MATCHWATCH : Bolton Wanderers (h)

[MR. CYNICAL]

Just looking at the stats, we only had 32% possession, 6 shots and only 5 touches in the opposition box. Ffs, we are in league one and were at home, how far we have fallen. No wonder the gates are down.

[Royal Rother]

In recent matches I’ve had the misfortune to see, not one player has looked comfortable in possession apart from Marriott when he’s heading towards goal. We hardly ever try to beat an opponent, and on the rare occasion we do we are so inept we either fall over the ball or get so easily dispossessed it’s embarrassing, If a player doesn’t have the space to hoof it forward aimlessly themselves they just lay it off to someone else so THEY can hoof it forward aimlessly.

If it reaches one of our players it’s pretty much by accident.

WTAF are the coaches doing? I refuse to believe this is the best these players can produce.

Stam’s team was horrible to watch because they were unutterably tedious, but ground out results through boring the opposition to sleep - Richardson’s team is horrible to watch because they play no better than Sunday league Div 3 park football but are getting results because we have one player who is the absolute best at his particular job in the league and another who can occasionally deliver a pinpoint ball into the box.

I’m happy we are in a comfortable position in the table and give Richardson credit for putting some something into the squad that somehow wins points, but God Almighty, if this is what we can look forward to under his tenure then he can shove it.

[Royals and Racers]

10,025 attendance.

[Orion1871]

Just looking at the stats, we only had 32% possession, 6 shots and only 5 touches in the opposition box. Ffs, we are in league one and were at home, how far we have fallen. No wonder the gates are down.

44 crosses into our box to add to the 35 on Saturday.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Our goal shows we can put good moves together when we're playing well. I have no idea what's going on with these 2nd halves - Richardson won't be telling them to give the ball back at the first opportunity, he was screaming to try and get pushed up and bring more control to the game. It'll be a mix of confidence and clarity in the gameplan, so it's fair to expect progress in this area. Basically if nothing has improved by October or so next season then Richardson out, but not before then.

[Snowflake Royal]

Put your foot on the ball Savage.

Difficult when it's constantly flying over his head.

He was the worst culprit for having time and just lumping it long.

[windermereROYAL]

2 games in a row where we`ve been pinned back for the entire 2nd half with Lincoln Cardiff and Bradford still to come here, it`s not a great look, I only watched from my sofa but god that was just hoof it up the field shit.
Can`t see the crowds flocking back again anytime soon if that`s the norm for the last 6 home games, midfield strengthening must be a top priority in the summer.

[Hound]

The thing that I really can’t get is how our pass completion is so ridiculously low. Why can’t we keep possession at all? Half our team were in the 60s or below percentage wise with their passes - basically every other pass they are giving it away. Never going to be able to control a game with those sort of stats

Huge difference also was the Bolton wingers - fast, direct, skillful - could beat a defender. Nyambe did a decent job but otherwise they caused us a number of issues

Mind you, still don’t think we were awful yesterday considering the opposition and the injuries. We defended quite well second half, from the front as well. Wycombe was far worse and the Marriott hatrick just papered over an appalling performance

[Winston Biscuit]

Just looking at the stats, we only had 32% possession, 6 shots and only 5 touches in the opposition box. Ffs, we are in league one and were at home, how far we have fallen. No wonder the gates are down.

possession stats can be, but are not always, complete nonsense. Just depends which company are used to compile the stat and how they choose to record it.

[MR. CYNICAL]

Just looking at the stats, we only had 32% possession, 6 shots and only 5 touches in the opposition box. Ffs, we are in league one and were at home, how far we have fallen. No wonder the gates are down.

possession stats can be, but are not always, complete nonsense. Just depends which company are used to compile the stat and how they choose to record it.

Fair enough, let's ignore that stat.
Doesn't make the others look any better though!

[Snowflake Royal]

It was like that Posh second half where we came under early pressureand lacked any composure or plan to deal with it. It was just defend deep and hold on.

It's not at Leam's instruction though. You could see it wasn’t what he wanted. But the players just lacked the composure and decision making to clear when they had to, and then keep the ball and slow the game down to take Bolton's impetuous away from them. Instead it was all urgent clearances even under no pressure, and direct balls to rush forward 1/2 v 3/4 and hope a goal magics out of nowhere.

At least 4 times Savage either just hoofed clear or put in a hopeless long ball to try to feed a lonely Marriott. Doyle kept the ball really well at one point in midfield, giving us the chance.to slow things and get a foot back in the game, only for Paudie to just first time smash his pass upfield 20 yards from Marriott with many other options on. That was the tale of our possession second half. Many of them guilty. Add to the fact our defensive headers almost always go to an opposition player, and Pereira's distribution was poor and panicked, and the players were just playing into Bolton's hands.

But for dogged defending, we should have lost that was so one sided.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

We keep getting deeper and deeper as games wear on, so the long clearance to no one is the only option - there’s no one up front to aim for, and you need to get rid of quickly because you’re being pressed hard by all ten opposition players. A panicked hoof may be the only thing you can do.

At one point, Lane did quite well to pick the ball up, beat several men, then found himself surrounded by five Bolton players, with every other Reading player ten metres behind him.

There’s possibly several reasons for this - most teams have a tendency to over-defend a lead and stop trying to be progressive, the team is organisationally weak and so don’t keep a shape that creates options for passing. We don’t seem to have the tactical awareness to keep players in front of the ball to create forward movement. You can’t play a pass to someone who isn’t there. Well, you can, Wing does it all the time, but it doesn’t work.

Pereira might as well just give the opposition a throw-in very time he kicks the ball. Do we have a goal keeping coach?

Having said that, I would have taken a draw if offered before the game, we were 19th and are now 8th and in with some sort of chance of the play-offs, relegation looks highly unlikely. Bolton, like Wycombe, were really good. Most people on here I seem to remember at the start of there season would have not been too surprised by a mid-table finish this season.

[Hound]

Sounds like Marriotts issue was a back spasm

So one of those things that will either totally clear up and be fine by Saturday or may take a few weeks if it keeps recurring. My guess is out for Saturday but back after that