BFTG - Nottingham Forest

[Basingstoke Royal]

The main differences were that we closed down the opposition much quicker than normal and moved the ball faster.

Agree with most of the ratings. Thought aluko was poor first half. His confidence looked shot and he constantly passed backwards rather than running at his man. Second half looked much better.

I thought Edwards did a good job. Nothing stand out but won headers, broke up forest attacks and worked really hard doing the ugly things.

Bacuna - different class and MOM.

[From Despair To Where?]

Interesting re. Bacuna in light of the comments on A Villa site before we signed him as they were completely writing him off .... agree that he looks a class act and probably the best signing this summer, alongside Barrow.

But conventional wisdom says that there's no way a shit DoF like Tevreden could possibly sign them for £3m combined.

I like Bacuna. There's a drive and purpose to most of what he does, he's strong, agile, technically good and all with a bit of grit.

[CountryRoyal]

Interesting re. Bacuna in light of the comments on A Villa site before we signed him as they were completely writing him off .... agree that he looks a class act and probably the best signing this summer, alongside Barrow.

But conventional wisdom says that there's no way a shit DoF like Tevreden could possibly sign them for £3m combined.

I like Bacuna. There's a drive and purpose to most of what he does, he's strong, agile, technically good and all with a bit of grit.

Both Bacuna and Barrow have been head and shoulders above their performances at their respective previous clubs, though in Barrow's case it could be a case of loan spells where he want often utilised.

Bacuna's performance yesterday was absolutely class. Consistently made the right decisions and has the technical ability to back up his conposure.

One of my biggest gripes about the way we play is that too often we panick in our defensive third and hoof it away when there is a fairly simple outlet available to start another attack. Whilst it's better than conceding it invariably gives possesion back to the opposition and stifles our attacking capabilities. It builds pressure on the back line and eventually we concede.

What Bacuna did is how I expect us to defend, regain possession, have the awareness of where your team mates are and then play a simple pass and go from there.

[Hound]

Interesting re. Bacuna in light of the comments on A Villa site before we signed him as they were completely writing him off .... agree that he looks a class act and probably the best signing this summer, alongside Barrow.

But conventional wisdom says that there's no way a shit DoF like Tevreden could possibly sign them for £3m combined.

I like Bacuna. There's a drive and purpose to most of what he does, he's strong, agile, technically good and all with a bit of grit.

Both Bacuna and Barrow have been head and shoulders above their performances at their respective previous clubs, though in Barrow's case it could be a case of loan spells where he want often utilised.

Bacuna's performance yesterday was absolutely class. Consistently made the right decisions and has the technical ability to back up his conposure.

One of my biggest gripes about the way we play is that too often we panick in our defensive third and hoof it away when there is a fairly simple outlet available to start another attack. Whilst it's better than conceding it invariably gives possesion back to the opposition and stifles our attacking capabilities. It builds pressure on the back line and eventually we concede.

What Bacuna did is how I expect us to defend, regain possession, have the awareness of where your team mates are and then play a simple pass and go from there.

have a similar but slightly different gripe, and that is that we panic and go back to the keeper - which half the time causes more trouble anyway. Quite a few times yesterday the backpasses look very short. I don't think we hoofed it forward very often at all.

We should on occasion look to quickly change tact and hit a few balls long in the channels or up to the #9. Presuming we will do this when Yann or Dadi are back

Get your point about Bacuna though. Constantly kept a cool head and got us moving again.

[Sanguine]

Is Mannone potentially our best keeper since Hahnemann?
The guy looks a different class. No keeper is ever mistake-free, but he's a Premier League keeper, and looks like one too.

[oh_ROAR]

Without doubt the best performance I've seen this season.

As mentioned by everyone else Baccuna, Barrow, Mannone and Swift all quality, probably the best game I've seen Aluko have as well.

Not sure what Edwards brings apart from scoring the occasional header.

Baccuna played like a man possessed, loved it after Swifts first he was straight over to the fans celebrating.

