Back from the game - Newcastle

[sandman]

Saved from giving a penalty away and getting sent off by an offside flag, continues to hesitate whilst coming out for crosses making his defenders wonder if he's coming for the ball or not and threw the ball into the back of his net.

I think I'll revise his score to a 3.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Take those tinted Federici glasses off.

He looked assured coming for crosses, much more assured than Federici. McCarthy is the better keeper and you'll just have to accept that.

[sandman]

Make that a 2.

[Archie's penalty]

Sandman seems to have the same attitude problem that Feds has.

[sandman]

1 then.

[Ian Royal]

First Half - turgid stuff but we had a couple of sniffs and gave them nothing.
Second Half - we started looking better and then Kebe scores what looked like a comedy goal, stumbling and having to scuff it near post when he'd been shaping for far post - totally foxing Harper. I could be doing Kebe a dis-service there I guess. Newcastle wake up and realise they're at a football match and instantly equalise. We take the lead again with a great McAnuff cross and Hunt header. We should finish the game off and have chances to, but ultimately we can't do it and Newcastle get the equaliser that they'd looked capable of, if a little unlikely to get.

Word from the Newcastle fans: Ba's second was handball. We were better than them and they really really missed Colocini and Cabaye. McAnuff is our best player. Our finishing was mostly terrible.

McCarthy - 6.5 until I can see their second goal and tell whether he fuked up or not. 7.5 if he didn't.
Cummings - 7.5 decent link up with Kebe and did well defensively... really like Cummings.
Shorey - 7 did pretty well I thought, not quite good enough on the set plays a lot of time, but after mid-week I'll forgive him
Gorkss - 5.5 thought a lot of teh match he was alright, but he had some pretty poor moments and looks the weak link in our defence to me. I'd like to see Pearce with Mariappa
Mariappa - 7 adds much needed pace and a little bit on the ball for our defence. Surprised by how short he looked.
Karacan - 6.5 I thought he could have done a little more on the ball sometimes and occasionally we were open through the middle. But he hassled Newcastle excellently in general
Leigertwood - 7 got stuck in and used the ball a bit better than Jem IMO. Much better from him.
Kebe - 6.5 (+0.5 for the goal) his usual post injury self. not really stretching defenders as well as we know he can.
McAnuff - 8 MOTM really good in defence and hassling Newcastle put in a cross for our second and cause them a lot of problems second half.
EDIT: Pog - 6 looked like an absolute donkey some of the time and slower than Harte, but some good physical stuff and he's great in the air. linked up well at times and kept their defenders honest.
Hunt - 7.5. His usual self, winning flicks, hassling defenders and causing a nuisance. Top goal

McCleary - 6 didn't do much of note
ALF - 6 didn't do much of note but looks a class player to me.
Roberts - 7 touch of class.

So so close. Another game we can look back on and say, "should have won that". If only we had.

[Alexander Litvinenko]

Summary of the match and thoughts on the performances : http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/reading/id/68?cc=5739

[Ian Royal]

Actually I'm being harsh on Pog, he was a handful as many were saying, but his lack of speed and the few times he had a touch like his feet are made of cement (plus that horrific shot first half) are the things that stood out in my mind.

EDIT: seen their second now, blatant handball completely changed the flight, no chance to react to it. 7.5 McCarthy.

[Ian Royal]

But did any of our team spot the handball? I didn't see any protests at the time. If they didn't the right to review would have made no difference.

Yes. My eyesight wasn't good enough to spot who it was for certain, but they were nearer the D, I think it was Shorey or Karacan, might have been Hunt.

[royalsteve]

So much better today.

It is still hard to know if we have enough quality but all the sides we have played sit in the top 12 of the table so it is hard to judge, but my belief is that if we can keep the standard of today up we will finish comfortably above the drop zone.

McCarthy 6 - Did ok and could do nothing about either goal, but was lucky with the offside decision that probably saved him from giving away a pen and being sent off.
Cummings 6 - solid on the whole - not sure why he was dropped
Mariappa/Gorkks 6 - fairly solid but a bit of ball watching for the goals
Shorey 7 - a big improvement on Harte
Kebe 8 - good on the whole - glad he is back
Karacan - 7 - you know what you are getting with him week in week out of outstanding energy
Legs - 7 solid
McAnuff - 9 - outstanding today
Hunt - 8 also excellent - deserved the recall. High energy all game and a well taken goal
Pog - 7 held the line well.

