Back from the game

[FiNeRaIn]

Just got back a few minutes ago.

SHOCKING display. The team were completely useless today, wigan could of battered us. We need to get players in fast..
Not going to single out individuals as it was a poor team effort and simply looked clueless all over the pitch.
Positives however, our fans were once again great, embarassing wigan who led for most the game. Good turnout and got behind the team and made noise throughout, fantastic support.

Anyone else hear the nob slag off convey at the end of the first half? Shame he didn't reappear second half after the abuse he got.....oxf*rd.

Today we looked a side that is going to struggle im afraid to say.

[The Goat was fed]

Wouldn't have felt hard done by with a 3-0 defeat today. Only Shorey, Sidwell and Sodje emerged with any real credit. We couldn't hold on to the ball up front and badly missed Kitson. Doyle tried hard but Lita is just not the man for a backs-to-the-wall performance. As stated elsewhere, we looked tired and are crying out for a top class centre back and centre midfielder.

Our bench today was exactly the same as for most of last season - and if they're not good enough for regular Championship football, how can they be good enough for the Premiership? Nicky Hammond is, I hope, in for a very busy next week.

[Potter]

Agree 3-0 would have been fair, had Lita scored would have been a snatched draw rather than a deserved draw.

Thought he kept Long on the bench too (excuse me) long, should have made the sub with 15-20 mins to go.

[Thomas L'Heureux]

I've just got back myself and have one thing to say; Give Sidwell the earth. He has been our best player for the majority of our Premiership start and will definitely move on to bigger and better things if we don't tie him down soon.

He hardly put a foot wrong today - battled tirelessly to win back possession, used the ball well, and above all, was encouraging the team to go on and try for the equaliser by fetching the ball whenever it went out of play and tried to hurry things along. He has taken to this league with relative ease and has brought his all-action performances from the Championship with him.

I know it's early days but I thought he was outstanding again this afternoon.

[Mrs Butler]

I wasnt there today, but listened on Reading World..

Sidwell is one of our best players if not the best.. He puts in 110% every game, never gives up!

Him, Shorey and Murts have stood out to me last couple of games..

[Arch]

I wasnt there today, but listened on Reading World..

Sidwell is one of our best players if not the best.. He puts in 110% every game, never gives up!

Him, Shorey and Murts have stood out to me last couple of games..

Add in Doyle. I'd like to hear some views on Ingimarsson from those who went. It sounded like he had a couple of blunders but also shouldered a lot of important work at the back.

[Thomas L'Heureux]

I wasnt there today, but listened on Reading World..

Sidwell is one of our best players if not the best.. He puts in 110% every game, never gives up!

Him, Shorey and Murts have stood out to me last couple of games..

Murty was sloppy today but it would be unfair to single him out because we weren't really at the races today. Like Sidwell though, Murts puts in 100% effort whenever he's on the field.

Shorey and Sidwell have definitely been our two most consistant performers in our first three games. Shorey perhaps isn't the best defensive left back in the world, but going forward he's excellent and is a very neat and tidy player who doesn't look out of place in the Premier League.

[readingfc_4_life_and_beyo]

Just to stand up for him, IMO Harper was awful in the first half, but towards the end of the time he was on, he started to create things, and started to get into the match. Otherwise, agree with most.

Although, this is coming from someone that hasn't rated Seol consistantly good at any point this season. He seems to do the wrong thing quite often. Maybe i'm not (or am watching him TOO) watching him closely enough

[Finchley Royal]

Today showed again how much we missed Kitson. Well organised Prem sides can inhibit our natural slick passing game by shutting off all our options through midfield. When we've got Kitson we can vary the game more by hitting it long to him and having Doyle, Convey & Seol pick up the second ball. With Doyle and Lita upfront - particularly when against One Size and De Zeeuw - we ended up playing long balls that Wigan could deal with easily.

Wigan were much better than Boro or Villa.

[Thomas L'Heureux]

Today showed again how much we missed Kitson. Well organised Prem sides can inhibit our natural slick passing game by shutting off all our options through midfield. When we've got Kitson we can vary the game more by hitting it long to him and having Doyle, Convey & Seol pick up the second ball. With Doyle and Lita upfront - particularly when against One Size and De Zeeuw - we ended up playing long balls that Wigan could deal with easily.

Wigan were much better than Boro or Villa.

Sometimes playing the long ball is the best option. The problem we had is that we weren't hitting the channels. Marcus continuely punted it straight up the field, and after quickly realising that both De Zeeuw and Hall were far too comfortable in the air for us to cause a threat, we should've looked to get in behind the full backs.

