Hasta

Chapman is a funny one. I don't see the under 23s. He has scored and been involved in goals, and up for player of the month, but some people say his attitude looks wrong and he is underperforming. I can only go off what we saw of him in that league one season. However one thing I saw was that when he gets into dangerous positions he seemed to have some end product. So many times yesterday Armstrong, Bennett and Downing got into lots of space wide but couldn't do anything with it. Chapman would have been driving into the box trying to commit the defender. Playing him may weaken the team dynamic in other areas, but at the minute we look like a team who are solid in midfield, but whose midfielders have no ideas how to break a team down other than simply trying to pass it around and hope space opens. Same applies to Rothwell and his ability to create. One of those two should replace Arma. Holtby could prove to be an alternative solution. A few things didn't come off for him yesterday, but he looked like he could do something that little bit different to create. Im not even going to bother mentioning then defence and the goals conceded. 6 transfer windows, same defensive spine.

Not sure about that. Within minutes of coming on he had knocked a couple of balls down into Dacks path. As much as Mowbray may want to move away from that particular combo, it is the most effective play we have if Graham is allowed to use his body against the defender. Gallagher may well be better in the air, but he really does need to learn how to play that role and bring others into the game.

I'd love BB to prove us doubters wrong, but I do not see how he would even get on the bench when he is fit. We've already got Graham, Gally and Armstrong rotating regularly with Samuel and Chapman showing form in the under 23s. Hes going to have to show some serious form for the under 23s when he comes back otherwise he is waiting for cup games to get a sniff.

I still look at Josh King and remember we played him once every three games as a winger. Wonder how much he would move for now?

I'm not sure if Samuel is good enough at this level, but to be honest with his form it's another reason why BB is going further down the pecking order. When Brereton is back, he needs to get a run in the under 23s and be finding this kind of form.

Only listened on the radio today, but it did sound like we were under the cosh and the introduction of the three experienced heads for us took the sting out of this game, and that we say the last few minutes through pretty comfortably. That's got to be a good sign going forward as last year I'd have been sure we would have thrown that away. Two big home games coming up.

Armstrong. Dogshit that lad.

Somewhere on a Reading forum, member MercerRoyal is saying:- "You'd think we were playing the Northern Real Madrid listening to you lot. We are playing a team who are only 3 points for in front of us because they beat a piss poor Millwall side at home They only drew with Cardiff, who we played off the pitch, and have had a shocking away record every season they've been in this league recently. If we can't beat this team, managed by a football dinosaur, then it's time to knock the Madjeski down and build a skate park on it. I'm going for a 3-0 win and will be toasting my winnings with a nice bottle of red come Saturday evening."

I've said this before but for every consecutive year you have had a season ticket you should get 5% off the renewal price, up to a maximum of 30% People would build up their discount, and if we had a bad or boring season, they would be less likely to not renew as they would 'lose' the loyalty discount. Also encourages season tickets as it shows loyalty is rewarded. For non season ticket holders, for every 5 games you attend you get 1 free. Some people who have attended, for example, 3 or 4 games during a season would probably attend 1 or 2 more to unlock the free game. (I've not run the number on these ideas so it may be it caps at 20%, or 6 games to get 1 free, but you get the idea.)

Yep. Did any pleyer not receive support at the ground yesterday? Of course they did. What people mean when they say you should 'support' a player is that if you have a negative view on that player you either need to keep quiet or lie whilst on a messageboard. That's what they class as 'support'.

I love watching it from the knockout stages on. I suppose the group stages are like the Euro qualifiers for England tonight. I'll watch it if I have absolutely nothing else to do, but I'll not go out of my way to watch it. If we had to win the last game to qualify I'd certainly be watching it. And I'll watch every game in a knockout tournament. I think the angst against the CL is that it doesn't really start as a competition until February. The first half of the season seems just like money making exhibitions.

Like other people have said, once we hit the knockout stages it's exciting, especially last year with a number of English sides still in. The problem is the group stages are a hard watch. Unlike in the World Cup, where losing 1 match puts you in peril, generally you can lose a couple and still get through. Obviously game 6 in the group stages can be dramatic when it is do or die, but on other group game nights I have no interest in tuning in.

There will be a minimum of 4 minutes added time. Ref blows on 3:45 because the ball is in a 'neutral' location on the pitch. Happens all the time, most recently Georgia V Denmark this afternoon. How hard can it be to either say a minimum of 3 minutes, or actually add 4 minutes on.

At the moment a Keeper, Centre Half, Right Back, Centre Forward. Jury is still out on Cunningham but he's not our player anyway.

