An absolute travesty of a penalty call cost us the game, just a joke. Cathcart hasn’t made any movement towards Long. Pissed off.
Pathetic. A disgrace, frankly. Even when we were 2-up, we never played anywhere near as well as the lead might have suggested, and for large portions of the game regardless of the score, we were second best; under the cosh against a dire Reading team who had one once in 8 games, if I'm correct in remembering it being said on comms. It's quite possibly a worse thing that the performance, whilst never particularly strong, never reached the lows of the past couple of games, and yet we still couldn't even manage to hold on to a two-goal advantage. We don't play like a team, still, and we have no midfield to speak of. As soon as anything gets even the slightest bit difficult, we retreat and bow our heads and concede the territory, the play, and the game. As I said on the shoutbox, even when we were leading them in their ground, Reading, a terrible team, maintained ten times the composure we ever did, and regularly came onto us with passages of intelligent play and passing helping them create passages of sustained pressure on us. We cannot purport to be promotion contenders at this point, as it stands. Even if we do get the few of our best players back who are left, we can't escape this appalling, shabby, mental-midgetry infecting every aspect of our performances almost every single time we go out on to a pitch. Winning or losing, minute 5 or 85, rain or shine, we wilt and implode under the pressure of ourselves. The next few games look like they're going to be a cricket score on aggregate. And at the end we throw on the kids in the ultimate hit-and-hope last-throw-of-the-dice move. I'm still seeing no real indication of how we are theoretically supposed to be trying to play, but whatever it is, it isn't through midfield, because we don't have one, and the only way we will if is one player ever makes it back on to the pitch and is instantly as good as he has ever (briefly) been and never so much as has to pause for breath again for the rest of the season. Silver lining mentions go to Araujo and Porteous, who both played well and influentially. Excited to see how we can stamp that out of them.
Certainly going to drop out of them this month. Hopefully we're better at fighting to get into them rather than trying to cling on.
Bias is an ugly thing, but I believe the ref bottled a number of crucial decision today that cost us the points. He will be embarrassed when he has his review. Not a penalty and bowing to player pressure to change a decision. And having to listen to the most childishly one sided commentary and analysis from the Reading commenters, was difficult. We were very poor on our marking for their equaliser. We lost our way after our second. Very dissatisfied with that result.
Assombalonga was offside and it took a slight touch off him on the way through. Had the absolute idiot not run off trying to claim the goal the linesman would have completely missed it and we'd still be cheering 3 points.
For where we are as a team at the moment I would have taken a draw before the game but to throw away a two goal lead is unacceptable.
Not going to sugar coat it, that one hurt. We just about edged the first half and deserved to be 1-0 ahead, although Sarr will not score and easier goal all season. Cane out second half, still full of fight and looked to have wrapped up the win with debut headed goal from our Scotsman, well taken corner though from Martins. Reading then begin to press us, and Cathcart has a brainfart and concedes a somewhat dodgy penalty. Ince scores and it's squeaky bums time. A few minutes later we think it's 3-1 but then oddly their GK runs to the linesman and after a check it's given as offside. Fair enough, it's not a goal. But what happned after that? Bottle totally goes and we ship the equaliser. For the rest of the game we play like toothless morans scampering around trying not to lose the game. We should of lost had Reading not missed not one, but two complete sitters towards the end. Absolute crazy how we declined in this game. When your 2-0 you see the game out. Davis was kept on for far too long and did litterally nothing, he should of been hooked well before the time he was. Sarr had a better game and Anj the wonder kid did very well. Not much Bachmann could of done with the penalty it was well struck, but a bit more nounce from our captain and that's not given. Referee was totally abysmal - he might was well have been wearing a Reading shirt, everything in the second half went their way, no matter how small. Really disapointed with the performance that it feels like a defeat. Deflating isn't the word. This is obviously going to have a knock-on effect for the team as we enter a clump of games we have little chance of getting anything from. Had we won last week and won today, it would not feel so scary as it does now. We didn't lose, it's a point gained but that is the only positive from it. Not sure what we were doing after we scored number two but giving complete control to Reading is not what we should of done. Bilic needs to get back on the training field and drill a bit of steele into the side. Yes Cathcart made a mistake for the penalty and has generally been good this season. It's the manner we conceded the second goal and played out the last quarter of the game which is the most disapointing of all. Lot's of work to be done if we even want to think about finishing in the top six. Throwing away 2-0 leads from a team in 16th place away from home is not going to help us at all. Panic stations set in as per usual as soon as they came at us, something Bilic clearly needs to work on.
I see Shane Long was causing trouble again . No point in relying on officials - we know they don’t think much of us .
Get in a cheery, bouncy manager who doesn’t make odd tactical decisions and give Porteous the armband. But it does mean we sack another manager and hire another who is unlikely to be here more than 5-6 months. That might save our season in terms of going up. Don’t do that, and we meander to the end of the season with poor results and finish about 11th. The sad thing is, most people are immune to caring really, such is the current iteration of the Pozzo ownership. Me included. Sacking Edwards was a crazy, crazy decision. And I don’t say that purely because of what he’s doing up the road.
To add to this - I really don’t want to sack Bilic due to the numbers we sack. But I’m numb to it if we do. Bilic has still been very crap though. Zero tactics, zero shape, poor selections and very, very questionable subs.
