Draw At Millwall Ends Run Of Defeats

Ok, as there isn't one yet, here goes...
Disappointing that we didn't win but on balance many positives, away point, defence looked very solid, Rafa back to his best.
Rafael 8. Yes I know, this will raise eyebrows and it's probably a reaction to the negativity towards him here, but he showed us how important he is with one fantastic save to tip over the bar what should've been a certain goal. I was upset at him just standing there for their goal, but looking at replays I think it that's harsh

Holmes - 8 another big positive. Unfair on Esteves I know as he was probably encouraged to go forward more, but Holmes is one solid big tough gutsy defender. He worked his bollox off and his passion really showed. Some great interceptions, brilliant little moves. The place is his to lose for sure. At the risk of sounding like our resident Nazi troll tosser, I'd rather see our homegrown players develop than be a training platform for foreign wonderkids who'll bugger off after making a tonne of mistakes with us.

M&M - 6.5 actually I can't fault them, they did a good enough job. I know we let a goal in but that was a phenomenal set piece. in open play the back 5 looked very solid and I'm delighted at that.

Richards - 6.5 See above

Rino - 7. Immense. Really good performance all round

Laurent - 8 Immense+ The guy doesn't stop running. Back to his best.

Semedo - 5.5 I thought he was disappointing, not up to his usual high standard at all. Nowhere to be seen most of the time but then did pop up with some good bits at times

Ejaria - 5 I feel bad giving my boyfriend such a low score, but I'm sorry it just wasn't his night last night

Meite - 6 Disappointing for him, but a much needed return.

Joao - 7 His goal was brilliant, harder than the chance he missed. Generally a real pest all game for them. I love the guy.
Subs//
Olise - 5 Sorry I just didn't see anything good from him. Seemed like a different player to usual, strange passes to noone.

Baldock - N/A Maybe someone can teach me something here, but I've never understood substitutions with 30seconds to go. Ok it turned out to be 5mins stoppage but still. I understand there can be reasons like injury, or you've just gone behind/ahead, but when it's just been same-old for ages I dont' see why suddenly with 30s to go we feel swapping a player is going to benefit anyone. If it's a good idea it's a good idea with 15mins to go, not 30s.
Pauno - 6. He rightly took Semedo off. He rightly brought Holmes in and drummed into him he needs to defend. He rightly got the boys to look for a winner. He rightly didn't drop Rafael and that paid off and hopefully will continue to. But I can't be too excited about a 1-1 draw with Millwall hence 6. He set his own bar too high.
Ref - 4 He seemed to miss so much for both sides, I don't understand it.
Talking points
1) Seemed a definite penalty for us, Joao was dragged down inside the box, how it was a FK outside I just don't understand
2) Holmes could be a rising star
3) Olise and Ejaria in danger of getting complacent

Good post and agree with all the player assessments apart from Holmes who was probably closer to a 7, and Olise

You must have missed our goal if you didn’t see anything good from him!

and the ball to Joao at the end

Cabral - 7 top save from Bod and no howlers

Holmes - 6 mostly solid but lost his man twice in the box which could easily have been punished and wasn't. New Dim Tellor unjustified love target. :roll:

Richards - 7 good game and some very tidy moments

Moore - 7 solid game

Morrison - 7 solid game

Laurent - 7(MotM) good showing again

Rino - 7 not quite at his best and conceded the fk, but good enough

Ejaria - 6 slow plays, over plays and falls over too much, not his game but always capable of creating something and hurting the opposition

Meite - 6 didn't really happen for him

Semedo - 5 mix of tidy and missing, but with a lot more missing from a lot earlier than normal

Joao - 7 scored and could have won it between large swathes of not a lot
Olise - 8 was not involved enough but was at the heart of our best chances.

Baldock - n/a didn't really have an impact

Laughable. Holmes was the MOTM.

The foul on Joao started outside the box, he only fell inside
The only pass to no one I remember from Olise was when Joao gave him an unexpected and and awful pass he had to volley out to the right wing.

I will post in here...
Absolute dire game and dire performance.
Keeper not to blame for free kick it was just a great goal end of.

It was never a free kick in first place.

Semedo, just don’t get him. Defensive midfielder playing forward and not doing either roles. Players just glide past him.

We need a better system. We are neither a width team nor have players who take the ball driving forward from the middle. So frustrating to watch.

Passes underhit or just wayward.

Let’s be honest, they missed two sitters and we have no sitters to talk about.

I was just incredibly frustrated after last night. It’s the fact the club teased us with this start but (and I want to be wrong) we are currently bang average with a lot of other bang average clubs.

However that’s an improvement on last season.
Enjoy your week.

The foul on Joao started outside the box, he only fell inside
The only pass to no one I remember from Olise was when Joao gave him an unexpected and and awful pass he had to volley out to the right wing.

The pass from Olise for our goal was an absolute beauty. As you both missed it (or misidentified who it was from), here it is. Feast for the eyes.

https://twitter.com/ReadingFC/status/1331901751906201600

and the ball to Joao at the end

Fair.
Thanks for the reminders.

Joao - that's what I originally thought but replays suggested to be it started pretty much on the line and continued over the line before he then fell in the box.

The foul on Joao started outside the box, he only fell inside
The only pass to no one I remember from Olise was when Joao gave him an unexpected and and awful pass he had to volley out to the right wing.

The pass from Olise for our goal was an absolute beauty. As you both missed it (or misidentified who it was from), here it is. Feast for the eyes.

https://twitter.com/ReadingFC/status/1331901751906201600
Er... I didn't miss it, that bold bit wasn't anything to do with the goal

Joao - that's what I originally thought but replays suggested to be it started pretty much on the line and continued over the line before he then fell in the box.
No chance. Thought the reverse so watched the in game replay carefully.

