Back From The Game - Barnsley

[Crowthorne Royal]

I have waited to write this until tonight as I am still gently seething about what I see week after week at The MS.

I was supposed to be visiting a friend this w/e, but plans changed last minute which meant I decided to go to the game on Sat.

Even though I had been 'let down' so many times lately I blindly believed (as I've done every other home game since Jan) that this was the game when it would all be alright.

All the talk before was about belief, desire, the will to win, the energy the players had, their willingness to put B'Pool A behind them etc, etc. (The usual boll**)

So, what was served up ?

The usual fare.....A 5 minute flashing start, a couple (at best) of half chances followed by 40 minutes of long balls never finding players feet when a simpler shorter pass was on, hoofs from defence (even Bikey now sending aimless balls up front), absolutely ZERO running off the ball to pull defenders out of position and therefore creating space & never anyone in the box when the ball was amazingly delivered in there. So many longer balls reaching an 'average big centre half' who quickly becomes MOTM while marking Readings diminutive strikers out of the game. (Think Forest, Preston and Barnsley in particular)
This is often interjected with CORNERS. Stat - Reading have been awarded more corners than any other team this season (Champship) - What do we do with them ? Sweet FA, no runs IN TO the box, all just stood waiting for someone else to take responsibility and hardly a header won.

Cue, second half.....a bit more urgency but now the away team (Barnsley in this case but could substitute them for....N.Forest, Bristol City, Cardiff, Charlton, Ipswich or Sheff U) senses they could beat us and in most cases score a goal.......Barnsley weren't quite good enough to do that hence the draw. Oh and I nearly forgot......more of the same as the 1st half but now labelled as 'showing passion' or 'we threw the kitchen sink at them' or 'we huffed and we puffed but couldn't break them down' often followed by 'this team (the away team) are 'fighting for their lives' or 'put a lot of men behind the ball' etc, etc. ANY OF YOU READING THIS THAT GO REGULARLY WILL KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.

It is just so, so frustrating!

Player ratings for Sat (being generous) were

Hahn - 5 - Not that bad, didn't come for a cross that he should have but made a good save at his near post
Rosy - 4 - All arms and legs and pumped fists as usual - no real action/quality
Duberry - 4 - What we've come to expect.....v.average defender, outrageously poor passer and yet tries at least 1 40 yard pass each week as no-one MOVES for the ball.
Bikey - 2 - Worst ever game in a Reading shirt
Armstrong - 8 - showed quality, desire, used his brain, passed to peoples feet - Looked like he belonged to Reading of old
Karacan - 6 - A good effort from the youngster, faded second half
Tabb - 6 - As above
Kebe - 6 - You may be surprised as he's had such pelters.....he was the only Reading player (IMO) that looked dangerous as well as being utterly crap at the same time
Hunt S - 0 - One of the most inept performances I've ever seen from a Reading midfielder
Hunt N - 5 - Looked OK, not really match fit and then got injured - not much impact
Kitson - 1 - Has come back to Reading, sorted out his personal life and thinks he can now turn up stick a few legs out, moan constantly to the ref about his treatment from their burly centre half and then go home happy. When he played for us in our 2nd season in The Prem he played like this for the last 10 games or so, he also played like this @ Stoke, which is why they gave him back to us and signed James Beattie. I used to love Kitson, now I would happily never see him play for us again.
Long - 5 - Tried hard and showed more skill than Kitson & N Hunt at times, still not enough quality though
Little - 6 - Hardly ever gave the ball away in his short spell, but looks past his best

I know this is a ridiculously long rant but I had to get this off my chest - sorry. Oh and finally we really missed Doyle.

[Elliott]

Oh and finally we really missed Doyle.

No, we really missed Ingimarsson, and have done for the last 4 months.

[poohs pure]

I have waited to write this until tonight as I am still gently seething about what I see week after week at The MS.

I was supposed to be visiting a friend this w/e, but plans changed last minute which meant I decided to go to the game on Sat.

Even though I had been 'let down' so many times lately I blindly believed (as I've done every other home game since Jan) that this was the game when it would all be alright.