100% this. Played my own match today and came in at FT and we were 2-0 up. By the time I drove home it was 2-2. Normally that would piss me off but I just don't find myself caring as much these days. The whole club: players, manager, the hierarchy, are all just so unlikable at the minute. No doubt if we make it to the playoff final I'd be all up for it (no chance of it happening anyway), but I find myself not really caring if we go up or not this season. Part of me hopes we don't as I don't want another promotion to be used to give the Pozzos more time.
Fruststing as hell, but blimey their equaliser was an incredible strike. Somehow that makes me feel better and I'm not sure why.
I couldn't believe my eyes when Asombalonga ran off celebrating. One of the most brainless things I've seen on a football pitch, and I say that whilst remembering Jose Holebas' spell at the club. If he ran over and hugged Martins, who did all the hard work, we'd likely have three points.
No but they are responsible for the squad that last season stank out the premier league and this season has a +3 goal difference!!!!
This is one of the weirdest things - early on I, for one, was lauding him for finally appearing to be a coach who arrived here aware of what the function of a substitution actually is. Now, just like every other before him, he throws on random players at random times, takes off players when they're some of the most effective, and seems to have defaulted to the wonderful tactic of throwing on a child who has essentially never played senior football in a ludicrous choreographed Hail Mary attempt to sneak a winning goal every time it's needed.
Don’t think we played badly surprised by the negativity in that regard. Penalty swung momentum and then we bottled it. Ref bottled the second yellow after the melee too.
I'm fairly laid back now. We've totally got a squad capable of more and it will take a few games for the new players to bed in. I do think we'll improve and for me it's all about getting us on a good run sometime soon. I'm looking for a big improvement, finish in the play offs, and then IF the players can really get into form in April we might win the play offs. If we don't then this squad shouldn't be going up anyway....
Was out all day so haven't seen anything from the game, but a really poor result, regardless of performance. A point away from home usually wouldn't be the worst, but with the games coming up and the layout of the table, it probably means we'll be midtable after our upcoming run of fixtures. Got to hope we stay in touching distance, and finish the season in good form with a full-ish strength squad.
Just seen the highlights and it’s never a pen but equally it’s nearly half an hour out from the end. A side with a strong winning mentality uses the injustice to galvanise themselves and goes on to beat Reading 4-1 or whatever. With our bunch of wusses the opposite outcome was almost always inevitable. Plus the marking (or lack of) for their equaliser was woeful.
Just feel happy you didn't see how we gave the corner away... No pressure on Bacuna and he headed it out.
Lol! Love how no matter how many new players come in, the weak as piss mentality just spreads like a plague. I can't wait for the summer when people will be talking about how it's been a great window because we managed to undo some of the damage done by this one. Lol!
Bilic just seems like a crap coach. Right from the off players don't seem to know what they're doing. He's played about 2 or 3 different systems over the last few games and it's looked a mess. Even with injuries players should be able to come into the side and understand their role. From what we see on Saturday afternoons the players must just spend the week having kickabouts with no tactical work being done.
Any good at all - Araujo (created the first goal with decent play and did what he should have been doing as a striker until he was inexplicably taken off) Porteous (ported his enforcer status down south immediately, making several very robust and decisive physical interventions. Also scored a header with great movement and technique to mark a solid debut) Martins (put one corner in good enough to score from, but then also took part in another with Sarr that was one of the worst routines in recent memory. Seems slightly confused in himself whether he is a bullish head-down goal charger, a la Richarlison, or a dancing jinker, a la JP - seems clear to me he should be the former, but often gets bogged down in trying to be the latter suddenly in the midst of carrying the ball) Honourable Mention - Sarr (made more effort than he usually does, and was in the right place to score a goal when several of our others attackers could easily have been seen conspiring to play it back to an oppo defender or banana it round the goalline and out for a goal kick. Influence never great in an attacking sense individually, though, only in part blamed on Davis holding on to the ball forever and killing a very very high quality one on one attack that would have happened had Sarr been given the ball at the right time. Just like everyone else, wilted as the game went on and after going one down, and resorted to the same ineffective try to cut in and lose it whilst beating no one play) Disappointments (in the one-off sense; I am not necessarily expecting this not to be the case in general with these players) - Choudhury (for the amount of times he received the ball, invited pressure, then panicked and desperately passed it just about back to one of the defenders he got it from, as well as his taking over of the mantle of blootering headed 'clearances' under no pressure to no one, straight back into their hands so a fresh wave of attack hits us) Cathcart (Don't get me wrong. Long's move was a classic Vardy kunt faux-foul, but for a man of Cathcart's experience to be suckered into the situation by a portly 42-year-old playing for Reading, is somewhat beyond the pale) Fuccking poor - Davis (deployed in the 10 and did absolutely nothing, let the game pass him by and didn't hold it up, didn't progress it through passing or dribbling, and equally [presumably in part at least because of the role he was forced into, seemingly] offered no goal threat whatsoever. In the brief period in the first half our attackers were buzzing around trying anything they could, Mooney remarked that Davis was 'letting the game pass him by' and that about sums it up - he was the only one still not doing anything) Bacuna (rubbish) Bilic (Poor lineup, with another midfield to be run straight through, poor substitutions, scattergun and desperate in equal measure, tactics, in that even 2 goals up and in the brief ascendancy, it was entirely unclear how we were or were attempting to play, again)
Feels like we need another team meeting or some strong words from Daniel Bachmann. That should do the trick.
I’ll take Porteous as the biggest positive there, seeing how he’s actually our player (not a loan) and a potentially good young CB.
Certainly, the one true bright spark aside from Araujo, who I hope will be fun to watch but as you say, is a shooting star.
