Hunt needs to get over his dislike of Elliot just because he doesn't run much. He is such a good player to be sat on the bench when we're chasing a win.

Jacob is quite simply the worst footballer I can remember seeing at Reading. His touch, positioning, passing, crossing, tackling is truly abysmal.

Marriott is such a good finisher, reminds me of cureton. Hardly in the game but pops up when a chance presents itself.

We're too easy to create against. 14 shots from Mansfield says it all, we're lucky that shot that hit the under side of the bar didn't go in as we never would have scored two. We struggled to score one...

That Lane miss is quite something. There is often a bobble, bounce or defender obscuring vision in mitigation for these sorts of misses, or maybe the cross is very high pace and hard to control. But there was nothing of this nature. Absolutely inexcusable miss.

Great beef! Carry on lads!

I think the child is yourself. Grow up

I cba to go back to your quotes but you did say relegation was a good thing. Just telling you it isn't

Are you referring to me here Jimmy?

I don’t want to be presumptuous but I feel like you’re talking absolutely b/llocks based on your overwhelming ignorance.

Hm. I still don’t like Wing playing sweeper. Yes, he can quarterback fr there, but I think he could do even more further forward with a bit of freedom.

Dorset, Burns, Jacob, Lane all poor. Doyle looked good first half, but faded. Kelvin had the impact of a cabbage when subbed on. People keep banging on about Noel’s tactics but as far as I can tell it’s player quality being patchy all over the pitch that really lets us down.

We can play some really good football at times. If you took our best moments and their best moments, we’d look leagues apart. But make a lowlights reel and some of our players look like randos who have won the opportunity to play for us in a raffle.

Positives: maybe consistency will come. Marriott is an outstanding signing, and Ritchie, Kyeweraa, Williams and Doyle are pretty good. Lane should get better, and perhaps O’Conner will be a godsend. Get em all together in a team with Wing, Savage and Pereira and that’s not half bad.

Negatives: our injury record might mean that never happens.

I wouldn’t say our best bits are any better than the best bits of other teams play though.

How many games this year have we genuinely been the better side in a game? I’m struggling to name any

Absolute crap , Mansfield should have buried us, we look devoid of any confidence and ideas. With Wing dropping so deep this leaves a massive hole in the midfield which our opponents exploit.

We're simply treading water at the moment , not going to drown but going nowhere

It's going to be a very long boring season unless things quickly change which under the current management is not going to happen.

With the stadium being like a giant soulless fridge , it was certainly an afternoon to forget

Dreadful stuff yet again.

Football devoid of any imagination or flair. Or sense of purpose. Whatever Hunt does before kick off or the second half he should stop. They look entirely demotivated.

I think Lane has a spark but is played too high and central, and has no faith in the headless chicken that is Jacob running around behind him.

Ahmed won’t take anyone on which is frustrating.

Burns has his balls-up but was so busy distributing, he’a getting better.

Savage had flashes of his old self.

Richie’s an angry little man.

It’s all so slow and pointless. Needs stretching a bit.

Old bloke at the end of my row wouldn’t shut up loudly whinging the whole game making it even more tortuous.

Jacob looks like he's been told to play wherever he fancies. He's all over the shop.

We're still in this bewildering situation where Fraser's strongest position/role is the one we're currently shoehorning our most creative player in to. Without Wing joining attacks we look disjointed and devoid of ideas, and he can't seem to help a bunch of defenders with a collective kink for putting each other in trouble.

I really just want to see one 90 minutes that shows me we're improving, but that was definitely wasn't on show today. Mansfield should have had four or five.

We did actually create a couple of chances today, which does show some improvement. It's disappointing that we didn't convert many, but we probably created more opportunities than I've seen is create in any other game this season.

It's frustrating how slow we attack though. Mansfield looked threatening every time they went forward because they attacked with pace, especially down the channels.

We seem to get the ball right up to the final third and then spend a few minutes passing sideways and backwards, giving the opposition plenty of time to get bodies back. Then we can't break through, lose possession and everyone has to charge back up the field. The number of shots and crosses we had blocked was disappointing.

I felt Doyle definitely added some flair to our attack, he seems to be settling in well. I can't fault any particular individual, but we just don't seem to move forward fast enough.

I think people are exaggerating how "good" Mansfield were because a win was expected, we gifted them a goal with pretty shambolic defending then they didn't really offer much.

