BFTG Bournemouth - sponsored by no midfield

[Pandoras Box]

The phrase that kept nagging at me as I watched today's effort was 'passive possessive'.

'Paralysis by analysis' is more apt.

I think we have to look realistically today. We are in the mix still, only 8 points off the top and no one seems to be running away with it today

What's the point? Do you think any of these teams will hold up in the Prem?
Everyone in this league is shit, that's why no one is way ahead yet. Being 6th doesn't mean we are good it means we are the 6th least shite side atm(with 4 teams only one game away from pushing us to 10th), and if anyone here has any delusions of the January transfer market - judgement day will come and the truth will out.

[bobby1413]

Whatever happened to our big grand plan of investment, and stable premier league team within 5 years?

AZ has still failed to come up with the cash.

I have faith in a lot of the individuals in the team but as a group they just gel consistently. Agree with others, we need to pick and keep it. And FFS get POG in the team, alongside Sharp and with ALF as a 70-75th min sub.

Get rid of Akpan, Blackman - on loan for now.

[Royal Rother]

Bring out the not sure if serious meme....

Yes we finished higher than them which is, I suppose, all that really matters, but Saints were FAR better to watch.

Christ on a cross

Did you not see the 3-1 at St Marys? How exciting was that?

Best stick to your Combined Counties League, petal.

Ah now you see my views tend to be based on a whole season of games I didn't see rather than just one or two.

[glass half full]

I look back to the 1-2 home defeat by Plymouth in 2005 and hold onto that as inspiration.

[urz13]

Bournemouth gave us a lesson in passing football - slick, fast and attacking, the complete opposite of our hopeless, lacklustre style which went backwards more times than it went forwards.

Dreadful team selection.
ALF will surely be off in January and who can blame him?
Drenthe was the only positive.
Ok atmosphere at times.

[andrew1957]

The last two performances have shown an ineptitude that makes Rodgers tenure appear to be a period of sustained excellence.

What naffs me off the most is that Brian has taken a rag tag Leeds squad which is infinitely inferior to our one to just one point below us in the table after 19 games.

I honestly believe that the current RFC squad is the best one we have ever had and I have absolutely no doubt that if Brian was still our manager we would be top of the table now.

The Adkins apologists say the players are crap but this is not so. The problem is inconsistent team selection, baffling and constantly rotating formations and incomprehensible substitutions. The players look despondent and frankly confused.

Oh how I wish we could get Brian back but as that is not happening I think the best solution will be to sack Adkins and to persuade Dolan have a go - after all it is the Reading way...

[windermere_royal]

why did you post the same thing in two threads? proud??

[andrew1957]

why did you post the same thing in two threads? proud??

Relevant to both threads...that is all.

[Westwood52]

The NA way got found out yesterday-we just passed the ball round aimlessly for half an hour-which if it had continued might have nicked a win-however once they went two up we had to resort to Plan B-only NA did'didn't have a Plan B, and Bournemouth were very comfortable and thoroughly deserved their win. They were far sharper and more upbeat than us.

Macca 6 : Bit static for the 1st goal and slow for the 2nd but probably couldn't do a lot about either.

Gunter 6 : As usual kept going but very vulnerable defensively and little penetration going forward.
Cummings 6 : Scared to make a decision and offered little going forward-but prob more comfortable at LB than Kelly.
Pierce 6: OK but still indecisive when it matters
Gorks 6: Defensively continuously caught out but ironically some good accurate passes.
Guthrie 6: The whole team load up on him and look to him so he is always under pressure-bad give away for 2nd goal-but we still could have covered up for his error.
Williams 4: Offered nothing in attack or defence.
Kanu 2 : Pretty close to terrible-kept on losing the ball.
Obita 5 : Lightweight ineffectual and just not switched on-he just isn't getting any better.
McCleary 7: Started well but then disappeared once they got the 2nd

Sharp 6: Ditto McCleary

Alf : Playing for the shop window in January now-NA clearly doesn't rate him
Pog : As sub poor-Bournemouth completely bottled him up
Drenthe: Our big hope for the rest of the season at least the rumours about his attitude problem have been dispelled.

NA: Got found out big time-but given that we are still in contention under his system does not deserve to be hooked just yet
Ref: Over use of yellow card in 1st half and as usual inconsistent.
Crowd: Poor 1st half but tried to rouse the team in the 2nd

[MeMeMe]

Pog dropped

I dedicate today's result and performance to those increasing, desperate few on these pages who think that Adkins tenure has in any miniscule way been better than what we had immediately before. I hope you're embarrassed with yourselves, but if you apologise on this thread we can forgive you

....and 'Move On'

[madreadingfan]

How Adkins keeps playing Obita and HRK each week I will never know.

