MATCHWATCH : Wimbledon (a)

[Clyde1998]

Not in a situation where I can do a longer post yet, but the lack of any real midfield was a serious problem. Forced us long and we weren’t going to win the ball aerially against their defence.

[WestYorksRoyal]

If we sign the CB and ST we need, mark my words we'll change manager in November and shoot up the table.

[Esteban]

Disappointed

Poor and uninspiring subs as well. A point away never a disaster but it’s still not really good enough

Don't disagree, but I'm not sure what else he could do with the players on the bench. I guess we could have gone 352 and been more attacking.

Our left hand side isn't good enough, we have no quality out there.

[Sutekh]

Disappointed

Poor and uninspiring subs as well. A point away never a disaster but it’s still not really good enough

Don't disagree, but I'm not sure what else he could do with the players on the bench. I guess we could have gone 352 and been more attacking.

Our left hand side isn't good enough, we have no quality out there.

Yes, Williams and Roberts are capable but not consistent enough and Kyerewaa can run but has zero end product.

[South Coast Royal]

At least in the games so far we are playing a bit quicker and even having the occasional passing movements but as the game went on we reverted to the hit and hope long ball to our little striker.

From watching on TV it is difficult to suss how some of the players performed but for the second league match Stokes didn't seem to be in it.

The two plusses this season are the new players down our right but regrettably we still don't make many chances (3 shots on target today)and other teams aren't going to be as generous as Luton were last week.

Watching McBurnie earlier for Hull reminded us what a difference a strong target man can make.

[Hound]

Disappointed

Poor and uninspiring subs as well. A point away never a disaster but it’s still not really good enough

Don't disagree, but I'm not sure what else he could do with the players on the bench. I guess we could have gone 352 and been more attacking.

Our left hand side isn't good enough, we have no quality out there.

Just bringing them on sooner would help. Didn’t watch but assume DK wasn’t tearing it up - yet he plays nearly the full 90 again. Going back to Savage/Wing just isn’t working either

[Brogue]

Don’t forget you can now rate the players on here as a new feature of the board that Graham implemented

https://www.royals.org/matchreport/2208 ... ing_0#rate

[Bristol Paul]

AFC Wimbledon 0-0 Reading: Plenty of the ball, nowhere near enough with it

Reading have their first point of the new League One season. They also have their first league clean sheet since March.

And yet it's difficult to come away from Plough Lane feeling anything other than frustrated.

For around 65-70 minutes, Reading were comfortably the better side. We controlled possession, dictated much of the game and restricted Wimbledon to very little.

The problem was that we did nowhere near enough with that dominance.

There was plenty of the ball, plenty of neat possession and some promising build-up play, particularly down the right in the first half. But once again there were too many sideways passes, too many promising situations that fizzled out and nowhere near enough ruthlessness when we got into attacking positions.

The statistics tell part of the story. Reading finished with 63% possession, 12 attempts to Wimbledon's three and 33 touches inside the opposition penalty area.

But the most important statistic remained stubbornly at zero.

For a side with genuine promotion ambitions, that's disappointing.

This isn't disrespectful to Wimbledon either. They'll fight for every point this season and Plough Lane isn't necessarily an easy place to go. But they finished 19th last year, survived by four points and came into this season widely expected to be battling towards the bottom again.

If we're serious when we keep talking about promotion, these are the sorts of games we need to be winning.

What was perhaps more concerning was the way the game changed late on.

Andy Rinomhota had quietly been doing an important job alongside Lewis Wing in midfield, and his withdrawal for Charlie Savage after 65 minutes appeared to coincide with Reading losing their grip on proceedings.

From having controlled most of the afternoon, suddenly Wimbledon were growing into it.

By the closing stages it wasn't Reading throwing everything forward looking for the winner. It was Wimbledon who looked increasingly likely to nick it.

That will inevitably raise more questions about Leam Richardson's in-game management.

It's only two league matches, so nobody should be drawing definitive conclusions in August. But there is already an uncomfortable theme developing.

Against Luton, Reading were excellent in the first half, led 3-1 and somehow lost 4-3 after a disastrous second-half collapse.

Today wasn't anywhere near as dramatic, but again Reading's influence diminished as the game progressed.

Supporter reaction throughout the second half increasingly reflected that frustration: too much sideways football, abandoning a right-hand side that had looked threatening earlier in the game, eventually resorting to hopeful long balls and, most concerningly, the feeling that we'd stopped trying to win the game and started trying not to lose it.

That cannot become a habit.

There is also an interesting conversation developing around Lewis Wing.