All the talk before was about belief, desire, the will to win, the energy the players had, their willingness to put B'Pool A behind them etc, etc. (The usual boll**)

So, what was served up ?

The usual fare.....A 5 minute flashing start, a couple (at best) of half chances followed by 40 minutes of long balls never finding players feet when a simpler shorter pass was on, hoofs from defence (even Bikey now sending aimless balls up front), absolutely ZERO running off the ball to pull defenders out of position and therefore creating space & never anyone in the box when the ball was amazingly delivered in there. So many longer balls reaching an 'average big centre half' who quickly becomes MOTM while marking Readings diminutive strikers out of the game. (Think Forest, Preston and Barnsley in particular)
This is often interjected with CORNERS. Stat - Reading have been awarded more corners than any other team this season (Champship) - What do we do with them ? Sweet FA, no runs IN TO the box, all just stood waiting for someone else to take responsibility and hardly a header won.

Cue, second half.....a bit more urgency but now the away team (Barnsley in this case but could substitute them for....N.Forest, Bristol City, Cardiff, Charlton, Ipswich or Sheff U) senses they could beat us and in most cases score a goal.......Barnsley weren't quite good enough to do that hence the draw. Oh and I nearly forgot......more of the same as the 1st half but now labelled as 'showing passion' or 'we threw the kitchen sink at them' or 'we huffed and we puffed but couldn't break them down' often followed by 'this team (the away team) are 'fighting for their lives' or 'put a lot of men behind the ball' etc, etc. ANY OF YOU READING THIS THAT GO REGULARLY WILL KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.

It is just so, so frustrating!

Player ratings for Sat (being generous) were

Hahn - 5 - Not that bad, didn't come for a cross that he should have but made a good save at his near post
Rosy - 4 - All arms and legs and pumped fists as usual - no real action/quality
Duberry - 4 - What we've come to expect.....v.average defender, outrageously poor passer and yet tries at least 1 40 yard pass each week as no-one MOVES for the ball.
Bikey - 2 - Worst ever game in a Reading shirt
Armstrong - 8 - showed quality, desire, used his brain, passed to peoples feet - Looked like he belonged to Reading of old
Karacan - 6 - A good effort from the youngster, faded second half
Tabb - 6 - As above
Kebe - 6 - You may be surprised as he's had such pelters.....he was the only Reading player (IMO) that looked dangerous as well as being utterly crap at the same time
Hunt S - 0 - One of the most inept performances I've ever seen from a Reading midfielder
Hunt N - 5 - Looked OK, not really match fit and then got injured - not much impact
Kitson - 1 - Has come back to Reading, sorted out his personal life and thinks he can now turn up stick a few legs out, moan constantly to the ref about his treatment from their burly centre half and then go home happy. When he played for us in our 2nd season in The Prem he played like this for the last 10 games or so, he also played like this @ Stoke, which is why they gave him back to us and signed James Beattie. I used to love Kitson, now I would happily never see him play for us again.
Long - 5 - Tried hard and showed more skill than Kitson & N Hunt at times, still not enough quality though
Little - 6 - Hardly ever gave the ball away in his short spell, but looks past his best

I know this is a ridiculously long rant but I had to get this off my chest - sorry. Oh and finally we really missed Doyle.

spot on

[Deathy]

I'm with you Crowthers. You have to ask, asfter the build up about positivity and desire and what not, can Coppell actually moticate this lot anymore? He seems motivated, but the message doesn't seem to carry across.

I love the guy, but big changes required this summer, and sadly, they should have been made last summer.

[winchester_royal]

I'm going to LOL at evryone on this board when we win the play-offs.

[MeMeMe]

I have waited to write this until tonight as I am still gently seething about what I see week after week at The MS.

I was supposed to be visiting a friend this w/e, but plans changed last minute which meant I decided to go to the game on Sat.

Even though I had been 'let down' so many times lately I blindly believed (as I've done every other home game since Jan) that this was the game when it would all be alright.