Joao - that's what I originally thought but replays suggested to be it started pretty much on the line and continued over the line before he then fell in the box.
No chance. Thought the reverse so watched the in game replay carefully.

You must be right because no one seemed to claim for it, and T&M didn't suggest it. I remember just being quite surprised by it seeing the replay a couple of times.

No chance. Thought the reverse so watched the in game replay carefully.

You must be right because no one seemed to claim for it, and T&M didn't suggest it. I remember just being quite surprised by it seeing the replay a couple of times.
Zip put me right in no uncertain terms. :lol:

Actually shouldn’t Joao’s goal technically be credited as a Białkowski og?

Ejaria had a very poor night - would personally have taken him off and brought on Aluko.
Holmes solid. Olise mixed bunch - brilliant assist and then some weird over the top high risk passes.
Richards again brilliant. I was worried before the season he would be our weak link. Now I'm pretty sure he's our best player and considering his age I genuinely think he could be a top top prem player.

Don't think so no.

err why?

Don't think so no.
Only if the shot was off target.

Once again, Ovie was unimpressive last night. For his 5% of brilliance and moments of creative inspiration we're really toiling through the 95% of slow, overcomplicated gifting of the ball to the opposition, shanking/pulling selfish shots high/wide and generally killing momentum.
He's not a LW, Semedo isn't an AM. I'm not sure why Pauno keeps hoping otherwise.

Test

One last talking of absolutely zero significance. Who is BodvarDson?
Dellor seems to have invented a new player?

Dont think his shots were wayward, well, they might of been but dont mind him trying. Agree with other parts. Rather stick him in middle where Semedo is as i am struggling to see what he is bringing to his team or what his role is. He is so easy to get past and runs like a trawler in chasing back.

Dont think his shots were wayward, well, they might of been but dont mind him trying. Agree with other parts. Rather stick him in middle where Semedo is as i am struggling to see what he is bringing to his team or what his role is. He is so easy to get past and runs like a trawler in chasing back.

Shots was more a reference to his game generally than last night in particular.
Agree he and Olise should be fighting for or rotating the spot behind Joao, it's clearly where they're both best and where they actually want to play.
I'm equally nonplussed by Semedo. Energetic but ineffective.

This. The commentators on sky for the Bournemouth game kept banging on about how Pauno is known the play players out of position I.e Semdo but why? Just seems stupid to me.

The pass from Olise for our goal was an absolute beauty. As you both missed it (or misidentified who it was from), here it is. Feast for the eyes.

https://twitter.com/ReadingFC/status/1331901751906201600
Er... I didn't miss it, that bold bit wasn't anything to do with the goal

Sorry, I misread it. I was probably still in shock from the previous comment

Er... I didn't miss it, that bold bit wasn't anything to do with the goal

Sorry, I misread it. I was probably still in shock from the previous comment
Fair enough :lol:

I would say your edited version is pretty much spot on. A sublime pass from Olise for Joao's goal and another smart exchange with the same player that nearly saw Joao steal it at the death. That's the real plus side with him and why people clamour for him to be in the starting line up. However, IMO he was pretty disappointing for a lot of the rest of the time. I suspect VP and his coaching staff might have thought the same and will talk that through with him.
And, other than playing to the whims of of his expert goalkeeping critics, there was little point in Rafael moving for that freekick. Having lined his wall up to protect that side of the goal and positioned himself to protect his left, he was beaten all hands down by a great freekick that swerved over/around the end of the wall with pace. Keepers sometimes know when they're well and truly beaten and can maybe look more stupid by making a movement towards the ball and getting nowhere near it. As for the bloke who messaged BBCRB to say his granny could have saved the freekick - that remark was greeted with the cynicism it fully deserved from Mick and Tim.
Really late substitutions e.g. Baldock. Maybe to run down the clock (officials rarely add enough time), break up the other side's momentum?

In the case of Semedo probably because he's trying to kill two birds with one stone. He wants to do a bit more when we're attacking but realises that we still need to shore up the defence. Semedo has got some attacking ability as he demonstrated against Bournemouth but he's also strong and not afraid to get really stuck into the dirty side of the game, breaking up the opposition's play and helping to defend from the front/midfield.

I would say your edited version is pretty much spot on. A sublime pass from Olise for Joao's goal and another smart exchange with the same player that nearly saw Joao steal it at the death. That's the real plus side with him and why people clamour for him to be in the starting line up. However, IMO he was pretty disappointing for a lot of the rest of the time. I suspect VP and his coaching staff might have thought the same and will talk that through with him.
And, other than playing to the whims of of his expert goalkeeping critics, there was little point in Rafael moving for that freekick. Having lined his wall up to protect that side of the goal and positioned himself to protect his left, he was beaten all hands down by a great freekick that swerved over/around the end of the wall with pace. Keepers sometimes know when they're well and truly beaten and can maybe look more stupid by making a movement towards the ball and getting nowhere near it. As for the bloke who messaged BBCRB to say his granny could have saved the freekick - that remark was greeted with the cynicism it fully deserved from Mick and Tim.
Really late substitutions e.g. Baldock. Maybe to run down the clock (officials rarely add enough time), break up the other side's momentum?
late subs are used to both eat up time and break momentum and to steal extra seconds depending on how quickly the outgoing player goes off. It's why you'll often see multiple subs from the same team in the last few minutes rather than a double substitution