Back from the game - Doncaster

[Snowball]

Simple question 1 (a) (b) (c)

Should Hoop-Blah be manager of Reading?
Should cmonurz be manager of Reading?
Should Ian Royal be manager of Reading?


Question 2

Who is the manager of Reading?

Answer Brian McDermott who has picked Shane Long for every available game.



Question 3

Despite a poor start (2 points from 3 games, 7 points dropped) what position are Reading?

Answer 6th, in the play-off positions.

After our second game in which the injured Shane Long did not play, we were SEVENTEENTH.

Since then Shane Long has been selected for every game and we have risen to SIXTH, up 11 places in 12 games


Now what does the manager know that we don't?

[brendywendy]

Everything

[9165]

Cant be bovved to read all 7 pages, but my thoughts are:
Griffin & Karacan streets ahead of everybody else.
Tabb had what can be politely described as `an off day`
HRK good in patches but loses posession too easily particularly on his first touch
Antonio direct but very one footed
Long did all that could be asked bar score - won all clearance-led headers but no one feeding off him
Mills/Khis - Who was at fault for their first 2 goals ? Harte had a shocker for their 3rd.
Howard / Macduff / Feds OK

Have to say their midfield three most impressive - how much would John Oster cost to get back !!!???
Also, how did their no.4 (Martins/Martis ?) manage not to get booked ?

[Victor Meldrew]

Simple question 1 (a) (b) (c)

Should Hoop-Blah be manager of Reading?
Should cmonurz be manager of Reading?
Should Ian Royal be manager of Reading?


Question 2

Who is the manager of Reading?

Answer Brian McDermott who has picked Shane Long for every available game.



Question 3

Despite a poor start (2 points from 3 games, 7 points dropped) what position are Reading?

Answer 6th, in the play-off positions.

After our second game in which the injured Shane Long did not play, we were SEVENTEENTH.

Since then Shane Long has been selected for every game and we have risen to SIXTH, up 11 places in 12 games


Now what does the manager know that we don't?

Hasn't he also picked Fed for every game?
You might therefore argue that if we had a team full of Australians we could be top.
BTW we are only 6th-if we were top you could argue that the manager and team are almost faultless but we are not so the manager and/or team are not without fault.
Also this is a discussion board where HB,cmonurz and even Spacey have every right to express their views and any amount of so-called facts or stats will do little or nothing to influence their views.
We fans do see things at games often from a different perspective from the coaching staff who position themselves at pitch level and all managers have blind spots-in Brian's case Shane seems to be his adopted son in whom he can find no fault-a lot of others see things differently.

[Snowball]

Just (finally) watched the highlights.



Doncaster

Goal 1. HRK went to sleep a bit for the cross, but we still should have had centre-backs. Kish is a bit in no-man's land. Harte was holding off, probably correctly.
Goal 2. It's a really good free-kick and hard to defend. Looks a bit like a Mills OG to me.
Goal 3. Mistake by Harte but a bit unlucky. Player is offside. A slightly firmer chest and it's an easy clearance. Just a one-off error, IMO

Reading

Goal 1. Excellent free-kick from Harte. Think it was HRK's very good header across goal. Had Long scored anyway before Mills touched it over the line? Can't really see.
Goal 2. Very, very good work by Noel Hunt, fantastic cross and what a clever header from Karacan
Goal 3. Superb free-kick by Harte
Goal 4. Howard's pass is excellent. Antonio has nobody to beat. Church was ready and the finish was excellent.Very good goal

[Snowball]

Hasn't he also picked Fed for every game?

Yes, because he's our best keeper by a long way

You might therefore argue that if we had a team full of Australians we could be top.

Stupid argument, but if we had 11 players of Fed's calibre we'd be top of the league.

BTW we are only 6th-if we were top you could argue that the manager and team are almost faultless but we are not so the manager and/or team are not without fault.

We are 6th, despite a poor first three games and some cruel luck, despite losing Gylfi, despite bringing in three new defenders and having to play Cummings for 6/7 games

We fans do see things at games often from a different perspective from the coaching staff who position themselves at pitch level and all managers have blind spots-in Brian's case Shane seems to be his adopted son in whom he can find no fault-a lot of others see things differently.

You almost had that right. a lot of others see things INCORRECTLY because for the most case they are ill-informed non-professionals who see through a variety of filters, red-mist, rose-tints etc.


I personally think we are still lacking "steel" and about sixth would be a heck of an achievement. Maybe we'll get a loanee in of Kish's quality to own midfield.
But I'm damned if I can understand a criticism of a team that has got up to sixth on this budget. It's remarkable and highly commendable.

[Scarface]

But I'm damned if I can understand a criticism of a team that has got up to sixth on this budget. It's remarkable and highly commendable.

