Back from the sofa - Brentford (H)

[RoyalBlue]

Blackman - 12 goals in 24 apps this season, position: winger
Sa - 5 goals in 18 apps, position: bench
Vydra - 36 goals in 83 apps while at Watford, position: bench

HRK - zero goals, position: striker

Absolutely shite team selection

Sa, zero goals in 9.

Couldn't give a flying f[u]ck what Vydra did at Watford, he's been terrible at Reading.

An absolutely ridiculous statement. I can only think you have him confused with some other player! Who created today's goal? Who was pivotal in the goal at Hull that everyone was rightly raving about?

As for Sa - he scores goals when the service is there and has also shown himself capable of creating them from nothing himself. Liburd may be one for the future but all he has done to date is score goals against much weaker (physically) players than himself. It was a ludicrous decision by McDermott to favour him over Sa.

[blueroyals]

Got back into the game-then Brian screwed it up-what was he thinking of bringing on Liburd-we just needed to keep it tight for ten minutes then go again.

Bond 6: Nothing to do really.
Gunter 5: Too soft again when it mattered.
Quinn 5: Got found out today as a left back, but some good interceptions
Mc Shane 5: Found it another tough day
Hector 7: Played pretty well
Williams 5: Tried hard but his poor technique kills us
Piazon 7: Pretty good but I can understand why he was taken off
John 6 : Nobody knows what you are going to get least of all his team mates
Blackman 4: Couldn't be bothered the Blackman of old-apart from the free kick.
Kanu 5 : Tried hard but too slow
Norwood 6: Some wonder passes-but a few were off the radar

Vydra 4: A luxury we can ill afford
G Mac 7 : Much better today
Liburd 2: Oh dear-clearly not ready for this level

Ref: Totally absurd isn't he a Prem Ref as well ?

Brentford-far more limited than I expected-but they do tough it out when required & obviously knew all about Quinn playing out of position.

HRK, who did nothing, gets a better rating than Vydra who got the assist for our only goal?

[RG7Fan]

Got back into the game-then Brian screwed it up-what was he thinking of bringing on Liburd-we just needed to keep it tight for ten minutes then go again.

Bond 6: Nothing to do really.
Gunter 5: Too soft again when it mattered.
Quinn 5: Got found out today as a left back, but some good interceptions
Mc Shane 5: Found it another tough day
Hector 7: Played pretty well
Williams 5: Tried hard but his poor technique kills us
Piazon 7: Pretty good but I can understand why he was taken off
John 6 : Nobody knows what you are going to get least of all his team mates
Blackman 4: Couldn't be bothered the Blackman of old-apart from the free kick.
Kanu 5 : Tried hard but too slow
Norwood 6: Some wonder passes-but a few were off the radar

Vydra 4: A luxury we can ill afford
G Mac 7 : Much better today
Liburd 2: Oh dear-clearly not ready for this level

Ref: Totally absurd isn't he a Prem Ref as well ?

Brentford-far more limited than I expected-but they do tough it out when required & obviously knew all about Quinn playing out of position.

Thought Gunter had a better game than of late - that bump on the noggin seems to have done him some good in my view.
Quinn - fair enough, but he isn't a left back ...
Blackman - disinterested most of the time. Leaving next week?
Williams - 10 for the complaining / play acting to the ref.
Hector - red card waiting to happen ...

Ref - FFS, where do they find these people??
Home Lino (East side) - ditto. I had to look at him for our goal, not because I thought GMac was offside (although it was close) but because I didn't trust the lino .

Didn't hear the McD comments about getting HRK to go full blast for the first half so he could bring on Vydra. so I would have questioned why he left Blackman on. Why not bring G Mac and Vydra on and use HRK in place of Blackman?? HRK seemed to be alright there earlier in the season.

[RoyalBlue]

Vydra 4: A luxury we can ill afford

So we can't afford the luxury of a player who if he isn't scoring goals is creating them for the team!

[SCIAG]

Whether HRK did ok or not, he is not a lone striker. He's the only player still here that was in the first team when Brian was last here so clearly he's already his favourite. Brian and his favourites, nothing new there.

No, Gunter, McCleary and Blackman were all in the first team squad when Brian was last here. None of the four were in the first eleven.

Quinn as a left back? Come on, really? He is being wasted there.

There are no other options.

