MATCHWATCH : Barnsley (a)

[Mr Angry]

At least we have begun to create more chances than a couple of weeks ago and in Marriott have someone who knows where the net is.

I think there are clear signs things are turning round and whilst I don't see us being a play off team, I really think we have it within us to be a top half team.

That having been said it is - as the cliche goes - a results industry and I agree that, rightly or wrongly, Noel is under pressure now.

[WestYorksRoyal]

At least we have begun to create more chances than a couple of weeks ago and in Marriott have someone who knows where the net is.

I think there are clear signs things are turning round and whilst I don't see us being a play off team, I really think we have it within us to be a top half team.

That having been said it is - as the cliche goes - a results industry and I agree that, rightly or wrongly, Noel is under pressure now.

I agree. I'm definitely in the "Hunt In" camp right now, but I can see it's pretty split. Next 3 big. Orient are good, but we should be aiming for a win at home. Stockport away is another really tough one. Then Mansfield is a game we have to be winning.

Beat Orient and follow it up with a shock win at Stockport and all pressure is released for at least another month or so. But fail to win any and it will be unbearable.

[South Coast Royal]

Let's not kid ourselves about yesterday.
They could have been 4 up after 15 minutes and once again we only really started playing from a losing position.

The manager can no longer complain about having to use Academy players -the only one starting yesterday was Ahmed and, as vision pointed out earlier, Barnsley had more Reading Academy players starting than we did.!!
Much of the side and subs Fraser and Doyle were players that were brought in and presumably wanted by the club so this is it now until January.

Much has been made of O'Connor missing but he is just a journeyman lower division player who may or may not come good.
Also Jacob , Lane ,Burns and MOM have yet to impress and old man Ritchie wasn't in yesterday's squad but on the plus side our latest run around little winger Brian K has shown real spirit and potential.

I very much agree with Brogue that we could have done without the Yankee hype (don't you just love all those folk from across the pond?-No) and after the turmoil of recent seasons a statement that our aim was consolidation this season and to build subsequently would have been good enough but no, they have to spoon fed us with typical Yankee hype.
We fans are (mostly) adult enough to have accepted consolidation for this season and hope for a good run in one of the cup competitions.

So far we have played against teams with a fair spread of ability so mid table should have been achievable and with that we would have been content but it is fair game to criticise (or praise) players and management within this board and it is not disloyal to do so as some suggest.

[stealthpapes]

I'm going to make a prediction that may haunt me. I think Hunt and the team will come good this season. By that I mean top half and playing football by April that gets us excited for 26/27. Not play offs.

...

Last word on the fans at the game. I don't get to many games, but today suggests the toxicity you see on Twitter is also on the terraces; a sizeable minority are dickheads. The team did not deserve to be booed today, and if you can't handle losing maybe think of a better use of your Saturday than travelling the country. And there were even Tommy Robinson chants.

I think there is a lot of emotion around at the moment. 2 years ago we were preaching patience and dealing with bad results, that team ultimately got its rewards but here we are back in the same place 2 years later. That ultimately comes back to Dai. If the takeover completed like it should have last summer, it would not be like this. We would have offered contracts last season and been well ahead in our planning and budgeting for the summer transfer window. It seems like the fanbase right now is just a bit drained and doesn't have the energy to be patient again. The Dai years were mostly dire, but we had 18 good months on the pitch at the end. It's really shit to be back in the "be patient" phase again.

Cut out the game comments as I didn't see the game at all.

But the rest, yeah.

Seen maybe half the games, maybe a third. There's positive stuff there, plus we've had what I thought was a tough start. Teams we've struggled against previously.

Our away fans are a mixed bag. We take relatively big crowds away and that's something to appreciate. However, there's a strong tendency to see losses as catastrophic - Shrewsbury (A) that season is a case in point. Some cite it as the nadir. Others, who went to the game, point out it was a good performance undone in the added time. It was certainly better than much of what preceded it. A standout memory from 2023-24 was an argument at Charlton where whether the players were 17 or 18 was vitally important. No, either way, they're kids and they need support.

Finally, its clearly taking more to turn the ship around. The squad, owners, manager all need time but that's precisely the one resource they can't manage.

[morganb]

Is Paudie O'Connor one of those players who the longer they are out the more incredible they become which tends to happen from time to time?

Vaguely remember that in the couple of pre-season games he played he wasn't amazing as apparently we play the wrong system and he needs pace alongside him

[Fezza]

Was always going to take time for a largely completely new squad to gel, especially as the majority came towards the end of the window.

Thought we were weak at the corner for the first, Williams being left to mark two players and were caught ball watching for the second.

Marriott looks good up to up, keeping him fit is vital if we want to do well.

I'm sure that there are better managers than Noel out there, however a change would just undermine the improvement that there has been. I'm still not convinced that Savage, Wing and Elliott work as a midfield. Would probably put Fraser in ahead of Savage at this point.

[Linden Jones' Tash]

Was always going to take time for a largely completely new squad to gel, especially as the majority came towards the end of the window.

Thought we were weak at the corner for the first, Williams being left to mark two players and were caught ball watching for the second.