Personally 6th will be an achievment, however it's not remarkable as there are teams around us working on a far smaller budget than us!!

[Victor Meldrew]

You mention "cruel luck".
I'm sorry but that clinches it for me that you are a stats imposter.
Luck doesn't come into it-you conveniently wipe out any bad luck that other teams might have suffered along the way,e.g sendings-off,hitting the woodwork etc.

You miss the point totally on criticism-that's what football fans do whether they are top or bottom.
Nobody in this topic has been criticising the team-it has been a discussion about one individual player who in fact might be holding us back.

BTW you have said about Gylfi's influence and seem convinced that somehow we are a better side without him.
I notice that Hoffenheim are now 3rd in the Bundesliga and Gylfi has scored more goals in the very short time he has been there than Shane has scored all season and that from midfield.
I know which player I would prefer to have in our team and he isn't Irish.

[Silver Fox]

I heard booing, nothing else.

Mainly from Silver Fox.

I'm shaking with anger, and not just because of the last 2 pages of toss!

[brendywendy]

Just (finally) watched the highlights.



Doncaster

Goal 1. HRK went to sleep a bit for the cross, but we still should have had centre-backs. Kish is a bit in no-man's land. Harte was holding off, probably correctly.
Goal 2. It's a really good free-kick and hard to defend. Looks a bit like a Mills OG to me.
Goal 3. Mistake by Harte but a bit unlucky. Player is offside. A slightly firmer chest and it's an easy clearance. Just a one-off error, IMO

Reading

Goal 1. Excellent free-kick from Harte. Think it was HRK's very good header across goal. Had Long scored anyway before Mills touched it over the line? Can't really see.
Goal 2. Very, very good work by Noel Hunt, fantastic cross and what a clever header from Karacan
Goal 3. Superb free-kick by Harte
Goal 4. Howard's pass is excellent. Antonio has nobody to beat. Church was ready and the finish was excellent.Very good goal

i too thought the ball backheeled by long was,if not over the line,then about to roll over b4 mills belted it. Should get the assist at least!

[Snowball]

You mention "cruel luck".
I'm sorry but that clinches it for me that you are a stats imposter.

You mean the quite-ridiculous goal we conceded versus Forest was just run-of-the-mill happens to anyone?
That cost us two points. That single goal would mean we'd be fourth now.

Luck doesn't come into it-you conveniently wipe out any bad luck that other teams might have suffered along the way,e.g sendings-off,hitting the woodwork etc.

I suppose, yes, it's not really "luck". Feds made a mistake, but I think we all know the difference between an amazing blunder and general bad play.

You miss the point totally on criticism-that's what football fans do whether they are top or bottom.
Nobody in this topic has been criticising the team-it has been a discussion about one individual player who in fact might be holding us back.

For me that's worse. This list seems to pick on individuals like a bullying gang. kebe, Long, Cummings...

BTW you have said about Gylfi's influence and seem convinced that somehow we are a better side without him.
I notice that Hoffenheim are now 3rd in the Bundesliga and Gylfi has scored more goals in the very short time he has been there than Shane has scored all season and that from midfield.
I know which player I would prefer to have in our team and he isn't Irish.

Gyfli is a GREAT PLAYER. A better player than anyone on Reading's books. I KNOW that.

But his going allowed us to stiffen the defence considerably, AND THAT WAS MORE IMPORTANT.

WITH him we won just 1 game in 4 and conceded 1.25 goals a game and had a GD of zero. We were 13th

(and we could have been slaughtered at Leicester, it was hardly a stroll, was it?)

Since then we are W5-D2-L3 17-9, have improved our goal-difference by +8 in 10 games,
have improved our league position by 7 places and have been averaging 1.7 points per game
compared to 1.25 with him, which is 46 times .45 = TWENTY-THREE points per season

We were conceding 1.25 a game and scoring 1.25 a game

Based on the first four games' results we would now be 15-15 and on 17 points, say 18, IN SIXTEENTH PLACE

Since he left we are conceding 0.90 per game and scoring 1.7 per game

THE DIFFERENCE IS IN EVERY MEASURE, MORE GOALS SCORED, LESS CONCEDED, MORE POINTS PER GAME

Perhaps I should phrase it differently. We are better off now that Gylfi has gone because the
team is balanced, the defence is better, and we have a greater ability to stop conceding goals.

Of course, this team, this back five, with Gylfi in for Tabb, or Howard, would probably do better, but we wouldn't HAVE this team if Gylfi hadn't gone.

[Snowball]

i too thought the ball backheeled by long was,if not over the line,then about to roll over b4 mills belted it. Should get the assist at least!

