BFTG - Peter's Borough

[Coppells Lost Coat]

First 45 minutes, we looked terrified to make a mistake, it was all play it safe. But we made sure we looked awful whilst doing so.
Some terrible passing and ball control all across the team. But we rode it out.
Moore going off injured seemed to refresh the team, which seemed weird. Holmes has had to wait for his turn and watch the horrific defending from the bench. He come on with real love for being a typical champ CB. Just get rid.
Second half, we seemed to be playing with a bit more purpose and prior to the opener we were already turning the screw. We were playing some nice passes and mixing it up.

Its a shame we conceded from yet another set piece, bonkers that Ejaria was left defending the back post.....then moments later he was defending the back post but at least he got up and won the duel the 2nd time.

Puscas worked his socks off last night. He kept making run after run and really occupied the defenders. Even against top defenders if his movement is the same they will have to go with him creating the space for the likes of Swift. Also love a keeper who comes out and claims the ball cleanly. Takes all the pressure off and gives the defenders reassurance, well done Southwood.

Wasn't that impressed by Halilovic last night, maybe lacks the match sharpness but everything he did last night seemed rather telegraphed.

[Hendo]

^infogol app where I quoted my figures from

Ah ok, so xG can be different depending on what site you look at? Another one in the column for chucking it in the bin.

[windermereROYAL]

Firstly (before I get a bit negative), we really needed that win - Pauno needed that win - and football is about winning games and we got that all important win.

Prior to the 64th minute when Swifty had that free kick, I thought we looked like 11 individual players, no cohesion, no real pattern of play and for me only one team was in the game, and it wasn't us. Don't really recall any chances we created either. Posh were playing like the home team and our only answer was to hit them on the break with balls into the channel - could clearly see players getting frustrated with each other.

64th minute - John Swift stood over the ball, said to my mate next to me - we need some Swift magic here to get us out of this hole - and he produced. Unbelievable strike from a player we need to make the most of, as there is zero chance IMO that he will be a Reading player next season.

The goal obviously gave us a boost and swung the game, meant Posh needed to be a bit more open and meant we could expose them and duly resulted in a second goal, credit to Puscas for his work down the flank and a solid finish by TDB.

Then when they got one back (Ovie didn't even jump), I would be surprised if there was one Reading fan in the stadium that felt we were going to hold on, the energy was sucked out of the place and an equalsier would have been disastrous for us (they nearly had one too with that Ovie flick on...). Fortunately another bit of magic resulted in us getting the win - but I think we were very fortunate to be victors.

Very hopeful that the introduction of Scott Dann at the back will really sure us up, also think Drinkwater will make a positive difference, but there is still an awful lot of work to be done.

Roll on Fulham (a) on Saturday - but we will need to play A LOT better than that if we are going to get any points back to the Royal County!

A bit OTT to call it fortunate imo, you are lucky when the other team in the woodwork survive goalmouth scrambles, balls cleared off the line and you are penned in your own half for long periods, none of which happened to us last night
We will be hard presssed to see a worse team than Peterborough visit the SCL this season, we were far from our best but were worthy winners.

[hughsies no.1]

Firstly (before I get a bit negative), we really needed that win - Pauno needed that win - and football is about winning games and we got that all important win.

Prior to the 64th minute when Swifty had that free kick, I thought we looked like 11 individual players, no cohesion, no real pattern of play and for me only one team was in the game, and it wasn't us. Don't really recall any chances we created either. Posh were playing like the home team and our only answer was to hit them on the break with balls into the channel - could clearly see players getting frustrated with each other.

64th minute - John Swift stood over the ball, said to my mate next to me - we need some Swift magic here to get us out of this hole - and he produced. Unbelievable strike from a player we need to make the most of, as there is zero chance IMO that he will be a Reading player next season.

The goal obviously gave us a boost and swung the game, meant Posh needed to be a bit more open and meant we could expose them and duly resulted in a second goal, credit to Puscas for his work down the flank and a solid finish by TDB.

Then when they got one back (Ovie didn't even jump), I would be surprised if there was one Reading fan in the stadium that felt we were going to hold on, the energy was sucked out of the place and an equalsier would have been disastrous for us (they nearly had one too with that Ovie flick on...). Fortunately another bit of magic resulted in us getting the win - but I think we were very fortunate to be victors.

Very hopeful that the introduction of Scott Dann at the back will really sure us up, also think Drinkwater will make a positive difference, but there is still an awful lot of work to be done.

