MATCHWATCH : Lincoln City (h)

[Snowflake Royal]

Oh and ref was shite. Didn’t look a fk for the goal, and maybe those watching on tbe steam can tell me otherwise but their forward should have had a (second) yellow for that challenge on JP at 1-1?

FK - Savage goes to hook a ball over his shoulder to clear, and player comes from his blindside to try to head. Savage gets the ball, then maybe a piece of face. It's a very generous FK imo.

Ref initially didn't go to award anything until he heard the agonising scream and saw the player apparently dead on the floor (or did the AR influence him). His resurrection arrived a day late but was almost as impressive, given that he needed no treatment at all for the mortal injury incurred through zero contact!

Ref had an absolute shocker including awarding the drop ball to Lincoln when he intercepted Lane's pass! Also failed to enforce the rule about leaving the pitch by the shortest route until the angry reaction from the East Stand left him with little option on the second occasion that it happened. Physios and player then took the piss in terms of the speed with which they left the pitch until the ref eventually had enough and issued a long overdue yellow.

In fairness to the officials, however, Lincoln are certainly up the top of the shithousery table.

Ref actually got the drop ball exactly right. The Lincoln player got a foot on the pass that diverted it to hit the ref. Last touch Lincoln, and diverted pass likely going to Lincoln if it hadn't hit the ref. Saw it clearly on cam, and on replay

[Orion1871]

FK - Savage goes to hook a ball over his shoulder to clear, and player comes from his blindside to try to head. Savage gets the ball, then maybe a piece of face. It's a very generous FK imo.

Ref initially didn't go to award anything until he heard the agonising scream and saw the player apparently dead on the floor (or did the AR influence him). His resurrection arrived a day late but was almost as impressive, given that he needed no treatment at all for the mortal injury incurred through zero contact!

Ref had an absolute shocker including awarding the drop ball to Lincoln when he intercepted Lane's pass! Also failed to enforce the rule about leaving the pitch by the shortest route until the angry reaction from the East Stand left him with little option on the second occasion that it happened. Physios and player then took the piss in terms of the speed with which they left the pitch until the ref eventually had enough and issued a long overdue yellow.

In fairness to the officials, however, Lincoln are certainly up the top of the shithousery table.

Ref actually got the drop ball exactly right. The Lincoln player got a foot on the pass that diverted it to hit the ref. Last touch Lincoln, and diverted pass likely going to Lincoln if it hadn't hit the ref. Saw it clearly on cam, and on replay

Yep. Yet another misplaced pass from Mr Lane.

[Snowflake Royal]

Ref initially didn't go to award anything until he heard the agonising scream and saw the player apparently dead on the floor (or did the AR influence him). His resurrection arrived a day late but was almost as impressive, given that he needed no treatment at all for the mortal injury incurred through zero contact!

Ref had an absolute shocker including awarding the drop ball to Lincoln when he intercepted Lane's pass! Also failed to enforce the rule about leaving the pitch by the shortest route until the angry reaction from the East Stand left him with little option on the second occasion that it happened. Physios and player then took the piss in terms of the speed with which they left the pitch until the ref eventually had enough and issued a long overdue yellow.

In fairness to the officials, however, Lincoln are certainly up the top of the shithousery table.

Ref actually got the drop ball exactly right. The Lincoln player got a foot on the pass that diverted it to hit the ref. Last touch Lincoln, and diverted pass likely going to Lincoln if it hadn't hit the ref. Saw it clearly on cam, and on replay

Yep. Yet another misplaced pass from Mr Lane.

Not so much misplaced as well read, but it certainly could have been much better.

[Greatwesternline]

Ref actually got the drop ball exactly right. The Lincoln player got a foot on the pass that diverted it to hit the ref. Last touch Lincoln, and diverted pass likely going to Lincoln if it hadn't hit the ref. Saw it clearly on cam, and on replay

Yep. Yet another misplaced pass from Mr Lane.

Not so much misplaced as well read, but it certainly could have been much better.

Any pass that is able to be partially intercepted is misplaced.

Of course extremely optimistic attacking passes can sometimes be intercepted but that is the nature of taking risks to score goals. Anywhere other than in those circumstances, an intercepted pass if the fault of the person playing the pass.

[Snowflake Royal]

Yep. Yet another misplaced pass from Mr Lane.

Not so much misplaced as well read, but it certainly could have been much better.

Any pass that is able to be partially intercepted is misplaced.

Of course extremely optimistic attacking passes can sometimes be intercepted but that is the nature of taking risks to score goals. Anywhere other than in those circumstances, an intercepted pass if the fault of the person playing the pass.

That's a really shit definition of misplaced that gives no credit to the opposition.

[Orion1871]

Ref actually got the drop ball exactly right. The Lincoln player got a foot on the pass that diverted it to hit the ref. Last touch Lincoln, and diverted pass likely going to Lincoln if it hadn't hit the ref. Saw it clearly on cam, and on replay

Yep. Yet another misplaced pass from Mr Lane.

