Back from the game - Cardiff (H)

[West_Reading]

Am I missing something or is there no back from the game thread?

Anyway I thought it was a tight affair, with us being the better side but just lacking a cutting edge. Defensively we were solid as shown by the fact Federici didn't have a save of note to make. Khiz and Mills dominated Chopra and Bothroyd. Griff and Harte both done well against their widemen. I thought Karacan was MOTM. Was everywhere and was good with the ball too. Legs was a tank but just gave the ball away a few times too cheaply, but to be fair he would then win it back. HRK was very good I thought for the time he was on the pitch, just a shame he got injured as he looks to be settling down nicely now. There was real purpose to his play and his awareness of team mates was much better. Jobi showed glimpses of brilliance but we just couldn't get him on the ball enough in the second half. Long was excellent as usual especially first half, but second half with HRK going off, he got a bit isolated with NHunt out on the right, and The Beast having his worst game so fair in the hoops.

All in all I am confident going in to the second leg as we're set up perfectly for this type of game, especially with Kebe back and Cardiff will be under pressure to perform. The lads have done us proud and we can go there full on confidence having not lost to them for what seems like an age. URZZZZZZZZZ!

[Alan Partridge]

Typical play off first leg. Cagey, too teams frightened to lose or take too many chances.

Reading the slightly the more forceful of the teams as you'd expect being at home but neither keeper had a save of note in the match sort of sums up a fairly timid affair.

Defensively Reading did well but looked fairly clueless once they crossed the half way line, not enough decent service either in open play or from set pieces for the forward players.

[brendywendy]

decent game considering, very tense, very cagey. all set up for the away leg now.



karacan was superb, workrate better than anyone ove seen. never stopped running, but it wasnt all headless chicken.
i lost count of the times he and ledge harried the cardiff outr of our half, and forced them to pass the ball out of play.
twice he put in absolutely superb 50 yard cross field balls which were pin point for mcanuff to chest down on the edge of the box.
and some of his driving runs through th emiddle really opened cardiff up.
i oxf*rd love that boy i do

[PEARCEY]

When Karacan strides forward with the ball as he did on occasions last night he looks very impressive tbf. MoTM for me as well.

[Schards#2]

Ended a run of 5 straight play off game defeats.

I actually feel we have a better chance now than before the game. Player for player Cardiff are far better but they didn't make it show so there's no reason why they should on Tuesday.

Whatever happens, my thoughts about this squad are well known, I don't think they have the quality or depth to be anywhere close to the play offs, fans of Leicester, Ipswich etc must be scratching their heads. It's been a tremendous achievement to get there and if it ends in failure that doesn't diminish that achievement.

First goal wins on Tuesday, it's pretty much 50/50, or 55/45 in our favour if Kebe plays and is fit.

[brendywendy]

almost positive schards! love it

[RoyalBlue]

I'm afraid that Manset was absolutely woeful (Bas Savage Mk2) and any chance we had of getting a goal disappeared once he came on, particularly as we then switched tactics to HOOF!

Yes, there were only occasions when he did lose the ball and win it back but he only succeeded in doing that because his opponents appeared as confused as he was by his stumbling footwork and highly unorthodox methods of loose ball control!

The only positive thing to be said about his performance last night was that on the rare occasion that he did retain possession and move forward he wasn't afraid to have a shot and at least the keeper had to make a save.

Agree entirely that Jem was the clear man of the match (from both sides). How Sky could see it otherwise was beyond me.

BTW did anyone at the game realise COLIN was in the Sky stadium 'studio'?

[brendywendy]

wish people would stop judging players on one game.
maset has played werll, has had a great first touch, has had an eye for goal, and some great skills
yetserday he didnt shopw any of them, but im not sure why people choose to forget the rest.
perhaps its part of some hidden anti RFC agenda because they dont like the fact that we buy cheap players from lower divisions and see if we can imporve them, instead of loaning bellamy from man city etc

[RoyalBlue]

wish people would stop judging players on one game.
maset has played werll, has had a great first touch, has had an eye for goal, and some great skills
yetserday he didnt shopw any of them, but im not sure why people choose to forget the rest.
perhaps its part of some hidden anti RFC agenda because they dont like the fact that we buy cheap players from lower divisions and see if we can imporve them, instead of loaning bellamy from man city etc

What a complete and utter load of b*llox! My judgement has been made over a number of games. Great skills?! Bemuses everyone, including himself! Great first touch? Would that be the 'first touch' after he has lost the ball with his previous bad touch? To make matters worse, his work rate last night made Simon Church look absolutely Jem like in comparison.

