Only clouds today are the injuries. Sounds like Leahy may be okay, but Low was out...and where is Big Chris? I am beginning to wonder if his injury will rule him out for the rest of the season, sadly.
I think @eric_plant might take issue with you over your last paragraph. There’s clearly much more to his game that some of us don’t appreciate or are too blinkered to ‘get it’.
Have to agree that Butcher has been a masterstroke of a signing. I think one of the Plymouth supporters commented that he does little to nothing spectacular but does his job very well. It reminds me of a documentary I watched once on Brian Clough. In it he shouted at one player, "I don't pay you to play football, I pay you to win it and give it to someone who can!". Every time I watch Butcher, I am reminded of that.
On the game itself, I too thought that we were going to pay for not putting the game to bed in the 1st half. They absolutely battered us in the second half. It was a bit of a sliding doors moment though. Why didn't we stop the "ball to Wing then he puts a slide rule pass out to Azeez|". It happened almost non stop in the 2nd half, I know that the goal didn't come from that side of the pitch, but the threat was constantly there & they came so close a few times. Either you stop Wing or Azeez? 🤷♂️
Wing is some player. No coincidence we scored so many bangers with him in the side!
Speaking of which, a friend and I were discussing the lack of goal of the season contenders a couple of weeks ago, aside from a couple (Potts v Charlton was one) . Lubala and Lonwijk have made that competition a lot more interesting now!
To be honest, I was surprised at the impact that Savage had on the game yesterday. When he came on in the 2nd half, he was able to pick out passes using both of his feet and delivered some excellent set pieces. If he continues, I reckon he'll be much better than his Dad every was! Wing was also impressive. Just makes me wonder how we missed out on him, whether we just couldn't offer him what he wanted or he thought he was going somewhere else and for it to fall through?
I have seen several comments on Twitter all saying that he should have started. I wonder if anyone comes in for him that he might force a deal through with their current situation and his Dad (Robbie) would support him too. There was talk over Jan Transfer window that he was one of the names that was involved in a firesale. They just never got a bid for him
He made one particular challenge yesterday to put the ball out for a throw after their left back had broken through a few tackles and was in position to launch a counter. Got a great reception from the bench, and rightly so. That kind of work is crucial. Any side is much harder to beat with that sort of bite in midfield.
When you sit back next morning and analyse the game and particularly the forced changes and substitutions, it just makes me realise how little I know about this glorious game of ours despite being involved in football since I was about 4.
Firstly, I was very fearful about having to play Lonwijk and Ravazolli, then they turned out to be absolute heroes.
Then, when it came to the subs Jason for the injured Leahy was the obvious one but then I moaned when we took off Sads and GMac and pushed Bez out wide. I thought Vokes coming on would allow their defenders out and Chem Campbell would be pretty ineffective. So what do I know 🤦, Vokes held the ball up superbly when we couldn’t do that prior to his arrival and Chem and Bez proved to be the match winners.
I’ll leave the selections to the people who know better from now on and have faith in Matt to do the right thing.
I’m the same as you. Rav in goal and the loss of Low gave me little hope. Lonwijk has clearly shown he is technically good but his lack of game time has shown before yesterday. His positioning was way better and that’s clearly down to match mental fitness.
I’m still not a huge Campbell fan but he got the penalty. He has to learn to keep out of trouble though, too many times he ran into defenders and doesn’t have the strength to out muscle players.
As others have said I can’t recall a single moment of Butcher’s game that stood out. But every part of his performance was great. Just filling that central position, closing, passing, stopping. He’s the Curtis Thompson we’ve been missing.
Landed about 15 feet away from me a couple of rows in front and to the right, landed in no-man's-land.
Saw it flying through the air and can confirm it was a firework of some kind.
It made I jump too. 🧨
If it came from our fans, it must have been the cretins right at the back. The same bunch that, having made it over the netting, looked shit scared when they realised that there was so few stewards they now either had to actually confront the Reading fans or turn back with their tails between their legs.
I hope that if the club gets fined, they can identify said morons and make them pay. It was perfectly possible to celebrate the goals and taunt the Reading fans without crossing the netting.
In a slight aside, looking at our allocated seat ticket number and where we actually sat it appeared that they sold them initially right over to the low wall to our right rather than just up to the netting?
We sat in seat 165 against the netting with an allocated seat number of 200.
Makes me think that had we requested and sold more then the netting would have had to move to the right thus reducing the width of no-man's-land. That would have been quite frightening, given how things turned out. I was at as close to the Reading fans as I wanted to be!
