MATCHWATCH : Luton Town (h)

[WestYorksRoyal]

But they brought better quality off the bench that us. It just shows what we all know - you can't compete with just a good starting XI. And we don't even have that at LB.

True, Marshall was rumoured to be £1m+ - but that’s no excuse for the terribly negative substitutions as soon as it was 3-3. He’s really got to go hasn’t he?

What subs would you have made? Taking Marriott off the right call given his fitness. The other front 3 had barely been in the game 2nd half.

He took off the right players and didn't have enough quality to replace them well.

[Sutekh]

Sigh.

Luton could keep it up for 90+. We couldn’t. Simple as that.

But, but, but Leam told us last season that it was because of a poor pre-season before he got here...

I think it’s fairly obvious a lack of depth cost us, rather than anything tactical. Poor defending let down an improved attacking shape and performance that couldn’t be sustained by options from the bench.

RTG: we competed well in a 7 goal thriller against one of the league’s favourites with a much improved positive style of play.

STG: we are forced to bring on players out of position due to a lack of depth, we lack any sort of replacement for Marriott and our defence still seem capable of some absolute gash.

I’m hoping he was just making a point in a roundabout way for the owners to get their finger out. Desperately need a striker and LB in quickly.

[CountryRoyal]

Temu England.

[South Coast Royal]

O'Connor has been a massive disappointment. He was meant to be the leader of the defence, one of the best CBs in the league. But we've never once looked like an organised, confident, composed defence with him at the heart of it.

He's not our worst player, but he's falling a long, long, long way short of what I expected when we signed him.

I thought it was just me that felt like this last season so I am pleased to read that I am not alone.
There was a lot of hype when he signed about how good he had been for Lincoln and how he scored goals.

Is it a coincidence that Lincoln impressively went on to win the league without him.?
Obviously it is not all his fault but he is a limited 3rd division player and better is needed if we have any thoughts of a promotion challenge.

[Royal Monkey]

I know Luton are gonna be one of the strongest teams this season but absolutely criminal to throw away a 3-1 lead at home.
Paudie and Ward were absolutely nowhere for their 3rd and 4th goals.
If we don’t go and sign a couple of quality CB’s we really gonna struggle this season.

[WestYorksRoyal]

O'Connor has been a massive disappointment. He was meant to be the leader of the defence, one of the best CBs in the league. But we've never once looked like an organised, confident, composed defence with him at the heart of it.

He's not our worst player, but he's falling a long, long, long way short of what I expected when we signed him.

I thought it was just me that felt like this last season so I am pleased to read that I am not alone.
There was a lot of hype when he signed about how good he had been for Lincoln and how he scored goals.

Is it a coincidence that Lincoln impressively went on to win the league without him.?
Obviously it is not all his fault but he is a limited 3rd division player and better is needed if we have any thoughts of a promotion challenge.

Absolutely. Mid table L1 defender; not the foundation of a promotion winning side. We need another CB and ideally they would bump him down to 3rd choice as opposed to signing a bench warmer.

[traff]

Easiest £100 ever.
Reading HT Luton FT

Benches said it all

[6ft Kerplunk]

I think it’s fairly obvious a lack of depth cost us, rather than anything tactical. Poor defending let down an improved attacking shape and performance that couldn’t be sustained by options from the bench.

I think that's just the reality of League 1 squads. The financial constraints mean you can't have a stacked squad. Which is why managers who make the most of the players available to them are so important.

[Extended-Phenotype]

I think it’s fairly obvious a lack of depth cost us, rather than anything tactical. Poor defending let down an improved attacking shape and performance that couldn’t be sustained by options from the bench.

I think that's just the reality of League 1 squads. The financial constraints mean you can't have a stacked squad. Which is why managers who make the most of the players available to them are so important.

I would argue that Luton had the depth we didn’t.

We needed to bring on a fresh attacking line over the last third of the game. We couldn’t really do that without playing people out of position. Our subs lost us shape, press and quality. Theirs maintained their momentum and tbh it was only ever going to end one way.

[CountryRoyal]

If he continues to play like he has I’d be amazed if Lisbie is here at the start of next season, unless we go up.

Don’t see what Brown offers.

I like Udoka.

[traff]

Instead of Brown we got Beige.

[Extended-Phenotype]

As an aside, people (somehow) criticise Marriott for “only” scoring goals, but the way he holds up the ball with his strength shows how important he is to our overall attacking play, not just how he caps off moves with goals.

Jacob, while you might not be able to criticise too harshly for not scoring the zero chances he had, sadly didn’t bring the same strength to our attacks that could hold up the ball and bring others into play.

[6ft Kerplunk]

I think it’s fairly obvious a lack of depth cost us, rather than anything tactical. Poor defending let down an improved attacking shape and performance that couldn’t be sustained by options from the bench.

I think that's just the reality of League 1 squads. The financial constraints mean you can't have a stacked squad. Which is why managers who make the most of the players available to them are so important.

