bluebruce

I feel a 5-3-2 would probably have worked better tonight in hindsight. Probably against Sheff U too. Then again, we simply don't have enough defenders for it to work.

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

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.

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.

A real wakeup call for fans who seemed to think we'd be challenging for automatic promotion this season just because of a good start (with some luck involved...QPR battered us for the first 25 then we dominated and earned that one, Swansea did have the better chances - I watched the extended highlights - and the scoreline flattered us immensely, and WBA we were mostly outplayed but more clinical). The squad is too thin and many of them are fairly untested at this level, and we don't have enough in the tank to play 3 games in a week yet. A mediocre Reading side fully deserving of their win.

The curse of the ex player strikes and I'm tempted to turn this off but I'll endure the suffering. Pickering beaten too easily yet again.

It's far too early to say they're the worst team in the league, and they don't look anywhere near as bad as that, even accounting for how poor we are. One result and 3 games in doesn't make them the worst. We lost 7-0 at home and immediately went on to be the league's form team for months.

That looked a pen to me, though we don't deserve to equalise yet.

Tbh I'd have started Morton tonight instead. Can't expect both Travis and Buckley to be at their best for 3 games in 6 days, the first in horrendous heat.

Nah, not having that, not at all. Probably wouldn't make a top (bottom) ten. Poor though. Very poor.

Well, I hope that's the worst half we have for a long time. If it's not the worst half we have tonight, this will be truly embarrassing.

Very stupid push from BBD. Should be booked for it but complains it was given instead. Looks frustrated. Pickering doesn't look good enough to me. Not been convinced since he came back from injury last season. Edit- BBD then got pissy with a Reading fan. Definitely frustrated. Needs to focus himself.

I blame Oldgregg for winding him up.

Second time we have cleared off the line. Making an under strength Reading look like a top Championship side. I expected a banana skin but this is really wank.

Eh? We are constantly losing the ball and looking under pressure yet have barely entered their third. It's shite mate.

Lucky to only be one down here. Pathetic display so far.

Travis (not Buckley as the commentators just claimed) had to come off briefly there...would be a real problem if he got injured.

We are playing very poorly against a bang average side who have conceded in the first ten minutes in every game until now. Not sure who that was who gestured for a free kick instead of chasing the ball when he could have applied pressure and maybe won it back.

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

Not if we buy someone else with the money we don't. And yes I think he should stay put.

We might choose to sell him for an arranged fee now rather than wait til next summer and risk a shit fee at tribunal.

It's pretty premature to say this of Broughton at this stage. So far he has made two permanent signings, both players already tracked for a while by the club, and bid on previously if I recall. Both players were from relegated sides, which made it easier to do than in the past. And a lad on loan from Liverpool, which has been part of our transfer policy for 2 years too. Meanwhile, three players worth decent money have walked off on free transfers, and we still stand a chance of losing our best prospect in years for a pittance. Brereton has not signed his new deal and as a result we are likely to lose him for less than we'd like. There are 2 weeks of the window left. To be clear, I'm not blaming him for any of that. I'm just saying nothing has really shown he is the real deal, as things stand. Maybe he is, but not gonna be able to call that until the end of the January transfer at the least I would think.

This stage of the window is about when I expected things to start hotting up with Diaz. Whether it's just speculation or actual bids. If as many teams are keenly looking as is now being said, we should be able to get the 20 million we reputedly want for him. Crucial we line up a good replacement, and ideally with some money left over to strengthen elsewhere as we probably won't replace him like-for-like in impact.

He is though. He played once in a cup for Spurs. Here, he has been injured nearly the entirety of his time here and has played 3 times. He isn't a regular starter as things stand, but he doesn't seem fully fit yet and will definitely get his chances and it will be up to him to take them. The same couldn't be said for if he was at Spurs. Squad player is a big upgrade on youth team player.

It's not just about what we've invested into him though. We invest into the academy as a whole in the hope of producing gems like him, and Raya, and there is a whole lot of wasted investment that falls by the wayside. Granted, we currently have a lot coming through and the academy is paying for itself indirectly regardless of Phillips, but we only have about 4.5-5 million of direct money from the last few years (Raya 3m, Wright 1m, Mahoney 500k-1m...maybe a touch extra from Raya's clauses). Prior to recent years we had a serious dry patch for a long time. Point being, we need to be able to capitalise on the good uns, and it's really not fair that due to a rigged system we are losing seriously valuable talent when it has barely played for us (or in Wright's case, before). Of course we have also lost a bit (Lenihan, Nyambe) for nowt due to our own sheer incompetence and that part's on us. But it is going to seriously hurt if we get about a million or two for Phillips then see him go on to become an England legend.