Today was his 150th Reading appearance and nobody needs reminding what an outstanding player he's been for this football club. He's rescued us too many times to count and, at his best, remains one of the finest midfielders in League One.

But he doesn't currently look himself.

The recurring opinion among supporters isn't really criticism of Wing. It's concern for him.

He looks tired. His influence hasn't been what we've become accustomed to and there is a legitimate question about whether we're simply asking too much of him. Reading shouldn't be frightened of occasionally taking one of their best players out of the firing line if that's what he needs.

At the other end of the milestone scale, Joel Pereira made his 100th Reading appearance and finally had a clean sheet to celebrate.

And that shouldn't be dismissed.

Reading's previous league clean sheet came all the way back in March, in the 3-0 win against Wigan. After conceding four against Luton last weekend — and after watching this team concede far too many painful late goals over recent months — actually seeing a game out is something.

The defence deserves credit for that.

There were positives elsewhere too. Reading controlled large spells away from home, created enough situations to have won the game and, defensively at least, looked considerably more secure than they did seven days ago.

But the bar has to be higher than simply finding positives.

The owners haven't spent the summer talking about consolidation. They've talked about promotion.

Those expectations work both ways.

If promotion is genuinely the objective, one point from the opening six available isn't the start anyone wanted, particularly when today's opposition are expected to be fighting a very different battle at the other end of League One.

There was also the small matter of Reading appearing in a new red, orange and black third kit for the first time — a strip which seems to have divided opinion almost as much as the football.

Personally, the football matters rather more.

The overwhelming feeling at full-time is one of a missed opportunity.

For 65-70 minutes Reading were the superior side and should have made that superiority count. Instead, we failed to find the finish, lost control after the changes and eventually reached a point where getting out of Plough Lane with the 0-0 almost felt like a relief.

A point on the board. A long-awaited clean sheet.

Both are welcome.

But for a club talking about promotion, the question is unavoidable:

when does the football start matching the ambition?

Wing tries too many Hollywood passes and needs to learn to keep it simple. Savage is always poor, just don’t rate the guy so when he came on we became ragged. Played well for large parts, but having no serious alternative to Marriott will always hold us back. Ward needs to cut out the long hoofs, totally pointless.

[Simon's Church]

That was pretty dire.

Wimbledon are odds on favourites to go down, and based on the first few games we'll be right there with them.

Similar to last week with a solid opening 45 without creating much (unfortunately not gifted 3 goals this week) before a complete shut down after the break.

Odd that Leam made such a noise about having a number 10 when our main tactic is for wing to drop into defence and launch a 50 yard pass over the entire midfield.

Didn't help that a number of the team looked out on their feet after 75 minutes either.

[windermereROYAL]

It`s really quite staggering to see people saying we should be beating teams like Wimbledon, we`re not entitled to anything and have been a basket case of a club for at least a decade, now we`re at the same level we shouldn`t be beating anyone.
I expect the Man U, Leicester and West ham fans and saying similar things, nothing is handed to you in any league, you have to earn it.

[WestYorksRoyal]

It`s really quite staggering to see people saying we should be beating teams like Wimbledon, we`re not entitled to anything and have been a basket case of a club for at least a decade, now we`re at the same level we shouldn`t be beating anyone.
I expect the Man U, Leicester and West ham fans and saying similar things, nothing is handed to you in any league, you have to earn it.

Read pretty much every L1 prediction article or listen to the pods, and they all predict Wimbledon going down. They could be wrong, but on paper it's a game a good L1 side has to be winning, especially off the back of a home loss.

Next up is Mansfield who have actually built a decent, experienced squad. So "teams like Mansfield" is more disrespectful than "teams like Wimbledon".

[windermereROYAL]

It`s really quite staggering to see people saying we should be beating teams like Wimbledon, we`re not entitled to anything and have been a basket case of a club for at least a decade, now we`re at the same level we shouldn`t be beating anyone.
I expect the Man U, Leicester and West ham fans and saying similar things, nothing is handed to you in any league, you have to earn it.

Read pretty much every L1 prediction article or listen to the pods, and they all predict Wimbledon going down. They could be wrong, but on paper it's a game a good L1 side has to be winning, especially off the back of a home loss.

Next up is Mansfield who have actually built a decent, experienced squad. So "teams like Mansfield" is more disrespectful than "teams like Wimbledon".

Most people have Burton to go down too, how did they do today?

