MATCHWATCH : Burton Albion (h)

[Sutekh]

Well generally that’s a good day at the office

Bolton drew
Huddersfield drew
Stevenage drew
Luton lost
Wycombe drew
Mansfield won

Therefore Reading stay 10th as while they’ve climbed above Wycombe their cr@p GD has seen Mansfield’s bigger win move the Stags further up but the points gap to the teams above has been dissolved. Six points off the play offs but still only 5 above 21st placed Plymouth.

Next Stockport who drew 0-0 at Northampton today and made 4 HT substitutions.

[WestYorksRoyal]

10 points from 4, can't complain though I'm people will find a reason to.

Finally looking up instead of down when I look at the table. Stockport is a good opportunity to close the gap on the top 6. Some good January reinforcements and we can have a real good go at crashing the party.

[Extended-Phenotype]

10 points from 4, can't complain though I'm people will find a reason to.

Finally looking up instead of down when I look at the table. Stockport is a good opportunity to close the gap on the top 6. Some good January reinforcements and we can have a real good go at crashing the party.

I’m not sure why people are so confident about Reading being a buying club, as opposed to a selling club, this January. Shrug.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

My tears of joy* today will change to tears of rage if we go back to playing Savage and Wing together in the middle

Been desperate for Fraser to play and release Wing, and that's exactly what happened. Fraser defended well, made himself available to the defense, and fed Wing to ping forward.


*obvs not true

[Hound]

Just back. Comfortable win, Burton were rubbish, esp at the back, but can only beat what’s in front of you

Small whinges first - still hoofing far too much to Marriotts head and giving them easy possession back - better teams will take advantage. Thought Paudie looked ropey as well, esp first half

But overall a lot better. DK excellent, but should have scored a few more. Best game I’ve seen from Marriott - actually contributed outside the pen area, and another goal to the tally. Didn’t really see Doyle or Ritchie do a lot outside the assists tbh - all seemed to come via DK, but reading through sounds like they did ok so all good.

Fraser did well. I really liked savage at CAM - pressed superbly and so much energy. Him and Kelvin improved ball retention up top massively and saw the game out well.

Wing did well - I’ve come round to the opinion he is actually an excellent DM and the managers aren’t all clueless dropping him deep.

Subs were good and all effective, and Savage/KE came on at the right time. Second half we played some really nice stuff I thought and starting to see Leam-ball working a bit better. Caveat of course Burton weren’t good (though I liked their number 9)

Other results went our way as well. 6 points off a play off place with a game in hand

[WestYorksRoyal]

10 points from 4, can't complain though I'm people will find a reason to.

Finally looking up instead of down when I look at the table. Stockport is a good opportunity to close the gap on the top 6. Some good January reinforcements and we can have a real good go at crashing the party.

I’m not sure why people are so confident about Reading being a buying club, as opposed to a selling club, this January. Shrug.

Richardson has emphasised the importance of the window several times, and Couhig has gone on record to the Chronicle saying we'll be active.

[Crusader Royal]

10 points from 4, can't complain though I'm people will find a reason to.

Finally looking up instead of down when I look at the table. Stockport is a good opportunity to close the gap on the top 6. Some good January reinforcements and we can have a real good go at crashing the party.

I’m not sure why people are so confident about Reading being a buying club, as opposed to a selling club, this January. Shrug.

I’m not sure why so many people are only capable of binary thinking…..
Perfectly possible to be a trading club, sell someone for good money, bring in a couple to strengthen weak areas. It’s served the likes of Brentford, Bournemouth, Palace et al well.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

You lot need to wind your necks in if you were moaning about the second half performance. We've been bitching about game management for ages, but that was spot on. Just controlled the second half and restricted Burton to nothing, then hitting them on the break when the option arrived.

Yes it was cold and 'boring', but I was happy to see that after the appalling second half performance against Peterborough

[Hound]

You lot need to wind your necks in if you were moaning about the second half performance. We've been bitching about game management for ages, but that was spot on. Just controlled the second half and restricted Burton to nothing, then hitting them on the break when the option arrived.

Yes it was cold and 'boring', but I was happy to see that after the appalling second half performance against Peterborough

We were v good second half. A lot more controlled than the first where Burton could and maybe should have scored

[Brogue]

As I said burton played right into our hands by being so narrow and direct. Obviously didn’t do their homework. There aren’t many teams who will go straight through the middle of us as we have a strong core. Teams that stretch us out wide cause us problems getting in behind us. It made for a very comfortable afternoon against a poor tactically set up side. Stockport will be a test.

[Hound]

As I said burton play right into our hands by being so narrow and direct. There aren’t many teams who will go straight through the middle of us. Teams that stretch us out wide cause us problems. It made for a very comfortable afternoon against a poor side. Stockport will be a test.

Yes that and just awful at the back. Kept giving us an easy outlet knocking long in the channel to DK. Pretty clueless really. Dont think I’ve ever seen Kelvin dominate in the air like he did either. We should have scored another 2/3 really.

[Crowbar6753]

I enjoyed that! We controlled the game much better and our passing was more accurate and maybe at more pace than recently. Burton are no mugs and you can see why are middle of the table and no longer bottom feeders.
Finally, a big shout out to Fraser who i thought had an excellent game and his passing and control at CDM was what we have been missing and for me should be starting ahead of Savage, which is tough on Savage but i think it balances the midfield and gives the defense more confidence.

[Royals and Racers]

Attendance 12.104

[John Madejski's Wallet]

fwiw my MoM was between Fraser and Burns

Fraser was great at CDM. Not flashy, but did his job superbly

Burns was the main outlet playing it through to midfield, and made some phenomenal interceptions

[Armadillo Roadkill]

A fairly comfortable win, although they did hit the post and Pereira had to make a few decent saves.

Fraser, Burns, Kyerewaa and Marriott all very good. No one was poor, although Dorsett is very inconsistent and does create a few scares.

I actually thought there were quite a few times when we put together some lovely passing moves. It wasn't all long balls by any means, although a few of them really created chaos in what was a very poor Burton defence. Quite happy the way the game was played out to win three pints and keep a rare clean sheet.

The stadium is quite quiet though - maybe it was the hangovers.

[Hound]

fwiw my MoM was between Fraser and Burns

Fraser was great at CDM. Not flashy, but did his job superbly

Burns was the main outlet playing it through to midfield, and made some phenomenal interceptions

No arguments there from me. Burns also had to cover a shakey display from Paudie. Thought he was excellent and with Williams out hope he stays on

[Brogue]

Yes burns looks much better playing alongside an experienced cb. Him and Stickland were a disaster together. Much improved now.

[Crowbar6753]

I forgot to mention Daniel.K, the guy is super fun to watch and probably our most fun player since Jimmy Kebe and Gilksy!! However, please. please ,please someone give him some shooting practice.....not from 15 or 20 yards but from 3 yards out with an open net!!!!
How many sitters has this guy nailed over the bar from next to no yards this season!!
I can see it now, we'll have a cracking second half to the season and get to the play-offs and final and Danny.K will sky a last minute sitter over the bar from a yard out and we'll lose on penalties!!! But it'll be fun to watch

[Clyde1998]

Comfortable win, but Burton are probably the weakest side we've played this season - they never really threatened us throughout the game.

[Snowflake Royal]

Glad people are coming round to my beau DannyK