MATCHWATCH : Blackburn Rovers (h)

[Pepe the Horseman]

Did Ince say anything about Meite's injury? Stayed down long after the final whistle.

Ince quoted by get Reading
Meite is fine. We don't have time for injured players! We have to get over the injuries and get playing. We've got eight games to go so we haven't got time to worry about niggly injuries. We have to stick together and try and get the points we need.

Lol wot?

[TiagoIlori]

Beat Barnsley and it really should be job done

Huge game that of course and a Barnsley win will put them right back in it

A relegation battle is never over until it is mathematically. Burton in 17/18 lost 5-0 at home to Hull which put them seven points off safety with four games to go then won three games in a row to take it into the final day. They only got relegated due to them conceding late and Bolton coming back from 2-1 down at 86 mins to win 3-2.

[Zip]

A huge win and a clean sheet.
We started slowly but gradually improved and started winning the 50/50 challenges. Some lovely play in or around the Blackburn box resulted in a good number of chances which we were unable to take.

We seemed to drop deeper in the second half and rarely looked like doing anything until Laurent’s quality goal. The second high quality goal in four days.

One of the most pleasing things about this week’s games is that we have scored late on twice and picked up four big points. Such a contrast to all the late goals we have been conceding.

Nyland has made a difference. His distribution was really poor in the first half but he didn’t put a foot wrong otherwise and looked solid. Both Holmes and TMac had their best games in ages. Laurent much more like the player of last season.

A real shame if Rino has picked up a nasty knee injury. Hopefully Yaks will be ok. With Rahman and Tetek back soon after the break we should have strong squads going forward though.

[Royal_jimmy]

Absolutely terrific result today. Great first half, ok second half. Blackburn started well but looked poor on the whole. Although we did make them look worse than they are. Khadra and Rino's injuries changed the game

[muirinho]

why is drink water hated so much? I don't think ive ever seen him play(live) but the hatred is as worst as I can imagine since that dutch twat,
But he gets picked for most games.

For me he does the difficult stuff well, and the simple stuff badly. Seriously frustrating player - especially when you know he is capable of doing a lot better. He was alright today, but a lot of games I can just feel my blood pressure rising with every sloppy missed pass.

[muirinho]

Did Ince say anything about Meite's injury? Stayed down long after the final whistle.

Ince quoted by get Reading
Meite is fine. We don't have time for injured players! We have to get over the injuries and get playing. We've got eight games to go so we haven't got time to worry about niggly injuries. We have to stick together and try and get the points we need.

Got to say he says some daft stuff.

[URZZZZ]

why is drink water hated so much? I don't think ive ever seen him play(live) but the hatred is as worst as I can imagine since that dutch twat,
But he gets picked for most games.

He’s clearly nowhere near as good as he was / should be now and people can’t forgive him for that.

Every season Reading fans need a scapegoat and he’s the target this time around because most fans aren’t intelligent enough to see, let alone acknowledge, the positive and solid contributions he makes. Fortunately the managers do see what he brings to the table.

A disappointment for sure, but he’s doing ok in my book.

All of that is spot on. Not a player I’d want long term but he’s done OK. No worse than many of the others

Notice how the scapegoating accelerated once Rafael/Moore went too (“passed the baton”). It’s quite pathetic really. Especially when you consider it’s the same process time and time again, I.e pile into one or two players, those players(s) leave, we still end up struggling and we find someone new

[URZZZZ]

A huge win and a clean sheet.
We started slowly but gradually improved and started winning the 50/50 challenges. Some lovely play in or around the Blackburn box resulted in a good number of chances which we were unable to take.

We seemed to drop deeper in the second half and rarely looked like doing anything until Laurent’s quality goal. The second high quality goal in four days.

One of the most pleasing things about this week’s games is that we have scored late on twice and picked up four big points. Such a contrast to all the late goals we have been conceding.

Nyland has made a difference. His distribution was really poor in the first half but he didn’t put a foot wrong otherwise and looked solid. Both Holmes and TMac had their best games in ages. Laurent much more like the player of last season.

A real shame if Rino has picked up a nasty knee injury. Hopefully Yaks will be ok. With Rahman and Tetek back soon after the break we should have strong squads going forward though.

