Back From The Game - Norwich

[Wycombe Royal]

I know I'm going against the grain here, but i agree with Snowball (at least I'm not agreeing with his stats) - Tabb is not very good wide on the left. Central midfield every time for me.

[Ian Royal]

Live is unimportant. I've watched them all. At the stadium has some advantages, from a camera has some advantages. In fact I can generally pick out who is who easier on even poor quality footage.

So you're basing your opinion on about two games last season? Which were they? Stats or it ain't real. That's your belief isn't it?


Edit: Wycombe, I'm not saying he is, but I'm very troubled by not having a striker for the bench and I can't think of anyone else other than Antonio or HRK as an option. HRK's decision making and final ball has been poor, and Antonio hasn't really impressed me that he's anything other than quick strong and enthusiastic. The other alternative, Howard, I recall as being very poor played wide, and I think he's more important centrally for us.

I'd completely agree Tabb is best in the middle, but he's not for the hole, and when we had Karacan & Armstrong we really lacked passing guile in the middle and Tabb is another hustle & bustle player.

[RoyalBlue]

The only decision the referee got right tonight was the Reading penalty.
The sending off alone was a disgrace!

I was stunned by the decision. At the time I wasn't shouting about the foul, I was moaning about the awful first touch by Harte that got him into trouble in the first place!

Incidentally, Harte must have a pretty low pain threshold. The way he reacted after the challenge, my daughter was convinced that he had broken his leg and had a go at me for moaning about his touch! Suspect that his 'really hurt' reaction did influence the ref, so I hope it was because he has a low pain threshold because I don't like the idea that our players simulate to try to get a fellow professional into trouble with the officials.

well, the krakow royals have made it back from the pub

defending - awful again, that 3 games in 4

howard - dreadful

ref - dire but it worked to our advantage as the sending off reallyc hanged the game

never a sending off, jem coul dhave walked for his lunge at the end, it was worse that the red card offense.

penalty, I thought it was a stonewaller but SKY were saying that long went down easily and norwich we re unlucky.

Sky kept showing the incident and having a go at the ref, whilst completely ignoring the way that the assistant was flagging frantically and then put his flag across his chest to indicate a penalty. Norwich players were equally blind, encouraging the ref to go and talk to his assistant!

[Ian Royal]

Think that's harsh on Harte, he did get caught on the ankle and probably did hurt a fair bit. Mind you I wasn't paying attention to who was down and assumed it was Karacan from the position on the pitch.

[RoyalBlue]

Think that's harsh on Harte, he did get caught on the ankle and probably did hurt a fair bit. Mind you I wasn't paying attention to who was down and assumed it was Karacan from the position on the pitch.

He got caught on his shinpad by Holt's shin. Probably hurt a bit but not as much as he made out! Very quick and full recovery too.

[Ian Royal]

Think that's harsh on Harte, he did get caught on the ankle and probably did hurt a fair bit. Mind you I wasn't paying attention to who was down and assumed it was Karacan from the position on the pitch.

He got caught on his shinpad by Holt's shin. Probably hurt a bit but not as much as he made out! Very quick and full recovery too.

Holt's foot clipped his lower ankle with studs from what I saw...

[Wycombe Royal]

Think that's harsh on Harte, he did get caught on the ankle and probably did hurt a fair bit. Mind you I wasn't paying attention to who was down and assumed it was Karacan from the position on the pitch.

He was holding his shin (which is where the minimal contact was), not his ankle. He was faking it.

[RoyalBlue]

Khiz - Aliens must have landed and replaced him with an inept Frank Spencer wannabe. Stepped out of the way to let Martin score the first, put Mills in a bad situation for the second and seemed to be playing hide and seek behind the wall for the third. 3
Mills - If in doubt kick it out and despite the contributions of Fed and Zurab he is still the most culpable for the second. He wasn't as bad as many are suggesting but he was far from great. 4

Jem - Industrious as always. Does the donkey work well and his passing is improving.
Howard - Joins the likes of Keith Jones, Andy Hughes and James Harper in being sarcastically cheered off by some "fans".Imo he was terrible today but while he plays in our colours he should be supported not humiliated like that especially on tv. Should have joined the wall instead of watching it for the third. 4

Agree with all of these. Khiz was absolutely appalling today. Why did he keep getting close then ducking out of headers allowing the striker to turn and beat him easily? Looked completely off the pace and surprisingly weak, easily bullied off the ball. Hope normal service resumes quickly.

