BFTG/OTWH Derby (H) 0-3

[bobby1413]

Why are people so critical of Adkins?

The club had no finances and were rescued at the final hour. The majority praised his signings recently.

Adkins deserves longer, and should be given till the end of the season

[harry]

Why are people so critical of Adkins?

The club had no finances and were rescued at the final hour. The majority praised his signings recently.

Adkins deserves longer, and should be given till the end of the season

Agree with that.
Many won't if we don't have another 3 points by this time next week.

[winchester_royal]

Thought JT was very tidy in central midfield yesterday myself. We controlled the game for large periods and that was partly down to the ball retention of himself, Norwood, and Kuhl when he came on.

Unfortunately though, for all of that control we didn't have much goal threat and were abysmal defensively. Again. Think I've written similar after just about every one of the last 5/6 games. I also seem to keep saying that we're close to becoming a very effective outfit, and I do think we are close, but I'm beginning to wonder about whether it may take a fresh pair of eyes to take us past close to actually becoming one.

But I'm happy for Adkins to be given the season. He needs to address a few areas in January, mainly the criminal lack of pace we have up top, and a couple of strong leaders in defense. Until then I can't see us doing anything but staying around the lower mid table mark.

As an aside I was at the game with a Forest supporting m8 yesterday and he came out of the game saying that Hector will be a top 6 prem defender.

[floyd__streete]

We can keep changing managers but nothing will really change whilst Madejski still exerts influence over the club with his unrealistic alternative view of football economics.

As for saying that the players are playing to Adkins' game plan - do you really think his game plan revolves around instructing his players, all highly paid professionals, not to do the basics properly

Your Madejski-bashing is tiresome and borderline obsessional. Seek some help.

Is there any point in Adkins being at the club? Not to be held account for signings. Questionable team selections are never his fault either. And it isn't his fault if players make mistakes. He is of course the best placed individual to be able to teach and coach the players. A team leader who is seemingly never accountable for his team's performance.

[Zana Badawi]

Two of their goals were just rank bad defending by us.

We will play worse and win games.

We will play worse than rank bad? Looking forward to that one.
I know what youre trying to say, but bad defending is still bad play,

[redtin]

Sorry about this but I appear to have been at a different game than most of those who have posted!

We will - correction - we have already played worse than we did today and taken 3 points. At HT I felt that I had experienced an entertaining game between two good well-matched footballing sides and that 2-0 very much flattered Derby. Both teams played at a high tempo, pressed the opposition high up the pitch and played the ball to feet most of the time.

I was not in a good position to see but it looked as if we conceded a soft first goal but we had plenty of chances to even the score before they scored a second well-worked goal. But, at that stage, we were unlucky and still very much in the game.

The second half carried on from where the first half ended but quickly became somewhat bad-tempered and disjointed. I think this may have stemmed from an incident at the end of the first half where the game was stopped for an injury to a Derby player when we were in possession. At the subsequent dropped-ball Derby fiercely competed for the ball when 'sportsmanship' (remember that?) dictated that they should have given the ball back to us. Maybe because of that, we didn't give Derby the ball back after another stoppage at the start of the second half much to the annoyance of the Derby players (and their supporters). In any event the match was punctuated by numerous silly fouls and the flow of the game disrupted.

All the same we were pressing hard for a goal and when a team does this they are vulnerable to a counter attack and thus it was that we conceded again. I don't think any of our players had a bad game but, conversely, none of them had an outstanding game! I was surprised by the substitutions as we were a constant threat to their goal at that stage of the game (around 60 mins). In the event Pog hardly saw the ball (except to miss a good chance) and Blackman and Khul, although effective, did no better than Mackie and Norwood.

On their second half chances I think Derby just about shaded it but a draw would have better reflected the relative performances of the two sides. But I am not downhearted. We need a ball-winning mid-fielder like Karajan back and together with Williams, McCleary, Guthrie and Norwood with Blackman and Mackie as well we will have have good options. In defence Hector will come better with more experience and is already playing well. Pearce is the weak link in my opinion. Although good in the air he is the one player we have who is not confident with the ball at his feet. Maybe Cooper (who is also good in the air) can do his job or maybe we need to go into the loan market.

So - disappointing result? Yes. But an encouraging performance!

+1

[P!ssed Off]

Why are people so critical of Adkins?

The club had no finances and were rescued at the final hour. The majority praised his signings recently.

Adkins deserves longer, and should be given till the end of the season

2 points in the last 5 games is the worst form in the division. Not likely to get much better against Bournemouth.

[Royality creeps In]

Why are people so critical of Adkins?

The club had no finances and were rescued at the final hour. The majority praised his signings recently.

Adkins deserves longer, and should be given till the end of the season

2 points in the last 5 games is the worst form in the division. Not likely to get much better against Bournemouth.

But Hey

Adkins is doing a good job. So all is well

[floyd__streete]

Adkins deserves longer, and should be given till the end of the season

Even if we find ourselves in serious danger of relegation?

[RoyalBlue]

2 points in the last 5 games is the worst form in the division. Not likely to get much better against Bournemouth.

But Hey

Adkins is doing a good job. So all is well

The 'Adkins out' mob are left resorting to sarcasm once again!

And who would you suggest might (be stupid enough to) come in and do a better job given the antics of and constraints imposed by those above the management team?

Responding in the vein favoured by the'Adkins out' mob: It should be an absolute breeze because any manager coming in has got the pick of a crop of excellent players in the squad who he can bring into the team to replace those who aren't performing well enough.

