READING

[Pedro]

Anyone know where I can pick up a claim form? My corneas have gone crispy after being scorched by those advertising boards?

[blueboy3333]

Even from 2 down we should have won that, which shows not only the fighting spirit ingrained into that squad but also the lack of quality in the final third. We had so many opportunities to finish them off in the 2nd half it was unreal but our final ball let us down time and time again. 

A things that stood out:-

Raya - summed up in two instances. Threw another in his goal for their first then pulled off an amazing save in the lead up to their 2nd. Had very little else to do,

Nyambe - shaming the likes of Al and Jal who used to slag him off for sport. He made incredible improvements last season and has just carried that on.  Brilliant performance tonight. The man is a tank. Nicky Reid crossed with Chris Price!

Mulgrew - Convinced he'd miss one of them but he's learnt to vary his spot kicks. Balls of steel.

Evans - ran the game at times. He's the player that first came to the club when he played so well under Bowyer until he got his first bad injury. He's a class above Smallwood. 

Smallwood - Felt genuinely sorry for him by the end of the first half. He looked a broken man after his final pass went astray. Looks to be lacking in confidence and I think the crowd turned on him a bit tonight for the first time. I think he's more cut out for away games where the onus is not on us to attack and he can just sit and put his foot in. I think Mowbray took him off a couple of times at home last season at half time. Something Mowbray needs to look at when we are at home against the less good sides.

Rothwell - so unlucky with a couple of strikes. Ran himself into the ground. In the cold light of day though he didn't impose himself on the game like his technical ability suggested he should have. He was on the peripheries at times. Hopefully he'll become more consistent when he plays more because he's got all the attributes.  

Graham - I think he's finding it a bit more difficult to dominate defenders this season. I thought he was dreadful 1st half and improved a bit 2nd. 

Bennett - incredible 2nd half performance. Dragged us back into the game. He was everywhere. If he hadn't won that penalty we'd never have got a point. 

Conway - it was painful to watch. One of my favourite Rovers players of recent times but his legs have gone. He can't even turn  back anymore to put a cross in. Granted he won't be match fit but he got the ball so many times 2nd half on the left corner of the box and each time he messed it up or chose the wrong ball. Decent cross for the Nuttall header from the right but it was the least expected. 

Nuttall -  put himself about and did some great closing down but looks a bit slow to react to stuff. Lenny was telling him to get closer to Graham 2nd half because each time DG won a header Nuttall was a yard short of where he should have been to reach the ball. Maybe should have done better with that header. He needs a season on loan. 

Disappointed we didn't win in the end but pleased with the spirit we showed. We aren't a League 1 side, contrary to the @#/? I've read on here, because we've now outplayed 4 Championship sides. I think we may have played some of the worst teams in the league but still, we've still out classed them all in parts. It's just a shame we can't put teams to bed when we are on top and still concede silly goals.  

The home form could be a problem this season (like it was early last season) if Mowbray puts controlling the game before getting people in the box. We caused them problems 2nd half because we got the ball forward to 2 strikers, rather than the aimless punting to an isolated Graham 1st half. I know it's all in Tony We Trust these days but he must be able to come up with a better plan A at home than pass across the back for a few minutes then hoof it diagonally to Graham when they finally decide to close us down. 

I thought Reading had some skilful players but no heart. A few of their lads didn't want to know when Rothwell and Bennett started flying into them. The lad up front was good and caused us problems besides his goals. If Clement isn't sacked by December I'll be surprised. 

All in all a decent start to the season with a team that doesn't know when it's beaten.  Unbeaten in four and the two homes games I've seen we've totally dominated for at least 45 minutes. The lack of a cutting edge is apparent though. We missed Dack 1st half but at least showed we can play at different way 2nd half and still cause problems. We desperately lack pace up front though. A Brereton, or whoever, would add a lot to our team. 

 

 

 

[Angry_Pirate]

Those who know me know how long I've petitioned for Smallwood to be dropped as time and again I think he's been our worst player.

Ironically first half today I would have said there were 4 or 5 equally bad if not worse... however I was obviously not disappointed to not see him return as we are simply put a much better team without him.

Crossing drills tomorrow please Tony. Almost every cross was floated too high and too deep. Scrap that... Wingers tomorrow please Tony!

[Songman]

Absolute pleasure to see the effort being put in, and us out working sides as we are, been a long time since we've seen that. Add a bit of quality before close of this window and the results will follow.

[blueboy3333]

33 minutes ago, tomphil said:

1.5 points per game which is steady enough.

Indeed. Pretty much what he got when he took over the season we went down. He's a 1.5 ppg type of guy in the Championship which will do for us this season. He likes a draw does Mogga at this level!

[blueboy3333]

Just now, Songman said:

Absolute pleasure to see the effort being put in, and us out working sides as we are, been a long time since we've seen that. Add a bit of quality before close of this window and the results will follow.

Yep, the difference in fight between the two sides was stark tonight. I very much doubt they would have come from 2 down even though they had some quite gifted players. 

[tomphil]

Just now, blueboy3333 said:

Indeed. Pretty much what he got when he took over the season we went down. He's a 1.5 ppg type of guy in the Championship which will do for us this season. He likes a draw does Mogga at this level!

Exactly what I was thinking when I posted that ?

[unsall]

2 hours ago, CD_93 said:

The Tony Mowbray effect in action tonight. Rockets up backsides at half time. Rothwell a real player. Lets hope nothing too serious for Arma (and Dom and Palmer).

Palmer not injured,family problems back in London,hopefully back on Saturday.

[philipl]

All set up to watch this but fell asleep and missed it. Well there is a seven hours time difference.

Not only Rovers stepped up but I had been reaching a point of despair about our message board.

Comments have been a quantum leap better to read on this game. Thanks to all!