I agree that we weren't allowed to play our high-tempo passing game today, so when using the long ball we should have been looking to feed our wingers and have the front men running the channels too, pulling their defenders out and creating space for the ball through the middle.

As it was we were far too similar with our attacks and it really was a case of food and drink for their centre backs.

[Dennis the Butler]

We need a leader in the middle of the park ... someone to hold the team together ... Sid's got the balls to do it ... give him the captains armband ... NOW !

[Finchley Royal]

They seemed to defend pretty deep for much of the game, so there was rarely room to get the ball in down the channels/behind their full backs. It didn't helped that Harper added very little until shortly before he was taken off. On the plus side, was generally pleased with Sodje.

[Thomas L'Heureux]

They seemed to defend pretty deep for much of the game, so there was rarely room to get the ball in down the channels/behind their full backs. It didn't helped that Harper added very little until shortly before he was taken off. On the plus side, was generally pleased with Sodje.

Surely they didn't sit deep AND mark all our options at the same time? There were times when we could have used the channels with a ball over the top but for some reason we just sent it hurtling down the middle. They were sat deep in the second half when we starting to turn up the heat slightly, but there was a few occassions when we could have got in behind them had we been on it a bit more.

I think this also has something to do with Convey. He's playing so narrow that he's basically a third central midfielder. It's conjested enough in there as it is, what with players not wanting to give eachother time on the ball, so why he feels the need to be in there is beyond me. When Hunty was introduced he hugged the touchline and played in his position, and this helped to stretch their defence which created space in between/behind them.

[Royalee]

Agree with Thomas L'Heureux's earlier post in that we need to give Sidwell a contract, even if it means releasing Sodje and Cox (both of whom are a waste of wages). He is the only player besides maybe Doyle who has been excellent in all three games. He plays like he wants the shirt and was the only player who didn't look tired today.

Our support was good, Wigan's was bollocks, their team was average, ours was absolutely awful and frankly it could've been 4 or 5. I'm afraid that we're lacking some serious depth and if we don't sign at least another two players besides Bikey (De La Cruz doesn't count because he's not good enough for this level IMO from what I saw of him in a Villa shirt).

Hahnemann:5 - THROW THE BLOODY BALL and stop hoofing it up the middle to two small guys when Wigan have Hall and De Zeuw - two of the most commanding centre backs around in the air.

Shorey:6 - Looked alright on the ball and only got done a couple of times. Given absolutely no support by Convey.

Sodje:4 - Well out of his depth and not good enough I'm afraid.

Ingimarsson:5 - Did his best, but without Sonks there he looked very vulnerable and lacking in terms of pace.

Murty:6 - Worked hard as usual and never gave up, but not good enough today.

Convey:4 - Shite. I love him to bits as a player, but he was Andy Hughes today. He kept coming inside, gave Shorey no help, bottled everything and hardly touched the ball.

Sidwell: 8 - He needs a contract - committed performance and quite honestly the only player on our side who stood out. Battled hard and didn't give the ball away much and was all over the place.

Harper: 5 - Went missing for most of the game and kept giving the ball away.

Seol: 4 - La la la Rougier. Class in our first two games, didn't even turn up today.

Lita: 4 - Didn't work for the third game in a row and I'm beginning to doubt if he's good enough for this level like Jamie Cureton couldn't quite cut it at the top of the Championship (at least Curo put some damn effort in though). Awful miss at the end.

Doyle: 6 - Nearly worthy of a 7 as he worked hard and had no support or service, but that's just it. Ineffective due to the above.

Subs:

Hunt: 6 - Worked hard, but he had all the time in the world when he got through near the end and yet still wanted more. Not good enough for this level but at least he tried.

Oster: 7 - Fair play to him today, I don't like him generally, but he put the effort in today and tried to make things happen. At least we passed it a bit more once he came on.

Long: 6 - Came on about 88 minutes too late - he deserves Lita's place.



The thing that really summed it up for me was that the above subs came on, who are either inconsistant, learning or not good enough for this level. You contrast this to Wigan's subs as they were able to bring on the likes of Connolly, Chimbonda and Kavanagh. No comparison I'm afraid - our full strength starting eleven is okay, but we desperately need better players to come in.

[Mr Angry]

We looked very heavy legged; I'm sure that having only 10 men on Wednesday played a part, whilst Wigan not having had a midweek game was clearly to their advantage.

That having been said, it was below standard performance by the team as a whole; had Wigan got a clinical finisher, then it would have been at least 3-0.

I was very unimpressed by them when, 1 up at home with 15 mins to go, they take off a striker and replace him with a defender!

