MATCHWATCH : Luton Town (h)

[Sutekh]

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.

This was because the squad is weak and needs, well we all know what. If we don’t get, well we all know what, by 5pm on 1st September then there’ll be a load more of these cr@p results like this and no doubt LR will be gone like NH and John Coleman will be next up.

Luton are going to be there or thereabouts by the end of the season and we basically took them to the cleaners in the 1st half so there is something pretty decent there in the 1st XI but there’s nothing very much in the key areas under it and having just one injured youngster as a backup striker is plainly utterly ******* ludicrous.

So, it’s all over to the owners now…..

[Royals and Racers]

Attendance 14,065

[Gordzilla]

Really, really disappointing.
We played some great football in the first half and were nowhere to be seen for most of the second half.
Luton’s second was a bit flukey but our defending for their third was comical and we just totally switched off for their fourth leaving a gaping gap for Kodua to turn and hammer against the bar and then the flappy mayhem that ensued resulting in their goal.

We simply cannot capitulate like that at home when 3-1 up. And conceding no early goals in each half is a joke, too.

Buying more players isn’t the answer here apart from a backup striker for Marriott. It’s a pathetic mindset to stop doing what we were doing well and thinking we can get away with it.

[Esteban]

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.

You're spot on, but with Marriott's injury record, we'll need to sign another striker capable of starting, as well as a new left back and starting CB. That's probably the bare minimum. I don't think we have the money to do that.

[Brogue]

Back from the game.

Pitch looked shit
Y24 seats looked no different
Still couldn’t hear the second half subs on the tannoy
Fan park looked no different
Urinals not connected in the toilets

5 million quid? I’d be asking for the money back.

Onto the game.

Dorsett should not be a professional footballer

PoC dreadful and the not the player we all thought we were signing

We need a new keeper JP has been dog shit for months now

Dokes looked good

Lisbie great first half completely missing second

DK ineffectual

Wing dreadful

Rino dreadful

Stokes meh

Marriott great

Ward ok I guess

Brown have no words

Zero depth to the squad

Couhig out

[hobnob]

Didn't watch the game.

Obviously upsetting, reminds me of Liverpool.

Fitness an issue?

Can someone post a BTFG rating list please?

Submit your player ratings just here:
https://www.royals.org/matchreport/1508 ... _3_Luton_4

[The Cap]

Back from the game.

Pitch looked shit
Y24 seats looked no different
Still couldn’t hear the second half subs on the tannoy
Fan park looked no different
Urinals not connected in the toilets

5 million quid? I’d be asking for the money back.

Onto the game.

Dorsett should not be a professional footballer

PoC dreadful and the not the player we all thought we were signing

We need a new keeper JP has been dog shit for months now

Dokes looked good

Lisbie great first half completely missing second

DK ineffectual

Wing dreadful

Rino dreadful

Stokes meh

Marriott great

Ward ok I guess

Brown have no words

Zero depth to the squad

Couhig out

I've also been wondering about JP for a while now, so seeing your comment doesn't surprise me. He just seems open to a lot more gaffs these days, as well as taking over as court jester at the end of games.

[Marcel]

Back from the game.

Pitch looked shit
Y24 seats looked no different
Still couldn’t hear the second half subs on the tannoy
Fan park looked no different
Urinals not connected in the toilets

5 million quid? I’d be asking for the money back.

Onto the game.

Dorsett should not be a professional footballer

PoC dreadful and the not the player we all thought we were signing

We need a new keeper JP has been dog shit for months now

Dokes looked good

Lisbie great first half completely missing second

DK ineffectual

Wing dreadful

Rino dreadful

Stokes meh

Marriott great

Ward ok I guess

Brown have no words

Zero depth to the squad

Couhig out

And take Jacobson, Richardson and Coleman with you

[Hound]

JP looks shaky - not sure he did much wrong exactly today other than some aimless punts forward (not nec his fault)

Their keeper looked at fault for our second - not sure how he didn’t get a hand on that really

[bakerlou]

OK

Pitch is definitely narrower, certainly towards the West (it looks like there's more room to warm-up), it might also be shorter but I'm not sure about that.
Booing for hydration breaks when it's 30 degrees on the pitch, just because bigger boys did it during the World Cup, dear me.
Massive queue for Siren, didn't bother. Got a Strongbow in the stadium and didn't regret it.
Marrrriotttt is an absolute diamond. Although his second was a stunner, and the third was a great breakaway and linkup with Lisbers, the first was my favourite, as a couple of their players were still swapping celebrations with the fans about the opener as Marriott slipped in. It reminded me of his goal away at Exeter last season, he gambles on defenders mistakes in a way that I haven't seen since Senior.
The match turned on Kyerewaa's miss in the opening part of the second half, if that goes in, we win. He got there, he got the touch but he wasn't hungry enough to finish it off. I don't like to criticise generally, but that annoyed me.
They (Lutes) deserve some credit, they got on the ball a hell of a lot more in the second half, and we were hanging on for 15 minutes before the winner came.
Not going to get too upset about it, we've had easier opening fixtures. We look some way away from the finished article though, in several positions.
Also notched a spotted of lapsed nobber TFF / That Friday Feeling before kick-off, nice to see him again.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Back from the game.

Pitch looked shit
Y24 seats looked no different
Still couldn’t hear the second half subs on the tannoy
Fan park looked no different
Urinals not connected in the toilets

5 million quid? I’d be asking for the money back.

Onto the game.

