BFTG - Sunderland (H)

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Zammo
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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by Zammo » 15 Sep 2022 09:34

Zip First off well played Sunderland. They were bright, quick, creative, hard working, tactically astute and very determined. I applauded their third goal. It was brilliantly executed.


^ this. They really were excellent first half. Said to the bloke next to me, they'll be rueing going into half-time goalless........moments later they were 2up lol.

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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by TheRoyalAscot » 15 Sep 2022 09:35

All the comments pretty much capture it. Completely agree that the overhit pass from Hendrick to Yiadom in one of our first attacks set the tone. We are abysmal in possession today, so sloppy. We will lose games this season, no problem with that. But not in that manner.

Sunderland's three goals were very well taken. Great counter attacking moves at real pace that cut through us. Also credit to their following, I know they probably have a large southern based fanbase, but 2500 on a Wednesday night is v impressive either way. At least it was worth it for those who made the full 570 mile round trip!

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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by Sutekh » 15 Sep 2022 09:35

Snowflake Royal
URZZZZ
Millsy I’m trying to think of a worse performance from us ever, but am struggling. There won’t have been many.

It was basically like there were 11 school kids out there running around doing random stuff, not interconnected at all. I’m totally baffled.


Wigan (H) under Bowen - game last night drew many similarities with that one

Ipswich H under Clement


Many home games under Paunovic.

Burton under Stam

Most home games v Birmingham

v 8 man Yeovil

Palace at home under Q&G

No doubt countless away games consigned to history very quickly e.g. away v *xford under Terry

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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by URZZZZ » 15 Sep 2022 09:57

Hendo Pretty abject from everyone last night. Not sure what else can be said.

Sunderland looked decent - always at least one team who carries on their form from getting promoted out of League 1. Fucking Patrick Roberts still keeps scoring against us, 2 well taken goals.


Think they’ll have a shot at the top six, complete contrast to the shambles they were the last time they were in the Championship

Although Mowbray has a recent history of strong runs followed by winless runs - Blackburn’s collapse was really poor last season

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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by Bristol Paul » 15 Sep 2022 10:21

Zip First off well played Sunderland. They were bright, quick, creative, hard working, tactically astute and very determined. I applauded their third goal. It was brilliantly executed.

As for our lot that was the worst performance I have ever witnessed from a Reading side and I have seen a lot of dire performances including 7-0 and 6-0 defeats.
It was laboured and of such poor quality. There were no options to pass to .with everything done at such a slow pace. The ball would then be lumped forward.
The passing was abysmal. The lack of basic footballing skills was worrying. Second best in the air. Second best to tackles. Clueless creatively.

Their second goal summed up just how hopeless our central midfield was. Hendrick running forward with the ball had his through pass easily intercepted allowing Sunderland to break. The ball eventually comes into midfield and Loum is favourite to reach the ball but somehow manages to be nutmegged. The defence is left exposed and they score again from the left back position.

It looked like a non league team play a top flight side tonight with Hendrick utterly atrocious and constantly out of position in no man’s land. Ejaria has to come into the side for him when fit.

I don’t mind us losing this season but I do mind a performance as bad as that. They should be embarrassed to have been so utterly played off the park.

Totally agree with this, and that Sunderland were decent, not rubbish as some.others seem to think. Hendrick is crap, let's face it, and a few.of the team seem to be here just for the money at times based on the lack of effort and sloppiness.


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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by Orion1871 » 15 Sep 2022 10:28

Bristol Paul
Zip First off well played Sunderland. They were bright, quick, creative, hard working, tactically astute and very determined. I applauded their third goal. It was brilliantly executed.

As for our lot that was the worst performance I have ever witnessed from a Reading side and I have seen a lot of dire performances including 7-0 and 6-0 defeats.
It was laboured and of such poor quality. There were no options to pass to .with everything done at such a slow pace. The ball would then be lumped forward.
The passing was abysmal. The lack of basic footballing skills was worrying. Second best in the air. Second best to tackles. Clueless creatively.