Grinding out a 1-0 is a sign of character, a trait severely lacking for years. Past Stam’s first season, it simply hasn’t happened. First win (with a clean sheet) in over 5 months

On the two showings this season, you’d be surprised to see Blackburn so high. But then it reaffirms the importance momentum can bring you in the Championship (something like 8 straight wins for them). And it also shows we really shouldn’t be as far away from the top teams as we are. Obviously speaking but the last two results have shown what can happen if you cut out the number of goals conceded. What can happen if you instil some discipline and shape

[Hendo]

Pretty enjoyable game yesterday, was a bit concerned at half time that we hadn't taken one of the many decent chances we created as we've all seen how that plays out, and for the first 20 minutes of the second half, you could probably only see one team scoring, but Laurent popped up with an absolute peach of a goal.

Nyland - 8 - kept us in it with a couple of very, very good saves. Wasn't really tested on crosses too much. Got a huuuuuuuuuge kick, maybe too big, was some iffy kicking off the ground. Would be pretty happy if he is offered a contract for next season as well, tbh.

Yiadom - 7 - did what he needed to do defensively, would've liked to see him get forward a bit more. Really stupid booking early on for kicking the ball away.
Morro - 6 - solid but struggled early on. Can see he is on a bit of a decline, thankfully it isn't the same cliff-like decline McShane had.
Holmes - 7 - thought he felt with everything pretty well, solid game.
TMac - 7 - he is pretty slow, which is a bit of a worry but thought he got out of trouble with his positioning today. There was a bit in the first half where he got rinsed for pace, but managed to get back goal-side of the forward and make the tackle, which was pretty impressive. Was glad when their number 7 when off injured. Wouldn't want him being long-term LB though.

Drinkwater - 6 - as said above, does the hard stuff well and the easy stuff badly which is so oxf*rd frustrating. Thought he put in a decent shift defensively though, only to misplace a 5 yard pass.
Rino - 7 - usual Rino self before getting injured hopefully it isn't too bad.

Ince - 7 - lacked a bit of end produced today but worked very hard, both trying to make things happen and defensively. Works well with Yiadom
Laurent - 8.5 - isn't a number 10, looked a totally different played when Swift came on. Peach of a goal.
Ovie - 7 - started well, looked hungry to drive at the defenders in the first half, came a bit off the boil in the second, as most of the team did. Glad to see him back in the team though.

Joao - 7 - should've scored at least twice, worked hard with little reward.

Swift - 7 - ran the show in the first half after he came on, faded a bit in the second but good driving run to set up the goal.
Hoilett - 5 - don't remember him doing anything of note
Meite - 5 - hopefully his injury isn't too bad, but didn't really have any time to make a major impact.

[Millsy]

Nyland was just brilliant for me. At least two fantastic saves. Seems confident. Defence seem relaxed in front of him. Exactly what we need right now.

[skipper]

Did Ince say anything about Meite's injury? Stayed down long after the final whistle.

Ince quoted by get Reading
Meite is fine. We don't have time for injured players! We have to get over the injuries and get playing. We've got eight games to go so we haven't got time to worry about niggly injuries. We have to stick together and try and get the points we need.

Lol wot?

I believe it's a long way of saying "man up"

[Royal Rother]

Pretty enjoyable game yesterday, was a bit concerned at half time that we hadn't taken one of the many decent chances we created as we've all seen how that plays out, and for the first 20 minutes of the second half, you could probably only see one team scoring, but Laurent popped up with an absolute peach of a goal.

Nyland - 8 - kept us in it with a couple of very, very good saves. Wasn't really tested on crosses too much. Got a huuuuuuuuuge kick, maybe too big, was some iffy kicking off the ground. Would be pretty happy if he is offered a contract for next season as well, tbh.

Yiadom - 7 - did what he needed to do defensively, would've liked to see him get forward a bit more. Really stupid booking early on for kicking the ball away.
Morro - 6 - solid but struggled early on. Can see he is on a bit of a decline, thankfully it isn't the same cliff-like decline McShane had.
Holmes - 7 - thought he felt with everything pretty well, solid game.
TMac - 7 - he is pretty slow, which is a bit of a worry but thought he got out of trouble with his positioning today. There was a bit in the first half where he got rinsed for pace, but managed to get back goal-side of the forward and make the tackle, which was pretty impressive. Was glad when their number 7 when off injured. Wouldn't want him being long-term LB though.

