Reading 0 Leicester 1

[TommyK]

If you stand 1 yard further back you are in front of the defender and he will then be able to see which run you are going to make and will be able to cover it. That is why it is called playing on the defenders shoulder and not playing in front of the defender where he can see you.

If DJ fails to perform i will be the first to ask questions but last night he did ok, not well, but ok. Slagging him off for being offside the same amount of times as Fryatt and Waghorn suggests you have problems with him that go past football, in which case just say so.

I thought he was rubbish. Didn't hold up the ball when asked, went on oe run before trying to take on too many, and misplaced a couple of passes.

 

[Willlow]

I thought he was rubbish. Didn't hold up the ball when asked, went on oe run before trying to take on too many, and misplaced a couple of passes.

If DJ was rubbish then I would like to hear your description of McGivern, King and Oakley?

 

[Lako42]

If DJ was rubbish then I would like to hear your description of McGivern, King and Oakley?

Totally fecking shit?

 

[Steven]

I think the point the likes of Me, Lako and others arer saying is, that was a woeful performance against a woeful side, with some poor performances by McGivern, King and Oakley the main culprits.

If we had lost last night, and lets not kid ourselves it could have been all over by half time, and we lose on Friday, we could have found ourselves mid-table with our confidence knocked. And believe me there would be more than a handful moaning. We have been flying by the seat of our pants recently.

Anyone who says either of the above players had a good game, needs to check to make sure they did indeed have Sky Sports 1 on their telly, and not some other network.

I was watching Sky Sports HD 1 and I thought King did ok. Much better than either McGivern or Oakley. :icon_wink

 

[Miles Away]

OK, I'm back from my pilgrimage to the Walkers...a few observations...

Derby Game...

1. Derby are shit

2. They gave us the wings and basically begged our full backs to try and beat us, as such Morrison got loads of the ball, but frankly looked a bit lost when he got it. I rate the boy, but I can honestly say I was not surprised to see him replaced by Neilson. Morrison is a centre half. end of.

3. I thought King played very well in this game, particularly in the first half.

4. Berner, who I also rate, spent half of this game on his arse, sliding in instead of holding his ground. He's a good solid player usually, but he did look out of sorts against Derby for me.

5. This game screamed out for a winger to come on the right side and have a go at Derby. I was surprised not to see Gallagher or one of the strikers come on and have a go.

6. I thought the movement from the strikers was poor to be honest. Even Waghorn, when he came on, looked a bit static.

Palace Game...

1. I was glad to see Neilson get a game at full back, as I felt we needed a real full back instead of Morrison. Sadly, Neilson is not a very good full back. He's competent and I think I'd have him in instead of Morrison for now, but we could definitely do with a better option there

2. Gallagher looked to be our best player by a mile. And he looked OK on the flank cutting in. A belter of a goal.

3. Fryatt looks a bit jaded, Howard the same. I'd be tempted to mix it up at the top, and it appears Pearson agrees.

4. Had a couple of right wankers sitting next to me. They were insightful and used delightful language to explicate their nuanced opinions....that was sarcasm.

5. Hobbs, and in particular, Brown, looked the business to me, and I've been critical of Brown in the past.

6. Mcgivern looked alright. He's a bit taller, and I think he took a free kick on the edge of their box that looked decent. He's probably a bit better going forward than Berner, while Berner is more solid. I think the change at full back was related to our inability to break down Derby from those positions.




All in all, I enjoyed it. I think the atmosphere is a bit poor down the walkers, but thats because they've sent the away fans to the opposite end of the ground from the kop. As such, the kop seems to have been split between those near the away fans and those that have stayed.

 

[camberwell fox]

If you stand 1 yard further back you are in front of the defender and he will then be able to see which run you are going to make and will be able to cover it. That is why it is called playing on the defenders shoulder and not playing in front of the defender where he can see you.

If DJ fails to perform i will be the first to ask questions but last night he did ok, not well, but ok. Slagging him off for being offside the same amount of times as Fryatt and Waghorn suggests you have problems with him that go past football, in which case just say so.

Willow, believe it or not i do understand a smattering of how to play football. He is quick enough to run EITHER side of a defender (mostly at this level) and beat defenders for pace as he doesn't have to turn, when the defender does.

The ball over the top or round the side SHOULD result in him either being a) in on goal with just a 1-1, b) in on goal drawing in a central defender, thus making space for his strike partner or c) going down the wing to then hopefully cross the ball.

I do not have a problem with ANY of our players, i see them infrequently enough to not be able to draw an opinion on them week on week. I neither draw my opinion from other people on this website, so even if i am wrong ((and this is only my opinion)) my opinion is based on that 1 performance, and is not skewed by anything else.

As previously posted i decided to watch him, and i don't think he is a clever enough footballer to play in our team.

As you have previously ignored, the other examples you gave of other players being offside were rebuffed by me saying that these players score occasionally...DJ has not.

And again for the record McGivern was woeful.

 

[Brauny Blue]

If DJ was rubbish then I would like to hear your description of McGivern, King and Oakley?

Thought the lad McGivern had a bit of a shocker tbh. Every player will make mistakes during a game, but twice at least he made pretty major errors that could easily have lead to goals conceded.
His postional sense often got him in trouble. He needs to learn, and quick imo

 

[camberwell fox]

Totally fecking shit?

Thats an 'aye' to McGivern.