Their second goal summed up just how hopeless our central midfield was. Hendrick running forward with the ball had his through pass easily intercepted allowing Sunderland to break. The ball eventually comes into midfield and Loum is favourite to reach the ball but somehow manages to be nutmegged. The defence is left exposed and they score again from the left back position.

It looked like a non league team play a top flight side tonight with Hendrick utterly atrocious and constantly out of position in no man’s land. Ejaria has to come into the side for him when fit.

I don’t mind us losing this season but I do mind a performance as bad as that. They should be embarrassed to have been so utterly played off the park.

Totally agree with this, and that Sunderland were decent, not rubbish as some.others seem to think. Hendrick is crap, let's face it, and a few.of the team seem to be here just for the money at times based on the lack of effort and sloppiness.



If they're here for the money this season then they're going to be severely disappointed.

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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by RoyalBlue » 15 Sep 2022 10:38

Norfolk Royal Agree with most of the comments so far. The tone was set early on as we let Sunderland have possession and didn’t press with any conviction.

I thought there were two crucial incidents. Firstly when Tince was chopped on a break and the ref allowed advantage to be played. The ball went to Hendricks who passed it into touch. It’s a marginal decision but had the ref blown up and booked the Sunderland player giving us a free kick in a dangerous position, that may just have put us on the front foot.

Secondly, the injury to the impressive Sunderland striker leaving them without a recognised striker. We didn’t react quickly enough. We had three central defenders playing against nobody.

A word about Patrick Roberts. A dangerous player yes but he’s been knocking around several clubs for years now never really fulfilling his potential. Most other clubs seem to have worked him out and his wonder games are few and far between. It was just our luck that he chose last night probably to make the most decisive intervention of his career.

Finally, Tom McIntyre, he’s got talent and I like him generally but he must do something about his running pace and style. Not tomorrow, not next week, NOW.

He owes it to the club but most importantly to himself as his lack of pace will hold back his career.

I’m 60 and an experienced runner. You can train yourself to run faster. I don’t mean endurance or middle distance, I mean sprinting. When Tom was running back to cover on one of the goals he had the air of a knackered pit pony on its last day down the mine before the final appointment at the glue factory.

Get down to the local athletics club, I think there is a good one in Reading. Spend some time with the sprinters there, pick up some tips from them and train with them if they are kind enough to let you a few days a week. Get a personal sprinting coach. Raise your legs, don’t drag them like you do. Run as if you are busting everything on a sprint rather than conserving energy.

It’s not rocket science but you need some help with that. Get it. It’s easily available if you have the will to do it.


Spot on about improving sprinting ability. It can be done, particularly with someone who appears to have little sprinting ability at the outset.

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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by John Smith » 15 Sep 2022 10:42

Oh dear.

Started off like we were the away team - pressed back into our own half and then they just picked us off, then never recovered.

It's one bad result, yes there have been a couple of others before but I don't think it will continue into a string of defeats. I am still backing us to win on Saturday.

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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by windermereROYAL » 15 Sep 2022 10:45

Can we just stop playing evening games please? ok Blackburn was good but in the main the last 5 years-especially away- has been atrocious.


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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by Millsy » 15 Sep 2022 10:48

John Smith
Started off like we were the away team - pressed back into our own half and then they just picked us off, then never recovered.


Tom Ince was at one point utterly frustrated with the team as he seemed to be the only one within 30 yards of their goal during one of our two 'attacks'. Utterly baffling performance.

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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by Stranded » 15 Sep 2022 10:50

windermereROYAL Can we just stop playing evening games please? ok Blackburn was good but in the main the last 5 years-especially away- has been atrocious.


I know tongue in cheek but to be honest, it feels like the club really need to review how we prepare for midweek games - there must be something we are doing/not doing that doesn't get the team in the right frame of mind to play well.

