MATCHWATCH : Sunderland (h)

[CountryRoyal]

Paul Ince reaction - great to see to be honest:

We’re not good enough not to be on it.

This. End.

[URZZZZ]

I don’t agree about Sunderland. They were excellent. Zipped the ball about really well and always had a midfielder in space. They closed us down superbly. Their third goal was outstanding.

Worst performance I have ever seen from a Reading team. We looked like a non League team. I have no issues with us losing if we give it a go but losing like that tonight was simply unacceptable.

‘Greed - Roberts and to a lesser extent Clarke ran us ragged all night and I thought Alese had a very good game for them

Roberts and Clarke showing the merits of taking on a man and creating danger through pace. For the thousandth time, Yiadom is not a wing back and Rahman offers nothing in this system, a waste of time. How were we meant to get back in the game with those two as our outball? Dreadful management

I thought our biggest problem was in midfield. Hendrick simply isn’t very good and Loum was a huge disappointment. Would like Ejaria in for Hendrick after the international break. I think he is by some distance our weakest link.

Wouldn’t disagree that the midfield was the biggest problem but was just highlighting the positives of being direct on the ball, as per Sunderland’s first two goals and not just constantly turning back and passing it to a CB

One of the most important things in the game is space. Finding the pockets on the ball, being spatially aware and restricting the space for the opposition. It’s hard to put your finger on how both teams (with 11 men) differed so much in that respect. They had acres of space everywhere. We didn’t pass and move into space all game. Hendrick visibly hid at times. Just not good enough

[Zip]

‘Greed - Roberts and to a lesser extent Clarke ran us ragged all night and I thought Alese had a very good game for them

Roberts and Clarke showing the merits of taking on a man and creating danger through pace. For the thousandth time, Yiadom is not a wing back and Rahman offers nothing in this system, a waste of time. How were we meant to get back in the game with those two as our outball? Dreadful management

I thought our biggest problem was in midfield. Hendrick simply isn’t very good and Loum was a huge disappointment. Would like Ejaria in for Hendrick after the international break. I think he is by some distance our weakest link.

Wouldn’t disagree that the midfield was the biggest problem but was just highlighting the positives of being direct on the ball, as per Sunderland’s first two goals and not just constantly turning back and passing it to a CB

One of the most important things in the game is space. Finding the pockets on the ball, being spatially aware and restricting the space for the opposition. It’s hard to put your finger on how both teams (with 11 men) differed so much in that respect. They had acres of space everywhere. We didn’t pass and move into space all game. Hendrick visibly hid at times. Just not good enough

Yes the difference between the two teams was shocking. Sunderland always had someone free in midfield. We didn’t. They stretched us throughout the game with players out wide. There were so many times where we had no width at all and zero options. Simply not good enough. I thought Ince was tactically outmanoeuvred tonight.

[Royal Monkey]

Listened to the live commentary on TalkSPORT 2 tonight in my truck. Glad I wasn’t there as it sounded truly awful. For the whole 90 mins the commentators just kept saying how absolutely awful Reading are ! One thing I was surprised about was how they were slating Tom Ince. The TalkSPORT commentators kept saying he was moody, throwing his arms in the air, not trying and moaning at his team mates !! David Connolly said on air he couldn’t play in the same team with ‘someone like Ince’. I was shocked cos whenever I’ve watched him play he has always put a real shift in and really tries hard and normally is one of our best players. Did anyone who went think he had moody bad attitude?
It’s been a great start so let’s just hope this performance was a one off. Any Reading fan would have been happy with 15 points and sitting 4th after 9 games but looking at the table tonight does scare me. Swansea who are 3rd bottom are only 6 points behind us, if they won their next 2 and we lost our next 2 they’d be above us ! That’s frightening, this division is ridiculously close from top to bottom !