All the talk before was about belief, desire, the will to win, the energy the players had, their willingness to put B'Pool A behind them etc, etc. (The usual boll**)

So, what was served up ?

The usual fare.....A 5 minute flashing start, a couple (at best) of half chances followed by 40 minutes of long balls never finding players feet when a simpler shorter pass was on, hoofs from defence (even Bikey now sending aimless balls up front), absolutely ZERO running off the ball to pull defenders out of position and therefore creating space & never anyone in the box when the ball was amazingly delivered in there. So many longer balls reaching an 'average big centre half' who quickly becomes MOTM while marking Readings diminutive strikers out of the game. (Think Forest, Preston and Barnsley in particular)
This is often interjected with CORNERS. Stat - Reading have been awarded more corners than any other team this season (Champship) - What do we do with them ? Sweet FA, no runs IN TO the box, all just stood waiting for someone else to take responsibility and hardly a header won.

Cue, second half.....a bit more urgency but now the away team (Barnsley in this case but could substitute them for....N.Forest, Bristol City, Cardiff, Charlton, Ipswich or Sheff U) senses they could beat us and in most cases score a goal.......Barnsley weren't quite good enough to do that hence the draw. Oh and I nearly forgot......more of the same as the 1st half but now labelled as 'showing passion' or 'we threw the kitchen sink at them' or 'we huffed and we puffed but couldn't break them down' often followed by 'this team (the away team) are 'fighting for their lives' or 'put a lot of men behind the ball' etc, etc. ANY OF YOU READING THIS THAT GO REGULARLY WILL KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.

It is just so, so frustrating!

Player ratings for Sat (being generous) were

Hahn - 5 - Not that bad, didn't come for a cross that he should have but made a good save at his near post
Rosy - 4 - All arms and legs and pumped fists as usual - no real action/quality
Duberry - 4 - What we've come to expect.....v.average defender, outrageously poor passer and yet tries at least 1 40 yard pass each week as no-one MOVES for the ball.
Bikey - 2 - Worst ever game in a Reading shirt
Armstrong - 8 - showed quality, desire, used his brain, passed to peoples feet - Looked like he belonged to Reading of old
Karacan - 6 - A good effort from the youngster, faded second half
Tabb - 6 - As above
Kebe - 6 - You may be surprised as he's had such pelters.....he was the only Reading player (IMO) that looked dangerous as well as being utterly crap at the same time
Hunt S - 0 - One of the most inept performances I've ever seen from a Reading midfielder
Hunt N - 5 - Looked OK, not really match fit and then got injured - not much impact
Kitson - 1 - Has come back to Reading, sorted out his personal life and thinks he can now turn up stick a few legs out, moan constantly to the ref about his treatment from their burly centre half and then go home happy. When he played for us in our 2nd season in The Prem he played like this for the last 10 games or so, he also played like this @ Stoke, which is why they gave him back to us and signed James Beattie. I used to love Kitson, now I would happily never see him play for us again.
Long - 5 - Tried hard and showed more skill than Kitson & N Hunt at times, still not enough quality though
Little - 6 - Hardly ever gave the ball away in his short spell, but looks past his best

I know this is a ridiculously long rant but I had to get this off my chest - sorry. Oh and finally we really missed Doyle.

BRILLIANT - You have just summed up what an awful lot of us are thinking

[Sir Rodger Doyle]

What I can't get out of my head at every match is the role new contracts have played in our downfall. Kevin Doyle gets a new "big money" contract and his goals and form go West. Steven Hunt gets his new contract and turns almost instantly into Sean Evers. Add to this the lack of Ivar (or a January replacement for him) and we've lost our goals and the calming influence he provided all over the pitch.

[Crowthorne Royal]

Good to hear from you again SDR.....It's been a while....How's the cccccccccigar ?

[AthleticoSpizz]

Kitson - 1 -

c0ck

[Royal Lady]

That's Rodger Doyle not Dodger Royal. HTH.

Spot on with the first post though - echoes what I said on the back from the game thread. They should all be ashamed of themselves. And I never want to hear another fricking "we won't be next" "we aim to go straight back up" "we're raring to go" bollox unless they actually DELIVER the goods. 100% effort required. 10% achieved from some quarters.