We need electricity prices to rise to the extent that having floodlights on is too expensive forcing midweek games to move to 1pm.

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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by 6ft Kerplunk » 15 Sep 2022 11:13

I think teams are just working us out now. Start of the season after such a turnover of players none of the teams playing us knew how we'd play, nine games in and our pattern of play is known and opposition managers know our weaknesses. We were never going to win the league with this set of players we're just got to hope Ince can keep the team spirit together enough to finish out of the bottom three. Mid-table would be an outstanding season given where we where at the end of last season.

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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by Hound » 15 Sep 2022 11:22

URZZZZ
Hendo Pretty abject from everyone last night. Not sure what else can be said.

Sunderland looked decent - always at least one team who carries on their form from getting promoted out of League 1. Fucking Patrick Roberts still keeps scoring against us, 2 well taken goals.


Think they’ll have a shot at the top six, complete contrast to the shambles they were the last time they were in the Championship

Although Mowbray has a recent history of strong runs followed by winless runs - Blackburn’s collapse was really poor last season


It’s difficult to say really. They certainly played well but we were so utterly inept it’s difficult to make a judgement on them

I mean how easily they kept passing it through from the short keeper goal kick to seemingly being one on one with one of our defenders was absolutely amateur stuff. Like being in a training session vs mannequins


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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by Norfolk Royal » 15 Sep 2022 11:33

RoyalBlue
Norfolk Royal Agree with most of the comments so far. The tone was set early on as we let Sunderland have possession and didn’t press with any conviction.

I thought there were two crucial incidents. Firstly when Tince was chopped on a break and the ref allowed advantage to be played. The ball went to Hendricks who passed it into touch. It’s a marginal decision but had the ref blown up and booked the Sunderland player giving us a free kick in a dangerous position, that may just have put us on the front foot.

Secondly, the injury to the impressive Sunderland striker leaving them without a recognised striker. We didn’t react quickly enough. We had three central defenders playing against nobody.

A word about Patrick Roberts. A dangerous player yes but he’s been knocking around several clubs for years now never really fulfilling his potential. Most other clubs seem to have worked him out and his wonder games are few and far between. It was just our luck that he chose last night probably to make the most decisive intervention of his career.

Finally, Tom McIntyre, he’s got talent and I like him generally but he must do something about his running pace and style. Not tomorrow, not next week, NOW.

He owes it to the club but most importantly to himself as his lack of pace will hold back his career.

I’m 60 and an experienced runner. You can train yourself to run faster. I don’t mean endurance or middle distance, I mean sprinting. When Tom was running back to cover on one of the goals he had the air of a knackered pit pony on its last day down the mine before the final appointment at the glue factory.

Get down to the local athletics club, I think there is a good one in Reading. Spend some time with the sprinters there, pick up some tips from them and train with them if they are kind enough to let you a few days a week. Get a personal sprinting coach. Raise your legs, don’t drag them like you do. Run as if you are busting everything on a sprint rather than conserving energy.

It’s not rocket science but you need some help with that. Get it. It’s easily available if you have the will to do it.


Spot on about improving sprinting ability. It can be done, particularly with someone who appears to have little sprinting ability at the outset.


Yes, I'm not an expert by any means, he needs an expert coach. But I do have some experience and even on a cursory look at it I can see that he's dragging his legs rather than using them proactively to propel himself forward. He's not using his arms enough either as a sprinter would as part of the general package.

Most people have a running style but changing it can work and make you run faster. I particularly think Tom would benefit from that. He's got quite a low centre of gravity and does not pick his legs up enough when running. Some runners can be very effective taking shorter strides and not raising their legs particularly high, Michael Johnson for instance. But I don't think that style suits Tom.

As I say, he needs some proper help with it.

