Well it was better and a very good result;however the current team still look very limited.We had the bit of luck with the first goal,then a super goal when Barnsley searched for the equaliser and over committed.I thought they played better football than us;just couldn’t shoot on target to save their lives.It didn’t help that we just sat so deep.Confidence is very low.

IMHO

Rafael 7 One great save just before half time,and very brave a couple of times to pounce on the ball 2nd half.
Obita 7 There were a couple of times today when Jordan,really was a class act,but then let himself down,a couple of times.
Yiadom 6 Not at his best,but more committed than Wednesday night.
Morrison 4 How Mick made him MOM,escapes me.One horror moment in the first half,when Barnsley should have scored.
Miazga 6 Not at his commanding best,but good to see him back,and did very well,considering how long he has been out.
Rino 6 Struggled with an injury for a lot of the second half.Why did he stay on.
Swift 7 My MOM.Not at his creative best,but worked his socks off.The real team leader.
Ejaria 6 Moments of magic,mixed with the wrong pass or falling over.Put in a real shift though.
Olise 5 Promising,but he is still learning his trade,and didn’t quite hit his marks.
Puscas 6 Generally poor,but super goal.There is a lesson there.Dont play it into him,but rather use the channels,where he is far more effective.
Meite 4 Lucky goal.Not in great form.A long season taking its toll ?

Pele Didn’t manage to block all the gaps that kept on appearing second half.
Timbe Looks very quick,without really managing to stretch them.
McCleary The conditioning is gone but still a class act.

Ref.Not great,but we have had worse.

Tbh we needed a win today and I think Bowen set them up to make exactly sure that happened. We did sit too deep I thought second half, but they didn’t threaten in the slightest so it worked

Was similar to the Hull game I thought - basically handled them pretty well, looked the better team but the difference being we got the second this time

We looked a bit limited at times but played very much within ourselves. The attitude was good and nice to see Puscas get a quality goal

Miazga being back made a big difference and it’s all about keeping that clean sheet

Case of definitely will take the win and move on. 6s all round pretty much, thought Swift looked a class act and worked his backside off without it quite happening for him, but my motm

Rafael - Two excellent saves at the end of the first half. 7

Yiadom - Back to something approaching his best. Plenty of energy in defence and looked more comfortable with Meite ahead of him. 6

Morrison - Did what he does best blocking and heading. When he was asked to do what he's not comfortable with he played them in on goal. 6

Miazga - Great to have the big man back. Dependable as usual. 7

Obita - Some good some absolutely terrible stuff like losing the ball on the halfway line and letting Barnsley in on goal. Heavy touches in the second also put us in trouble a couple of times.

Rinomhota - His best performance this season by a distance. Lots of energy. 7

Swift - Dictated the tempo of the game well. A few unnecessarily complicated attempts at passes which allowed Barnsley to break but did well for the most part. Defended well. 7

Ejaria - Put in plenty of work defensively, especially in the second half nicking the ball at crucial moments around the box before Barnsley could get a shot away. A brilliant turn in the first half although tricked himself a few times as well. 7

Olise - A bit off the pace today. Has plenty of promise but his decision making needs to improve. 5

Meite - Won plenty in the air from long kicks. As usual some good mixed in with some bad. 6

Puscas - Brilliantly taken goal. Worked hard for the most part. 7 MotM

Subs:

Mccleary - Some nice touches, particularly for the Olise offside chance. 6

Masika - A couple of exciting runs, including one where Puscas should have put him through. 6

Pele - Did what he was put on for, restricting Barnsley to Long shots. 6

Shame the game fizzled out a bit in the last 15, as we seemed content to sit back and “counter attack’ to about the half way line, more defending 2-0 rather than going for 3-0. The main entertainment then was a Barnsley 13 year old taking on all of Y26...

Rafa 7 did nothin wrong. Great saves push him up to 7
Obita 5 sorry but I counted 3 dangerous cock ups from him. Our age long problem of not having a reliable LB since what, Shorey? Apart from the cockups though couldn’t fault him
Morrison 6 solid performance. One ridiculous cockup means I can’t give him a 7
Miazga 6 didn’t put s foot wrong
Yiadom 7 lots of effort. Did ok would be a 6. But a bonus point for his hilarious dive along the floor to head the ball off the feet of a Barnsley player. John terry would be proud. Absolutely brilliant
Swift 6 did ok some good bits of play
Ejaria 6 my favourite Reading player for the last few years. Much much better where he was. Some great bits of skill as usual but I wish he’d be a bit more confident going forward.
Olise 6 tried well, not bad. Some things didn’t come off for him but defo a star in the making for us
Rino 6 did good can’t fault him
Meite 6 as usual his effort and passion and willingness to help defence mitigate
Puscas 7 you play this guy for his ability to turn and create something and finish in those sorts of situations. Job done. And to be fair his hold up play has clearly been worked on. He’s no Joao but he’s definitely improving game by game in that regard.

Mac - 6 did ok
Masika - am exciting player. Did some magic a couple of times with driving runs. Not sure if he was just lucky but the ball seemed to stay with him as he went past players and made stuff out of nothing. Think Boye but with more speed, better at taking the ball past people and not the mandatory cock up at the end of a good move
Gomes - didn’t notice much of him tbh

Bowen - got it spot on

Club 1871 - did us proud well done boys!!!

