Are Reading really this bad?

[Maguire]

Think a mistake from Coppell had been not playing Bikey after his exceptional performance against Everton. Dont think we'd have conceeded 6 goals in two games with him in instead of Duberry imo.

3 of those 6 goals conceded of course came when Bikey played at Bolton

Murked.

[URZZZZZZZZ]

Think a mistake from Coppell had been not playing Bikey after his exceptional performance against Everton. Dont think we'd have conceeded 6 goals in two games with him in instead of Duberry imo.

3 of those 6 goals conceded of course came when Bikey played at Bolton

Murked

Still think he would've done better than Doobs today though.

[URZZZZZZZZ]

Think a mistake from Coppell had been not playing Bikey after his exceptional performance against Everton. Dont think we'd have conceeded 6 goals in two games with him in instead of Duberry imo.

3 of those 6 goals conceded of course came when Bikey played at Bolton

Murked.

Great minds.....

[Jerry St Clair]

We were just plain shit today. No point in over analysing it, or I'll slit my wrists.

[paultheroyal]

11 wins and 2 draws out of 33 games - whats the problem!!

This will be my answer to all posts on here from now on

[mzungu_royal]

Wasn't there today but from the thread going on here, i could see a lot of

lita stop diving

and

lita cost us 2 goals at the back.

Can't judge because i didn't see the game but perhaps if Lita stops diving in good areas, then we may get more out of him. i also saw

Lita is playing 'the child that cried wolf' game.

Am i right in thinking that Lita has been diving in recent games and thats why we have got a lack out of him?

[Platypuss]

I'm turning off my computer so I can't read the stupid drivel that is going to precede this.

Good night.

Unplug your keyboard and save us all.

[Gav]

Wasn't there today but from the thread going on here, i could see a lot of

lita stop diving

and

lita cost us 2 goals at the back.

Can't judge because i didn't see the game but perhaps if Lita stops diving in good areas, then we may get more out of him. i also saw

Lita is playing 'the child that cried wolf' game.

Am i right in thinking that Lita has been diving in recent games and thats why we have got a lack out of him?

As I saw it they were fouls... Yes Lita made the most of them, but they looked like fouls from where I was sitting.

It's not a case of 'crying wolf', he just needs to be less obvious when he tries to play for the foul.

[rotherwick_royal]

Today was a disaster waiting to happen - West Ham would have been totally fired up for this after last year, have got a much better squad than us and succeeded in unsettling Shorey in the last few days. Confidence was low after the Bolton game and to set the game up nicely we chant 6-0 at them when they are on the attack

I really think last year's game did us no favours today and I think Coppell for once will be grateful for the international break.

That has to be the worst performance I've seen for years, and time to ring the changes...

Kitson and Lita up front - Doyle looks jaded and low on confidence.
Convey back on the right and bring Fae into the middle because our centre-mid is going nowhere at the moment.
Defence is a worry - hopefully Shorey will settle soon, Murty looked subdued too, reaction to Rosenior signing maybe?? Ivar and Doobs just didn't have the pace to cope today, Sonko would have done better.

I'm trying to look for positives today and put it down as 'one of those games' but it's hard. We were never going to score and could have got stuffed even more.

[Elm Park Old Boy]

We were never going to score and could have got stuffed even more.

A bit of an over reaction? I didn't think it was a 3-0 game. We were medocre, and Wet Sham sharper. But they got their goals at good times, snatched the third largely because we were over-committed to pulling one back. And I thought I remembered a penalty and Hunt hitting the bar?

[strap]

I'm turning off my computer so I can't read the stupid drivel that is going to precede this.

Good night.

Wish I had your strength of character, but I am so weak I am desperately trying to find some crumb of comfort somewhere.

What really got to me today was the Sham's second goal. It was all one touch slick passing at close quarters - exactly like their pre-match warm-up 5 v 5 routine. That was a joy to watch and ominous. By comparison, our 5 v 5 was all huff and puff with hardly a single one-touch on display. Our first touch was usually poor and we often took two or threee touchs to release the ball, which was then intercepted.

Now before you all slag me off, yes, the team instructions may well have been for a 2/3 touch 5 v 5 warm up, but it was clear that the Sham's technical abililty was superior to ours, even during the warm up. So it would have been reasonable to expect us to be in their faces from teh off, and make up the difference in technical skills with effort, running, makring, closing down etc. Unfortunately, these areas of our games were totally missing today and we were found out.

I hate the Sham with a passion, and the antics of Ashton, cheating at virtually every deadball situation only infuriated me more. However, I have to admit that their ball control and retention was a different world to ours today. Going to be a long hard season from here on in. Let's hope this is only a blip, and we eventually play our way out of it.

Some rays of hope were the introduction of Kitson and Convey, (which I was calling for at h/t). My humble opinion is that the first 4 games really took it out of us, not helped by a significant number of our players being on international duty. Sadly this will also be the case next week. Frankly Doyle and Hunt looked totally knackered, and quite understandably. Would it have been so stupid to have started with Kitson and Lita, with Convey on the left? Appreciate they are perhaps not 100% match fit (what ever that means - thanks Michaeol Owen for that!), but having had few games so far this year, they would of at least put themselves about a bit.

