It's like Deja Vu - all over again

[NuclearDevice]

I had to dig deep to remember my password to get back on here, but thought that after yesterday's utterly atrocious performance I owed it to myself to reflect on here about the game.

Bloody hell - we were never in the game at all until the last 10mins, when ironically we could have stolen a point had our wonderful deadball master not slammed a centrally placed free kick on the edge of the box into the shins of the reading wall. More of that later.

We could / should have been one up after about 3mins had Andre Green tied up his shooting boots instead of his shiiting boots when one on one after a mistake by the Reading defence. From that moment onwards we hardly touched the ball. Reading's players had desire, pace, movement, energy - our lads thought they were on the training ground with a command to give away the ball / mis-control / mis place a pass to see how best we can absorb pressure. It was all so familiar, taking me back two years to the dire 2015/16 relegation season. Whenever we managed to get the ball, it was aimlessly pumped forward in the air to either no-one or to Hogan who was always out jumped, and back came the blue & white hoops. Tackling was poor, more commitment to the cause is required. Terry didn't seem to lead or inspire.

In terms of ratings
Johnstone - man of match 8.0 - some fine stops and did his best to clear the goal line technology effort
de Laet - started well, faded a little 6.0 - gave too much width to winger.
Taylor - left his man in too much "zonal" space 5.5
Terry - commanded very little, no pace 4.0
Chester - 5.0, not much to say but frivolous in possession
Hourihane - Ok so he scored and then blasted his ideally positioned free kick into the wall, but error strewn performance 5.5
Whelan - anonymous for the most part 5.0
Onomah - too easily brushed off the ball not convinced he can hack it in the championship 5.0
Bjarnneson - bloody awful all game - not sure why he wasn't hauled off at HT - 3.0
Green - missed a 1 on 1, blasted a cross into touch, some nice jinking runs 5.5
Hogan - limped off, limp performance 4.5
Gabby - showed some energy, laid ball off for the goal 5.5

Hutton - what, brought on after his showing at Cardiff ?
Adomah - brought on and played left side rather than preferred right ? Showed some skills but you can he's still a bit naive.

Bruce says he's still the right man for the job. I agree, but I'm not sure which job he's referring to. I can imagine a lack of patience with results and performances will see him asked to Foxtrot Oscar. What I don't get is that he's had them all summer, and the team churn out that sort of performance when we're supposed to be Top 6. Bottom 6 is more the ticket if we see much more of this.

Vent over.

But it does mean that my cash will be staying firmly in my pocket until i see some sort of turnaround in performance because I'll not be parting with any wonga to cheer our lads on if that's what I get back in return.

[TrianonDave]

I had to dig deep to remember my password to get back on here, but thought that after yesterday's utterly atrocious performance I owed it to myself to reflect on here about the game.

Bloody hell - we were never in the game at all until the last 10mins, when ironically we could have stolen a point had our wonderful deadball master not slammed a centrally placed free kick on the edge of the box into the shins of the reading wall. More of that later.

We could / should have been one up after about 3mins had Andre Green tied up his shooting boots instead of his shiiting boots when one on one after a mistake by the Reading defence. From that moment onwards we hardly touched the ball. Reading's players had desire, pace, movement, energy - our lads thought they were on the training ground with a command to give away the ball / mis-control / mis place a pass to see how best we can absorb pressure. It was all so familiar, taking me back two years to the dire 2015/16 relegation season. Whenever we managed to get the ball, it was aimlessly pumped forward in the air to either no-one or to Hogan who was always out jumped, and back came the blue & white hoops. Tackling was poor, more commitment to the cause is required. Terry didn't seem to lead or inspire.