Marriott looks good up to up, keeping him fit is vital if we want to do well.

I'm sure that there are better managers than Noel out there, however a change would just undermine the improvement that there has been. I'm still not convinced that Savage, Wing and Elliott work as a midfield. Would probably put Fraser in ahead of Savage at this point.

I agree with this last point - I dont feel our midfield has enough bite and I've liked Fraser when I've seen him play - a different balance in the middle might stop us leaking goals and help with forward transitions.

[Millsy]

Beds will be wet undoubtedly.

But decent effort away against top team while trying to piece together and gel our own.

We’ve lost again. Other teams are also trying to piece together and gel inc Barnsley

Away, against a team at the top, after no defeats in 3.

Exactly. Anyone can see we came into this season without a full squad, loss of key players, and would be struggling. Still don’t have full squad we want.

Yet despite this the trend of our performances and results has been positive. Before this game our form was draw draw win. Not far off a draw here too.

Hunt may well be rubbish, time will tell, but to use a narrow away defeat against a top 6 side (by only 1 penalty goal) to make that argument is a bit bizarre.

Give it time, and we‘ll see. Anything else at this point is pretty much the definition of bed wetting.

[Snowflake Royal]

I’ve given up on this season already sadly. We won’t go down but I can’t see is troubling the top 6 now

Bit peed off with it all tbh. We shouldn’t be satisfied with only losing by 1 to bloody Barnsley

Its becoming frustrating, we are in League 1 FFS and we aren't even any good. I can't see this being turned around anytime soon...

Any defeat to a similar sized club who are a promotion rival should not be accepted by anybody. We have too many fans with a tinpot mentality.

It's not about today, we've been poor all season and continuously concede goals that are of Sunday league level. Gibbs clearly is a huge miss but it's exposed that Hunt is just not a very good manager. He's an incredible bloke and remains a legend but he should stand aside.

we should never accept defeat to a good team? What a pcunt.

[Bristol Paul]

Was always going to take time for a largely completely new squad to gel, especially as the majority came towards the end of the window.

Thought we were weak at the corner for the first, Williams being left to mark two players and were caught ball watching for the second.

Marriott looks good up to up, keeping him fit is vital if we want to do well.

I'm sure that there are better managers than Noel out there, however a change would just undermine the improvement that there has been. I'm still not convinced that Savage, Wing and Elliott work as a midfield. Would probably put Fraser in ahead of Savage at this point.

I agree with this last point - I dont feel our midfield has enough bite and I've liked Fraser when I've seen him play - a different balance in the middle might stop us leaking goals and help with forward transitions.[/quote

Agree re midfield, not functioning at all. Savage in my opinion has been a shadow of last season and Fraser should be in instead, with Wing pushed forward.

[Snowflake Royal]

I'm going to make a prediction that may haunt me. I think Hunt and the team will come good this season. By that I mean top half and playing football by April that gets us excited for 26/27. Not play offs.

...

Last word on the fans at the game. I don't get to many games, but today suggests the toxicity you see on Twitter is also on the terraces; a sizeable minority are dickheads. The team did not deserve to be booed today, and if you can't handle losing maybe think of a better use of your Saturday than travelling the country. And there were even Tommy Robinson chants.

I think there is a lot of emotion around at the moment. 2 years ago we were preaching patience and dealing with bad results, that team ultimately got its rewards but here we are back in the same place 2 years later. That ultimately comes back to Dai. If the takeover completed like it should have last summer, it would not be like this. We would have offered contracts last season and been well ahead in our planning and budgeting for the summer transfer window. It seems like the fanbase right now is just a bit drained and doesn't have the energy to be patient again. The Dai years were mostly dire, but we had 18 good months on the pitch at the end. It's really shit to be back in the "be patient" phase again.

Cut out the game comments as I didn't see the game at all.

But the rest, yeah.

Seen maybe half the games, maybe a third. There's positive stuff there, plus we've had what I thought was a tough start. Teams we've struggled against previously.

Our away fans are a mixed bag. We take relatively big crowds away and that's something to appreciate. However, there's a strong tendency to see losses as catastrophic - Shrewsbury (A) that season is a case in point. Some cite it as the nadir. Others, who went to the game, point out it was a good performance undone in the added time. It was certainly better than much of what preceded it. A standout memory from 2023-24 was an argument at Charlton where whether the players were 17 or 18 was vitally important. No, either way, they're kids and they need support.

Finally, its clearly taking more to turn the ship around. The squad, owners, manager all need time but that's precisely the one resource they can't manage.

Tommy Robinson chants?

I think I detest our 'support'.

[West F]

Was always going to take time for a largely completely new squad to gel, especially as the majority came towards the end of the window.

Thought we were weak at the corner for the first, Williams being left to mark two players and were caught ball watching for the second.

Marriott looks good up to up, keeping him fit is vital if we want to do well.

I'm sure that there are better managers than Noel out there, however a change would just undermine the improvement that there has been. I'm still not convinced that Savage, Wing and Elliott work as a midfield. Would probably put Fraser in ahead of Savage at this point.