If Swift keeps in this form like the start of last season he'll be the first name on the team sheet.

Nice to see we don't have to have 4000 passes between the CB's to win and look good.

[winchester_royal]

Aluko frustrates me because I think technically he's a very very good player, but at the moment he seems to be lacking the confidence to drive forward with the ball and instead is constantly going backwards and not really affecting the game (polar opposite to Barrow).

Not sure if this is a deliberate tactic on Stam's part (wouldn't surprise me) or a confidence issue but if it's the latter then hopefully his goal yesterday will do the world of good, and you could tell from the other player's reaction how much it meant to them as a group that he's off the mark.

Aside from that, excellent performance based around fast, direct wing play - just what the Reading fans want to see.

[Marino13]

always thought swift was an
importanat player for us. last season
he scored some vital goals. i don't think
we would have finished in the play offs
if you took away his goals that won
us points. it would be interesting to
know - any statisticians out there!

[NewCorkSeth]

But conventional wisdom says that there's no way a shit DoF like Tevreden could possibly sign them for £3m combined.

I like Bacuna. There's a drive and purpose to most of what he does, he's strong, agile, technically good and all with a bit of grit.

Both Bacuna and Barrow have been head and shoulders above their performances at their respective previous clubs, though in Barrow's case it could be a case of loan spells where he want often utilised.

Bacuna's performance yesterday was absolutely class. Consistently made the right decisions and has the technical ability to back up his conposure.

One of my biggest gripes about the way we play is that too often we panick in our defensive third and hoof it away when there is a fairly simple outlet available to start another attack. Whilst it's better than conceding it invariably gives possesion back to the opposition and stifles our attacking capabilities. It builds pressure on the back line and eventually we concede.

What Bacuna did is how I expect us to defend, regain possession, have the awareness of where your team mates are and then play a simple pass and go from there.

have a similar but slightly different gripe, and that is that we panic and go back to the keeper - which half the time causes more trouble anyway. Quite a few times yesterday the backpasses look very short. I don't think we hoofed it forward very often at all.

We should on occasion look to quickly change tact and hit a few balls long in the channels or up to the #9. Presuming we will do this when Yann or Dadi are back

Get your point about Bacuna though. Constantly kept a cool head and got us moving again.

On your gripe I believe I have an answer.
Tactically we are set up to use the GK as an extra pair of feet in our own 3rd. He is there to drag opposition front men forward and shift the ball across the pitch safely. At a stretch he is to be passed to in times of pressure to ensure we retain possession. We have, in many games, been so poor that the passes back look panicked and make it seem (possibly rightly) that we have no team plan or that the players are not on the same wave length. Mannone is very good using this tactic. He is calm on the ball and a very capable passer with good distribution up field and the completely right attitude to calm the defense.

Where we have gone wrong using this tactic is that often we are too slow in reacting to the opposition positional change and I would put this on our midfield. Man City use the same tactic but obviously have such incredible players that they can stretch a team out with 4-5 passes in their own third then rush the ball up field in 2-3 passes and score. We are not far off being able to do that with Swift fit. Having that "enganche" is completely necessary for our style of play and we foolishly kept the same tactics without a suitable player.

Bacuna as well enables us to turn possession in our half into an attack very quickly with his direct running and physicality. He blew past a forest player when making his run. I dont think anyone else in our team is capable of that. Hes the perfect balance of quick and strong and will make a huge difference to our attacking style if kept fit and at RB.

I think going forward a lot of the passes we see going back to Mannone will be more obviously assisting our passage of play.

[Tilehurstsouthbank]

Wow! Where did that come from?! Great feeling to walk away from the Mad Stad not only with three points, but a genuinely good performance.