In terms of ratings
Johnstone - man of match 8.0 - some fine stops and did his best to clear the goal line technology effort
de Laet - started well, faded a little 6.0 - gave too much width to winger.
Taylor - left his man in too much "zonal" space 5.5
Terry - commanded very little, no pace 4.0
Chester - 5.0, not much to say but frivolous in possession
Hourihane - Ok so he scored and then blasted his ideally positioned free kick into the wall, but error strewn performance 5.5
Whelan - anonymous for the most part 5.0
Onomah - too easily brushed off the ball not convinced he can hack it in the championship 5.0
Bjarnneson - bloody awful all game - not sure why he wasn't hauled off at HT - 3.0
Green - missed a 1 on 1, blasted a cross into touch, some nice jinking runs 5.5
Hogan - limped off, limp performance 4.5
Gabby - showed some energy, laid ball off for the goal 5.5

Hutton - what, brought on after his showing at Cardiff ?
Adomah - brought on and played left side rather than preferred right ? Showed some skills but you can he's still a bit naive.

Bruce says he's still the right man for the job. I agree, but I'm not sure which job he's referring to. I can imagine a lack of patience with results and performances will see him asked to Foxtrot Oscar. What I don't get is that he's had them all summer, and the team churn out that sort of performance when we're supposed to be Top 6. Bottom 6 is more the ticket if we see much more of this.

Vent over.

But it does mean that my cash will be staying firmly in my pocket until i see some sort of turnaround in performance because I'll not be parting with any wonga to cheer our lads on if that's what I get back in return.

Spot on and welcome back ND.

I don't think anyone can say anymore, I'm sure all this bad feeling is getting to the players and they must channel it in to a positive way. Playing shlt and saying oh well on to the next is not the way to do it, they get paid a hell of a lot of money and buying players who are, quite frankly: over the hill is just asking for trouble, Terry is not going to be any good for us unless we play with center backs.

Funny how we have a static defence, weak midfield and no idea up front and we or should I say Bruce has bombed out Elphick, gardner and maccormack!!! can they do any worse? I think not.

I will be there on Saturday mainly because we all live in hope but we cannot expect to get promoted on hope alone!

[stateside]

I must disagree with you both. I just can't.

[bongosdad]

Midfield is the problem for me. We lack pace and energy. We should be in there faces more but we're to slow to put sides under pressure.
Bring back Delph!

[yubbywelch]

oh Bingo

[Exiledvillan]

The young Villan and myself are making the trip over for this one. Having seen every minute so far this season incl pre season, either stream or Sky, I must admit I don't have the same level of excitement as my 9 yr old for the coming weekend. Naaaarich getting a good win last night adds to the nerves.
Agree with some of the above, especially the 'free kick specialist' uncanny ability to find the wall as well as overhitting every corners.
Ah well, will have to put my happy head on for the young Villan this weekend, not easy for a grumpy auld two-hat like me.

[stateside]

Midfield is the problem for me. We lack pace and energy. We should be in there faces more but we're to slow to put sides under pressure.
Bring back Delph!

Bruce brought in Lansbury, Hourihane, Whelan and Onomah. Why the freak would the midfield be the problem, Bongo? Unless the manager has no clue how to set them up?

Lansbury set up at Forest in the middle of the field as a box to box midfielder with license to get forward. Hourihane I knew nothing about but noticed on his highlight video his goals coming from the left side, not too far over but outside the box. Then I see Lansbury set up as a defensive mid partnering Jedi. I see Hourihane playing right sided midfield hugging the wing. Now we got Whelan who was a defensive midfielder at Stoke. I never rated him at all, but the Stke fans loved him but even they said he can't pass that accurately. So what does Bruce do? Makes him a number 10 general. Onomah when I've seen him for Spurs has played central mid or slightly forward. We have him on the left I understand.

[oldskoolvillan]

Had same problem as Nuc, but remembered it eventually, just in time for a decent result. When did anyone last get a hat trick for us? any ideas? Good result but doesn't alter the fact that we ( potato head) don't seem to know who our best eleven are, and the players don't look as though they've been formally introduced to each other. Think Bruce must have a bet on somewhere that he can play more players out of position than any other manager!

[bongosdad]

It sounds like he had them well organised today. Onwards and upwards