Reading 1 - 2 Newcastle United - 13/04/10 - post match reaction from page 14

[Tsunami]

Midweek game down the country, our end would've been full of Cockneys no doubt.

 

 

 

Do they not count?

[MKSC]

A very strange game last night. I can agree the atmosphere didn't really get going. The reading fans were fairly noisy but I was getting a bit annoyed with their "We got the record, 106" song. If I could have thought of a song for "50 thousand plus for a championship game" I would have been singing that back. I did try and get a "he'll play for us next year" chant going when they bigged up Sigurdsson as he took a corner right in front of us but there was very few people inclined to join in. I concur there were lots of kids and southerners (like myself) there which could have contributed to the lack of noise.

 

We were beyond terrible in the first half. No ball retention, no options up top, an inability to clear the ball from around our own box, Harper looked very nervy, Simpson and Raylor were all over the shop and Smith was anonymous. We would have been lucky to go in at 0-0 but to be 2 up at half time was absolute robbery on our part. Fortunately Reading didn't really create anything clear cut, apart from maybe Long's shot from a tight angle that went accross the six yard box after he beat Harper to the ball. They pressed us really hard and didn't allow us to settle which seemed to make us rush our passes and seem flustered in posession.

 

The second half was a lot different. We actually seemed to play a lot better. Simpson was excellent at CB and Jose steadied up the left side. Kebe did get by him a couple of times but all bar one occasion Jose got back to stop him getting a cross or shot in. Shola wasn't really doing much and should have been taken off early in the second half if not before. Smith got a few tackles in but did little else aside from completely missing a ball that was played in to his stride on the edge of the box. If he'd collected it he would have been in one on one with the keeper. Reading seemed to stop working so hard and just bombed forward which gave us more space and we had a few good counter attacks with both Routledge and Jonas having good runs. Nolan should have had his hat-trick but his header hit the foot of the post, it looked to me like Federici got a finger tip to it but I haven't seen it again to confirm. If he did it was an absolute worldy of a save.

 

They had a few half chances in the last ten minutes but I think that was a combination of us sitting in and them camping outside our box. Hughton's subs astounded me. Shola was poor all night, Smith did little and Nolan was out on his feet. Routledge was probably our best outlet all night and of the three CM's on show Guthrie had the best game. Maybe he was saving them for the next couple of games or thought his subs would sure up the defensive side of the team but it didn't really have that effect. Still, can't really argue as we got the win and are only one point away from winning the league.

[durhamunigeordie]

I was really disappointed with the atmosphere last night. Couldn't have been more different to the Peterboro game

 

This - only problem is if last time is anything to go by it is going to be worse at Plymouth and this is when we will most likely win the league on Sky!

 

Shola was poor all night, really couldn't be bothered. I dont like Hughton's habit of starting 4-5-1 and then changing to 4-4-2 when we are trying to close a game out. Shola should have been dragged off for AC and routledge should have been left on, that way we would have had two wingers on as outlets and would have had much more chance of killing the game on the counter.

 

Also is Nolan now suspended for 2 games for picking up 10 bookings? If so would like to see Barton start in the centre but would be a real shame if Kev missed the Ipswich home game after all he has done this year.

[NG32]

I know we aren't perfect and have team issues but these tactics that Hughton has used all season have got us promoted ffs.

 

 

Half the people on here freak out if the home team are on top of us for the first 5 minutes "hughtons got it all wrong, gawd we are shit, fucking butt man" etc etc

 

Bar one or two games we generally got back into the game and won it.

 

 

[MKSC]

I've got no problem with 4-5-1 away from home, or with Hughton's tactics in general. We were just shite in the first half last night. I didn't agree with the subs though, I think they actually made it harder for us trying to see out the game.

[eddco]

Before this game Reading had won 7 and drawn 1 of their last 8 home games, scoring 19 and conceding 3 

 

Because of this we gave them far too much respect in the first half and we played shite. I like most people was expecting a tough game here, forgetting once again that no matter how good a team in this league is on paper....they are still utter dross!

 

Then Hughton and everyone else black and white realised they are absolutely crap like all the other teams in this league and told the lads to play as you normally do....second half was a different story! Even with a makeshift defence and playing with 9 men (im not counting Ryan Taylor or Shola as they were so shit they might aswell not have been on the pitch, or playing for reading the amount of times they gave the ball away!!!)

 

it was a cracking display by the rest of the lads (harper was a bit shaky at times). Even Danny Simpson done well.

 

Routledge and Guthrie are starting to Gel nicely together with their through balls and 1-2's...with a bit more match practice together it could be real interesting. Nolan was instrumental! And although we give him crap on here for being fat and slow...last night he was fat and fast and was sprinting till the end!!! Jonas was Jonas...too many touches, forgetting to pass...but all round  .  Williamson was steady Colo was MOTM even if he did only play 1st half!  :colo:

 

Jose didnt look fit, Smith won some good challenges and has appeared to calm down with his ruthlessness in challenges. Carroll and Barton usual fare.

