MATCHWATCH : Blackburn Rovers (a) sponsored by 3 league wins in 2018

[windermereROYAL]

Honestly I`ve almost forgotten the warm glow inside of a good satisfying win. 3 in 30 games, Christ.

[Hound]

Thought PCs subs were positive tonight - maybe a bit late as I thought they were on Saturday

I’m fairly positive on how we look going forward. I thought Bacuna did ok as a defensive CM, despite some poor passing. Moore was very good

Kelly just isn’t offering enough. Didn’t think he was terrible overall but his free kicks were abysmal, and he has such little physical presence he seems to get permanently over run in midfield

I don’t think we’re miles away but PC needs to pull his socks up and get his selections right

[leon]

2 up at half time and you draw because your captain - gives away 2 stupid penalties?

Not fcuking good enough.

It’s one self inflicted disaster after another. I’ve no confidence in the manager or this shambles of a team.

[Zip]

Thought PCs subs were positive tonight - maybe a bit late as I thought they were on Saturday

I’m fairly positive on how we look going forward. I thought Bacuna did ok as a defensive CM, despite some poor passing. Moore was very good

Kelly just isn’t offering enough. Didn’t think he was terrible overall but his free kicks were abysmal, and he has such little physical presence he seems to get permanently over run in midfield

I don’t think we’re miles away but PC needs to pull his socks up and get his selections right

We are not miles away. We could and perhaps should have won all four games. To have just one point is a joke. Clement has to address this second half issue because it is a genuine problem.

[Millsy]

Yeah well the glaring issues were to me a proven striker and a left back

We still don't have a fit decent leftback.

And Bod aside (who may be turning into something special by mistake) we've not really signed a proven striker, although to be fair we got two ok players - a player with a record as good as Long, who some of us seem to still adore, and a lower league good scorer.

I'm still shocked we really don't have a decent dedicated leftback.

Anyone we do get seems to get injured.

Injuries I think are probably the most telling problem for Reading in the last couple of seasons. It suggests either a horrific training schedule, club medical team, or is just a reflection of very very poor morale (poor morale/mood is well known to slow healing, or how quickly people are motivated to get better).

There's something not right at the club but I'm not sure it's a couple of positions. It's deeper than that.

[Brain Traysers]

Having seen the highlights the second pen looks soft - there is contact but only once he is already halfway through throwing himself to the ground. It could have easily been ruled a dive in my opinion.

That said, quite what the captain/most experienced player in the team is doing diving into challenges like that is beyond me. In both cases the player was not travelling directly towards goal, so I fail to see an immediate threat worth lunging in for.

[biff]

Both stone wall. Him and his pal Meyler are about 3 seconds behind everyone else on the pitch. It's painful to watch, and potentially quite dangerous for the opposition.

[Snowball]

Bod now 3 goals in 276 minutes = a goal every 92 minutes

He has to start as long as his scoring run continues

[Hound]

Don’t think there is any doubt about Bod starting for the foreseeable future.

[Old Man Andrews]

Last night is pretty easy to analyse isn't it? We have a brainless, over the hill captain who shouldn't be anywhere near the starting line up ever again costing us more points.

Get him pensioned off NOW.

[Vision]

MOTM - Paul McShane.

[loyalroyal4life]

Anyone think (as much as results) that PC loyalty to players may cost him his job?

Think it is evident that Illori and Moore should be given the chance to form a partnership and can be argued Mannonne needs to be dropped too, over 4 games it has been mistakes costing us rather than being outplayed!

[Old Man Andrews]

MOTM - Paul McShane.

Did you hear Gooding after the game? It was really embarrassing to listen to, felt bad for him.

[Stranded]

Well, that was fun.

First half, I thought we put in a pretty decent away performance. Kept Blackburn quiet and picked off the chances that came. You really can't ask for much more.

2nd half - almost lost for words. The first pen, looked awful at the time and watching it back now, I mean wow. He was going away from goal and reaching to even get a touch. There was also 2 other Reading defenders there who would have helped ease the ball out for a goal kick if needed. Suicidal decision.

However, to do that once, you can almost forgive it if we get the result. The second from ping pong after a corner was schoolboy. Again there were plenty of defenders around to crowd them out, block shots etc, there is no point where a decision to come off your feet from behind a player to attempt to win the ball is the right call. Any contact is going to send the player down. You would be annoyed if that happened in an U8s game.

Bottom line is this team is mentally shot - there is the nucleus of a good(ish) team there, certainly one that should win as many as it loses at worst but they simply do not have the intelligence/confidence to close out a game.

Blackburn had the grand total of 0 shots on target in the 2nd half outside the penalties. We should be sat here this morning stating what a solid 3 points that was and how we can hopefully get the season going. Instead, one player hits self-destruct and we are left wondering where that next win comes from.

Last night's result is unfortunately just the kind of result that a team that gets relegated gets and unless the mental strength of this group changes, I don't see any other outcome than that.

[Stranded]

Anyone think (as much as results) that PC loyalty to players may cost him his job?

