Back from the Game - Swansea (H)

[RoyalBlue]

Swansea were the same side they have been for a couple of seasons - pretty to watch in areas where it is irrelevant, nothing happening when it matters.

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Maybe you should try watching some park football or just take your blinkers off!

'Nothing happening when it matters' ?!! Perhaps you were too busy bowing in the direction of Madejski when they scored their goal then?!

They absolutely carved us open with a quick neat interchange of several passes (highlighted on the football league show). What's more we had had plenty of warning that it was going to happen, as they had already produced a couple of similar moves and were only denied by some last ditch defending. Likewise in the second half.

It was a playing style we've had before at Reading and one that Rodgers was clearly trying to recreate. Trouble was he wasn't given the time or the talent (in the form of players) to be able to do it.

What a pity that some supporters aren't at least prepared to acknowledge teams that play good, attractive attacking football - it's not Swansea's fault we are in the mess that we are!!

[glass half full]

That battle-hardened Sky Sports News reporter John Gwynne described the Reading v Swansea match as 'an advert for Championship football'.
The Championship is a fascinating open division with any team on its day capable of beating another. I honestly believe that we shall steadily climb the division under BMc.

[chilipepper91]

First half we were pretty terrible, Swansea's game plan was simple - keep the players makinjg runs, bringing the defence out of position and eventually the gap and the opportunity will come. And you saw that with their goal - Ingimarsson (I think) out of position, Pratley with a free run on goal and Federici again diving before the shot was even taken. Gylfi with a stunning free-kick to bring us back into it, after a good run - going in level was pretty undeserved but you have to say that it revived us. On a side note, anyone else notice their sub keeper going absolutely insane with rage after Gylfi's freekick, down by the dugouts? Not sure why it was, but it certainly looked a worse reaction than Churchy's which earned him a yellow.

Second half and a clear change in focus - Long out to the left, Gylfi into the middle. Worked wonders as we were on top for the first half of the second half. Long taken off after 55 for Kebe - another act of frustration from Longy, throwing the ball down. But he was terrible. Kebe was good, except for his bloody decision making - wide of the keeper, inside the keeper, squared to Gylfi and it would have been a goal. But no, straight at the keeper. Was surprised at McD's decision to bring off Long and Rasiak, leaving us with no recognised striker, but I guess his hand was forced by tomorrow's game and his change of formation.

A final word for the ref - I thought he was very good - played lots of advantage, which many people around me didn't seem to understand - if there's no obvious advantage from continuing the play, then go back for the free kick. In that regard he did well, as it meant play flowed. On the minus side, he was rather too easily influenced by the crowd and players' reactions.

Fed - 6 - too easily beaten for their goal?
Gunnarsson - 8 - before the match I said him vs. Dyer would be disastrous. But he did well.
Pearce - 6 - his distribution is woeful.
Ingimarsson - 6 - same as above. And they're too slow.
McAnuff - 5 - off day today - feeling the departure of Rodgers?
Cissé - 7 - hustled and bustled.
Matejovsky - 7 - assured in possession, one delightful throughball.
Sigurdsson - 7 - missing in first half (apart from injury time!) - he is not a left winger!; integral in second half.
Rasiak - 6 - led the line well, no real chances as I remember though.
Long - 4 - nothing he did worked.
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Kébé - 6 - livened us up, good runs, but woeful final decision making.
Robson-Kanu - 5 - ran a bit.
Karacan - 5 - again, didn't do much.

[Sun Tzu]

'Nothing happening when it matters' ?!! Perhaps you were too busy bowing in the direction of Madejski when they scored their goal then?!

Indeed, their goal was very well created.

Other than that, and what you won't have seen from your usual seat at home on the sofa, was the consistent pattern of play from Swansea which was a series of neat passes that created nothing. It's a style pleasing on the eye of some but if after 10 passes you give the ball away, or end up back with your keeper you have to question 'why'. They have a good manager with a fine pedigree and of course you can see what they are trying to do. Only an idiot (and of course we've found one !) would rave about them failing to achieve their goal (literally and figuratively). Despite their pretty midfield patterns they created fewer chances than us....and scored no more than us.

