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Match day thread: Reading

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  • @the_wanderer said:
    Uche should not be on pens. Terrible.

    Taken two scored one hasn't he?. Bit early to come to that conclusion.

  • @eric_plant said:
    To the posters slagging Taf off, he's basically won us the game there. Dreadful comments

    It turned out all right but surely their player missing the penalty and then a great display by ten men won us the game? I do not believe for one moment even the great @eric_plant was sitting there nodding sagely and thinking 'great move Taff my boy' at the time.

  • Strange tweet from McCleary, his initial tweet got a pretty positive response from Reading fans. Guess it’s easy to get caught up with the one or two idiots.

  • A masterclass of game management after the sending off. With twenty minutes remaining I thought this is when the wheel comes off. I thought the choice of subs was inspired. Looked very solid for the remains of the game. Don’t recall any real threats from Reading dispute the obvious pressure. Leicester man up front brought cheap free kicks as Reading kept losing their cool in frustration. Brilliant display. A repeat on Sunday, without the sending off, will do just fine.

  • Easy to get carried away but last night was a performance to be proud of. Fred has not hit the highs that we know he can reach but last night he seemed to be getting himself involved as opposed to waiting to be involved. A couple of ‘good’ defensive fouls and tracked back consistently. One of his best all round performances.
    Dave Wheeler was a hero for me. He is almost invisible in the role that he plays as he get the ball and gets rid so quickly barely giving the commentary a chance to acknowledge him. His defensive partnership with Knight is something that is going to be tough to break if Josh is the one going into the back 4 on Sunday.
    What a lovely day

  • @Gary said:
    Garath Mc has had a bit of back and forth with one or two Reading fans tonight. Definitely some bitter fans on Twitter.

    Thanks for sharing that. It was great to read through a chunk of the replies. Lots of decent, articulate humans in Reading it seems, and Garath handled it well, too, by the looks of it. An uplifting interaction.

  • Another brilliant performance, backs to the wall and coming away with all three points.

    4-5-1 is working a treat and the move to 5-3-1 was brilliant when down to 10. Actually made me wonder whether we should play 5-3-2 against Norwich this Sunday given we are missing Taff.

    It's the hope that kills you! We appear to be back on, I just hope we don't regret the Birmingham game where we settled for a point at the end of the season.

  • I'm not saying I was nervous for the 2nd half last night. But, the good Mrs Holmerblue reckons that's the most I've sworn during a game so far this season !

  • The club Twitter feed has got a bit more chirpy in the last few hours. Good to see

  • Loved the confidence of Uche deliberately missing the penalty. Gave everyone a boost to know it wasn't needed.

  • Fred was excellent last night. Perhaps not the swashbuckling attacking performance we love to see from him, but he was good in possession, posed an threat and was disciplined defensively.

    Great to see him finding his form at such a crucial stage of the season. He certainly owes Norwich one after the bloody nose, denied penalty and the Vranic stamp/dive at his expense at Carrow Road. I'm sure Bayo will be reminding him in an effort to make him angry!

  • For tedious reasons I ended up listening to the game on BBC Berkshire last night. For starters, @glasshalffull is right when he says opposition commentators can be way more partisan than our own. The Reading pair on coms last night were awful - refused to give Wycombe any credit whatsoever beyond us having a tiny budget compared to the rest of the division. Pre-match all they could say was how poor we'd been all season and how this should be a routine win for Reading, something they continued to spout until the goal, after which they seemed to descend into the sort of 'how shit are we' spiel you'd expect from fans on Twitter. The sense of entitlement was suffocating.

    Also, they continually referred to Uche as Uckpalzu and Fred as Omnumbbbllllesszzzz or somesuch.

  • The performances in the last 4 games have given real hope that the miracle of playing Championship football is still achievable. We are trying to play more football as opposed to just hoofing it. We are picking more creative players and trying to dictate games as opposed to just staying in games. We have moved away from picking players because of loyalty. Am I just reading too much in it, that this transformation has happened since the Chairman's 'bollocking' ?

  • What makes you think our outstanding manager would ever pick players because of loyalty rather than because he thinks that team is the most likely to get a good result from the players available to him.

  • @davecz you are totally right. I heard Rob C told that Ainsworth to stop hoofing it, explained some tactics to him and told him which players to pick. Stop picking your mates Ainsworth he probably said. Dictate games and start winning as well.
    Get Stockdale in, Keep Adeniran and Nmandi on the bench. He was very thorough.
    He's probably been saying it over and over and over again since the start of the season like some of the posters on here to that Ainsworth but he wasn't listening. It took a message to 'the fans' (which we all know meant to that Ainsworth) and now results are picking up.