[Franconian Royal]

Listened to the live commentary on TalkSPORT 2 tonight in my truck. Glad I wasn’t there as it sounded truly awful. For the whole 90 mins the commentators just kept saying how absolutely awful Reading are ! One thing I was surprised about was how they were slating Tom Ince. The TalkSPORT commentators kept saying he was moody, throwing his arms in the air, not trying and moaning at his team mates !! David Connolly said on air he couldn’t play in the same team with ‘someone like Ince’. I was shocked cos whenever I’ve watched him play he has always put a real shift in and really tries hard and normally is one of our best players. Did anyone who went think he had moody bad attitude?
It’s been a great start so let’s just hope this performance was a one off. Any Reading fan would have been happy with 15 points and sitting 4th after 9 games but looking at the table tonight does scare me. Swansea who are 3rd bottom are only 6 points behind us, if they won their next 2 and we lost our next 2 they’d be above us ! That’s frightening, this division is ridiculously close from top to bottom !

They said on Berks commentary and you could see it on Royals TV that he was trying to move the team forward. He was busting a gut to press, but the rest of the team weren’t interested.
Overall terrible performance, but we move onto Wigan and hopefully a reaction.

[Stranded]

Listened to the live commentary on TalkSPORT 2 tonight in my truck. Glad I wasn’t there as it sounded truly awful. For the whole 90 mins the commentators just kept saying how absolutely awful Reading are ! One thing I was surprised about was how they were slating Tom Ince. The TalkSPORT commentators kept saying he was moody, throwing his arms in the air, not trying and moaning at his team mates !! David Connolly said on air he couldn’t play in the same team with ‘someone like Ince’. I was shocked cos whenever I’ve watched him play he has always put a real shift in and really tries hard and normally is one of our best players. Did anyone who went think he had moody bad attitude?
It’s been a great start so let’s just hope this performance was a one off. Any Reading fan would have been happy with 15 points and sitting 4th after 9 games but looking at the table tonight does scare me. Swansea who are 3rd bottom are only 6 points behind us, if they won their next 2 and we lost our next 2 they’d be above us ! That’s frightening, this division is ridiculously close from top to bottom !

They said on Berks commentary and you could see it on Royals TV that he was trying to move the team forward. He was busting a gut to press, but the rest of the team weren’t interested.
Overall terrible performance, but we move onto Wigan and hopefully a reaction.

This. The Talksport guys were frankly talking bollocks - Ince was absolutely busting a gut still and was getting visibly angry as he perceived, rightly, that the others simply weren't putting the effort in. If Connolly couldn't have played with Ince then that says more about Connolly and his approach to playing then anything else.

To Monkey's point, yes this league is incredibly tight, it was always going to be this year - only Huddersfield look rotten and with a new manager in charge that may change. It being tight actually helps us in the battle to stay up as more teams will be looking over their shoulder and teams will fly up and down the table all season based on runs of 4 or 5 games - there will be a lot of mid-table traffic.

Take Hull, people were praising them and calling them dark horses after 6 games, they've since lost 3 on the bounce and are down to 17th just 2 points off the bottom 3.

[Snowflake Royal]

Listened to the live commentary on TalkSPORT 2 tonight in my truck. Glad I wasn’t there as it sounded truly awful. For the whole 90 mins the commentators just kept saying how absolutely awful Reading are ! One thing I was surprised about was how they were slating Tom Ince. The TalkSPORT commentators kept saying he was moody, throwing his arms in the air, not trying and moaning at his team mates !! David Connolly said on air he couldn’t play in the same team with ‘someone like Ince’. I was shocked cos whenever I’ve watched him play he has always put a real shift in and really tries hard and normally is one of our best players. Did anyone who went think he had moody bad attitude?
It’s been a great start so let’s just hope this performance was a one off. Any Reading fan would have been happy with 15 points and sitting 4th after 9 games but looking at the table tonight does scare me. Swansea who are 3rd bottom are only 6 points behind us, if they won their next 2 and we lost our next 2 they’d be above us ! That’s frightening, this division is ridiculously close from top to bottom !

