It's not always someone's fault.

[Millsy]

did they outplay us in the 2nd half today???,

They didn't need to. 0-2 and job done.

Try telling that to Quinn and Gooding...

[Arch]

did they outplay us in the 2nd half today???,

They didn't need to. 0-2 and job done.

Try telling that to Quinn and Gooding...

Or our rivals Sheff U and Fulham who have each come back from 0-2 in the waining moments this season.

[Huntley & Palmer]

This was an Everton side that had not won away from home since Tottenham way back near the start of the season. Andy Johnson was obviously wound up for the game, as he always is against us, but there can be no apology for the poor passing and control during the game. I lost count of how many scuffed clearances and passes went straight to the opposition. This must have been the defences poorest game since I can remember, certainly in it's current guise.

[RoyalBlue]

Sadly Ivar was shown up for both goals today. Dropped too far off Johnson for the first (too late to point to him when the ball is at his feet I'm afraid Ivar) and then far too hesitant when the ball bounced up, allowing Johnson to nip around him steal possession before setting up the second.

[Royalee]

Sadly Ivar was shown up for both goals today. Dropped too far off Johnson for the first (too late to point to him when the ball is at his feet I'm afraid Ivar) and then far too hesitant when the ball bounced up, allowing Johnson to nip around him steal possession before setting up the second.

Further underlining how important Sonko is to us.

[Victor Meldrew]

Did you notice Sonko's feeble attempt to head away the cross?
Did you notice Shorey's pathetic attempt to tackle Arteta before he set up Johnson for the first?
I just wonder if the "superman" and "Shorey for England" chants are perhaps a bit wide of the mark.
Coppell did criticise the defence as a whole and presumably that includes our two wide men who offer very little defensively and a return of Convey wouldn't improve that.

As posted some weeks ago before this latest poor run I think our two central midfielders need more help as they are usually up against 3 most weeks.
Bryn for Hunt and playing centrally would be my suggestion (not sure Bikey in there has the dexterity) with Little staying wide and retain two up front.

[Royalee]

Did you notice Sonko's feeble attempt to head away the cross?
Did you notice Shorey's pathetic attempt to tackle Arteta before he set up Johnson for the first?
I just wonder if the "superman" and "Shorey for England" chants are perhaps a bit wide of the mark.
Coppell did criticise the defence as a whole and presumably that includes our two wide men who offer very little defensively and a return of Convey wouldn't improve that.

As posted some weeks ago before this latest poor run I think our two central midfielders need more help as they are usually up against 3 most weeks.
Bryn for Hunt and playing centrally would be my suggestion (not sure Bikey in there has the dexterity) with Little staying wide and retain two up front.

1. Which cross?

2. Have you not noticed that when we're trying to play the ball out of defence on the left, Hunt is always running away or inside and giving Shorey no options, meaning we frequently lose the ball?

3. Gunnarsson sadly lacks the pace to compete at this level.

[handbags_harris]

Bryn for Hunt and playing centrally would be my suggestion

No way, that would completely detract from the focal point of our attacks. We have a limited attacking outlet at the best of times (ie, not through the middle) so taking away one of 2 attacking focal points seems absurd.

[Victor Meldrew]

Bryn for Hunt and playing centrally would be my suggestion

No way, that would completely detract from the focal point of our attacks. We have a limited attacking outlet at the best of times (ie, not through the middle) so taking away one of 2 attacking focal points seems absurd.

So you haven't noticed our leaking of goals?
Very noble to play 2 wingers but nobody else does with Ronaldo having a free role and Giggs tucking in for Man Utd -two of the best wingers in the country.
It worked for us at the lower level but I fear that Sidwell and Harper are being overrun.
BTW you don't have to be quick to play centre-mid.

[latchford]

We were outplayed by a damn good team, with bags of Premier League experience who are very "streetwise" - remember not so very long ago they qualified for the Champions League.

So why do we always have to have all these post-match sessions of arguing which player(s) are to blame for the every defeat?

Sometimes it's just that we've played against a better team - we're playing in the most competitive league in the world, and it'll take us quite a few years to get to a consistent standard in it, so remember - we can't win them all, for every match there must be a loser as well as a winner, sometimes that'll be us - and CHILLAX!

No they didn't they lost 5 niLOL in the qualifier.

In one week, out the next
In one week, out the next
In one week, out the next
Everton in europe.

No we lost 4-2 on agg to Villarreal who went on to get knocked out in the semi-final of the competition against Arsenal.

[silas]

We cannot give 110% in every game

Yes we can, I would expect nothing less from any player that pulls on a Reading shirt.

[papereyes]

Oooh, a bit late but I get to add my tuppence.

1) That was poor. That was really poor.