I went to the game yesterday with a friend who is a Reading season ticket holder. We met up in the Nags Head in the centre of town (Oxford Road area) with his regular bunch of mates. The pub is a real ale haven and more like a beer exhibition, than a regular boozer. It runs its own double decker bus to the ground and back again for £5 total. He thinks there are other pubs around the town that do that! We didn't leave there until 2.25 and were in the ground well before kick off, dropped off immediately outside. The bus then left reasonably pronto after the game (ahead of all the cars).
I know that such an initiatives would deprive the club of income but are there any decent sized pubs in Wycombe who could do something similar? I don't know whether the pub subsidises the exercise to get the punters in on a Saturday lunchtime, but it made for a fantastic day out, particularly given the win.
The thing that Reading's ground has over us is accessibility. Even if a pub decided to do this in Wycombe, they'd still need to leave really early to make it through the traffic going into Hillbottom Road.
Unless their landlord is @flymofrank & they are willing to buy and install a chair-lift!?
The Nag's Head is a terrific boozer, though I'm not sure I would have been made particularly welcome just rocking up with my Wycombe scarf on yesterday!
Will be interesting what else the club try going forward. The West Wycombe park n ride and Millbrook school were good ideas for a while, but unfortunately both stopped.
Comments
I once arrived In Rochdale at about 430 for a midweek game. It was late august, a lovely afternoon and nothing, and I mean nothing, in town was open.
Reading has a bit of an identikit high street, but there’s plenty to do if you need to kill a few hours at least.
Stevenage is the bleakest place in the UK.
Oh and well done karma for catching up with Barnsley so quickly.
Re. Stevenage - large swathes of it are horrendous, for sure, but I would say the old town is actually ok.
This should be Gareth McCleary's song from now on:
🎶 He plays on the left
He plays on the right
That Garath McCleary makes Messi look shite 🎶
Only clouds today are the injuries. Sounds like Leahy may be okay, but Low was out...and where is Big Chris? I am beginning to wonder if his injury will rule him out for the rest of the season, sadly.
I think @eric_plant might take issue with you over your last paragraph. There’s clearly much more to his game that some of us don’t appreciate or are too blinkered to ‘get it’.
Have to agree that Butcher has been a masterstroke of a signing. I think one of the Plymouth supporters commented that he does little to nothing spectacular but does his job very well. It reminds me of a documentary I watched once on Brian Clough. In it he shouted at one player, "I don't pay you to play football, I pay you to win it and give it to someone who can!". Every time I watch Butcher, I am reminded of that.
On the game itself, I too thought that we were going to pay for not putting the game to bed in the 1st half. They absolutely battered us in the second half. It was a bit of a sliding doors moment though. Why didn't we stop the "ball to Wing then he puts a slide rule pass out to Azeez|". It happened almost non stop in the 2nd half, I know that the goal didn't come from that side of the pitch, but the threat was constantly there & they came so close a few times. Either you stop Wing or Azeez? 🤷♂️
Wing is some player. No coincidence we scored so many bangers with him in the side!
Speaking of which, a friend and I were discussing the lack of goal of the season contenders a couple of weeks ago, aside from a couple (Potts v Charlton was one) . Lubala and Lonwijk have made that competition a lot more interesting now!
To be honest, I was surprised at the impact that Savage had on the game yesterday. When he came on in the 2nd half, he was able to pick out passes using both of his feet and delivered some excellent set pieces. If he continues, I reckon he'll be much better than his Dad every was! Wing was also impressive. Just makes me wonder how we missed out on him, whether we just couldn't offer him what he wanted or he thought he was going somewhere else and for it to fall through?
Surprisingly though, Savage seems to be regularly benched.
But I'm sure the commentary said he signed a 4 year deal!
I have seen several comments on Twitter all saying that he should have started. I wonder if anyone comes in for him that he might force a deal through with their current situation and his Dad (Robbie) would support him too. There was talk over Jan Transfer window that he was one of the names that was involved in a firesale. They just never got a bid for him
He’d be an ideal replacement for Potts next season.
He made one particular challenge yesterday to put the ball out for a throw after their left back had broken through a few tackles and was in position to launch a counter. Got a great reception from the bench, and rightly so. That kind of work is crucial. Any side is much harder to beat with that sort of bite in midfield.
When you sit back next morning and analyse the game and particularly the forced changes and substitutions, it just makes me realise how little I know about this glorious game of ours despite being involved in football since I was about 4.
Firstly, I was very fearful about having to play Lonwijk and Ravazolli, then they turned out to be absolute heroes.