I would argue that Luton had the depth we didn’t.

We needed to bring on a fresh attacking line over the last third of the game. We couldn’t really do that without playing people out of position. Our subs lost us shape, press and quality. Theirs maintained their momentum and tbh it was only ever going to end one way.

Luton have had the benefits of having being in the Premier League recently. They didn't go mental on spending trying to stay there so you'd think they're in a much stronger financial position than a team who'd been on the brink of going under in the same time period.

[Hound]

Well we lost that because we’ve not made the signings we’d hoped - yes we have x more days to the transfer window ends but same as last year we are losing vital points in the meantime

Positives - I thought we set up a lot more offensively - we didn’t low block, we tried to win the ball high
Lisbie has loads of potential
Stokes could well be a lot more effective than Doyle
Marriotts finishing remains incredible. All round game was better today as well

Negatives
Defence looked shakey throughout
Marriott doesn’t look at all fit - suspect he’s not trained much at all preseason. Makes his hattrick even more impressive in some ways
Dk still doesn’t do enough for me
Brown not a CF
Lack of concentration at the end again - not like Luton were even putting on any sort of pressure

It was a pretty decent game though and don’t think LR did a lot wrong. He’s just not got the tools to work with. Desperately need back up/alternative to Marriott most of all

Reasonably positive though - as long as get a few signings in

[scumbag]

Temu England.

Indeed. All of our problems feel identical to the three lions.

[Hound]

As an aside, people (somehow) criticise Marriott for “only” scoring goals, but the way he holds up the ball with his strength shows how important he is to our overall attacking play, not just how he caps off moves with goals.

Jacob, while you might not be able to criticise too harshly for not scoring the zero chances he had, sadly didn’t bring the same strength to our attacks that could hold up the ball and bring others into play.

He held the ball up pretty well today. But I wouldn’t say he does that particularly well usually tbh. The ball bounces back far too easily far too often

Brown was undoubtedly poor, not sure what he does. Assume he isn’t a CF

[Armadillo Roadkill]

First 45 minutes was about the best, non-stop, attacking and pressing football I’ve seen from Reading in several seasons. We really could and should have been 4, possibly 5 - 1 up at half time.

I think the change in the second half was not that Reading changed, but that Luton worked out how to stop us. First half they barely laid a glove on us. Second half they cut the lines out to the wings, pressed a lot higher, played with a lot more intensity. We had to resort to Pereira and O’Connor trying to pass the ball out from the back and panicking because there were no options. Didn’t happen a single time in the first half.

It wasn’t so much that we sat back after half time, it’s that they changed formation. That we then couldn’t respond to that change, despite several good opportunities to get messages across from the bench on to the pitch, is worrying.

Although, to be fair, there was limited scope to change things with substitutes. All the options seemed like-for-like, apart from maybe Savage. Bringing him on earlier would have made sense, as he maybe could have unlocked the Luton defence as they committed so many men forward to press.

People are a bit emotional after throwing away such a comfortable looking lead. This was not the mistakes of last season - trying to hold on to a slender lead and failing. It was a lack of options to respond to tactical changes, then a lack of concentration in defence in the closing minutes.

[Hound]

Temu England.

Indeed. All of our problems feel identical to the three lions.

I don’t think we sat back and gave them control tbh. Just defended poorly: I wouldn’t blame the set up

[Hound]

First 45 minutes was about the best, non-stop, attacking and pressing football I’ve seen from Reading in several seasons. We really could and should have been 4, possibly 5 - 1 up at half time.

I think the change in the second half was not that Reading changed, but that Luton worked out how to stop us. First half they barely laid a glove on us. Second half they cut the lines out to the wings, pressed a lot higher, played with a lot more intensity. We had to resort to Pereira and O’Connor trying to pass the ball out from the back and panicking because there were no options. Didn’t happen a single time in the first half.

It wasn’t so much that we sat back after half time, it’s that they changed formation. That we then couldn’t respond to that change, despite several good opportunities to get messages across from the bench on to the pitch, is worrying.

Although, to be fair, there was limited scope to change things with substitutes. All the options seemed like-for-like, apart from maybe Savage. Bringing him on earlier would have made sense, as he maybe could have unlocked the Luton defence as they committed so many men forward to press.

People are a bit emotional after throwing away such a comfortable looking lead. This was not the mistakes of last season - trying to hold on to a slender lead and failing. It was a lack of options to respond to tactical changes, then a lack of concentration in defence in the closing minutes.

Yes agree with most of this. Would add that I think we got tired. Hot day of course but loads of breaks so shouldn’t have been an issue

Marriott was fair enough, but I thought we tired a lot more than they did. Bringing off Stikes prob a mistake unless he had to come off - energy dropped a lot when he came off I thought

[Millsy]

Didn't watch the game.

Obviously upsetting, reminds me of Liverpool.

Fitness an issue?

Can someone post a BTFG rating list please?