I don't care how well we've played in games before that, that was poor. Stuffing Spurs does not make that game any different - it just makes the defeat less relevent.

We played like a shit midtable Premiership side without the tough midfield needed to do so. We didn't get the ball to our widemen enough and kept on playing it long. Seol plays well deeper, yet we rely on attributes he and Doyle, although to a lesser extent, do not have.

If we are going to play like that, then we NEED Kitson. I'd rather play better and not rely on someone who has played a half of football. Lita might be a replacement but for 45 minutes at a time.

2) We've been Prozoned.

IMO.

Now both Moyes and Hughes have got the better of us tactically.

Coppell warned about being analysed to death and the things we were doing right, that sides didn't expect, will be known about.

3) We didn't learn from last week.

Again, IMO.

I heard that Murty had said that the side had simply not turned up in the second half last week. I didlike that view - something changes, a proactive move by the opposition, people run less hard, something.

And I saw the same performance this week as last.

Similar mistakes, similar lapses, CHRIST WHAT HAPPENED ON OUR LEFT FLANK FOR THEIR SECOND???. To me that is indefensible.

I expect to be beaten by better sides, I expect 15 of those, at least, this season.

And I can rationalise defeats, make them makes sense in a context.

I'm not expecting every game to be easy, or a win.

But I expect a side to try, to play football and to learn from its experiences. Sometimes, you don't do that. And you lose.

And I can't stand that.

[Victor Meldrew]

Did you notice Sonko's feeble attempt to head away the cross?
Did you notice Shorey's pathetic attempt to tackle Arteta before he set up Johnson for the first?
I just wonder if the "superman" and "Shorey for England" chants are perhaps a bit wide of the mark.
Coppell did criticise the defence as a whole and presumably that includes our two wide men who offer very little defensively and a return of Convey wouldn't improve that.

As posted some weeks ago before this latest poor run I think our two central midfielders need more help as they are usually up against 3 most weeks.
Bryn for Hunt and playing centrally would be my suggestion (not sure Bikey in there has the dexterity) with Little staying wide and retain two up front.

Same as last week:-
Bad error by
Sonko as he faces the wrong way and doesn't even jump for their first goal today and
Shorey gets left standing before SWP has a free cross to produce the 2nd goal.
Having said that about Sonko I thought he played pretty well for the rest of the game.
Shorey however I thought was poor as his passing was nowhere near what we have come to expect.
Bryn brought a calmness to central midfield and presumably plays again on Saturday.

[Platypuss]

Gunnarsson sadly lacks the pace to compete at this level.

Indeed. Ship him out together with Lita.

[Royalee]

Gunnarsson sadly lacks the pace to compete at this level.

Indeed. Ship him out together with Lita.

Did better today and he's not a winger. In a five man midfield he can do a job if he's played centrally, although if he'd been played on the left today we'd have been stuffed.

Good tactics by Coppell.

[Schards#2]

Did you notice Sonko's feeble attempt to head away the cross?
Did you notice Shorey's pathetic attempt to tackle Arteta before he set up Johnson for the first?
I just wonder if the "superman" and "Shorey for England" chants are perhaps a bit wide of the mark.
Coppell did criticise the defence as a whole and presumably that includes our two wide men who offer very little defensively and a return of Convey wouldn't improve that.

As posted some weeks ago before this latest poor run I think our two central midfielders need more help as they are usually up against 3 most weeks.
Bryn for Hunt and playing centrally would be my suggestion (not sure Bikey in there has the dexterity) with Little staying wide and retain two up front.

Same as last week:-
Bad error by
Sonko as he faces the wrong way and doesn't even jump for their first goal today and
Shorey gets left standing before SWP has a free cross to produce the 2nd goal.
Having said that about Sonko I thought he played pretty well for the rest of the game.
Shorey however I thought was poor as his passing was nowhere near what we have come to expect.
Bryn brought a calmness to central midfield and presumably plays again on Saturday.

So, you're not happy because our free from Brentford was beaten in the air by an £18,000,000 signing and our £25,000 full back was beaten once by their £21,000,000 winger.

Looking at the make up of the two squads, it is an utter miracle we got a result and to bleat about the odd defensive error is as laughable as Morinho bleating about injuries. Poor guy, he's down to his last 25 internationals.

