Back From the Game Birmingham

[Wizard]

Highlight of the match for me was definitely brendy dancing to the new drum beat.

[Cypry]

Having slated Mills in recent weeks he really stepped up today and looked solid, sensible with the ball and played very well. Was shocked at the huge outcry when he did that awful set piece as he was playing well apart from that and his head could have dropped after that booing. I would even go as far as to suggest he was my MOM.

Got to say I thought Mills had a cracker - great run and shot in the first half - was unlucky not to break our jinx on first half goals.
Unless I'm much mistaken the booing was for a set piece by McAnuff - in some ways deserved, his delivery was shocking today in the main, however he was much improved when moved to the right....I've been a Kebe fan for a while, but starting to wish we'd get shot of him sooner rather than later, not sure that HRK is the answer though - Obita?

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Will Karacan leave in January?

Next player to be sold.

Sorry but karacan is nowhere near as good as Reading fans make out. His game is really, really limited.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse. The Mongstad comes up with a drumbeat more suited for Woodley carnival. Just like the game, fcking terrible.

3 points but nothing more than that. Kebe can literally do one and deserves never to play for Reading again.

[sandman]

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse. The Mongstad comes up with a drumbeat more suited for Woodley carnival. Just like the game, fcking terrible.

3 points but nothing more than that. Kebe can literally do one and deserves never to play for Reading again.

Got the crowd making some noise obviously not the right kind of noise for the Hob Nob masses.

[KEBEISTHEGREATEST]

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse. The Mongstad comes up with a drumbeat more suited for Woodley carnival. Just like the game, fcking terrible.

3 points but nothing more than that. Kebe can literally do one and deserves never to play for Reading again.

Got the crowd making some noise obviously not the right kind of noise for the Hob Nob masses.

I LIKED IT SO PISS OFF

[sandman]

It was funny when the drummer attempted it the second time and totally messed up the beat.

[Handsome Man]

Having slated Mills in recent weeks he really stepped up today and looked solid

I'm glad he responded to your criticism.

Federici - 9 Looked like Billy the Fish in the second half, always seemed to be diving for something
Cummings - 8 Very good
Mills - 10 Man of the Match because he had to step in to save Leigertwood and Gorkss in the first half
Gorkss - 9 very good
Pearce - 8 Forming a good partnership

Karacan - 8 Excellent and integral to us winning midfield
Leigertwood - 9 Very good indeed and back to last season's form
MacAnuff - 5 Redeemed himself with the goal, but the miss three minutes before left me quite numb
Kebe - 4 half-fit and like the Kebe we initially thought was shit

Church - 4 He doesn't hit his shots properly
Le Fondre - 4 His first touch goes further than Church's shots on goal

[urz13]

Anything to bolster the atmosphere is welcome imo.
Feds - 8 commanded his area , came for crosses, he's on fire.
Cummings - 8 practically flawless but didn't have to do much.
Pearce - 7 settled but still looked under pressure at times. Couple of vital challenges.
Gorkks - 9 won everything, good passing, brilliant interventions at a few points.
Mills - 8 his best performance also included his worst ever pass straight into the upper west.
Kebe - 5 what's going on with him?!?!
Karacan - 8 good passing, ran forever.
Leigertwood - 8 won absolutely everything in midfield. Back to his best.
McAuff - 5 shocking bar the goal. Contender for 'worst shot of the season'.
Le Fondre - 8 didn't get enough service but was superb when he had the ball.
Church - 6 brings nothing, gave it away a lot. Decent movement but never gets the ball.

Subs:
Robson-Kanu - 6 didn't make an impact
Hunt - 8 linked up with ALF very well, class finish, good flicks and awareness. Has to start.

Btw, anyone know who hit the post in the first half?

[FiNeRaIn]

Btw, anyone know who hit the post in the first half?

Kebe..by slicing a cross.

[Sarah Star]

Funny old game. Lots of chances go begging, opposition don't get it down our end of the pitch much, but you always feel they can nick a goal, nothing of note happens in the first half, back the boys man still can't make up his mind what to call his game, Pearce nearly scores at the wrong end, Feds makes a good save, a fat man takes his shirt off, McAnuff can't score one-on-one with the keeper, crowd get on his back calling him all the names under the sun, he puts in a cross from a similar position, Hunt bungles it in and suddenly it's all "We love you Reading, we do..." clappity-clap "Oi!" LOL!

[winchester_royal]

Will Karacan leave in January?

Next player to be sold.

Sorry but karacan is nowhere near as good as Reading fans make out. His game is really, really limited.

Not often I agre with FR but on this point I'm with him. A good example of his 'limited' nature was towards the end where there was a pretty easy ball through to ALF which would have put him 1-on-1 with the keeper, but Karacan didn't spot it and just went for the typical pass out wide. I like him, he does a job, but even Kes is more creative.

[winchester_royal]

Oh, and IMO Feds and Mills were fantastic today. Would have been a 2/3-nil loss without the pair of them.