[North Somerset Royal]

It was a fair result and whilst there are still obvious weakneses those who keep saying its the same old story and dont recognise the changes since Brenda went are either finding fault deliberately or just do not really understand what they are watching. The big differences in our play under Brian are that we are playing much further up the pitch and tactical changes are being made mid game which actually make sense. For example yesterday Sigi was switched from the his wide role to the middle which nullified their playmaker and completely changed the game. Whilst we still lack a quality striker I find what I saw yesterday and at the Gate last week very encouraging and I hope that Brian is given at leat til the end of the season plus a bit of cash next month to buy a goalscorer. Cant wait to see more tomorrow.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

To be honest, Matejovsky is undroppable. He does give the ball away a bit too often, but he is the only player who can make that intelligent through ball or look for space.

[Sun Tzu]

. On a side note, anyone else notice their sub keeper going absolutely insane with rage after Gylfi's freekick, down by the dugouts? Not sure why it was, but it certainly looked a worse reaction than Churchy's which earned him a yellow.

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Church's reaction was against the award of the pen though, while presumably their sub was annoyed at the way they defended the free kick ? One a (technical) booking, the other not.

[Barry the bird boggler]

LOL at anyone who thinks our last two results would have been any different if Rodgers had stayed.

Same old story every game. Only good thing is that the most appalling run of home form in one calendar year that Reading have ever seen is well and truly gone at last. And after the routs we'll suffer in our next two home games, hopefully we'll start to get back to some semblance of a reasonable home team.

[Victor Meldrew]

It was a fair result and whilst there are still obvious weakneses those who keep saying its the same old story and dont recognise the changes since Brenda went are either finding fault deliberately or just do not really understand what they are watching. The big differences in our play under Brian are that we are playing much further up the pitch and tactical changes are being made mid game which actually make sense. For example yesterday Sigi was switched from the his wide role to the middle which nullified their playmaker and completely changed the game. Whilst we still lack a quality striker I find what I saw yesterday and at the Gate last week very encouraging and I hope that Brian is given at leat til the end of the season plus a bit of cash next month to buy a goalscorer. Cant wait to see more tomorrow.

My earlier point about that tactcal change with Sigi getting close to Britton was that it took as long as 40 minutes when any idiot could see after 10 minutes that Britton was running the show unchallenged.
Hardly a plus point to our new manageent team surely?
Also we weren't playing further up the pitch,in fact it was the complete opposite with Long and Rasiak having to come deep,much deeper than ideal.
Did you have too much cider over Christmas and before the game Somerset?
We were the team in the blue and white hoops.

[mikey0406]

literally a game of two halves, Swansea playing 5 in midfield in the first half run the show, Marek and cisse were mere spectators, as soon as we matched them like for like we got much more procession, created more and looked dangerous down the wings;

Feds: 6 - slipped and kicked the ball at the opposition which could of cost us on another day, some key saves but nothing spectacular
Bertrand 7 - calm and collective on the ball, limited there crosses from the wing
Gunna 8 - MOTM limited Dyer who last season caused Rosenior all sorts of problems
Ingi 6 - a player who seems a shadow of his former self, this area needs strengthening soon
Pearce 7 - our best central defender at the mo, won most headers, talks the players through the game
Jobi 6 - wasnt his best game, few loose crosses and didnt get on the ball enough, however he was almost man marked out of the game
Sigi 8 - knew when to cut in and when to stay wide, always in the right position defiantly a future star in a hoop shirt
Marek 6/7 - always a threat with his killer passes but a mere spectator without the ball
Cisse 7 - been impressed how his presence can boss the midfield with his strength and tackles
Long 5 - played too far apart from Rasiak, couldnt hold up the ball, lacked strength shows we need to strengthen up top
Rasiak 6 - the most immobile striker in the league but given half a chance he will force a save out of a keeper, needs a striker who can feed off him

[Royal Lady]

My gripe on yesterday's game was why we allowed Swansea so much space - no-one was trying to close them down when they were on the ball and for the majority of the first half, their number 7 wasn't even marked. Tbf, it did change second half when we changed our formation, but there still wasn't the "we want to win this, let's get stuck in" approach that I'd like to see. Gunnar was the only one out there who appeared to really want to win. That's what we've lacked all season. There's no fight in this team.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

Miracles do not happen over night but that was a much improved Reading performance.