[melonhead]

Half decent game. Played half decently.
Just a shame about the other half

Too many wingers/number 10s
Not enough striker.

Unlucky with their goals.we Shouod have scored more regardless.

Thought HRK, vydra, piazon, John mcleary, Williams, Norwood all looked lively.

Bit lacking in fight at the back. Should have been pulling out all the stops to stop those shots coming in.

Please play sa.

[RG7Fan]

A few observations today:

SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT

Once again it was frustrating watching pass-pass-pass-pass-lose-ball-to-opposition.... How are goals usually scored? By smashing the ball towards goal. How many times did we test their keeper who looked shakey from the start?

It seems we believe we have entered a new competition that involves scoring points for passing the ball around the rectangle in front of the net. Unfortunately Brentford were playing the game that actually affects the league table - that of getting the ball in the bloody net ...

[Ian Royal]

I thought we played well but over played it, lost focus and conceded two wonder goals.

Bond 7 ok, not at fault for the goals, kept his passes on the pitch but got lucky a couple of times
Gunter 7 ok. Needs to know what he's going to do when he receives the ball, not run forward 10 yards stop, think and kill the forward momentum by playing the safe backwards pass.
Quinn 7 tried hard, no help from John. Not a full back
Hector 7 V good until he got sent off. We'll miss his distribution
McShane 7 mr reliable
Norwood 7 keeps us ticking but needs to recognise when he's being marked out the game and try to do something about it
Williams 7 good game, needs to shut his mouth and keep his cool.
John 5 it all looks very nice but he delivered the square route of oxf*rd all. Over did everything, lazy movement, lazy tracking back
Blackman 6 simply not a right winger. Playing him there hurts our balance, largely anonymous
Piazon 7 nice touches, not helped by no quality wing play
HRK 7 gave them problems, worked his arse off.

McCleary 7 good goal, decent on the wrong side
Vydra 7 lovely player, great for out goal
Liburd 6 tried but the wrong man to bring on at that point.

Ref started well but made some baffling decisions after the first 15.

Oh well. Plenty of reason to look on the positives... if we get that first goal under Bri you feel we'll hold on. We're playing some good stuff even with an unbalanced team. Get the XI right and we'll start taking those chances and winning games.

Interesting to see what Bri does when he's got a fit left back... stick with 4-4-2 or go to 4-3-3 and get the best from our midfield and Blackman...

[The Royal Forester]

This is the third manager who can not get this "team" to play together. IMO, that means the so called players are at fault, not the manager. Send the loanee's back from whence they came. As Vydra is useless, can we claim our money back under the Trade Discription Act?

[Blackbag]

I was there and thought John, HRK and Piazon were good none of the goals were Bonds fault Hector other than that ridiculous dive was ok as well but fcuk me Gunter was terrible look super uncomfortable when in the oppositions half . Why no Sa and I know only 3 games in but got to do better in front of goal perhaps we will hit Bristol hard fingers crossed

[melonhead]

A team full of injuries and massive imbalance in terms of full backs wingers/10s and no strikers dont help.

Not sure what the Sa isssue is,but there must be one.

The football is frustratingly good at times though.imo

[RG7Fan]

This is the third manager who can not get this "team" to play together. IMO, that means the so called players are at fault, not the manager. Send the loanee's back from whence they came. As Vydra is useless, can we claim our money back under the Trade Discription Act?

True, but it is also a different team / squad ...

[RoyalBlue]

I predicted at halftime that Hector would get sent off if he wasn't subbed and so it proved to be. IMO another questionable decision by McDermott as Hector was clearly walking a tightrope from early on in the 2nd half, after he escaped a second yellow for what seemed quite a bad foul under the nose of the East Stand lino.

Also, when the ref signalled advantage after the foul that subsequently got him his first yellow, Hector stood over the injured player berating him, rather than racing back into position!

[RG7Fan]

A team full of injuries and massive imbalance in terms of full backs wingers/10s and no strikers dont help.

Not sure what the Sa isssue is,but there must be one.

The football is frustratingly good at times though.imo

For how many seasons have we heard this??

[SCIAG]

Anyway, I thought we played well, but got knocked back by both goals. There was nothing Bond could do for either.

We should not be getting two players booked for dissent. I hope Brian has some strong words for Williams, Quinn, and the others - Hector and Norwood were both lucky to avoid bookings.