I can be bothered picking through and quoting things, but if you are a Bolton fan 15 points from safety I imagine you accept you are down. To 'hope and strive' to stop up from this situation is unrealistic. You say the people they have signed will not keep the up, when it was impossible that they could sign anyone that would keep them up.

I'm with Chaddy on this one. They are 15 points from safety and only had two professional players last week. Surely this week was about getting in some senior players in order to be able to complete the season. If it was us who had come through that situation, would you be striving and hoping to survive in league one? Would you be sat here saying the players we had signed were rubbish, and that we should have been more ambitious?

As much as I want to agree with you, when I saw it, it does look a foul. If the Rovers player (Lenihan?) had jumped into a centre half who was going up to head the ball like that it would have been a free kick.

I know. I started doing a match up and then realised I was wrong so edited my post but you obviously already had already quoted me. ? I do think we should be looking for 10+ points from the next 6 though.

Disagree Stuart. Hull have been poor for a while and I think Boro are going to be nowhere near top 6 this year. Cardiff I thought would do well but they haven't started particularly well at all. It's not easy but it's not tough.

It wasn't. It's an average block of Championship games. Fulham admittedly will be up there but West Brom fans think they are weaker than last year and they couldnt beat Millwall or Reading at home so far this season.

Watch Armstrong for the second goal. Gets skinned easily on the touchline and then starts trotting back towards goal. At the last minute he sees the danger right infront of him and bursts into a sprint to close the man down but it's too late. Just lazy. Having been done so easily he should be busting a gut to get back after the guy.

There's too many people here who's views are extremely one side or the other. No middle ground. You presume I dislike Mowbray because I dont feel we have developed our young players, but I have not once called for him to leave over the last 18 months. Like in all pub discussions, I'll pick up on viewpoints I don't agree with and give my opinion. I actually like the guy. For example, I don't think it was a 'gimme' that we should have got out of league one, and ultimately a mid-table finish was a decent return last season. What was frustrating last season is that we threw points away which we shouldn't have done (Leeds etc..). This season I expected up to kick on for the top 6 but have been disappointed we haven't addressed the the centre half problem, nor have we seemingly increased our firepower going forward. That's my opinion, but I can criticise the manager without wanting him hung ,drawn and quartered. To shove me in the 'disliking Mowbray' bracket is ridiculous. However I feel he has given too many chances to the league one team and has not given certain players the opportunities they need to prove themselves (see Rothwell, Chapman), whilst others have been given more chances despite not looking up to it to justify their arrival (see Brereton, Gally may fall in this category if he persists out wide whilst we create little). Dack was massively influencial in league one but, as I said after the Oldham game, with regards to controlling games he's looking a bit of a flat track bully. When we play inferior teams he dominates but when teams are on his 'level'. he can go missing for long spells. Fortunately he's got a goal poachers instinct so, like yesterday, he gets in the right positions and will score goals. I'd have him in my starting XI every week but, as I said, some people are saying he should have been cashed in on. Most people think he doesnt look as good as he did 12 months ago when making his Championhsip debut. For me to say regressing might have been harsh but for you to say he has come on 'leaps and bounds' under Mowbray is simply not true. As for Lenihan, he's the same player who got us relegated. Good lad, tries hard, championship defender, not great in the air. A lot of those goals we conceded in the air last year, which Mulgrew has taken the can for, where also down to Lenihan as well (see 2 goals conceded V Charlton on the opening day. He's certainly not been immense for us. Our defensive record last year tells you this.

They should cash in on J-Lo now and give him his premier league move. After all, every manager he has ever played for including England youth managers have picked him don't forget.

I know a big Baggies fan through work. They've lost two 20+ goal strikers and Craig Dawson since last season as well as another defende (can't remember who he said but it may have been our own Tosin). His view is they gave it their best shot last year and this year will be a bit of a rebuild. I don't think August has been the 'month of death' it's been made out to be. That said, Its not been a disaster of a start but we do need to move up a gear. For all the points we have picked up, we haven't looked like creating much and our porous defence has reared its head a couple of times. I feel we have a formation and team selection within us which can worry lots of teams in this league but we just haven't found it yet. I do feel, despite the summer additions, we still lack a striker and centre half to be truly in with any chance of top 6.

Dack was already League One player of the year. He took his chance with a better side when he came here, but most people are saying he's regressing, not coming on leaps and bounds. Nyambe can't get in the side over a struggling midfielder and 3 weeks ago we were hoping for an upgrade over any of the centre halves including Lenehan. 24 year old Rothwell isn't getting game time and Chapman hasn't been sighted since he returned. The only one on your list I'd say has come on over the last 18 months is Travis who has proved to be a gem, which people who watched the Under 23's had been telling us for a while but we persisted with Evans and Smallwood for far to long before we gave the lad a chance.