MATCHWATCH : Cambridge United (a)

[WestYorksRoyal]

I'll assume that Mbengue will be fit for Charlton as a vomiting bug will be short term. If Craig is unavailable, do you leave Dean in and play Mbengue at RB?

[Mid Sussex Royal]

I'll assume that Mbengue will be fit for Charlton as a vomiting bug will be short term. If Craig is unavailable, do you leave Dean in and play Mbengue at RB?

Craig has a sore hamstring, so sounds like not torn or pulled, likely miss Charlton but should be back for next league game.

[Snowflake Royal]

Smith is a complete donkey.

Never seen a donkey score a goal like that.

Makes up for the donkey touch when we had a 5 man break earlier in the game

He stumbled, it happens.

Hardly makes him a donkey, and calling him one just makes you look daft.

[Snowflake Royal]

Oh yes, and Deanwas magnificent. And well done to Pereira for asking the fans to give him recognition at the end.

Knibbs needs more practice from Mbengue for the win celebration. But good deputising.

Dean was fantastic to be fair

We need someone like Dean in games like this....wish I knew the reason why he's not been started when Mbengue's not been around.

Can only assume building for the future. We'll benefit more longer term for playing time for Kanu, Holzman etc. But he should start against the more physical sides if one of Mbengue or Bindon is unavailable imo.

Thought Holzman would suit RB, but he had a torrid time. I'd like to see Abrefa starting there as soon as he is able.

No way I'd move Mbengue out of CB to accommodate Dean.

[Royals and Racers]

Didn’t hear the full interview with Noel Hunt after the match but he did say which i found interesting, was that the team travelled to Cambridge today.

[Hound]

Didn’t hear the full interview with Noel Hunt after the match but he did say which i found interesting, was that the team travelled to Cambridge today.

I don’t think that’s a huge suprise is it? Not that far away

[Brogue]

Didn’t hear the full interview with Noel Hunt after the match but he did say which i found interesting, was that the team travelled to Cambridge today.

I don’t think that’s a huge suprise is it? Not that far away

Lol yeah. Even if we financially ok I’d still expect us to travel on the day. It’s less than 2 hours away

[Snowflake Royal]

Yeah and coming fairly quickly after the last game as well.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Didn’t hear the full interview with Noel Hunt after the match but he did say which i found interesting, was that the team travelled to Cambridge today.

It's because we were playing at Cambridge. Imagine if we'd have been playing at home we wouldn't have traveled.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Didn’t hear the full interview with Noel Hunt after the match but he did say which i found interesting, was that the team travelled to Cambridge today.

It's because we were playing at Cambridge. Imagine if we'd have been playing at home we wouldn't have traveled.

[Stranded]

Yeah and coming fairly quickly after the last game as well.

And allows the squad to be with family on NYE.

[Royal Ginger]

Still not convinced but happy with the win.

What exactly is it you feel you need to be convinced about ?

I’m not convinced that the quality of performance matches the results being attained.

It appears to my eye that the team are overly reliant on moments of individual excellence rather than a sustained, effective system or plan.

Perhaps continued results will convince me. That has not yet occurred.

[Sutekh]

Still not convinced but happy with the win.

What exactly is it you feel you need to be convinced about ?

I’m not convinced that the quality of performance matches the results being attained.

It appears to my eye that the team are overly reliant on moments of individual excellence rather than a sustained, effective system or plan.

Perhaps continued results will convince me. That has not yet occurred.

Felt Cambridge’s style made for a game that forced Reading to play a lot more long balls than expected but they slowly adapted during the course of the game and worked hard for the win which was finally clinched by a moment of individual excellence.

[blythspartan]

Still not convinced but happy with the win.

What exactly is it you feel you need to be convinced about ?

I’m not convinced that the quality of performance matches the results being attained.

It appears to my eye that the team are overly reliant on moments of individual excellence rather than a sustained, effective system or plan.

Perhaps continued results will convince me. That has not yet occurred.

I sometimes felt that under McDermott we didn’t always have a plan but hung in games and found a way to win. I am pretty sure that the weather conditions didn’t help either yesterday.

[Snowflake Royal]

We're effective and have the quality at this level to mostly make it tell with individual moments.

Like with McDermott's promoted side, I don't see our current approach leading to any sort of success at a higher level.