Not so much misplaced as well read, but it certainly could have been much better.

Not seen it back but from memory he played the pass behind his teammates. There was another Lincoln player behind the interceptor, who would have picked it up and been able to counter us if the interceptor had missed the ball.

[Greatwesternline]

Not so much misplaced as well read, but it certainly could have been much better.

Any pass that is able to be partially intercepted is misplaced.

Of course extremely optimistic attacking passes can sometimes be intercepted but that is the nature of taking risks to score goals. Anywhere other than in those circumstances, an intercepted pass if the fault of the person playing the pass.

That's a really shit definition of misplaced that gives no credit to the opposition.

At the pinnacle of football, players like Toni Kroos and Pirlo can achieve pass completions of upwards of 95% in matches. If you are brilliant, you don't play passes that can be intercepted, even when playing against other world class players.

I'm not expecting anything like brilliance from Reading players, but if your pass doesn't go to your intended team mate, for whatever reason, you've made a mistake.

[stealthpapes]

Here's a top bit of football knowledge. Most players above a certain level are actually about as good as each other when it comes to passing a ball about 10-15 yards. You get the odd person who can properly spray it, you can players much more comfortable closer in. What differentiates things is the ability to pick out a player, pick out their foot, and communicate to them, while completing one of the most basic skills available.

So when we say someone is good at passing, what we really mean is that they're good at this whole other set of skills that have nothing to do with kicking a ball.

God this week off will kill me.

[Greatwesternline]

Here's a top bit of football knowledge. Most players above a certain level are actually about as good as each other when it comes to passing a ball about 10-15 yards. You get the odd person who can properly spray it, you can players much more comfortable closer in. What differentiates things is the ability to pick out a player, pick out their foot, and communicate to them, while completing one of the most basic skills available.

So when we say someone is good at passing, what we really mean is that they're good at this whole other set of skills that have nothing to do with kicking a ball.

God this week off will kill me.

They're good at making decisions. So much of what i see that is wrong at RFC is the decision making involved. Players making bad decision after bad decision. And the frustrating thing is, I'm not sure players get much better at that.

[Snowflake Royal]

Yep. Yet another misplaced pass from Mr Lane.

Not so much misplaced as well read, but it certainly could have been much better.

Not seen it back but from memory he played the pass behind his teammates. There was another Lincoln player behind the interceptor, who would have picked it up and been able to counter us if the interceptor had missed the ball.

Wasn’t really looking for that, so don't know. It looked the right attempted pass, but my feel was it was a little slow coming and not the best execution. May well have not got there anyway even without the interception.

[Snowflake Royal]

Here's a top bit of football knowledge. Most players above a certain level are actually about as good as each other when it comes to passing a ball about 10-15 yards. You get the odd person who can properly spray it, you can players much more comfortable closer in. What differentiates things is the ability to pick out a player, pick out their foot, and communicate to them, while completing one of the most basic skills available.

So when we say someone is good at passing, what we really mean is that they're good at this whole other set of skills that have nothing to do with kicking a ball.

God this week off will kill me.

One of my bugbears is often half hearted passing we play, was an issue in the Championship too. Rarely hit at the right crisp pace to the right point, either the right distance ahead of a player moving or to the right foot for easy control. Frequently see player's controlling a ball where it bounces up and they have to wait for it to drop before they can take the next touch.

It's certainly not something I can do well, I try, and I'm never going to have the mental space to think about foot preference, but I feel I should be able to expect this from our players.

Too many of our passes are bouncing, high, slow, short, over hit, hard or wide of the yard space they should be targeted at. But that is probably just the level.

[stealthpapes]

Here's a top bit of football knowledge. Most players above a certain level are actually about as good as each other when it comes to passing a ball about 10-15 yards. You get the odd person who can properly spray it, you can players much more comfortable closer in. What differentiates things is the ability to pick out a player, pick out their foot, and communicate to them, while completing one of the most basic skills available.

So when we say someone is good at passing, what we really mean is that they're good at this whole other set of skills that have nothing to do with kicking a ball.

God this week off will kill me.

They're good at making decisions. So much of what i see that is wrong at RFC is the decision making involved. Players making bad decision after bad decision. And the frustrating thing is, I'm not sure players get much better at that.

You coach routine decisions as second nature.
Decision making also much harder if tired and under pressure.

[leon]

Here's a top bit of football knowledge. Most players above a certain level are actually about as good as each other when it comes to passing a ball about 10-15 yards. You get the odd person who can properly spray it, you can players much more comfortable closer in. What differentiates things is the ability to pick out a player, pick out their foot, and communicate to them, while completing one of the most basic skills available.

So when we say someone is good at passing, what we really mean is that they're good at this whole other set of skills that have nothing to do with kicking a ball.

God this week off will kill me.

They're good at making decisions. So much of what i see that is wrong at RFC is the decision making involved. Players making bad decision after bad decision. And the frustrating thing is, I'm not sure players get much better at that.

