Reading at home match thread

[CityCiderEd]

5 minutes ago, Red Cloud said:

3 minutes ago, Lew-T said:

That was a League One game. I don’t think the pitch helped mind you…

Possibly the worst pitch I've seen at the gate for years

 

[Dan Robin]

Two points dropped. It's a pity, because we will face better teams soon so we should take chances like today.

Positives: Tommy is back, more minutes played by Taylor-Clarke.

Edited April 1, 2023 by Dan Robin

[Lanterne Rouge]

Swansea just beat Cardiff in the 99th minute.

Every cloud!

[cityexile]

Cardiff 2 Swansea 3, 90+9

Edited April 1, 2023 by cityexile

[brad blit]

Watched from home today.

Despite City having decent spells of possession and attacking “intent” we didn’t really trouble them enough and I think it’s fair to say a few players are prob already on summer holidays. 

Bar his superb finish a few weeks back, Weimann is a shadow of his former self - evens the relentless running and energy seems to have gone. 

[Bris Red]

1 minute ago, cityexile said:

Cardiff 2 Swansea 3, 90+6

Hahah that has made my day.

[Northern Red]

 

2 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Swansea just beat Cardiff in the 99th minute.

Every cloud!

Snigger.

Edited April 1, 2023 by Northern Red

[marcofisher]

It's quite clear the season is fizzling out. I'm excited to see what 3-4 signings next year can do.

 

We are much weaker without Pring at left back, there were so many gaps down the left that could have been exposed by him overlapping Mehmeti and driving into the box. Unfortunately, JD is not that player. I think Mehmeti was getting frustrated at JD' wastefulness and was just trying to do it himself.

 

Also, midfield considerably weaker without Scott. 

 

All in all, not really much to lose sleep over. It's just the point we are at in the season. Pearson happy just to keep the squad ticking over and trying to avoid more injuries.

 

 

[miketh2nd]

If you had told me before the game we would have Pring alongside Vyner and Taylor Clarke alongside James , i would most likely taken a point even at home . 

But with how many chances we had in the 2nd half , I'm gutted . The pitch didn't make it easy for us to play our crisp passing.  

On the plus side Conway scoring on his return and seemed pretty much match fit but glad we didn't play him longer than the 60.

Mehmeti was a menance the whole game , think he will add assists and goals soon and especially after a pre season with us.

Tanner played great espcially as he definitely didn't get the same cover as when Sykes plays in front of him , although I think he was supposed to be marking Carroll? on set peices and was nowhere near him for Carol's assist . 

 

[BigTone]

13 minutes ago, Lew-T said:

That was a League One game. I don’t think the pitch helped mind you…

Don't blame the pitch, we were shite regardless

[marcofisher]

Did anyone get a good view of the disallowed Nakhi goal? The replay looked like the right back was playing him onside but it was not the best camera angle.

[miketh2nd]

Just now, marcofisher said:

Did anyone get a good view of the disallowed Nakhi goal? The replay looked like the right back was playing him onside but it was not the best camera angle.

Yeah i thought that too .

[maxjak]

17 minutes ago, marcofisher said:

It did with Semenyo, hoping this will be similar.

How much do we miss Antoine?

Edited April 1, 2023 by maxjak

[redkev]

3 minutes ago, marcofisher said:

It's quite clear the season is fizzling out. I'm excited to see what 3-4 signings next year can do.

 

We are much weaker without Pring at left back, there were so many gaps down the left that could have been exposed by him overlapping Mehmeti and driving into the box. Unfortunately, JD is not that player. I think Mehmeti was getting frustrated at JD' wastefulness and was just trying to do it himself.

 

Also, midfield considerably weaker without Scott. 

 

All in all, not really much to lose sleep over. It's just the point we are at in the season. Pearson happy just to keep the squad ticking over and trying to avoid more injuries.

