MATCHWATCH : Wigan Athletic (h)

[Snowflake Royal]

The dude stepped over the shot as it went in, within a yard of Pereira, of course he was offside.

[Sutekh]

Feel 3-0 flattered us tbh.

Positive to see more wing play today, probably helped by the return of Kyerewaa (which was unexpected). Roberts also returning is a boost.

Ehibhatiomhan getting a couple of goals was good. I think he's improved a lot as a striker since James Beattie has come in. He's up to nine league goals this season now, with one every 190 minutes. That's a good record at this level, particularly given he's played as a wide attacker for sizeable chunks of the season.

Doyle going off at half-time is concerning, especially as he's started to get an end product (has he simply successfully gelled with the players around him now?). It was a fantastic ball to Savage for our second.

I didn't think Wigan were too bad. They spent too much time overplaying, but their disallowed goal was very well worked. I think our quick start demoralised them.

Flattered us? what game were you watching? we were well worth 3-0 if not more, Wigan hardly laid a finger on us, the disallowed goal seemed harsh because he wasn`t in front of the keeper and the late save was just about it from them.

Yes score didn’t flatter, should have won by more, the disallowed goal wasn’t harsh either, the Wigan player moves across the keeper’s eyeline in an offside position and even steps over the shot.

[South Coast Royal]

I always feel that we play better when the sun is out and yesterday was a fairly comfortable win.

What surprised me was how dreadful the Wigan passing was even when not under pressure-the worst of any side I have seen this season and relegation looks quite likely based on that performance.

For all that Ian and vision feel that Doyle is better centrally he probably had his best half for us playing as an orthodox right-winger.
A good cross for the first goal but even better was his subtle and beautifully weighted through ball for Savage that produced the own goal.
Having said that, their left back was slower than slow and had as bad a game as the centre-back who helped the ball into the net twice.

It didn't matter in the context of the result but once again what a fabulous save from Joel who must be a strong contender for player of the season along with our consistently best , and never injured, ever present outfield player Lewis Wing.

[WestYorksRoyal]

One point about the coaching staff and Kelvin is how great it is to actually see players improve over a season. We saw lots of players improve under Selles, but a big criticism of Hunt is nobody did. It's another key yardstick to judge managers at this level by; we're not Real Madrid where we can just sign the complete product.

Looking at squad planning for next season, we have a top L1 striker in Marriott who has proven over his long career that he won't give you 40 games a season. So we probably need 2 additional good CF options. If Kelvin finishes strongly over these next 6 games, he has to be one of them. I didn't think I'd be saying that a couple of months ago. So through good coaching, we're reducing the number of signings we need to make.

[Horsham Royal]

... A good cross for the first goal...

Wing's ball to Doyle wasn't too shabby either.

[Sutekh]

One point about the coaching staff and Kelvin is how great it is to actually see players improve over a season. We saw lots of players improve under Selles, but a big criticism of Hunt is nobody did. It's another key yardstick to judge managers at this level by; we're not Real Madrid where we can just sign the complete product.

Looking at squad planning for next season, we have a top L1 striker in Marriott who has proven over his long career that he won't give you 40 games a season. So we probably need 2 additional good CF options. If Kelvin finishes strongly over these next 6 games, he has to be one of them. I didn't think I'd be saying that a couple of months ago. So through good coaching, we're reducing the number of signings we need to make.

A lot of the issues stem I think from poor pre-seasons with players arriving late due to the nature of things and others later still and not having much game time under their belts. With full preseasons and the right fitness regimes perhaps Marriott etc. would hold up better over a league season.

Still could do with a Forster type, someone with pace who can give a different dynamic to things though.

Need a good direct winger or two, maybe one of those could be Doyle if he & Brighton could be persuaded.

Wing/full backs are a problem area still, don’t think anyone’s got them nailed down - though Roberts and Nyambe (would he drop a level?) are improvements on what we had before.

Finally need a Charlie Savage type, ready for the inevitable and to give cover otherwise.

