The Bench

[Riaz]

I had sympathy for Millen last night. Terrific 70 minutes followed by us falling apart.

Of course, naturally, finger gets pointed at Millen. For once, deep down, I felt this was a little harsh.

So was there anything Millen could have done? At 2 nil, its unfair to say he could have done anything at all. None of us could see anything other than a very good city victory.

But as soon as they scored they first goal, alarm bells were ringing. Its at this point where you think Millen could do something...

But I looked at the bench.......

Gerken, Spence, Balosie, Stead & Taylor

1 Defender and 3 forwards! of which TWO were Target men??! wtf? Why did he select Stead AND taylor?

Point is, he needed to put on a cisse or skuse - but his poor selection of the subs bench prevented him.

My sympathy has totally gone - maybe he was'nt expecting us to be winning a game?

For me you put at least one defender, at least one midfelder and one striker on the bench (plus one more obviously) to cover all possibilities

His failure to get another basic right, meant there was nothing he could do.

He HAS to go

[Monkeh]

Skuse was "injured" in the warm up but Taylor and stead shouldn't of been on there together as it gives you limited options to change things

A centre mid instead of one of the above should of been and with Lee at Chesterfield cisse is a must

[Riaz]

Skuse was "injured" in the warm up but Taylor and stead shouldn't of been on there together as it gives you limited options to change things

A centre mid instead of one of the above should of been and with Lee at Chesterfield cisse is a must

Cisse should have been on the bench - Fall-out with Millen or not.

He's being paid by us and he was needed in those last 15 minutes!

[steviestevieneville]

I had sympathy for Millen last night. Terrific 70 minutes followed by us falling apart.

Of course, naturally, finger gets pointed at Millen. For once, deep down, I felt this was a little harsh.

So was there anything Millen could have done? At 2 nil, its unfair to say he could have done anything at all. None of us could see anything other than a very good city victory.

But as soon as they scored they first goal, alarm bells were ringing. Its at this point where you think Millen could do something...

But I looked at the bench.......

Gerken, Spence, Balosie, Stead & Taylor

1 Defender and 3 forwards! of which TWO were Target men??! wtf? Why did he select Stead AND taylor?

Point is, he needed to put on a cisse or skuse - but his poor selection of the subs bench prevented him.

My sympathy has totally gone - maybe he was'nt expecting us to be winning a game?

For me you put at least one defender, at least one midfelder and one striker on the bench (plus one more obviously) to cover all possibilities

His failure to get another basic right, meant there was nothing he could do.

He HAS to go

FFS skuse was injured in the warm up. If he'd been playing im sure Millen would of pushed him into midfield and put spence right back to sure up the midfield. I'm sorry but this is why i disagree with you on near enough everything you obviously haven't got a ******* clue.

[spudski]

Skuse fell Ill before the game. I actually think that his misfortune was why we played so well in the first 70 mins. Carey, although not the long term answer, added some fire and direction. His first challenge was hilarious and on another night a ref could have sent him off...he was lucky, but it set the tone for a battling display.

I thought JCR was ineffective and tired. He started miscontrolling the ball, and was fading fast. Bolaise should have come on for him. Spence should have come on for Carey who also tired in the last 20.

It was a harsh result, but many of us saw it coming.

Millen was too slow reacting and i though putting the ginger lad on was wasteful.

I agree some of his Substitutions haven't been good.

We need a new manager...not because i blame Milley, but i think he won't be able to motivate the players anymore and we need some new ideas. We have no plan B that works.

[Andy082005]

Cisse should have been on the bench - Fall-out with Millen or not.

He's being paid by us and he was needed in those last 15 minutes!

An absolute joke how he has been frozen out....

[Monkeh]

Cisse should be on the bench

[redcherryberry]

Taylor shouldnt of been purchased in the first place let alone be sitting on the bench.

Millen's only got himself to blame.

[Riaz]

FFS skuse was injured in the warm up. If he'd been playing im sure Millen would of pushed him into midfield and put spence right back to sure up the midfield. I'm sorry but this is why i disagree with you on near enough everything you obviously haven't got a ******* clue.

I disagree, the only thing I did'nt have a clue about, was that Skuse was injured - I never knew this - but that wasnt my point.

Point is, why did we have TWO target men on the bench? why did we need two??

[Andy082005]

I disagree, the only thing I did'nt have a clue about, was that Skuse was injured - I never knew this - but that wasnt my point.

Point is, why did we have TWO target men on the bench? why did we need two??

Skuse got injured...couldnt be helped, now surely though, someone else was drafted on to the bench??

Who was drafted onto the bench?

Do City have to announce a squad for the game, the pick a 17 man squad for the game?? or could they have drafted in any of the 600 man squad we have??

