Back from the game - Plymouth (H)

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Re Kebe: the man is afraid to tackle. So it is useless expecting him to run back 50 yards and make a brilliant defensive tackle like Kitson used to do, it is unlikely to happen. Once you've got that in your mind, enjoy watching him as a genuinely entertaining player..

Ergo he can be improved upon, cannot afford slackers in a team, weaknesses possibly, but he pulled out of at least two tackles that were his to win, losing the ball in any part of the field can result in the break for a goal.

[Schards#2]

Really bizarre you rag on Kebe so much - he played well tonight.

A common condition amongst Reading fans, I find, called "Kebe Blindness". The silly pcunt behind me shouted "get off Kebe" the moment he was brought on . The man may seem languorous but he also happens to be really dangerous when running at defenders and putting in the ball. I don't hear the chronically ineffectual Church copping the same amount of stick (not that I necessary think he should).

Kebe invites criticism because he's so completely and utterly gutless and shys away from any tackle or challange. Unlike Church who will gives 100%, albeit ineffectively.

Kebe can be threatening and was occassionally last night but, jesus christ, the bloke lacks some bottle.

[fester_royal]

Floyd has summed it up I'm afraid. We didn't do anything to deserve that win. Shane Long however looked dangerous all night, Well Done Shane keep it up.

The rest of the team looked like they thought we would always win. At 1-0 we were 'taking our time' over everything. So obvious that a sting in the tail was coming. Plymough would not have scored on their own merits they were that poor. Our clumsy defending and not clearing the danger resulted in their inevitable goal.

I can't even feel elated that we got the 3 points after that performance.

I will await the RTG boo boys slagging but let's be frank we are a poor side who are still looking very nervy and have very little quality especially where it really matters in front of goal and in defence.

half agreed with that (no matter how pessimistic and critical i am, i will always feel elated by three point in the bag!)
plymouths goal was coming all game, zurab looked good but he did make a few mistakes and was left exposed by our weak midfield too often. a few lofted balls into our box and we just couldnt clear them, at one point bryn took it on himself to showboat on the 18yrd line!!!
there is still a lot of simple errors running through the team but it appears things are slowly changing.. touch wood it keeps improving!

[Tilehurst Mike]

Excellent result and what a scrap for the third relegation spot now with so few points separating so many teams. My only criticisM is Church. for all the running and chasing down he does, his finishing is diabolical--banjo and barn door spring to mind. The Icelander must be pretty poor, thats all i can say!

[Silver Fox]

'appy days! Not the best game in the world but a fully merited 3 points against one of the worst teams I've seen for a while, how did they get 4 against us?

Another excellent performance from Shane, when even Mags is happy wih him he must have done something good
AK47 was brilliant, lucky for Mills he has a chance to make a case on Saturday or I'd say he might be on the bench for a while
Ditto Griff, both show the value of an experienced head
Their goal was a bit disappointing, having watched it on telly this morning nobody seemed willing to take charge, given the above comments this was surprising, not to worry though
Thought it was a definite pen at the time, still think it was an OK decision having seen it and it was nice to finally get something from that two bloke's dressed as officials down our end
What's up with Jem? He was looking v good but since Barnsley when he decided to just boot the ball in the air as often as possible he's look a shadow of a shadow of his earlier self
LOLz @ the Kebe h8rs, the squealing noise that came from the North when he overhit a cross was quite wierd, stop bitching

Finally, I'm glad it snowed in the first half or we'd have had absolutely nothing at all to talk about in the concourse

[winchester_royal]

Excellent result in a very important game. Performance was irrelevant last night, but even so we still fully deserved the win. These were the kind of games we were drawing or losing 3 months ago.

Now for progression in the cup.

[andrew1957]

Really bizarre you rag on Kebe so much - he played well tonight.

A common condition amongst Reading fans, I find, called "Kebe Blindness". The silly pcunt behind me shouted "get off Kebe" the moment he was brought on . The man may seem languorous but he also happens to be really dangerous when running at defenders and putting in the ball. I don't hear the chronically ineffectual Church copping the same amount of stick (not that I necessary think he should).

I don't think it is coincidental that Kebe seems to play better away from the Mad stad - probably less boo boys away so he feels less pressure.

[BobKnows]

It's a well known truth that booing at your own players improves their game

So tackling is not Kebe's strength I grant you (although I say he has made some improvements in that department) ... this doesn't make him an ineffectual player, and doesn't mean it's acceptable to hound him out off the pitch. I'd personally rather have Kebe than some useless pcunt running around the pitch putting tackles in but not creating a single chance. We're hanging around the bottom of the Championship, so let's get a oxf*rd grip on the fact that some of our players are not premiership quality all rounders

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Hmmmmm must have been watching different game to most of you lot.

