MATCHWATCH : Swansea City (h)

[Stranded]

The ref was decent enough. Felt he fell for a number of the Swansea dives but overall he was pretty good

Don’t get the Loum was poor comments. Thought he was excellent bar a couple of misplaced passes out of touch. Looks much quicker and more energetic than when he first joined.

The thing is, he made 3 / 4 really poor errors. And I can't say I really noticed a lot of particular quality he did. Though I was watching on my phone, so less than ideal conditions.

Two terrible passes under no pressure to turn over possession in fairly quick succession first half. Like, the sort of simple passes I'd be ashamed of mucking up that badly, let alone a pro.

Then there was the terrible scything tackle. And I think there were a few other things. They stick in the mind and overwrite all the generally ok mundane stuff.

Just one example but it was Loum who closed down Allen excellently and won the ball which lead to it breaking to Ince to score the second. He has even been accredited with an assist as a result.

Just one example naturally but equally as high profile as his misplaced pass that lead to their goal, so worth calling out. He has two gears excellent or liability - we just need to find a way to ensure the former happens more than the latter.

[muirinho]

The ref was decent enough. Felt he fell for a number of the Swansea dives but overall he was pretty good

Don’t get the Loum was poor comments. Thought he was excellent bar a couple of misplaced passes out of touch. Looks much quicker and more energetic than when he first joined.

The thing is, he made 3 / 4 really poor errors. And I can't say I really noticed a lot of particular quality he did. Though I was watching on my phone, so less than ideal conditions.

Two terrible passes under no pressure to turn over possession in fairly quick succession first half. Like, the sort of simple passes I'd be ashamed of mucking up that badly, let alone a pro.

Then there was the terrible scything tackle. And I think there were a few other things. They stick in the mind and overwrite all the generally ok mundane stuff.

Always harder on a phone to be fair, but two that come to mind straight away are - beautiful defence-splitting pass for Ince, where unfortunately Ince was marginally off-side, and - very significantly, the aggressive press on Joe Allen that led to the second goal.

Those aren't "generally ok mundane stuff"

[RoyalBlue]

The ref was decent enough. Felt he fell for a number of the Swansea dives but overall he was pretty good

Don’t get the Loum was poor comments. Thought he was excellent bar a couple of misplaced passes out of touch. Looks much quicker and more energetic than when he first joined.

The thing is, he made 3 / 4 really poor errors. And I can't say I really noticed a lot of particular quality he did. Though I was watching on my phone, so less than ideal conditions.

Two terrible passes under no pressure to turn over possession in fairly quick succession first half. Like, the sort of simple passes I'd be ashamed of mucking up that badly, let alone a pro.

Then there was the terrible scything tackle. And I think there were a few other things. They stick in the mind and overwrite all the generally ok mundane stuff.

Always harder on a phone to be fair, but two that come to mind straight away are - beautiful defence-splitting pass for Ince, where unfortunately Ince was marginally off-side, and - very significantly, the aggressive press on Joe Lumley that led to the second goal.

Those aren't "generally ok mundane stuff"

Fully agree but I think you may have inadvertently referred to the wrong player/keeper when you talk about the aggressive press?

[Snowflake Royal]

The ref was decent enough. Felt he fell for a number of the Swansea dives but overall he was pretty good

Don’t get the Loum was poor comments. Thought he was excellent bar a couple of misplaced passes out of touch. Looks much quicker and more energetic than when he first joined.

The thing is, he made 3 / 4 really poor errors. And I can't say I really noticed a lot of particular quality he did. Though I was watching on my phone, so less than ideal conditions.

Two terrible passes under no pressure to turn over possession in fairly quick succession first half. Like, the sort of simple passes I'd be ashamed of mucking up that badly, let alone a pro.

Then there was the terrible scything tackle. And I think there were a few other things. They stick in the mind and overwrite all the generally ok mundane stuff.

Just one example but it was Loum who closed down Allen excellently and won the ball which lead to it breaking to Ince to score the second. He has even been accredited with an assist as a result.

Just one example naturally but equally as high profile as his misplaced pass that lead to their goal, so worth calling out. He has two gears excellent or liability - we just need to find a way to ensure the former happens more than the latter.

Absolutely valuable, but probably less noticeable who steals the ball for a sudden goal.

My argument isn't he was shit, it's his poor moments stood out compared to his good ones.

[Sutekh]

Russell Martin admitted he’d like to have grabbed Joe Lumley by the throat (and you may see on the footage afterwards that he (Martin) was trying get to Lumley, before Yiadom came over) as apparently Lumley went over to celebrate with fans in the West Stand after the game. Seems rather odd for someone to get upset with an opposing player celebrating a win with their own fans after a game - anyone see what Lumley was actually doing?

