BFTG Wigan

[Royal Ginger]

I was BFTG 5 minutes after kick-off. My only rating is for national rail with a 0 for failing to get me there. Spoke to 3 other south coast Reading fans and one Wigan fan in the same predicament. 'Rails too slippery' my arse.

[EverHopeful]

First half just complete boring crap, added to by joke defending. You can't expect to win games from 2-0 nil down based on incompetence. Second half better, but it had to be. Why can't we perform at a higher tempo from minute 1 instead of messing around for 55 mins and then trying to claw it back..........ask Adkins I guess??

Still a win on Boxing Day and today doesn't matter - must remember not too hold my breath!

[JordCot]

That Pog freekick... I just couldn't help but laugh at that stage

[Gunny Fishcake]

Festive fooking bollox

[Muskrat]

Well I don't know what all of this bleating is about. We're in the mix at Christmas and this is all part of the evolution of the football club. We quite often have good posession of the football and are usually on the front foot and in the ascendencing for at least a quarter of every game.

So let's just take the positives, draw a blue line under it and move on the next game at Leicester...

[Westwood52]

Complete horror show in first half-NA's tactics wiped out-then 2nd half we upped the tempo and gave ourselves a chance-will he learn the lesson though ?

Macca 6: No chance with the goals-but a couple of pretty poor kicks and generally slow to get us moving.

Gunter 6: Looks better at CH than FB-give him a chance there, can't be worse than the current two.
Cummings 6: Did nothing much wrong but did very little right-like Kelly offers nothing going forward.
Gorks 5 : Poor passing and nearly had a Pierce like horror moment in the 2nd half. Looked old and slow today.
Pierce 4: Oh dear-surely Hector is better than these two ?
Guthrie 7: Bit of a mixed game really but more good than bad.
Williams 5 : A passenger-what does he add to the team ?
Mc Anuff 7 : Worked his socks off-probably our MOM.
Drenthe 6: Nothing really worked for him-but despite my early reservations about him he did really try.
Pog 7: Good goal and as usual worked hard but did miss a couple of headed chances.
Sharp 4: I was telling everyone before the game how much more he contributes than Alfie=then he had an absolute stinker-he just didn't seem to be on his toes throughout the game.

McCleary 7: Made a big difference when he came on-should always start-although I would agree he does tend to fade.
Obita 4 : Pretty awful-nothing worked for him obviously not coached as to what was required from him.
Alf 5: One half chance -which he missed.

NA: Give him his due after completely getting his starting tactics wrong-he had the guts to change it big time 2nd half.
Fans : OK livened up in 2nd half.
Ref: Good but over officious in 1st half-then completely lost it in 2nd half-did'nt deal with Wigan's time wasting and took no action against the their CH's antics on the penalty.

Wigan -good defensively. Their fans-where were they ?

[Westwood52]

9 for the Ref-you are having a laugh he was awful.

First game back from uni, really enjoyed it. Very exciting and but for Alex Pearce we probably would have come away with a point or three.

McCarthy - 7 - Distribution was much improved, excellent kung-fu save.
Gunter - 7 - Very confident performance with the obligatory crap pass near the end. Decent attacking threat.
Pearce - 3 - Woeful, I have no idea what he was trying to do for the second goal and yet I could see it coming from a mile off. Very poor performance.
Gorkss - 6.5 - Really liked him today, great in the air, calm with the ball at his feet. Wasn't great for the first goal but other than that looked like the player that got us promoted.
Cummings - 4 - Started brightly until the fans got on his back for no reason and confidence dropped like a stone. He was out of position to be fair.
Drenthe - 6.5 - Pretty exciting at times, but very frustrating at others. Didn't look fit.
Guthrie - 7 - Very frustrating. The first half showed why people don't like him but in the second he was mercurial, his passing was brilliant. We are incredibly reliant on him, the whole second half was clearance, give it to Guthrie, ball in the box, clearance etc.
Williams - 6 - Good energy and looks decent enough. Should have been sent off and his temper could cost us.
McAnuff - 6.5 - One of the only good players in the first half, faded a little in the second but justified his position in the starting line up. Surprised he didn't go left-back when Obita came on.
Pog - 7.5 - Was really excited to see the Pog revolution and he had bags of confidence, held it up extremely well and could have had a couple. Our best striker.
Sharp - 5 - Was okay, took one off for the penalty howler.

Obita - 5 - Didn't notice him much
McCleary - 7.5 - Should definitely start. Our most dangerous winger.
Alf - N/A - as usual did absolutely nothing.

Adkins - 7 - Made some bold changes (we had more strikers than defenders towards the end) but they made the right impact. 4-4-2 wasn't right for this game.
Fans - 0 - Just a bunch of miserable gits. Booing when we keep possession then booing when we hoof it forward in response. Booing the full-backs taking throw-ins when no one is showing, then chanting the overrated Le Fondre's name just after Sharp missed the penalty and was low on confidence.
Ref - 9 - Dealt with the game really well, only wrong call was not sending Williams off.

[Avon Royal]

Obita 4 : Pretty awful-nothing worked for him obviously not coached as to what was required from him.

Yeah, that'll be why.......

[Ginger Ninjas]

First game back from uni, really enjoyed it. Very exciting and but for Alex Pearce we probably would have come away with a point or three.