[robbieroyal]

Federici - 9 - Very good stops, has been quality all season IMO
Cummings - 8 - Very consistent as ever
Mills - 9 -By a country mile his best performance for us
Gorkss - 8 - Quality as ever
Pearce - 8-Seems to be improving of late

Karacan -8- Industrioous and effective
Leigertwood - 9- Good shout for MOM, back like his best
McAnuff - 6 - Apart from making the goal was a bit shite
Kebe -4 - A bit of a shambles

Church - 5 - non effective in truth
Le Fondre - 7 - Came looking for ball and good link up play

Very solid at the back, bar a couple of mistakes this was a very good defensive performance and one to build on. Today is a big turning point for my expectations this season. Thought before the game we'd struggle today but now.........

[sandman]

Federici - 9 Showed what makes him the best keeper outside of the Premier League, made some very good save particularly in the first half and deserved the Clean Sheet.

Cummings - 7 Had been shaky recently but looked like he was getting back to where he was when he first replaced Griff.
Gorkks - 8 Just class as always
Pearce - 7 Shaky in the first 5 minutes and almost scored a calamitous goal off his weirdly shaped head. Made some good tackles though including a very good last ditch one in the first half.
Mills - 8 Improving by every game and handled Burke really well.

Kebe - 4 Oh dear, Jimmy boy has always been lazy and inconsistent but somehow this feels different.
Leigertwood - 7 Steady, would like to see him get in the box a bit more.
Karacan - 7 Steady. it's easy to forget that he's still only 22.
McAnuff - 5 Should've squared the ball instead of shooting for the one on one, crossing generally poor and leadership non-existant.

Church - 6 No service. Lol at the bloke on BBCRB calling him a league 1 striker, I don't know what that makes our Dracula like wingers, Combined Counties?
ALF - 6 No service.

Kan't do - 6 Didn't really do much.
Hunt - 7 Scored the goal but don't know if he's fit enough to play from the start.

[urz13]

Having had a long hard think about it, I didn't think Kebe had too bad a game today. Won the ball back a few times (memorably in his own area - then broke away upfield), went on a few runs down the wing, was unlucky no-one was alive to his pull back, put in a superb cross for McAnuff to head wide, passed it ok, and made sone decent runs. When his crosses were blocked it was when he had no support behind him. Also, he always seemed to be in space but we didnt utilise that enough. I recall one moment where Cummings was meandering down the wing with Kebe bombing off in front of him. Had Cummings played the pass immediately Kebe would've been away down the wing. However Cummings delayed and delayed so Kebe had to halt his run, Cummings then gave him the ball but jimmy had no-where to go. Just my opinion, but I thought he played well. Not great, but well enough.

[Elmer Park]

In my view some of the marks people have given have been very generous but then again when we lose some people's marks are over harsh, I didn't think either side looked anything special today and if I were giving marks there would be a lot of sixes on either side with a small number of fives, sevens and eights.

Federici was very good again and made a couple of excellent saves. The defence was fairly sound but the fact remains Wood was allowed two free headers in the first half, one well saved by Federici and there was also that incident when Pearce headed against his own post and Wood put the rebound over the bar. There have been one or two matches where we have been punished for our mistakes, luckily today we weren't. I thought Mills was the pick of the back four especially considering he was up against Burke who was Birmingham's most dangerous player. Thank goodness Brian hasn't been listening to those who have been calling for the return of Harte. Burke v Harte would have been embarrassing.

In midfield I felt Ledge was good throughout and Karacan got into the game more once the goal was scored and the game opened up. We need him or Ledge to get in the box when we attack though. Jobi was OK although I cannot understand why he didn't just pass the ball into the large amount of the goal open when he had 'that' chance instead of blasting it straight at the keeper. Jimmy didn't play well but I wouldn't say he was as bad as some have said, at least until the last ten minutes before he came off, when admittedly he was terrible. I'm not sure he is over his injury in his own mind yet. He is such a wimp when he comes back from a knock. Both wingers crossing was poor though and even the one Jobi put in for the goal wasn't the best but worked out well of course.

I felt all the three strikers we used found it tough going today but Church was particularly poor. Hunt was nothing special but deserves to get a go from the start for at least a few games now.

All in all an important win in a game which could have gone either way. I thought we played better against Southampton and maybe even Derby but we were due to nick a close home game and the three points make the table look a bit better for us.

[royalsroyalsroyals92]

love how 'Thou Voice' has disappeared recently since its seemed that feds has been one of our best players.
Great effort today and pleased that something went right for Hunty.

[Jackson Corner]

Decent performance against a very good Brum team. I thought they knocked it around well and back the 5 can be pleased with the work they put in today. Like so many games this season we play some decent stuff at times but goals are a problem. Especially down the South Stand end we haven't scored a goal in that net this season!

[Libertine]

There have been a few games recently where we've been very good and came away with either one, or no, points. So getting three points from this past fixture levels things up in that regard a bit. No style points are handed out...