But we're still firmly in transition with a lot of young and inexperienced players in a patchwork side. I don’t think we're good enough to go up via the POs, and I think if we did we'd just come straight back worse off, but I think we are well placed to mount a real and successful promotion campaign next season, IF we can keep most of the squad together.

Which would also coincide with the ability to spend money (assuming a takeover) and properly improve the squad for the Championship, something we can’t do this summer. We've proved you can get good L1 players for free, that's much much harder for the Champ.

None of which means we should try any less than our very best this season.

[Hound]

Still not convinced but happy with the win.

What exactly is it you feel you need to be convinced about ?

I’m not convinced that the quality of performance matches the results being attained.

It appears to my eye that the team are overly reliant on moments of individual excellence rather than a sustained, effective system or plan.

Perhaps continued results will convince me. That has not yet occurred.

Well you are right. We’re not convincing because we aren’t in fact that good a side

Bindon, Mbengue, Wing and Knibbs are excellent L1 players. Savage, Smith, JP are strong in this league

Other than that I wouldn’t be starting any of the team in the positions they are put in if we had any kind of a squad. We’ve got a load of injuries to players like Kelvin E, Yiadom and Elliot as well

We’re winning games through sheer force of will and individual moments. And that’s to be massively applauded imo

[WestYorksRoyal]

What exactly is it you feel you need to be convinced about ?

I’m not convinced that the quality of performance matches the results being attained.

It appears to my eye that the team are overly reliant on moments of individual excellence rather than a sustained, effective system or plan.

Perhaps continued results will convince me. That has not yet occurred.

Well you are right. We’re not convincing because we aren’t in fact that good a side

Bindon, Mbengue, Wing and Knibbs are excellent L1 players. Savage, Smith, JP are strong in this league

Other than that I wouldn’t be starting any of the team in the positions they are put in if we had any kind of a squad. We’ve got a load of injuries to players like Kelvin E, Yiadom and Elliot as well

We’re winning games through sheer force of will and individual moments. And that’s to be massively applauded imo

Add on to this that Christmas is a notoriously difficult time which does typically become a battle of wills over quality; managers hate it.

I think we do have a plan / identity, we're just not playing it at the moment. Ideally we're high energy and play quickly up the pitch when we get the ball (not the same as long ball). I think we miss Elliott helping us play between the lines at the moment. If Abrefa is fit, I'd like to see Craig in midfield and Wing pushed forward to compensate. And of course having more time on the training ground will help.

After Charlton, we have 2 weeks before our next league game so maybe that will give us a chance to judge.

[Clyde1998]

Oh yes, and Dean was magnificent. And well done to Pereira for asking the fans to give him recognition at the end.

Agreed. Tbf, Dean has been a lot better this season when he has played when compared to how he was in the first few months of last season.

[stealthpapes]

I think we do have a plan / identity, we're just not playing it at the moment.

Loads of contradictions, isn't it?

Brittle squad with some very good talents in it. Strength in depth is far from adequate.

High energy game style (except when its not). We're quite easily bullied and for all the good moments, there's also some moments at the other end.

I do want this team to succeed more than you'd maybe believe from my posts. It's so close, and it's doing so well, against all the bullshit and nonsense.

[Crusader Royal]

Still not convinced but happy with the win.

What exactly is it you feel you need to be convinced about ?

I’m not convinced that the quality of performance matches the results being attained.

It appears to my eye that the team are overly reliant on moments of individual excellence rather than a sustained, effective system or plan.

Perhaps continued results will convince me. That has not yet occurred.

I don’t think it’s necessary to be convinced.
We’re not on a five year project to reach the PL, we’re living a hand to mouth existence under a load of restrictions (mostly self imposed). Our u21 and u18 players have been asked to become regular starters maybe a couple of seasons before they are ready. We’re putting square pegs in round holes because we have no round pegs. Our totemic manager has (understandably) left for a less stressful job. Our owner appears to not care and doing nothing to make things easier. In the most difficult of circumstances we’re winning games, and are 5th within sight (if not touching distance) of clubs with absolutely none of the difficulties we face.
I don’t need to be convinced, I think it’s more relevant to applaud what is being achieved, however it is being achieved. Hopefully in the future we’ll get back to being able to critique the subtleties of team selection, tactics and technicalities.