 

[Profondo Rosso]

Personally, I don't get this "Morrison is not a Right Back" argument. He was absolutely fantastic vs Derby, the best player on the pitch by a country mile. I actually think he is a better RB than a centre-back personally, as he gets forward and has a decent cross on him. I think he's a much better RB than Neilson anyway and would rather see him played their full-time and tutored in to make it his natural position. Especially when we have a full-back with the experience of Chris Powell on the coaching team.

 

[Lako42]

Thought the lad McGivern had a bit of a shocker tbh. Every player will make mistakes during a game, but twice at least he made pretty major errors that could easily have lead to goals conceded.
His postional sense often got him in trouble. He needs to learn, and quick imo

It was not just his ability that caused problems, he was 100% ****ed after 70 mins and it's something that SHOULD have been changed.

 

[EnergeticFox]

Personally, I don't get this "Morrison is not a Right Back" argument. He was absolutely fantastic vs Derby, the best player on the pitch by a country mile. I actually think he is a better RB than a centre-back personally, as he gets forward and has a decent cross on him. I think he's a much better RB than Neilson anyway and would rather see him played their full-time and tutored in to make it his natural position. Especially when we have a full-back with the experience of Chris Powell on the coaching team.

Plus he lacked any support from the so called right winger Matt Oakley, who was always infield.

Agree he is better option.

 

[TommyK]

If DJ was rubbish then I would like to hear your description of McGivern, King and Oakley?

McGivern was given the runaround and looked out of his depth.
I hardly noticed King, and think the lack of protection from midfield put our defence under to a lot of pressure.
Oakley did OK in fits and starts.

I thought the Neilson played quite will and doesn't deserve the stick he's getting for last night.

 

[Mike - True Blue Tinter]

As much as I did not want it be, because we then are forced into one style of play, we did look a lot more dangerous around their box when Howard came on with DJ scurrying around into gaps.

Maybe Pearson needs to try another combination, maybe Waghorne and Howard to start.

Fryatt maybe suffering a lack of confidence, though feck knows why as he is our top scorer. He is 'wasteful' of the opportunities he gets though so maybe someone else deserves the chance to step up to the plate. Certainly Gally looked totally on target against Palace everytime he took a shot.

 

[Profondo Rosso]

Gallagher should be playing up front imo. Dunno who alongside, but he should be our first choice striker, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[RHYDAL]

When will McCormack(sp) be back?

Was available against Cov and came on at Sheffield on the weekend. Been a naughty boy since though.....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/8328253.stm

Looks half cut in the picture.

 

[Hazzman]

Personally, I don't get this "Morrison is not a Right Back" argument. He was absolutely fantastic vs Derby, the best player on the pitch by a country mile. I actually think he is a better RB than a centre-back personally, as he gets forward and has a decent cross on him. I think he's a much better RB than Neilson anyway and would rather see him played their full-time and tutored in to make it his natural position. Especially when we have a full-back with the experience of Chris Powell on the coaching team.

He hasn't. Majority of people made that on the judgement his crossing was better than Neilson's as it actually beat the first man. However, every cross instead ended up in the goalkeepers hands.

Like to see how he'd cope with a real winger. Croft's a fat workhorse nothing more.

 

[Granite Fox]

Weale was really good and as someone has already said his positioning was excellent and may have contributed to some of their misses (I am sure he would have got a hand to the one that hit the post if it had been a couple of inches more on target).

I thought Neilson was excellent defensively and cannot understand why people thought differently. The albino was fairly solid to start with but increasingly got caught out of position ball watching for the last quarter and as someone has said should probably have been replaced by Berner. Not as bad as some people made out though (great early intervention on the Pole and many other good tackles).

I thought Brown and Hobbs got better as the game went on and were excellent defending the high ball and set pieces. They got the run around on the ground for the first half though and were turned much too easily. Brown also dropped the most awful clanger that could have cost us a goal. Hobbs looked really comfortable on the ball and his distribution out of defence was good.

The midfield was disappointing. Wellens was OK and I thought King started OK, his passing was excellent and he was making some good tackles. He did disappear from the game for periods though. We also need some wingers, as although Gallagher tried hard, him and Oakley were not very effective in the wide role. Oakley did some good things (corner for the goal, good through ball to Fryatt, etc), but some of his passing was really poor and he missed a great chance to seal the game late on. If you are going to play Oakley and Gallagher then play MO in central midfield and PG up front and play with some actual wide men.

Up front there wasn't really a tried and tested partnership at any stage and that showed, although there were a few encouraging signs. I thought Waghorn held the ball up well (when delivered to feet) and took his goal well. Fryatt worked hard and tested the keeper, who I though did well with his two 1 on 1 chances. Dj and Howard also worked hard and created some opportunities, although DJ was obviously a little rusty.

Despite all of that a very good smash and grab raid with some resilience shown. We created a number of good chances for the away team, but defensively got carved open too many times, especially in the first half.

 

[Brauny Blue]

On last nights evidence i'd say we will get mullered at QPR.
I'd expect though Nige will play a more defensive formation, thus making it a different type of game.
Have to say that apart from their finishing, Reading did not look a bottom 3 side last night.

 

[londonfox]

On last nights evidence i'd say we will get mullered at QPR.
I'd expect though Nige will play a more defensive formation, thus making it a different type of game.
Have to say that apart from their finishing, Reading did not look a bottom 3 side last night.

I thought defensively they looked pretty shit. All of their defenders looked shit scared whwnever they had posession.

 

[H T B]

I can live with Nielsen staying in the team, but McGivern and King can go for me, Weve been playing with 9 men for too long.

5th with nine men, ooh how good could we be if we had 11:icon_roll