v Reading (a) - 17/8/22 - Mark 1

[Armchair supporter supremo]

16 minutes ago, alcd said:

A flukey start to the season has come to an end and this squad will head rapidly towards the bottom half of the table. Holes and gaps all over the place. Gregg needs to pull his finger out and be given some proper financial backing. 

Our weak links in the team got well and truly found out tonight by an oppo manager that had really done his homework. 

Still the squads currently threadbare and it is just one bad result out of 5! So the mental breakdown some are having on hear really is a bit embarrassing to see. 

Personally think the manager got the team selection wrong tonight, particularly in tge attacking line. Think I'd have gone 433 tonight with morton, travis and buckley in midfielde, brereton cf with dack and szmodics on his shoulders. 🤷‍♂️ Easy for me to say things like that in hindsight though. 

Need new signings last week and the bbd transfer saga needs resolving one way or another very fast. 

Edited August 17, 2022 by Armchair supporter supremo

[Sweaty Gussets]

Understandable reaction to a heavy defeat but we're still top on merit.

Time for Broughton to do his job and get the players in that squad desperately lacks. 

[Rochdale_rover]

As an absolute minimum from that 

Dolan shouldn't ever start.

Vale should be in league 2

Give edun a go at lb

 

[Armchair supporter supremo]

4 minutes ago, BG1492 said:

Stinking performance, but give me one person who wouldn’t of took 3 wins from 4, top of the league, at the start of season.

Few signings, Vale & Dolan sent to Cowdenbeath FC, go again.

Tbf dolan has been excellent when he's come on later in the game to ruffle a few feathers! Definitely not one I'd even be considering letting go anywhere

Edited August 17, 2022 by Armchair supporter supremo

[bluebruce]

2 minutes ago, rovers11 said:

I completely agree. We've been poor all season and were going to get well beaten sooner or later imo. 

To be clear, I'm in no way saying we have been poor all season. Until tonight we have defended doggedly and been clinical in front of goal, both of which abandoned us tonight. The ratio of shots to goals was never going to last too long though, and you can't spend all season defending. We need to be creating more chances and keeping the opposition further away from our penalty area.

[AllRoverAsia]

I wish I'd gone to bed at midnight.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, bluebruce said:

Shit. Said it wasn't going to be as easy as it looked on paper.

We weren’t playing on paper. I don’t care who you’re playing if you go out with the wrong attitude normally you get the wrong result. We took them too lightly and paid the price. Start with your best 11, if you have to sub them later so be it.

[Andy]

4 minutes ago, rovers11 said:

I completely agree. We've been poor all season and were going to get well beaten sooner or later imo. 

Nope.

We were excellent at Swansea; gameplan executed to perfection.

QPR was fits and spurts, but we did enough to win.

WBA was probably the worst performance (before tonight), but we still found a way to win.

Doesn't take away from how pathetic we were tonight, but to suggest we've been poor all season...well, that's just not true.

[AllRoverAsia]

2 minutes ago, Armchair supporter supremo said:

Tbf dolan has been excellent when he's gome on later in the game to ruffle a few feathers! Definitely not one I'd even be consider letting go anywhere

Dolan runs around a lot, quite slowly. That's about it.

[joey_big_nose]

8 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Absolutely embarrassing. Broughton and co need to pull their fingers out.

That being said, from what he has available, Tomasson got it badly wrong tonight. 

Vale nowhere near good enough, get him loaned out to the lower leagues.

Phillips is nowhere near ready.

Ultimately no one comes out with any credit.

Agree Vale looks a long way off, but thought Phillips looks solid personally. Not worried about him.

[Cherry Blue]

Reading did their homework Ince senior bullied a light weight Rovers.

[rigger]

Win on Saturday and tonight will be forgotten, it won't be forgiven.

[Dolly blue]

I really want to believe in Buckley….I don’t  doubt his skill, his ability to play a killer ball …but I do doubt his guts, his ability to graft …and sadly, his intelligence. Currently, he is a luxury , one we can’t afford in a 2 man midfield.
 

It reminds me of the Flitcroft / Dunn pairing ..one worked his arse off one waited to be given the ball. 
I have confidence in JDT …and I believe he will have discovered tonight who “the men “ are..I hope more “ men “ turn up on Saturday. 

[Oldgregg86]

Livid . Fuming, 

I’ve told the wife to turn the lights off and take the JDT mask off the back of her head tonight I’m so upset 🤬

[BankEnd Rover]

3 minutes ago, Rochdale_rover said:

As an absolute minimum from that 

Dolan shouldn't ever start.

Vale should be in league 2

Give edun a go at lb

 

Yes yes & yes. Dolan is at his best coming on as an impact sub. Running at tired defences.