Thought the standard of play in the first 35min was pretty damned good myself. Church has got to be dropped..... Long and Thor next game please. The two subs Plymouth made at half time utterly transformed them from stiffling and ineffective going forward to being quite quick and incisive, getting Mackie on the ball makes all the difference for them. However, much as they could have scored early on, it opened the game and gave us more openings.

Though Boris controlled the midfield throughout, both defensively and attacking. Always there for the lay off from Griffin and had some incisive passing.

Definite pen for me.

[Elmer Park]

Very relieved to get the win especially with many of our rivals playing twice before we play in the league again. Not too worried we couldn't get out of the relegation zone as I don't want us to take our foot off the gas and think the job is done too soon. What surprised me though is that after having a decent run including winning our last two matches we didn't look a team whose confidence is flooding back which I would have expected. To be fair Plymouth were better than I thought they might be especially at the back.

Defensively I thought we were generally OK except for the goal but we have heard that a few times this season. Zurab showed that he is a class player but I thought he got a bit cocky as the game went on which led to a couple of serious errors in the second half which could have been punished.

We still can't quite get a midfield which can control a match. All four of them did good things and not so good but at the moment Jem and Jobi both seem to be lacking in confidence Thought having Howard on the left didn't help the balance of the side but although he had his ups and downs he does at least give us a bit of drive and forward momentum from midfield which some of our other midfielders don't specialise in. Jimmy also gave us this when he came on and frustrating though it is we have to accept Paul Brooker is the only player in recent history who he would be prepared to go in for a 50/50 challenge with.
Pleased with him overall lately though.

Up front it goes without saying it is good to see the old Shane Long. Obviously the media's strange recent problem with his name hasn't shawn him of his confidence. In the short term Churchy is a slight worry. Fantastic work rate as always but he is so eager that he is getting a little over excited in front of goal and still has a habit of running offside, a law he seems to have no concept of. Think he will come good if he could get a goal or two though. Doesn't seem as if Rasiak or Thorvaldsson are Brian's kind of strikers at the moment but HRK did well when he came on, especially for the penalty of course.

All in all at least we are in touch with a lot of teams now but there is still room for improvement. Want to win on Saturday of course but a bit of a free roll really so hopefully it will not be as stressful as the last two matches.

[Sun Tzu]

Though Boris controlled the midfield throughout, both defensively and attacking. Always there for the lay off from Griffin and had some incisive passing.

Yet another example of Boris being unable to last 90 minutes and being utterly unworthy of a new contract.

[CMRoyal]

This'll no doubt draw a collective groan but I do think Churchy is suffering from the absence of Marek. He wasn't caught offside anywhere near as much when the Czech was playing. I know that part of the problem is over-eagerness on Simon's part, but he does seem to be making runs that aren't being spotted or picked out. Having said all that, we need goals so it might be time to give him a short rest in favour of Rasiak.

I would also rest Jobi on Saturday as he's looking weary. Stick Kebe in for him.

[Hoop Blah]

But that's because he's still trying too hard to do well - playing for Wales U-21's he proved he can do it.

But like Long (who a month ago you wouldn't have put a penny on scoring that either) once things start going well then the worries drop away and the confidence grows, and things just get better and better.

Church needs that little bit of luck and it could all come good.

Hope you're right DG. Think his game has come on leaps and bounds this season, he does an awful lot of what you hope a forward will do.

At the moment though, he can't finish for toffee. Didn't feel remotely confident that he'd snaffle either of his chances tonight. I remain to be convinced of any natural lethal finishing ability. Brian obviously rates him (and Long), let's hope some luck comes his way.

I hope Dirks right too, but realistically you have to accept that being a consistent scorer is just nto part of Church's game.

He's nto scored many goals at any stage of his career at Reading (even in the kids teams I don't remember him getting many) or when he's been out on loan. He has a lot of good attributes, but if you need goals from whoever is playing in his position then he just isn't the answer. Certainly not now which is when it really matters for us, and I'd say it's pretty safe to assume not in the future either.

As for the rest of last nights performance, I think it was very similar to the Barnsley game. We played pretty poorly against a very poor side but we got the result we needed. This little run of winable games has come at a very good time both for McDermott and for the team in order to build a bit of confidence and momentum for the real battles ahead.

We have to make the most of these 'easier' games or we're doomed, so most importantly it's great to see 9 points from 9!

[Maguire]

Really bizarre you rag on Kebe so much - he played well tonight.