Roll on Fulham (a) on Saturday - but we will need to play A LOT better than that if we are going to get any points back to the Royal County!

A bit OTT to call it fortunate imo, you are lucky when the other team in the woodwork survive goalmouth scrambles, balls cleared off the line and you are penned in your own half for long periods, none of which happened to us last night
We will be hard presssed to see a worse team than Peterborough visit the SCL this season, we were far from our best but were worthy winners.

Can't see how you can call us worthy winners to be honest. It took a bit of magic in the 64th minute from a set-piece to change the game, prior to that Posh were the better team. Can't take away the win, as end of the day we scored 3 and they scored 1. But that was no way a comprehensive victory that the scoreline suggests.

[SCIAG]

^infogol app where I quoted my figures from

Ah ok, so xG can be different depending on what site you look at? Another one in the column for chucking it in the bin.

There’s no one “objective” best way to calculate xG but it’s still a better measure than gut feeling.

InfoGol has awarded very low probabilities to the two big chances Reading had, as well as the two unlikely goals scored.

IMO the best use of xG is for evaluating the quality of goalkeepers and goal scorers. It can also be good for determining the quality of chances created but that’s more complicated.

[Snowflake Royal]

Have to say I agree with the comments about Swift saving Pauno's job. That was exactly my thought when the goal went in. It could just save our season because until that point we had not really looked like scoring and looked devoid of confidence. After the Swift goal we looked much better. Goals breed confidence.

I have tried not to join the Moore haters because he has at times been excellent for us in past seasons but there does seem to be something not right about him this season. He didn't really do anything much wrong before the injury, but I felt so much more confident of the defensive unit once Holmes had come on.

I felt the same about Southwood. I just always feel Rafa has a mistake in him whereas Southwood largely controlled his area and looked comfortable. Really hope he plays again against Fulham and we will see what he is made of against a better team.

Dele-Bashiru, Rahman, Laurent and Swift all looked class. Not a great fan of Yiadom but thought he was good last night and Puscas and Morrison had good games. Ejaria still doesn't look fit and Halilovic tried very hard but his end product was in the main
very disappointing.

Overall it was a struggle for 63 minutes until Swift scored. After that at times we looked like a very good side.

But everything will depend on injuries. We now only have 13 fit first team players by my calculation and we seem to be losing one each match so far. At that rate we will be playing a 100% U23 team before Christmas! We have had a horrific run of injuries for a number of seasons now but this seems like the worst that I can ever recall. Hopefully a few like Dann and Drinkwater will soon regain match fitness to help out.

On a personal note I put £50 on us to win at 19/10, also bet on Swift getting the first goal in the game and that there would be more than 3 goals in the game. Up about £150!!

I spent a lot of time telling people last season that as long as we were in the game at 0-0 or 0-1, we could have confidence of scoring eventually and so getting points.

I think almost the same holds true this season. I didn't think we were bad first half, just a little slow and cautious, a bit of playing down to their level. But I had plenty of confidence we'd break Posh down if we didn't concede. The main difference this season is our defence has been so shite you can't rely on the goals to be enough or us not to leak two quickly.

We look so much better going forward when the game opens up a bit and we play at a higher tempo. Which is why I'm so fing fed up with Ejaria, who slow and over plays almost everything. If I had a quid for every time he slowed to a walking pace on the ball or tried to take on a 3rd or 4th player instead of pass or shoot I could buy a mansion.

[windermereROYAL]

Ejaria looked far from happy for being subbed in front of the east stand last night, the walk around the pitch could not have been slower.

[Snowflake Royal]

Ejaria looked far from happy for being subbed in front of the east stand last night, the walk around the pitch could not have been slower.

That's just the pace he plays at let alone walks back to the bench

[Sanguine]

The one thing that still amazes me about Ejaria is how long Liverpool held on to him before his permanent deal. Bags of ability, but he/the club just can't harness it.

[NewCorkSeth]

The one thing that still amazes me about Ejaria is how long Liverpool held on to him before his permanent deal. Bags of ability, but he/the club just can't harness it.

I still think he has value beyond just plain goals and assists. Any team that didn't close him down would be made look foolish. The fact they have to pay close attention to him gives us a lot more breathing room in attack.

[Coppells Lost Coat]

The one thing that still amazes me about Ejaria is how long Liverpool held on to him before his permanent deal. Bags of ability, but he/the club just can't harness it.

I still think he has value beyond just plain goals and assists. Any team that didn't close him down would be made look foolish. The fact they have to pay close attention to him gives us a lot more breathing room in attack.