Our goal was excellent, and shows what this squad can do. We need to stop shooting as soon as we get a sight of goal, that's why we have so many shots but so few goals. Just keep calm, and move the ball around until we get a goalscoring opportunity. There's loads of quality in this squad, so we don't need to rush.

Ratings:

Bond 7 - dealt well with everything that came his way.
Gunter 8 - very good game. Several excellent tackles and overlapped very well. One mix up with McShane.
McShane 8 MOTM - his best match for us. He dealt with several attacks with ease.
Hector 3 - walking red card. We got caught out when he went on runs and we lost possession. Could probably do with the suspension.
Quinn 6 - great player to have in the team, and made some great tackles, but not up to it positionally.
Williams 5 - some good tackling and bursts into the box, but ultimately a weak link. We need someone more defensively aware and more technically capable - step up Aaron Tshibola...
Norwood 6 - loses a mark for the first goal. Great passing and fierce tackling.
Blackman 4 - was he playing? I know he's a winger rather than a wide midfielder, but he wasn't good enough today. Either needs to adjust his game or be dropped until we go back to 4-3-3.
Piazon 7 - excellent in his best position. I don't think it's a coincidence that things fell apart after he went off.
John 6.5 - loses a point for having to go off so early. Looks a real player, but decision making needs to improve and he needs to learn to use his left foot.
HRK 6.5 - good enough. I'd rather see him on the wing but he's well down the pecking order now.

Subs:
Vydra 7 - loses a point for that miss, but otherwise excellent.
McCleary 7.5 - took his goal well and made good runs. Had to effectively play on both wings when Blackman went missing. Best match in a long time, hopefully he's turned the corner.
Liburd 5- his worst game in a Reading shirt by a long way.

[Ian Royal]

A team full of injuries and massive imbalance in terms of full backs wingers/10s and no strikers dont help.

Not sure what the Sa isssue is,but there must be one.

The football is frustratingly good at times though.imo

Bri's just got to get a few fit, pick his system and then the players who fit it. If that means good players don't play, so be it.

Those whinging about results and complaining about Brian already, plus those shouting shoot every time we get near the goal are total morons who deserve to see us fail and drop a couple of leagues.

I just hope we don't oblige them. And doubt we will.

[Tails]

HRK (6) is a workhorse but I would rather have someone who can unlock teams.
Liburd (3) was a poor substitution that didn't pay off.
Blackman (5) - we should either give him the games upfront and see what happens or ship him off.
Piazon (6), Vydra (6) and Sa are touch players, they would be frustrating to watch at times, but they would cause some damage if they were given a run of games.
John (6) was ok at times but I just don't get the hype - Mass Sarr in the making, was waiting for shin-ups at half time.
Norwood (8) was reliable - no qualms.
Williams (6) was ok - would have preferred him to take 2 touches instead of 4 in the box.
Quinn (6) is a makeshift left back and Hector makes too many mistakes.
McShane (7) was ok.
Bond (6) didn't have much to do, could criticise his distribution but there are bigger problems to resolve before tinkering with the keeper.

[Lower West]

Not sure what the Sa isssue is,but there must be one.

One of the players that has to lose their "ego " perhaps. Yet to demonstrate to McD that he deserves a game.

Sa does appear to have an edge as the sending off against Derby showed.

[RoyalBlue]

HRK (6) is a workhorse but I would rather have someone who can unlock teams.
Liburd (3) was a poor substitution that didn't pay off.
Blackman (5) - we should either give him the games upfront and see what happens or ship him off.
Piazon (6), Vydra (6) and Sa are touch players, they would be frustrating to watch at times, but they would cause some damage if they were given a run of games.
John (6) was ok at times but I just don't get the hype - Mass Sarr in the making, was waiting for shin-ups at have time.
Norwood (8) was reliable - no qualms.
Williams (6) was ok - would have preferred him to take 2 touches instead of 4 in the box.
Quinn (6) is a makeshift left back and Hector makes too many mistakes.
McShane (7) was ok.
Bond (6) didn't have much to do, could criticise his distribution but there are bigger problems to resolve before tinkering with the keeper.

Pretty much agree with all of that, particularly the comment re Piazon, Vydra and Sa.

[andrew1957]

I am not sure i get the negativity about Liburd. He came on for a few minutes and did not look out of place. He did not do anything particularly good or bad but then nor has Sa most games I have seen. I rather doubt Sa would have done any better.