The build up - Chelsea 1st Aug 2009

[Royalee]

Bikey's 7's a bit generous I guess, but Kebe delivered very little end product apart from his goal which he was gifted on a plate.

[Ian Royal]

Fed - 6
Rosenior - 6
Bertrand - 7
Pearce - 8
Cisse - 9
HRK - 8
Kebe - 7
Davies - 8
Tabb - 6
Gunnarsson - 7
Long - 6

Bikey - 5
NHunt - 4
Church - 4
Harper - 6
Henry - 4

4s basically did nothing, more than were especially bad.

[Royalee]

To give Harper the same mark as Federici and Tabb is laughable tbh.

[Ian Royal]

To give Harper the same mark as Federici and Tabb is laughable tbh.

Differen types of 6s. Harper did little wrong IMO but not a great deal well.
Feds did lots right and lots wrong.
Tabb was anonymous from the live feed I watched.

[CMRoyal]

Bikey's 7's a bit generous I guess, but Kebe delivered very little end product apart from his goal which he was gifted on a plate.

Your bias is showing. He was very cool in the way he rounded one of the world's best keepers to score. And he got into some great positions but didn't get played in. He's by no means the finished article - never will be, arguably - but today he played well. Got some decent crosses in as well.

[CMRoyal]

To give Harper the same mark as Federici and Tabb is laughable tbh.

Differen types of 6s. Harper did little wrong IMO but not a great deal well.
Feds did lots right and lots wrong.
Tabb was anonymous from the live feed I watched.

Tabb did alright. Such a tidy player, and it's a pity he's not slightly bigger because he's brave. Takes a right battering at times.

Should qualify my remarks about Robson-Kanu - I said he's raw, but he's a real handful too, and actually possibly too sure of his ability; he really likes to take people on, but I guess he's not going to be facing an Ashley Cole every week so will do damage at this level.

[Gordons Cumming]

So, following that display, will we get promoted?

[Ian Royal]

So, following that display, will we get promoted?

No.

[Royalee]

To give Harper the same mark as Federici and Tabb is laughable tbh.

Differen types of 6s. Harper did little wrong IMO but not a great deal well.
Feds did lots right and lots wrong.
Tabb was anonymous from the live feed I watched.

What did Federici do wrong apart from the one poor touch in the first half?

Pretty much everything Harper did was wrong from his first touch when he gave the ball away onwards.

Tabb was excellent and was a real driving force in the first half - made a lot of interceptions and tackles and used the ball well.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

An Annoynance today was the amount of fake Chelsea fans in the Reading End's. Young children are fine. However grown men are not. There were a few around me,who struggled to identify there own Chelsea players and couldn't name one Reading player.

[Alan Partridge]

Harper and Kebe could score 5 each and you'd still say they were shit Royalee m8. Certain players can do no wrong for you and certain ones can do no right.

Just seen the goals, 2 nice ones for Reading, going to need the midfield to chip in a lot next season especially if Long is going to play on his own *shudders*.

I'm not a big fan of Federici, his distribution usually is excellent but I really believe Hahnemann will prove to be a big miss. Consistently good was old Hahners, must have played well over 200 games in the end, a steady old keeper like that can prove hard to replace.

[Ian Royal]

To give Harper the same mark as Federici and Tabb is laughable tbh.

Differen types of 6s. Harper did little wrong IMO but not a great deal well.
Feds did lots right and lots wrong.
Tabb was anonymous from the live feed I watched.

What did Federici do wrong apart from the one poor touch in the first half?

Pretty much everything Harper did was wrong from his first touch when he gave the ball away onwards.

Tabb was excellent and was a real driving force in the first half - made a lot of interceptions and tackles and used the ball well.

Save in the first half which should have been tipped round the post but luckily bounced up over the bar rather than into the net. Awful touch first half that let in Chelsea, failed to come for a single cross until almost halfway through the second half. Almost lost at least one cross he DID come for.

[SHORT AND CURLY]

On BBCRB and they said that overall Fed was poor.

[SLAMMED]

On BBCRB and Sky Sports they said that Fed was poor.

He made some top quality saves. One mistake that almost cost a goal but he was outstanding for most of the game.

[Royalee]

1. That was a cracking save where the ball swerved all over the place - Hahnemann would've let it in.

2. Yes, I acknowledged that one blip.

3. He kept it well clear of the strikers and allowed our defenders to clear it and took quite a few crosses.

[Royalee]

On BBCRB and they said that overall Fed was poor.

That's because they're blind.

[FiNeRaIn]

Consistently good was old Hahners, must have played well over 200 games in the end, a steady old keeper like that can prove hard to replace.

Yeah, but performances like Birmingham and burnley ( the most important games of the season) he was shit and cost us. Think feds will be fine although he is also prone to a mistake here and there. Would rather just get a solid keeper who makes less saves but is more reliable and installs more confidence in the defence.

[Ginger Ninjas]

To give Harper the same mark as Federici and Tabb is laughable tbh.

Differen types of 6s. Harper did little wrong IMO but not a great deal well.
Feds did lots right and lots wrong.
Tabb was anonymous from the live feed I watched.

Which shows that armchair supporters struggle to tell their arse from their elbow. Tabb had a very effective first half, and it wasn't any coincidence that our play suffered when he was withdrawn. Won a few challenges and used the ball sensibly whenever he had it.

Overall I was very impressed with the first hour or so, and Chelsea really only began to dominate after we'd made a series of subs. Slightly concerned by our defending of set pieces, which looked iffy throughout, and by some of the players looking pretty tired by the end of it (though it's a lot harder when you don't have the ball). HRK raping Cole was magic, can see him causing many a full back problems this season.

[londinium]

Harper and Kebe could score 5 each and you'd still say they were shit Royalee m8. Certain players can do no wrong for you and certain ones can do no right.

Just seen the goals, 2 nice ones for Reading, going to need the midfield to chip in a lot next season especially if Long is going to play on his own *shudders*.

I'm not a big fan of Federici, his distribution usually is excellent but I really believe Hahnemann will prove to be a big miss. Consistently good was old Hahners, must have played well over 200 games in the end, a steady old keeper like that can prove hard to replace.

Agree 100% on the Fedders / USA front... I really couldn't understand the amount of people crying for Fedders to come in for Marcus last season as overall for me Marcus is still the better of the 2.

Coming for crosses ... neither are great.
Shot stopping .... on a par with each other
Kicking is Fedders department
Positional play..Marcus by a long shot

So overall it is Fedders distribution against Marcus' positional play for me, and I would much rather have someone between the stick stopping goals than a good distributor of the ball, as stopping goals is basically what he is paid for.

[FiNeRaIn]

Stopping goals eh? The last 3 goals we conceded at home at the end of the season were marcus's fault. You don't let a scuffed shot slide underneath you and you certainly don;t get caught out by two savable 30 yarders. The reason he did is because his reactions and footing were too slow. Can't see him doing a lot for wolves next season.