Back from the game: Colchester

[genome]

He was right though, wasn't he?

[Royality creeps In]

First game of the season for me. I have not been bothered about pre season friendlies.

Thought that McShane and Quinn where pretty good. Ferdinand surprised me. Not much got past him.
Al Habsi looked good in parts and controlled his area well (despite nearly throwing the ball into the net at one point) His kicking/clearances where pretty abysmal.
I suppose it helped that we were intent with playing it out from the back thus leading him to role the ball out more often than not.

I think we are going to struggle unless we get a good striker who can hold the ball up coupled with SHOOTING and SCORING!!!
First time I have seen SA and he just another version of Pog (without the falling over bit) Not sure he is the answer to our problems up front.
Blackman was lively without an end product
HRK see Blackman

A win is a win but a pretty boring game if I am honest.
Tidy little ground, unfortunately in the middle of no where. Having said that a massive improvement on Layer Road

[No Fixed Abode]

He was right though, wasn't he?

No.

[genome]

I must've missed the Samuel injury. Still, losing someone from the bench is hardly earth-shattering.

[Zammo]

Whilst driving last night I put BBC Berkshire on to find out the score - just before it went into ET.

csb

[Unbelievable Jeff]

Not a bad outing...

First half we knocked the ball around very well without having any penetration or desire to go forward though. Second half we let Colchester get more in to the game but again with neither team overly threatening, Quinn and Blackman should've both scored in normal time.

The lack of width is killing us a bit atm and I did notice the lack of movement from the forwards especially Sa who needs to learn the offside rule before anything else.

Gunter shocking for 114 minutes then pops up with the winning goal so all is forgiven.

Quinn, Ferdinand, McShane and Norwood (MOTM) were all stand out performers, it makes a difference having people in the side who can play football rather than panicking every time it's at their feet.

Not really sure what can be made from the game, Colchester were dreadful, we were ok but we are through to the next round which I guess is all that matters in these competitions.

Reading Fans - great turnout think I read nearly 600 which is fantastic!

[RoyalBlue]

I must've missed the Samuel injury. Still, losing someone from the bench is hardly earth-shattering.

It is when he is a goal scorer (OK, still to be proven at Championship level) and we are so painfully short of goal scorers in the squad.

[floyd__streete]

McCleary will play less than 20 league games for us this season, he is too injury prone to rely upon to fix it all for us

Quite. No surprise whatsoever however to see that he managed to play every minute for the Reggae Reggae Sauce in whatever summer tournament it was they excelled in.

[Esteban]

I certainly agree on McCleary's prospects for playing the majority of games this season. He may do, but it looks like Clarke is being typically pragmatic and rightly bringing in options to cover him being missing.

Having said that, Hurtado sounds like he can play as the number 10 as well as being a genuine winger. A forward 3 of Fosu, Hurtado and McCleary is full of pace and trickery and would add a whole lot of flair to the side as it is.

Jack Stacey too. Was ahead of Fosu, before his injury.

[Lacoste]

McCleary will play less than 20 league games for us this season, he is too injury prone to rely upon to fix it all for us

Quite. No surprise whatsoever however to see that he managed to play every minute for the Reggae Reggae Sauce in whatever summer tournament it was they excelled in.

[tidus_mi2]

Were Colchester putting lots of men behind the ball? That stats show they didn't create much and it would go some way to explain how we struggled to penetrate since we already lack a goal-scoring threat against teams that won't be so defensively minded.

[SCIAG]

I also don't understand why this Espanyol guy is being lined up along with rumours of Chalobah? That leaves us with 6 CM's. We need a winger (hurtado), a striker, and ideally a number 10 in that order.

I would suggest that the Chalobah rumours are highly optimistic and that Alex is probably an attacking midfielder.

[LWJ]

Were Colchester putting lots of men behind the ball? That stats show they didn't create much and it would go some way to explain how we struggled to penetrate since we already lack a goal-scoring threat against teams that won't be so defensively minded.

They overloaded the midfield to nullify us

[Steve_Upper_West]

Despite the journey getting there, I actually quite liked the Weston Homes Community Stadium. Modern ground but with distinct stands and good sound projection of the fans even though very few in attendance. Shame it has to be located in the middle of a farm. Had it been in town it would be a great away fixture.

Yes..... a nice friendly feeling around the place, imagine it's a good atmosphere when full. If you ever need to go there use the Park and Ride on the other side of the road and cross the A12 via the footbridge - the official car park is chaotic. That way you can go down to town for a beer or two and when you get back you do not need to pay again for football parking

PS I know its only the start of the season but I hope our pitch looks as good as their one did last night

[WoodleyRoyal]

Despite the journey getting there, I actually quite liked the Weston Homes Community Stadium. Modern ground but with distinct stands and good sound projection of the fans even though very few in attendance. Shame it has to be located in the middle of a farm. Had it been in town it would be a great away fixture.

Yes..... a nice friendly feeling around the place, imagine it's a good atmosphere when full. If you ever need to go there use the Park and Ride on the other side of the road and cross the A12 via the footbridge - the official car park is chaotic. That way you can go down to town for a beer or two and when you get back you do not need to pay again for football parking

PS I know its only the start of the season but I hope our pitch looks as good as their one did last night

it looked in great nick against Espanyol

[Big Foot]

McCleary will play less than 20 league games for us this season, he is too injury prone to rely upon to fix it all for us

Quite. No surprise whatsoever however to see that he managed to play every minute for the Reggae Reggae Sauce in whatever summer tournament it was they excelled in.

I put a bet out there on Twitter with a friend of mine (who knows McCleary) that he wouldn't play more than 20 games for us this season, nevermind 20 league games

He then tweeted back crowing how he'd played 110 games for us in 3 years

[Will95]

I was another who left at 90 to get the train home, can't say I was too fussed after that crap though. Colchester were beyond useless, Williams, even out of position, is head and shoulders above the rest of our squad, Blackman is oxf*rd lazy, and Kanu is still oxf*rd shit.

[Ouroboros]

He then tweeted back crowing how he'd played 110 games for us in 3 years

Seems a fair point.

[genome]

He made 37 appearances in 12/13 followed by pretty much a full season in 13/14. Not bad if you ask me.

[RG30]

Won't go down as a classic but solid enough defensively (barring Al-Habsi who looks like he's got a mistake in him at every opportunity). Thought as a partnership McShane and Ferdinand did well and I wouldn't be completely against the idea of them starting Sunday.
Going forward we lacked any real width which is understandable given the players we had playing out wide. Blackman needs to be more clinical instead of trying to take on too much. Nicely taken finish by Gunter with a good ball from Norwood who was probably MOTM,