 

With Readings previous record being one of the best in the Championship.....With the exception of Shola and Raylor, we looked like a Prem team tbh. Totally superior.

[Cronky]

I didn't see the game, but this pattern of a poor first half and then a much better second is too frequent to be a coincidence.

 

My best explanation is that we haven't had a very energetic midfield this season. We don't or can't try and pressure the ball upfield, but instead we funnel back behind the ball and try to defend in our last third of the pitch. As a result, the opposition is able to knock the ball around in relative comfort and we're starved of good possession.

 

However, when the pace slows down a bit in the second half, we're able to get more possession and that extra bit of class that we can bring into the final third of the pitch means that we get the goals that the opposition, in their previous good spell, didn't get.

 

It won't work in the Premiership as it stands, but with a bit more pace and mobility in midfield we should be okay.

[Guest icemanblue]

We scored, twice, in the first half. They scored in the second.

[healthyaddiction]

I'm getting a bit confused about the mistakes that harper seems to be making the past few weeks.  They're all too regular now.  Last night when he randomly tried to punch the ball and ended up punching directly upwards was utterly ridiculous and totally random.

[Cronky]

We scored, twice, in the first half. They scored in the second.

 

I was going by the comments on our performance, not the timing of the goals.

[PRL]

Last night when he randomly tried to punch the ball and ended up punching directly upwards was utterly ridiculous and totally random.

 

I'd totally forgotten that! Was fucking bizarre.

[eddco]

Last night when he randomly tried to punch the ball and ended up punching directly upwards was utterly ridiculous and totally random.

 

I'd totally forgotten that! Was fucking bizarre.

 

this is perfectly explainable...this happened in the same passage of play when  :colo: nutmegged their player 5 times on our 6 yard line.

 

The subsequent clearance unfortunately took a high deflection which harper should easily have caught.

 

but the fact Harper was so  as to what he just witnessed :colo: do along with the rest of us...made him make a little mistake

 

Im sure Harper was shouting "Ole" at Colo like the rest of us as he leaned against his post knowing  :colo: would sort it out!!! 

[Mowen]

Harper 4

R Taylor 4

Williamson 7

Coloccini 9

Simpson (first half) 3 (second half) 6

Routledge 6.5

Smith 3

Guthrie 6.5

Nolan 7

Jonas 6

Ameobi 4

 

Enrique 5

Barton 6

Carroll 5

 

From what I can remember anyway. Haven't seen any of the highlights yet. Kebe stood out for them on the right wing, gave Simpson a torrid time and Enrique struggled too despite one moment of brilliance.

 

[PRL]

Would pretty much agree with all those marks. I did have to spend 5 minutes in the second half working out where the fuck Smith was on the pitch. I'd totally forgotten he was even playing.

[ponsaelius]

Smith is a fucking joker like. I hope we peddle him and his 60k a week in the summer.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Would pretty much agree with all those marks. I did have to spend 5 minutes in the second half working out where the fuck Smith was on the pitch. I'd totally forgotten he was even playing.

 

Listened on the radio, I didn't here his name once that I can remember.

[Mowen]

He went through a nice spell of giving the ball away at one stage.

[MKSC]

Smith was ridiculously bad yesterday. I don't think it's any coincidence at all that our good run of form over the last two months has come when he has hardly started a game. He should be very close to the top of the list when it comes to who goes out of the exit door.

[Guest leon b]

i think we were pretty average yesterday  we were pretty solid at the back but never really got going in an attacking sense. i was sitting in the away section pretty close to the newcastle, wish i could have swapped as where i was sitting was dead.

 

I'm freinds with jobi macanuff and spoke with him after the game, he's is love with enrique! we were all talking about him for ages afterwards. It's no coincedence that when he came on jonas finanally got going.

[MW]

i think we were pretty average yesterday  we were pretty solid at the back but never really got going in an attacking sense. i was sitting in the away section pretty close to the newcastle, wish i could have swapped as where i was sitting was dead.

 

I'm freinds with jobi macanuff and spoke with him after the game, he's is love with enrique! we were all talking about him for ages afterwards. It's no coincedence that when he came on jonas finanally got going.

 

[Guest leon b]

i mean't the newcastle end lol forgive me!

[Guest sombrero]

what was that chant the reading fans did about us being striped? which they them stopped immediately, after which we congratulated them for thier stupidity? also, was it on purpose?

[MW]

i mean't the newcastle end lol forgive me!

 

That makes no sense, you were sitting in our end close to us?

[AyeDubbleYoo]

i mean't the newcastle end lol forgive me!

 

No you didn't.

[ElDiablo]

i mean't the newcastle end lol forgive me!

 

That makes no sense, you were sitting in our end close to us?

 

You know what he means ffs.