I agree with this last point - I dont feel our midfield has enough bite and I've liked Fraser when I've seen him play - a different balance in the middle might stop us leaking goals and help with forward transitions.[/quote

Agree re midfield, not functioning at all. Savage in my opinion has been a shadow of last season and Fraser should be in instead, with Wing pushed forward.

You can’t push Wing forward. He lacks the pace and athleticism to evade being marked out of games. For ability on the ball, pass selection and execution along with his set piece delivery and shooting, there are few players who can match him. If Wingy could run, he would be in the Premier league. If the back four could push higher up the pitch, the balance of our midfield is as good as anyone in this division.

[Snowflake Royal]

It's that third player that isn't working. When Elliott or Doyle plays well, so do Savage and Wing. Elliott has been poor the last two starts after looking incredible and changing the game against Bolton. Though better against Barnsley.

Even when playing well, a hard press is always vulnerable to beijg played through, and Barnsley did just that the first 20 minutes. But then we did far better in the following 20.

Really don't think we were that bad outside the first 20. Very vulnerable and conceded stupid goals, which is what lost the game, but we also created plenty of chances, scoring 2.

It's the first time we've conceded 3 in the league. We'll concede a goal most games by the look unless soemthing changes in defence, but we're also looking more like we'll score a goal or two most games now as well.

And those goals are well spread, so we're not reliant on just one player.

[Hound]

We’ve lost again. Other teams are also trying to piece together and gel inc Barnsley

Away, against a team at the top, after no defeats in 3.

Exactly. Anyone can see we came into this season without a full squad, loss of key players, and would be struggling. Still don’t have full squad we want.

Yet despite this the trend of our performances and results has been positive. Before this game our form was draw draw win. Not far off a draw here too.

Hunt may well be rubbish, time will tell, but to use a narrow away defeat against a top 6 side (by only 1 penalty goal) to make that argument is a bit bizarre.

Give it time, and we‘ll see. Anything else at this point is pretty much the definition of bed wetting.

So anyone who doesn’t share your opinion, despite offering a sober and coherent argument against is Bedwetting? Ok then.

[Hound]

It's that third player that isn't working. When Elliott or Doyle plays well, so do Savage and Wing. Elliott has been poor the last two starts after looking incredible and changing the game against Bolton. Though better against Barnsley.

Even when playing well, a hard press is always vulnerable to beijg played through, and Barnsley did just that the first 20 minutes. But then we did far better in the following 20.

Really don't think we were that bad outside the first 20. Very vulnerable and conceded stupid goals, which is what lost the game, but we also created plenty of chances, scoring 2.

It's the first time we've conceded 3 in the league. We'll concede a goal most games by the look unless soemthing changes in defence, but we're also looking more like we'll score a goal or two most games now as well.

And those goals are well spread, so we're not reliant on just one player.

Coming off the back of the recent Bolton performance, it’s the second time we’ve come out really, really poorly in an away performance which arguably sounds like it’s cost us points in both

Wonder why this is - the plus side is we’ve adapted in both and finished far stronger. But can’t afford to do it

[WestYorksRoyal]

Is Paudie O'Connor one of those players who the longer they are out the more incredible they become which tends to happen from time to time?

Vaguely remember that in the couple of pre-season games he played he wasn't amazing as apparently we play the wrong system and he needs pace alongside him

The parallel with 2 years ago was that Smith hadn't made his debut in September, and his return was transformative.

I worry about our lack of pace at the back, but we don't have an Abbey or Mbengue. It will be an issue whoever we pick, and actually we've struggled a lot more with the basics and set pieces than we have with runners in behind. He was clearly signed as our first choice CB and it's reasonable to expect he should make a big impact.

[Hound]

Yeah think by a few measures he was the best CBin the division last year so would hope he’d make a difference

[Snowflake Royal]

It's that third player that isn't working. When Elliott or Doyle plays well, so do Savage and Wing. Elliott has been poor the last two starts after looking incredible and changing the game against Bolton. Though better against Barnsley.

Even when playing well, a hard press is always vulnerable to beijg played through, and Barnsley did just that the first 20 minutes. But then we did far better in the following 20.

Really don't think we were that bad outside the first 20. Very vulnerable and conceded stupid goals, which is what lost the game, but we also created plenty of chances, scoring 2.

It's the first time we've conceded 3 in the league. We'll concede a goal most games by the look unless soemthing changes in defence, but we're also looking more like we'll score a goal or two most games now as well.

And those goals are well spread, so we're not reliant on just one player.

Coming off the back of the recent Bolton performance, it’s the second time we’ve come out really, really poorly in an away performance which arguably sounds like it’s cost us points in both

Wonder why this is - the plus side is we’ve adapted in both and finished far stronger. But can’t afford to do it

Yeah. We seem to very rarely start strong, and on the occasions we do, we tend to look confused if we haven't scored in the first ten and then fall away.

But, we have shown resilience to keep going and that we can get a goal out of nowhere, so as long as we keep it to 1 goal deficit we're in with a chance of at a point or more.

We're a team that plays with more freedom when we're losing. Which tells me we're a team struggling with confidence and worried about conceding.

Win a few and that probably goes away.