Are Reading the WORST team...

Couldn't Be Hyypia · Feb 26, 2017

Showed again how to play against us. Close us down. Be physical. Load up midfield. Pacey striker to pin back four deeper.

Reading did none of that. Huddersfield did all of it. Results were plain to see.

One Teddy Maybank · Feb 26, 2017

lawros left foot said:
Bollox,

Some notable results from the last Gus season.

Albion 5 Barnsley 1,
Burnley 1, Albion 3,
Albion 3, Wednesday 0
Ipswich 0, Albion 3
Albion 4, Huddersfield 1
Albion 3, Palace 0
Albion 6, Blackpool 1

I know that there appears in some quarters to be a trend to fake news and alternative facts at the moment, but this re-writing of history about the Gus era, is a bit beyond a joke.

Exactly, some convenient memories.

The issue for Gus with us (well myself anyway), will always be his departure.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Birdman · Feb 26, 2017

I thought Reading players got away with two tackles which we have had players sent of for in the past.
The high foot on Bruno chest and the tackle the guy took Andy Knockhart out which I think he got booked for.
Having said that master Sidwell could have got a second yellow. I hope it evens itself out over the season.
Also I am hoping Baldock gets a Hatrick on Tuesday as he was hard done at Newcastle.
We need to up the noise as Newcastle fans will be a lot louder than Reading.

Mackenzie · Feb 26, 2017

Makes you glad we've moved away from that type of football doesn't it!

Wardy's twin · Feb 26, 2017

Guinness Boy said:
Talking to [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] at half time he asked if we were as dull as that under Poyet, to which my answer was yes - but not at Withdean. If you're a lover of several nice passes across the back line followed by giving it away under pressure Reading are your very team. Literally no idea how they have so many points.

Probably because the front line had good outlets Murray, Barnes and Wood. I think it just emphasises what a disaster to us CMS was.

Wardy's twin · Feb 26, 2017

Couldn't Be Hyypia said:
Showed again how to play against us. Close us down. Be physical. Load up midfield. Pacey striker to pin back four deeper.

Reading did none of that. Huddersfield did all of it. Results were plain to see.

To be fair you can only do the pressure game if your players are fit and Huddersfield look like they have a good number who can play a full 90 mins at full tilt. Hopefully it will wear them down towards the last 5-10 games...

Guinness Boy · Feb 26, 2017

Wardy's twin said:
To be fair you can only do the pressure game if your players are fit and Huddersfield look like they have a good number who can play a full 90 mins at full tilt. Hopefully it will wear them down towards the last 5-10 games...

Exactly this. Ipswich tried it and were very effective for 75 minutes but we bossed the last 15 - just couldn't score. Klopp and Wagner must know some REALLY good fitness drills though as their teams fitness levels seem to improve almost the second they take over.......

Stat Brother · Feb 26, 2017

Guinness Boy said:
Exactly this. Ipswich tried it and were very effective for 75 minutes but we bossed the last 15 - just couldn't score. Klopp and Wagner must know some REALLY good fitness drills though as their teams fitness levels seem to improve almost the second they take over.......

***Taps nose knowingly***.

knocky1 · Feb 26, 2017

Guinness Boy said:
Exactly this. Ipswich tried it and were very effective for 75 minutes but we bossed the last 15 - just couldn't score. Klopp and Wagner must know some REALLY good fitness drills though as their teams fitness levels seem to improve almost the second they take over.......

...maybe Mo Farah gave them the number for Alberto Salazar.

Wardy's twin · Feb 26, 2017

Guinness Boy said:
Exactly this. Ipswich tried it and were very effective for 75 minutes but we bossed the last 15 - just couldn't score. Klopp and Wagner must know some REALLY good fitness drills though as their teams fitness levels seem to improve almost the second they take over.......

One thing they do is adjust training times so for evening games they train the evening before....

Harry Wilson's tackle · Feb 26, 2017

Guinness Boy said:
Talking to [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] at half time he asked if we were as dull as that under Poyet, to which my answer was yes - but not at Withdean. If you're a lover of several nice passes across the back line followed by giving it away under pressure Reading are your very team. Literally no idea how they have so many points.

I was talking to Bozza at half time, too :lolol:

Stat Brother · Feb 26, 2017

Wardy's twin said:
One thing they do is adjust training times so for evening games they train the evening before....

The world's sketchiest anecdote:-

This came up recently, on something I was listening too. :shrug:

Bloke mentions changing training times to coincide with kick off. :shrug:

Other bloke says 'it's odd how something so obvious doesn't happen'. :shrug:

Third bloke then chips in with:-
'player x :shrug:

couldn't work out why he always felt lethargic around game time'.
'It turned out he always had a post training, afternoon nap, around 3pm'. :lol:

As you can tell I wasn't really listening, but the pay off did make me laugh.

NooBHA · Feb 26, 2017

big nuts said:
Our tactics were identikit to Barcelona's we were just nowhere near as good at implementing it.

With better players it would have been more effective but we lacked pace and were nowhere near as effective pressing without the ball.

.

We weren't trying to constantly press and win the ball. We were content to let them knock it around at the back and try and win it when they attempted to cross the half way line. Then we pressed and tried to dispossess them in numbers when they had their midfield a bit further forward and then we upped the tempo.

We are very aware that you can't go pressing for 90 minutes. Look what happens to Fulham when they press too high for too long. They get knackered and get caught on the break and ship goals. For the most part this season we don't do that. Our goals against is second to none.

