Back from the game - Burnley (H)

[Archie's penalty]

Back from the TV. Thought it was a great win, Kebe played very well, Mcanuff creative on the wing. The defence with Federici fantastic (what a save from Austin!). Thought Roberts fluffed his shot. Love the way Big Jase is fitting in with the lads, looks like a great signing.

And best thing of it all was beating a side who threw everything at us, lots of bad tackles from Burnley, little pushes, they played with great determination and we still won. A great victory last night. Proud of the lads.

[rfc2001]

We are disgustingly efficient!!

[rfc2001]

Why some people are moaning about the display and the level of performance. They seem shocked that we are not emulating Barcelona. It's bloody efficient football considering we have our best players poached every year. We are working with what we have. 3rd in the league and people still moan!!

Jimmy kebe and Jobi Mac are the most exciting wingers in the league!

[Platypuss]

What's this 3 games in 6 days rubbish?

Saturday - game
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday - game
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday - game

[Snowball]

It's 3 games in three days

1 Saturday
2 Tuesday
3 Friday

[melonhead]

Got to be well happy with that. A more enjoyable game than of late, I thought that Burnley played very well indeed and will be gutted at not getting a point.....but it is swings and roundabouts because the 0-1 loss to Hull (our last defeat) was unfortunate. Burnley played some good football, they are a handful up front and a clean sheet (thanks to the woodwork) and six points from them is great business.

Reading played to their strengths as usual. Roberts held the ball up well as usual, wingers were busy, Hunt covered a lot of ground with limited tangible result but the work rate was good. Back 5 outstanding; an outstanding save from Federici for the second game running, but otherwise Harte-Gorkss-Pearce-Connolly was excellent once again. Pearce MOTM for me - the lack of pace issue is bogus, if it was a reall issue we'd have Usain Bolt at centre-half. Pearce is an excellent defender at this level for his positional sense and his good decision making. Connolly looked less like a centre-half playing at right back tonight and Harte's delivery was consistently good again from set pieces.

All set for play-off failure for a 6th time then

gr8 post-100% spot on

[melonhead]

yet another ruthlessly efficient win, built on rock solid defence, and brilliant wing play.
burnley came to play(and hack) and looked good on the ball, moved it well, but we coped very well, & limited them to 3 chances, saved by the woodwork twice(=missed the target) and a great save from fedders. difficult to stop a decent team having any chances, so have to be happy.

at the other end we created a fair bit, two cleared off the line- one with the bravest block ive ever seen, and could easily have scored 5.
as it was the left boot swung by roberts was enough.
back 5 solid as a rock, and some great stuff going forward by conoli in support of the kebster- who has been brilliant since he came back.
really needed to get th eball to him more, but then the assist came from jobi, so cant moan too much.

we certainly play more entertaining stuff whenboth our wingers are functioning properly, hopefully they both stay fit for the rest of the season.
the good thing is we will only get better in terms of football as the confidence builds, and our first eleven get a run of games together.

everyone at least a 7, 8.5 for kebe, and pearce.

3 points off top as it stands, keep piling on the points boys.


(as an aside- when was the last time our two CBs played so many games in a row withouit missing a game, we didnt have a player sent off, and were 3rd in the championship?.......... )

[The Rouge]

Got to be well happy with that. A more enjoyable game than of late, I thought that Burnley played very well indeed and will be gutted at not getting a point.....but it is swings and roundabouts because the 0-1 loss to Hull (our last defeat) was unfortunate. Burnley played some good football, they are a handful up front and a clean sheet (thanks to the woodwork) and six points from them is great business.

Reading played to their strengths as usual. Roberts held the ball up well as usual, wingers were busy, Hunt covered a lot of ground with limited tangible result but the work rate was good. Back 5 outstanding; an outstanding save from Federici for the second game running, but otherwise Harte-Gorkss-Pearce-Connolly was excellent once again. Pearce MOTM for me - the lack of pace issue is bogus, if it was a reall issue we'd have Usain Bolt at centre-half. Pearce is an excellent defender at this level for his positional sense and his good decision making. Connolly looked less like a centre-half playing at right back tonight and Harte's delivery was consistently good again from set pieces.