Drinkwater - 6 - as said above, does the hard stuff well and the easy stuff badly which is so oxf*rd frustrating. Thought he put in a decent shift defensively though, only to misplace a 5 yard pass.
Rino - 7 - usual Rino self before getting injured hopefully it isn't too bad.

Ince - 7 - lacked a bit of end produced today but worked very hard, both trying to make things happen and defensively. Works well with Yiadom
Laurent - 8.5 - isn't a number 10, looked a totally different played when Swift came on. Peach of a goal.
Ovie - 7 - started well, looked hungry to drive at the defenders in the first half, came a bit off the boil in the second, as most of the team did. Glad to see him back in the team though.

Joao - 7 - should've scored at least twice, worked hard with little reward.

Swift - 7 - ran the show in the first half after he came on, faded a bit in the second but good driving run to set up the goal.
Hoilett - 5 - don't remember him doing anything of note
Meite - 5 - hopefully his injury isn't too bad, but didn't really have any time to make a major impact.

Agree with most of that but (without scapegoating ) Joao, despite excellent chances, didn’t do his job which is to score goals. If a defender worked hard enough but fluffed a couple of simple opportunities to clear the ball, leading to chances for the opposition he’d be marked down. Also, late on, he started making a run through on goal, DD fed him nicely but for some reason he’d stopped his run just as the ball was released. Made DD’s pass look poor / mistimed which it wasn’t.

I think the manager certainly deserves a good mark - (someone gave him minus 7 last week!) - The team look more motivated under him, more disciplined, and more than capable of staying up. That’s a big turnaround which warrants recognition.

[From Despair To Where?]

A good week, all told. It helps that we've got something approaching a full squad to pick from for once but we've shown a bit of fight and organisation. It was nervy at times with it still 0-0 but I thought we were pretty comfortable.

Again, early days with just 2 games under his belt but I'd like to think we're seriously considering offering Nyland a longer term deal.

Had to laugh at Mowbray's "we should have won 1-0" comment. Was he on the bog for the first half?

[Snowflake Royal]

Pretty enjoyable game yesterday, was a bit concerned at half time that we hadn't taken one of the many decent chances we created as we've all seen how that plays out, and for the first 20 minutes of the second half, you could probably only see one team scoring, but Laurent popped up with an absolute peach of a goal.

Nyland - 8 - kept us in it with a couple of very, very good saves. Wasn't really tested on crosses too much. Got a huuuuuuuuuge kick, maybe too big, was some iffy kicking off the ground. Would be pretty happy if he is offered a contract for next season as well, tbh.

Yiadom - 7 - did what he needed to do defensively, would've liked to see him get forward a bit more. Really stupid booking early on for kicking the ball away.
Morro - 6 - solid but struggled early on. Can see he is on a bit of a decline, thankfully it isn't the same cliff-like decline McShane had.
Holmes - 7 - thought he felt with everything pretty well, solid game.
TMac - 7 - he is pretty slow, which is a bit of a worry but thought he got out of trouble with his positioning today. There was a bit in the first half where he got rinsed for pace, but managed to get back goal-side of the forward and make the tackle, which was pretty impressive. Was glad when their number 7 when off injured. Wouldn't want him being long-term LB though.

Drinkwater - 6 - as said above, does the hard stuff well and the easy stuff badly which is so oxf*rd frustrating. Thought he put in a decent shift defensively though, only to misplace a 5 yard pass.
Rino - 7 - usual Rino self before getting injured hopefully it isn't too bad.

Ince - 7 - lacked a bit of end produced today but worked very hard, both trying to make things happen and defensively. Works well with Yiadom
Laurent - 8.5 - isn't a number 10, looked a totally different played when Swift came on. Peach of a goal.
Ovie - 7 - started well, looked hungry to drive at the defenders in the first half, came a bit off the boil in the second, as most of the team did. Glad to see him back in the team though.

Joao - 7 - should've scored at least twice, worked hard with little reward.

Swift - 7 - ran the show in the first half after he came on, faded a bit in the second but good driving run to set up the goal.
Hoilett - 5 - don't remember him doing anything of note
Meite - 5 - hopefully his injury isn't too bad, but didn't really have any time to make a major impact.

Think most of this is pretty spot on. Maybe a bit generous here or there.

Nyland's kicking was consistently long. I think I saw him get 2 right all game and we failed to control both. That contributed to the ball coming straight back. BUT I don't think he went short again after we oxf*rd up doing it and it led straight to them shooting. Which is good decision making. And I'd far rather lose the ball regularly from a poor long kick, than occasionally from a short one.