[Terminal Boardom]

I sometimes get a feeling that there are more sinister reasons for our appalling demise this season. When we went up in 2006, there was a fair amount of "consternation" with regard to the club honouring player bonuses. Is it at all possible that this time round someone in the hierarchy has let slip something which has caused the players to pretty much go on strike?

It might actually explain some of the bizarre performances.

[AthleticoSpizz]

If folk on here agree (carte blanche) with crowthorne and think DK was only worth a "1" at the Barnsley game, then I suggest that they get the obligatory "eye test".

Chased down tackles in 80% of the pitch and created at least 50% of our goalbound efforts.


Rationally, I rated hin at a "6"...............it would've been a 7 had he scored

[Avon Royal]

Oh and finally we really missed Doyle.

No, we really missed Ingimarsson, and have done for the last 4 months.

Spot on.

[Crowthorne Royal]

Oops, you're quite right, Rodger Doyle it is. Anyway hope Rodger and SDR are both OK (Considering the general doom and gloom!

[Sir Rodger Doyle]

We're both fine, thank you Crowthers.

[facaldaqui]

As far as sinister reasons for the decline go, I've got some theories. I think the team spirit went after the Christmas window. Why? Well, perhaps up to then the likes of Hunt and Harper had assumed they'd be moving on to a premier club, and when that didn't happen, perhaps it knocked the stuffing out of them. Add to that, if the players were as disgusted by Hunt's enthusiasm to leave as were the fans, perhaps it led to some rifts in the team. Another thing I wouldn't blame the team for being put out by was Lita's return as the prodigal son, when he hadn't done anything to deserve it. Then you've got Kitson coming back-a self-admitted bad influence on team spirit last season-and going on about giving the team a kick up the backside. I doubt anyone was thrilled. Another problem may have been when JM said at Christmas "if it's not broken, no need to fix it". If the fans could see that even when we were winning we were inadequate, then the players must have seen it too and wondered why the hell the team wasn 't properly strengthened in the window.

Also, much though the Hobnobbers constantly called for people to be dropped, it can't have helped team spirit when the changes started to become almost random. I would imagine that several players might feel aggrieved for being left out for long periods, such as Majetovsky, Harper, Bikey, NHunt (though injury was probably behind that), and maybe Lita and Long. They must look at the play and the results when they are not in the team and think "see, it wasn't me; they're just as bad when I'm out". They wouldn't be human if they didn't think like that, and perhaps they suspect that the tactics, not them, are to blame. The randomness of it all might start to affect the team to the extent that they see winning as in the hands of fate rather than something they can achieve systematically.

[Agent Balti]

I'm going to LOL at evryone on this board when we win the play-offs.

Nurse! Seriously, Winchester - what on earth makes you think we could win the play-offs, apart from the mere fact that somehow mathematically we could still be 'in it to win it'.

7th place please, and save every one of us the heartache.

[Alan Partridge]

But I thought Kitson and Bikey playing meant we'd win the league?

Oh P.S you missed out Coppell's latest buzz phrase,'lots of 'shadow boxing'

[Stranded]

If folk on here agree (carte blanche) with crowthorne and think DK was only worth a "1" at the Barnsley game, then I suggest that they get the obligatory "eye test".

Chased down tackles in 80% of the pitch and created at least 50% of our goalbound efforts.


Rationally, I rated hin at a "6"...............it would've been a 7 had he scored

Agreed with that. Kitson was one of the better players in a Reading shirt on Saturday.

[Elm Park Old Boy]

I'm going to LOL at evryone on this board when we win the play-offs.

Nurse! Seriously, Winchester - what on earth makes you think we could win the play-offs, apart from the mere fact that somehow mathematically we could still be 'in it to win it'.

7th place please, and save every one of us the heartache.

This just silly. Why - if you support a football team - would you want them to finish lower in the league, and miss out on a chance of promotion. Seriously, are the other contenders really so great?