Anyway, I am drivelling now, so will close to finish the bottle of red wine that is slowing helping to dispate my demeanour. Not sure if I can bring myself to watch MoTD, but if we beat Sunderland, Bolton, Derby, Birmingham, Fulham and Wigan at home, that's 18 points to add to teh 4 we already have. Just need to find 18 more!!!!!!

[fool]

I'm turning off my computer so I can't read the stupid drivel that is going to precede this.

Good night.

Completely agree with you, good night Gordon.

[The Quiet Man]

Game was very similar to Bolton and deeply worrying if you are a Reading fan. Two back to back 3-0 hammerings (!!) in which the opposition failed to convert 3 or 4 good chances to score more.

Problems seem to stem from centre midfield as we have no ball winner - there is not pressing of the opposition. West Ham and Bolton were under no pressure whatsoever in midfield - Gunnarsson is a squad player (the equivalent of Seol) plays a couple of decent games then disappears but today was so far off the pace as to be embarrassing (60 minutes and he was completely shot). Our 442 depends on the midfield 2 pressuring closing and making runs to suppport the central defenders and the forwards and it is a young persons game.

Jury is out on Fae but he looks lightweight at present and obviously off the pace for the prem (lets hope he improves).

Harper is like a dog chasing the ball in a park but the errors today were the same as last season he cannot get caught in possession so cheaply.

Cisse needs time to settle but again looks lightweight in the physical presence department.

Defence as a result is exposed as instead of last season's two banks of four we have disjointed spread out unit that cannot mark their players (witness Harper waving at Gunnarsson in both games as to who to pick up. Equally Shorey has gone to sh*t this season he seems scared of his own shadow and allows his opponent so much space that he can't get close to tackle or prevent crosses. If you midfield fails to prevent quick passes down the channels then Ingi is going to struggle with the ball zipping around on the deck and people running off him (as is Murts).

Up front Lita was poor - stop backing in and lay the ball off and look for return passes - you will get fouled and it will be bleedin obvious just like your pathetic dives today.

Any solutions - recognise Gunnarsson is not capable of starting every game so pick and choose when he will be effective
- play wingers out wide not centre midfield players (or reorganise the midfield and go narrow
- fine Lita for every dive and make him face goal and go at people not back into them (most centre backs at this level are big ugly monsters who will not be turned)
- tell Shorey to mark his opponent properly and take a gamble that his positional sense will win the ball more times than he will be beaten
- sort out Hahneman's kicking
- if it is necessary then abandon 442 and put in an extra defender of midfield player and look to stifle particularly away from home
- talk to JM and persuade him to release some funds at xmas, as we will not be building the ground extension any time soon and rebuild the midfield and wide right position

[Dr Hfuhruhurr]

defence all at sea; no confidence up front.

You're looking in the wrong area. Think more middle of the field. Its decidedly out of its league.

Of course, it doesnt help when we finally do get the balll in the final third, our striker falls over.

But to answer your question, yes we are that bad. And if we dont get our French midfielders working its a long and hard season ahead of us.

[Forest Gump]

Thank you all for your responses. In the meantime I have witnessed the shocker for myself on MOTD and answered my own question.

I frankly could not believe it. In most other clubs the offending players would be dropped however we are not able to make that many changes at the moment due to short sighted transfer policy.

I can't see it improving very quickly either. Just hope that we are still in touch with the rest by January. Other wise we're out of it with Derby I fear.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Thank you all for your responses. In the meantime I have witnessed the shocker for myself on MOTD and answered my own question.

I frankly could not believe it. In most other clubs the offending players would be dropped however we are not able to make that many changes at the moment due to short sighted transfer policy.

I can't see it improving very quickly either. Just hope that we are still in touch with the rest by January. Other wise we're out of it with Derby I fear.

yesterdays heroes

tomorrows villians

nice

[RIP ELM Park]

If we're bottom 3 after ten games I'll start to worry, until then don't panic, keep getting behind the team.

There are more than 3 worse teams in this league than us. All the teams we've played this year except WHU finished above us last year.

Lets wait until we've played a few more that we finished above last year before we start slashing our wrists.

[Cripple Creek]

To put things in perspective I don't imagine any of us live in downtown Baghdad.

[dean horrix legend]

We were just plain shit today. No point in over analysing it, or I'll slit my wrists.

I agree with you on that,very poor but only one of a handful of really bad results in the last two and a bit seasons,so not wrist slitting time yet!

[Adz1871]

If we're bottom 3 after ten games I'll start to worry, until then don't panic, keep getting behind the team.

There are more than 3 worse teams in this league than us. All the teams we've played this year except WHU finished above us last year.

Lets wait until we've played a few more that we finished above last year before we start slashing our wrists.

No, If we lose at Sunderland and against Wigan, I start to panic!

We were just plain shit yesterday, Not one player looked confident. Got no idea why this is but they didnt.

Also would like to know why Doyle took the penalty when Kitson was on the pitch and he was our penalty taker?