[AthleticoSpizz]

Also, and not sure if already noted here, but why was Pince booked?

[Hound]

Lumley ran over to their fans and was just celebrating in front of them. Someone threw a bottle at him, he picked it up, poured it out and threw it back etc. just generally acting like an arse - standard Lumley stuff. Funny for Reading fans, annoying as hell for the opposition

[Hound]

The thing is, he made 3 / 4 really poor errors. And I can't say I really noticed a lot of particular quality he did. Though I was watching on my phone, so less than ideal conditions.

Two terrible passes under no pressure to turn over possession in fairly quick succession first half. Like, the sort of simple passes I'd be ashamed of mucking up that badly, let alone a pro.

Then there was the terrible scything tackle. And I think there were a few other things. They stick in the mind and overwrite all the generally ok mundane stuff.

Just one example but it was Loum who closed down Allen excellently and won the ball which lead to it breaking to Ince to score the second. He has even been accredited with an assist as a result.

Just one example naturally but equally as high profile as his misplaced pass that lead to their goal, so worth calling out. He has two gears excellent or liability - we just need to find a way to ensure the former happens more than the latter.

Absolutely valuable, but probably less noticeable who steals the ball for a sudden goal.

My argument isn't he was shit, it's his poor moments stood out compared to his good ones.

He put in any number of tackles, interceptions, headers and was generally everywhere in the midfield. Loads of energy, one of the main reasons Swansea couldn’t get into our final third with any quality, esp in the first half

The errors are incredibly frustrating of course

[Sutekh]

Also, and not sure if already noted here, but why was Pince booked?

Apparently one of the Reading management/coaching staff said something to the 4th official but once the ref was able to come over that person couldn’t be found and the league protocol if that happens is that the manager gets the card.

[Snowflake Royal]

Also, and not sure if already noted here, but why was Pince booked?

Apparently one of the Reading management/coaching staff said something to the 4th official but once the ref was able to come over that person couldn’t be found and the league protocol if that happens is that the manager gets the card.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Also, and not sure if already noted here, but why was Pince booked?

Apparently one of the Reading management/coaching staff said something to the 4th official but once the ref was able to come over that person couldn’t be found and the league protocol if that happens is that the manager gets the card.

ta

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Just one example but it was Loum who closed down Allen excellently and won the ball which lead to it breaking to Ince to score the second. He has even been accredited with an assist as a result.

Just one example naturally but equally as high profile as his misplaced pass that lead to their goal, so worth calling out. He has two gears excellent or liability - we just need to find a way to ensure the former happens more than the latter.

Absolutely valuable, but probably less noticeable who steals the ball for a sudden goal.

My argument isn't he was shit, it's his poor moments stood out compared to his good ones.

He put in any number of tackles, interceptions, headers and was generally everywhere in the midfield. Loads of energy, one of the main reasons Swansea couldn’t get into our final third with any quality, esp in the first half

The errors are incredibly frustrating of course

I think it was more a case of what Loum didn't do, rather than what he did. As you say, lots of energy, lots of pressing and, whilst he didn't win the ball back, it in turn forced Swansea to go backwards, rather than forwards. I can only really think of a couple of occasions where Swansea managed to find some space in between the lines centrally and got the wrong side of our midfield, which is what I'm pleased about with Loum and Hendrick.

Their best opportunities really came from wider areas, rather than through he middle. I also thought we tactically got it right. Our line was extremely high, which normally would be a problem and they did try drop a few balls in behind us, but I think that was intentional. I think we tried to squeeze the middle of the pitch to try and make it as difficult as possible for Swansea to play through us on the floor, so their best option was to put the ball over us which isn't what they set out to do usually when attacking. Dangerous at times as we know we aren't blessed with speed at the back and it did cost us a goal when Sarr got caught out, but overall it worked.

Also, I know he's only had a couple of games since coming back but I can't say I'm overly convinced by Sarr at the moment. Did ok yesterday, but looked uncomfortable at times and got caught well underneath the ball into the box which a guy of his stature should be eating up all day long. Obviously collectively part of the catastrophic first half against Birmingham giving the pen away. Maybe he's not quite up to speed yet, that's what I'm putting it down to.

[Singing Defective]

Lumley ran over to their fans and was just celebrating in front of them. Someone threw a bottle at him, he picked it up, poured it out and threw it back etc. just generally acting like an arse - standard Lumley stuff. Funny for Reading fans, annoying as hell for the opposition

I think he drank the first water bottle thrown at him…

[RoyalBlue]

I'm bemused as to why so many people seem to be blaming Loum for the Swansea goal.

