MATCHWATCH : Bolton Wanderers (a)

[Hound]

Frustratingly, amongst the best we've looked all season is when throwing the kitchen sink at it late on in desperation once we're already losing. Both times we've scored.

Attack from the off.

I think that’s been more about the other sides

We were way too attacking and offensive to start and it killed us

The likes of Savage, Fraser and MoM were all poor but the amount of running they are expected to do is insane. MoM actually did ok everywhere other than up front. Someone needs to stop him running all over the pitch. Savage looks utterly headless and Fraser lost

Doyle isn’t a winger, Elliott was useful and the 2 CBS did well. Abrefa had a good end to the game

Lucky to get the 1-1 but some encouraging signs towards the end

[WestYorksRoyal]

I guess the hope has to be this adds a bit of confidence and is a catalyst for improvement, even if we were piss poor for 75 minutes.

[Esteban]

We deserved nothing from that game, but got a stroke of luck at the end. Bolton must be spewing.

The midfield is a mess, you can see the frustration. Elliott has to start on Saturday instead of Fraser.
Doyle offered very little out wide.
Is O'Mahony actually a striker?
Defence was better. Not great, but better.
That kit looks even worse with blue socks.

[traff]

MOM and Fraser (as the most forward midfielder) offer absolutely nothing. What’s happened to Savage, has he been replaced with a clone ?
Just the luckiest draw I’ve ever seen. Garcia shot was going in row Z until the defender took the sting off it and looped it over the keeper. He even just said in his interview he thought it was going over.
Delighted with the point but that is papering over the massive cracks.

Sadly, I'd agree - MoM is the worst footballer I've ever seen to wear the shirt (and I've seen Brayson and O'Reilly) - we need an experianced striker that can hold the ball up at least!

Don't even need to be experienced, Just look like a striker will do!

Is it too late to send him back to Brighton and swap him for their mascot?

[Snowflake Royal]

Frustratingly, amongst the best we've looked all season is when throwing the kitchen sink at it late on in desperation once we're already losing. Both times we've scored.

Attack from the off.

I think that’s been more about the other sides

We were way too attacking and offensive to start and it killed us

The likes of Savage, Fraser and MoM were all poor but the amount of running they are expected to do is insane. MoM actually did ok everywhere other than up front. Someone needs to stop him running all over the pitch. Savage looks utterly headless and Fraser lost

Doyle isn’t a winger, Elliott was useful and the 2 CBS did well. Abrefa had a good end to the game

Lucky to get the 1-1 but some encouraging signs towards the end

Next up, want to see:

.................Pereira
Abrefa, Burns, Williams, Dorsett
........Elliott, Wing, Savage
....Kyerewaa, NOT MOM, Camara
(assuming no Lane, O'Connor, KelvinE fit)

will see:

.................Pereira
Abrefa, Burns, Williams, Jacob
.......Fraser, Wing, Savage
......Garcia, MOM, Camara

[WestYorksRoyal]

We deserved nothing from that game, but got a stroke of luck at the end. Bolton must be spewing.

The midfield is a mess, you can see the frustration. Elliott has to start on Saturday instead of Fraser.
Doyle offered very little out wide.
Is O'Mahony actually a striker?
Defence was better. Not great, but better.
That kit looks even worse with blue socks.

I think the defence were great being honest. The team in front of them were barely in the game and made them face relentless pressure, and they handled it as well as we could want. Burns and Williams excellent. Get the midfield right (I.e., start Elliott) and get a CF upgrade and you can see clear scope for improvement.

[Jackson Corner]

TBF we didn’t haven’t created hardly anything in terms of clear cut chances. In any of the opening games. We could have any top striker and it would not have made any difference.