Yes, Howard did have a poor game today but so did many others. He did not deserve the stick he got and if the boo boys took the trouble to watch the game again, they would see that he still had some good moments. When in form he is our best and most intelligent/creative passer of the ball.

[RoyalBlue]

Think that's harsh on Harte, he did get caught on the ankle and probably did hurt a fair bit. Mind you I wasn't paying attention to who was down and assumed it was Karacan from the position on the pitch.

He got caught on his shinpad by Holt's shin. Probably hurt a bit but not as much as he made out! Very quick and full recovery too.

Holt's foot clipped his lower ankle with studs from what I saw...

Given that you weren't even sure which player it was, I'm surprised you saw the contact so clearly! Point is, you didn't (mind you, neither did the ref and he was a lot closer!).

[Snowball]

Think that's harsh on Harte, he did get caught on the ankle and probably did hurt a fair bit. Mind you I wasn't paying attention to who was down and assumed it was Karacan from the position on the pitch.

Yeah it helps to be precise when we watch TV, doesn't it?

[Snowball]

Harte has never seemed to me to be the type to fake injuries.

Does he have a history of it?

If it REALLY didn't hurt (I love how all you experts can tell)
then, IF he was a cheat, why on earth would he think
this "Innocuous challenge" would get the player sent off?


I've been wellied into touch and it felt like nothing.

I've had a little tap and been screaming. We simply can't tell, but at the time it certainly didn't look like Harte was faking anything

[RoyalBlue]

7) Madejski is ruining this club and must change his approach or leave ASAP. I hope repeating the truth doesn't wind up the Rectum Crew too much.

I see our camera-shy Chairman managed to feature pretty prominently again yesterday by staying pitchside for the minute's silence.

Perhaps when he's watching the 'highlights' he could wind back a bit further and hear the comments made by Murty and McDermott before the game. Murty was asked what you needed to succeed in the Championship and stated good strikers who can get you the goals. He was supported in this by Worthington. McDermott then bemoaned the loss of The Sig and Rasiak over the summer which in his view had cost us 30+ goals, which we were now having to try to find through a different style of play.

[RoyalBlue]

On the Football League program they were saying how impressed they were with

THE WAY READING KEPT IT WIDE, EVEN WIDER THAN WHEN IT WAS 11 V 11

On the right we were wide all the time. Yes sometimes we cut in, but it was very obvious
they were under orders to shoot on sight as if McDermott thought their keeper was dodgy.

If he did, the he couldn't have been more wrong based on yesterday's superb performance by Ruddy. Clear man of the match and the only reason we didn't get all three points. He would have saved the penalty too had Long not hit it so hard and accurately into the corner.

[Snowball]

2009-10 Played 17 - 17 Goals For 26 Against GD -9 - - - On 17 Points 20th
2010-11 Played 17 - 27 Goals For 21 Against GD +6 - - - On 24 Points 9th


Just in passing in the next 29 games last season we managed

51-37 GD+9 46 Points

If we do that this season we'll end on

P46 78-58 GD +20 70 Points, Blackpool last year...

[Royal Rother]

Excellent statting!

[working class hero]

Long seems to go down as easily as Franny Lee.

I hate diving - even when it wins us a penalty.... Any stats on which game Long hasn't claimed at least one penalty in???

[Snowball]

I think we should do what Corinthians did and refuse to take any penalties.

[loyalroyal4life]

This game just proved how frustrating it is to watch Reading play.

Amazing against Cardiff, shocking against Norwich.

Back 4 had a shocker (although i thought griffin did ok). Howard needs to be dropped, i know our height would be diminished but tabb should come in for howard

Long had a great chance to call it a night yet again he missed an open play opportunity.

[Terminal Boardom]

Having seen the highlights, how on earth could the referee have sent off Holt? He had a great view. The challenge was at worst clumsy and there was absolutely no malicious intent. Harte's reaction was a disgrace.

[Maguire]

I know I'm going against the grain here, but i agree with Snowball (at least I'm not agreeing with his stats) - Tabb is not very good wide on the left. Central midfield every time for me.

Agreed