Bus From The Game - Blackburn

[sandman]

Akpan didn't play anywhere near as badly as some are suggesting. He's 22 and is still learning the game at this level.

[Handsome Man]

He is the official scapegoat at the moment, so his performance isn't judged on the same scale as the others.

[winchester_royal]

Don't understand the Akpan h8 either tbh. He was a collosus yesterday compared to the pathetically feeble McCleary who looked liked he wanted to be anywhere other than on the pitch.

[RoyalBlue]

He is the official scapegoat at the moment, so his performance isn't judged on the same scale as the others.

How dare you!

Jobi is this season's official scapegoat. I'm waiting for his crtics to claim that he left his bathroom running and, in doing so, caused the recent flooding across the Thames Valley region!

[Wimb]

Don't understand the Akpan h8 either tbh. He was a collosus yesterday compared to the pathetically feeble McCleary who looked liked he wanted to be anywhere other than on the pitch.

He was marked out of the game and totally shut down, hard to enjoy the game in those circumstances.

When that happens you need players like Akpan to make use of the extra space and be a bit more creative but right now that's not something he's able to do. Doesn't make him a bad player, nor does it mean he won't get better but for me he didn't have a great game, just a good one.

[winchester_royal]

Don't understand the Akpan h8 either tbh. He was a collosus yesterday compared to the pathetically feeble McCleary who looked liked he wanted to be anywhere other than on the pitch.

He was marked out of the game and totally shut down, hard to enjoy the game in those circumstances.

When that happens you need players like Akpan to make use of the extra space and be a bit more creative but right now that's not something he's able to do. Doesn't make him a bad player, nor does it mean he won't get better but for me he didn't have a great game, just a good one.

I think it said a lot that Adkins dragged GMc off after 60 mins with us a goal down and him being our most creative outlet for most of the season. He has a habit of going missing when defenders get tight to him and give him a couple of kicks, and when you're playing the system we are atm you can't afford one of your wingers to go missing. Compare him to Jobi, who despite having a really poor game by his standards, kept going throughout and was always looking for the ball.

Agree with your last point though, and this is what really disappointed me about yesterday's game, we still have no plan b. No different to where we were 12 years ago..if teams shut down our wingers we don't have the wit or imagination to break them down throughg other channels.

[ILoveMoonPig]

I completely agree that it was a frustrating match. The problem really was that Jobi obviously felt at fault for the goal and was almost trying too hard to make up for that. He was trying to desperately to score, rather than relaxing and playing calmly. In my opinion he's definitely still got the quality and can run at players with the ball glued to his feet.

I recon that our major problem is an inability to cope with teams who will just try to stop us playing fluidly and teams know this. The number of times we were on a breakaway and a Blackburn defender put a foot in for a minor foul, giving them time to get men back behind the ball and we were unable to get through. Being honest, did anyone genuinely think we would score? It just didn't feel like it was going to be our day, because Blackburn were content to sit on their lead, stopping us playing.

[Caskeys Lovechild]

It seems that no matter how long he hangs around for he will never recognise/accept that English professional football does not and will not operate according to his Auto-Trader rules of business. Football may be a business but it is not a business as Madejski knows it.

7 Top 6 finishes in the last 12 years suggest otherwise.

And speaking more broadly, the very existence of this football club during the worst recession since WWII suggests otherwise.

Business rules are very simple, and no matter what you believe, they DO apply to Reading FC - The only one which really matters, is that more money going out than coming in, over a reasonable length of time, means the organisation goes bust.

[paddy20]

Akpan didn't play anywhere near as badly as some are suggesting. He's 22 and is still learning the game at this level.

+1 he is calm on the ball and is always trying to make the quality pass, unlike guthrie who always plays it safe. On occasions he gets it wrong. Would rather have that than the boring slow football we played with Guthrie

[melonhead]

mcarthy - 7
gunter - 7
pearce - 7
gorkss - 7
obita - 8 great game, looked dangerous going forward and solid at back
williams - 9 superb in the middle, complete footballer
akpan - 6 started well but faded after the goal, like the whole team
mcanuff - 5 poor game,at fault for giving ball away for their goal, and then scored it, but never hid, and never gave up, worked incredibly hard
pog - 6 didnt achieve much
ALF -6 same

royston- 7 looked dangerous, and committed, and hard working, and a little bit mental
guthrie- 6 struggled to impose himself from deep
kanu-7 held ball up well

[ZacNaloen]

So on that hand ball, just watced the video.

he trapped it with his arm, can't make my mind up how intentional it was. As it was his supporting arm

[melonhead]

link?

[ZacNaloen]

Readingfc youtube channel

[melonhead]

[floyd__streete]

we are still one of the best sides in the division.....Thought we were clearly the better side

[P!ssed Off]

mcanuff - 5 poor game,at fault for giving ball away for their goal, and then scored it,

The anti-Jobi brigade out in force again!

[RoyalBlue]

It seems that no matter how long he hangs around for he will never recognise/accept that English professional football does not and will not operate according to his Auto-Trader rules of business. Football may be a business but it is not a business as Madejski knows it.

7 Top 6 finishes in the last 12 years suggest otherwise.

And speaking more broadly, the very existence of this football club during the worst recession since WWII suggests otherwise.

Business rules are very simple, and no matter what you believe, they DO apply to Reading FC - The only one which really matters, is that more money going out than coming in, over a reasonable length of time, means the organisation goes bust.

It doesn't suggest otherwise at all. Yes, it proves that Madejski's way can prevent a club going bust but it does not suggest/confirm that the rest of English top professional football works the way that Madejski favours.

You do not have to go to the extremes that have led to problems at clubs like Pompey but you do need to invest sensible and meaningful sums of money and, to a certain extent take a bit of a gamble - Southampton, Stoke, Hull, Swansea. People will understandably argue that spending loads of money on new players doesn't guarantee success but, when it comes to quality, generally you do tend to get what you pay for and therefore spending increases the chances of success. Furthermore, rather than spending on new players, how about spending to keep your best, rather than flogging off to fill black holes. I would wager we would be rather higher up the pyramid at this time had we kept the likes of Sig and Long (just two examples).

[melonhead]

mcanuff - 5 poor game,at fault for giving ball away for their goal, and then scored it,

The anti-Jobi brigade out in force again!

id have still kept him on tbf

[Ian Royal]

we are still one of the best sides in the division.....Thought we were clearly the better side

Reading: Blackburn
Possession: 55% : 45%
Shots: 18 : 6
Pass Success: 67% : 62%
Corners: 9 : 4
Fouls Conceeded: 12 : 20

I think that tells a clear story. As does our 1 shot on target to their 3 and the scoreline. They came for a draw and in hope of maybe sneaking a win. We couldn't break them down and create much in the way of clear chances and they got away with a near perfect away performance. On another day we'd have destroyed them. And were clearly the better team.

And we're still in the top six, kinda shows we're one of the best.

[M Brook]

The bus back from the game was a little subdued, not surprisingly. 5 would be the exact fare score out of ten.

The bus to the game was far more lively - 7/10 would be the ticket.

The team needs a decent driver and a good engine and the results will return. There are one or two journeymen in the team but we're going in the right direction. We all know the destination we're heading for.