A common condition amongst Reading fans, I find, called "Kebe Blindness". The silly pcunt behind me shouted "get off Kebe" the moment he was brought on . The man may seem languorous but he also happens to be really dangerous when running at defenders and putting in the ball. I don't hear the chronically ineffectual Church copping the same amount of stick (not that I necessary think he should).

Totally agree 'Knows.

It's almost pantomine the way Reading fans gear themselves up to slate him the minute he steps on the pitch. Anything he does that isn't completely spot on is greeted with sighs or boos. Yes, he has a heart the size of a pea, but that isn't his game.

I bet if you asked the Plymouth right-hand sided players how they felt about playing against Kebe then they'd say their night was a hell of a lot easier before he came on. Carried the ball well, kept it fairly well, stuck in a couple of crosses, generally looked dangerous.

[Sun Tzu]

Luckily almost any game in this division is winnable.

We're currently sat nicely in midtable (OK midtable consists of about 20 clubs this season !) and even Newcastle showed last night that they are beatable and I recall WBA struggling once or twice.

Are problems so far this season have been with ourselves, not with other teams being too good for us. If we've managed to sort out the way we play, got some confidence and refound the lucky stick then we don;t need to look through the fixture lost for games where we might pick up points. There is a narrow gap between us and teams who see themselves as in the playoff chase.

It could still go wrong, although we're back in the pack we're the worst placed of the pack and a couple of defeats on the trot would see us panicing again.

However QPR seem to be making a charge for the bottom, which is nice....

[Hoop Blah]

Though Boris controlled the midfield throughout, both defensively and attacking. Always there for the lay off from Griffin and had some incisive passing.

Yet another example of Boris being unable to last 90 minutes and being utterly unworthy of a new contract.

To be fair he was pretty f**ked for the last 20 or so minutes (once the willing runners like Karacan and then Church had gone off) and if Plymouth had anything about them they might've turned a bit more of that midfield dominance into something more cutting.

Gunnarsson did well, but still faded badly and made some telling errors in the last 10 minutes or so. Give him another 6 or 12 months in those old legs and he will be that bit slower, older and lacking in stamina.

He did well for that first hour though.

[Thaumagurist*]

Kishnawatsisnamevilli

It's Khizanishvili!

[Focher]

Kebe's defensive play last night was utterly atrocious, but saying that he did twice what McAnuff did offensively in the short time he was on.

Ive always liked Jimmy, for all his faults he is one of the few players we have who scares the shit out of opposition defenders, and can create out of absolutely nothing.

[Crowthorne Royal]

Interesting to see that as always our players performances polarise most peoples opinions.

Having said that overall we are in the main in agreement:

Long - hugely improved and didn't he take the goal well, great first touch and before the keeper could think of narrowing angles Longy had dispatched it in the net.

Church - Could be good long term but cannot score for toffee and to me looks like he doesn't feel he belongs. Thor in next please, let's see what he can do.

Midfield - Not a great balance at present. McD needs to work on this to get balance of strength / creativity.

Kebe - Every club has one player that fans love/hate. Kebe is our No.1 - Personally I agree with those that say look at his good points and shut your eyes when he 'tackles' or 'heads'! - His pace worries the hell out of defenders and he opens the game up. If we had more skilful midfielders and forwards he could be dynamite.

Overall - Good to get the 3 points but a poor performance where it matters in our box and their box.

Still need a decent striker to come in on loan IMO. Look at what Philips did on Sunday....That's what we need.

[Hoop Blah]

Atrocious standard of football pretty much throughout, agree with floyd Reading's attacking options still leave a lot to be desired, and the decision to leave Thorvaldsson on the bench was peculiar at the time but I suppose it paid of by HRK winning the penalty.

Was the decision to bring Thor in all agreed prior to brenda's departure?

Yes, it was a done deal and he was training with us before Rodgers got the sack.

He was apparently someone we'd looked at for quite a while though and someone that McDermott had scouted and recommended, so I don't think it should be assumed that he's surpless to McDermotts requirements because of that.

Likewise it was rumoured on here that we tried to get Griffin in earlier in the season whilst Rodgers was still in charge, that hasn't stopped him looking a great addition.

I think it was an odd decision to bring on Robson-Kanu instead of the like Thorvaldsson or Rasiak, and he, like Church, looked out of his depth and didn't do much right apart from winning the penalty and one lay off that actually found a Reading player.

Not sure I agreed with McDermotts easy team selection of playing Howard out wide either. It was almost like he wanted to change the team back to 4-4-2 but didn't have the balls to drop one of Karacan, Gunnarsson or Howard and retain a proper winger (coupled with Kebe being the available winger of course!) and so played Howard out of position to keep them all happy.

I'm not sure he had a lot of options to honest, but that's mainly because I still think we're a decent winger light.