Plus passing the ball just slightly behind the person so they have to break stride or go backwards to receive the ball. Thereby destroying any forward momentum and forcing the player to face towards our goal. We’re good at that.

[Greatwesternline]

Here's a top bit of football knowledge. Most players above a certain level are actually about as good as each other when it comes to passing a ball about 10-15 yards. You get the odd person who can properly spray it, you can players much more comfortable closer in. What differentiates things is the ability to pick out a player, pick out their foot, and communicate to them, while completing one of the most basic skills available.

So when we say someone is good at passing, what we really mean is that they're good at this whole other set of skills that have nothing to do with kicking a ball.

God this week off will kill me.

They're good at making decisions. So much of what i see that is wrong at RFC is the decision making involved. Players making bad decision after bad decision. And the frustrating thing is, I'm not sure players get much better at that.

You coach routine decisions as second nature.
Decision making also much harder if tired and under pressure.

Let's face it. League one players have an upper ceiling of how good they are ever going to get at making football decisions. We don't know how many of our players are at that ceiling. Given most of them are halfway through their careers or more, I don't think there is much upwards room for them as players individually.

Collectively yes there is. But you are going to struggle to cut out poorly directed passes from players at this point. There is a reason these players are 25 years old plus and are still in League one.

There is still hope for Savage, and Doyle especially.
Less so for Fraser Nyambe and O'Connor.

[traff]

Well I hope you optimists are right and LR is the man to make this team play effective and interesting football that lasts all the way through the second half and injury time. This team needs surgery or at least some consistently fit players.

Cutting out the insulting your fellow RFC fans wouldn't go amiss however.

I'm struggling to find anyone insulting fellow Reading fans in the comments since the game.

Agreed there need to be significant changes to the team though, I just don't think we were are poor value entertainment against Lincoln as we have been on some occasions this year.

Bedwetters and hard of thinking are 2 that instantly come to mind.

The same people always fall back on childish name-calling, using semantics and other means to save face instead of showing humility or admitting when they’re wrong. Straight out of the Trump playbook

[stealthpapes]

Here's a top bit of football knowledge. Most players above a certain level are actually about as good as each other when it comes to passing a ball about 10-15 yards. You get the odd person who can properly spray it, you can players much more comfortable closer in. What differentiates things is the ability to pick out a player, pick out their foot, and communicate to them, while completing one of the most basic skills available.

So when we say someone is good at passing, what we really mean is that they're good at this whole other set of skills that have nothing to do with kicking a ball.

God this week off will kill me.

They're good at making decisions. So much of what i see that is wrong at RFC is the decision making involved. Players making bad decision after bad decision. And the frustrating thing is, I'm not sure players get much better at that.

Two threads in which 'coaching is not a thing' is the central plank of the posts.
It's a bold strategy, cotton.

[stealthpapes]

They're good at making decisions. So much of what i see that is wrong at RFC is the decision making involved. Players making bad decision after bad decision. And the frustrating thing is, I'm not sure players get much better at that.

You coach routine decisions as second nature.
Decision making also much harder if tired and under pressure.

Let's face it. League one players have an upper ceiling of how good they are ever going to get at making football decisions. We don't know how many of our players are at that ceiling. Given most of them are halfway through their careers or more, I don't think there is much upwards room for them as players individually.

Collectively yes there is. But you are going to struggle to cut out poorly directed passes from players at this point. There is a reason these players are 25 years old plus and are still in League one.

There is still hope for Savage, and Doyle especially.
Less so for Fraser Nyambe and O'Connor.

Luckily there are literally no examples of players starting at say, League one, and going on to do better.
Nor entire squads.

And the Reading FC history page does not exist.

[Snowflake Royal]

How old was Kitson when we signed him?

Ian Wright and Jamie Vardy got into the top 2 divisions pretty late didn't they?

Was it L1 or L2 Ian Harte joined us from? He was definitely over 25.

Jimmy Quinn stepped up with us pretty well in the mid-90s. He was over 25.

[Clyde1998]

How old was Kitson when we signed him?

Ian Wright and Jamie Vardy got into the top 2 divisions pretty late didn't they?

Was it L1 or L2 Ian Harte joined us from? He was definitely over 25.

Jimmy Quinn stepped up with us pretty well in the mid-90s. He was over 25.

Kitson was just about to turn twenty-four; Wright signed for Palace not long before his twenty-second birthday; Jamie Vardy signed for Leicester at age twenty-five.

Harte was thirty-three, but defenders are typically different as they benefit from experience. He was certainly always declining though. Jimmy Quinn was thirty-three too.

[Greatwesternline]

How old was Kitson when we signed him?

Ian Wright and Jamie Vardy got into the top 2 divisions pretty late didn't they?

Was it L1 or L2 Ian Harte joined us from? He was definitely over 25.

Jimmy Quinn stepped up with us pretty well in the mid-90s. He was over 25.

These are examples of good players playing in League one. Yes it happens. Our current squad are not those good players, and I don't think have much capacity in them to improve.