B F T G_brum

[Royal Ginger]

Thought obita didnt really get a chance. Alf was okay ish but not great, McCarthy kicks and throws were shit but I thought he got tested 2-3 times and stuck to it but maybe a 7.5-8 would be better?

Wrong. Any keeper in the league will save those long shots all day long, 7 tops. Obita wasn't on long but still managed to lose the ball 4-5 times. Did you actually go to the game?

[ZacNaloen]

Yeh Obita didn't really grab the game by the horns when he came on.

That said the rest of the team had basically stopped trying to score by that point anyway so not a lot was on, they were just going through the motions dealing with Brums attempts to get a Consololation goal

[AkpansBFF]

Thought obita didnt really get a chance. Alf was okay ish but not great, McCarthy kicks and throws were shit but I thought he got tested 2-3 times and stuck to it but maybe a 7.5-8 would be better?

Wrong. Any keeper in the league will save those long shots all day long, 7 tops. Obita wasn't on long but still managed to lose the ball 4-5 times. Did you actually go to the game?

Its an opinion so its not wrong, we dont all have to agree with you so get oxf*rd. If you saw at the end of the game obita and akpan were trying to do some of it on their own.

[Ian Royal]

Thought obita didnt really get a chance. Alf was okay ish but not great, McCarthy kicks and throws were shit but I thought he got tested 2-3 times and stuck to it but maybe a 7.5-8 would be better?

Wrong. Any keeper in the league will save those long shots all day long, 7 tops. Obita wasn't on long but still managed to lose the ball 4-5 times. Did you actually go to the game?

Its an opinion so its not wrong, we dont all have to agree with you so get oxf*rd. If you saw at the end of the game obita and akpan were trying to do some of it on their own.

just fyi, opinions can be wrong.

[Royal Ginger]

Thought obita didnt really get a chance. Alf was okay ish but not great, McCarthy kicks and throws were shit but I thought he got tested 2-3 times and stuck to it but maybe a 7.5-8 would be better?

Wrong. Any keeper in the league will save those long shots all day long, 7 tops. Obita wasn't on long but still managed to lose the ball 4-5 times. Did you actually go to the game?

Its an opinion so its not wrong, we dont all have to agree with you so get oxf*rd. If you saw at the end of the game obita and akpan were trying to do some of it on their own.

Yes it's your opinion, but it's still wrong, and yes they were trying things, but they failed. I could have the opinion that I can fly and even give it a go, but I can also say with some certainty that I will not be met with success.

[melonhead]

Lol at getting all pissy and uppity cos u dont agree wwith someone's scores

[wingnut]

Well that could've been a Brian game really - started as a 442, lots of hoofed clearances from the keeper, lots of head tennis and few players willing to risk a shot. Birmingham looked to be about the worst side I've seen so far this season and we were well on top for most of the game if not playing particularly fluently so deserved the win.
Thought HRK was poor, Gunter played extremely well, and Pog was better - but really only the minimum I'd expect from a striker at this level. No, scratch that, the minimum I would expect would be to bury that chance at the end.

[paddy20]

Best performance of the season. Gunter's best ever game. Defence looks solid. Midfield strong. Pog back to his best. McCleary looked class. Guthrie MOM. Efficient and strong performance.

[soggy biscuit]

Thought Baird was very good. Does that thing of jumping too early for a header which then puts his challenger off of jumping leaving Baird to win the ball. i like that.

[MouldyRoyal]

Passes very sensibly too and showed some nice one touch stuff in the centre of the park too.

Him and Bridge are very classy players.

[The Goat was fed]

Thought Baird was very good. Does that thing of jumping too early for a header which then puts his challenger off of jumping leaving Baird to win the ball. i like that.

Martin Butler remains the best 'early jumper' in Reading history, but the "Bounce of the Baird" was noticed by my little group of Y20 pundits too.

[Barry the bird boggler]

God we made hard work of that, laboured badly against limited opposition. Guthrie, Pogrebnyak, McLeary and Baird were the best players but we really need to stop making it harder than it needs to be. If Birmingham were any good in front of goal we'd have been in trouble.