By all means buy players and try to improve them but don't end up having to rely on dubious 'works in progress' during critical matches like last night.

That having been said he will no doubt score the winner on Tuesday!

And those comments have nothing to do with my personal lack of admiration for JM (I do not have an anti-RFC agenda as I do not acknowledge him as being RFC) who once again last night made sure he got in his TV appearance with that embarrassing (IMO) pitch side display, culminating in his Churchilian V sign!

[Mr Angry]

Cardiff got what they came for; a draw. They were time-wasting from the 6th minute onwards, and if there is synchronised time wasting at the next Commenwealth games, Wales will win Gold; they were aided and abetted by Mark Halsey who had a shocking game (which I let Dermot Gallagher who was sat in the Upr West red seats, know about at ht ).

That having been said, whilst we looked more dangerous going forward (unsurprising as Cardiff were playing 451 with Boothroyd on his own up front - as an aside, HOW did he ever get an England cap ffs??? Mills and Khish had him in their pocket all night) the second leg will be more to our style of play as Cardiff will have to open up a bit more, which should leave them open to our swift counter-attacking play.

Caridff fans v cocky after the game; clearly think that the job is done and that they are already at Wembley!

[papereyes]

Typical play off first leg. Cagey, too teams frightened to lose or take too many chances.

Reading the slightly the more forceful of the teams as you'd expect being at home but neither keeper had a save of note in the match sort of sums up a fairly timid affair.

Defensively Reading did well but looked fairly clueless once they crossed the half way line, not enough decent service either in open play or from set pieces for the forward players.

I thought we were really good in the spell between Bellamy going off and Robson-Kanu going off. Really good.

[papereyes]

Manset was pretty poor - slow more than anything else.

What killed us was going from 4-4-2 with two wingers, two strikers, two destroying centre mids to 4-something-something and losing the winger. Cardiff did not like having their full backs attacked.

We put pressure on from their backline and forced mistakes.

Think the ref got one decision really wrong - late tackle on Karacan then ball goes forward and linesman flags a tight offside. But the ref doesn't really see the tackle (so only a free kick) and I think the linesman played it safe on his decision (so no advantage there). Think that tackle was pretty bad, caught a replay in box to my left. Think the linesman got the offside wrong. Can understand why this happened though.

[brendywendy]

wish people would stop judging players on one game.
maset has played werll, has had a great first touch, has had an eye for goal, and some great skills
yetserday he didnt shopw any of them, but im not sure why people choose to forget the rest.
perhaps its part of some hidden anti RFC agenda because they dont like the fact that we buy cheap players from lower divisions and see if we can imporve them, instead of loaning bellamy from man city etc

What a complete and utter load of b*llox! My judgement has been made over a number of games. Great skills?! Bemuses everyone, including himself! Great first touch? Would that be the 'first touch' after he has lost the ball with his previous bad touch? To make matters worse, his work rate last night made Simon Church look absolutely Jem like in comparison.

By all means buy players and try to improve them but don't end up having to rely on dubious 'works in progress' during critical matches like last night.

That having been said he will no doubt score the winner on Tuesday!

And those comments have nothing to do with my personal lack of admiration for JM (I do not have an anti-RFC agenda as I do not acknowledge him as being RFC) who once again last night made sure he got in his TV appearance with that embarrassing (IMO) pitch side display, culminating in his Churchilian V sign!

after his first few games he got rave reviews, and i agree with all of them

his last two games have been shit, but id have thought all you whingers would have learned from your shlong/kebe/karacan debacles, not to write players off on the back of temporary poor form.
the boy was always about improving, and building a decent player, rather than finished product.

which is why you are talking shit.
again

[brendywendy]

wish people would stop judging players on one game.
maset has played werll, has had a great first touch, has had an eye for goal, and some great skills
yetserday he didnt shopw any of them, but im not sure why people choose to forget the rest.
perhaps its part of some hidden anti RFC agenda because they dont like the fact that we buy cheap players from lower divisions and see if we can imporve them, instead of loaning bellamy from man city etc

What a complete and utter load of b*llox! My judgement has been made over a number of games. Great skills?! Bemuses everyone, including himself! Great first touch? Would that be the 'first touch' after he has lost the ball with his previous bad touch? To make matters worse, his work rate last night made Simon Church look absolutely Jem like in comparison.

By all means buy players and try to improve them but don't end up having to rely on dubious 'works in progress' during critical matches like last night.