[leon]

Won't say we played positive football, it's the one thing that annoys me, we play like the away side at home, as poor as they were, they still had more possession than us and more touches in our box than we had in theirs.

we were looking to get the ball forward quickly down the channels. That's more positive than our usual ponderous triangles in our own half getting closer and closer to our goal in order for Pareira to overhit to a striker that is marked by 3 players, that we reverted to for 15 mins in the second half.

I'm not suggesting it was perfect, far from it. There was still the compulsion to play backwards rather than look for a forward pass. Wing surpassed himself with a back pass to Pareira from the Wigan half. But we played with more intent.

The backwards and sideways isn’t an issue for me as long as we do it quickly. What I can’t stand, and what’s gets us in trouble, is the 3/4 touches go back then 3/4 touches go sideways then repeat. It makes it so easy to press us. Today we moved the ball much quicker. Also I don’t think Wing picked up the ball as deep as usual, certainly not as often and most teams strategy against us is to press the back 4 and shut down Wing.

I much prefer Doyle more central but he is a good outlet on the right to bypass midfield if we need to. Hopefully his injury isn’t too serious.

I thought Wigan started and ended both halves pretty well but Derek Williams was magnificent and in Nyambe there’s finally a full back that tries to cut out crosses.

It was a good performance against a limited team but in good form.

Plenty to be optimistic about in my opinion

Was making the same point about Nyambe yesterday. He really reduces the amount of crosses coming in. It’s quite a novelty to see a fullback do that at Reading.

[Extended-Phenotype]

The backwards and sideways isn’t an issue for me as long as we do it quickly. What I can’t stand, and what’s gets us in trouble, is the 3/4 touches go back then 3/4 touches go sideways then repeat. It makes it so easy to press us.

This is a good point. It’s not that sideways/backwards passing is inherently bad; it obviously makes sense to keep possession. move the ball around, and find a way through. Our problem is that our players more often choose the backwards/sideways pass even when a forwards pass or run is on.

You can’t even say it’s because we don’t take risks - we take an insane amount of risks at the back, yet won’t take a chance playing forwards. It’s kinda weird.

Less of that yesterday, and it paid off.

[Orion1871]

Need to sort out the left hand side as Wigan still put in 32 crosses yesterday.

[Snowflake Royal]

I always feel that we play better when the sun is out and yesterday was a fairly comfortable win.

What surprised me was how dreadful the Wigan passing was even when not under pressure-the worst of any side I have seen this season and relegation looks quite likely based on that performance.

For all that Ian and vision feel that Doyle is better centrally he probably had his best half for us playing as an orthodox right-winger.
A good cross for the first goal but even better was his subtle and beautifully weighted through ball for Savage that produced the own goal.
Having said that, their left back was slower than slow and had as bad a game as the centre-back who helped the ball into the net twice.

It didn't matter in the context of the result but once again what a fabulous save from Joel who must be a strong contender for player of the season along with our consistently best , and never injured, ever present outfield player Lewis Wing.

Doyle did,indeed, have a good game out wide. Even then, there was a lot of drifting central, with Nyambe in the tarditional wing position. In fact the second goal came from Doyle being central and putting in Savage with a reverse through pass.

[Hound]

Yeah definitely need another quick first team striker up there. KE should stay. Just don’t see Marriott as a 90 minute player, good to have him in a mix with KE and another quick striker. He’ll be 32 in Sept and doesn’t look the fittest or most robust and his history would suggest that also.

Vaguely interesting that Kelvin and Wareham both have almost identical goals per minute records now this year.

[Clyde1998]

Flattered us? what game were you watching? we were well worth 3-0 if not more, Wigan hardly laid a finger on us, the disallowed goal seemed harsh because he wasn`t in front of the keeper and the late save was just about it from them.

As I said, Wigan spent too much time overplaying which is a factor as to why they didn't end up with many shots. They had nearly double the amount of passes in our half than we did in theirs. They had better passing accuracy than us too, both in terms of long and short passing (ours did typically have a lot more intent mind). Their crossing was poor given how many they attempted.

I thought a two goal win was reasonable. The outcome was never in doubt. I think our fast start changed the complexion of the game though.

[Snowflake Royal]

Flattered us? what game were you watching? we were well worth 3-0 if not more, Wigan hardly laid a finger on us, the disallowed goal seemed harsh because he wasn`t in front of the keeper and the late save was just about it from them.