 

 

Totally agree , with pring not playing left back and with all the other adjustments to cover injuries it has taken the balance and zip out of our game , we still should have won that game comfortably.

the few things that worry me are it’s not just Scott who will be on other teams radars , if I was a scout I would deffo be looking at Tommy reminds me of a young Teddy sheringham also Cam Pring so dynamic .

Taylor Clarke not ready yet ( that’s no slur on him ) Bell I’m still undecided & Weimann still far to hit and miss for me .

it has also come to a time if we are going to give it a go to get to the prem ( Scott apart because I’m positive he will be gone ) we have to have a few seasons of holding on to our better players we can’t keep on being the tree to pick the apples from 

[Numero Uno]

1 minute ago, maxjak said:

How much do we miss Antoine?

Who was called a League 2 at best player by a few.

[marcofisher]

4 minutes ago, maxjak said:

How much do we miss Antoine?

A lot, I said when he left he will be a bigger miss in this season than if Scott has left in Jan as a huge percentage of our goals and chances were coming through him. Especially with Pring at left back, it must have been one of the best left sides in the division in terms of creativity.

 

I think Mehmeti will be a lot better with Pring behind him who will make those overlapping runs and occupy defenders. Anis had multiple defenders on him today but JD offered very little on the overlap and was wasteful.

Edited April 1, 2023 by marcofisher

[Spike]

24 minutes ago, old_eastender said:

 

You can see his potential though, better decision making needed.

This and the fact he's stepped up a level with a team who are still seemingly trying to figure out their identity. I mean to his credit today a better finisher on the end of a few of his passes and he's potentially got a hat-trick of assists, instead, he's looked poor due to the bad aspects of his game. Another thing I'll give him credit for is his ability to make defenders backpedal and panic, if he can do that and then get a good shooter on the end of a pass he'll create panic in the opposition, as it is his crossing seems to be off and his decision on when to shoot and when to dribble more need work.

[And Its Smith]

37 crosses when (a) none of our players can consistently cross a ball, and (b) they are massive at the back and we have small strikers.   Pearson certainly knows more than me but I’d love his view on the tactic. Doubt he will get asked post match though! 

[Ronnie Sinclair]

19 minutes ago, cityexile said:

Cardiff 2 Swansea 3, 90+9

They are in real trouble, and their fixture list has a couple of right six pointers in there amongst some other tricky games (Blackpool away on Friday for example) 

[marcofisher]

2 minutes ago, redkev said:

Totally agree , with pring not playing left back and with all the other adjustments to cover injuries it has taken the balance and zip out of our game , we still should have won that game comfortably.

the few things that worry me are it’s not just Scott who will be on other teams radars , if I was a scout I would deffo be looking at Tommy reminds me of a young Teddy sheringham also Cam Pring so dynamic .

Taylor Clarke not ready yet ( that’s no slur on him ) Bell I’m still undecided & Weimann still far to hit and miss for me .

it has also come to a time if we are going to give it a go to get to the prem ( Scott apart because I’m positive he will be gone ) we have to have a few seasons of holding on to our better players we can’t keep on being the tree to pick the apples from 

Agreed - I think we are safe with Tommy for another year and I don't think a team will offer the money and take that risk on him yet. However, I think it would be pretty low risk for a top Championship club to come in with decent for money for Pring. 

It has been good for Taylor-Clarke to play and I hope we give him more of a run out before the end of the season. I don't think he is ready, but the experience is more beneficial to him than Andy King. Bell still seems a bit lightweight to me, and seems to have been found out a bit since his purple patch when he broke into the team. I think Bell may benefit from a L1 loan for half a season like Pring did. 

As for your last paragraph, unfortunately, that is just not a thing anymore with players. If the PL comes calling, we don't really have anything to offer to keep them. Best to keep reinvesting correctly until we get there. Something which was not done correctly under LJ/MA.