[Crowthorne Royal]

Morning all. Well, what a rollercoaster yesterday and to come away with a point should give the guys a lot of heart. I thought Doyle was exceptional and did not look out of place at this level once. I also thought Murty's tenacity to win the ball for our goal typified the man's commitment and undoubted skill. Like all good premiership teams who want to stay in the division however you do have to analyze our frailties if we are to improve.
So not to be picky but 'Shards' your comments about cheap Reading players being mugged by Millions of pounds players is not relevant. If you are to play in the premiership you have to compete (Coppells mantra this season). Sonko has been found wanting in a number of games lately and I definitley agree that some managers are finding us out and we don't seem to have the ability to change things when this happens.
The bedrock of our success in our wonder season last year was not conceding easily. In the last 5 games we have shipped 9 goals and looking back to them I think you could blame Sonko for the majority of them. The other worrying thing for me is how many we seem to be conceding from right wing crosses that go between or over our central defenders. 1 vs Newcastle, 1 vs Blackburn, 2 vs Everton and 1 vs Chelsea. Considering the goals we conceded vs Everton I personally think it was very disappointing that Sonko let Drogba get the better of him so many times yesterday. The 2nd goal as other posters have said was very poor. Sonko had nothing else to do but mark Drogba which he failed to do. Pure & simple. Shorey was so easily mugged by SWP it was embarrassing.
There is a lot of talk about Wally Downes and how the defensive four take great pride in improving week after week etc. That's fine, but let's see some evidence of it ! We may not be 100% great against Man U's quality but against WHU on NYD there should be no excuses. We must win that game and will do so by not conceding sloppy goals at the back.
Great result yesterday....can we possibly do something at Man U aswell ?
C'mon URZ !

[readingbedding]

We were outplayed by a damn good team, with bags of Premier League experience who are very "streetwise" - remember not so very long ago they qualified for the Champions League.

Fair enough.

Problem is, we seem to be playing against 'damn good teams' every week. We allegedly played a damn good one last week in Blackburn (who, btw, got hammered 6-2 today ).

A few weeks ago, when our next 4 games were to be Newcastle, Watford, Blackburn and Everton, did you figure we might make a little hay?

Make a little hay?

So we cannot have bad patches when we don't play well?

If you are typing from Denver, you really don't have an opinion unless you see these matches.
Armchair fans are the worst.

If you have been seeing games, well you're obviously deluded into thinking that we would not slip up now and again.

[Victor Meldrew]

Did you notice Sonko's feeble attempt to head away the cross?
Did you notice Shorey's pathetic attempt to tackle Arteta before he set up Johnson for the first?
I just wonder if the "superman" and "Shorey for England" chants are perhaps a bit wide of the mark.
Coppell did criticise the defence as a whole and presumably that includes our two wide men who offer very little defensively and a return of Convey wouldn't improve that.

As posted some weeks ago before this latest poor run I think our two central midfielders need more help as they are usually up against 3 most weeks.
Bryn for Hunt and playing centrally would be my suggestion (not sure Bikey in there has the dexterity) with Little staying wide and retain two up front.

Same as last week:-
Bad error by
Sonko as he faces the wrong way and doesn't even jump for their first goal today and
Shorey gets left standing before SWP has a free cross to produce the 2nd goal.
Having said that about Sonko I thought he played pretty well for the rest of the game.
Shorey however I thought was poor as his passing was nowhere near what we have come to expect.
Bryn brought a calmness to central midfield and presumably plays again on Saturday.

So, you're not happy because our free from Brentford was beaten in the air by an £18,000,000 signing and our £25,000 full back was beaten once by their £21,000,000 winger.

Looking at the make up of the two squads, it is an utter miracle we got a result and to bleat about the odd defensive error is as laughable as Morinho bleating about injuries. Poor guy, he's down to his last 25 internationals.

Sorry Schards I think you missed the point mate.
I was just adding that both last Saturday and yesterday the same two players made similar mistakes in both games and in fact Sonko(having seen it again this morning on TV) failed to get the right side of Drogba for their second goal as well.
That's not to say that Sonko played pretty well for the rest of the game and I hope he does so against Saha next week.

BTW you forgot to mention that
Our £78,000 striker looked better then their £30,000,000 one
Our free transfers in Marcus and Little were two of the best players on the pitch and
Our two Arsenal midfield rejects looked as good as Germany and England's current central midfielders.

[Southbank Old Boy]

It's not always someones fault no, but you can, and should, always look to improve and learn from your mistakes.

We're not going to go through the whole season without a few defensive hiccups or the odd missed sitter, but we can't just shrug our shoulders and excuse it because of the cost of our squad!

More worrying for me than players getting caught out by good movement from opposition forwards is the defences reluctance to step out and make a tackle in recent games. We've suddenly started to drop deeper as a back four and allow the opposition too much time and space infront of our defence if they're running at us. This is why Emre had so much time to score the winner at Newcastle and why Bentley was able to run from the halfway line to the edge of our box before scoring for Blackburn. It's happened a lot recently and we're getting punished for it.

You can't allow players that time and space at this level as they are far more likely to ping one into the top corner than your average Championship player.