The managment team did well to change the formation at half time to match up the Swansea system as Leon Brittan was pulling the strings with 50 yards of space to play in the first half.

A great goal fromthe Sig with an excellent performance from Bryn at Right Back.

[Tails]

Felt like a lucky point considering the first 45mins. Absolute dogs**t in the first half - gave them acres of space to pick a pass - and thankfully they were almost as tame as we have been in the final third. Second half was a revelation, not because of a super sub or excellent tactical nous, but for the simple decision to close down players - although we still have the utterly embarrassing problems up front, we did look slightly more reassuring when not in position.

January sales - striker & centre midfielder

Likely? Not at all....




Oh and this is the first time that I haven't been embarrassed for Kebe...

[Chaney]

Fed - 6 - too easily beaten for their goal?
a close range shot fired high into the net..he had no chance, and he kept us in it late onwith a couple of fine saves.
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Kébé - 6 - livened us up, good runs, but woeful final decision making.
you really cant leave this guy alone can you?..he was a constant threat with only a great block by their keeper stopping him scoring, add to that a great bit of trickery by the corner flag to set up a good scoring chance for sygi..yea he was woeful
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[OLLIE KEARNS]

Yesterdays game suggests we have a whole new set of problems facing us. Namely that BR was steadily building a Swansea type passing side but that we have now switched back to a more direct route but without the players to be effective. What we got yesterday was a team with some players suited to passing and some to direct and some strange performances as a result i.e Jobi. So, a hugely important transfer window looms in terms of bringing a bit of balance to the side one way or the other.
Credit yesterday to BM for the tactical switch as HT but you could also ask whether or not be should have a) changed earlier or b) been set up differently in the first place. I thought the first half was as bad as we've been all year.
Whatever you think of BR to give a manager just 5 months and then change direction is far more likely to add to our woes than it is to improve us. I only hope that we can manage to stay in the league this year and then establish some solid ground upon which to build.
Lastly, the saddest part of yesterday was watching Shane Long play. I genuinely hoped that he might progress into a very good striker but I think yesterday was the end of the road for him. Another reason why this window is so important.

[North Somerset Royal]

It was a fair result and whilst there are still obvious weakneses those who keep saying its the same old story and dont recognise the changes since Brenda went are either finding fault deliberately or just do not really understand what they are watching. The big differences in our play under Brian are that we are playing much further up the pitch and tactical changes are being made mid game which actually make sense. For example yesterday Sigi was switched from the his wide role to the middle which nullified their playmaker and completely changed the game. Whilst we still lack a quality striker I find what I saw yesterday and at the Gate last week very encouraging and I hope that Brian is given at leat til the end of the season plus a bit of cash next month to buy a goalscorer. Cant wait to see more tomorrow.

My earlier point about that tactcal change with Sigi getting close to Britton was that it took as long as 40 minutes when any idiot could see after 10 minutes that Britton was running the show unchallenged.
Hardly a plus point to our new manageent team surely?
Also we weren't playing further up the pitch,in fact it was the complete opposite with Long and Rasiak having to come deep,much deeper than ideal.
Did you have too much cider over Christmas and before the game Somerset?
We were the team in the blue and white hoops.

Sorry VM but as you were not at Ashton Gate I do not think you are qualified to coment on general trends in the pattern of play under Brian and interesting that Mick Gooding also commented on this on BBCRB after the game. You can argue that Sigi should have been switched to take out Britton earlier but I suspect that Brenda would not have recognised the problem. Also Brian explained his reasoning in the post match interview and at least he is logical unlike his predecessor.