Pretty much this. Sometimes you seen him and he dribbles into 2 or 3 players at once.....who else requires this much attention? Swift?
He definitely slows some moves down and goes down blind alleys more often than not which is super frustrating.

However i did think last night Ejaria was way off his usual game a few nice turns and touches but quite ineffective. Needs a few games to get an understanding with Baba and I think we might see the best out of him. Last season his form dropped off once Richards started coasting.

[Hound]

The one thing that still amazes me about Ejaria is how long Liverpool held on to him before his permanent deal. Bags of ability, but he/the club just can't harness it.

I still think he has value beyond just plain goals and assists. Any team that didn't close him down would be made look foolish. The fact they have to pay close attention to him gives us a lot more breathing room in attack.

He is just a different player to what we assumed. Again he did some great defensive work last night (bar the goal), kept possession well, and often got us progressing quickly when he got his act together second half.

I think he is a cracking all round midfielder. Just not the goal/assist machine we thought he might be

Note last night: second most passes, most dribbles, most tackles, most interceptions, third most clearances, second most aerials won, third most touches

And that wasn’t on a particularly good night

[Hendo]

I'd certainly rather have Ovie playing for us than having to come up against him, that's for sure.

[Zip]

Moore adds to the injury list but it sounds like a Dann, Drinkwater, Rino and Rafael should all be back in the next couple of weeks which will strengthen the squad.

One (sort of) positive is, our squad is going to be very strong around January time once the injured players come back in.

We are bound to have plenty of injuries to other players over the next few months though.

[Zip]

The one thing that still amazes me about Ejaria is how long Liverpool held on to him before his permanent deal. Bags of ability, but he/the club just can't harness it.

I still think he has value beyond just plain goals and assists. Any team that didn't close him down would be made look foolish. The fact they have to pay close attention to him gives us a lot more breathing room in attack.

He is just a different player to what we assumed. Again he did some great defensive work last night (bar the goal), kept possession well, and often got us progressing quickly when he got his act together second half.

I think he is a cracking all round midfielder. Just not the goal/assist machine we thought he might be

Note last night: second most passes, most dribbles, most tackles, most interceptions, third most clearances, second most aerials won, third most touches

And that wasn’t on a particularly good night

He laid a lovely pass onto Swift which I think was in the build up to the third goal. He does do too much though. Several times in the first half he took the ball too far and lost possession. Not sure how fit he is as he kept stretching his legs throughout.

[Hound]

I'd certainly rather have Ovie playing for us than having to come up against him, that's for sure.

Reckon if you polled every manager in the div on who our 3 best players are, Ovie would be in 90% of them

[Hendo]

I'd certainly rather have Ovie playing for us than having to come up against him, that's for sure.

Reckon if you polled every manager in the div on who our 3 best players are, Ovie would be in 90% of them

Certainly in the team we are able to put out at the moment.

[Snowflake Royal]

The one thing that still amazes me about Ejaria is how long Liverpool held on to him before his permanent deal. Bags of ability, but he/the club just can't harness it.

I still think he has value beyond just plain goals and assists. Any team that didn't close him down would be made look foolish. The fact they have to pay close attention to him gives us a lot more breathing room in attack.

They don't need to close him down, he just runs straight to the nearest defender and stops anyway.

If he made good decisions and played to win / score he'd still be at Liverpool. He doesn't so he's with a shit Championship team.

[Lower West]

Just on Drinkwater,I mentioned a few days ago that my son saw him play for Chelsea in a pre-season game at Bournemouth and ,bearing in mind that as a Chelsea fan he has never been impressed by Drinkwater, he said that he was the best player on the pitch.

Seemingly the player hasn't caught the Reading injury disease as the message appears to be that he and Dann are not match fit.

How fit does a Premier League winner need to be to get a game for us?

Fit enough to get a place on the bench by merit not just because of reputation. Suspect they've been brought in partly to bring experience and professionalism to the training ground.

[Snowflake Royal]

Just on Drinkwater,I mentioned a few days ago that my son saw him play for Chelsea in a pre-season game at Bournemouth and ,bearing in mind that as a Chelsea fan he has never been impressed by Drinkwater, he said that he was the best player on the pitch.

Seemingly the player hasn't caught the Reading injury disease as the message appears to be that he and Dann are not match fit.

How fit does a Premier League winner need to be to get a game for us?

Fit enough to get a place on the bench by merit not just because of reputation. Suspect they've been brought in partly to bring experience and professionalism to the training ground.

Not working so far.