Tom was rightly fuming that he was sprinting everywhere and barely anyone was backing him up.

And in this case we're not really talking Joao, though he was far from on it, he was usually picking up a man on the press, we're talking Hendrick, Fornah, Loum, Hoilett and Yiadom.

[Hound]

Joao was terrible but actually thought he did a fair bit of running last night

[windermereROYAL]

And I got leg cramp when I went to bed, just about summed up the perfect evening, they must have heard my screams at the bottom of the road.

On to the game, we`ve gifted possession and plenty of it to every team that`s come here so far, you can`t do that against good teams or it will bite you on the arse, and Sunderland will be around the play-off places on that showing, a very good side, even if we didn`t turn up.
Roll on Norwich.

[Loafer]

Have to absolutely respect that third goal. Worldie.

[John Smith]

Can not wait for this game tonight and for when we inevitably smash them. A club that's far too big for it's boots with baseless ideas of grandeur. Just like another Nottingham Forest basically.

Not good. Onto Saturday.

[windermereROYAL]

Can not wait for this game tonight and for when we inevitably smash them. A club that's far too big for it's boots with baseless ideas of grandeur. Just like another Nottingham Forest basically.

Not good. Onto Saturday.

Your quote got a mention on their forum.
https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/r ... h.1589438/

[CountryRoyal]

Not good. Onto Saturday.

Your quote got a mention on their forum.
https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/r ... h.1589438/

They seem to have a lot more magnanimous and self-aware fans than most clubs, recognising that they too have a tendency to shit the bed when they witness a horror show, and let’s be honest they’ve seen their fair share over the years. Didn’t they go a whole year without winning a home game at some point recently?

[windermereROYAL]

Surely Sarr will walk into this team when he`s fit again. but as with Loum he was immense against Blackburn picked up a knock, seemed like he was still carrying it last night, hope Naby isn`t the same.

[John Smith]

Not good. Onto Saturday.

Your quote got a mention on their forum.
https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/r ... h.1589438/

Whatever

[Stranded]

Surely Sarr will walk into this team when he`s fit again. but as with Loum he was immense against Blackburn picked up a knock, seemed like he was still carrying it last night, hope Naby isn`t the same.

The fact that we should have a few players back v Huddersfield makes Saturday a massive game to get a result in - don't want to go into the break with 2 straight defeats.

Hopefully, we'll see something like this after the break:

Lumley

Holmes
Hutchinson
Sarr

Yiadom
Loum
Hendrick
Fornah
Rahman

Ince
Joao

Bench: Bouzanis, Long, Carroll, McIntyre, Mbengue, Hoilett, Craig

Can easily swap a couple of names in/out depending on how the weekend goes and if we also sign Ibe or A.N.Other.

Am also assuming Ejaria won't be available still.

[URZZZZ]

Surely Sarr will walk into this team when he`s fit again. but as with Loum he was immense against Blackburn picked up a knock, seemed like he was still carrying it last night, hope Naby isn`t the same.

The fact that we should have a few players back v Huddersfield makes Saturday a massive game to get a result in - don't want to go into the break with 2 straight defeats.

Hopefully, we'll see something like this after the break:

Lumley

Holmes
Hutchinson
Sarr

Yiadom
Loum
Hendrick
Fornah
Rahman

Ince
Joao

Bench: Bouzanis, Long, Carroll, McIntyre, Mbengue, Hoilett, Craig

Can easily swap a couple of names in/out depending on how the weekend goes and if we also sign Ibe or A.N.Other.

You’ve missed out a few players there who should be back including one who played yesterday! Would be more inclined to go:

Lumley

Yiadom
Holmes
Sarr

Hoilett
Loum
Fornah
Guinness Walker/Rahman

Ince

Long
Joao

Bench: Bouzanis, Hutchinson, Hendrick, Mbengue, Ejaria, Carroll (hopefully), Meite

[Snowflake Royal]

Surely Sarr will walk into this team when he`s fit again. but as with Loum he was immense against Blackburn picked up a knock, seemed like he was still carrying it last night, hope Naby isn`t the same.

