thought both sides were pathetic and looked doomed to the drop.

Mostly 3s and 4s from me. Meite gets a 5 and Moore a 6.

We had 1 chance all game with Swifts freekick. It's clear we're a poor side. Even when we were poor under Adkins, Clarke and McDermott we created chances but we're failing to even do that. What's the point doing this football if it's not creating chances.

Possession football clearly is not working for us. Better to ditch the tactics and play a system that's going to give us the best chance of getting a result. I can't see it getting us promoted out of league one for sure.

There are managers who want possession, and those that want to play it on the deck and go forward. At 1-0 down of course you need to go forward, so tough to judge on this game, but it seems Gomes is similar to Silva at Everton/Watford in that possession for possessions sake is pointless and not what he’s about...

Please, Reading fans, the appointment SEEMS absurd, but maybe the guy has something about him...

it which case he doesn't sound like Stam.

Tbh not going to do anything like judge Gomes on 1 game

It does sound like we performed with some spirit. Despite the comments on how poor Millwall, it’s undoubtedly a tough place to come - esp with 10 men for 80 mins

QPR will be very tough and then I think Swansea is one we really need to be winning

January is make or break. If we get some players in, Ilori and Eza fit along with the likes of Moore, Bod and Meite fully up to speed, we have to go on a run and put the shitty 2018 behind us

Gomes had 2 days on the training pitch, just sayin.

Yeah you lost me here.

Despite the result, the performance was encouraging.

The style is very different to when Stam was here. The ball is moved up the pitch quickly and when we switched play from one side to another it was 1 or 2 passes as opposed to the 6 or so under Jaap.

Players are clearly void of all confidence.

Truth is if we are going back to playing it out from the keeper then Jaakkola just can`t play. he`s hopeless with the ball at his feet.

They all are

Jaakola >>>> the rest

They all are

Jaakola >>>> the rest

What’s Southwood like on the deck? Is he even still here?

Out on loan

Should play that 15 year old. He was great with the ball

Glad to hear those back from the game are actually positive about the performance. Sounds like the team was let down by Blackett’s rash challenge and a dodgy referee more than anything else and therefore there might be some hope ahead.

The passing game Stam and now Gomes like is fine as long as it’s not played by players seeking safety first on every occasion. It has to be combined with being clever enough to make the space and movement to allow for quick progression up the pitch. Too often with the Reading way it’s been safety first and/or too slow.

They all are

Jaakola >>>> the rest

What’s Southwood like on the deck? Is he even still here?
Southwood is basically the opposite of Walker. Walker gets the distance but can't keep it on the pitch. Southwood has great control and accuracy but can only just reach halfway.

As much as I r8 the lad, he's very short for a goalkeeper and I think we're too small as a side to get away with that. We need a keeper who will win everything at corners.

Angry young man following on from where he left off last Saturday when he was fortunate not to get sent off.
Having 2 sent off in your first game in charge is IIRC not without precedent.
Was it Burns' first game away to Ipswich when we had two sent off??.
Hopefully this season doesn't end as badly as that one did.

Well, plus points:
- one of the easiest and quickest drives away from the ground without being caught in traffic.
- A bit of spirit from 10 (9) men.
- Moved the ball quicker forward when the opportunity allowed.
- Bacuna, Swift and Rino look a decent midfield three, and Swift worked his nuts off today.

Negatives:
- we never, ever look like scoring or even making a decent chance.
- Jakkaola is an accident waiting to happen with the ball at his feet, his first touch is almost as bad as Meite's.
- What is Baldock? He's not a striker, doesn't run the channels
- Richards needs to gamble more when he has space, he's too square or doesn't make a run
- Loader is too lightweight and hurried off way too easily by grizzly old pros

Yes, we pretty much controlled the game after 20 minutes but didn't look threatening at all. Need to learn to cross and have someone in the middle who can finish.

Undone by a shambolic refereeing display. Blackett's tackle was slightly late because he was fouled by their player, even then it wasn't a red card. His leg was bent, studs were down and it was one footed. Also looked like he got a bit of the ball.

Bacuna's looked to just be a tangle of legs. He may have stood on him but it didn't look like a stamp.

The ref was so bad that he managed to give Millwall a free kick for two of their players running into each other.

The goal came from us creating our own issues around our own box and giving away a free kick. The Millwall player caught us out as we were expecting him to cross it.

Looks like we're back to the passing game. If we're going to play like then we need to spend a lot of money in January because these players do not have the quality to pull it off.