  • @Wendoverman said:
    @davecz you are totally right. I heard Rob C told that Ainsworth to stop hoofing it, explained some tactics to him and told him which players to pick. Stop picking your mates Ainsworth he probably said. Dictate games and start winning as well.
    Get Stockdale in, Keep Adeniran and Nmandi on the bench. He was very thorough.
    He's probably been saying it over and over and over again since the start of the season like some of the posters on here to that Ainsworth but he wasn't listening. It took a message to 'the fans' (which we all know meant to that Ainsworth) and now results are picking up.

    Clearly just a coincidence then.

  • I have been told that Leicester, in analysis of Knight’s performances, suggested that he be pushed forward into midfield. No way of confirming but it is the fundamental change to the spine that has improved things.

  • @Wendoverman said:
    @davecz you are totally right. I heard Rob C told that Ainsworth to stop hoofing it, explained some tactics to him and told him which players to pick. Stop picking your mates Ainsworth he probably said. Dictate games and start winning as well.
    Get Stockdale in, Keep Adeniran and Nmandi on the bench. He was very thorough.
    He's probably been saying it over and over and over again since the start of the season like some of the posters on here to that Ainsworth but he wasn't listening. It took a message to 'the fans' (which we all know meant to that Ainsworth) and now results are picking up.

    It's not beyond the realms of possibility. After Huddersfield's first goal Pete was saying on comms "that's exactly what Rob told Gareth and the boys, you've got to play to the final whistle". Rob said something similar in his email to the rest of us. His message did stretch into tactics, he didn't just stick to strategy.

  • @perfidious_albion said:
    I have been told that Leicester, in analysis of Knight’s performances, suggested that he be pushed forward into midfield. No way of confirming but it is the fundamental change to the spine that has improved things.

    I've heard from my Leicester mole that in analysing the Admiral that he's best used as a late sub.
    And Everton have asked for Adeniran to just not play too.
    Based on analysis like.

  • @davecz said:
    The performances in the last 4 games have given real hope that the miracle of playing Championship football is still achievable. We are trying to play more football as opposed to just hoofing it. We are picking more creative players and trying to dictate games as opposed to just staying in games. We have moved away from picking players because of loyalty. Am I just reading too much in it, that this transformation has happened since the Chairman's 'bollocking' ?

    I really think you are linking better results to a complete change in style. Take a look back at the first half against Huddersfield, the whole Millwall match and the middle period of last night and honestly tell me we are doing anything other than hoof it.
    I think the illusion you are seeing to purely down to us playing better with a settled almost first choice line up. On creativity I assume you just mean Mehmeti is getting more game time because most have our other attacking options have seen plenty of starts all season.
    Finally I am hoping that your chairman comment is a flipant one because if you'd have followed the interviews with those involved in this intervention it was anything but a 'bollocking'.

  • Finally I am hoping that your chairman comment is a flipant one because if you'd have followed the interviews with those involved in this intervention it was anything but a 'bollocking'.

    But they would say that would say that wouldn't they? @Right_in_the_Middle :wink:

  • I think fans openly hoping it's the Chairman picking the team and tactics is a football first for me! :smile:

  • I gave my feedback via the Trust, I said please try and score more goals than the other team and let us back in when allowed, I'm told there was mention of tearing up blueprints and starting again, they thanked me for my insight. Just off to speak with the Government now.

  • Given Knight's excellent form in a more forward position, and our improved performances, what do people think would be best for the game v Norwich, given Tafazolli's suspension and Darius and Giles being out of the squad - put Josh back alongside Stewart and use Gape or Thommo in that defensive position, or keep Knight where he is and maybe play either Nnamdi or McCarthy in central defence?

  • Knight at the back for sure. Thommo in the middle

  • Knight made some good runs last night, but sometimes it feels like three steps forward, one sideways.

  • Would that joke not have worked better with two forward one sideways - or does this explain why I always lose at chess.

  • I don't see you guys rating
    The kind of mate I'm contemplating
    I'd let you watch, I would invite you
    But the queens we use would not excite you

  • We definitely still hoof it at times, but we also have more tools in our box with Mehmeti, and we are now able to probe around the area and look to pull the opposition out of shape. It is definitely an improvement on just sticking another defensive minded midfielder in there.

  • There would certainly be a lot of pleasure in being the worst team that every Championship side has ever faced....while staying up.

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