Still fuming about last night. This style of play has allowed to us to run riot against the 3 teams on the lowest points in the league but against better teams it just leaves us hopelessly exposed. The first goal in particular was absolutely pathetic, to concede in that manner was unacceptable and unforgivable. I am a bit surprised to see Lenihan get all of the blame at centre back, i though Williams was really poor and perhaps slightly worse, his attempt at a tackle for the second goal was embarassing. We know that he can be a capable stand in but hes never good enough to support where we want to go. That being said, the pair just seemed totally exposed by the style. Rankin Costello is a real dilemma, his cross for the second was very good but he is nowhere near competent enough to play as a full back, even though his deliveries come from deep. We arent Liverpool with Robertson and Trent at full back, bring Nyambe back and play him regularly. Douglas was abysmal yesterday too. Pears looked like a little boy in net and for the first 2 goals, especially the second, I would question his role. Trybull didnt totally convince me in that holding role and Evans cannot play slightly further forward. Holtby was ineffective, hes a talented player but sadly most of his games in a Rovers shirt have been like that. Buckley was a pointless sub, instantly brushed off the ball. Armstrong surely will be thinking about the next transfer window, prolific goalscorers dont stay forever in mid table teams. Elliott definitely has quality and a great ball for the first. Brereton was again ineffective as he is more often than not. We have too many players that Mowbray has signed that have more quiet games than good games. Dolan was quite bright when he came on, Gallagher was absolutely shocking, technically totally bereft and incapable. And why does he keep getting shunted out wide, only highlighting his technical inability? Baffling When does the point come when we compromise on or even abandon these ideas of total football, with a few laughable comparisons to Liverpool thrown in? We dont have the players to be so blaze with our style. And at one point do we roll the dice on the manager, I am not necessarily saying change him now but this has a feeling of a last season before a bit of a factory reset with a few loanees and players approaching the end of their contracts so we cant afford yet more of a work in progress.

Weve been wowed by the nature of our wins so far but if we lose today, 4 losses from 8 would be a poor start so we need a comeback. Against the divisions worst we can sense blood and give them a good hiding. Against decent teams we cant keep them out at all. Not good enough. Pathetic defending all round, Douglas has been appalling, Williams summed himself up tonight with his attempt for the second, Lenihan too rash and Rankin Costello blatantly not a defender. Keeper not convincing either. To be fair, Bell has been putting in shite performances since he joined. This is Douglas' first. Although hes been dismal.

It is the ifollow one, is anyone watching on chrome? I tried a different browser and seems fine now.

Is everyones stream working?

Might be a boost that Ejaria is out for them.

Could do with Downing back as an extra bit of craft to have around.

Just tried the stream and not working, presumably because there is still a bit until kick off but is everyone else the same?

He wasnt on the bench on Saturday, Wharton has replaced Bell.

If we are signing Downing, if we had done it far sooner and he would have started today for sure. He would add another creative option centrally that we could do with. Evans further forward again is not good at all.

I definitely agree that stats have the potential to mislead. A striker with clever movement and the intelligence to get into goalscoring positions, baring in mind that a strikers chances are as much down to his own movement as they are the supply, would compare very unfavourably to one who rarely gets into goalscoring positions in the first place surely? They have such limited use, certainly in isolation. If a team has low xG and is outperforming that stat, why does that have to level out, perhaps that team has a particularly clinical attack, a player or two who is very adept from long distance, or a particularly good goalkeeper.

I think the debate is often measured on the morality of not offering refunds but financially it made no sense either. Refunds claimed would have been minimal and could have been deferred, yet a percentage of those who feel cheated will now as we have seen not buy a season ticket going forward, therefore any slight saving from denying refunds will be removed.

Thanks for the explanation firstly, certainly a very thorough description so fair play. So is the xG not even specific to individual games? I presumed that it was implying that ultimately in the games that we didnt win, that we should have done based on xG. It is incredibly flawed because if most of our xG in 7 games came within 3 games, then that isnt fair to suggest that we should be top based on that! You mention Bamford, what the stat also doesnt factor in is to have so many chances is reliant on him having that anticipation and intelligence to get himself into goalscoring situations, it isnt solely a striker being reliant on service scenario. Take Brereton, he never gets himself into goalscoring positions, so I wouldnt be surprised if his one goal from distance ensures that he is out scoring his xG. Whereas Bamford will have more yet might not take them all. So forwards who keep managing to get into positions to get clear cut chances will be penalised by this method should they not take them all. Andy Cole would have been screwed if his performance was measured like this! You imply that it is not sustainable to outscore your xG consistently but surely you can if you have particularly clinical forwards? I totally appreciate data in general and of course it does play a role but I can be incredibly skeptical of its use in football in certain situations. xG just seems flawed in my opinion to the point where it has limited value in my opinion.

