Scunthorpe - back from the lame

[Terminal Boardom]

Dominated the game, had enough chances to win 10 games, didn't take them. Blah blah blah

Just checked the stats. We had 5 shots on target and 9 shots off target. Enough to win 10 games? I don't think so!

[brendywendy]

Biggest LOL of the day was kebe coming on, true to form absolutely embarrassing and the groans said it all. Robson-kanu played well, poor decision from rodgers.

Not bothering to read everything this evening, but despite an 8/10 first half, HRK had been ineffective for at least a quarter of an hour by the time the change was made. I might not have brought on Kebe, but taking HRK off was the correct move (FOR A BLOODY CHANGE).

agreed
and kebe created lots when hye came on again.
think HRK did enough early on to warrant the start next week

[Southbank Old Boy]

Yet again we rotate the side and the formation, including the hapless Cummings

defence of that = Bertrand was unavailble because he was ill so someone had to come in, or would you rather we started with 10?

[brendywendy]

was a decent game- should have finished them off first half when we dominated, some lovely insisive football at times
cummings did well to come back from those poor performances
sig, ras, mcanuff, HRK all did well creation wise
yet again we are chronically poor finishers from all positions
yet again we switch off and concede a goal from nothing when theyd done bugger all else all game.
oxf*rd it

[Royalee]

Dominated the game, had enough chances to win 10 games, didn't take them. Blah blah blah

Just checked the stats. We had 5 shots on target and 9 shots off target. Enough to win 10 games? I don't think so!

McAnuff had 2 good chances blocked first half, Rasiak had 1 saved, Pearce hit the bar when he should have scored, Sigurdsson had a free kick superbly saved, another which whistled past the post, and yet aother which hit the bar. Kebe should have buried his chance, Rasiak had another cross in the first half from Robson-Kanu which he was inches away from and had he made contact would have gone into an empty net, McAnuff flashed a ball across the six-yard box which Robson-Kanu was angry at himself for not gambling on, McAnuff had 2 decent chances late on...12 chances there and I haven't watched the game back.

[Royalee]

Sarcasm

Royal Lady didn't think it was though...

[LoyalRoyalFan]

To be fair to Cummings, he played alright yesterday.

[loyalroyal4life]

To be fair to Cummings, he played alright today.

based on the fact that he had nothing much to do in terms of defending....

[andrew1957]

As one of the East standers that Woodcote sweepingly regards as having no idea about the game (BTW aren't the chairman,the manager,the coaching staff and Tim Dellor amongst you lot on the expensive side Woodcote?
What a motley crew)I thought that we came closest to winning the game but really if you can't beat Scunthorpe what hope is there?

My view for many weeks is that this team lacks concentration in all areas of the pitch and it is a team not only of a number of physically weak players but also they are mentally weak and are just not winners.
During the second half Marek played a square ball (that was one of his over-ambitious ones) to Cummings which became a 50/50 and what happened?Cummings didn't even get a tackle in.
For their goal the two softies,Cummings and Kebe allowed their player to put in a cross.Our two central defenders were marking their two strikers but just allowed them to play round the two defenders to create a simple chance.-it was abysmal defending.
Worse was to come when Forte was allowed to stroll through 5(?) of our so-called defensive players and really should have scored.

Both sides were incredibly slow about the pitch apart of course from McAnuff whose form of late has been far ahead of anybody else.
The manager's comments about being "outstanding" are just insulting to us fans,even those sat in the West stand who may not know much about the game.
I would have preferred it if he had said that he was disappointed that with the pressure that we had we didn't convert the chances that could have seen us as clear winners and that we need to tighten up at the back otherwise we are in serious danger of relegation.
Some on here such as Andrew,Winchester and a few others are taken in by this hype but I hope that they are not at the end of the season seen as followers similar to those of King Canute who also couldn't see that a drowning was about to take place.

I am a bit late in posting my thoughts because even I was extremely angry last night and could not bring myself to do so.

I have to say that not beating Scunthorpe - who were in my opinion the worst Championship side I have seen in the last 6 seasons we have played in the division - is a disgrace.

I also have some sympathy with Tim Dellor - as in my opinion when you take into account that Palace are an infinitely superior side - I think the performance yesterday was worse than against Palace.

I also have a confession to make. I have never booed my team ever before but I was so angry at the end yesterday that even I joined the East Stand boo boys. I was not booing the manager but I felt very let down by the players. I pride myself on saying it as it is and there simply can be no excuse for them not winning that game against a truly awful opposition (and we have seen many bad teams in the past).

I have to say that as a supporter of BR he did himself no favours with the Dellor interview because as I say I think Dellor made a fair point - accounting for the terribleness of the opposition. Scunthorpe had no players of quality, whereas I suspect Moses will go on to rip many a PL defence to pieces, so I felt that Tuesday was an ok performance overall - with one magnificent player making the difference between the two sides. .

What I simply cannot understand is why we did not recall Mooney. Even if he is total rubbish at least it would have been an option on the bench and yesterday BR had none there. It may well be really unfair to blame Rodgers for this decision as I suspect it will have been the owner and DOF who have decided we cannot recall Mooney for fear of ending our chances of selling him to Charlton in January. If so I really think it is them and not Rodgers who need to take all the flack if we do get relegated by say a point - because yesterday not having a reserve striker on the bench may well have cost us two points.

Scunthorpe was a must win game and there is no excuse for dropping those two points. Now we are under huge pressure to get results in the next 3 games - as after that we have a really tough January.

