MATCHWATCH : Burton Albion (h)

[Sutekh]

Currently the sides in 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th are all drawing so Reading are gaining nicely if things stay the same

[Brogue]

Great work from Doyle btw. He’s really growing into the season now.

Think he could be a star if he stays fit.

Yep he’s looking better and better every game. He’s the missing link we need. someone in midfield who links the attack, if he can get it right in games we will start winning more games.

[Brogue]

A calamity at the back

[Snowflake Royal]

Great work from Doyle btw. He’s really growing into the season now.

Think he could be a star if he stays fit.

Yep he’s looking better and better every game. He’s the missing link we need. someone in midfield who links the attack, if he can get it right in games we will start winning more games.

If he could just gain a yard of pace/effort, or an extra few pounds of muscle/fight, he'd be great.

[LUX]

A really open, flowing game. I am always RTG, but Burton do not deserve to be two down. I am delighted though.

Marriott, DK, Doyle, Wing and Pereira the highlights.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Much better performance so far. Marriott seems to be holding the ball up a lot more and linking up well within moves as opposed to only at the end of them. I don’t care what people say about Danny K or how often his runs may fizzle into nothing, he has almost single handedly made Reading somewhat exciting to watch. Doyle is also having a good game, and Burns seems to be making some decent attacking moves from the back. It’s all a lot more positive. Fraser looks good too - Savage is the better player imo, but maybe Fraser fits the midfield puzzle a bit better?

An interesting take from the commentary team: Reading aren’t necessarily failing to press - they are keeping a good shape off the ball and avoiding the hazard of chasing it and opening up gaps for the opposition to exploit. Thats beyond my pay grade to appreciate unfortunately but something to consider. However, we did seem to step off Burton after the first goal and I was a little concerned the game would slide into the type of negative performance that loses leads. Even at 2-0 up I hope we don’t just defend it; sometimes it’s better to react to changes made by the opponent- if they don’t do anything, why should we?

Marriott’s record is just insane when you think about it. I can’t remember the last striker we had that practically guaranteed a goal every game. I’m close to taking it for granted.

Happy with that, but the second half seems to be our booby half so let’s see how we deal with the next 45.

[Brogue]

Lovely football there. Wing should have done better

[Brogue]

It’s all gone quite flat and subdued

[bcubed]

Like the way this ref plays advantage then brings it back if no advantage accrues

They dont all do that

[Brogue]

Like the way this ref plays advantage then brings it back if no advantage accrues

They dont all do that

Yes he’s been decent so far

[Snowflake Royal]

Why the hell did Doyle just run outside of Ritchie rather than get in the box to receive and score!

[Brogue]

Dorsett with Kryten head from the corner what was he even trying to do

[Brogue]

We need to wake the fcuk up here. This has been a very poor last 10/15 minutes. Midfield need to get a hold of it

[Sutekh]

We need to wake the fcuk up here. This has been a very poor last 10/15 minutes. Midfield need to get a hold of it

2-0 is the most dangerous lead supposedly, Reading seem to have Liverpool syndrome I.e. just can’t commit that final coup de grace - and before you know it

[Snowflake Royal]

Kelvin for Marriott

[Extended-Phenotype]

Shamefully forgot to add that Ritchie has also been pretty impressive. I like that guy.

[Snowflake Royal]

Would like to see Garcia's fresh legs for Ritchie.

Be good to see Ahmed get 10 minutes too

[Sutekh]

That play was terrible, from a throw near the Burton corner flag all the back to Pereira, says it all

[Snowflake Royal]

Much better ball retention, but pretty easy with the lacklustre Burton press. They know their beat

[Sutekh]

Savage on, Doyle off
Ritchie off Camara on