Think it is evident that Illori and Moore should be given the chance to form a partnership and can be argued Mannonne needs to be dropped too, over 4 games it has been mistakes costing us rather than being outplayed!

I'm pretty sure Ilori would have started last night if it wasn't for the knock he apparently has.

[Old Man Andrews]

Seeing a bit of Mannone bashing this morning on social media. Not sure what he's done wrong really? Been solid since the Derby mistake.

[Hound]

Anyone think (as much as results) that PC loyalty to players may cost him his job?

Think it is evident that Illori and Moore should be given the chance to form a partnership and can be argued Mannonne needs to be dropped too, over 4 games it has been mistakes costing us rather than being outplayed!

I'm pretty sure Ilori would have started last night if it wasn't for the knock he apparently has.

I really hope this is the case and there is nothing more to it. Ilori has probably been our best player in Clement's time here. Unless he is 100% fit for Saturday, I'd bring in O Shea on Saturday and the cup game, make sure he is back for our next home match

Fair review from Stranded above. Now I've calmed a little, I think the majority of the team did little wrong. Blackburn ended up just hoofing ball after ball into our area, which in the main, Moore dealt with very well. Mannone made a great save after 10 mins or so, and then may as well have not been there for the rest of the game.

Other than the 2 pathetic brainless challenges made by McShane it was a solid away performance. The McNulty chance was prob as good as any other in the match, and he should have hit the target. There was some good interplay between the forwards when Barrow came on, and a front 4 of Bod, Baldock/McNulty, Barrow and Sims, with us playing a more direct style, should create chances (and unlike last season, we are getting chances and shots on goal)

PC has big work to do on the team spirit though after that. They looked pretty shattered at the end of it, and when your captain puts in a display like that, it damages the team. This is surely exactly the type of situation O'Shea was signed for.

[BR0B0T]

Injuries I think are probably the most telling problem for Reading in the last couple of seasons. It suggests either a horrific training schedule, club medical team, or is just a reflection of very very poor morale (poor morale/mood is well known to slow healing, or how quickly people are motivated to get better).

Injuries in games are doled out fairly randomly primarily through collisions

We may just have more players with an unforeseen propensity for injury than other clubs (based on Gaussian type distribution of every player in the champ). There will prolly be another club attributing their lack of injuries to methods similar to those used by RFC

[Stranded]

Anyone think (as much as results) that PC loyalty to players may cost him his job?

Think it is evident that Illori and Moore should be given the chance to form a partnership and can be argued Mannonne needs to be dropped too, over 4 games it has been mistakes costing us rather than being outplayed!

I'm pretty sure Ilori would have started last night if it wasn't for the knock he apparently has.

I really hope this is the case and there is nothing more to it. Ilori has probably been our best player in Clement's time here. Unless he is 100% fit for Saturday, I'd bring in O Shea on Saturday and the cup game, make sure he is back for our next home match

Fair review from Stranded above. Now I've calmed a little, I think the majority of the team did little wrong. Blackburn ended up just hoofing ball after ball into our area, which in the main, Moore dealt with very well. Mannone made a great save after 10 mins or so, and then may as well have not been there for the rest of the game.

Other than the 2 pathetic brainless challenges made by McShane it was a solid away performance. The McNulty chance was prob as good as any other in the match, and he should have hit the target. There was some good interplay between the forwards when Barrow came on, and a front 4 of Bod, Baldock/McNulty, Barrow and Sims, with us playing a more direct style, should create chances (and unlike last season, we are getting chances and shots on goal)

PC has big work to do on the team spirit though after that. They looked pretty shattered at the end of it, and when your captain puts in a display like that, it damages the team. This is surely exactly the type of situation O'Shea was signed for.

Think McNulty would have hit the target if it had been a couple of mins later, pretty sure it was his first touch?

There are a lot of positives from last night but as I mentioned mental weakness is only a second away. Apart from McShane forgetting you can't kick people, defensively we were pretty solid.

Liked the look of Sims in his cameo. Would like to see Barrow and Sims start at Villa, we are likely to have to play on the break and their pace will be key to that.

[Sutekh]

2 up at half time and you draw because your captain - gives away 2 stupid penalties?

Not fcuking good enough.

It’s one self inflicted disaster after another. I’ve no confidence in the manager or this shambles of a team.

One of those penalties was highly doubtful and very probably the referee got it wrong. However Paul McShane gave the referee a decision to make so one bad decision looks to have been compounded by another.

Let's not forget the McShane probably feels like **** this morning and while he's made a couple of costly mistakes he hardly deliberately set out to do that. It's honest errors he's made in effort to prevent goals. Just appears to be that Reading are getting more than their fair share of these cock ups at the moment.

You can equally point fingers at other contributions made by members of the team, poor decisions at dead ball situations, poor passing, not enough movement etc.

And while we're all singing the praises of Ilori at the moment let's not forget he has had his less than convincing moments over the last year or two as well.

At the end of the day we have a point more than we set out with yesterday so at least that's something. Luck has to change at some point if you keep asking the right questions and at least Reading seem capable of doing that this time round.

I actually hope McShane plays against Villa and turns in a real MoM performance for the sake of him if not the team.