[SteveRoyal]

Everyone saying Sigurdsson is not a LW - that's obvious. But the fact that he cuts in from the left to support the strikers is useful in adding to our attacking options, as Bertrand gets forward well the majority of the time.
I think it works a bit like Modric for Tottenham - he's not a LW but he cuts in well and does the job.

[Jeffers217]

LOL at people giving Bryn MOTM for stopping Dyer. Did any of you notice that in the first half we were getting raped down our right side?! The reason this improved in the 2nd half was because Dyer swapped sides and Bertrand (our best defender) was marking him. The Sig was our best player and the rest were distinctly average. We are in massive danger unless we sign in Jan. I disagree with the comments regarding Marek...I am a big fan of him however he doesn't greatly impact the game. I would put the Sig in the centre alongside Karacan who is a better DM than Cisse (who should be at CM instead of the slowing Ivar).

[Gav]

It was a fair result and whilst there are still obvious weakneses those who keep saying its the same old story and dont recognise the changes since Brenda went are either finding fault deliberately or just do not really understand what they are watching. The big differences in our play under Brian are that we are playing much further up the pitch and tactical changes are being made mid game which actually make sense. For example yesterday Sigi was switched from the his wide role to the middle which nullified their playmaker and completely changed the game. Whilst we still lack a quality striker I find what I saw yesterday and at the Gate last week very encouraging and I hope that Brian is given at leat til the end of the season plus a bit of cash next month to buy a goalscorer. Cant wait to see more tomorrow.

I completely agree with this. The biggest difference for me is that yesterday, every single substitution and tactical change made complete sense to me. Long was playing terribly and needed to make way for a change in formation to accomodate Sig in a more central role, Rasiak wasn't looking great and Robson-Kanu whilst not ideal was a perfectly sensible switch, and Karacan coming on for Matejovsky gave us a bit more mettle and a smaller risk of flamboyant passing going wayward in the dying moments. Under Rodgers nothing seemed to make sense, and nothing he did achieved anything. Ever. I really wanted Rodgers to work, but eventually lost patience with his completely nonsensical and ineffective tactics. It's great to see us getting back to basics.

The way I saw it was that, instead of two ineffective strikers, we had four attack minded 'midfielders' which as well as maintaining *some* kind of goal threat made us more comabtive in the central area Swansea (who are a better side than us anyway) had been cruising around in comfortably. McDermott saw the issue and took pro-active steps to change it. He didn't try to second-guess the opposition manager or himself, he just made simple, positive changes when they were needed. And this was shown in our much improved second half.

I don't understand why I'm hearing so many 'same old story' comments, when it was stressed time and time again that Rodgers was completely changing the system and needed time to make these adjustments... Yet McDermott is changing it back and this too will take time! There is bound to be a degree of confusion amongst the squad, and combined with his uncertainty as to whether he actually has the job or not, I think he has shown enough to be given the patience of at least another game or two before we start lining up his replacement.

He seems to understand what needs to be done to get results on the pitch a million times more than Rodge and I genuinely believe he can get us out of this mess*. Yesterday's performance wasn't perfect, no, but the team he has inherited is far from perfect and turning around Rodgers' complete shambles isn't going to happen in two games, no matter who is manager.

*Provided he's allowed to bring in *someone* who can score goals in Janvier.

[facaldaqui]

Definitely not 'same old story' when for the last two matches we've come from behind to gain something from a match. Unless I'm mistaken, that never happened under Rodgers. I agree completely with the above that McDermott's switches make sense, whereas Rodgers's didn't. Yes, we have some dodgy players, but a manager must make decisions about their play during a game.

I also liked McDermott's after-match comment: "...you can't congratulate yourself when you only get one point at home". Makes a change from Rodgers, who made out we were outstanding when we got draws at home. If you don't win, you aren't outstanding, and that's obvious.