Vale should be nowhere near the squad & Pickering is just an awful player.

[Armchair supporter supremo]

1 minute ago, AllRoverAsia said:

Dolan runs around a lot, quite slowly. That's about it.

I value your opinion 😘

[bluebruce]

Just now, Rochdale_rover said:

As an absolute minimum from that 

Dolan shouldn't ever start.

Vale should be in league 2

Give edun a go at lb

 

Wow, all three 'absolute minimums' are wrong IMO.

Dolan has shown plenty of times he is capable in this league. I wouldn't put him as a main starter right now, but we have three games a week quite frequently and he'll be needed.

Vale should go on loan, but I'd say League 1.

Edun has never looked very comfortable at LB. That said, this one I'm coming close to agreeing with, as I'm not rating Pickering. Looking more like we need a new LB tbh, but a squad shouldn't really carry 3 senior LBs who all cost a fee, and I don't see how we shift the current two. I think Styles, as a LWB and midfield option, would probably be best.

[bluebruce]

4 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

We weren’t playing on paper. I don’t care who you’re playing if you go out with the wrong attitude normally you get the wrong result. We took them too lightly and paid the price. Start with your best 11, if you have to sub them later so be it.

You don't need to tell me, I was saying it before the game.

[Jimmy612]

Just now, Armchair supporter supremo said:

Tbf dolan has been excellent when he's gome on later in the game to ruffle a few feathers! Definitely not one I'd even be consider letting go anywhere

Dolan has a fantastic work ethic and it gets him a very long way with the fanbase, alongside quite a lot of over zealous ‘fancy footwork’ and a seemingly lovely personality and warmth with the fans.  But I’ve said for 2 years, I do not see a good footballer there.  He’s deceptively slow, he’s obviously very small in stature, he’s not got a great first touch, he makes poor decisions…. I think a lot of folk got very excited by him far too early.  

Could never and would never criticise his infectious work rate and I would love him to prove me totally wrong, but I think he’s probably a level higher than he should be. 

[BG1492]

4 minutes ago, Armchair supporter supremo said:

Tbf dolan has been excellent when he's come on later in the game to ruffle a few feathers! Definitely not one I'd even be considering letting go anywhere

All about opinions I suppose. If we want to get out of this league I just feel like we need more than somebody who chases shadows and shows very little quality. My opinion always was that if he had come from Hull for example other than Preston, the hype wouldn’t be there.

[Miller11]

Two crushing defeats in the space of a few months by Paul Ince’s reading. I’m feeling a bit silly and like my optimism may have been misplaced, but I’m desperately hoping this is just a blip.

It was always a worry that we would struggle against teams who come at us instead of buying into the ridiculous notion that modern football is all about ball retention and possession above all else. What was really frightening was that we seemed to adopt that tactic, certainly sounded like a far cry from our previous outings this season.

The first goal, they happen. The other two were shocking to concede. Both fullbacks were culpable, but apparently fullbacks being competent at defending isn’t part of the modern game. Give me a throwback any day.

[glen9mullan]

I dont think any of them come out with credit tonight, bar Ince and Reading. Played us off the park, and we just never got going. 

The defence time and time again had

no out ball, whilst to a man we wanted 1 or 2 seconds more on the ball than Reading would afford it.

Tactically, i actually don't know what the gameplan was, whatever it was it was not nice to watch.

Top of the league after 4 games, is a fantastic start.

We definately need some experienced heads in this team though, and over the next couple of weeks i think at least 4 players in, providing we dont lose any.

[BankEnd Rover]

We all knew a loss would come and to be honest I kind of expected it tonight.

The worrying thing is the manner of the loss. We were unwatchable. 

Hopefully it’s an eye opener for JDT to not start certain players again. As a result we need re-inforcements ASAP!

 

[Mercer]

Tonight underlined where we really are.

We still need 5 quality additions to our squad to have any chance of approaching top 6.

Think we will get mullered at SU on Saturday and I've just managed to lump on SU at evens (and those odds will get rapidly shorter and soon).

Only consolation tonight is my match bet of >2.5 goals came up.

[DE.]

If we had been terrible all season I'd be far less frustrated by what I just witnessed. We haven't been amazing but we've been competitive and solid enough in our first three league matches - enough so that I had no worries about tonight and was, stupidly, actually confident for once. I've been really proud of how the lads had been performing up until this point, but this was right back to the bad old days in terms of attitude and performance. Just so deflating after what had been a fantastic start.

Still, my melancholy aside, it will be interesting to see how JDT handles this one. It's a good test for him and it's come early in his tenure. The only other positive is that it may jolt our recruitment team into action.