That having been said he will no doubt score the winner on Tuesday!

And those comments have nothing to do with my personal lack of admiration for JM (I do not have an anti-RFC agenda as I do not acknowledge him as being RFC) who once again last night made sure he got in his TV appearance with that embarrassing (IMO) pitch side display, culminating in his Churchilian V sign!

say its about a number of games, but totally ignore all teh good stuff hes done.

carry on though if you like

[Seal]

Cardiff are flat track bullies. Think they are so much better than they really are. Lots of pretty, yet ultimately pointless passing in deep midfield, but no penetration. Distinctly unimpressed. If we play to our best...ideally with two wingers, we can beat them no question. As Schards said, actually do feel more confident now then I did before the game.

And just a word on their tactics. Constant time wasting, diving and feigning injury. One of the most cynical displays of a team coming for a draw I have seen at the Madjeski.

And their fans are a bunch of c@nts too.

[RFCUK]

Even though it finished 0-0, it was definitely worth the 465 mile round trip.

A very exciting yet nervy (as opposed to enjoyable) game of football. I think we may well live to regret our missed opportunities and capitalise our counter attacks. We clearly had the upper hand in the first half, though the second was a more evenly matched affair.

Brilliant atmosphere also, though as mentioned on another thread, one chant in particular was a bit disturbing and shameful. Was glad to see people standing, though I chose to sit on the top part of my seat as I had a few littlens sitting behind me. Wish I had recorded the game as they had it covered by no fewer then 15 cameras I counted.

The referee was clearly Cardiff's 12th man and jittery isn't the word. I'm not sure if anyone else noticed the referee before booking Bothroyd, but he clearly bowed down to crowd pressure and harshly booked him for handball/dissent/to get the crowd back. I'm just hoping Howard Webb next game can take control of the situation. There was far too much diving and time spent on the floor from Cardiff.

Happy about the decision to only give them 2000 tickets.

HRK looked pretty decent tonight, and we looked good on the counter attack. Manset had chances, but just didn't take them. I think he should be given time though, as next season he will be a force to be reckoned with.

What also sticks out for me, is how we set out to get the ball back. Karacan really put the pressure on and Leigertwood capitalised on rushed passing and helped us on the counter. It's just a shame we couldn't finish it.

Looking forward to Cardiff on Tuesday. We really are to evenly matched teams and I agree with Brian regarding no home advantage.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

BBC Wales Highlights - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... 3_05_2011/

[Victor Meldrew]

Coming back home last night the Radio 5 reporter said that it was one of the worst games he had seen all season.
The game so lacked quality and apart from the ongoing niggles from both sides hardly anything happened all night.
Neither keeper needed to be there.
I thought Hunt was terrible for us-he is so unprofessional and thick,straying offside 3 times over a very short period and his control and touch were dreadful.
I know we have to allow for nerves but both teams looked light years away from even the bottom of the Premier League.
When Bellamy went off it was advantage Reading whereas when the game started with Kebe nowhere to be seen it had been advantage Cardiff.

Fortunately as a team that plays long-ball (I fell asleep watching the re-run of the game on Sky) and plays for goals on the break both home and away I think we still have a 50/50 chance of going through but to give us a real chance Kebe has to be fit and play.
The chance HRK failed with on the break as he did his usual of getting his feet entangled would surely have been snapped up by Jimmy as the defenders would have got nowhere near him.
A good atmosphere spoiled by a terrible game of football.

[Winnershroyal]

There really is no upper limit to the hubris of SJM, why walk out and all but beg for applause just before the teams is beyond me. John, we get it, OK?

Stood at the very back of the North Stand last night for a change and was routinely haunted by our officious stewards about sitting down, it's a semi FFS! Not one Cardiff supporter was sat down. Thought it was the best atmosphere I have seen for a long long while, we have had bigger crowds but were noisier last night.

Anyway to the game......not much to say, we worked hard, they came for a point, their number 25 looked good, Shane looks a busted flush and Feds ONLY ever wants to kick it long. When he threw it last night there were ironic cheers. Brian sort it out, mix it up. We are still in it and their crowd will get nervy if we can stay tight on Tuesday.



 

[Ark Royal]

Very, very tight and I was not too displeased about the way we played. I think the two Cardiff full backs can be got at and I hope Brian plays a 4-4-2 on Tuesday and we have Kebe available. If Bellamy is missing, that will be a bonus and Bothroyd just did not look fit to me. Plenty left in this one.