[barry_]

Reading fans packing the DE out

[blueboy3333]

...all 247 of them. Shameful turn out.

[barry_]

did anybody notice the club shop was closed after the game?

Been awhile since i was on the BBE side of the ground so not sure if this is usual?

[Fraserkirky]

Thought Bennett was absolutely woeful first half, not a coincidence he improved when moved more centrally in the 2nd.

[RevidgeBlue]

2 hours ago, blueboy3333 said:

Indeed. Pretty much what he got when he took over the season we went down. He's a 1.5 ppg type of guy in the Championship which will do for us this season. He likes a draw does Mogga at this level!

Trouble is we aren't going to go unbeaten all season, We're likely to lose almost as many as we draw as the season goes on so we will have to be looking to improve our win ratio.

[G Somerset Rover]

Obviously relieved to get the point after a disastrous first half, but if we’re going to have a half decent season we can’t be giving goals away like we did, or end up being happy with 1 point at home to sides like Reading. TM needs to start Bennett in CM every week - he isn’t a winger and always excels in the middle of the Park. He also needs to drop one of his pets, Richie.

Big few days ahead - we desperately need some quality to come through the door (even more so with Arma now injured) especially in the final third, to ensure that we can compete and don’t ever have to field another subs bench like that again.

[@roverseas]

What a bizarre day.  No Dack, 2-nil down at half time, pull it back to level, now linked with allsorts of odds and ends. I know its not a popular opinion but I am willing to give Rodwell the benefit of the doubt and give him a blue and white shirt.  However, we forwards Tony...  you know strikers, goal machines!?  Anywho, thoughts from Tony and guest of the week Marc Mayo from the Tile Hurst End podcast. 

 

[Jim Royle]

7 hours ago, K-Hod said:

Rothwell was outstanding all match.

Nyambe and Evans very good in second half. Bennett improved in second half.

It really was a game of two halves and I’m so glad we didn’t lose tbh, but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating that we’ve gone in 2-0 down at half time and started a game so slowly AGAIN!

We just need lots of bodies in and fast. Particularly if the injuries keep on piling up (especially at this early stage). 

We didn’t start slowly - both Armstrong and Rothwell nearly scored prior to lenihans crazy 20 mins

[CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber]

9 hours ago, ChrisPriceBaldSpot said:

Please do explain your much thought about comment! 

When he gives the ball away with 1 minute left and presents Reading with a chance to attack; a better team could well have punished us. Overall one of his better games hence why I included 'at times' and I 100% stand by it, he can be appalling. That OK? 

[CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber]

9 hours ago, dinglebasher said:

He presented for every throw in.

He moved the ball forward from defence to attack for the entire game.

He presented every time Lenihan or Mulgrew had possession.

He made an important foul when they were three on one. 

He continuously made two yards of space for himself to take the pressure off the defence.

He did all that and only gave the ball away once all night, when he crossed over the back post. 

But yeah, disgraceful. 

He gave it away with one minute left hence my comment. The 'at times' part was ignored in your response and I stand by it. One of his better games though so I should maybe I should have recognised that, however overall he's been poor a lot more than he's been good in a Rovers shirt. 

[OJRovers]

Observations:

We shot ourselves in the foot twice with their 2 goals. Came out of nothing. Hopefully we’ll learn from this.

This team does not know when it’s beaten, couple of years back we would have lost that with a whimper.

We don’t look out of place in this league at all based on who we’ve played so far.

Evans again was brilliant. Seemed to be everywhere.

Rothwell, I’m not sure is ready to be a 90mins player, maybe better as impact sub. Did ok in the circumstances.

Nyambe has a great game again.

We desperately need a proper winger and striker (as we’ve all been saying all summer).

Please god, we need Dack, Palmer and Armstrong fit for Saturday.

[K-Hod]

1 hour ago, Jim Royle said:

We didn’t start slowly - both Armstrong and Rothwell nearly scored prior to lenihans crazy 20 mins

Maybe start slowly was the wrong phrase, but even so, we were 0-2 down at HT with a mountain to climb, which luckily we did.

[DE.]

14 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Maybe start slowly was the wrong phrase, but even so, we were 0-2 down at HT with a mountain to climb, which luckily we did.

To be fair whilst we had a very good opening 10-15 mins, once Reading scored their first we completely collapsed and their second became inevitable. Whatever Mowbray said at the break obviously worked and we looked back up for it again in the second half, but we still would never have scored from open play which is a concern. Without Dack we didn't look like we knew what to do in the final third. Luckily McShane gave us the answers but we can't expect every team to have a player that generous. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

Evans and Nyambe our best players last night. Although special mention for Mulgrew. He is our quarter back, all our play either starts with or goes through him at least once. 

[47er]

42 minutes ago, OJRovers said:

 

Please god, we need Dack, Palmer and Armstrong fit for Saturday.

I've asked before but what's the nature of Davenport's injury and how long will he be out? Thanks in advance.

[dinglebasher]

44 minutes ago, CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber said:

He gave it away with one minute left hence my comment. The 'at times' part was ignored in your response and I stand by it. One of his better games though so I should maybe I should have recognised that, however overall he's been poor a lot more than he's been good in a Rovers shirt. 

Yes, but you were commenting on his performance in this match, when he was (in my opinion and those of many others) a class apart last night. To label a player 'a disgrace at times' for making one mistake at the end of an otherwise impressive performance (when we were pushing for a win in the last few minutes) seems ridiculous. If you think making the odd mistake qualifies as 'disgraceful' you must have pretty high standards. 

Evans seems to attract a lot of this type of hysterical criticism for some reason, despite being the most composed player we have on the ball. He doesn't do anything spectacular but does all the hard, boring stuff that no one else can do as well as he can.