My ratings:

Mannone- 8 Some top draw saves and could do nothing for Forest's well struck consolation
Bacuna- 9 Superb runs down the right, excellent positional awareness and solid defending
McShane- 7 Solid, tidy and kept his cool
Moore- 7 Considering he played with stitches in his bonce he still won the majority of his headers
Gunter- 7 Looked determined to score against his former employers in the first half and is looking more than comfortable in an unfamiliar LB/LWB role
Barrow- 8 Great play with Swift for Reading's second and made plenty of positive runs
VDB- 7 one of his better games until his injury. We missed that holding presence second half
Edwards- A quiet game for the former 'Old Gold' but won his fair share of ariel duels and kept things ticking over with a neat short game
Aluko- 8 By far his best game in the Blue & White. Looked lively and did his fair share of pressing and defending. Was his goal btw as the shot was on target, just squirmed under the keepers' body
Swift- 9 MOTM Looked back to his incisive best. Two good finishes, inventive play and good attacking threat
Smith- 6 Felt a bit sorry for the lad. Looked lively, but got bullied by Forest defenders. Could use a L1/2 loan when we get Bod and Yan both fit plus another CF in Jan

Subs:
Clemment- 7 Looked quick neat and inventive. Could be a good second option as deep striker if Swift gets injured
Kermy- 6 Didn't have more than 30 minutes, but it's good to see him putting himself about again although I did shit a brick when he went down looking injured!
Beerens- N/A Not enough time for a rating but who is he sucking off to get on ahead of Popa?

[royalp-we]

Agree with most of the ratings on here. I thought Bacuna, Barrow, Vito, Swift were all brilliant.

Playing Bacuna / Gunter as FB's and Barrow / Aluko in front of them really works a treat. We saw some great overlapping runs (What a break from Bacuna for the first!).

I reckon Aluko is a bit jaded and needs a rest, i think some dont realise he's played a lot of football for Fulham and ourselves compared to our other attackers. Although after the break I'm really hoping Swift, Aluko, Barrow and Yann can form the threat we have been missing.

Edwards was anonymous, didn't do much wrong, but didnt get up the pitch quick enough. When Swift or or one of the wingers break Edwards or Kelly (when playing) really need to get up the pitch to support the attack quicker, instead of holding back as a safe option. That's what Joey / Evans are for.

Overall, a really welcome win. All we want to see is some chances created and purposeful attacks Stam, that was the difference to the Boro game. (Totally get hes playing the win down to keep players grounded though).

[OLLIE KEARNS]

A win and some positives but that was a game that could have ended differently. Reality is that their keeper had a shocker and ours had a stormer. Swap the keepers over and you'd have got a different result.
On the plus side we have 30 goals coming back into the team (Kerm+Swift) and that will make a huge difference to results. Add in strong performances from Bacuna, Barrow and Mannone and the we fall on the right side of footballs fine lines on this occasion. Even then, a possible penalty (will Van den Berg ever learn) and a great save at 1-0 meant that things could have been different.
On the negative side we continue to look weak defensively and Forest created numerous chances in the second half once they changed shape to have 4 players pushed on. Also, Aluko looks lost in the system. He needs to be running forward in the final third to maximize his strengths but too often finds himself in possession in our half where he looks extremely shaky.
Looking ahead I'd like to see Bacuna back in that central midfield area, (he was excellent there against Swansea) perhaps in the holding role as that is a big defensive weakness for us in my view.
All in all a good win but still a way to go before we get to fulfill our potential.

[Doyler]

In the post-match interview Stam seemed happier with the amount of possession we had against Middlesbrough than he was with last night's performance. Hope he doesn't revert to Plan A on Saturday.

[Hound]

In the post-match interview Stam seemed happier with the amount of possession we had against Middlesbrough than he was with last night's performance. Hope he doesn't revert to Plan A on Saturday.

God knows. Hopefully he is just talking BS. We were pretty good last night, and utter dog poo against Boro, and Im sure just about everyone would agree with that.

[Victor Meldrew]

Well that was a welcome surprise.
Play wingers as wingers, get crosses in after breaking quickly and we score goals.
A number of good performances that have kept Stam in a job.
It was a game we just had to win and if the players maintain the same level of commitment we should be o.k. for the rest of the season, if they don't we will be in trouble.