Still at the end of the day acquiring 3 points is all that matters....

[NewCorkSeth]

Thought Baird was very good. Does that thing of jumping too early for a header which then puts his challenger off of jumping leaving Baird to win the ball. i like that.

Hes a great addition isnt he. He adds a sense of control we didnt get with Karacan

[ZacNaloen]

God we made hard work of that, laboured badly against limited opposition. Guthrie, Pogrebnyak, McLeary and Baird were the best players but we really need to stop making it harder than it needs to be. If Birmingham were any good in front of goal we'd have been in trouble.

Still at the end of the day acquiring 3 points is all that matters....

They just did what was needed.

[Hoop Blah]

Well that could've been a Brian game really - started as a 442, lots of hoofed clearances from the keeper, lots of head tennis and few players willing to risk a shot.

I don't subscribe to that at all. It might've been 4-4-2 yes, but the way the midfield looked to keep the ball and work an opportunity as opposed to hook it into the channels at every given opportunity was a stark contrast to McDermotts side. Although we do look to start from the back and get the ball to a centre half from the keeper when we can (if you ever saw McDermotts defenders go as wide and forward when Federici had the ball I'd be amazed) it's refreshing and positive to see that we are also happy to go longer when it's a better option.

I thought the performance was, overall, very positive. Yes Birmingham weren't too great but we controlled the game and it was obvious that we've still got a fair amount of progression to come from this side.

Guthrie and Baird look to have a great understanding already and some of their one touch stuff was good to see. That even included Pearce as well, and he had yet another excellent game at the back, hardly getting stretched at all.

Another positive was that we created a number of very good chances. Earlier in the season the biggest worry was that wasn't happening and we didn't look like scoring too many goals. The last couple of performances, albeit against weaker opposition, has gone someway to aleviating the concerns that we can't create enough.

Le Fondre again showed that he lacks something in his all round game which will put him under pressure to keep his place once Sharp is bedded in.

[Maguire]

Well that could've been a Brian game really - started as a 442, lots of hoofed clearances from the keeper, lots of head tennis and few players willing to risk a shot.

the way the midfield looked to keep the ball and work an opportunity as opposed to hook it into the channels at every given opportunity was a stark contrast to McDermotts side

Revisionist nonsense to suggest McDermott's sides just sent it into the channels every single time.

[ZacNaloen]

Indeed, sometimes he went straight over the top to the strikers forehead

[Esteban]

God we made hard work of that, laboured badly against limited opposition. Guthrie, Pogrebnyak, McLeary and Baird were the best players but we really need to stop making it harder than it needs to be. If Birmingham were any good in front of goal we'd have been in trouble.

Still at the end of the day acquiring 3 points is all that matters....

That's a little harsh, I think. We kept them at arms length all game and definitely had more to give.

Speaking to a Saints fan recently, he said that under Adkins they'd started off looking like they'd never played together before, then very quickly developed into being a functional side that got results. Then one day it all clicked for them and they started rolling sides over quite comfortably (until we chased them down to win the league ). I wouldn't say that we went from looking very poor to functional all that quickly, but we've definitely turned the corner now. Hopefully, that 'click' isn't too far away for us.

[Esteban]

Le Fondre again showed that he lacks something in his all round game which will put him under pressure to keep his place once Sharp is bedded in.

Completely agree with this. I really want him to do well, but he can't rely on his goalscoring ability alone, if he wants to be a regular starter. He's still only in his mid-twenties, so he's young enough to develop his game further. There's no reason why he couldn't become a little more like Kevin Doyle was in his pomp, if he puts the work in.

[melonhead]

God we made hard work of that, laboured badly against limited opposition. Guthrie, Pogrebnyak, McLeary and Baird were the best players but we really need to stop making it harder than it needs to be. If Birmingham were any good in front of goal we'd have been in trouble.

Still at the end of the day acquiring 3 points is all that matters....

thats a very very negative reading imo

created some decent chances. managed the game very well, shut it down pretty much as they came back at us in the second half.
very solid, proffessional and promising i thought