[WestYorksRoyal]

It`s really quite staggering to see people saying we should be beating teams like Wimbledon, we`re not entitled to anything and have been a basket case of a club for at least a decade, now we`re at the same level we shouldn`t be beating anyone.
I expect the Man U, Leicester and West ham fans and saying similar things, nothing is handed to you in any league, you have to earn it.

Read pretty much every L1 prediction article or listen to the pods, and they all predict Wimbledon going down. They could be wrong, but on paper it's a game a good L1 side has to be winning, especially off the back of a home loss.

Next up is Mansfield who have actually built a decent, experienced squad. So "teams like Mansfield" is more disrespectful than "teams like Wimbledon".

Most people have Burton to go down too, how did they do today?

Yep, and that is a terrible result for Leicester. They should be beating teams like Burton.

[Orion1871]

It`s really quite staggering to see people saying we should be beating teams like Wimbledon, we`re not entitled to anything and have been a basket case of a club for at least a decade, now we`re at the same level we shouldn`t be beating anyone.
I expect the Man U, Leicester and West ham fans and saying similar things, nothing is handed to you in any league, you have to earn it.

Read pretty much every L1 prediction article or listen to the pods, and they all predict Wimbledon going down. They could be wrong, but on paper it's a game a good L1 side has to be winning, especially off the back of a home loss.

Next up is Mansfield who have actually built a decent, experienced squad. So "teams like Mansfield" is more disrespectful than "teams like Wimbledon".

Most people have Burton to go down too, how did they do today?

Beat a Leicester team who a lot of their fans are predicting another struggle, and this week rumours started circulating that they might be put into administration.

[WestYorksRoyal]

And also, I don't think we're disrespecting Wimbledon even based upon today. Did they ever look threatening or have a plan other than shithousing? They looked like a team who will struggle, but we couldn't beat them.

[Brogue]

It`s really quite staggering to see people saying we should be beating teams like Wimbledon, we`re not entitled to anything and have been a basket case of a club for at least a decade, now we`re at the same level we shouldn`t be beating anyone.
I expect the Man U, Leicester and West ham fans and saying similar things, nothing is handed to you in any league, you have to earn it.

Maybe the fans have an expectation to win games like this because the owners said we are aiming for promotion.

[traff]

It`s really quite staggering to see people saying we should be beating teams like Wimbledon, we`re not entitled to anything and have been a basket case of a club for at least a decade, now we`re at the same level we shouldn`t be beating anyone.
I expect the Man U, Leicester and West ham fans and saying similar things, nothing is handed to you in any league, you have to earn it.

I agree with that, with the caveat that having just watched them, any team with genuine promotion ambitions should have beaten them today. They are simply not a good team.

[Brogue]

If we can’t expect to beat Wimbledon who can we expect to beat then? It’s not unrealistic for a side expecting to finish in the top 6 (not my words - rob couhig’s words) to beat a side that’s going to finish in the bottom 6. By Windermere’s logic, no side can expect to beat any side because you have to earn it.

[WestYorksRoyal]

So we're not allowed to expect to beat anyone? It's nothing to do with being in the Premier League once and having c. 20 years in the top 2 tiers. It's that we have good L1 players like Marriott, O'Connor, Dokes, Wing, Lane, Lisbie etc., who while all not in form would all be an upgrade of the players that teams like Wimbledon have available due to differences in budget. They may be more cohesive and better coached, but in that case we are under achieving and the manager should be held to account.

Consistency is hard and what is great about L1 is its unpredictability, so perhaps this is just one underwhelming result and we'll have better days against the likes of Burton and Cambridge. But we have 1 point from 2 games and this was a winnable fixture. If you throw away a 2 goal lead one week, you lose wiggle room to have a bad result against a lesser team the next.

[South Coast Royal]

So we're not allowed to expect to beat anyone? It's nothing to do with being in the Premier League once and having c. 20 years in the top 2 tiers. It's that we have good L1 players like Marriott, O'Connor, Dokes, Wing, Lane, Lisbie etc., who while all not in form would all be an upgrade of the players that teams like Wimbledon have available due to differences in budget. They may be more cohesive and better coached, but in that case we are under achieving and the manager should be held to account.

Consistency is hard and what is great about L1 is its unpredictability, so perhaps this is just one underwhelming result and we'll have better days against the likes of Burton and Cambridge. But we have 1 point from 2 games and this was a winnable fixture. If you throw away a 2 goal lead one week, you lose wiggle room to have a bad result against a lesser team the next.

I'm not sure I agree with you that O'Connor and Lane are good players but our expectation is at least top 6 or 7 whereas Wimbledon's is anything better than 21st.