BFTC - Huddersfield

[Sutekh]

Slow start with the standard defensive cock up to give the opposition the lead then an hour or so of becoming more and more dominant culminating in Joao hitting the proverbial “worldie”. After that Reading slowly got more and more protective of the lead and Huddersfield thankfully failed to take one of a couple of decent opportunities presented to them.

Joao - MotM

Obviously a good result but can do better. Hoping Joao is just cramp.

Next up in the league (currently) third placed Brentford who are 1 point ahead of Reading with a game in hand after their trip to Bristol was called off.

[Fox Talbot]

Really enjoyed that. First come back win if the season.

Joao is to this team what Robin Friday was to the 1976 team - utterly vital.

Part of the pleasure was the Hudds commentary. Made me realise how windbag the Berks stuff is, car park, pie, long journey, unfortunately , rhetorical question, to be fair, when I play on a Sunday Mick, unfairly partisan view of refs, not following the play. Sky commentary bad in a different way, uninformed, dull.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Big up McIntyre for another quality game and another assist.

[Zip]

Joao just has cramp. Rest him next week and then unleash him v Brentford.

Rafael. 8. Two successive impressive performances. One great save in the second half
Holmes 6. Indifferent. Poor for their goal. Did some good stuff as well
Richards 7 Overall very good but nearly cost us when caught in possession
McIntyre 8 Did brilliantly. He is making some vital contributions
Morrison 8 Another very strong performance. A rock at the back
Rinomhota 7 Slow start but improved as the game wore on
Laurent 8 So strong after a slow start
Ejaria 6 Did some good stuff but tried to do too much at times
Swift 6 One or two nice passes but not at his best unsurprisingly
Aluko 7 Worked very hard but should have scored in the first half
Joao 9 MoTM Ridiculously good at times. Some lovely touches. Outstanding at this level

Olise 6 Nothing exceptional but yet another assist. Showed nice skill at times but one or two stray passes
Semedo 6 Ok
Esteves 6 Very unlucky not to score with another effort hitting the bar
Baldock 6 Worked hard

[Lower West]

Win is a win. Fine margins. Almost safe from relegation. That makes a change with 23 games still to go.

[Hound]

Excellent performance against a solid team

Joao is a notch above this level, two great goals. Tom Mc has come back from his Preston horror show with a couple of superb performances. Rafael good again

9 Joao
8 McIntyre Rafael Morrison Laurent
7 Richards Aluko Esteves Baldock Olise
6 Swift Ejaria Semedo Holmes Rino

[andrew1957]

Excellent performance against a solid team

Joao is a notch above this level, two great goals. Tom Mc has come back from his Preston horror show with a couple of superb performances. Rafael good again

9 Joao
8 McIntyre Rafael Morrison Laurent
7 Richards Aluko Esteves Baldock Olise
6 Swift Ejaria Semedo Holmes

+1 - Pretty much exactly as I saw it. No RFC player had a poor game. Joao outstanding again. If he keeps fit we have a real chance of promotion.

[Snowflake Royal]

Slow start, but Huddersfield didn't really threaten much bar the goal and the last 10 minutes. Felt we took a while to get into the game, but looked the more likely.

Rafa - 7 one very good save
Holmes - 6 at fault on the goal, but nearly made up for it with one of his own
Richards - 7 pretty good
Morrison - 7 couple of hairy moments but good
McIntyre - 8 an assist and solid defensively
Rinomhota - 7 did the dirty work well
Laurent - 7 partially at fault for the goal, played well otherwise, but not quite up to his recent standards.
Swift - 7 solid
Ejaria - 6 I find him so frustrating, he's just not my kind of player I think.
Aluko - 6 some good, some less good, some hard work unnecessarily undone, weak shooting
Joao - 9 did FA for most of the game, few good moments here or there, then won it for us with two quality goals. He's such a threat.

Olise - 7 some really nice stuff and a few loose passes
Semedo - 6 was about to criticism him for playing at a walking pace during the game, he immediately won the ball at a walking pace and sprung a counter attack.
Baldock - 7 lots of good running, good use of experience and communication and teed up Esteves for what could have been a screamer.
Esteves - 7 almost scored, solid effort from him

Ref, pretty good I thought. Bit fussy here and there, but that often went both ways.

Huddersfield seem a good bunch, hope they had a decent season.