Mcanuff should be starting. He shows passion and works his ass off. He actually looks like he wants to do something on the pitch rather then try to keep hold off the ball just to please the manager. Also dropping Pog is an absolute joke.

Also, with this 'Passing' football, it is a load of shit. Teams come down and outplay us then do good first touch football. What we do is pass the ball, take a touch and PANIC!!!!!!!! Our players do not understand the concept of pass and move. Our players understand it as pass and stay in your position and wait for the ball to come at their feet. Such predictable and boring football.

[Jerry St Clair]

My first game at the Madejski for nearly four years. A couple of observations:

The game was shit.
Y26 is still full of twats.

That is all.

[Victor Meldrew]

How Adkins keeps playing Obita and HRK each week I will never know.

Mcanuff should be starting. He shows passion and works his ass off. He actually looks like he wants to do something on the pitch rather then try to keep hold off the ball just to please the manager. Also dropping Pog is an absolute joke.

Also, with this 'Passing' football, it is a load of shit. Teams come down and outplay us then do good first touch football. What we do is pass the ball, take a touch and PANIC!!!!!!!! Our players do not understand the concept of pass and move. Our players understand it as pass and stay in your position and wait for the ball to come at their feet. Such predictable and boring football.

Spot on about the passing game-it is meant to be pass and move, not pass and stand still.
There were moments in the first half by us where Kanu, Obita and Cummings played in a triangle with none of them progressing play and seemingly terrified to take players on and it ended up with the ball going back to our new playmakers (Gorkss and Pearce) to knock it long to the isolated Sharp.
Personally I don't like long-ball, hit and hope football but if we are going to do that then play a big man up front and let quicker players feed off him.

My brother and I had a bit of a dispute with an angry bald bloke after the game who tried to convince us that we are now a passing side and especially so in the first half and anybody who thinks otherwise is a "typical Reading fan" whatever that is.
The idea that our game has changed dramatically under Adkins is IMHO a myth.
It is true to say that at Southampton the object was to score more than the opposition and forget about defence.
I think he has been scarred by that sacking and has created a side here where the first thought is to go backwards and I believe it is this negative approach that is catching us out.

We might be 6th but that is 7 places lower than when he came in and 8 months or so later I don't see the progress that others have gone on about.
This may well not be just down to Adkins as he has only brought in 4 of his (injury prone) own players but watching Tuesday night and yesterday against bottom 6 sides I feel that we are a long way off being challengers for the top spot which was the stated aim and big message from the club in the summer.

[Will95]

What a pathetic game of football from us.

First 35 minutes it was dull as shit but we were just on top then it absolutely fell apart. Robson-Kanu was oxf*rd atrocious, Gorkks is so clumsy it hurts and why was Pog not starting?! Drenthe isn't the player our fans want him to be, apart from one great run, and how many times did we overkick crosses, corners and free kicks and there was none at the back to knock it back in?! I'm fed up with us fannying about with the ball and not moving forward, especially with 30 seconds to go when we're one goal down, just get it in the bloody box! Not calling for Adkins out yet, but after almost 9 months surely we should have seen the new style of football pulled off successfully at least once! Bournemouth could easily have won by 3 or 4 to nil, it was an embarrassment. Also, get rid of the oxf*rd goal music, for oxf*rd sake.

Positives? Decent atmosphere from us was decent considering the game, McCarthy made a great stop just before their opener.

How the oxf*rd are we 6th? This division must be a shambles for that to have happened, we've played about one and a half games of really good football this season, and that's it. We look a mid table side at best.

Bournemouth fans were shocking as well, try and claim us as rivals, can't sell out the end, sit all game and are silent for 95% of the match. Possibly the worst to have come to our ground this season.

[Sanguine]

Utterly wrong.

You're advocating two flat banks of four. Exactly the sort of football that will get us relegated, nevermind playoffs. It's only a slow passing approach because every time our playmaker gets the ball, he looks at two static wingers, a midfield partner picking his nose, and two strikers waiting for a hoof upfield. Drenthe spent more time in 20 minutes playing in the channels and between attack and midfield, than the rest of the attacking 6 did in the whole game.

When Guthrie has options he always gets rid of it very quickly. If he has no-one to pass to, what do you expect him to do with it?

Never said anything about formation.

If you don't want players like a Guthrie moving into space between the lines, then you are talking about formation.