Didn’t really get any significant corner pressure. Did the main thing he's there for and pulled off good shot stops. Didn’t seem any better than Southwood to me though, worse kicking if anything. But wasn't tested on Southwood's weakness.

Ejaria played well, cut back a lot on what I hate about the way he plays.

I know we got a clean sheet, but felt to me like that was poor finishing and we could easily have conceded the usual 2/3 on another day. Then again, we also could and should have scored another couple if not more.

Very good and timely result.

[paultheroyal]

Team showed some real fight yesterday, and some real togetherness, it was brilliant to see. Be just our luck they begin to galvanise and fight, get some proper form for the team to badly break up next season. Anyway, amazing win.

On another note and it’s beginning to piss me off. Free kick. On or near our half way line. Put the bloody ball in the box, why do we not have mentality to get it in the final third and win and battle for it and if you lose it win it back. But no. It goes sideways and it goes back to keeper who then just hoofs it up field, or we just play it into trouble at the back. Just don’t get it. So frustrating.

Anyway, rant over, back the boys makes some noise, cmon URZ.

[Once upon a time .]

I agree , play the ball into danger areas when you can , don’t expect the GK who is 40 yards behind you to pass it more accurately than you !
Finally , SR’s comment , that Nyland is no different to Southwood ——— I give up. !

[Nameless]

Team showed some real fight yesterday, and some real togetherness, it was brilliant to see. Be just our luck they begin to galvanise and fight, get some proper form for the team to badly break up next season. Anyway, amazing win.

On another note and it’s beginning to piss me off. Free kick. On or near our half way line. Put the bloody ball in the box, why do we not have mentality to get it in the final third and win and battle for it and if you lose it win it back. But no. It goes sideways and it goes back to keeper who then just hoofs it up field, or we just play it into trouble at the back. Just don’t get it. So frustrating.

Anyway, rant over, back the boys makes some noise, cmon URZ.

I guess the reason we don’t just pump it into the box is we don’t have anyone to compete for it. We look best when we play the ball on the ground. If we had a big physical centre forward then it might make sense but Joao is not that sort of player.

[windermereROYAL]

Had a little chuckle at QUEST making something out of nothing regarding a potential Blackburn penalty Gallagher and McIntyre got into a grappling match at a corner and the guest on the show said he gave a free kick to Reading which was probably incorrect.
Wrong, the referee blew up like they often do when they see holding just as or before the kick was taken to have a word with both players.
The corner was retaking and safely gathered by Nyland.
Thought the ref had a solid game tbh.

[Tails]

I’d have given more fouls but, given fouls are often subjective, I’m not inclined to call it poor refereeing. He was at worst consistent with his interpretation of the rules/what was happening on the pitch. It meant the game was as free flowing as he could make it.

8/10 for the ref

Blackburn clearly not on form, and Reading clearly a team in recovery.

Nyland/Reading seemed to be a touch fortunate to have most chances come directly at Nyland. But, it appears Nyland is highly communicative, something I hope Southwood picks up on and adopts to be the player I think he can be (a good Championship keeper).

[Snowflake Royal]

Team showed some real fight yesterday, and some real togetherness, it was brilliant to see. Be just our luck they begin to galvanise and fight, get some proper form for the team to badly break up next season. Anyway, amazing win.

On another note and it’s beginning to piss me off. Free kick. On or near our half way line. Put the bloody ball in the box, why do we not have mentality to get it in the final third and win and battle for it and if you lose it win it back. But no. It goes sideways and it goes back to keeper who then just hoofs it up field, or we just play it into trouble at the back. Just don’t get it. So frustrating.

Anyway, rant over, back the boys makes some noise, cmon URZ.

I guess the reason we don’t just pump it into the box is we don’t have anyone to compete for it. We look best when we play the ball on the ground. If we had a big physical centre forward then it might make sense but Joao is not that sort of player.

He is big and strong, but he's usually got two or three on him.

We generally put poor balls into the box and when we don't it's even rarer that we actually win them.

I don't think the problem is not pumping it into the box. Its going sideways and backwards before we are then forced to pump it forward under worse circumstances.

Taking it short and pushing forward is fine. We're not great at penetrating a set defence, so its a good plan to try to draw it out to make space and turn it. We're just not doing that either.