[Brogue]

MoM has touched the ball 53 times in 5 matches so far

[URZZZZ]

My eyesight isn’t the best but I think it was Dorsett (and Rushesha) who were warming up with the squad before kick off yesterday - presumably as back ups should someone get injured in the warm up. So I assume Dorsett was fit but left out of Wimbledon

It’s a tough call this, last thing we want to do is make mass changes again but I think we need to do something different

JP
Abrefa Williams Burns Dorsett
Wing savage Doyle
Kyeweraa O Mahony Ehibhatiomhan

Stevens Ryan Stickland Elliott Fraser Garcia Jacob

This but with Camara in for O’Mahony/Ehibhatiomhan. Exactly his sort of game

Also wouldn’t have 50% of the subs bench being LB’s, even if they can cover other areas!

Why is this Camaras sort of game?
The ball wont be in the Bolton half very much so it doesn't matter if he has no influence on yet another game?

His sort of game in that we had someone who could actually keep hold of the ball and relieve pressure on the defence. Took up effective positions on the wing and provided an outlet which neither Doyle (tucked in too centrally - not his fault of course!) or Kyerewaa (took him about 65 minutes to actually control the ball!) did

He’ll never be particularly exciting or flashy (although one neat reverse pass to Jacob) but he has a use as a cool and composed head who is clearly a “good” lad

Wouldn’t use him in games where we’re trying to break down a defence mind as that ain’t his sort of game

[WestYorksRoyal]

TBF we didn’t haven’t created hardly anything in terms of clear cut chances. In any of the opening games. We could have any top striker and it would not have made any difference.

Such a lazy argument. A good CF holds the ball up, provides a physical presence and creates a focal point to target crosses at. I.e., all actions which make it easier for the team to create chances. MOM is one of the key reasons why we're not creating. Even at 0-0 today, Doyle put in a great cross that nobody attacked, so it doesn't go down as a chance. Maybe a better CF gambles on attacking it.

[Rax]

TBF we didn’t haven’t created hardly anything in terms of clear cut chances. In any of the opening games. We could have any top striker and it would not have made any difference.

Such a lazy argument. A good CF holds the ball up, provides a physical presence and creates a focal point to target crosses at. I.e., all actions which make it easier for the team to create chances. MOM is one of the key reasons why we're not creating. Even at 0-0 today, Doyle put in a great cross that nobody attacked, so it doesn't go down as a chance. Maybe a better CF gambles on attacking it.

I hate to single out a player but MoM has played 4 league games now - has he had a shot, totally out of his depth!

Does anyone know, can we send him back or are we stuck with him?

[Brogue]

TBF we didn’t haven’t created hardly anything in terms of clear cut chances. In any of the opening games. We could have any top striker and it would not have made any difference.

Such a lazy argument. A good CF holds the ball up, provides a physical presence and creates a focal point to target crosses at. I.e., all actions which make it easier for the team to create chances. MOM is one of the key reasons why we're not creating. Even at 0-0 today, Doyle put in a great cross that nobody attacked, so it doesn't go down as a chance. Maybe a better CF gambles on attacking it.

I hate to single out a player but MoM has played 4 league games now - has he had a shot, totally out of his depth!

Does anyone know, can we send him back or are we stuck with him?

3 shots in the 4 league games + the pompey cup game

[Armadillo Roadkill]

Players I would start upfront over MOM.

Ehibhatiomhan
Savage
Doyle
Garcia
Stickland
Burns
Kyerewaa
Okine-Peters
Osho

Kingsley

Ian Royal.

[Elm Park Kid]

This is very much a process and tonight will help with the confidence.

I have to say that I do enjoy reading the same old comments again and again over the years. It doesn't seem to matter how much football you've watched, or how many times you've seen the same scenario play out - fans always assume that we're playing badly because of either the manager or 'bad attitude' from the players. No one seems to accept the realities involved in rebuilding your team with limited resources.