But I stand by what I have said about BR on other threads.I do believe he will come good but he really has been left with a motley crew of players that vary from the lacking in confidence (Cummings and Kebe), the enigma that is Matejovsky (typically one moment of brilliance followed by three awful passes) and a defense that does go to sleep at one point or another every game.

A manager can only do so much. I thought the set up was fine yesterday and we dominated most of the game - but some of the players just lack the mental strength to follow through and push on to the finish line at the moment. So in sheer frustration and anger yesterday I booed the players for their ineptitude on the day.

Having said all that I still see no alternative to BR. I think he has been left a terrible legacy and deserves time. Some of our young players like Sig and RK (who I thought did quite well yesterday) are the future and we have to look at the longer term, but I will not be sorry if some others like Marek leave the club in January.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Yet again we rotate the side and the formation, including the hapless Cummings

defence of that = Bertrand was unavailble because he was ill so someone had to come in, or would you rather we started with 10?

Maybe playing our specialist left-back and Player of The Season 08/09 instead of Bertrand may have been an option?

[winchester_royal]

Yet again we rotate the side and the formation, including the hapless Cummings

defence of that = Bertrand was unavailble because he was ill so someone had to come in, or would you rather we started with 10?

Maybe playing our specialist left-back and Player of The Season 08/09 instead of Bertrand may have been an option?

Stretch is pretty slow at the best of times, so to put him in without match fitness or sharpness would have been suicide.

[Southbank Old Boy]

Yet again we rotate the side and the formation, including the hapless Cummings

defence of that = Bertrand was unavailble because he was ill so someone had to come in, or would you rather we started with 10?

Maybe playing our specialist left-back and Player of The Season 08/09 instead of Bertrand may have been an option?

Not when he isnt fit and just on a long road back from yet another serious knee injury (one he was carrying since the back end of last season I think)

Anyway, the point was about changing the side not who came in

[Royal Lady]

If Armstrong wasn't "match fit" and I fully understand that because he's been injured for a long time, what the hell was he doing on the bench? What if we'd had a couple of injuries and he HAD to come on? You don't put players on the bench if you're not happy to play them.

[Maguire]

If Armstrong wasn't "match fit" and I fully understand that because he's been injured for a long time, what the hell was he doing on the bench? What if we'd had a couple of injuries and he HAD to come on? You don't put players on the bench if you're not happy to play them.

Don't be a spaz - you might play a striker when you know he won't last 90 mins but nobody starts a full-back with a plan to sub them after an hour. So, Armstrong can't last a full game and therefore doesn't start, but there's nothing wrong with him being on the bench in case needed. He won't get match fit until he starts getting game time anyway.

And to all the Kebe h8ers, it's getting ridiculous now. The guy was effective when he came on, delivered some good balls (cut back for Sigurdsson to blast over, "goal ball" that somehow Jobi headed back out for a throw in) and was better than HRK had been in the 20mins leading up to his substitution.

[Ian Royal]

If Armstrong wasn't "match fit" and I fully understand that because he's been injured for a long time, what the hell was he doing on the bench? What if we'd had a couple of injuries and he HAD to come on? You don't put players on the bench if you're not happy to play them.

Don't be a spaz - you might play a striker when you know he won't last 90 mins but nobody starts a full-back with a plan to sub them after an hour. So, Armstrong can't last a full game and therefore doesn't start, but there's nothing wrong with him being on the bench in case needed. He won't get match fit until he starts getting game time anyway.

And to all the Kebe h8ers, it's getting ridiculous now. The guy was effective when he came on, delivered some good balls (cut back for Sigurdsson to blast over, "goal ball" that somehow Jobi headed back out for a throw in) and was better than HRK had been in the 20mins leading up to his substitution.

The bold bit is definitely true. I reckon the second bit is pretty spot on as well.

[Southbank Old Boy]

If Armstrong wasn't "match fit" and I fully understand that because he's been injured for a long time, what the hell was he doing on the bench? What if we'd had a couple of injuries and he HAD to come on? You don't put players on the bench if you're not happy to play them.

If it was a choice between a 70% fit Stretch and one of the youth team for a spot on the bench then I would go for Stretch everytime

Just because he was on the bench doesnt mean he was fit to play, let alone start

He played a couple of reserve team games a few weeks back, but there hasnt been any news recently that he is fit to be challenging for the first team

[Whore Jackie]

If Armstrong wasn't "match fit" and I fully understand that because he's been injured for a long time, what the hell was he doing on the bench? What if we'd had a couple of injuries and he HAD to come on? You don't put players on the bench if you're not happy to play them.

Don't be a spaz - you might play a striker when you know he won't last 90 mins but nobody starts a full-back with a plan to sub them after an hour. So, Armstrong can't last a full game and therefore doesn't start, but there's nothing wrong with him being on the bench in case needed. He won't get match fit until he starts getting game time anyway.

The only other players BR could have put on the bench were Julian Kelly or Radoslav Vasilev. Everyone else was suspended, injured or out on loan. Ridiculous situation, but there we go.

[Ian Royal]

Is Kelly fit again? I thought he was out injured? Vasilev is only recently back from a major injury.

[Whore Jackie]

Good job, Stretch is on his way back then.

[Mike Hunt]

I just saw the highlights, and I must say - their Goalkeeper had a blinder!

some great saves.

What can you do about a Goalkeeper on top of his game ? NOTHING!