Overall we played much better and I love that Bowen basically made the point to the rest of the no ones position is safe. No one can take their place for granted. Play shit and he’ll make changes.

Harte was a solid reliable Championship defender, if not a little slow

Obita used to be pretty reliable

Struggling past that

Harte was a solid reliable Championship defender, if not a little slow

Obita used to be pretty reliable

Struggling past that

Yeah I hesitated as I thought of Harte, but he got shite towards the end and at Wembley.

Miazga makes such a difference at the back. I think he and Morrison complement each other really well.
Still putting 11 men back in the box for a corner....what is that all about? Asking for trouble.
Good performance, plenty of energy but we still look way off being a decent side even when we win.
Not a bad crowd in today and loved Puscas jumping in the crowd in front of me. Worth a yellow.

Harte was a solid reliable Championship defender, if not a little slow

Obita used to be pretty reliable

Struggling past that

Yeah I hesitated as I thought of Harte, but he got shite towards the end and at Wembley.

He was class for a season, and scored quite a few.

Gomes did this too, there's no harm in leaving Olise up or something. Very unlikely he'll contribute anything in the defensive box and ultimately the ball will always come back at us if there's no-one forward

Really strange performance. Some lovely individual skill on show and yet some dreadful howlers too

Rafael. 6. Made crucial saves but distribution poor including one poor pass to Swift
Yiadom 6 Showed some lovely touches but also caught upfield on occasions
Morrison 5 Very lucky to get away after being dispossessed. Otherwise ok
Miazga. 6 Made up for indecisive moment with a good block
Obita 5. Bizarre. Lucky not to concede when he lost possession. A fantastic pass to GMac
Swift 7 MoTM Showed fabulous skills and passing on occasions
Rinomhota 7 Worked hard to close down the opposition.
Olise 5 Some good moments. Some not so good
Ejaria 6 Tracked back well but did keep falling over
Meite 6 Started well but was it really his goal?
Puscas 6 Lost possession on occasions but took his goal very well

GMaC 5 One or two moments where he could have done better
Pelé 5 Fairly quiet
Masika 6 Showed promise with some nice touches of skill

Dear god.

We need her on our side

Footballers falling over and losing possession on occasions shocker.

I do think the wind played some part in some of the howlers- couldn’t really feel how strong it was in the stands but it was blowing at times. Barnsley played some awful passes as well

Footballers falling over and losing possession on occasions shocker.

Well yes but he fell over on numerous occasions.

Barnsley were dreadful in the first half passing the ball out of play a number of times. Yes the wind did impact at times.

Footballers falling over and losing possession on occasions shocker.

Well yes but he fell over on numerous occasions.

Think you're forgetting this is WR who doesn't let you say a bad word against Puscas

He's much improved from a month ago or so, but as Bowen said, still got a lot to learn (which is normal for a player his age/experience)

Well yes but he fell over on numerous occasions.

Think you're forgetting this is WR who doesn't let you say a bad word against Puscas

He's much improved from a month ago or so, but as Bowen said, still got a lot to learn (which is normal for a player his age/experience)

My comment about falling over was about Ejaria though

Footballers falling over and losing possession on occasions shocker.

Well yes but he fell over on numerous occasions.

On a pitch that got hosed down by God’s own sprinkler system in the opening minutes

Think you're forgetting this is WR who doesn't let you say a bad word against Puscas

He's much improved from a month ago or so, but as Bowen said, still got a lot to learn (which is normal for a player his age/experience)

My comment about falling over was about Ejaria though

I think he was referring to your comments on both Ejaria and Puscas

Well yes but he fell over on numerous occasions.

On a pitch that got hosed down by God’s own sprinkler system in the opening minutes

No one was falling over anywhere near as much as Ovie.

My comment about falling over was about Ejaria though

I think he was referring to your comments on both Ejaria and Puscas

Yes you’re right. Perhaps we can’t make general comments about certain players and just say they were fantastic. As it happens I was delighted for Puscas. That goal will him the world of good.

On a pitch that got hosed down by God’s own sprinkler system in the opening minutes

No one was falling over anywhere near as much as Ovie.

Yeah, but then he has crane legs, and his playing style does require changes of direction more than most. Agree it makes a nice change from it being Yakou...

Ovie does seem to have developed an annoying habit of coming out of every 50/50 without the ball - one of the things at his best he does very well at

Tackling is definitely not his strength but he tracked back really well today.

Not sure about the negativity around Puscas.

I thought he played the (kind of I wasn’t sure if Meite was part of a 2 or not) lone striker/receiver of the out ball role pretty well. Better than he has in the past.

There was one beautiful moment where he killed a hefty clearance dead flicked it on to (can’t remember) and then Olise fired it over.

I thought he was good today and got better as the game went on.

Loved the enthusiastic goal celebration, too..

I don’t think he gets enough help when he is holding up the ball. 3 or 4 times he made a decent effort and controlling the ball, holding off the CB but ended up losing it through lack of options to then pass it off to