Then, when it came to the subs Jason for the injured Leahy was the obvious one but then I moaned when we took off Sads and GMac and pushed Bez out wide. I thought Vokes coming on would allow their defenders out and Chem Campbell would be pretty ineffective. So what do I know 🤦, Vokes held the ball up superbly when we couldn’t do that prior to his arrival and Chem and Bez proved to be the match winners.
I’ll leave the selections to the people who know better from now on and have faith in Matt to do the right thing.
I’m the same as you. Rav in goal and the loss of Low gave me little hope. Lonwijk has clearly shown he is technically good but his lack of game time has shown before yesterday. His positioning was way better and that’s clearly down to match mental fitness.
I’m still not a huge Campbell fan but he got the penalty. He has to learn to keep out of trouble though, too many times he ran into defenders and doesn’t have the strength to out muscle players.
As others have said I can’t recall a single moment of Butcher’s game that stood out. But every part of his performance was great. Just filling that central position, closing, passing, stopping. He’s the Curtis Thompson we’ve been missing.
Is that the first time that Scowen, Potts and Butcher have all started together ? Thought we were fantastic 1st half !
Does anyone know what caused that massive bang and flash of light in the second half?
It sounded like a firework, but there seemed to be no smoke or pyrotechnic.
Was told it was a pyro that failed to go off properly….thrown by one of our fans as well. Made me jump.
Landed about 15 feet away from me a couple of rows in front and to the right, landed in no-man's-land.
Saw it flying through the air and can confirm it was a firework of some kind.
It made I jump too. 🧨
If it came from our fans, it must have been the cretins right at the back. The same bunch that, having made it over the netting, looked shit scared when they realised that there was so few stewards they now either had to actually confront the Reading fans or turn back with their tails between their legs.
I hope that if the club gets fined, they can identify said morons and make them pay. It was perfectly possible to celebrate the goals and taunt the Reading fans without crossing the netting.
In a slight aside, looking at our allocated seat ticket number and where we actually sat it appeared that they sold them initially right over to the low wall to our right rather than just up to the netting?
We sat in seat 165 against the netting with an allocated seat number of 200.
Makes me think that had we requested and sold more then the netting would have had to move to the right thus reducing the width of no-man's-land. That would have been quite frightening, given how things turned out. I was at as close to the Reading fans as I wanted to be!
I went to the game yesterday with a friend who is a Reading season ticket holder. We met up in the Nags Head in the centre of town (Oxford Road area) with his regular bunch of mates. The pub is a real ale haven and more like a beer exhibition, than a regular boozer. It runs its own double decker bus to the ground and back again for £5 total. He thinks there are other pubs around the town that do that! We didn't leave there until 2.25 and were in the ground well before kick off, dropped off immediately outside. The bus then left reasonably pronto after the game (ahead of all the cars).
I know that such an initiatives would deprive the club of income but are there any decent sized pubs in Wycombe who could do something similar? I don't know whether the pub subsidises the exercise to get the punters in on a Saturday lunchtime, but it made for a fantastic day out, particularly given the win.
Flint cottage is 30 seconds walk from the train station and offers some sort of season ticket beer discount
Chiltern taps does 15% discount off beers and is 30 seconds walk from the bus station.
The shuttle bus runs through both the bus station and the train station.
The thing that Reading's ground has over us is accessibility. Even if a pub decided to do this in Wycombe, they'd still need to leave really early to make it through the traffic going into Hillbottom Road.
Unless their landlord is @flymofrank & they are willing to buy and install a chair-lift!?
Although the traffic up Hillbottom Road isn’t that bad on a matchday now following the decision to make the top car par all-ticket.
I often arrive about 2.45 and pretty much sail through.
The Nag's Head is a terrific boozer, though I'm not sure I would have been made particularly welcome just rocking up with my Wycombe scarf on yesterday!
Do the club still say that spaces aren't guaranteed after a certain time?
Wondered how that applied when they'd obviously sold xx spaces and you'd bought one.
I think that’s the lower car park after 2.30 due to amount of pedestrians.
Thanks, makes sense.
Will be interesting what else the club try going forward. The West Wycombe park n ride and Millbrook school were good ideas for a while, but unfortunately both stopped.
We should draw attention to this. A really loud explosion and some smoke that seemed to go off in the ‘no man’s land between the home and away fans’
A really stupid and dangerous thing to do. I hope we found out who did it and ban them.
Add that to the ripping out of seats at Stevenage and throwing them at stewards.
We really have got some absolute morons in one section of the crowd.