Jaakkola - Two excellent saves. One in the first half and one in the second. Other than that very poor with kicking. 5

Yiadom - Filled in quite well at Centre Back. One very poor passage of play in the second half that he nearly got caught out with. 6

Moore - Back in the side. Terrible early on but grew into it. 5

Blackett - Wrongly sent off. N/A

Richards - Got forward well a couple of times but needed more belief. 5

Bacuna - Decent display in midfield. Will miss him in the next few games. 6

Rinomhota - Worked valiantly at right back after Blackett's red. 7 motm

Swift - Terrible in the first 20 minutes. Improved a bit after. Hit the bar with an excellent free kick. 5

Meite - No idea why he started on the wing. Held the ball up well but was left frustrated by several poor refereeing decisions. Mr Davies clearly doesn't like him as he was incorrectly booked for diving against QPR earlier this season. 6

Loader - Would have preferred to see him start as a wide forward rather than central. Would have been interesting to see what he would have done if Blackett's red hadn't changed the game. Worked hard for the team but had to drop deep to do so. 6

Barrow - A shadow of his former self. Doesn't take people on anymore. Needed to be stronger on several occasions. 5

Both Blackett and Bacuna sent off in Clement's first few games last
season.

Both Blackett and Bacuna sent off in Clement's first few games last
season.

And Edwards

Watched highlights on SS and thought both sendings off were ridiculously harsh. Looks like the luck is just not with us this season. Added to this our best chance of survival was to stick with Clement and so frankly the club hierarchy have most likely doomed us to League 1.

Referee has utterly phucked us today with the terrible red card decision. Thought the majority of the squad showed more fight and character than I've seen at hardly any point this year. We're a decimated side playing a man down, still stayed in the game, it's not good enough but it gives me hope that we will turn this around.

Jaak: 5/10 Not good with his feet, but neither was Al-Habsi

Richards: 4/10 Good going forward but not a survival left-back, LB must be addressed in January

Blackett: n/a Ref's had a mare, and to all you people calling him an idiot for making a legal challenge to recover the ball, you can't have it both ways, we finally see a player fight for the shirt and now he's suspended

Moore: 5/10 Started bad but grew into it

Yids: 6/10 Quality performance playing out of position

Rino: 6/10 Another solid performance

Bacuna: 2/10 Overrated

Swift: 7/10 MOTM. Worked his socks off and under the right management is going to be a leading championship midfielder. Really tired of seeing fans slagging him off when he's one of our only consistent players this season

Barrow: 2/10, done with him to be honest, been poor all season

Meite: 4/10 no service, first touch still poor, I never ever doubt that he wants to be here and at the moment that makes him invaluable

Loader: 1/10 not ready. Probably a good time for a loan spell.

Baldock: 1/10 until we have better, more consistent service from the midfield he is utterly useless

GMac: 5/10 satisfactory, worked hard start to finish

Osho: 6/10 this kid can pass, Gomes's arrival might be the perfect timing for him

Gomes: 7/10. 58% possession with 10 men and while we only had 2 shots on target we did go forward with purpose. One thing I was impressed with was him not pulling a striker for Osho after the red card. It signaled a winning mentality rather than damage limitation, as we saved all 3 for the final push. Jury's still out until we play a full match with 11 men.

Both look very harsh red cards to me.

Get out. Bacuna's was snide as hell - no way he didn't know full well he was standing on their player's thigh.

Get out. Bacuna's was snide as hell - no way he didn't know full well he was standing on their player's thigh.

Yeah. He didn't "stamp" on him per se, but he was already on him, and when he lifted his other foot transferred all his weight to the standing leg and thus pushing the studs down on their leg. Was a pcunt move but don't know why we're surprised. Bacuna is a colossal pcunt.

Clearly we are having issues on the wings, Barrow has gone off the boil, McCleary is past his best, Aluko clearly cannot cut it as a winger and Simms blows hot and cold, so maybe a change of formation is needed? Boro used wing backs against us and to be fair the were dangerous throughout.
Richards/Obita are clearly better at attacking than defending and would both make great wing backs, and the same goes for Gunter and Yiadom.
This would allow us to play three center backs, and what we have learnt from the last few weeks is that we have plenty of option in this area, Moore, Osho and either O'Shea or Ilori wouldn't be to shabby i guess. And this would leave us with a core midfield three of Rinomota, Swift and either Ezatolahi or Bacuna, again, not to shabby.
This would allow us with two up top, which is a must as we never look like scoring with just a lone striker, so i guess either Meite/Bod as the big center forward with either Loader or Baldock playing off the shoulder. And i would like to see either Swift or Kelly as the link up between Midfield and attack.
5-3-2 isn't the most popular of formations but it would play to our strengths, i think lol

Good post and agreed.

We're really having people on here get on the back of an 18 year old lad whose role in the game changed after about 10 minutes?

I'm so glad people are starting to see Barrow for what he is, I called it out ages ago, 3 goals in the whole of 2018 is an absolute disgrace for a so called "winger", needs to go and sharpish. 1/10's are a bit ludicrous though, you can't expect two 5 foot strikers to do anything with 10 men the whole game against a side like Millwall

We were shocking in the opening few minutes. Set-up wrongly from the kick off. As a result coupled with Blacketts moment of madness. The game was lost before it had even really started. Fortunately Millwall's inability to play football meant they couldn't take advantage of the extra man in the second half.

Two league one sides out on the pitch today. Time is ticking away.

Roll on Saturday. As this should have been a wake up call for the new manager. Little point in playing a style ( ala Stam) for which some of the players are totally unsuited.