Well they hit the underside of the bar and their striker really messed up getting offside for no real reason in that offside goal

Hunt really doesn't rate Elliot does he?
I would have thought he would come on for Doyle who is yet another player who flatters to deceive.

Fair play to Marriott-at least we now have 2 options for scoring goals, him and Wing.
So in the league that is 2 wins from 10 which the new owners surely weren't expecting.
He gave him a chance and he didn't play well. He's now giving Doyle a chance, and he's playing ok ish. Certainly more involved than Elliott was in his starts.

Elliott isn't really a player you call on for a goal.

I thought we were the better side today. That isn't saying a lot though.

Well they hit the underside of the bar and their striker really messed up getting offside for no real reason in that offside goal
And Lane missed an open goal, Wing whistled one just over and MOM fell over through on goal. The shot that hit the underside of the bar wasn't a great opportunity, it could just as easily have gone miles high and wide, like most of their efforts from range.

We do make teams look tidy in midfield and good running at our defence, but to an extent that's just what happens when a high press fails which it will occasionally do even well played very well. Which we aren't currently doing

Well they hit the underside of the bar and their striker really messed up getting offside for no real reason in that offside goal
And Lane missed an open goal, Wing whistled one just over and MOM fell over through on goal. The shot that hit the underside of the bar wasn't a great opportunity, it could just as easily have gone miles high and wide, like most of their efforts from range.

We do make teams look tidy in midfield and good running at our defence, but to an extent that's just what happens when a high press fails which it will occasionally do even well played very well. Which we aren't currently doing

Yeah my comment was in response to that Mansfield didn’t offer much. They didn’t offer loads but could have had 3 there

We had as many chances as them certainly. I just thought they were more composed and organised generally. Not by a lot mind you. Looked like 2 low end div1 teams

I'd say our two biggest issue today was caused by conceding early: we typically play too slowly to exploit teams who are out of their shape, allowing them to get back into their shape, and we're not good at breaking sides down.

Mansfield caused us serious problems when they were direct and looked to be progressive with the ball; for much of the game we weren't.

I don't feel there was any consistent intensity in our game until Matt Ritchie came on - that's when we started to cause Mansfield regular problems. As it stands, the sooner Ritchie can get fit enough to start matches, the better.

At least Marriott's in scoring form, as we wouldn't've got a goal today without him or yet another worldie somehow going in.

Without (I`ve only got a left foot) Lane`s horrendous miss we`d be talking in a far more positive way tonight, not a great performance by any means. so damn frustrating.
One clean sheet in all comps so far.

Disagree, the cross was deflected into the path of the goalscorer, there`s little you can do about that.

Our goal was very well worked from Ritchie and Marriott. 2 assists in two for Ritchie in 20 min cameos and obvs 5 in a row for Marriott

He's done nothing today. I have no idea why he's suddenly out on the left.

Because he`s left footed maybe, any normal player puts that in with his right.

Not been impressed by Kyreewa (probably spelled that wrong) and the sooner we have Paudie and Williams back, the better. Think it's time to drop Ahmed too.

Disagree, the cross was deflected into the path of the goalscorer, there`s little you can do about that.
Catalogue of errors leading to it though.

Mansfield had some decent chances beyond their goal and the goal ruled offside looked very tight - albeit I was down the other end of the stadium.

We weren’t great today, so many individual errors, but I wonder how much the very strong wind impacted us. We seemed to be playing more passes on the ground than usual, Wing especially.

I would have thought playing it on the ground would be better than aimless long balls down the flanks or up to a small striker being marked by 2 6 ft+ defenders. I don't think that's all Wing has got in his locker. Get him up the pitch to do some damage.

Do we have goal line technology in L1? because their shot that hit the bar looked awfully close to being over the line, the lino was in a perfect position right by the corner flag tbf.

It was certainly in use against Wrexham in the cup. At least according to the commentators

Apparently not in continual use in regular L1 games, though.

My first thought on watching it was in, second thought on replay was it wasn't. At the time I assumed because there was GLT vs Wrexham it would be in L1 games and just assumed it can't have been in because it wasn't given.

Watched the highlights on youtube at .25 speed and paused as it lands. It's not even remotely over the line. Looks on it at most maybe.

Didn't look remotely over the line from our seats

Didn't look remotely over the line from our seats

Check the sky highlights.