I thought that Rothwell was really poor against Cardiff in the game before when he faced a team defending deep as has often been the case. Although he definitely has attributes that could be of use.

I think we are selling Johnson down the river by playing Johnson in front of the back 4. He is as bad a midfielder as I can remember in recent memory at taking the ball on the half turn, he is not technically very good, he has been robbed of the ball in that role countless times and his passing isnt very good. He has made a career at this level of breaking from deep and scoring from midfield, and whilst he is getting older, I think he can still do that. He was much better at the weekend with Trybull being the sitter providing a safety blanket behind him.

I dont think that Rothwell has had enough of an impact for us to warrant necessarily coming straight into the team. Coming in for Johnson may be something that could happen although I think that Johnson was fine on Saturday and is a goal threat from that position. Dack will be a bit of a different story in terms of quality although the length of time out means that instantly starting him wont be a possibility anyway.

Agreed, that is a perfect example. Also, if a team is "outperforming" or "underperforming" compared to their xG, even assuming that the expected goals statistic is black and white which of course it never can be, it is only considering chances created and not the fact that some teams have better attacking players who will be more clinical than others!

Surely like many other clubs, put the option that they can either have the ifollow links or a pro-rata refund. You can even mention that ideally to take the links to help the club in the press release, and if cash flow is that tight, which it seemingly isnt, then you can offer the refund deferred onto this season, that way people have been reimbursed and it also acts essentially as a deposit practically guaranteeing a season ticket holder going forward. Its not rocket science, and even taking the moral side out of it, from a business perspective, it is a poor decision, especially longer term.

This poster for me is evidence of how Waggott fucked up not only on a moral level, but more importantly on a business level. For the sake of keeping maybe £60, on principle the club has lost a long term customer who could have provided hundreds and thousands going forward. From the fraction of fans that would have preferred a refund, how many £60 savings would it take to make up that lost business? Lots, but I suppose much of that might not be Waggotts problem. I disagreed with the decision even though I was happy with the ifollow option personally and for my sins, have bought a pass this season. But it doesnt change my opinion that it was another in a long line of poor decisions by Waggott.

I do think that Reading may well struggle to last the pace, but I have never really embraced the xG table. I dont get how you can make the quality of chances created an exact science, you definitely cant. Doesnt it also assume that everyone has the same ruthlessness in terms of taking those chances created? In that it implies that it will level out, for example if a team outperforms its place in the xG, maybe that is just because they are clinical with the chances they have. Seems like a bit of a nonsense stat to me unless I am missing something. I dont get how we are top of the league for it either. I dont feel that in any game so far, even if we have been competitive that we havent got what would be expected on the balance of play.

The ball for the first goal on Saturday was outstanding. That and the Elliott pass to Gallagher in the second half were the 2 stand out bits of quality in the game, 2 top class passes. I still think that Nyambe has to be our first choice right back, you can tell that Rankin Costello is not a natural right back at times defensively, he gets caught out positionally as he did even v Doncaster, there was one moment even on Saturday when he tried to take someone on in a risky position which backfired and Coventry enjoyed a rare counter attack. That being said, he warrants another start tonight for sure. When he has played further forward I think he struggles to have the real attacking skillset to make an impact, or has done so far, maybe he will grow into a right back over time and refine his positioning and decision making being still very young, or maybe even as a utility man who can cover a few positions. Im not entirely sure at this stage where his long term future lies but he is a very useful member of the squad ans I think its very premature calling him a potential Premier League talent, he is still fully establishing himself in the Championship but he should be a contract that we can get done fairly routinely and hopefully soon.

Yeah, until they are on the official site as having signed new deals, then the concern will still remain. Dack has been in talks for basically the last 2 years now.

Thanks doc. But my point regarding promises potentially made to Elliott over playing central was not really connected to Dack's return, even at the moment without him I see no logic to such a potential promise.

You keep saying, but he will come back at some point. But even take him out of the equation, and my point was that I cant see any merit or logic to us promising Liverpool that we play the young winger that we have taken on loan in a central position, baring in mind that we have Armstrong playing central.

Yeah, but only on what you would think and hope is one of the few times in the season when Armstrong wasnt on the pitch due to having the luxury of giving him a bit of a rest. Throw Dack into the mix who also is naturally a central player and it seems unlikely that Elliott will get much chance down the middle. I think that it is more that Mowbray seems to see Gallagher as more of a wide player in the 3, which in my opinion is a very strange experiment, that he put Elliott in more of a free role. But with Armstrong especially and also Dack, I dont see much scope for playing Elliott centrally. Elliott is a wide player anyway so it makes little sense that we could have made any promises regarding where he will play.

At least the contracts are on the agenda but having "began" the process doesnt really instill any confidence, ultimately they have either signed or they havent. Dack has been "in talks" for well over a year. Hopefully we get some good news on contracts soon.