[Bristol Paul]

Excellent performance against a solid team

Joao is a notch above this level, two great goals. Tom Mc has come back from his Preston horror show with a couple of superb performances. Rafael good again

9 Joao
8 McIntyre Rafael Morrison Laurent
7 Richards Aluko Esteves Baldock Olise
6 Swift Ejaria Semedo Holmes

+1 - Pretty much exactly as I saw it. No RFC player had a poor game. Joao outstanding again. If he keeps fit we have a real chance of promotion.

Huddersfield commentators thought Swift was great and were relieved when he went off. Played very well given how long he's been out. Would give Ejaria a 7 as well, thought he looked far more dangerous, especially second half

[Stranded]

Easily the better team but made it harder than it needed to be but to go to Huddersfield, who were on a run of 4 straight home wins is excellent.

2 of those wins were against Watford and Boro, so no slouches either.

I can only assume people counting off points to avoid relegation are doing so just out of habit as this squad is easily one of the top 10 in this division and when all fit maybe one of the top 3 or 4.

[andrew1957]

Re Ejaria. I spent a lot of time watching him closely today and he really is important to this team as he retains possession well, regains possession a lot and is deceptively fast. I can see why he is one of the first names on Pauno’s team sheet every week. Most weeks he is a 6 or a 7 out of 10 player.

[Crowbar6753]

Slow start, but Huddersfield didn't really threaten much bar the goal and the last 10 minutes. Felt we took a while to get into the game, but looked the more likely.

Rafa - 7 one very good save
Holmes - 6 at fault on the goal, but nearly made up for it with one of his own
Richards - 7 pretty good
Morrison - 7 couple of hairy moments but good
McIntyre - 8 an assist and solid defensively
Rinomhota - 7 did the dirty work well
Laurent - 7 partially at fault for the goal, played well otherwise, but not quite up to his recent standards.
Swift - 7 solid
Ejaria - 6 I find him so frustrating, he's just not my kind of player I think.
Aluko - 6 some good, some less good, some hard work unnecessarily undone, weak shooting
Joao - 9 did FA for most of the game, few good moments here or there, then won it for us with two quality goals. He's such a threat.

Olise - 7 some really nice stuff and a few loose passes
Semedo - 6 was about to criticism him for playing at a walking pace during the game, he immediately won the ball at a walking pace and sprung a counter attack.
Baldock - 7 lots of good running, good use of experience and communication and teed up Esteves for what could have been a screamer.
Esteves - 7 almost scored, solid effort from him

Ref, pretty good I thought. Bit fussy here and there, but that often went both ways.

Huddersfield seem a good bunch, hope they had a decent season.

Spot on match summary Snowflake, maybe would have given Swift a 6, he did ok but nothing of real note to warrant a 7.
With some of our injured players returning we should now be able to rest and rotate accordingly. The only real area for concern moving forward is the RB position. I'm torn between Holmes and Esteves!! I think Esteves would just about get my vote, he's slowly getting to grips with English football and its his natural position.
Our next league match against Brentford will be a real test and a real judge of our ability against one of the big three.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Slow start, but Huddersfield didn't really threaten much bar the goal and the last 10 minutes. Felt we took a while to get into the game, but looked the more likely.

Rafa - 7 one very good save
Holmes - 6 at fault on the goal, but nearly made up for it with one of his own
Richards - 7 pretty good
Morrison - 7 couple of hairy moments but good
McIntyre - 8 an assist and solid defensively
Rinomhota - 7 did the dirty work well
Laurent - 7 partially at fault for the goal, played well otherwise, but not quite up to his recent standards.
Swift - 7 solid
Ejaria - 6 I find him so frustrating, he's just not my kind of player I think.
Aluko - 6 some good, some less good, some hard work unnecessarily undone, weak shooting
Joao - 9 did FA for most of the game, few good moments here or there, then won it for us with two quality goals. He's such a threat.

Olise - 7 some really nice stuff and a few loose passes
Semedo - 6 was about to criticism him for playing at a walking pace during the game, he immediately won the ball at a walking pace and sprung a counter attack.
Baldock - 7 lots of good running, good use of experience and communication and teed up Esteves for what could have been a screamer.
Esteves - 7 almost scored, solid effort from him

Ref, pretty good I thought. Bit fussy here and there, but that often went both ways.

Huddersfield seem a good bunch, hope they had a decent season.