That coincided with the only period of relatively sustained pressure we could muster and had Leroy taken his chance, we would have snatched an undeserved point.

We missed both Kits and Sonks today, but especially Kits.

Hey ho; lets learn the lessons as best we can, and move on to the next game.

[Finchley Royal]

Surely they didn't sit deep AND mark all our options at the same time? There were times when we could have used the channels with a ball over the top but for some reason we just sent it hurtling down the middle. They were sat deep in the second half when we starting to turn up the heat slightly, but there was a few occassions when we could have got in behind them had we been on it a bit more.

The more effective balls over the top/into the channels are going to have to come from midfield, rather than the passing skills of Ivar or Sodje. However, Wigan were pretty tight on our midfield, we were getting out-muscled and I don't think that there were too many occasions when we could play the ball into space for Doyle and Lita to run onto.

Hunt and Oster did do much better at spreading the play when they came on, but Wigan were able to snuff out the threat from our crosses pretty easily. We were just beaten by a better, stronger side who were sufficiently well organised to close down the game when they wanted to (with the exception of Leroy's sitter).

[Jerry St Clair]

Sodje:4 - Well out of his depth and not good enough I'm afraid.

I totally disagree. Apart from the mistake for the goal I thought he played very well, and looked pretty comfortable.

On the whole, though, it was a deeply depressing day. Wigan were crap, we were worse, and we still lost.

[Platypuss]

This an illuminating quote from Coppell:

Reading manager Steve Coppell admitted his team had struggled against the size of the opposition. "Man for man Wigan were bigger than us," he said. "Physically they are very difficult opponents."

Sounds like we never got control of the game in midfield because we were strongarmed/bullied out of it.

Looks like Jewell identified an improvemnt needed from last season nad has worked hard to toughen them up.

[Huntley & Palmer]

Some thoughts from me on this game and the other two so far :

Yesterday was like watching us in Division 2 again. No leadership on the pitch, not much of a game plan if Seol and Convey didn't work down the wings. Simply awful to watch.

Wigan had a game plan and stuck to it. Yes, it was ugly but it worked perfectly against us. Their time wasting worked, their link up play with Heskey worked, their midfield marshalled the game and their defense was a rock with the exception of the through ball for Lita.

We seem to be playing a holding midfield when the opposition are on the ball, we allow them to play across us at all times. There is no pressure on their midfield, perhaps we are too scared of creating holes by chasing them down. In my opinion this is not working, we cannot allow teams to play in front of us as they have the skill level in this league to take us apart. I noticed that Watford shut Man Utd down very effectively by not allowing them time on the ball.

What has happened to Bobby Convey, has someone abducted him and replaced him with the one we signed two seasons ago? He has done nothing of true note in any of the games and always seems to be caught drifting into the middle. I just can't understand it considering he usually doesn't leave the chalk line out there previously

We need a burly, strong striker up front. Whilst we are trying to play more football sometimes you need to mix it up a bit. Without Kitson we look a little lost, Doyler does his best and Lita struggles to hold up play. Neither of them got any real change out of De Zeuuw and Hall, perhaps an area that needs addressing now that the defensive problems seem to be sorted

[Im Spartacus]

7 Hahnemann, probably MOM, some great saves, no chance with the goal
5 Murty, didn't venture forward, looked outpaced by all the Wigan strikers
6.5 Shorey, a few runs forward
6 Sodje, got better as game went on
6 Ingamarson, did well in the air, not so good with players running at him
4 Convey, who ?
5 Harper, gave the ball away often, didn't see many tackles apart from foul on the edge of the box.
6 Sidwell, Best of the midfield, closed down players quickly and tried to join in with the forwards
5 Seoul, Not a bad start got predictable, and then faded
5 Lita, Kept on ging away pointless free kicks against kirkland at corners and should of done better at the end.
6 Doyle, looked lively first 20 minutes, then faded as did the team


6 Hunt, Looked more dangerous than convey in the short time he played.
5 Oster, very little time to show much
Shane Long, great bit of skill by the corner flag, cross straight at kirkland tho

Verdict, We looked like a tired outfit, Wigan had more energy than us, they battled for every ball and kept it well. We just didn't have anyone up front that could hold the ball up well, so that the wingers could get into the play. At the back we missed Sonko as Heskey was causing huge problems in the air, and to be honest we probably got off lightly with 1-0.

With Kitson saying on Soccer A.M he might not be back until we play tottenham november 12th, I wouldn't be suprised if Coppell went into transfer market for a target man

My 2 pence worth

Please tell me this was a mistake

If he gets outpaced by Hesky we are in trouble.