Yes it was an under-hit pass that gave away possession (not helped by the fact that Ince was sat back on his heels rather than moving towards the ball). However, after Swansea picked the ball up there were three or four passes, and a header brilliantly pushed against the post by Lumley, which Sarr (who lost the Piroe for the initial header) and Yiadom stood admiring rather than tracking Cullen who was allowed to stroll in to tap home the rebound off the post.

IMO, if anything this was a goal conceded by the team rather than one individual, and P Ince seemed more critical of his central defenders than Loum in his post match interview. Likewise Gabbidon picked out Sarr as being at fault during the broadcast.

[Snowflake Royal]

I'm bemused as to why so many people seem to be blaming Loum for the Swansea goal.

Yes it was an under-hit pass that gave away possession (not helped by the fact that Ince was sat back on his heels rather than moving towards the ball). However, after Swansea picked the ball up there were three or four passes, and a header brilliantly pushed against the post by Lumley, which Sarr (who lost the Piroe for the initial header) and Yiadom stood admiring rather than tracking Cullen who was allowed to stroll in to tap home the rebound off the post.

IMO, if anything this was a goal conceded by the team rather than one individual, and P Ince seemed more critical of his central defenders than Loum in his post match interview. Likewise Gabbidon picked out Sarr as being at fault during the broadcast.

Yep.

[From Despair To Where?]

In the unlikely event that did happen, could it be argued to be a greater achievement than the 106?

Not for me because 106 was record breaking with a bang average team. However it worked with guile and fight and a whole lot more.

This however would pip McDermott.

I'm not sure that would be the consensus

Considering pretty much the same squad finished 8th in the Premier League the following season, "bang average" is the last phrase I'd use to describe it.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I'm bemused as to why so many people seem to be blaming Loum for the Swansea goal.

Yes it was an under-hit pass that gave away possession (not helped by the fact that Ince was sat back on his heels rather than moving towards the ball). However, after Swansea picked the ball up there were three or four passes, and a header brilliantly pushed against the post by Lumley, which Sarr (who lost the Piroe for the initial header) and Yiadom stood admiring rather than tracking Cullen who was allowed to stroll in to tap home the rebound off the post.

IMO, if anything this was a goal conceded by the team rather than one individual, and P Ince seemed more critical of his central defenders than Loum in his post match interview. Likewise Gabbidon picked out Sarr as being at fault during the broadcast.

Agree, it was a poor pass but the defence switch off for the goal and I'm not sure what the time lag was between Loum turning the ball over and the ball eventually going in but there was enough time to recover shape, recover the ball or just deal with it. Allowing a ball to just float into our box and not track runners on two occasions is just lazy defending. (Think I was blaming Loum at first but after watching it a few times over you can see where the problems were, he was just part of the collective there).

[paultheroyal]

I thought Swansea looked a decent side. Admittedly our game plan was to sit back and let them have possession in two thirds of the pitch and then press them until they lose the ball, but thought they had some decent players who are comfortable on the ball, and if Piroe was in any kind of form at the moment we’d have lost that game quite easily.

Their fans seemed to be moaning about Joe Allen being a sentimental signing and him being well past his sell by date but I thought he was running the midfield and was glad when he went off on the hour, amazing how you see things differently from the other side, certain players etc.

Agree with others re Loum, inspired one minute, a liability the next. Thought he was going to see Red last night, and that would have knackered us up for the last 20 minutes or so.

Andy Carroll just showed he still has something to offer and his experience is important to us at the moment along with his ability to hold the ball up and relieve some pressure, especially last night when we were happy to concede possession to the other team for much of the game.

Glad we held on and we are showing we are a united hardworking team, which will hopefully see us to a comfortable mid table finish by May.

Totally agree with Joe Allen and I thought the same

[paultheroyal]

Bang average, replace with punching….

[muirinho]

The thing is, he made 3 / 4 really poor errors. And I can't say I really noticed a lot of particular quality he did. Though I was watching on my phone, so less than ideal conditions.

Two terrible passes under no pressure to turn over possession in fairly quick succession first half. Like, the sort of simple passes I'd be ashamed of mucking up that badly, let alone a pro.

Then there was the terrible scything tackle. And I think there were a few other things. They stick in the mind and overwrite all the generally ok mundane stuff.

Always harder on a phone to be fair, but two that come to mind straight away are - beautiful defence-splitting pass for Ince, where unfortunately Ince was marginally off-side, and - very significantly, the aggressive press on Joe Lumley that led to the second goal.

Those aren't "generally ok mundane stuff"

Fully agree but I think you may have inadvertently referred to the wrong player/keeper when you talk about the aggressive press?

I meant to say Joe Allen, brain misfire!