You are right though we are not Barcelona but we are closer to Barcelona than we were two or three years ago and every player yesterday gave 100% and that's all you can ask of them. So you are 100% correct, I doubt that many of previous squad players would make this team quite simply because this group work hard with and without the ball

Springal · Feb 26, 2017

I work in Berkshire so a lot are Reading fans. They all pretty much said they have a lot of possession but don't use it well, which as we saw if you sit back and let them have the ball up to the half way line and then make them press you can win the ball and find space.

That said Stam only joined in the summer and the turnaround has been similar to us when Poyet joined in League One. With better players in the summer they'll no doubt improve

NooBHA · Feb 26, 2017

Springal said:
I work in Berkshire so a lot are Reading fans. They all pretty much said they have a lot of possession but don't use it well, which as we saw if you sit back and let them have the ball up to the half way line and then make them press you can win the ball and find space.

That said Stam only joined in the summer and the turnaround has been similar to us when Poyet joined in League One. With better players in the summer they'll no doubt improve

That line highlighted is like a defensive error at the back and is the opening for that Reading fan who was on here constantly leading up to yesterdays match. Now conspicuous by his absence since the defeat that line should leave him a gap to reappear

Couldn't Be Hyypia · Feb 26, 2017

Wardy's twin said:
To be fair you can only do the pressure game if your players are fit and Huddersfield look like they have a good number who can play a full 90 mins at full tilt. Hopefully it will wear them down towards the last 5-10 games...

Completely agree. Not our first team.

Stato · Feb 26, 2017

Some of Reading's fans are having a NSC style meltdown over their performance:

http://www.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=135655&sid=5d7ccbaee4b62c3d30a59f6bfc582779

I think that the comparisons with us under Poyet, that some have made in our thread are well made. They looked like a Poyet side but they didn't have a Bridcutt. He would have marshalled the back line when they were attacking and prevented our quick breaks. The one time they looked like breaking quickly Stephens showed exactly what they were missing by stopping them in their tracks with an imperious tackle.

Hughton definitely won the tactical battle last night. Although Stam tried to blame his players for individual mistakes, it was his inexperience that showed. Our pressing in numbers at key points reminded me a little of what West Ham under Allardyce did to us at the Amex. Murray, Knockaert and Baldock put in a great shift defending from the front, squeezing their defenders and giving them nowhere to go.

I think the Reading fans who are going mad about their performance are going off the deep end a bit. We all remember that the style they play requires them to have control and that the better teams* won't let you have that easily. If you go one down, you need to be able to adapt and, at present, Stam doesn't have the players to allow him a (dare I use the words) Plan B. Providing Stam is not ideologically opposed to adapting his style according to the opposition, (who would be that dogmatic eh Gus?) he will learn and they will get better at game management. Given the time he spent playing under Ferguson, I can't believe that Stam will not recognise the potential value of sucking a team in and breaking quickly in numbers as an alternative to the slow build possession game that they are currently playing.

* - You don't know how happy it makes me to be able to refer to us among 'the better teams'.

Guinness Boy · Feb 26, 2017

NooBHA said:
We weren't trying to constantly press and win the ball. We were content to let them knock it around at the back and try and win it when they attempted to cross the half way line. Then we pressed and tried to dispossess them in numbers when they had their midfield a bit further forward and then we upped the tempo.

We are very aware that you can't go pressing for 90 minutes. Look what happens to Fulham when they press too high for too long. They get knackered and get caught on the break and ship goals. For the most part this season we don't do that. Our goals against is second to none.

You are right though we are not Barcelona but we are closer to Barcelona than we were two or three years ago and every player yesterday gave 100% and that's all you can ask of them. So you are 100% correct, I doubt that many of previous squad players would make this team quite simply because this group work hard with and without the ball

Absolutely no doubt CH got the tactics bang on last night.

Guinness Boy · Feb 26, 2017

Stato said:
Some of Reading's fans are having a NSC style meltdown over their performance:

http://www.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=135655&sid=5d7ccbaee4b62c3d30a59f6bfc582779

I think that the comparisons with us under Poyet, that some have made in our thread are well made. They looked like a Poyet side but they didn't have a Bridcutt. He would have marshalled the back line when they were attacking and prevented our quick breaks. The one time they looked like breaking quickly Stephens showed exactly what they were missing by stopping them in their tracks with an imperious tackle.

Hughton definitely won the tactical battle last night. Although Stam tried to blame his players for individual mistakes, it was his inexperience that showed. Our pressing in numbers at key points reminded me a little of what West Ham under Allardyce did to us at the Amex. Murray, Knockaert and Baldock put in a great shift defending from the front, squeezing their defenders and giving them nowhere to go.

I think the Reading fans who are going mad about their performance are going off the deep end a bit. We all remember that the style they play requires them to have control and that the better teams* won't let you have that easily. If you go one down, you need to be able to adapt and, at present, Stam doesn't have the players to allow him a (dare I use the words) Plan B. Providing Stam is not ideologically opposed to adapting his style according to the opposition, (who would be that dogmatic eh Gus?) he will learn and they will get better at game management. Given the time he spent playing under Ferguson, I can't believe that Stam will not recognise the potential value of sucking a team in and breaking quickly in numbers as an alternative to the slow build possession game that they are currently playing.

* - You don't know how happy it makes me to be able to refer to us among 'the better teams'.

"Grabham 1: Got a right charmer here=another one stealing a living."

:lolol:

Might well have had a lucky escape missing out on Mr Grabbing. Wonder how his attitude would sit in the current dressing room?

BUTTERBALL · Feb 26, 2017

Reading passed the ball Poyet style but without any cutting edge, incisiveness or tempo. They played right into our hands and played a high line at the back, perfect to hit them on the break. Absolutely top-drawer tactics by CH.

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