Dorsett should not be a professional footballer

PoC dreadful and the not the player we all thought we were signing

We need a new keeper JP has been dog shit for months now

Dokes looked good

Lisbie great first half completely missing second

DK ineffectual

Wing dreadful

Rino dreadful

Stokes meh

Marriott great

Ward ok I guess

Brown have no words

Zero depth to the squad

Couhig out

Usual tiresome dig at the board.

Relaying the pitch and replacing the undersoil heating alone is upwards of £2m.

have you run another poll for your twitter mates this eve?

[Brogue]

Back from the game.

Pitch looked shit
Y24 seats looked no different
Still couldn’t hear the second half subs on the tannoy
Fan park looked no different
Urinals not connected in the toilets

5 million quid? I’d be asking for the money back.

Onto the game.

Dorsett should not be a professional footballer

PoC dreadful and the not the player we all thought we were signing

We need a new keeper JP has been dog shit for months now

Dokes looked good

Lisbie great first half completely missing second

DK ineffectual

Wing dreadful

Rino dreadful

Stokes meh

Marriott great

Ward ok I guess

Brown have no words

Zero depth to the squad

Couhig out

Usual tiresome dig at the board.

Relaying the pitch and replacing the undersoil heating alone is upwards of £2m.

have you run another poll for your twitter mates this eve?

I’m entitled to an opinion. You may not like it by I am allowed to post on this forum. Also are you going to actually challenge anything I’ve said with counter arguments, is there something I’ve said that’s incorrect? or are you just going to moan about me having a different opinion to yours? If the owners are not to blame then who is?

Closed toilets, and urinals not connected up is a disgrace, and more should be made of that.

They’ve had since may. It’s not as if they are doing anything complicated it’s a lick of paint. Stuff like that not being ready on the first game is a disgrace. Couhig has spent the summer telling us how amazing the stadium is going to be and hardly anything has changed

Fan park was supposed to have had a revamp. Zero change.

Seats looks exactly the same and in fact 3 separate fans complained their seat actually broke during the game.

Look all I’m doing is holding the owners to their words. We were repeatedly told that the stadium is going to look great and all this work putting into it is wonderful.

Not having working toilets on the first game of the season is pathetic. If they can’t even get that right, what faith do fans have with them getting it right on the pitch.

And speaking of the pitch. It’s as if they are doing a great thing by the club by laying a new pitch! News flash football stadiums need grass to play on. When you buy a football club it’s your responsibility to make sure there is a decent playing surface. Trying to gaslight fans by saying look how good we are, we are going to have a great pitch this season. Yeah I should hope so! It’s pretty a given of any half competent football club/owner. I have never heard any of our other owners waxing lyrical about laying new pitches. They just get on with it, without the fanfare and desperation for fans to think they are doing us a massive favour

[Scutterbucketz]

FFS Reading. Tommy Robinson was in the Luton end.

[West F]

Attendance 14,065

Not correct.

Attendance 12,500

Marketing department adjusted figure was 14,065. This is the amount of people who could have been at the game but includes those who were not there.

[leon]

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.

Blimey, I agree. It's almost like the wrong CB retired in the summer. Williams was everything you describe. O'Connor just isn't. He's got a shaky LB and a young CB partner. He needs to lead the defence and get the midfield to protect them, but then our captain who is in the midfield is utterly clueless at all of that as well.

That was today in a nutshell. No leadership.

[leon]

FFS Reading. Tommy Robinson was in the Luton end.

of course he was. no wonder Watford call them Shit Town*

* according to a hooligan book I read 30 years ago.

[MR. CYNICAL]

Back from the game.

Pitch looked shit
Y24 seats looked no different
Still couldn’t hear the second half subs on the tannoy
Fan park looked no different
Urinals not connected in the toilets

5 million quid? I’d be asking for the money back.

Onto the game.

Dorsett should not be a professional footballer

PoC dreadful and the not the player we all thought we were signing

We need a new keeper JP has been dog shit for months now

Dokes looked good

Lisbie great first half completely missing second

DK ineffectual

Wing dreadful

Rino dreadful

Stokes meh

Marriott great

Ward ok I guess

Brown have no words

Zero depth to the squad

Couhig out

Agree with most of that, would say the seats look a lot newer but can't see the point if you're not going to paint the structure above the roof.
Hopefully the pitch will improve over time but there are a few bare patches which is worrying.
Thought Rino brought a bit of energy in midfield.
Would argue that Dorsett is ok but he's not a left back, that's down to Richardson playing him there.
Not sure what Stokes is about.
What can you say about Marriott? Unbelievable finishing and proved that if he's not playing, we are going to struggle to score.
35 mins hat trick in the first half and we still manage to lose.
Says it all!
Finally, the defence is an absolute shambles.

[Royals and Racers]

Attendance 14,065

Not correct.

Attendance 12,500

Marketing department adjusted figure was 14,065. This is the amount of people who could have been at the game but includes those who were not there.

What goes in the record books ??
BBC have given 14,065 !!

[windermereROYAL]

Attendance 14,065

Not correct.

Attendance 12,500

Marketing department adjusted figure was 14,065. This is the amount of people who could have been at the game but includes those who were not there.

What goes in the record books ??
BBC have given 14,065 !!

Definitely looked bigger than 12k. Made me giggle when a Luton fan said there weren`t many Reading fans there when it was more than their entire capacity.

[West F]

Attendance 14,065

Not correct.

Attendance 12,500

Marketing department adjusted figure was 14,065. This is the amount of people who could have been at the game but includes those who were not there.

What goes in the record books ??
BBC have given 14,065 !!

There is a difference between the attendance and the sales figure. The sales figure looks better because it is always bigger. The actual attendance is still kept as a record inline with the requirements of safety certificate. It would be more honest to publish the 14,065 figure as a sales figure and not the actual attendance.