[bcfc01]

1 minute ago, marcofisher said:

A lot, I said when he left he will be a bigger miss in this season than if Scott has left in Jan as a huge percentage of our goals and chances were coming through him. Especially with Pring at left back, it must have been one of the best left sides in the division in terms of creativity.

 

I think Mehmeti will be a lot better with Pring behind him who will make those overlapping runs and occupy defenders. Anis had multiple defenders on him today but JD offered very little on the overlap and was wasteful.

I thought Mehmeti was wasteful and his decision making poor, and with the predictability of him cutting inside it'll make him quite easy to mark when playing decent teams. I'd give him a few games centrally now, behind a front two. 

If he stays wide left, maybe Pring at left back will help him, I hope so as he's been flattering to deceive so far. All very well showing a few tricks now and then which gets people up off their seats, but he has to start delivering some end product.

Weimann and Wells were shocking today which didn't help.

[Davefevs]

48 minutes ago, old_eastender said:

Weimann miscontrols - he had been poor today.

Thought he had a good game today, at the heart of most of our good stuff.  Conway v.good, as was Pring…next was Weimann for me.

The sooner we can get Pring to LB to support Mehmeti, the better. Dasilva not offering enough, especially in a game where we have lots of possession.

[Davefevs]

34 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

If we're going to draw games then I'd rather we dominate, take shots, be wasteful, and draw than be second best, hang on, nick a goal, and draw.

Hard to get excited either way by that game.

We dominated, took shots, were wasteful and drew…so we hit all four of your KPIs…

[And Its Smith]

2 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Thought he had a good game today, at the heart of most of our good stuff.  Conway v.good, as was Pring…next was Weimann for me.

The sooner we can get Pring to LB to support Mehmeti, the better. Dasilva not offering enough, especially in a game where we have lots of possession.

Agreed.  Weimann was generally good.  7/10 performance.  I thought Wells was good as well but he also seems to be getting some stick on here 

[maxjak]

15 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

Who was called a League 2 at best player by a few.

Most definitely not by me.........I always thought he would be a bit special.  But u are correct, a lot of posters dismissed his talents..........it makes you wonder?  

[Davefevs]

14 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

37 crosses when (a) none of our players can consistently cross a ball, and (b) they are massive at the back and we have small strikers.   Pearson certainly knows more than me but I’d love his view on the tactic. Doubt he will get asked post match though! 

We did score from a cross though

[marcofisher]

10 minutes ago, bcfc01 said:

I thought Mehmeti was wasteful and his decision making poor, and with the predictability of him cutting inside it'll make him quite easy to mark when playing decent teams. I'd give him a few games centrally now, behind a front two. 

If he stays wide left, maybe Pring at left back will help him, I hope so as he's been flattering to deceive so far. All very well showing a few tricks now and then which gets people up off their seats, but he has to start delivering some end product.

Weimann and Wells were shocking today which didn't help.

I agree, but I thought Dasilva was far worse in this regard which doesn't help the situation as it reduces Mehmeti's options. Everytime Anis put JD in down the left he either hit the first man with a cross or failed to do anything substantial with it.

[Redinthehead]

Frustrating but some good performances. Had a lot of openings before they equalised without creating that many clear chances. 

[ExiledAjax]

7 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

We dominated, took shots, were wasteful and drew…so we hit all four of your KPIs…

Relative KPIs. Not absolute KPIs. 

We've seen at times this season that a few very good shots gets goals. Today we saw what many quite poor shots gets you - one goal and a bucket of frustration.

Blend the two please.

[old_eastender]

Just now, marcofisher said:

I agree, but I thought Dasilva was far worse in this regard which doesn't help the situation as it reduces Mehmeti's options. Everytime Anis put JD in down the left he either hit the first man with a cross or failed to do anything substantial with it.

As others have said Pring at LB is a massively better option than JD, unfortunately we need him to play CB right now. JD is always neat & tidy but does not offer the cutting thrust that Pring does and Pring is a better defender too.