As I said, Wigan spent too much time overplaying which is a factor as to why they didn't end up with many shots. They had nearly double the amount of passes in our half than we did in theirs. They had better passing accuracy than us too, both in terms of long and short passing (ours did typically have a lot more intent mind). Their crossing was poor given how many they attempted.

I thought a two goal win was reasonable. The outcome was never in doubt. I think our fast start changed the complexion of the game though.

I think its worth pointing out that at HT, we had more possession, and a higher pass accuracy than them. They had not a single shot in that half.

They came out hard second half, and pretty naturally for a team winning 2-0, we didn't take too many risks and let them play around our box ineffectually. They hadn't laid a glove on us first half, and we weren't too worries.

They managed 6 shots second half, one on target. Even playing more conservatively and on the break, we still matched their total shots after the break and beat their shots on target. And won the half 1-0.

We had the possession and territory when and where it mattered. When and where it decided the game.

I don't think you really need to start worrying much about possession until it's 55-45 against you or more. Possession doesn't win games, goals do. We're 12th in the Possession stakes, but 6th in the table and 3rd in goals scored.

Weren't we supposed to have sold or given away 60% or 70% of our goals at the start of the season?

[Zammo]

There was a medical emergency in Y21 during the first half. Good to see that the young man concerned was conscious as the paramedics carried him down the stairs and out the ground. In the unlikely event anyone knows him on here, please pass on our best wishes and hopefully we'll see him again at the next home game.

[tidus_mi2]

There was a medical emergency in Y21 during the first half. Good to see that the young man concerned was conscious as the paramedics carried him down the stairs and out the ground. In the unlikely event anyone knows him on here, please pass on our best wishes and hopefully we'll see him again at the next home game.

Yeah, it was happening a little bit along from where we were sitting, very confusing but it didn't seem at the time to be of top concern, everyone involved seemed pretty calm and measured.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

There was a medical emergency in Y21 during the first half. Good to see that the young man concerned was conscious as the paramedics carried him down the stairs and out the ground. In the unlikely event anyone knows him on here, please pass on our best wishes and hopefully we'll see him again at the next home game.

Yeah, it was happening a little bit along from where we were sitting, very confusing but it didn't seem at the time to be of top concern, everyone involved seemed pretty calm and measured.

He had an epileptic fit. He was with an older guy (I assumed his Dad) who seemed to know what to do. He seemed to have hurt himself as he had blood on his face. St. John's got there within two minutes. Bit longer for the paramedics. Good job it wasn't too serious as it took an age to get him down the steps.

He was leaving in an ambulance at half time, but like you said, no one seemed panicked, so hopefully his visit to the RBH was mostly precautionary.

[tidus_mi2]

There was a medical emergency in Y21 during the first half. Good to see that the young man concerned was conscious as the paramedics carried him down the stairs and out the ground. In the unlikely event anyone knows him on here, please pass on our best wishes and hopefully we'll see him again at the next home game.

Yeah, it was happening a little bit along from where we were sitting, very confusing but it didn't seem at the time to be of top concern, everyone involved seemed pretty calm and measured.

He had an epileptic fit. He was with an older guy (I assumed his Dad) who seemed to know what to do. He seemed to have hurt himself as he had blood on his face. St. John's got there within two minutes. Bit longer for the paramedics. Good job it wasn't too serious as it took an age to get him down the steps.

He was leaving in an ambulance at half time, but like you said, no one seemed panicked, so hopefully his visit to the RBH was mostly precautionary.

Could have bitten his tongue, I had one myself on a ski trip at the start of Feb and was told I bit my tongue.

[Whore Jackie]

Yep, amazed they didn't even do a courtesy confirmation that it was going ahead, given that all but one of our International Break games had previously been postponed.

Anyone actually bought tickets for the RoyalsTV Live 106 event? £15 seems a little punchy

I have. £15 for a ninety minute one-off event is okay.

Tickets haven't shifted as quickly as I expected given the relatively limited nature of them (300). They still appear to have 53 left according to the ticket site.

Now sold out. And they've added The Amazons to the bill. Be interested in a review of this post-Lincoln.