Felt sorry for the ref. Easy to criticise him for the handball gaol but I did not spot it in real time either. We NEED video technology. Simply give teams 3 chances of a review a game so that they can ask for replays of controversial decisions. It would take seconds and stop all these errors.

are you for real? Mariappa was immmense, mom for me, closely followed by Hunt

[royalsteve]

But did any of our team spot the handball? I didn't see any protests at the time. If they didn't the right to review would have made no difference.

According to some of the press reports some our players did protest, but I didn't notice it. I also didn't notice it at the time but apparently Ba tapped his hand and then shrugged during his celebration.

The shrug...



As BM has said "The fourth official said something about not too many players appealing. The goalkeeper appealed straight away but that is not what we are about, we don't want players jumping up and down."

bloody cheating scum

[Royal Ginger]

But did any of our team spot the handball? I didn't see any protests at the time. If they didn't the right to review would have made no difference.

Jobi & Gorkss were appealing for it.

[BenReadingFC]

It's games like today that I love being a Reading supporter. We may not have won the game but can walk away with broad chests. Unlike against Spurs and more like the game away at QPR ,Today we battled, We fought but got done over by a dodgy handball goal, But we will remember, We will continue in this spirit. We will fight to survive and we will not give up. We are good enough, and We can compete against anyone.
We have the tenacity, the spirit, the flair, the belief
We are Reading FC
ROAR!

[RedRum]

It's games like today that I love being a Reading supporter. We may not have won the game but can walk away with broad chests. Unlike against Spurs and more like the game away at QPR ,Today we battled, We fought but got done over by a dodgy handball goal, But we will remember, We will continue in this spirit. We will fight to survive and we will not give up. We are good enough, and We can compete against anyone.
We have the tenacity, the spirit, the flair, the belief
We are Reading FC
ROAR!

This should have been Brian's post match words to the team

[robbieroyal]

It's games like today that I love being a Reading supporter. We may not have won the game but can walk away with broad chests. Unlike against Spurs and more like the game away at QPR ,Today we battled, We fought but got done over by a dodgy handball goal, But we will remember, We will continue in this spirit. We will fight to survive and we will not give up. We are good enough, and We can compete against anyone.
We have the tenacity, the spirit, the flair, the belief
We are Reading FC
ROAR!

Nice. Was one of my most enjoyable RFC performances for a long time.

[leon]

Hunt was man of the match. Incredible performance. He won his headers all game, linked play beautifully, worked his bollocks off and scored a clever goal. I've got to say I was stunned by his performance today.

[bcubed]

BBC possession stats
Reading 41% ?

[Cripple Creek]

Unable to watch the match here in Oz as my computer is down. If anyone can be arsed could they say anything about:

Did we play less of the long ball game than we did against WBA?
Did we manage to keep the ball better and lose possession less in the midfield than we have been doing so far?

Thanks.

[leon]

Unable to watch the match here in Oz as my computer is down. If anyone can be arsed could they say anything about:

Did we play less of the long ball game than we did against WBA?
Did we manage to keep the ball better and lose possession less in the midfield than we have been doing so far?

Thanks.

we played the ball down the wings, and we got in their faces all over the pitch, but more importantly we kept possession and made chances. I'm still wondering how we didn't win. By at least 2 goals.

[bcubed]

Hunt and McAnuff were brilliant today, and I also thought Pog had his best game. But Roberts still managed to cause havoc during his 10 minute cameo. To the extent that I would start with Hunt/Roberts next game.

I thought Roberts coming on f*cked us up for a bit (in which time they scored), but once Alf came on Roberts was class.

Roberst and Hunt are not that good together. For me its Hunt/Pog or Roberts/Alf..... though Roberts/Pog may be worth a try imo

Totally agree with this

Couldn't understand taking off Pog at the time and it had an immediate negative impact. Roberts wasn't operating at the same pace as the rest of the team and we lost our way a bit. Having said that he was superb in the last ten minutes