Spot on match summary Snowflake, maybe would have given Swift a 6, he did ok but nothing of real note to warrant a 7.
With some of our injured players returning we should now be able to rest and rotate accordingly. The only real area for concern moving forward is the RB position. I'm torn between Holmes and Esteves!! I think Esteves would just about get my vote, he's slowly getting to grips with English football and its his natural position.
Our next league match against Brentford will be a real test and a real judge of our ability against one of the big three.

If Esteves was called Tom Evans, had a short back and sides and was born in Reading, I think everyone would agree with you.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Thinking about Joao's 2nd, the thing is goals like that are not even unexpected with him. Average strikers get an occasional worldy out of the blue, but with Joao you feel like it's a half chance whenever he receives the ball in that area.

[Royal_jimmy]

Strangely despite our poor record of going behind and grinding out results I felt confident we'd win despite Huddersfields great home record at half time. It was a tough game and a moment of pure class from Joao won us that. Very good win against a side who I think will finish far nearer to the playoffs than the bottom 3.

Half way point in the league with 40 points on the board. We could finish anywhere from mid table to top of the league at the end depending on the January window and injuries. Think playoffs are a likely outcome still. Hopefully fans will be allowed back before the end of the season.

[Jagermesiter1871]

Thinking about Joao's 2nd, the thing is goals like that are not even unexpected with him. Average strikers get an occasional worldy out of the blue, but with Joao you feel like it's a half chance whenever he receives the ball in that area.

Feel like he's scored 2 or 3 very similar goals to that this year.

[Nameless]

Thinking about Joao's 2nd, the thing is goals like that are not even unexpected with him. Average strikers get an occasional worldy out of the blue, but with Joao you feel like it's a half chance whenever he receives the ball in that area.

Feel like he's scored 2 or 3 very similar goals to that this year.

Meite has a few crackers too....

[Zip]

We have scored a high number of quality goals this season.

[bcubed]

Slow start, but Huddersfield didn't really threaten much bar the goal and the last 10 minutes. Felt we took a while to get into the game, but looked the more likely.

Rafa - 7 one very good save
Holmes - 6 at fault on the goal, but nearly made up for it with one of his own
Richards - 7 pretty good
Morrison - 7 couple of hairy moments but good
McIntyre - 8 an assist and solid defensively
Rinomhota - 7 did the dirty work well
Laurent - 7 partially at fault for the goal, played well otherwise, but not quite up to his recent standards.
Swift - 7 solid
Ejaria - 6 I find him so frustrating, he's just not my kind of player I think.
Aluko - 6 some good, some less good, some hard work unnecessarily undone, weak shooting
Joao - 9 did FA for most of the game, few good moments here or there, then won it for us with two quality goals. He's such a threat.

Olise - 7 some really nice stuff and a few loose passes
Semedo - 6 was about to criticism him for playing at a walking pace during the game, he immediately won the ball at a walking pace and sprung a counter attack.
Baldock - 7 lots of good running, good use of experience and communication and teed up Esteves for what could have been a screamer.
Esteves - 7 almost scored, solid effort from him

Ref, pretty good I thought. Bit fussy here and there, but that often went both ways.

Huddersfield seem a good bunch, hope they had a decent season.

Spot on match summary Snowflake, maybe would have given Swift a 6, he did ok but nothing of real note to warrant a 7.
With some of our injured players returning we should now be able to rest and rotate accordingly. The only real area for concern moving forward is the RB position. I'm torn between Holmes and Esteves!! I think Esteves would just about get my vote, he's slowly getting to grips with English football and its his natural position.
Our next league match against Brentford will be a real test and a real judge of our ability against one of the big three.

If Esteves was called Tom Evans, had a short back and sides and was born in Reading, I think everyone would agree with you.

I dunno
Sounds a bit Welsh to me

[NewCorkSeth]

Spot on match summary Snowflake, maybe would have given Swift a 6, he did ok but nothing of real note to warrant a 7.
With some of our injured players returning we should now be able to rest and rotate accordingly. The only real area for concern moving forward is the RB position. I'm torn between Holmes and Esteves!! I think Esteves would just about get my vote, he's slowly getting to grips with English football and its his natural position.
Our next league match against Brentford will be a real test and a real judge of our ability against one of the big three.

If Esteves was called Tom Evans, had a short back and sides and was born in Reading, I think everyone would agree with you.

I dunno
Sounds a bit Welsh to me

We've had enough of welshmen at RB for a while I'd say.