[spudski]

Skuse wasn't injured...he fell ill, his friend told me who was sat next to me. He text him before the game started asking where he was.

[nickolas]

The whole squad hav to report to every home game now so teflon couldve chosen any off the money grabbing wasters to take up a place on the bench. He chose spence but couldve chosen any of them.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

FFS skuse was injured in the warm up. If he'd been playing im sure Millen would of pushed him into midfield and put spence right back to sure up the midfield. I'm sorry but this is why i disagree with you on near enough everything you obviously haven't got a ******* clue.

Great theory although Spence was'nt originally on the bench, Carey was and there is another question about the shape of the bench, we know Cisse is fit, we know Hunt is fit, we know Stewart is fit, we know Ribiero is fit, rumour has it Spence and Fontaine are fully fit but rumour also has it that Millen has frozen all of these players out, sound familiar? and not forgetting Edwards is fit.

and if Millen is so tactically astute as you are 'SURE' he is, why did he wait until the 87th minute to make his one and only change?.

[steviestevieneville]

I disagree, the only thing I did'nt have a clue about, was that Skuse was injured - I never knew this - but that wasnt my point.

Point is, why did we have TWO target men on the bench? why did we need two??

Well imo they were both on the bench because we've been struggling to score goals, and he needed as many options as possible. I agree with others about the Cisse situation, he should be on the bench. Reducing the amount of subs hasn't helped with this.

[mitten]

Bench aside, when he made the change of Albert for Taylor, or whoever he wanted to bring on, surely the instruction should have been "to go on there and just sit in and break up any play you can, we've 8 minutes to go............"

I dont blame Taylor but he went up front and offered little support to what was going on behind him

And by the way Riaz - you were late last night!! ;-)

[Riaz]

Bench aside, when he made the change of Albert for Taylor, or whoever he wanted to bring on, surely the instruction should have been "to go on there and just sit in and break up any play you can, we've 8 minutes to go............"

I dont blame Taylor but he went up front and offered little support to what was going on behind him

And by the way Riaz - you were late last night!! ;-)

[Spud55]

I had sympathy for Millen last night. Terrific 70 minutes followed by us falling apart.

Of course, naturally, finger gets pointed at Millen. For once, deep down, I felt this was a little harsh.

So was there anything Millen could have done? At 2 nil, its unfair to say he could have done anything at all. None of us could see anything other than a very good city victory.

But as soon as they scored they first goal, alarm bells were ringing. Its at this point where you think Millen could do something...

But I looked at the bench.......

Gerken, Spence, Balosie, Stead & Taylor

1 Defender and 3 forwards! of which TWO were Target men??! wtf? Why did he select Stead AND taylor?

Point is, he needed to put on a cisse or skuse - but his poor selection of the subs bench prevented him.

My sympathy has totally gone - maybe he was'nt expecting us to be winning a game?

For me you put at least one defender, at least one midfelder and one striker on the bench (plus one more obviously) to cover all possibilities

His failure to get another basic right, meant there was nothing he could do.

He HAS to go

I find it strange that i have been one of millens supporters on here, while others have been most veciferously criticising him, yet i think the result last night was largely down to Millen.

After half time Reading had clearly had a rocket inserted in their collective backsides, they were still crap, but much less so than in the first half, they were starting to get chances and they looked like they could score. We get the second goal and that should have killed them off, but Millen just stood there like some kind of dribbling moron.

After an hour or so Pitman was absolutely knackered, and needed to come off, carey was tiring and should have been replaced and JCR was shite as usual.

After an hour or so (where we were unlucky not to be 5-0 up) the energy went from Pitman and he stopped causing the Reading defence problems so they were no longer having to worry as much about albert as well as the only capable passer of the ball we have was knackered and lost his effectiveness, that is the point you need to make changes, especially up front as it keeps the opposition defence occupied and not almost 100% focused on attacking, which by 70 minutes the reading defence were.

Had millen, between 60 minutes and their goals, swapped Pitman for Taylor, JCR for Bolaise and carey for Spence, we would not have lost that game, but as per usual he did nothing and just watched the side collapse.

I personally thought last night was one of the single most innept performances from a manager i have ever seen, and until then i'd held off wanting Millen gone, but after that he really has to go.

[Fiale]

We have had 2 forwards on the bench all season, makes no sense at all. You need a CB/LB/RB that allows a substitution of the back four with a little jiggling, a midfielder, a winger and a forward (subs that give options - players likes Cisse/Skuse that can cover also as a CB or RB). Worse even with the options we had, why play a forward on the wing when Bolaise was on the bench ?

Oh well, at least we played well for stretches of the game, it's just not really enough though is it. It just re-enforced my thought that the team is good enough, the direction so far has been lacking to get the best out of them.