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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by CountryRoyal » 15 Sep 2022 11:33

Hound Seemed to be worst in car park 6 but it was so bad you could still smell it strongly in the stadium


It smelt like shit last time I was in Boro too so I assume it’s a North East thing. Inflation hit that soap hard I guess.

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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by CountryRoyal » 15 Sep 2022 11:47

Can someone who understands football better than I do enlighten me why we don’t try and play like we did when we had our biggest, most dominant and most comprehensive win?

I get with a small squad you probably don’t have the fitness levels to consistently play at such a high intensity - but there has to be some compromise, some half-way house. Against Blackburn we pressed and harried high up the pitch and it saw results. Ever since we’ve decided to completely surrender possession from the start, only engage them in our half and increasingly deeper and deeper. When you invite pressure you open your up to mistakes and you have to be on your A game.

I understand we have Joao who obviously isn’t known for pressing, but if he doesn’t score he’s generally useless. He couldn’t hold up a hanky, but it isn’t just him. The whole team is just sitting back more and it looks at times like Tince is the only one trying to push up.

We need to play more on the front foot and engage them in their own half. I thought Sunderland played well, in truth they looked like a team playing right on the edge of their abilities (a lot of their touches and flicks on another day would have been harmless, instead they were perfect, equally they seemed to get the rub of the green and the bounce of the ball), but they deserved that because of the effort and the desire they put in. They’re a League One team and we genuinely made them look like one of the Top 4 of the prem, the gulf was huge all over the park and that is unacceptable.

Paul Ince says he wants his team to play on the front foot, then he needs to work out how to do that because we haven’t played on the front foot for a month.

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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by Hound » 15 Sep 2022 12:04

Good question CR
We played a similar game against Cardiff - kept possession, front foot.

Stoke was a bit in between but the other games we’ve sat back far too much

I don’t think Joao helps certainly. Be interesting to see if and when Carroll signs we play a bit better - he is excellent at hold up play, and Long is good at it also

I’ve been surprised at the lack of technical ability from Hendrick (though didn’t think he was worse than anyone else yesterday) and do feel Ejaria coming in will help in that respect

We were utterly incapable of keeping possession and moving forward yesterday. And Sunderland found it incredibly easy to do just that

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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by Zip » 15 Sep 2022 12:11

It is a good question from CR although I don’t understand the comment that Sunderland are a L1 side. They are a decent Championship side.

Against Blackburn we closed them down constantly and it worked. Yet after a ten day break the players were so lethargic last night. Is it purely motivational? Did Ince give them such a rocket after Rotherham that they went out to then prove a point v Blackburn?

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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by Snowflake Royal » 15 Sep 2022 12:25

Hound
URZZZZ
Hendo Pretty abject from everyone last night. Not sure what else can be said.

Sunderland looked decent - always at least one team who carries on their form from getting promoted out of League 1. Fucking Patrick Roberts still keeps scoring against us, 2 well taken goals.


Think they’ll have a shot at the top six, complete contrast to the shambles they were the last time they were in the Championship

Although Mowbray has a recent history of strong runs followed by winless runs - Blackburn’s collapse was really poor last season


It’s difficult to say really. They certainly played well but we were so utterly inept it’s difficult to make a judgement on them

I mean how easily they kept passing it through from the short keeper goal kick to seemingly being one on one with one of our defenders was absolutely amateur stuff. Like being in a training session vs mannequins

They made a lot of errors and for all their possession and easy win, until the first goal they basically hadn't threatened us at all.

Don't get me wrong, they were tidy, and they capitalised on our shitness. But anyone with a modicum of pace and skill could have played through us like that the way we were playing. Three excellent finishes though.

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Re: BFTG - Sunderland (H)

by ladida_gunner_graham » 15 Sep 2022 12:29

Zip Ejaria has to come into the side for [Hendrick] when fit.


Sure, Henrick didn't play well, but Ejaria has been utterly pants for 2 years. If he's our midfield saviour, we're in big trouble

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