[Cureton's Volley]

The last two performances have shown an ineptitude that makes Rodgers tenure appear to be a period of sustained excellence.

What naffs me off the most is that Brian has taken a rag tag Leeds squad which is infinitely inferior to our one to just one point below us in the table after 19 games.

I honestly believe that the current RFC squad is the best one we have ever had and I have absolutely no doubt that if Brian was still our manager we would be top of the table now.

The Adkins apologists say the players are crap but this is not so. The problem is inconsistent team selection, baffling and constantly rotating formations and incomprehensible substitutions. The players look despondent and frankly confused.

Oh how I wish we could get Brian back but as that is not happening I think the best solution will be to sack Adkins and to persuade Dolan have a go - after all it is the Reading way...

[John Peel]

Belated BfTG. I think first half we were unlucky to be two down but second half was poor and as the thread heading suggests. We have the talent in the team to be challenging for play offs but something is not quite happening. The potential is there but potential doesn't win you points.

McCarthy 7 - one iffy moment coming for the ball, but otherwise solid and great save before the goal
Gunter 7 - satisfactory performance
Gorkks 5 - an accident waiting to happen
Pearce 7 - much more confident than usual but maybe that is just compared to Gorkks
Cummings 5 - would have been a 6 if he hadn't wound me up with his dithering over throws. God knows how much time he wasted here
GMac 5 - no end product
Guthrie 6 - not his usual standard and a shocking pass which eventually ended in a goal
Williams 6 - disappeared in the second half after not a bad first half
Obita 7 - solid corner deliveries and IMO not as bad as some on here have made out
Sharp 6.5 - no service and looked frustrated
HRK 5 - deserved to be subbed

Subs

Drenthe - made an impact but looked a tad off pace when he first came on
Pog - no impact and makes stupid challenges sometimes
Alf - what he does best

[Ian Royal]

Great away performance from an average side. Barely got out of their own half in the first 45 and scored with their first two genuine chances. Hit us on the break and played triangles around us second half.

I get the logic in dropping Pog for that shape, Sharp started ok, but I think the wrong striker went to the bench. Pog's link up play has been excellent recently. We played decent football lacking penetration until they scored. We got in down the wings better than against Charlton, but whenever we got a cross in it was too close to the keeper or to a defender. Partly this was down to just hitting the cross into the zone rather than looking for an individual and partly it was because we barely had more than two in the box. No one broke late to hit space in the 18 yard box.

Guthrie starts dropping too deep after 30 minutes and we rarely offer ourselves to the player on the ball. We almost never have a triangle on, we seem scared of the centre circle and there's not enough movement. Especially for throw ins, although they were far better than Charlton.

People may blame Guthrie for one of the goals for giving it away, but it was a terrible ball to him from Gorkss who I thought was playing people into trouble all game. And when he wasn't he was hoofing it.

WTF were McCleary and Williams doing swapping places midway through the second half!?

McCarthy 8 no chance with either goal
Gunter 7 overlapped well and didn't defend badly.
Cummings 7 decent game
Pearce 8 rock and so calm. I like the way he's starting to bring the ball down and pass it.
Gorkss 5 hoof. He's just not the player he used to be and I can't wait for the return of Morrison.
Guthrie 5 too deep and playing too long, especially second half. Rarely showed for the ball near the centre circle. Too often he releases the ball and then doesn't look for the return by running forward into space.
Willams 6 drove forward more but nowhere near enough and also went missing.
Obita 6 started well, faded badly
McCleary 6 did very little and when he did work a crossing chance there were few options and just hopeful balls
HRK 5 did fook all, basically
Sharp 6 started well and faded badly

Pog 6 not much to work with, should have started
Drenthe 7 not fit but did more than all three other wingers combined
ALF 7 Scored.

[3points]

Think Gorkss is getting a hard time on here. I reckon he's been alright in the past two home games (can't comment on away performances). Wins almost every header and I think Pearce is better playing with Gorkss along side, and being the right hand centre back (his natural side?) which is usually Morrision's preferred position. Granted, he's not the best with the ball at his feet but, surprisingly, he played two superb balls yesterday. Just think he brings the best out of Pearce.

Did anyone else think McCarthy should have come for the free kick as it was launched into the box leading up to their first goal? Their player made the header on the edge of the six yard box - maybe he could have come and punched it before their player got there?

[3points]

WTF were McCleary and Williams doing swapping places midway through the second half!?

Part of Nige's masterplan - looked to me like he was trying to play a 4-3-1-2 formation, with McCleary being the 1 between the midfield and the forwards? It's not the first time he's brought McCleary inside this season part way through a game.