The fact that we should have a few players back v Huddersfield makes Saturday a massive game to get a result in - don't want to go into the break with 2 straight defeats.

Hopefully, we'll see something like this after the break:

Lumley

Holmes
Hutchinson
Sarr

Yiadom
Loum
Hendrick
Fornah
Rahman

Ince
Joao

Bench: Bouzanis, Long, Carroll, McIntyre, Mbengue, Hoilett, Craig

Can easily swap a couple of names in/out depending on how the weekend goes and if we also sign Ibe or A.N.Other.

You’ve missed out a few players there who should be back including one who played yesterday! Would be more inclined to go:

Lumley

Yiadom
Holmes
Sarr

Hoilett
Loum
Fornah
Guinness Walker/Rahman

Ince

Long
Joao

Bench: Bouzanis, Hutchinson, Hendrick, Mbengue, Ejaria, Carroll (hopefully), Meite

Yep, would prefer Yiadom RCB, Holmes centre and Sarr LCB too.

I think a fit Meite starts ahead of Long too.

[Hound]

Surely Sarr will walk into this team when he`s fit again. but as with Loum he was immense against Blackburn picked up a knock, seemed like he was still carrying it last night, hope Naby isn`t the same.

The fact that we should have a few players back v Huddersfield makes Saturday a massive game to get a result in - don't want to go into the break with 2 straight defeats.

Hopefully, we'll see something like this after the break:

Lumley

Holmes
Hutchinson
Sarr

Yiadom
Loum
Hendrick
Fornah
Rahman

Ince
Joao

Bench: Bouzanis, Long, Carroll, McIntyre, Mbengue, Hoilett, Craig

Can easily swap a couple of names in/out depending on how the weekend goes and if we also sign Ibe or A.N.Other.

You’ve missed out a few players there who should be back including one who played yesterday! Would be more inclined to go:

Lumley

Yiadom
Holmes
Sarr

Hoilett
Loum
Fornah
Guinness Walker/Rahman

Ince

Long
Joao

Bench: Bouzanis, Hutchinson, Hendrick, Mbengue, Ejaria, Carroll (hopefully), Meite

Yeah quite like that, though baba over NGW

Ejaria should be back after the break. Hutch a useful squad player but don’t see him a starter

[URZZZZ]

The fact that we should have a few players back v Huddersfield makes Saturday a massive game to get a result in - don't want to go into the break with 2 straight defeats.

Hopefully, we'll see something like this after the break:

Lumley

Holmes
Hutchinson
Sarr

Yiadom
Loum
Hendrick
Fornah
Rahman

Ince
Joao

Bench: Bouzanis, Long, Carroll, McIntyre, Mbengue, Hoilett, Craig

Can easily swap a couple of names in/out depending on how the weekend goes and if we also sign Ibe or A.N.Other.

You’ve missed out a few players there who should be back including one who played yesterday! Would be more inclined to go:

Lumley

Yiadom
Holmes
Sarr

Hoilett
Loum
Fornah
Guinness Walker/Rahman

Ince

Long
Joao

Bench: Bouzanis, Hutchinson, Hendrick, Mbengue, Ejaria, Carroll (hopefully), Meite

Yep, would prefer Yiadom RCB, Holmes centre and Sarr LCB too.

I think a fit Meite starts ahead of Long too.

Not sure about that, too much brawn

Actually think Long and Meite could make a good duo up top, and would also give us the chance to switch it if things weren’t working, with Meite’s flexibility. Two hard workers, mixture of aerial threat and pace in behind

Joao obviously has quality but even with his scoring records, there’s a reason he’s been stuck at struggling Reading for a few years now. His decision making and application isn’t there and much like Swift, may end up looking back at his career with regret as he certainly has the talent to be a Prem striker