McCarthy - 7 - Distribution was much improved, excellent kung-fu save.
Gunter - 7 - Very confident performance with the obligatory crap pass near the end. Decent attacking threat.
Pearce - 3 - Woeful, I have no idea what he was trying to do for the second goal and yet I could see it coming from a mile off. Very poor performance.
Gorkss - 6.5 - Really liked him today, great in the air, calm with the ball at his feet. Wasn't great for the first goal but other than that looked like the player that got us promoted.
Cummings - 4 - Started brightly until the fans got on his back for no reason and confidence dropped like a stone. He was out of position to be fair.
Drenthe - 6.5 - Pretty exciting at times, but very frustrating at others. Didn't look fit.
Guthrie - 7 - Very frustrating. The first half showed why people don't like him but in the second he was mercurial, his passing was brilliant. We are incredibly reliant on him, the whole second half was clearance, give it to Guthrie, ball in the box, clearance etc.
Williams - 6 - Good energy and looks decent enough. Should have been sent off and his temper could cost us.
McAnuff - 6.5 - One of the only good players in the first half, faded a little in the second but justified his position in the starting line up. Surprised he didn't go left-back when Obita came on.
Pog - 7.5 - Was really excited to see the Pog revolution and he had bags of confidence, held it up extremely well and could have had a couple. Our best striker.
Sharp - 5 - Was okay, took one off for the penalty howler.

Obita - 5 - Didn't notice him much
McCleary - 7.5 - Should definitely start. Our most dangerous winger.
Alf - N/A - as usual did absolutely nothing.

Adkins - 7 - Made some bold changes (we had more strikers than defenders towards the end) but they made the right impact. 4-4-2 wasn't right for this game.
Fans - 0 - Just a bunch of miserable gits. Booing when we keep possession then booing when we hoof it forward in response. Booing the full-backs taking throw-ins when no one is showing, then chanting the overrated Le Fondre's name just after Sharp missed the penalty and was low on confidence.
Ref - 9 - Dealt with the game really well, only wrong call was not sending Williams off.

Good write up, can't pick many holes in that at all. Cummings is the least confident looking player I've ever seen, always looks nervous on the ball.

Great header by Pav for the goal and he was generally very good throughout the game. Enjoyed the ultra-attacking formation!

[URZZZZZ]

Was pleasently surprised with Jobi today

[Victor Meldrew]

I'm still waiting for the much vaunted passing game.
The main focus seems to be passing between Pearce, Gorkss and McCarthy and then for one of them to hit it long-that isn't a passing game IMHO.
Adkins comes on the radio and implies that we are trying to play a possession game in readiness for the Premier League-wise words and a sensible comment except that continuously passing the ball back to the keeper is not the successful part of a possession game.

I still feel that Adkins needs time to prove that his way works but for the moment either he hasn't got the players (Drenthe and Williams were 2 of his major signings playing in our midfield today) or he is just talking bollocks so time (say another 6 months) will show whether we are moving in the right direction-we are currently 6 places lower than when he took over and he lost 2 players but has signed 5 so at this lower level 6th spot is not progress (yet).

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Big well done to Jobi. Best showing from him so far this season I thought. Keep him in Adkins!

[kwik-silva]

And yet Jobi was still slated up where I was. Sigh.

[paultheroyal]

Awful first half but improvements last 10 minutes.

Defence looks so fragile. Don't seem to have a defensive midfielder nor an attacking one. Something in between I say.

Look forward to seeing McCarthy Kung fu style save later.

Fair play to Adkins for the formation in the 2nd half. It was certainly entertaining and an enjoyable shelf to watch.

Finishing was poor throughout and crosses in box poor until Mccleary came on.

Great to see Drenthe celebration when goal scored, sags me he went off.

Reading fans, god we do have some right monks.

6th in the table. Could be so much better yet we are in the mix. I just hope that this team click and that performance against Watford gets found again and we can do that week in week out.

[Handsome Man]

I enjoyed the second half - it was good to see us attacking in numbers and a draw would have been fair. We lack something - captaincy maybe? - as when the ball is flying across the box people should be making desperate lunges for it.

McCarthy - 6 OK
Gunter - 7 MotM
Pearce - 5 He has lost it
Gorkss - 6 OK
Cummings 6 Not too bad
Drenthe - 3 Possibly our worst ever player at the moment
Guthrie - 5 It's not working as his passing just ends up back with McCarthy
Williams - 6 OK
McAnuff - 5 Not the player he was last year
Pog - 7 - Shameful diving but a great performance otherwise
Sharp - 6/2 Bad penalty miss halves his score, but he is a good player

Obita - 5 OK
McCleary - 6 Enjoyed his contribution
Alf - 0 Like having a man sent off

Adkins - 5 Slightly worrying subs
Fans - 4 not our finest hour
Ref - 3 - shockingly pedantic over where free kicks where taken from and couldn't spot a dive from a 50m springboard

[St. Brynjar]

9 for the Ref-you are having a laugh he was awful.

He really wasn't awful. He booked Wigan players when they timewasted, he punished Wigan in that 5-10 minute spell where they lost their bottle, he gave us the penalty and really didn't do anything grossly wrong.

[sandman]

He was easily conned by Wigan players.

[RoyalT]

some video from the game http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pWvbMCU4IE

[kwik-silva]

and Billy Sharp, and Pavel.

[urz13]

crosses in box poor until Mccleary came on.

Are you having a laugh? Couldn't beat the first man at all and one didn't even make it into the box, he missed it completely, it went along the edge of the area and almost out for a throw! Dreadful delivery which is the biggest flaw in his game