All set for play-off failure for a 6th time then

Good post. Agree with all this apart from Harte's delivery. Apart from the great right footed cross in the first half (I think it was him, his right foot is actually really good) I thought the delivery was pretty poor - McAnuff's better.

[melonhead]

agreed- hartes was poor, especially early on-he was defensively good though, so...

[andrew1957]

Ruthlessly efficient does just about sum it up. Great display. You could see Burnley throwing everything at the RFC defence and then when nothing worked they just began to flag. By the lat 30 minutes or so I really felt they were never going to score. The way we are playing must really be scaring the rest of the division now. I should think many managers are scratching their heads trying to think up a way to beat us.

Ultimately we have a great keeper, a great back 4 (whichever players play), probably the best two defensive midfield players in the Championship and also two of the best wingers in the Championship. Earlier in the season we were just struggling up front without a target man - but in Roberts we have that now.

I really think automatic promotion is a distinct possibility now, as I just do not see us losing many more games this season - although a few injuries could of course be an issue.

To be fair to the knob end that is Terminal Boredom I sort of understand what he says about the Championship. In The PL players generally give you more space and there are less games of attrition. Whereas in the Championship almost every game is a tight affair with just a few moments of quality. So for the armchair fans that never attend games like him - they just watch PL and think the Championship should be the same, but it simply is comparing apples and pears. We need to enjoy what is before us and the fantastic job that Brian does every year.

As for the gap between Championship and bottom of the PL - I am not sure that even this is true. Championship sides like Swansea and Norwich seem to be doing ok after promotion. Hopefully that will be us next season.

[melonhead]

add sigurdsson, long and doyle to this team, and who knows what it could achieve in terms of final position, and attractive football

[Elm Park Old Boy]

What I'm enjoying at the moment is the sense that once Reading score, the opposition are stuffed, because we make it so hard for them to get one back. It may not be fantasy football, but it is very effective.

Earlier in the season we were giving teams a goal or two start and then clawing it back. Now we keep it tight, get our goal, game over.

Marvellous.

[Spirit of Elm Park]

Very good performance I felt in light of the pressure of going third. Real confidence throughout the team and the first time this season I have genuinely felt that we could have what is needed.

Feds - First game I have seen this year where I can honestly say he made no glaring errors. Good handling, world class 1-on-1 save. 8
Connolly - Shaping into the team well, needs to speed up his delivery on occasion, but very assured display. 7
Gorks - Outstanding, not scared to venture forward, unlucky to get booked when most would have done the same thing, if not for the Burnley player going 'Rental'. 8
Pearce - Outstanding also, never in danger, only once being 'outpaced' but recovering with a great tackle. 8
Harte - Great delivery, can't help feeling 'if' Roberts sharpens up a little more, he will get on the end of some of the killer crosses on offer. Delivery is sometimes better than our forwards ability. 7

Kebe - Awesome, but floated in and out a little. Tracking back was the best I have seen from him, including an important defensive header toward the end. Scintillating runs in first half, bit quiet in the second. 7
Karacan - Up, Down, across, back, even some forward passes. Very impressive, and the fact that this goes unoticed by many speaks volumes. 8
Legs - MOM. Rock that the entire team is built on, tireless, 1 paced but somehow manages to be everywhere, closing down in forward positions last night especially was immense. 9
Jobi - One of his best performances as Captain IMO, Up for it right from the start, made the goal. Faded a bit toward the end, but needs to catch up on match fitness. Proved that he is our first choice LW. 8

Hunt - Won everything in the air, his glancing knockdowns are unplayable, and the partnership with Roberts seems to work and can only get better. Needs to add consistent goals to his record, and maybe a little more selfishness toward the end could have helped. 8
Roberts - 3 in 4 is a cracking return and he is proving to be worth the punt in many ways, as highlighted in the post match interviews. Can't helping thinking with a week to rest and his sharpness coming back, we could be in for some memorable nights with this guy. Can forgive him looking a bit jaded after 2 90s in the week. Needs to contribute a bit more in the forward line defending from the front. Class finish. 8

subs: Alf - Not long to impress, Chance just after coming on but arguably hauled in ever direction and still managed to get a tame shot off. Good positioning, still think he and Roberts present in theory our best forward line. More time needed on pitch for others to recognise his positional sense. 6
Hal - Did well enough, held the ball well and roasted the right back on a couple of occasions, always a threat and turning into a good impact player, if not a regular starter. 6

Burnley are a strong team and they will win more games than they lose. My only real bugbear is out tendancy to sit and suck it up. Playing and away style game at home, but you could feel the confidence growing throughout the game and we never really looked in any danger.