[URZZZZ]

Done OK to restrict a decent side to zero shots on target so far

Disappointing offensively of course but let’s not forget this is still a side who have been playing together for no more than two weeks. Difficult to build patterns of play, relationships etc at this stage without a pre season

Would like to see more from Dorsett who is far too stand off ish and any form of composure from Wing + Savage wouldn’t go amiss but not playing as bad as being made out IMO - something in this for us

They’ve had a few preseason and 4 other games

It generally takes a lot longer than that! Also half the outfield XI out there tonight didn’t play much of a role in pre season for us. Williams, Fraser, Doyle, Kyerewaa and from memory Dorsett didn’t feature much

I’m sure Hunt will be disappointed with how toothless and disjointed we’ve looked but when you lose the spine of a team and replace them with players who most likely aren’t quite as good (two signings from relegated Crawley as an example) in the last week prior to the season starting, this was always going to be the most likely outcome

No one knows how it’s going to end up under Hunt but we had 11 points after 16 games under Selles and he’s doing OK for himself!

[Rax]

Such a lazy argument. A good CF holds the ball up, provides a physical presence and creates a focal point to target crosses at. I.e., all actions which make it easier for the team to create chances. MOM is one of the key reasons why we're not creating. Even at 0-0 today, Doyle put in a great cross that nobody attacked, so it doesn't go down as a chance. Maybe a better CF gambles on attacking it.

I hate to single out a player but MoM has played 4 league games now - has he had a shot, totally out of his depth!

Does anyone know, can we send him back or are we stuck with him?

3 shots in the 4 league games + the pompey cup game

Sorry, but that's woeful for a striker

[West F]

MOM and Fraser (as the most forward midfielder) offer absolutely nothing. What’s happened to Savage, has he been replaced with a clone ?
Just the luckiest draw I’ve ever seen. Garcia shot was going in row Z until the defender took the sting off it and looped it over the keeper. He even just said in his interview he thought it was going over.
Delighted with the point but that is papering over the massive cracks.

Sadly, I'd agree - MoM is the worst footballer I've ever seen to wear the shirt (and I've seen Brayson and O'Reilly) - we need an experianced striker that can hold the ball up at least!

Don't even need to be experienced, Just look like a striker will do!

Is it too late to send him back to Brighton and swap him for their mascot?

Brighton signed him due to the analytical data they use to identify players. Unfortunately, this data led decision had been eschewed at the time by the emergence of Evan Ferguson. Placing a higher probability weighting on young Irish centre forwards.

[Brogue]

Kelvin out for 3 weeks with a groin strain so MoM will be getting a few more minutes yet…

[Armadillo Roadkill]

I hope I'm not one to over react, but that really was one of the worst Reading performances I've seen in 25 years. Rarely have I seen us so outclassed - maybe once at Old Trafford, once for 20 minutes at Pride Park in the FA Cup (when we went on to win). It was truly abysmal.

Then we started to attack and found that trying to score a goal means you're more likely to score a goal than not trying to. As others have pointed out, why not try it before we're in the last chance saloon?

And before we appoint Elliot as the new Messiah, remember that he has often looked amazing coming on for the last 15 to 20 minutes of a game, but unable to be effective as a starter.

We collected a lot of yellow cards, which suggests both a level of commitment, and an air of desperation. More the latter than the former.

It's a point. It's a Saint Bernard's Day miracle. The only way is up from here. Hard to see how we could get any worse.

[AthleticoSpizz]

I hope I'm not one to over react, but that really was one of the worst Reading performances I've seen in 25 years. Rarely have I seen us so outclassed - maybe once at Old Trafford, once for 20 minutes at Pride Park in the FA Cup (when we went on to win). It was truly abysmal.

Then we started to attack and found that trying to score a goal means you're more likely to score a goal than not trying to. As others have pointed out, why not try it before we're in the last chance saloon?

And before we appoint Elliot as the new Messiah, remember that he has often looked amazing coming on for the last 15 to 20 minutes of a game, but unable to be effective as a starter.

We collected a lot of yellow cards, which suggests both a level of commitment, and an air of desperation. More the latter than the former.

It's a point. It's a Saint Bernard's Day miracle. The only way is up from here. Hard to see how we could get any worse.

agree, that was abysmal (with one or two exceptions, have these players ever met?....no evidently

The late subs saved the day