UNLUCKY FOR SHANE. Him getting the goal would have been good all round

[Maguire]

Goal 3. Mistake by Harte but a bit unlucky

How? He just totally fukked it up. That's all. It happens.

[Snowball]

Goal 3. Mistake by Harte but a bit unlucky

How? He just totally fukked it up. That's all. It happens.

I KNOW he f---cked up. I said so. It's unlucky because had he missed the ball
the player was offside, had he got a slightly firmer contact he'd've cleared it.

I don't mean "Harte was unlucky" HE screwed up. RFC were a tad unlucky.
Sometimes we make a mistake and get lucky, this time it was the opposite.

Simple.

[cmonurz]

Goal 3. Mistake by Harte but a bit unlucky

How? He just totally fukked it up. That's all. It happens.

I KNOW he f---cked up. I said so. It's unlucky because had he missed the ball
the player was offside, had he got a slightly firmer contact he'd've cleared it.

A player is offside when the ball is kicked forward by a team-mate. Harte putting his chest on the ball makes no difference to any potential offside decision.

[FiNeRaIn]

lol fvcking hell snowball.

[West_Reading]

What a game! I don't care how bad we were for 45-55 mins of that game, the last half hour was just worth it all, although almost burst a blood vessel when the retarded lino kept his flag down at the end with the Doncaster free kick.

I don't care about the mistakes we made individually and collectively, the spirit we showed to fight back means more than all that. Doncaster looked very good I thought, especially their right back. Having said that, Griffin was awesome for us too. I felt Noel Hunt changed the game when he came on. His peach of a cross got us going, although his fluffed attempt at a ball over the top to Church was pretty laughable! Khiza, Griff and Karacan all awesome. Mcanuff was very good too. I don't understand the criticism of Howard. I don't remember him being that bad at all. Most of the time the ball was bypassing our midfield, but when he did get on the ball he looked good and his delivery from set pieces was good too. On that subject, Harte was deadly with literally every single ball he put in too.

Fed - 6 - Little chance with goals, not much else to do.
Griffin - 8 - MOM. Didn't put a foot wrong.
Mills - 7 - Good game overall. Maybe at fault for second goal.
Khiza - 8 - Looks so composed, so even if he is ever at fault it doesn't seem it! Quality.
Harte - 7 - Big mistake for third but made up for it with his goal and his deliveries all day.
McAnuff - 7 - Looked dangerous when he ran infield with the ball. Good closing down too.
Karacan - 8 - Great burst for his goal and usual thunderous display.
Howard - 7 - Very harsh and unfair criticism. Decent game and peach of a ball for the winner.
Tabb - 6 - Not up to his usual high standards. But understandable seeing as he's been out for so long.
HRK - 7 - I like the way he plays. He does get a bit tunnel visioned and can give the ball away cheaply but he makes things happen and never goes hiding.
Long - 7 - I thought he was excellent at the start with the way he won his headers. Just a shame there was no support.

Subs -

NHunt - 8 - Changed the game IMO.
Church - 7 - Troubled the Doncaster defence with his movement and played close to NHunt so we actually took advantage of the second ball.
Antonio - 7 - Like HRK. Always seems to do something with his first touch on the pitch whenever i've seen him. Good composure to cut the ball back to Church and good movement to get in position in the first place.

[Barry the bird boggler]

Brian Howard is a decent player. Played well yesterday and set up the winning goal with a great ball.

When Howard come on against Bristol City, he completely changed the game.

No problem with the duck at all as long as he is kept away from playing in "the hole" where he just looks crap! Excellent in the deeper position though.

[bigmike]

Goal 3. Mistake by Harte but a bit unlucky

How? He just totally fukked it up. That's all. It happens.

I KNOW he f---cked up. I said so. It's unlucky because had he missed the ball
the player was offside, had he got a slightly firmer contact he'd've cleared it.

I don't mean "Harte was unlucky" HE screwed up. RFC were a tad unlucky.
Sometimes we make a mistake and get lucky, this time it was the opposite.

Simple.

Having been at the game rather than making my mind up from the BBCs less than 2 mins highlights Shields was not offside.

I have to add that If Long could actually finish he could have scored 2 maybe 3 in the first half.
Noel Hunt came on and his energy changed the game. He was doing what a captain should do and getting in the face of his team mates to get them going.. This seems to be missing from Mills.

Next game Reading need to start withn Hunty and Church upfront. Maybe then Long will return to the impact sub that he used to be.

[Snowball]

Having been at the game rather than making my mind up from the BBCs less than 2 mins highlights Shields was not offside.

I was at the game, too, and THEN couldn't tell.

But I watched the replays a few time to overcome my fallible first-sight and fallible memory.