Overall - 8.

[PieEater]

Got to be well happy with that. A more enjoyable game than of late, I thought that Burnley played very well indeed and will be gutted at not getting a point.....but it is swings and roundabouts because the 0-1 loss to Hull (our last defeat) was unfortunate. Burnley played some good football, they are a handful up front and a clean sheet (thanks to the woodwork) and six points from them is great business.

Reading played to their strengths as usual. Roberts held the ball up well as usual, wingers were busy, Hunt covered a lot of ground with limited tangible result but the work rate was good. Back 5 outstanding; an outstanding save from Federici for the second game running, but otherwise Harte-Gorkss-Pearce-Connolly was excellent once again. Pearce MOTM for me - the lack of pace issue is bogus, if it was a reall issue we'd have Usain Bolt at centre-half. Pearce is an excellent defender at this level for his positional sense and his good decision making. Connolly looked less like a centre-half playing at right back tonight and Harte's delivery was consistently good again from set pieces.

All set for play-off failure for a 6th time then

Pretty much agree with this except I'm not sure Pearce was so great. Yes he's solid in defence, well positioned and wins a lot of headers but the headers almost always fall to an opposition player outside the box. I also think he gives away far too many cheap throw ins when under the slightest of pressure, i'e the no risk option, but they are cheap and put us on the back foot, rather than taking a slight risk or showing a modicom of skill and playing out of the situation.

Connelly is also odd, he doesn't commit and tackle too much but seems to keep things under control down the wing. Burnley played their two full backs very high up the pitch, almost as wing backs and he did a pretty decent job keeping them quiet. Long would of had a field day against them. We miss overlapping runs of a fullback, although he did start them in the last 15mins.

The card happy ref also deserves a mention, there were some very meaty tackles from Burnley but he bottled the second yellow or straight red 2 or 3 times. To be fair, I thought Gorkss might have got a second yellow for a high tackle shortly after his first booking. It's also good to see the old interpretation of the offside rule back, Hunt offside and flagged before he touches the ball, he touches the ball and gets booked for not playing to the whistle

[RoyalJames101]

The back 4 apart from Pearce were a complete shambles.

When did we last concede?

[melonhead]

i know im biasedm, but i thought he bottled a few bookings for them, and booked a few of ours totally wrongly(hunt/gorkss-neither a booking in a million years- hunt clearlt didnt know he was offside, and if the balls on the floor under a players leg in the 6 yard box you have to try and dislodge it.)even roberts' for trying to wind up their player was harsh imo- the bloke desevred it for a few horror tackles imo

[Victor Meldrew]

Got to be well happy with that. A more enjoyable game than of late, I thought that Burnley played very well indeed and will be gutted at not getting a point.....but it is swings and roundabouts because the 0-1 loss to Hull (our last defeat) was unfortunate. Burnley played some good football, they are a handful up front and a clean sheet (thanks to the woodwork) and six points from them is great business.

Reading played to their strengths as usual. Roberts held the ball up well as usual, wingers were busy, Hunt covered a lot of ground with limited tangible result but the work rate was good. Back 5 outstanding; an outstanding save from Federici for the second game running, but otherwise Harte-Gorkss-Pearce-Connolly was excellent once again. Pearce MOTM for me - the lack of pace issue is bogus, if it was a reall issue we'd have Usain Bolt at centre-half. Pearce is an excellent defender at this level for his positional sense and his good decision making. Connolly looked less like a centre-half playing at right back tonight and Harte's delivery was consistently good again from set pieces.

All set for play-off failure for a 6th time then

Pretty much agree with this except I'm not sure Pearce was so great. Yes he's solid in defence, well positioned and wins a lot of headers but the headers almost always fall to an opposition player outside the box. I also think he gives away far too many cheap throw ins when under the slightest of pressure, i'e the no risk option, but they are cheap and put us on the back foot, rather than taking a slight risk or showing a modicom of skill and playing out of the situation.