[From Despair To Where?]

Looking ahead I'd like to see Bacuna back in that central midfield area, (he was excellent there against Swansea) perhaps in the holding role as that is a big defensive weakness for us in my view.
All in all a good win but still a way to go before we get to fulfill our potential.

With Obita out for the season and Gunter looking more comfortable at LB than Blackett, I think Bacuna will be playing RB more often than not. Playing Barrow in front of him would me my option as he has played full/wing back and should be more comfortable covering if Bacuna bombs forward.

Most importantly though, we need a settled lineup so that we can start cementing partnerships on the pitch. We need a nailed on starting line up with a settled back 4 and maybe just a place up for grabs in midfield depending on the strengths of the opposition.

[Hound]

to be fair to Stam, when we seem to have settled on a line up which worked (Leeds) we then managed to get hit by a couple of injuries to important players - i.e. Bacuna and Dadi

However, there is certainly the blueprint for a decent settled side there. Obvs Yann comes back in at #9, but otherwise would happily stick with that lineup for the next 3-4 matches.

Shame Obita injured for many reasons - but if you paired him and Bacuna as FBs, with Barrow and Aluko ahead of them, that would be brilliant to watch. So much pace, and crossing ability from the full backs.

[OLLIE KEARNS]

Looking ahead I'd like to see Bacuna back in that central midfield area, (he was excellent there against Swansea) perhaps in the holding role as that is a big defensive weakness for us in my view.
All in all a good win but still a way to go before we get to fulfill our potential.

With Obita out for the season and Gunter looking more comfortable at LB than Blackett, I think Bacuna will be playing RB more often than not. Playing Barrow in front of him would me my option as he has played full/wing back and should be more comfortable covering if Bacuna bombs forward.

Most importantly though, we need a settled lineup so that we can start cementing partnerships on the pitch. We need a nailed on starting line up with a settled back 4 and maybe just a place up for grabs in midfield depending on the strengths of the opposition.

I don't disagree with you, the lack of options probably makes it inevitable, at least until January. Bacuna has shown us what we could get from a top class full back and we'll benefit from having him play there in a number of ways. Maybe we could clone him and play him in midfield as well

[Snowflake Royal]

to be fair to Stam, when we seem to have settled on a line up which worked (Leeds) we then managed to get hit by a couple of injuries to important players - i.e. Bacuna and Dadi

However, there is certainly the blueprint for a decent settled side there. Obvs Yann comes back in at #9, but otherwise would happily stick with that lineup for the next 3-4 matches.

Shame Obita injured for many reasons - but if you paired him and Bacuna as FBs, with Barrow and Aluko ahead of them, that would be brilliant to watch. So much pace, and crossing ability from the full backs.

Bacuna was excellent at RB but if we can get some competent fullbacks he'll be an even bigger asset in midfield. Him and Berg / Evans / Kelly / Edwards with Swift should work a treat.

I agree with Platy (I think?) that Aluko doesn't seem to have found his place. He's one of those players who works hard and looks dangerous without consistently delivering IMO. I'd like to see him rested at some point soon and Popa to have a go. But not yet, got to stick a consistent XI out for a while.

Get Yann up to speed, Bod back and sign the second striker we failed to buy in the summer, along with loaning a left back and either a RB or getting Watson back and things could be looking very much up.


Can't get carried away though. It went our way last night, but we've still got big weaknesses and aren't in a good place yet. Expect more disappointments and poor performances. Just hopefully fewer as we begin to build something.

On Aluko's shot, replay and live looked dubious about being on target, i though OG personally.

[paultheroyal]

Getting the first goal is so crucial for this side. Opposition open up even more and we can exploit further. Last night a great example of this.

Thought Gunter was excellent and best game for awhile. Mannone, Bacuna and Swift also with the special mentions.

Agree on having wingers play as wingers but Barrow was shattered before half time.

Win our game in hand and we are 5 points off play offs - what's the problem!!