[RoyalBlue]

We can keep changing managers but nothing will really change whilst Madejski still exerts influence over the club with his unrealistic alternative view of football economics.

As for saying that the players are playing to Adkins' game plan - do you really think his game plan revolves around instructing his players, all highly paid professionals, not to do the basics properly

Your Madejski-bashing is tiresome and borderline obsessional. Seek some help.

Is there any point in Adkins being at the club? Not to be held account for signings. Questionable team selections are never his fault either. And it isn't his fault if players make mistakes. He is of course the best placed individual to be able to teach and coach the players. A team leader who is seemingly never accountable for his team's performance.

F*ck me! Ever thought of looking in the mirror before talking about obsessions becoming tiring?

No matter how poor Adkins' performance has been at the club, Madejski's cock ups and poor performance over the same period (+ 6 months) have been far, far worse.

At this moment in time, I suspect Madejski may be closer to the exit than Adkins.

[floyd__streete]

F*ck me! Ever thought of looking in the mirror before talking about obsessions becoming tiring?

No matter how poor Adkins' performance has been at the club, Madejski's cock ups and poor performance over the same period (+ 6 months) have been far, far worse.

You don't think that the previous 20 years affords him some amount of slack? Right-oh. That in itself says more about you than him, of course.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

In possession of the ball we look like a top 6 side.

Out of possession we look like a team that will be knocking around the bottom five places come the end of the season.

For the first time so far this season I'm beginning to be seriously concerned that the team in possession aren't good enough to compensate for the lack of a really competent holding midfield and a defence that's prone to devastating lapses of concentration.

And because even after shipping three goals Adkins has no real viable alternative but to field the same back four again against Bournemouth, I'm prepared to attribute the failings to a lack of options rather than management incompetence.

[PieEater]

I think Gunter has been so poor recently I'd give Sean Long a chance on Tuesday.

[windermere_royal]

Adkins deserves longer, and should be given till the end of the season

Even if we find ourselves in serious danger of relegation?

For once I`m with you on this one, next weeks game is huge. if we fail to win I`m not saying sack him immediately, but it will need to be made clear that improvement is needed before christmas, if we are around the drop zone in January then yes it`s time to get rid.

[Martin41]

I don't think he will have many more games if things don't change.
New owners will not want to be in a relegation fight, regardless of how much money etc they have given him. They are business men you can't carry on with bad performances, how long would any of you survive in your jobs with constant poor results?

[Westwood52]

Derby fan opinion here, having just got back from the game and looked down this thread.

Firstly, am amazed that we have won at Reading - doesn't happen often.

I agree with some on here that the game itself didn't really seem like a 3-0. If the header that hit the bar early, the one that went over the bar early when it seemed easier to score, and the rebound had gone in it might have been different. However, we have built up a spirit such that going a goal down doesn't seem to affect us that much, so I wouldn't have ruled us out until that fat lady was singing.

We didn't play that well today - two enforced subs in the first half disrupted our rhythm, and we never really played the fluent stuff we can. Playing away from home suits us more at the moment, as at home teams just line up with 9 defenders in two banks and try to stifle the life out of the game.

Thought the two ball retention incidents spiced things up somewhat - I have to say, until reading this, I hadn't realised about the contested bounce up, but from our point of view, the one in our favour was poor - maybe just retaliation for the first.

Interesting to see the comments on some of our players. Will Hughes has just come back into top form - his awareness and ball control and skill are outstanding - he's signed a new 4 year deal, as have all our key players from last season, so at least we should get a fee if he goes. One post above refers to us having nothing up front except a guy who falls over - 20 goals last season and already 9 this season - and the difference between the teams today would be my opinion on that. We wouldn't swap him for any other striker in the division.

So for us, we take the win and move on despite feeling we weren't that great. For you, your teamsheet when it was read out sounds better than the fairly route one stuff played, but I'm not surprised you caused us problems. No need to be too negative as a Reading fan - I was at Bolton a couple of weeks ago, witnessing Freedman's last game and a bunch of players who clearly had no interest in playing for them. I thought you played well today - but we were clinical, which we haven't always been this season. The goals changed the game.

Finally, like coming to Reading (except for the results usually - friendliest staff in the league.

Good luck for the rest of the season - see you at the IPro later.

Shaun

Are you uncomfortable with the number of times your players feign injury ? I think it so p****d off our team that we refused to stop play at the end; which obviously rankled your fans ? Crying wolf too often ; will get you a reputation & the opposition will play on , when you do have a serious injury-or was today just a one off ?

[The Cap]

Why be so critical of Adkins? Perhaps because he played the psychological pre-match card that we were playing 'the best team in the league'. What sort of message does that send out? Covered your 'arris well and truly there Nige. Must admit I was well p*ssed off today. It was as though all Derby had to do was turn up and take the points because they're 'the best team in the league'

BTW for anybody going to Bornmuff, fair play to you. Me and bruv went to that game last season and left half way through the second half, with a few others. How long will the new consortium give Adkers? Personally I think he needs to sort it out sooner rather than later. Otherwise the likes of Tim Sherwood may well be looking over his shoulder.

[bobby1413]

Perhaps because he played the psychological pre-match card that we were playing 'the best team in the league'. .

Almost every single manager does that - not justifying it, but that's football

[Zana Badawi]

No matter how poor Adkins' performance has been at the club, .

Yeah. we've worked out they don't matter to you.

, Madejski's cock ups and poor performance over the same period (+ 6 months) have been far, far worse.

Does that include hiring NA?

,At this moment in time, I suspect Madejski may be closer to the exit than Adkins.

LOL. Exit from what?