Connelly is also odd, he doesn't commit and tackle too much but seems to keep things under control down the wing. Burnley played their two full backs very high up the pitch, almost as wing backs and he did a pretty decent job keeping them quiet. Long would of had a field day against them. We miss overlapping runs of a fullback, although he did start them in the last 15mins.

The card happy ref also deserves a mention, there were some very meaty tackles from Burnley but he bottled the second yellow or straight red 2 or 3 times. To be fair, I thought Gorkss might have got a second yellow for a high tackle shortly after his first booking. It's also good to see the old interpretation of the offside rule back, Hunt offside and flagged before he touches the ball, he touches the ball and gets booked for not playing to the whistle

Pretty much agree with that.
This team works so hard that they deserve their luck-every game it seems in the first 15 minutes or so the opposition creates an outstanding chance and misses-either Feds makes a wonder save or as with last night the striker does everything right but score.Then Roberst scuffs a shot and does score.
I'm not a great fan of Hunt but he has really upped his game since Roberts arrived and after waiting for 5 years or so we at last have the hold-up striker who brings others into play and the shape of the side is so much better.
One downside,the likes of Roberts,Hunt,Pearce and Harte screaming at the ref and getting involved in handbags.
One upside,Connolly and Legs not making any fuss whhen they are fouled.
Tredder must feel pleased tthat he can now watch QPR reserves in similar shirts-the success of the 3 signings has been very important to our set-up,is there anybody else that we can get?

[Snowball]

The back 4 apart from Pearce were a complete shambles.

When did we last concede?

Shambolic Defence?

Defence Records since September 17th

1 P25 - 19 Goals Conceded - 0.76 Goals per Game Conceded - Reading

2 P24 - 19 Goals Conceded - 0.79 Goals per Game Conceded - Hull City

3 P25 - 20 Goals Conceded - 0.80 Goals per Game Conceded - Birmingham City

4 P25 - 24 Goals Conceded - 0.96 Goals per Game Conceded - Southampton

5 P24 - 24 Goals Conceded - 1.00 Goals per Game Conceded - West Ham United
6 P27 - 29 Goals Conceded - 1.07 Goals per Game Conceded - Burnley
7 P25 - 30 Goals Conceded - 1.20 Goals per Game Conceded - Cardiff City
8 P25 - 33 Goals Conceded - 1.32 Goals per Game Conceded - Blackpool




(PS QPR last season conceded 0.695 goals per game average)

[dogzbollox]

What's this 3 games in 6 days rubbish?

Saturday - game
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday - game
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday - game

Ok as we have our pedantic little hattie on allow me to do the calculations for you...

Saturday to Sunday = 1 day (i.e. 24hrs)
Sunday to Monday = 1 day (i.e. 24hrs)
Monday to Tuesday = 1 day (i.e 24hrs)
Tuesday to Wednesday = 1 day (i.e.24hrs)
Wednesday to Thursday = 1 day (i.e.24hrs)
Thursday to Friday = 1 day (i.e.24 hrs)

Total = 6 days (i.e 144hrs)

Or if we really want to split hairs it's 6 days & 5 hrs (i.e. 6.2083 days).....

[Arnie_Pie]

Well, where do I start? Thank oxf*rd I did not spunk £400 plus on a ST to watch that shit. For anyone out there who genuinely thinks Reading are the real deal then think again. What football that was played came from Burnley. Gorkss's positioning for Austin's header was not even Sunday League. Roberts took his only chance well but other than that...

Referee lost the plot in the second half. How Wallace stayed on the pitch is beyond me.

Hunt's ball across in stoppage time at the end of the game was a complete joke.

The back 4 apart from Pearce were a complete shambles. The midfield duo of Liegertwood and Karacan were passengers. Throughout the game there was absolutely no pressing or closing down of Burnley.

IMHO, a draw would have been a fair result.

And don't get me started on that fat lump in goal. WTF does Feds do? Where is the communication or dominance of the box?

I have seen far better non league games this season. That was shit!

Congratulations on officially overtaking Dodger as the biggest bell end on these forums.